Plate 8

"As plump and round as a Westphalian hog"

Moriae Encomium

Illustrated by Hans Holbein the Younger

	Single Greeting Card (with matching Envelope) Code: H ME8 SGC Price: US$5.00
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Holbein's illustration shown in Plate 8 from Moriae Encomium is associated with the following text drawn from

John Wilson's 1668 translation:

Do but observe our grim philosophers that are perpetually beating their brains on knotty

subjects, and for the most part you'll find them grown old before they are scarcely young.

And whence is it, but that their continual and restless thoughts insensibly prey upon their

spirits and dry up their radical moisture? Whereas, on the contrary, my fat fools are as

plump and round as a Westphalian hog, and never sensible of old age, unless perhaps, as

sometimes it rarely happens, they come to be infected with wisdom, so hard a thing it is

for a man to be happy in all things.

The associated French text from L'Eloge de la Folie (1728) follows:

Regardez moi ces mines sombres, ces visages abattus & décharnez, qui s'enfonent dans la

contempation de la Nature, ou dans d'autres occupations sérieuses & difficiles: ces gens-là

semblent ordinairment avoir vieilli avant la fin de la Jeunesse; & cela, parce qu'un travail

de tête assidu, pénible, violent, profond, épuise peu à peu les Esprits, & le suc de la vie.

De l'autre côté, considerez attentivement mes sideles Sujets: voyez comment ils sont dodus,

gras, frais, luisans, bien nourris, vous diriez des Pourceaux Acarnaniens. Assurément ces

heureux Mortels ne sentiroient jamais les infirmitez de la Vieilleffe, s'ils ne participoient un

peu à la contagion des Sage.Cela n'arrive que trop: mais que faire? l'homme n'est pas né

pour jouïr ici-bas d'une félicité parfaite.