Plate 80

"The life of holy men is nothing but a continued meditation"

Moriae Encomium

Illustrated by Hans Holbein the Younger

	Single Greeting Card (with matching Envelope) Code: H ME80 SGC Price: US$5.00
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Holbein's illustration shown in Plate 80 from Moriae Encomium is associated with the following text drawn from

John Wilson's 1668 translation:

And this happiness though 'tis only then perfected when souls being joined to

their former bodies shall be made immortal, yet forasmuch as the life of holy men

is nothing but a continued meditation and, as it were, shadow of that life, it so

happens that at length they have some taste or relish of it; which, though it be but

as the smallest drop in comparison of that fountain of eternal happiness, yet it far

surpasses all worldly delight, though all the pleasures of all mankind were all joined

together.

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

Au reste, quoique cette félicité ne doive se consommer que par le réunion de l'ame

avec le corps; cependant, parce que la vie des Saints de la Terre n'est que la méditation

continuelle, & comme l'ombre des joyes du Paradis, ils ne laissent pas de goûter & de

sentir en ce Monde-cila reompense qui leu est promise. Il est vrai que, par rapport à la

Beatitude éternelle, ce n'est qu'une petite goute de cette délicieuse & inépuisable fontaine:

mais cette goute vaut incomparablement mieux que les plaisirs des sens, quand vous les

metriez tous ensemble.