Et præbent natis ubera plena suis?[196]
As for Herverus de Berna, Tory's fellow-pupil, I know even less of him. All that I have been able to learn is that he published in 1543 a short poem in praise of the dukes of Nevers, lords of Orval near Saint-Amand, where Herverus was born, and of which he was then curé, if I read aright his bombastic Latin. This is the title of the book, which was for sale at the shop of Vivant Gualtherot: 'Panegyricon illustrissimorum principum comitum Druydarum et Aurivallensium et Nivernensium, Hervero a Berna, curione Amandino Allifero, auctore. Parisiis, 1543.' (I fancy that the words 'curione Amandino Allifero' mean: curé of Saint-Amand-l'Allier, now Saint-Amand-Montrond.)
The work is dedicated to a friend of the author, and perhaps of Tory as well, named Nicolas Rocheus (La Roche?), described as 'Apollineæ artis doctor eximius' in the dedicatory epistle, which is dated: 'Tumultuarie, ex ædibus nostris Amandinis, kalendis ianuarii, 1542.'
4
BEROSUS BABILONENSIS, DE HIS QUÆ PRÆCESSERUNT INUNDATIONEM TERRARUM; ITEM MYRSILUS, DE ORIGINE TURRENORUM, etc.
Quarto, Paris, 1510; with the small mark of the Marnefs (the Pelican),[197] with the letters E. I. G.
This work, which was printed by J. Marchand, at the expense of Geofroy de Marnef, bookseller and publisher, was prepared for the press by Geofroy Tory, who placed at the beginning the following letter:—
To the most distinguished Philibert Babou, Geofroy Tory of Bourges, heartiest greeting.[198]
Last year, when I was attending to the printing of Pope Pius's Cosmography, the idea occurred to me of thoroughly revising and handing to the printer at an early date the Babylonian Berosus's work on the 'Antiquities of the Kingdoms'; but, my mind at that time taking another turn, I determined to postpone this work, for the reason that I had a project of almost divine character on hand; and indeed I should have postponed it for a long time,—as the saying is, to the Greek Calends,—had not Berosus himself, so to speak, and, what is and always will be of no little importance to me, a number of my friends, daily whispering in my ear, as it were, their prayers, demanded of me most earnestly that I should print, along with Berosus, Myrsilus 'De origine Turrenorum,' Cato's fragments, Archilochus, Metasthenes, Philo, Xenophon 'De æquivocis,' Sempronius, Fabius Pictor, and Antoninus Pius's fragments of the 'Itinerarium.' There is a very avaricious class of human beings, which, if it has a book—a book that is hard to find—consisting of three or four short lines, straightway,—like the ants of India, or the griffins, which are fabled to carry gold to a remote spot and there keep watch over it, threatening with dire destruction any one who attempts to touch it,—carries it off and guards it, and loading it with chains and fetters, keeps it imprisoned like a miserable captive. Such people ought to display their officious greed—the greed of possessing something unique all to one's self—in company with the ants and griffins, which other people avoid, rather than to continue their incivility, or perhaps I should rather say immunity, among human beings. We are born not alone for ourselves: we owe something also to our friends, something to our country. Therefore, that it may not seem to be my desire to extinguish the brilliant light of a burning lamp, I the more willingly, under your name, Philibert, most illustrious citizen of Bourges, send forth Berosus's 'Antiquities,' together with the other authors mentioned above, for the common study of all, and I believe that I shall therein be doing an act that will gain the gratitude, in some small measure, of my country. Farewell.
Paris, at the College of Plessis, 2 May, 1510.
CIVIS.
Tory's letter is dated May 2, 1510; but the printing of the book was not finished until the ninth of that month, as we see by the subscription of the first edition; for there were at least three distinct editions in Tory's name, to say nothing of a multitude of others issued by different publishers. Annius of Viterbo, otherwise known as Jean Nanni, had recently brought into fashion the fables of Berosus, which he attempted to palm off as an ancient work; and scholars were still at odds as to the authenticity of the book, the sale of which their discussions aided to maintain. Tory seems to have taken sides with Annius of Viterbo, as he himself prepared an edition of the supposititious Berosus, the preface of which we have just quoted. We have said that there were three editions in his name. They may be described thus:—