Esse tamen vel sic bestia magna potes.
Adde docus patriæ et claros tibi sume propinquos;
Esse tamen vel sic bestia magna potes.
Sint tibi divitæ[242] sit larga et munda supellex;
Esse tamen vel sic bestia magna potes.
Denique, quidquid eris, nisi sit prudentia tecum;
Magna quidem dico, bestia semper eris.[243]
101. May God our Lord preserve your Grace for the many years of my desire. Manila, June 8, one thousand seven hundred and twenty.[244] Your humble servant, who kisses your hand,
[On a loose paper inserted in the copy of this letter owned by the Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar (which as stated above, is unsigned), which was formerly owned by the well known Spanish scholar Pascual de Gayangos, is the following: “According to paragraphs [of this letter] which Paterno inserted in his work La antigua civilizacion de Filipinos (Madrid, 1887), p. 241, this letter must have been written by father Fray Gaspar de San Agustín; and according to Sinibaldo Mas, who inserts entire passages from this MS. in his Informe sobre el estado de Filipinas en 1842, i, pp. 63–132, and attributes it to Father Gaspar.” Paterno has not had access to the document itself, but has used Mas.]