The Spanish Bawd (Calisto and Meliboea) (Celestina) · chunk 9 of 205
Mabbe, James / Rojas, Fernando de · published 1631 · first performed or written 1631 (Annals) tragicomedy; literary play T35 Fools, wit and railing typicality 0.84 · 559 words
Marked words are the most distinguishing words of T35: fool, wit, aristippus, achilles, wise, fools, patroclus, thersites, master, men.
Have I settled you (Sir?) 〈◊〉 your histories, study your philosophers, examine your 〈◊〉; and you shall find how full their books are of their 〈...〉 and of the ruins and destructions whereinto they have run, who held them in that high esteem as you do. Consult with 〈◊〉 and you shall see how vilely he reckons of them. 〈◊〉 unto 〈◊〉, and you shall find that all of them to this agree: but whatsoever I have, or shall hereafter speak in them; mistake me not, I pray you, but consider them as words, commonly and generally spoken: For many of them have been, and are holy, virtuous and noble, whose glorious and resplendent crowns blot out this general reproach. But touching the other, who can recount unto you their falsehoods, their tricks, their tradings, their truckings, their exchanging commodities, their lightness, their tears, their mutabilities, and their boldness and impudencies: For whatsoever they conceit, they dare to execute without any deliberation, or advisement in the world; their dissemblings, their talkativeness, their deceits, their forgetfulness, their unkindness, their ingratitude, their inconstancy, their fickleness, their saying and gainsaying, and all in a breath; their windings and turnings, their presumption, their vainglory, their baseness, their foolishness, their disdainfulness, their coyness, their pride, their haughtiness, their base submissions, their prattlings, their gluttony, their luxury, their sluttishness, their timorousness, their witeneries, their cheatings, their gibings, their slanderings and their bawdry. Now consider with yourself, what idle giddy-headed brains are under those large and fine cobweb veils; what wicked thoughts under those gay gorgets; what pride and arrogancy under those their long, rich and stately robes; what mad toys under their painted Temples. Tell me, I pray, this Alexander, this Seneca, this Aristotle, this Virgil, these whom thou tell'st me of; did not they subject themselves unto them? Am I greater than these? I would you should follow those that did subdue them; not those that were subdued by them. Fly from their deceits. Know you (Sir) what they do? They do things that are too hard for any man to understand: they observe no mean; they have no reason; not do they take any heed in what they do. They are the first themselves that cause ● man to love: and themselves are the first that begin to loathe. They will privately pleasure him, whom afterwards they will openly wrong, and draw him secretly in at their windows, whom in the streets they will publicly rail at. They will give you roast-meat, and beat you with the spit. They will invite you unto them, and presently send you packing with a flea in your ear; Call you, and yet exclude you; seal you her love, and yet proclaim hate; quickly be won, and quickly be lost; soon pleased, and as soon displeased; and (which is the true humour of a woman) whatsoever her will divines, that must be affected. Her apprehensions admit no delays; and be they impossible to be attained to, yet not effecting them, she straightway censures it want of wit or affection, if not both. O what a plague? what a hell? nay, what a loathsome thing is it for a man to have to do with them any longer, than in that short prick of time that he holds them in his arms, when they are prepared for pleasure!
nodes 73–75 (positions in the processed text, not lines of the printed book) · chunk 9 of 205 in this edition
Length
559 words · 787 tokens
Topic (seed 42)
T35 — Fools, wit and railingcross-work theme (confirmed, in the genre comparison) · typicality 0.842 (cosine to the topic centroid)
Other seeds
seed 43: T58 · seed 44: unassigned — topic numbers are assigned independently in each run; equal or different numbers say nothing by themselves
Original spelling (EEBO-TCP, unregularized)
Haue I ettled you (Sir?) your histories, study your philosophers, examine your ; and you shall finde how full their bookes are of their and of the ruines and destructions whereinto they haue runne, who held them in that high esteeme as you doe. Consult with and you shall see how vilely he reckons of them. vnto , and you shall finde that all of them to this agree: but whatsoeuer I haue, or shall heereafter speake in them; mistake mee not, I pray you, but consider them as words, commonly and generally spoken: For many of them haue beene, and are holy, vertuous and noble, whose glorious and resplendent crownes blot out this generall reproach. But touching the other, who can recount vnto you their falsehoods, their tricks, their tradings, their truckings, their exchanging commodities, their lightnesse, their teares, their mutabilities, and their boldnesse and impudencies: For whatsoeuer they conceit, they dare to execute without any deliberation, or aduisement in the world; their dissemblings, their talketiuenesse, their deceits, their forgetfulnesse, their vnkindenesse, their ingratitude, their inconstancy, their sicklenesse, their saying and gaine-saying, and all in a breath; their windings and turnings, their presumption, their vaine-glory, their basenesse, their foolishnesse, their disdainfulnesse, their coynesse, their pride, their haughtinesse, their base submissions, their prattlings, their gluttony, their luxury, their slutishnesse, their timorousnesse, their witeneries, their cheatings, their gibings, their slandrings and their bawdry. Now consider with your selfe, what idle gyddy-headed braines are vnder those large and fine cob-web veiles; what wicked thoughts vnder those gay gorgets; what pride and arrogancy vnder those their long, rich and stately robes; what mad toyes vnder their painted Temples. Tell me, I pray, this Alexander, this Seneca, this Aristotle, this Virgil, these whom thou tell'st mee of; did not they subject themselue vnto them? Am I greater then these? I would you should follow those that did subdue them; not those that were subdued by them. Flye from their deceits. Know you (Sir) what they doe? They doe things that are too hard for any man to vnderstand: they obserue no meane; they haue no reason; not doe they take any heed in what they doe. They are the first themselues that cause man to loue: and themselues are the first that beginne to loath. They will priuately pleasure him, whom afterwards they will openly wrong, and draw him secretly in at their windowes, whom in the streetes they will publikely raile at. They will giue you roste-meate, and beate you with the spit. They will inuite you vnto them, and presently send you packing with a flea in your eare; Call you, and yet exclude you; seale you her loue, and yet proclaime hate; quickly be wonne, and quickly be lost; soone pleased, and as soone displeased; and (which is the true humour of a woman) whatsoeuer her will diuines, that must bee affected. Her apprehensions admit no delayes; and bee they impossible to bee attained to, yet not effecting them, she streightway censures it want of wit or affection, if not both. O what a plague? what a hell? nay, what a lothsome thing is it for a man to haue to doe with them any longer, then in that short pricke of time that hee holds them in his armes, when they are prepared for pleasure!