They may flatter an indifferent beauty; but the
excellencies of nature can have no right done to them; for there both
the pencil and pen are overcome by the dignity of the subject; as our
admirable Waller has expressed it,
The heroe's race transcends the poet's thought.
There are few in any age who can bear the load of a dedication; for
where praise is undeserved, it is satire; though satire on folly is
now no longer a scandal to any one person, where a whole age is dipt
together. Yet I had rather undertake a multitude one way, than a
single Atticus the other; for it is easier to descend than it is to
climb. I should have gone ashamed out of the world, if I had not at
least attempted this address, which I have long thought owing: and if
I had never attempted, I might have been vain enough to think I might
have succeeded in it. Now I have made the experiment, and have failed
through my unworthiness, I may rest satisfied, that either the
adventure is not to be atchieved, or that it is reserved for some
other hand.
Be pleased, therefore, since the family of the Attici is and ought to
be above the common forms of concluding letters, that I may take my
leave in the words of Cicero to the first of them: _Me, O Pomponi,
valde paenitet vivere: tantum te oro, ut quoniam me ipse semper amasti,
ut eodem amore sis; ego nimirum idem sum. Inimici mei mea mihi non
meipsum ademerunt.
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