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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Prologue
I have become the enemy of the multitude in so far as I examine the follies of the frivolous. For this reason I might disappear into retirement or keep silent; but my tumultuous affairs prevent the first option while the impulses of my soul destroy the other. Whoever is placed beneath some authority, if he is wise, ought to comply with the commands of the governor. Yet when one is moved by the stimulus of deep feeling, one cannot dissimulate, but instead will be inspired to express one's passions. Thus, exultation is stroked by the gentle breeze of what is joyful, hope induces cheerfulness, fear yields anxiety, and grief plunges the soul into confusion. Such alternation between good and bad fortune is experienced by every particular person. In truth, the misery of bad fortune is more pronounced and more often assails everyone. Who is not more often favoured with the annoyance of bad fortune than stroked by the consolation of good fortune? Rare is someone who can protect himself totally from the full onslaught of fortune. Whoever prevails due to his own qualities of strength will be impeded by the health or fate of a friend or a relative. Although he who is not stirred by the loss of his own material goods is not very human, neither is one in a human condition who is not moved by the loss of that which belongs to another.
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