iis qui peccant_, others as absurd, vain, idle, illiterate, &c. _Nonnulli
alii idem fecerunt_; others have done as much, it may be more, and perhaps
thou thyself, _Novimus et qui te_, &c. We have all our faults; _scimus, et
hanc, veniaim_, &c.; [106]thou censurest me, so have I done others, and may
do thee, _Cedimus inque vicem_, &c., 'tis _lex talionis, quid pro quo_. Go
now, censure, criticise, scoff, and rail.

[107] "Nasutus cis usque licet, sis denique nasus:
Non potes in nugas dicere plura meas,
Ipse ego quam dixi, &c."

"Wert thou all scoffs and flouts, a very Momus,
Than we ourselves, thou canst not say worse of us."

Thus, as when women scold, have I cried whore first, and in some men's
censures I am afraid I have overshot myself, _Laudare se vani, vituperare
stulti_, as I do not arrogate, I will not derogate. _Primus vestrum non
sum, nec imus_, I am none of the best, I am none of the meanest of you. As
I am an inch, or so many feet, so many parasangs, after him or him, I may
be peradventure an ace before thee. Be it therefore as it is, well or ill,
I have essayed, put myself upon the stage; I must abide the censure, I may
not escape it. It is most true, _stylus virum arguit_, our style bewrays
us, and as [108]hunters find their game by the trace, so is a man's genius
descried by his works, _Multo melius ex sermone quam lineamentis, de
moribus hominum judicamus_; it was old Cato's rule. I have laid myself open
(I know it) in this treatise, turned mine inside outward: I shall be
censured, I doubt not; for, to say truth with Erasmus, _nihil morosius
hominum judiciis_, there is nought so peevish as men's judgments; yet this
is some comfort, _ut palata, sic judicia_, our censures are as various as
our palates.