Prefaces to Fiction by Various
page 23 of 56 (41%)
page 23 of 56 (41%)
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But whilest I speak of Civility, it is fit I should tell you (for fear I be accused of falling therein) that if you see throughout all my Work, whenas _Soliman_ is spoken unto, Thy Highness, Thy Majestie, and that in conclusion he is treated with Thee, and not with You, it is not for want of Respect, but contrarily it is to have the more, and to observe the custom of those people, who speak after that sort to their Sovereigns. And if the Authority of the living may be of as much force, as that of the dead, you shall find examples of it in the most famous _Othomans_, and you shall see that their Authors have not been afraid to employ in their own Tongue a manner of speaking, which they have drawn from the Greek and Latin; and then too I have made it appear clearlie, that I have not done it without design; for unless it be whenas the Turks speak to the Sultan, or he to his Inferiours, I have never made use of it, and either of them doth use it to each other. Now for fear it may be objected unto me, that I have approached some incidents nearer than the Historie hath shewed them to be, great _Virgil_ shall be my Warrant, who in his Divine _Æneids_ hath made _Dido_ appear four Ages after her own; wherefore I have believed I might do of some moneths, what he hath done of so many Years, and that I was not to be afraid of erring, as long as I followed so good a guide. I know not likewise whether some may not take it ill, that my _Hero_ and _Heronia_ are not Kings; but besides that the Generous do put no difference between wearing of Crowns, and meriting them, and that my _Justiniano_ is of a Race which hath held the Empire of the Orient, the example of _Athenagoras_, me-thinks, ought to stop their mouths, seeing _Theogines_ and _Charida_ are but simple Citizens. |
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