[1] “With chalk in hand,” “col gesso.” This is one of the bons mots of Alexander VI, and refers to the ease with which Charles VIII seized Italy, implying that it was only necessary for him to send his quartermasters to chalk up the billets for his soldiers to conquer the country. Cf. “The History of Henry VII,” by Lord Bacon: “King Charles had conquered the realm of Naples, and lost it again, in a kind of a felicity of a dream. He passed the whole length of Italy without resistance: so that it was true what Pope Alexander was wont to say: That the Frenchmen came into Italy with chalk in their hands, to mark up their lodgings, rather than with swords to fight.”
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[2] “Contesting,” i.e. “striving for mastery.” Mr Burd points out that this passage is imitated directly from Cicero’s “De Officiis”: “Nam cum sint duo genera decertandi, unum per disceptationem, alterum per vim; cumque illud proprium sit hominis, hoc beluarum; confugiendum est ad posterius, si uti non licet superiore.”
And how am I to convince you, he said, if you are not already convinced by what I have just said; what more can I do for you? Would you have me put the proof bodily into your souls?
Arjuna. Yet tell me, Teacher! by what force doth man Go to his ill, unwilling; as if one Pushed him that evil path?
From end to end of earth, Filling life full, from birth To death, with deadly, burning, lurid dread! Ah, Vishnu! make me know Why is Thy visage so? Who art Thou, feasting thus upon Thy dead?
The first of mortal men. Again, Thou God! again A thousand thousand times be magnified! Honour and worship be-- Glory and praise,--to Thee Namo, Namaste, cried on every side;
Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial) — Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Religion Of Faith
Because she leaves you to snivel, and never wipes your nose: she has not even taught you to know the shepherd from the sheep.
Then, if there be any good which all artists have in common, that is to be attributed to something of which they all have the common use?
Nor would you say that medicine is the art of receiving pay because a man takes fees when he is engaged in healing?
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
Like moths which in the night Flutter towards a light, Drawn to their fiery doom, flying and dying, So to their death still throng, Blind, dazzled, borne along Ceaselessly, all those multitudes, wild flying!
Arjuna. Worthily, Lord of Might! The whole world hath delight In Thy surpassing power, obeying Thee; The Rakshasas, in dread At sight of Thee, are sped To all four quarters; and the company
Of Fronto, to how much envy and fraud and hypocrisy the state of a tyrannous king is subject unto, and how they who are commonly called εὐπατρίδαι, i.e. nobly born, are in some sort incapable, or void of natural affection.
The matter itself, of which the universe doth consist, is of itself very tractable and pliable. That rational essence that doth govern it, hath in itself no cause to do evil. It hath no evil in itself; neither can it do anything that is evil: neither can anything be hurt by it. And all things are done and determined according to its will and prescript.
Or because a man is in good health when he receives pay you would not say that the art of payment is medicine?
Suppose that at the palestra somebody hath all to-torn thee with his nails, and hath broken thy head. Well, thou art wounded. Yet thou dost not exclaim; thou art not offended with him. Thou dost not suspect him for it afterwards, as one that watcheth to do thee a mischief. Yea even then, though thou dost thy best to save thyself from him, yet not from him as an enemy. It is not by way of any suspicious indignation, but by way of gentle and friendly declination. Keep the same mind and disposition in other parts of thy life also. For many things there be, which we must conceit and apprehend, as though we had had to do with an antagonist at the palestra. For as I said, it is very possible for us to avoid and decline, though we neither suspect, nor hate.
Cried here, above, below, Uttered when Thou dost go, Uttered where Thou dost come! Namo! we call; Namostu! God adored! Namostu! Nameless Lord! Hail to Thee! Praise to Thee! Thou One in all;
Nor would you say that medicine is the art of receiving pay because a man takes fees when he is engaged in healing?
Meditations — Chapter 6: Book 6 (Sixth)