o me than
any other, Peter Giles, born at Antwerp, who is a man of great honour,
and of a good rank in his town, though less than he deserves; for I do
not know if there be anywhere to be found a more learned and a better
bred young man; for as he is both a very worthy and a very knowing
person, so he is so civil to all men, so particularly kind to his
friends, and so full of candour and affection, that there is not,
perhaps, above one or two anywhere to be found, that is in all respects
so perfect a friend: he is extraordinarily modest, there is no artifice
in him, and yet no man has more of a prudent simplicity. His
conversation was so pleasant and so innocently cheerful, that his company
in a great measure lessened any longings to go back to my country, and to
my wife and children, which an absence of four months had quickened very
much. One day, as I was returning home from mass at St. Mary's, which is
the chief church, and the most frequented of any in Antwerp, I saw him,
by accident, talking with a stranger, who seemed past the flower of his
age; his face was tanned, he had a long beard, and his cloak was hanging
carelessly about him, so that, by his looks and habit, I concluded he was
a seaman. As soon as Peter saw me, he came and saluted me, and as I was
returning his civility, he took me aside, and pointing to him with whom
he had been discoursing, he said, "Do you see that man? I was just
thinking to bring him to you." I answered, "He should have been very
welcome on your account." "And on his own too," replied he, "if you knew
the man, for there is none alive that can give so copious an account of
unknown nations and countries as he can do, which I know you very much
desire." "Then," said I, "I did not guess amiss, for at first sight I
took him for a seaman." "But you are much mistaken," said he, "for he
has not sailed as a seaman, but as a traveller, or rather a philosopher.
This Raphael, who from his family carries the name of Hythloday, is not
ignorant of the Latin tongue, but is eminently learned in the Greek,
having applied himself more particularly to that than to the former,
because he had given himself much to philosophy, in which he knew that
the Romans have left us nothing that is valuable, except what is to be
found in Seneca and Cicero. He is a Portuguese by birth, and was so
desirous of seeing the world, that he divided his estate among his
brothers, ran the same hazard as Americus Vesputi