en, friends, fortunes, or great Duchy of Tuscany_. So I
account thee, and who doth not so indeed? Abdalonymus was a
gardener, and yet by Alexander for his virtues made King of
Syria. How much better is it to be born of mean parentage and to
excel in worth, to be morally noble, which is preferred before
that natural nobility by divines, philosophers, and politicians,
to be learned, honest, discreet, well qualified to be fit for any
manner of employment in country and commonwealth, war and peace,
than to be _degeneres Neoptolemi_ as so many brave nobles are,
only wise because rich, otherwise idiots, illiterate, unfit for
any manner of service? Udalricus, Earl of Cilia, upbraided John
Huniades with the baseness of his birth; but he replied, _In te
Ciliensis comitatus turpiter exstinguitur, in me gloriose
Bistricensis exoritur_; thine earldom is consumed with riot; mine
begins with honour and renown. Thou hast had so many noble
ancestors; what is that to thee? _Vix ea nostra voco_; when thou
art a disard[65] thyself, _quid prodest Pontice longo stemmate
censeri_? etc. I conclude, hast thou a sound body and a good
soul, good bringing up? Art thou virtuous, honest, learned, well
qualified, religious? Are thy conditions good? Thou art a true
nobleman, perfectly noble though born of Thersites, _dummodo tu
sis Aeacidae similis non natus sed factus_, noble kat' exochen,
_for neither sword, nor fire, nor water, nor sickness, nor
outward violence, nor the devil himself can take thy good parts
from thee_. Be not ashamed of thy birth then; thou art a
gentleman all the world over, and shalt be honoured, whenas he,
strip him of his fine clothes, dispossess him of his wealth, is a
funge[66] (which Polynices in his banishment found true by
experience, gentry was not esteemed), like a piece of coin in
another country, that no man will take, and shall be contemned.
Once more, though thou be a barbarian born at Tontonteac, a
villain, a slave, a Saldanian negro, or a rude Virginian in
Dasamonquepeuc,[67] he a French monsieur, a Spanish don, a
seignior of Italy, I care not how descended, of what family, of
what order--baron, count, prince--if thou be well qualified and
he not but a degenerate Neoptolemus, I tell thee in a word thou
art a man and he is a beast."

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