Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/157

Rh declared them to be divinators, sorcerers, and incarnate devils.

3. Generally there was a noise everywhere in the market-place, and almost everyone burnt with the desire of obtaining these goods. Therefore not a few wrote petitions (some secretly, some openly), and they sent them, rejoicing at the thought that they also would be received into the association. But I saw that to each one his petition, after all parts of it had been briefly scanned, was returned without an answer; and their joyful hope was changed to grief, for the unbelievers laughed at them. Some wrote again, a second, a third time, and oftener; and each man, through the aid of the muses, begged, and even implored, that his mind might not be deprived of that learning which was worthy of being desired. Some, unable to bear the delay, ran from one region of the earth to another, lamenting their misfortune that they could not find these happy men. This one attributed to his own unworthiness; another to the ill-will of these men, and then one man despaired, while another, looking round and seeking new roads to find these men, was again disappointed, till I myself was grieved, seeing no end to this.