Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/124

them carefully. These, therefore, did not absorb everything; rather did they burden themselves in front and behind with bags and pouches into which they crammed these gallipots (on most of them they saw written—"Vocabulary, Dictionary, Lexicon Promptuarium, Floriligium, Loci Communes Postillæ, Concordancy Herbal," and so forth, according to what each one judged appropriate); these they carried with them, and when they had to speak or write something they took them from their pouches, and put them in their mouth or pen. Noting this, I said: "These, then, carry their learning in their pockets?" The interpreter answered: "These are Memoriæ Subsidia; hast thou not heard of them?" I had, indeed, heard this custom praised by some; they said that those only who used them brought forth learned things. And it may be thus, but I noted other incommodities also. It befell in my presence that some scattered and lost their gallipots, while those of others caught fire while they had put them aside. Oh, how they then ran to and fro, wrung their hands, lamented, and cried for help! Now no one for a while wished to dispute, write, or preach any longer; they walked along drooping their heads, and bending downward and blushed, and endeavoured wherever they could to obtain another little box, either by means of entreaties or of money. Those, however, who had a store within them feared not such accidents so much.