The pilgrim is now conducted to the street of the soldiers and knights. Here the intense hatred of bloodshed and warfare, so characteristic of the brethren, is very evident. The battle-piece (chap. xx.) has rightly been admired as one of the most striking and eloquent things that Komensky ever wrote. Of the knights, Komensky writes somewhat briefly. His writings show that he shared the detestation of coats-of-arms, and all hereditary dignities, that was characteristic of his community, from Chelcicky[1] (indirectly its founder) downward. It is scarcely doubtful that Komensky dealt but superficially with this matter, to show well-deserved courtesy to Charles, lord of Zerotin, under whose protection he then resided at Brandeis, and to whom the "Labyrinth" is dedicated. Charles of Zerotin, a great statesman and a great Bohemian writer,[2] was indeed, as regards his fame, by no means dependent on the glory of his ancestors. Yet even a far-seeing and enlightened nobleman like Zerotin, to whom Komensky's short and severe account of knightly life was in no way applicable, would perhaps have resented sharper attacks on the knights and nobles of his country.
Having now found but vanity and vileness in the six principal streets of the city of the world, the pilgrim, still conducted by his guides, Searchall
- ↑ For Chelcicky, see my "History of Bohemian Literature," pp. 153-157, and particularly pp. 159-171. I have there translated part of Chelcicky's fiercely satirical attack on the armorial bearings of the Bohemian nobles.
- ↑ For Charles of Zerotin, see my "History of Bohemian Literature," pp. 321-325.
