This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.

find itself in such a cunning ambush that the slanderous original: "maledici" do not strive completely to see it destroyed. Today, even the lowliest mechanical arts mechanical arts: manual trades or crafts, such as blacksmithing or weaving, which were historically viewed as less prestigious than the "liberal arts" of the elite. are treated with more respect than Virtue is; for in those trades, no one presumes to judge them unless they actually practice the craft. Yet, being most certain that in these labors of mine, the most ignorant man will be the boldest Censor original: "Censore." Referring to a self-appointed judge of another's work.; here the Momuses Momus: the Greek god of satire and mockery; a common literary trope for a person who finds fault with everything, even the works of the gods. and critics will unjustly cast their biting judgments. Every reader, without thinking, will judge—not what is the best, but what is most pleasing to his own particular temperament.