Menasseh ben Israel — Even yeqarah / Piedra gloriosa o de la estatua de Nebuchadnesar (1655)

presented to the great ought to possess either costliness or rarity, circumstances that could have intimidated my audacity, or discouraged me from bringing my obligations to the public. For it is certain that I cannot make an equal compensation, much less exceed it; and it is not in my power to provide that which is costly, much less that which is rare. But if it is true that everyone fulfills their part by doing what they can, I confess that I am poor, and that I have not had the fortune to possess the rare, but only a mediocre wit, although happy

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