What Use to Us Is Studying?

Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585), Odes 2.18 (tr. Malcolm Quainton and Elizabeth Vinestock): My mind is thoroughly exhausted from too much study of Aratus' Phaenomena; it is time I had some fun, and went out into the fields to play. Good Heavens! Who would want to praise those who, glued to a book, never have any interest in living? What use to us is studying, except to exhaust us? And to pile care upon care on to us, who will perhaps become, either this morning or this evening, the victim of black Orcus? Orcus who is so pitiless that he does not pardon anyone. Corydon, go on ahead, find out where good wine is on sale; chill the bottle, look for a shady arbour where I can recline; don't buy me any meat, because, however tasty it may be, I hate meat in Summer. Buy apricots, melons, artichokes, strawberries, and some cream — that's what I like in Summer, when, beside a stream, I eat to the sound of the water, stretched out on the bank, or in a lonely cave. Now while I am hale and hearty I…