and yet neyther one of our sayde two louers can impart wyth a straunger without our extreeme displeasure bicause that as the lyfe of two louers dependes mutually one vpon an other the man liuing altogither in the woman and shée likewise reposing onely in him so they could not but communicate both in equall griefe if others besides themselues woulde presse to giue pleasure not onely such as nature kindles in vs but generally to their Ladies as their Lordes And yet they spare it in themselues as in a reciprocall regarde delyting farre rather to féede themselues with a sweete and sugred desire which by this appetite they haue then with a cloyed fulnesse gathering the pleasaunt fruit one of another yea we are so déepely vowed in them and they assured in vs that if it happen in a dreame their ymaginations haue deceyued them as thinking to haue communicated with vs such is our pleasure to thinke that felicitie mooued in them by our occasion and meanes wée tryumphe in no lesse inwarde ioy and gladnesse of minde then if we had béene present to performe and execute our willes For to vse a iudgement in simple truth the pleasure doth not so much mooue vs in our selues as the desire we haue to be the cause of that wherewith our Mistresses may participate seeing as we are borne for them and not for our selues so we liue in them and not in our selues and die in them to be eftsoones reuiued in them lyke as also the benefite which we promise our selues to receyue of them although in it selfe it conteyne singuler greatnesse and merite yet is it not so highly perfite as that which we hope to procure to them and so doubt not at all sir that there is any one in loue who is not extréemely gréeued when his pretended friend or seconde himselfe findes contentment with any other whatsoeuer not that theyr loue as I sayde and still maintaine be grounded vpon such substaunce In déede we desire and thurst after that poynt bicause nature vpon great cause consideration hath taught vs so to do But as we desire it by nature so loue by a more violent reason teacheth vs a modest gouernement what is more to be sayde Although there were no hope to enter that common hauen and that my mystresse had made mée altogither desperate in accustomed expectation yet I stand in the same dutie and regarde of setled loue that was rooted in me before albeit vnder this singuler perswasion and assuraunce in my selfe that there was no default of friendship but rather some greater reason tending to entertaine our loue which induced hir to denie me wherein also if other occasion should leade hir as to be more affected to an other than to me or holding me lesse deare than eyther I haue hoped or she professed yet my loue should not diminish otherwayes then by a Metamorphesis or tragiâ—all coniunction into pyning griefe which as the Aegle vpon Promotheus should plucke and pynch my heart by péecemeale till with my loue my life were also resolued to ayre bicause I onely desâ—red to be in place to giue hir the contentment she wished more in contemplation and regard of hir than of my selfe who if my loue did not aspire but to that poynt I woulde neuer rest till I had aduaunced the issue and conquered that happie effect and yet in thrusting for it I desire it not as in desiring it I doe not long for it but as a voluble affection I make it farre inferior to other regardes I repose in hir You may aske me here what is this true loue whose pleasaunt torment so throwes the worlde into passions wherevnto the Philosophers shall aunswere for me who in a déepe insight thinking to attaine to the vnderstanding of nature ymagined loue to be a most excellent forme or plot excéeding generally the consideration of man and therefore did figure vnto vs an Androgina by whome they ment a man composed of the Masculine and Femenine sexe and he standing in his state of perfection swelled in such mortall pryde agaynst the Gods that by that meanes he was afterwardes deuided into two But it is most manifest that this vnitie of the two halfes is not ment by a coniunction of the bodyes but by the communion of the myndes bicause this superficiall forme of bodie which we sée in our selues is not the man of whome we speake but an organe of the man which we couer in our selues like as we note euen from the beginning of the worlde that God hath formed vs to his owne lykenesse as alwayes inuisible and deâ—ided from all corporall masse vntill the tyme wherein he is to accomplishe his promises If Plato were the first that preferred this opinion of Androgina as I am not resolute that he ment the onely coniunction of myndes so I dare fully assure my selfe that he figured such a myracle to represent vnto vs some heauenly matter in loue wherein it may be disputed of it in such sort as one by whose search and traueyle in Egypt he had commoned with the priestes of the lawe in the hystorie of Moyses touching his Genesis But what néede wée acknowledge this Androgina in the Gréekes and forraine Philosophers who onely as it were by certaine chinkes and creuises beholde the Sunne séeing the true light thereof remaines amongst our selues and whatsoeuer they defined of it was eyther ignorauntly or by stealth which they haue disguised since as not to be seene to borrow any thing of other straunge nations which they call barbarous The true and onely Androgina is that which was presented vnto vs not by a hystorie or ryding tale but by a marueylous effect in the person of Adam when this mightie Architâ—uctor of all thinges of a souereigne wisdome reserued onely to himselfe framed of one bodie and one spirite two bodyes and two myndes which prooues this amitie to bée more deuine and heauenly than the common sort can presume Albeit if you will that I declare more at large hauing already in short reuealed this excellent myracle vnder the which is comprehended the Image of true loue what libertie God hath left vs since to loue one another and the cause why we traueyle in affection Assure your selfe seigneur Phylopolo to note no lesse confusion in me then happened to him who vndertaking to dispute vpon the nature of God referred it alwayes from one day to another as a thing incomprehensible to our myndes Oh God what thing is loue may I say it proceedes of a similitude maners or that he takes his beginning of a constellation or influence of the selfe ascendantes vnder the which we are borne No no for then in both the one and other maner it must néedes follow by infallible consequence that no man louing should be deceyued in his loue but be encountred with reciprocall action I meane euery one that loued should be also beloued And to establish loue vpon a selfe education and mutuall nouriture woulde séeme no lesse farre
is one poynt sayth Phylopolo which might giue place to the question wherein perhappes I will one day offer you the chalenge as finding it straunge that you will make march vnder one Methode the man and the wyfe albeit for the present I will reserue it to another season onely to discharge my selfe now agaynst seigneur Glaphyro who for the better authoritie of his opinion séekes to make vs vnderstande that loue hath none other residence then in the heart and nothing at all in these naturall intemperaunces which he sayth are nourished in our mindes sure seigneur Glaphyro me thinkes you sake to leade vs in a straunge construction touching the force and vertue of loue seeing ther was neuer louer who loued not to this end which you so far estraung banish from the park of loue what other cause is there of our aâ—â—ction â–ª or what else doth induce vs to loue our Ladyes if not this last felicitie which we pretende to finde in them wherein besides common experience which of it selfe ought to suffice to iudge betweene vs how many examples haue we reade in antiquitie amongst whome we finde no one louer who at length hath not required of his mystresse that poynt which we call the fruite of loue the same in mine opinion being the motion and onely purpose of this extréeme loue nay rather it is euen loue it selfe which is none other thing then a desire to vse and possesse Great surely and gracious is the effect of the eye hande and heares but not of such force as that in them we may finde a full reliefe to the torments we endure but rather with Mars when he possessed frankely his Venus let vs directly séeke out the marke wherevnto loue leades vs And albeit from the eyes and lookes doe flowe no small contentment yet they are but dymme starres in respect of the other light wherein I holde him altogither insensuaâ—e who vnder anye other consideration pretendes to professe loue to Ladies This speach is not indecently vsed seigneur Phylopolo sayth Monophylo neyther improperly applyed to the present matter onely I thanke you that in fauouring partly my opinion you offer me simplie your ayde without the which notwithstanding I thinke Glaphyro vnderstanding my reasons woulde haue condiscended to my saying as being of it selfe sufficiently defensible And albeit I haue nowe to rest in quiet with him for the matter of loyaltie yet me thinkes notwithstanding I acknowledge somewhat vnthankefully the benefite you haue presented to me you and I shall not so easily accorde bicause in my iudgement as you séeme sinisterly to comprehende all the nature of loue so I will not resist that the louer ought not to thurst for the thing which you holde in such estimation But that to loue onely for that respect is eyther true loue or friendship of continuance I maintaine agaynst you and all chalengers hoping you will take it as from him whose nature cannot be disguised from the office of a true louer we see by experience many men who pretending onely that marke and ende in loue after they haue brought their pretence to a matter of effect as men whose natures chaunge in a moment they become no lesse colde in desire than earsâ—e they laboured in vehement meanes to aduaunce the execution of their fléeting will yea they are euill acquainted with the nature of loue who dispose him onely vnder a contentment to frayle he being in himself so diuine and wonderfull and the pray after which they hunt so passable and of no abode indéede this I will confesse that nature to multiplie this huge and rounde bodie which you sée doth kindle in vs by a secrete wisedome certaine motions or stinges which with good right some haue called brutall as béeing common to vs with other creatures and not onely with them but euen with trées and things not sensible which séeme to bloome and become fruitfull for the encrease of their 〈◊〉 which naturall vehemencie if it had not bene necessarie also in vs this huge plot and workemanship of the earth had soone taken ende This is the cause why intercepting our willes â–ª and guiding our affections by these disordered appetytes which necessitie puttes in vs we beare to the communitie of women certaine sparkes of strâ—nger good will than to men and they likewise to vs the same happening in ordinarie example séeing there was neuer personage of such deformitie if I may charge him vpon his fayth and conscience who naturally receyues not specially in a conformetie of things more contentment in the companie of women then in the felowship of men For our nature doth euen reioyce in them as séeing hirselfe by an honest and lawfull coniunction of one to another immortalised So that by this meane is founde an affection verie vehement which generally wée beare to all women But not this perticuler friendship of one to one whereof you speake which in my iudgement consistes as a more vyolent cause then that which you alleage wherein I will lay my selfe vpon the relation of certaine noble minded men who albeit doe honour their Ladyes with a setled affection pretending with all pollecie to conquere the extréeme marke and felicitie in loue yet I haue noted them to rest best satisfied with the onely vse of the sight presence and speach of theyr Ladyes and that bicause they feared that being possessed of that inuisible paradise their loue would conuert into some chauÌ„ge then much lesse that they estéemed it to be the onely cause of their affection yea it is a common perswasion among the populer sort that hauing woonne that point vpon a gentlewoman loue which the sonne when he is at the highest beginnes to decline and then better is it to hunt the chase then obtayne the pray so that according to the purpose of their reasons the selfe same subiect which as they iudge is the very spring and original of loue is also the whole and onely reuersor of the same séeing their building being pitched vpon a frayle foundation the worke and matter desolues in it selfe the same happening oftentimes to such foolish louers who rest no lesse deceyued in their enterprise than their thought was vayne But nowe seigneur Glaphyro let me aske you this rouing question if two louers not setting their minde vpon this contentment which you meane and yet one of them betray his affection as to become prodigall of his bodie elsewhere doe you thinke this abuse is not a tyring griefe to his mystresse if by chaunce she come to the knowledge of it This I say because that you establishing your loue in the heart estéemes these naturall intemperaunces as you call them not to touche or hurt in any sort such as doe loue wherein for my part suche is my opinion and in it is some conformitie with yours that loue kéepes his true and only abode in the hart not styrring by suche intemperaunces but by a certaine greater cause as ymmediately I meane to prooue
opinion the chiefe cause that bréedes loue some notwithstanding will not sticke to maintaine that they haue a certayne ymagination and sparke to whome if they haue prooued the condicion of beastes I leaue the matter to their beastlye iudgement séeing it is not for the respect of beastes I speake but for men which loue wherwith Phylopolo dissembling his thought yet haue I learned alwayes sayth he that louers were beastes I know not quod I eyther what sortes of louers you meane or with what formes of beastes you resemble them but well may I vaunt for my selfe by the honour and loue which of long I haue borne and yet with all reuerence do owe to a singuler mistresse of mine of a simple ydyot I am béecome better instructed then if I hadde runne ouer all the preceptes of the Courtyer But not to wander in variety of matter as I holde with you seigneur Monophylo that loue kindles of this naturall instinct so there restes onelye in proofe betwéene you and me and the same to be handled by some sufficient meanes whether the onelye ende of loue consider the sweete vse wherein if I might strengthen my selfe by the common opinion of the worlde you should not onely loase your chalenge but resigne at one instaunt both the fielde and the fight for except your selfe what is he in the worlde that loues not chiefelye for that ende and yet sir not to assure my selfe vpon so fraile a iudgement I praye you tell me if the loue of a man to a woman pretended not but to the minde why shoulde we féele the same to passion vs sometime with a whire winde of ioye and from thence to a storme of sorrowe and then sodainelye become as ouerwhelmed with quailenesse of feare And in the friendeship of man to man we are touched with no such torment sauing that in this last wée holde our selues satisfied to be beloued of them and the same béeing knowne vnto vs we haue alreadie touched the poynt of our pretence but in the last besides the mind we accompany our desires with a hope which leades vs in a promise to bring vs one day to the porte of pleasaunt possession Besides I pray you tell me if this loue were guided onely by a bonde and coniunction of mindes ought wée not by naturall iudgement rather loue him whome God hath fashioned in euerie degrée like to our selues then to folowe the woman whome it séemes he created one degrée inferiour to our selues But we prooue the contrarie in common example and experience seing without comparison wée rather doate of the woman than loue the man yea we sée by this feminine loue that the lawe of true friendeship which was betwene man and man hath béene violated and corrupted wherein I coulde commende vnto you the tragedye of Gysippus and Tytus which Tytus notwistanding the auncient and setled friendship betwéene him and his companion which was such as their séemed to remaine betwéene them a common will in all things yet such was the violent furie of loue towardes the future spowse of his friende that it dissolued that strong and long league betwéene them and notwithstanding the order and helpe of his companion he prepared his owne destruction the same moouing for that he proued in his minde two extremities of contrarie qualitie albeit the one more vehement than the other which was loue whose sharpe stinges so prickt him forwarde that albeit he woulde haue refrayned in fauor of the friendshippe to his déere Gysippus yet he hadde no power to applye other remedye than by his death wherevnto he prepared him selfe A like example doe I finde in Iustine of the sonne of a King who defyling all lawes of men nature was so enchaunted in loue to a stepmother of his that notwithstanding his office of obedience to his father yet coulde he neuer be purged of that euill but eyther by the accomplishment of his desire or that death had applyed a playster to his raging sore what set abroche these vesselles of frensie in these two men for so maye I call them as by whome was violated all right of friendship and nature but that in the friendshippe of man to man is comprehended but a cōformitie of minds and this loue contaynes a sympathia communicating both with the minde and the bodie I meane as touching the bodie this fleshly copulation the onely ende and purpose of our loue for euen as in all other thinges being come to the ende we aspire to we resolue into a contentment and absolute quiet euen so by this onelye meane these two afore named attained to the execucion of their passioned desires and not onely they but all others arriuing in that desired port of pleasaunt vse wherein in place and proofe of our former perplexities in these extreame desires being in this hauen the stormes of our violent passions do eyther absolutely dissolue or partelye qualefie and loue takes in vs a newe forme and habite as our nature is disposed abyding still notwithstanding in his essence of loue this is the cause why the Ethnicks haue figured the same Androgina by you alleaged as when the two parts moyties seperated séeke to reioyne themselues as an auncient poet of that time helde that the sowles were therevpon coopled togither to whose opinion you coulde willinglye haue condiscended were it not you feared to entangle your selfe when you confessed to vs that the Androgina was a desire to vnite and knitte the two moyties being deuided and if you will discende to that which God from the beginning of the worlde propoundes vnto vs whereof you haue thought to make your profite albeit vpon credite is it not prouided in the same that we should be rather two mindes in one bodie and one fleshe then one spirite within two bodies I will not denie that to forme thandrogina both the one and other are requisite but the same is to proue vnto you that if you desire one minde onlie in two bodies you séeke to mak this our Androgina defectiue and imperfit And wherevpon the yssue of your discourse to giue a greater grace to your opinion you séeme to alleage the auctoritie of your lawes as in that they require the onelye consent to establish mariage I say that consent procéeding of this coniunction of mindes not common bréedes and engendreth this loue but the communion of the bodies consomates and makes it perfite for so did our lawes vnderstand who in euery respect maintained the true ende of mariage to bee the multiplying of the worlde and yet I stande in some doubt in what sence they construed this consent you speake of séeing we haue in example that it hath béene suffred to men and women to enter mariage euen in the age of indiscression wherein they séemed not so precise in knowledge so that onelye there were habilitie of cohabitation and therefore it séemed the lawes vnderstoode by this consent a mutuall foreknowledge to this coniuction of the bodies the same being
loue any prorogatiue aboue vs séeing also if I may waigh my reasons with the opinions of the worlde that as by common voyce the woman is estéemed aboue him who offereth court to hir as shée being called mistresse and he seruaunt so it standes him more in duetie not to offende his Ladie to whome he is bounde then she to feare him whome shée maye commaunde lyke as in common reason there is alwayes more libertie alowed in generall respectes to the mayster than a simple licence to him that professeth the state of a seruaunt and yet for my part bicause I will be no partie to that fonde opinion I neyther can nor will perswade that in loue there is or ought to be prorogatiue of power For where the woman is not equallie plunged with the man nor he likewise as déepely touched with affection as the woman how so euer they embrace one another yet such colde banquets can no waye merit the name of loue but rather méere dissimulation sturring I know not by what motion whose continuaunce is not long I can make no reckening of that woman who séeing hir poore friende endure extréeme passions of loue for hir sake will sometimes embrace him to drawe him the rather within hir nettes and then vpon the sodayne will turne the cart against the horse and not vouchsafe one looke of fauour vpon him For my part much lesse that I can commend this order séeing if I were alowed president in that cause as Phylopolo woulde haue earst established me hir crueltie should be punished with a continuaunce of banishment from the societie of all honest Ladies I cannot denie for all this that sometimes we shall not be constrayned to receyue such troubles in loue as it is possible then to entertaine our Ladies or friendes as wée were woont but in that we ought to be ignoraunt and much losse procéede by any artificiall pollicie the soner to giue them a Bée to buze withall but rather by a certaine naturall instinct sturred vp of an extréeme loue vnder the which are comprehended feare and sorrowe Thus much I holde Gentlemen against the opinion of suche as rashly pretende inequalitie in loue which I can neuer admit and much lesse alowe that the woman be called mystresse of the man vnlesse in like sort he bee in déede the peaceable possessor and Lorde of the hart of his Ladie maintaining also by the same contrarie to Phylopolo that it is no more lawfull to the man than to the woman vnder couler of my fonde opinion conceyued amongst men to communicate themselues in manye places Indéede Madam quod I you may well call it opinion but not nature how soeuer the common sort estéeme of it wherein for a better declaration I wish Phylopolo to looke vpon Solon a true folower of nature who by his lawâ—s as one in this companie did earst affirme made lawfull to the wife not hauing meane to conceaue by hir husbande to procure hir generation by other helpes and yet you say it is a natural thing that the woman participate not but with one onelie if I should aleage vnto you the cuntrie of Cipres wherein maydes win their dowries by the sweate of their bodyes woulde you holde our custome to be more founded vpon nature than that yea if I shoulde bring forth Plato in whose common wealth was suffred a communitie of women woulde you not assure your saying vpon worldelye opinion séeing that great Philosopher thought he ruled himselfe altogither by the reasons of nature I lyke not of that lawe sayth the Lady by reason of the confusion of children as being not able to be discerned in this qualitie no more than the request of the good matrones of Rome in the time of Papyrius pretending to haue two husbandes for such sought to muche to satisfie their disordinat lustes yet you sawe sayth Phylopolo with what oportunities these good dames enforced their sute to the Senate and I doubt they woulde not haue béene contented with two husbandes but abusing that libertie woulde at length haue fallen into the vice of all those women which passed through the handes of those two erraunt Knightes Astolphe and Ioconde represented within that excellent Italyan Homer Arioste herein you are disceyued sayth Chariclea for if all those Ladies had béene stricken with suche loue as wée speake of they had neuer fallen and in mine opinion we finde more felicitie in one frinde simplie and truly affected than in a number others whose loues be eyther ordinarye or for necessitie wherein what better example can I aleage that out of the place you speake of for the same Astolphe Ioconde chose in the ende one Ladie to content them both and yet a little quidam who afore had gaged the vessell of loue to them both notwithstanding their precise héede did cutte the grasse from vnder their féete the same bicause loue by this former ambushe had giuen him a first conquest there But as these examples doe not touche me in care so are they also out of the course of my first argument which tenden onelie to this ende that as I woulde not alowe to a woman libertie of communion with euerye one so that I woulde not also haue you to thinke that the same is caused more by a naturall reason wherein you may establish some aduauntage to our preiudice than by a bountie and sinceritie of hart which guiding vs therevnto in time doth so settle in the heartes of most men that if we offer to withstande it they make it a matter of sinister ymputation to vs albeit in déede the act it selfe there is neyther cause of discredite nor reason of such disaduauntage as you pretende but rather it includes matter of honor and commoditie to our honest meanings in déede Madame sayth Glaphyro it can not but giue you a singuler value of honor But for my part I beléeue that lawe was neuer erected but to our great confusion neyther doe I sée anye other cause why a woman should be embrased or counted by so manye honest personages and not attaine to the swéete vse of their pleasaunt attemptes but the tyrannie of this wicked lawe raysed as it séemes in despite both of man and woman bicause the woman fearing the note of dishonour by the worlde dares not performe the last acte of the league but by woonderfull pollicie heare Phylopolo stoode still vpon the iustructions of nature and that we were not directed by mans ordynaunce wherein he layde the examples of beastes amongst whome notwithstanding the long pursute of the male to hys mate yet is shée hardlye brought to obey his will by whome sayth he we maye be taught that the woman ought not to be so familiar that way as the man This is but a voluble fancie sayth Charyclea and rather an error by ignorance then a true iudgement of the propertie of beastes of whom the example of the turtle is against you in whom be he male or be shée female is suffred
growe to a canker to the generall hazard of the whole bodie And cutting from hir all fréedome to transgresse those lymits who dare attempt with you to giue hir libâ—rtie of loyaltie to straungers whome shée is bounde to vse but in a generall friendeshippe For be it we haue some lykelyhoode of reason to content our affection bicause nature inclines vs to it yet we ought to loue with moderation both bicause it so pleaseth the lawes and also conducible to a pollityke gouernement otherwise we shoulde bring in a huge and confused Chaos as not to be able to discerne vnder the shadow of this mutuall amitie to whome a wife is due eyther to him which loueth perfitlye and is not maried or to the husbande who onely is induced to take a wife in respect of substaunce and wealth wherewith for my part I can not consent séeing that albeit a husbande be imperfect in manye thinges to allure and drawe loue yet it is a Christian duety in the wyfe to loue him onely bicause God hath made him hir husbande and much lesse can I allowe the suttle tie of him who hauing intised a woman to confesse that the Oxe house or feelde of hir neighbour being better than hir owne shoulde be also more acceptable and welcome to hir woulde therefore successiuely conclude ymagining to holde hir in his nettes that she should owe more loue to hir neighbour if he séemed of better taste than to hir husbande his error being monstrous in it selfe is also to be defaced with sundrie reasons for the wife albeit he for whome she is prouided is neyther riche fayre nor fashioned with equall cause of delight to others yea be it that without consent of affection she be thrust to him yet in the former respectes she ought to moderate in him and so temper the passion of hir lot that no vnbrideled infirmitie appeare wherein let hir make familyer with hir selfe the modest aunswer of a vertuous matrone in Rome to hir husbande who falling into angrye tearmes with hir for that in the long season and time of their felowship togither she had not tolde him the yll sauour of his breath which in straunge company was straungely reproched against him in good fayth husbande sayth shée I thought all other mens breathe caryed the lyke sauour so that a woman ought to make the beawtie and bountie of hir husbande a looking glasse to resolue hir fancie and indgement and not to ymagine a déeper perfection then in his person yea and if shée happen by blinde concupiscence to vse neâ—ligence in this duetie let hir take aduise of reason to intercept and breake that wherevnto not hir nature but a disordered will doth inforce and thrust hir otherwise if your opinion should be fauoured with authoritie it might be applyed to other matters of no lesse iniustice when by a foolish motion they séeme acceptable to vs a thing which ought not to be suffered and therefore for our better asistaunce the lawes are deliuered as a bridle to our fleshely desires which wée coulde not sometymes subdue without feare to incurre punishment for which cause in common wealthes was alowed a cohercion of adulteries for such as shoulde offende against the statutes of mariage and that onely to encounter our humaine frailetie and not for any matter in dowries as is imputed who much lesse that they were impedimentes to maryages séeing of the contrarie they gaue quicke furtheraunce and high dignitie to wedlocke what if I prooue seigneur Monophylo by inuincible reasons that by wise discréete aduyse dowries haue béene thought necessarie for the intertainement of this societie of man will you not confesse to mée that notwithstanding for the onely consideration of dowries mariages did begin yet for all that they must not be restrayned in anye sorte in déede if we were in that golden time when was erected the first institution of mariage I confesse a certaine conformytie of reason to your present opinion and that we ought to knit with our wiues for fauour sake onely without respect bicause in that first time people were not subiect to such varietie of afflictions and miseries as at this daye séeing without labour or paine they lyued in the fauour and good pleasure of the earth who not then drawne into custome nor yet wearie to beare fruites refused to be tilled as since she hath required by meanes whereof they enioyed all thinges in common without discorde neyther was there any seperation or distinction of thinges and therefore it was lawfull for them in such foyson and masse of welth to make their pleasure pryuye to their choyse and maye onely for affection without couenaunt or condition of golde or siluer which as we sée at this daye happen to some great Lordes who want neyther power nor meane to entertaine their wyues in what proporcion they like best So touching vs whome nature and fortune haue so liberally imparted there treasors methinkes we stande vpon a weake vnderstanding if vnder the onelye consideration of loue without other necessarie care we enter this bonde of mariage we must lyue with our wiues I meane wée are bounde to continue the port of their estate to féede them and norish our children and famuly and so succor their diseases as no inconuenience happen of all which trauels and paines the onely burthen restes vpon the husâ—â—â—â—e according to the prouision of the eternall and infallible wisdome of that mightie and soueraigne iudge in Hauen Will you then confounde your selfe and reuerse your whole house through a vaine and fonde suggestion stirring sinisterly in your minde if in your common wealth of Lacedemonia whose authoritie you haue vsed the people had bene so disordered as was the nation of Rome when the wise Lawyers brought in dowries I beléeue your Lycurgus so peculyarly estéemed aboue the rest woulde haue vsed no lesse pollecie to his Lacedemonians than the other magistrates to reduce and establish their people for the Lawyer to such as he woulde forme and institute prescribes with the good Phisition to his pacient whome hée suffreth sometimes to taste vnholesome brothes to the ende to giue him a quicke appetite to better meates but if hée shoulde restraine or tie him to one singuler obseruation of his straight preceptes his perill might prooue mortall and his recouerie doubtfull euen so is it with the Lawyers who in a generall corruption of maners applying themselues oftentimes to the willes and humours of their subiectes finde it necessarie to tollerate vice in respect to aduaunce vertue and good things the same happening in the example of dowries which for such respect and reason haue bene founde necessarie in mariage being no other thing than a common socyetie And if amongest marchauntes the better to entertaine their traficke yet be lawfull for one to furnish the charge in counterchaunge of another that affordes his diligence what ought we to thinke in this association of man to woman whereof as I haue sayde all the brunt
and matter touching this humaine practice dependes on the witte and pollicie of the man sure seigneur Monophylo I can not make of it other than verye inconuenient albeit my opinion runne directlye against mine owne condicion and sex that onely husbandes should be clogged with this double yoke and burthen I meane both to afforde the paine and contribute with the gaine and that the wyfe should be left to hir delight and pleasure without other care than such as is voluntary vnto hir Let then this little that I haue sayd suffice to prooue a necessitie of dowries in the course of mariages and yet not so necessary as vnder colour of a corrupt nature eyther man nor woman transgressing all order of pollicie doe pretende to violate the lawes of chastitie ordayned in mariages Wherewith Charyclea ended and gaue liberty of spéeche to Monophylo who after his waspishe maner replyed in this sort This language Madame is not inconuenient to your condicion as beeing eyther partiall in the matter or partie to the cause albeit for mine owne part happening not long since into socyetie with Gentlemen of value amongst whome as their grewe question of our present argument and maintayned by the selfe reasons of your defence there was one amongest the rest of no lesse aptnesse in speache then déepe iudgement who vndertooke to impugne both the matter and his voluble opinion which it may like you to suffer me to recyte séeing the occasion requyres it I finde sayth he great reason in your wordes but better could I allow your opinion were it not that loue is aboue all your statutes and polletykes of man hoping you will thus farre consent with me that where nature speaketh loue must kéepe silence specially where shée contendes agaynst him as for example howe can all our positiue lawes enforced to their greatest power dissolue this proximitie of bloud and parentage which we haue one of another so long as we rest vpon earth it may bée you will say that for some fault or offence they will sometime bereaue vs of the right which seemes to belong to vs by the meane of parentage but they cannot cut of consanguinitie by which we are knit togither from our natiuitie Bicause nature onely and not the lawes hath layd that foundation and perfected the worke euenso in a maryage contracted onely vnder a pretence of dowrie you must not thinke that the lawe who admittes such tolleration hath any power at all to wrest the course of our true nature not that I would fashion a Chaos in common wealthes according to mens ymaginations obedience and societie are due to husbands by ciuill bande but the singuler affection to oure peculiar friendes is within the compasse of a naturall dutie wherein I beléeue that the lawes albeit they haue made no publike determination are notwithstanding couertly miscontented with such reciprocall friendships and if in times past as also at this day onely in respect of a naturall appetite inducible to pitie haue excused the execution of vengeance vpon any act of oppression yea though it stretched so farre as murder which of it selfe is punishable by all authoritie and pollicie what ought we to estéeme of loue who being no other then a selfe nature caryeth oftentymes agaynst our willes our affections with constraint to loue diuersly neither doe I thinke that the paine and statute for adulterers the onely remedie for maryages was raysed agaynst such as in a violent affection doe vow their hartes to one mystresse but rather to brydle these â—morous scoffers who as of a set minde to dallie and dissemble lay siege to euery place as they who in a priuie watche or ambushe put the reuenge of their enimyes to execution like as I thinke you shall finde iustified in the common wealth of Athens wherein for a tyme it was suffered to the women not able to conceyue by hir husbande to rayse generation with an other whome she loued with this prouision that the fruite springing of hir shoulde be esteemed the act of hir husband by which in my opinion the common wealth was neuer the more disordered but rather gouerned with more quiet and concorde of mynde and maners bicause that satisfying their ciuill ordinaunces they contented withall those which nature onely without other meane taught them And yet coulde I be better contented the better to incercept all such occasions if cutting of altogither our opinion of dowries we entred this yoke of maryage vnder a simple pretence and motion of affection only for touching where they may be mainteyned made necessarie in respect of a pollitike estate I doe not onely disalowe it but also of the contrary I thinke they are the first originall ground of the greatest part of disquietes that thunder vpon maried men And for your estate pollitike I praye you of what dependes this humaine felowship which we haue named mutuall entertainment if not of a reciprocall friendshippe which we ought to beare one to another the same being defaced by this wicked inuention of dowries For if I chaunce to settle in affection with a mayde of base condition and by a tollerable suggestion of nature procéede with hir in holye maryage shall I not runne into a populer obloquie as proclayming in me an act and example of wilfull folly yea my friends will contest agaynst me my companions concurre in common imputation and my parents eschew me and my choyse with vnnaturall grudge as to haue myngled my discent with a matche of inferiour estate such is the impression and regarde of dowryes where they discerne not that in this I haue found my Paradise and by the other I should haue runne hedlong into hell for as well the one as the other are comprehended vnder the name of maryage But if in a gréedie desire of golde and transitorie drosse I practise a Ladie of equall place and value to my selfe then that blind ignoraunce commendes and congratulates with me as estéeming that for my benefite which in déede conuertes to my extréeme displeasure he may liue now sayth this woondring people without the paine of the worlde as though by my portion of .xv. or .xx. thousand frankes I were able to gouerne the earth where others of déeper insight into the cares of mariage stand aloofe and lament with me that byting with the fishe at a golden bayte I shoulde vnhappily swallowe vp the hooke of continuall torment and bondage oh tyme oh maners to much corrupted wherein money must vsurpe the name of mariage and the coniunction of persons must be called seruitude and bondage All which I still maintaine to mooue originally and wholye by couetousnesse to the which our predecessors opened the gate when they admitted dowryes And yet you marueyle and canuas your woonder with infinit subtill reasons if a ladie forestalling the ordinaunce of your lawes encounter a seconde friend besides hir husbande and he likewyse vse the lyke reuenge to his wyfe For if according to Lycurgus in his common
wealth of Sparta euery one bent his deuotion to hir in whome reposed his whole religion we should cutte of all the paynes and traueyles which we sée at thys day reigne amongst worldlings which in common reason woulde prooue farre more conuenient than your commoditie sir which you haue alledged in the administration of a familie you doe nothing in preparing the way to maryages if you doe not associate them vnder a mutuall friendship neyther shall any citie or state be happie vntill with the example of our auncestors we establishe our mariages vnder one hart as by which meane and not otherwayes we shall banishe not onely all the errors of such coniunctions but also euen purge the whole common wealth who tending to a perpetuall moneaccorde and generall quiet shall neuer enioy hir felicitie so long as in place of true friendship she findes secret simulation betwéene man and wyfe which if it be so and that by this maryage copulation your pollecie and whole common welth be brought to the bayte seeing that in the beginning the worlde being deuided but into the vnitie of two persons it multiplyed by little and little into villages and walled townes sure if the foundation of such boundes be corrupted the whole buylding must necessarily fall to ruyne wherein to giue you my fancie in plaine speach I cannot otherwayes thinke then that from this corruption of maryages whiche succéede in no other meaning than for money séeing in all other respectes there is no resemblaunce betwéene the partyes doth come the cause of our ordinarie iarres and disagréements betwéene brothers and sisters who béeing câ—mposed of dyuers and different humors contende as it were in contrarie qualityes and dispositions which they borrow seuerally of theyr father and mother I professe not to pretende by this to haue in my handes the reformation of our maners but this me thinkes cannot be inconuenient as well for present order sake as to banishe from vs in tyme this corruption of dowryes that a Ladie béeing in that vnhappie sort maried to haue a friende of reseruation with assuraunce to kéepe to him an indissoluble fayth and loyaltie standing as a good and faythfull example to others not to marrie themselues to goodes but to men according to the consent of loue and destinie here this forlorne Gentleman ceassed his further discourse to the great reioysing of the assistaunts amongest whome as there was none that pretended interest with him so for my part albeit I knowe not whether hée argued at voluntarie pleasure or vsed a plaine meaning yet weighing with the maiestie of the matter the nature of his reasons I coulde not so farre consent with his sayings as not to reserue a libertie to contende with him And where he mainteyned so sharpely that loue passed all ordinaunces of man his error was no lesse in it selfe than hys opinion farre from the purpose of the present question For who is so ignoraunt or leade heauie in iudgement whiche discernes not as it were by his eye that maryage was not ordeyned by man but erected by the eternall deuine pollecie as the onely meane for conseâ—uation of mankinde so to accomodate a thing so highe to our humaine fraâ—â—tie me thinkes is neyther order in discretion nor consideration in dutie which drawes me Madame on your side not onely in regarde of the societie which you haue wisely alledged but also for other déepe respects as chiefly for that God commaundes that a woman doe not make hir selfe méete for any other then him to whome the ceremonie of the Church â—ath bounde hir yea albeit there were default of loue betwéene hir husbande and hir yet in christian dutie shée is bounde to enforce hir nature to the ende to enioy an eternall peace And yet Madame if this maryage happen to be one of those in whom is such resolute imperfection and contrarietie as loue cannot be brought in I cannot in a necessarie care for hir worldly felicitie but excuse hir and approoue the aduice of this Gentleman to bequeath hirselfe to a constant friende wherein though you note me of corrupt counsayle yet I haue nature to aunswere the cause for me and maryage it selfe if it coulde speake I knowe woulde not accuse me but rather incline on my side as to sée hir nourcechilde vnder a promise of wealth defrauded by a husbande of hir true and pleasaunt inheritaunce which is loue which iustly she may exclaime to bée solde at too vile a price against all reason And if you wil néedes thrust vpoÌ„ me the defence of this cause in mine owne name without calling other warraunt doe you not sée in common wealthes well ordered séeing you call vppon the ayde of a state well gouerned that many things are suffered for necessitie sake which other wayes being estéemed euill should be also abolished referring you to consider more largely of the rest séeing this text is ticklishe ynough specially for the maryed sort wherein God graunt that as eschuing this goulph and pitte of stryfe euery one may chuse such a wyfe as nature and not money reserues for them so if other wayes their lotte prooue euill and they miscarie let them blame themselues as guiltie to suche destinie With the which Glaphyro who had heard all their discourse wyth a modest â—â—lence prepares himselfe to play his part Here doe I finde sayth he to be veryfied in vs the tale of the Poet Horace of thrée men inuited by him to a banquet they all being diuers in taste straunge in appetite and hard to be pleased but most of all the thirde because the first delited in swéete meates the seconde tooke pleasure in sowre sawce and to this were agréeable neither the one nor the other such was the delicatie of his complexion whome in this I may perhaps resemble as séeking to finde a meane betweene the two extremities so thorowly debated betwéene you For as farre as I can gather of your contention as one matter drawes on another from loue simplie as you terme it you are discended to maryage In loue seigneur Monophylo you maintaine a coniunction of one to one without enforcing the dutie by which we are bounde to our mystresses And in loue also you seigneur Phylopolo defende the contrarie to your loue seigneur Monophylo you gyue scope to ouerrunne euen maried women notwithstanding by right of maryage they concerne vs nothing laying all the fault vpon dowryes as deuesting vs of such friendship as in those actes is requisite you would haue mariages procéede vnder the onely title of loue wherein for my part in as much as concernes the first poynt I am not of opinion with you seigneur Monophylo and giue lesse fayth to the sayings of you seigneur Phylopolo not for any desire I haue to impugne eyther of you but béeing mens iudgementes diuers euery man hath also a libertie to thinke at pleasure touching the seconde tending to affection in wedlocke whereof for the dignitie of the matter I intende to speake afore
search the lyfe of his wyfe inciuillye so hir simple innocencie standes alwayes to defende hir from those inconueniences in maryage which all men feare and most men finde vsing rather an vnstayned loyaltie wyth an honest loue vnfayned in them both then such a disordered will as you haue discribed For if in any other respect a man enter this holy estate let him not grieue if by succession of tyme his wyfe chuse A secret friende against whome I wyll not erect such harde â—awes of restraint towardes his mystris as you seigneur Monophylo desire wherewith I fall eftsoones vpon the matter of loyaltie by you preferred albeit afore I enter into the fielde of that argument bycause I wyll not couple so prophane a thing as loue wyth the holy profession of mariage it may please you Madam to vse pacience to heare and modestie in concealing your iudgement But heare Monophylo not content with the matter and lesse lyking the maner of the man as one with whome loue stoode in more deare value then all the other felicities in the worlde you haue seigneur Glaphyro saith he I knowe not by what occasion entangled our discourse wyth speach no lesse impertynent to the matter then somewhat estranged from the generall purpose of the company bycause in my aduyse to hym that woulde marrye I dyd not pretende in my plot of singularitie to bring in question that poynt vnlesse by the waye and as it were at vnwares neyther vnder hope to stande long vpon it nor to helpe my opinion the rather albeit séeing you séeme to settle in it your chalenge shall not offende me and yf you had well waighed the nature of my reasons I thinke you would haue gyuen them a higher merite then those which by your selfe are reuealed the same contayning no lesse distinction in themselues then there is common difference betwéene lyfe and death séeing your mariage is grounded vpon a voluntarie or rather artyficiall consideration and myne marcheth vnder an inclynation of nature which we cannot restraine wherein by how much lesse facilytie the bondes of nature are to be vnknit then those which we sée Arte doth couple and conioyne euen by so much more authoritie do I assure and grounde my mariage aboue yours And I praye you seigneur Glaphyro to auoyde wearie speche how many diuorses iarres and housholde strifes doe you sée happen daylye betwéene the honest and chaste wyfe and hir husbande yea I knowe at this daye a wyse and discréete Lady if there be any equally sprinckled with the fauors of nature and lyberally endued wyth the vertues and qualyties of the minde whose race of youth hath runne vnder an honest and obedient name with hir husbande and possessed betwéene them a number of fayre children yet such is his inequalitie and difference of maners with hir that notwithstanding the continuance of their loue many yeares with ende honest and chast indeuour requisit in the office and part of a wife he cannot be induced to honour hir with the affection of a husbande wherein béeing cyfted in the cause of this disagréement when he can not prooue prostitution or other such cryminall error in maryage he alledgeth onely that as he neuer loued hir with his heart so yet if another man had the lawfull interest of maryage in hir he coulde then drawe his affection thyther is not this man so much the more worthie of rebuke as eyther his wordes be hatefull or his example hurtfull to a common wealth but aboue all his offence is the greater for that vertue with the nature of the Adamant drawes to hir euen people vnknowne But for my woman being such one as I haue figured I will loue hir chastitie and vertue and not hir proper person onelye because my minde cannot applie therevnto I will honor and estéeme in my wife that wisdome which God hath breathed into hir and not such as of it selfe will offende me oftentymes happening into argument of â–ª maryage amongest sundrie men and women I heare not seldome as well the one as the other sort to marueyle of the pleasant and sweete agréement of some maryed men with their wyues for say they if such a man or such a woman had chaunced to my lotte we should haue agréed euen as fire and water So that what other cause knittes this equalitie and concorde betwéene them two who being deuided coulde hardly agrée with others but a loue a conformitie yea a kindly nature betwéene them which could not holde concorde wyth others For if you require a precise perfection of maners in your wyfe wherewith perhappes your selfe is not furnished neuer looke to agrée with hir in conuersation and behauiour other then as the Lion with the Lambe whereof the one is of humble and méeke condition and the other indued with a prowde and hawtie nature And albeit your wife discréetely assay to reforme your inciuilities â–ª and by reuerent obedience séeke to leade you in an honest affection yea thoughe with the vaile of hir modestie she couer your imperfections thinking at last to allure you with thâ—se honest traynes yet such maryage will prooue imperfect and all hir honest traueile yéeldes but a desperate fruite bicause you stande estraunged from hir in heart our nature neuer chaungeth in vs and with the opinion of the Philosophers who seekes to translate his nature laboureth with the Gyants in tyme past to make warre agaynst the Gods well may we for a time dissemble the suggestion of our thoughts as by an artificiall hypocrasie pretending an other estate than we beare but at length as with Esops Apes that brake the daunce to scamble for Nuts this nature of ours must reuart and take hir place So when loue once imprintes in hir much lesse that the man and wyfe shall iarre or disagrée betwéene themselues but of the contrary they shall bring forth in their lyues and actiâ—ns â–ª one conâ—â—nt of will yea there shall be that richesse and communitie of maners which you wishe â–ª and the wife of such chaste and reuerent behauiour to hir husbande as their conuersation shal be no lesse frée from reproch than their whole life farre from example of disobedience In which estate were it not better to liue in such sort and pleasure albeit the one be deceyued in his opinion then dwelling in the condition you haue prescribed to be alwayes plunged in paine and passion â–ª This loue doth so dazell and leade our spirites in a iudgement of affection and fauour that we value all things in the best and estéeme nothing inconuenient on the behalfe of them whome we loue where this wisedome which you wishe standes vpon such delicate and precise respectes as she holds nothing acceptable yea though in your wife were euen the very vertues of Iudith or the rare constancie of Penelope wherewith the Ladie noting their vehemencie me thinkes sayth she you leade the companie wrongfully in a cause of doubt albeit the nature of the matter requires it But to
leaue you mutually contented my iudgement is that you dwell still in your singuler opinions séeing in eyther of them is a cleare resemblance of a truth like as in coÌ„mon experience and practise of things that which is proper in one place we find oftentymes most inconuenient in an other behalfe and that by the varietie of maners order of such as handle them And therfore séeing there is a diuersity of fancie betwene you let euery one féed on his priuate opinion without séeking to disenherite his companion But for your part seigneur Monophylo if you should be driuen to abandon and exchaunge your lot I meane your Ladie and Mystresse to marye the rychest woman in the worlde I thinke it woulde disgest with you as an vnsauerie â—yll in a sounde stomacke And euen no lesse to you monsieur Glaphyro if you were to chuse a wyfe onely for wealth or altogither for loue so that as I sayde my sentence runnes still to restrayne you of speach and leaue you onely a libertie and contentment in thought recommending vnto you seigneur Glaphyro a newe memorie of your olde promise to procéede in the matter of loue whereof you haue giuen vs as it were a pleasaunt taste and séemes nowe to faint in the chalenge when you haue kindled our desires leading our appetites in imagination as though you would warme vs by a painted fyre only I pray you be not wearie in well doing nor harde to encline to honest requestes séeing there is no lesse vertue in the one then the other conducible to merite of them by whome you are required your request Madame sayth he is no lesse iust in it selfe then meritorious on your owne behalfe and your reasons so necessarie as if I shoulde denie them I should be holden eyther ignoraunt or obstinate and so leaue you vnsatisfied in my dutie and fulfill in my selfe an example of imperfection touching the partes requisite in a Gentleman And yet Madame your request séemed a fléeing authoritie séeing it preuented me in matter but not in meaning yea if I had not a grounded knowledge of you I should iudge you with those delicate creditors who if their day be not kept doe salute vs sodenly with their Sergeants or officers of areast notwithstanding you shall be satisfied as apperteyneth vpon this charge and couenaunt that you receyue my money in payment as it is séeing I will giue you no other then such as I cull out of mine owne coffers And so as farre as I remember the degrées of our beginning seigneur Monophylo allowes loue mutually of one to one and of the contrarie Phylopolo would loue in many places wherein Madam if I giue my fancie eyther simplie or as I haue partly learned of you I craue onely to be defended in my right as well as they two To make such base marchandise of his bodye as to bequeath it to the first according to the desire of seigneur Phylopolo me thinkes is neyther good nor séemely euen so I can lesse condiscend to hold so hard a hande of the bridle with ymagination of such an Idoll of constancie as you seigneur Monophylo require onely I could better alowe a meane as the Lawyers vse in causes of contention I will not denie that the principall poynt in loue and the marke whereat euery one ought to shoote is not loyaltie towardes our mystresse yet considering this great frayltie which nature hath grafted in vs as to be all in all and pertaker more with mortalitie than diuine respectes séeing our mindes be wrapped in the vaile of thys fleshly drosse if pursuing our necessarie occasions and opportunities we chaunce into a long absence from our Mystresse applying the fauor of the tyme to our desires happen to rowe in another streame I cannot make that light scape a déepe offence nor such exchaunge of pleasure only alienation of mind therfore no other fault then eyther may be pardoned or excused séeing that dwelling still in one constant minde and will towardes hir albeit I supplie a certaine suggestion and actuall appetite which nature styrres in me yet with that disordered will I doe not translate my heart to other then to the Ladie and Mystresse of my first thoughtes to whome I beare a constant reuerence as well absent as present wherein as the Sunne kéepes alwayes his clearenesse although somtimes he enter into a clowde euen so may it be of him who sometimes visites a straunge Mystresse to whome he yéeldes no other affection then to serue his present turne To be short séeing friendshippe restes in the heart and not in these small intemperances of nature me thinkes loue cannot be violated by a necessitie forced of an instinct which mooues and kindles by nature And yet will I not establish any libertie vnder the shadow of such necessitie to sâ—acke the brydle of our pleasures at all tymes and vpon euery motion for so might we runne into a negligent and carelesse regarde of our mystresse albeit there be many faultes which maye be pardoned for once but comming to an vse and custome deserue no small rebuke wherewith Monophylo to cutte of the question of maryage Let vs leaue them sayth he to such as pretende interest in that holy state and returne eft soones to the matter of loue where we pitched our beginning wherin sâ—igneur Glaphyro you are nothing so prodigall of your selfe as Phylopolo yet perhaps your opinion might find place amongst the common people as holding some simple affinitie with them shadowed with an honest and séemely couer But being here to dispute not according to popular fancie but exactly vpon things I will frankly tell you my iudgement if friendly you applie libertie to my simple meaning not onely skope of frée speache sayth Charyclea but all the authoritie I haue to warraunt and assure your cause wherein if néede be I will become pawne and pledge for you often haue I read sayth Glaphyro that women are sprinckled with many imperfections as vnable to giue aduice in causes of estate and much lesse to be receyued into iudgement in matters of this aduice those be the lawes of men sayth the Lady to whose ignoraunce is giuen a certaine supréeme authoritie least in indifferent reason they were founde eyther lesse able or more imperfect than wée and all to establish an vsurped preregatiue ouer our vertuous obedience wherewith â—ffering to procéede further in the honest defence of their simple sexe Monophylo either vnder the warrant of hir consent or at least presuming of hir condition intercepted hir speach and pursued his purpose of loyaltie in this sort if the highest vertue in loue bée actuall constancie the second felicitie in mine opinion saith he is to haue the thought cleare from all corrupt motions as neyther to aspire by ymagination nor attempt by pollicie howe so euer the season or oportunitie doe fauour for who maketh profession of true loue ought so to brydle hys sturring lustes to all other women
from reason then frée from all conformitie to truth séeing mutuall nouriture kindles a custume and certaine sparkes of priuate familiaritie but neyther one bodie nor one spirite sure seigneur Phylopolo the more I aspire into consideration of this great diuinitie which we speake of the more am I rapt into cōfusion with such ghastly amase that me thinks it were better for me to iudge that loue is not then raysing my thoughtes aboue the reach of nature to séeke to flie into his dwelling to discouer the force wherewith nature hath armed him euen from the beginning of the worlde And euen as who pretendes to comprehende the substaunce and maiestie of this vniuersall maker and creator of vs all discourseth in himselfe his most infinite myracles as thys rounde and firme plot of the earth and the voluble course of the skies aboue so discending from one woonder to an other fyndes at last by the greatnesse of these effectes that the great GOD is not to be discerned by the facultie of mortall iudgement but that he contaynes an essence exceding mans consideration euen so to whome so euer it laye in desire to vnderstande at large what loue is it is needefull he enter into a perticuler contemplation of all his woonderfull effectes and so resolue and ende that it is a thing whose knowledge can not enter into the spirite of man So that séeing loue takes his being neyther of a heauenly influence nor conformitie of conditions nor lastlye of a custome or mutuall conuersation what other thing shall I tearme him to be than a mocion sturring I know not how which is farre more easie to be felt in our hartes then vttered by spéech yea it so knittes and vnites our mindes that being the cause of a perpetuall death yet it reuiues vs in an other making vs forget our proper condicion to remember our selues eftsoones in an other seconde our selues and drawes vs besides by a deuine power with such a strong and indissoluble bonde returning to the first Androgina of our father Adam that he distils two spirites into one bodye by the same miracle brings to passe that two spirits be made one minde in two bodies is not this I praye you a most soueraigne and extréeme miracle wherein to the ende to draw you to a better vnderstanding of my saying and not to thinke it a fable is it not as it were to haue one spirite in two bodies when a man and woman differ not in desire of thinges but appliyng in conformitie of willes and affections the one doth not desire but that which the other doth wish and yet being one minde in two bodies they become in the ende by a singuler metamorphesis exchaunge two spirites in one body bycause my mistresse standing in full possession of my hart I likewise ruling ouer hir affections I can not but esteme my selfe to possesse both mine owne and hirs and she lykewise to gouern them both séeing that like as if I be named Lorde ouer hirs and hir I may rightfully meane my selfe the onely possessor of both our heartes so albeit we séeme both depriued of two mindes and two hartes yet we retaine and possesse both the one and other in our selues And therefore who can saye that the knowledge of loue is hable to happen into our mindes or that wée haue the facultie to discerne the true substaunce and matter of loue This is the cause why the auncient fathers and philosophers amongst the demons which they established the onlye searchers out as they thought of our thoughtes and actions called loue Demon as to aduise vs thereby that it is a thing enforced by a natural instinct as it were by an impression which we kéepe of our auncient ymage without other consideration a thing to be discerned by actuall example séeing that euen as when we encounter vpon a sodaine any of our olde friends whose long absence leades vs in a want of knowledge of him we wauer in iudgement and yet being assured in the ende that it is the same of whome we doubted in the beginning we embrace him with plawsible signes of so happie a méeting euen so reseruing some knowledge of that auncient custom wherin it séemes the heauens if we may vse the phrase of the Philosophers did consent to vs as soone as our eye hath taken holde of hir to whome our nature doth drawe vs we beginne as all amazed to enter into knowledge and albeit not wel assured otherwaies than in féeling some litle spark of the auncient coniunction fortifiyng our selues in our selues by little and little as being then assured to haue founde againe the obiect whervnto the heauens haue vowed vs we delight we congratulate and become familiar with euery pleasure end contentment wherein notwithstanding I doe not holde that after such carectes engraued within vs and that the two louers be tyed togither in one minde by I know not what benefite which they vnderstand not for so hath loue taught me to saye we do not desire after a long vse conuersation togither a coniuntion of the two bodyes one in another the same being that appetite which nature hath infused generallye into vs all and that we finde it better in our Ladies than in anye other woman whatsoeuer in respect of the great sympathya and bound of friendshish which is betwéene hir and vs the same retayning such a force in action of our loue that if after such a valyaunt beginning we chaunce to be called to perticipate in the pleasure much lesse in mine opinion that our loue diminishe or fall into any default but rather that it will take new force and alwaies encrease more and more Where if euen in the beginning we had not trauelled but for that poynt the conquest had béene lothsome and the continuaunce none séeing when the desire had béene satisfied our delight woulde haue vanished as the smoke dissolues when the fire forbeares his action and euery effect mortefieth when the cause is taken awaye so that as I can not alowe that loue if loue it may be called eyther constant or of continuaunce whose onely purpose is to possesse that poynt so also he is weake in opinion whose feare makes him doubt that the greatnesse of hys loue will diminishe by this meane and therefore dare not intreat his mistresse in that respect Loue is then a power lying betwéene the two worse extremities not setting his originall vpon this common lust and yet though long hée doe reiect it at last he doth admit it the same being the cause as I beléeue why all our church lawes in the consomation of a true mariage wherein ought to consist the marke and ende of true friendeship require not but the consent of the parties as though this true loue of mariage ought not to passe but vnder a conformitie of mindes and not by any lust or suggestion of the fleshe Thus ended Monophylo not without a singuler contentment to Chariclea who to witnesse
how déepely she fauoured his side wished shée might warrant his opinion with such authoritie as she woulde the rather sayth shée for that with the propertie of Archars who aduisedlie direct and leuell their arrowes to a little white in respect of the white which of it selfe is a small substaunce but in a certaine secret regarde of honour to come néerest that little marke euen so albeit your louer aspire mistically to that last and desired sacrifice in loue yet it is not the principall purpose that first induced him to loue wherein suer as your reasons holde suche conformitie with truth that if loue himselfe should discende from his temple to dispute herein he could not more liuely touch the very white of this businesse so I beléeue that in your mouth are presently reuealed the oracles of Cupido whereof seigneur Monophylo according to my prerogatiue I institute you from thinstaunt archebishop Euen now began Phoebus to chaunge complexion conuerting his rayes of warme reflexcion into a darcke dispericion inclined as it prooued to releeue the earth with some pleasaunt dewe or swéete shower which notwithstanding had no power to offende in any sort these fower valyaunt champions of loue who by his deuine prouidence had so well pauished them with trées and leaues intricatelie enterlaced togither that neyther the sunne had any hurtfull power ouer them and much lesse the winde coulde vse his vyolence by meane whereof the Ladye after a little pawse fell eftsones vpon the matter of hir last speach If sayth she Cupido be drawne to fauour you in respect of your argument I stande in doubt whether the sunne hath reason to rest contented as séeking to quenche the fire which you begunne to kindle in vs touching the deuinitie of loue which perhappes he doth for malice as séeing this little mightie God doth blowe vp more flame within our hartes than he that is estéemed the generall starre to giue light to the whole worlde vnder your correction Madam sayth Glaphyro Monophylo hath brought the sunne eftsones into memorie of his auncient loues which I sée hée can not remember without these swéete teares which you sée hée lettes fall to recorde the great vnthankefulnesse he receyued of his Ladie Daphne after so many infinite merites And so let him be excused sayth Charyclea only this condition I promise and make what teares or showers so euer he let fall not to depart from this place till our argument be further enlarged and drawne to an other yssue and alwayes will I allow your reasons seigneur Monophylo wherein you haue not onely deuinely satisfied the deuinitie of loue but also erected a notable method and meane not how the louer ought to behaue himselfe but without difficultie how he may maintaine and defende his chalenge wherein I doubt not but these gentilmen will not onely approoue the matter but ioyne with me in voyce to commende your iudgement Onely phylopolo to whome these contemplacions were of carelesse regarde as delighting rather in a libertie of minde and generall assemblyes where he might liberallie slent with all women and put them in some waspish humour desiring here to playe an other partie with the Ladye and conuert his weapons not against Monophylo but couertly to touche hir I coulde with all my heart Madam sayth he passe my consent to the opinion of Monophylo as by that meanes to be acceptable to him for the matter and not hatefull to you that so allowes it but séeing you take pleasures to sounde me so déepely I pray you let me haue fréedome of spéeche with fauour and rather equitie in iudgement then disdaine to heare my short opinion I haue listened with no small dilligence to his tedious reasons whereof as I finde some good other passable and the most part impertinent and lothsome ynough so aboue all I finde the chiefest marke wherevnto he séemed to pretende was to make vs approoue loyaltie of one man to one woman wherein seigneur Monophylo albeit modestie hath hither vnto brydeled in me that which desire offred to enforce the rather when you fell vpon that poynt wherein you haue giuen such a gloase to fayth yet séeing you are setled in this voluntarie pawse I can doe no lesse with the present oportunitie than enter the fielde against you the matter of your retoricall aunswere to seigneur Glaphyro whome you haue established iudge in his cause as to know if his Ladie commit heresie in loue against him whether he coulde quietly disgest it or not hoping by such pollecie drawing the worme from his nose to make him confused in his saying But séeing in a ciuill and respect of high curtesie you seeke to beare the state of procurer generall to the communitie of Ladies I hope my mocion will not seeme intollerable if vnder the like affection of nature I sewe to be protector to maintaine in their rightes the condicion of men wherein I doubt not with such reasons in my selfe and honest conformitie on your side to make you sée and know that albeit loyaltie is requisite in the woman to the man yet that men are not loyable to such lawes although women for many necessarie respectes stande subiect to their awe I thanke you sayth Glaphyro for that of your selfe without anye mocion or merite of mine you vndertake the defence of my cause wherein according to your liberall offer to stande me in this pleasure me thinkes Monophylo maye well assure himselfe that albeit in the charge you meane to lay vpon him he haue the better of you yet shall he with much difficultie mainetaine his proofe that loue consists not but in a thing which he cannot vnfolde séeing suche formes as are not to be reuealed doe seldome happen in loue Here I gouerning as I haue sayde their excercises and therefore concealed my selfe as rather to vse mine eares than my tongue séeing them passe ouer so lightly the last speaches of Monophylo and desirous to supply their default concluded at last to breake my first purpose of silence and therewith roosing my selfe in my place without other reuerence than if I had assisted their company all that after dinner presumed to tell them that in those two poyntes was cause of controuersâ—ie worthye such an assemblye and to the which it belonged to Monophylo in common houre to prepare his aunswere least he were noted either of insufficiency in matter or obstinacie in will and so lose in one instaunt the estimation which he had so painefully gotte and carefully kept for my part if by you others I might be admitted into the socyetie of this quarell I would easily incline to the part of you seigneur Glaphyro Phylopolo therfore let him if he list whet both his wit tongue the better to assure his credit in the defence he hath taken in hande here Madam Chariclea amazed aboue the reast with my sodaine approche but more troubled as it séemed with my boldenesse of speache what seigneur Pasquier sayth shée howe are you dropped
out of the clowdes or by what chaunce are you so aptly light into this company suer Madam and by that fayth which I reserue for the God of loue quod I I finde my selfe no lesse passyoned then you and to tell you the cause and maner of my comming hither though I vse a simple truth yet I feare it woulde carie incredulitie with you onelye hauing to recorde at large my vnquiet thoughtes traueiling in contemplacion to the goddesse of my deuocion to whome you are no straunger I knowe not by what happie wind I was blowne into this pleasant hauē where with no small delight I haue made my mind a register of all your discourses which I did not thinke to interupt without this occasion of Monophylo who contrarie to the opinion of Phylopolo goeth about to proue that loue is not a lust of corporall coniunction which I can not consent vnto him albeit in so doing I shall somewhat transgresse your will your will is not lawe sayth the Ladye and muche lesse of autorite to direct the companie séeing as you haue no prerogatiue in councell so you are not touched in example and so if you can not forbeare partialitie in iudgement at least let modestie gouerne your spéech least either you innouate your purpose or deserue to haue the law of silence layde vpon you for we haue alreadie passed sentence on Monophylos side as also Phylopolo hath alowed his reasōs to whom belongs a déeper interest in the matterthan to you wherevppon Phylopolo after the company had somewhat saluted my sodaine comming protested in his owne behalfe that it should not be long of him that I vndertooke not for hys sake his defence And if saith hée I haue necligently past ouer any discourse of Monophylo it was not for that I did consent with him but onelye vpon a new occasion that I myght charge him with innouacion of matter therfore it may like you good Madam not to alledge my selfe in preiudice of mine owne condicion and muche lesse that necligence make me to loase my case if there be iust cause of fauour I aunswered to be as frée from such meaning as farre from the fact protesting rather to liue in silence all the rest of my lyfe with the contentment of Madam Chariclea then to hazarde hir displeasure by anye libertie of speach by which sute she was content to graunt me audience albeit vpon this charge that there shoulde be no expectacion of reply if perhaps any matter succede to the disaduauntage of seigneur Monophylo whose argumentes séemed more acceptable to hir although they were naked and voyde of reason then all my proofes figured in the subiect I pretended what sence and methode so euer they conteyned whose lawe albeit I allowed as estéeming hir worde aperemptorie warraunt yet Phylopolo after some waspish and reciprocall iarres denied hir to haue any suche soueraignetie ouer that little felowshippe and gaue me an inckling to beginne as in whome hée séemed to repose his protection No rather the defence of loue himselfe sayde I and that against him who vnder a pretence to protect him thought by a certaine art to reuiue him when in déede he hath altogither mortified him wherein notwithstanding I halfe excuse him as imparting the cause with loue who albeit will make himselfe familyar with vs choosing his seate in the verye intralles of our hearts yet he will in no wise that we knowe hym but couering more and more his nature he leaues vs onlye a iudgement according to our perticuler affections for loue being as a Camelion chaunging diuers coulours according to his sundrie obiectes euery one hath his singuler opinion according to the varietie of passions that are in him and yet in this diuersitie I neuer knewe louer who eyther more or lesse aspired not to this last poynt of pleasaunt vse according to the suggestion of the passion which he endured For euen as in all thinges wée pretende to a certaine ende so loue must necessarilie containe a last effect wherein our mindes rest satisfied All men trauell to eate and supplie the necessities of nature the Captaine to winne honour incurres perill of death and the pensionarie fouldiour runnes to the warres to haue part of the spoyle yea there is no sort of operation how light so euer it bée vnlesse it procéede from a mad man wherein is not a hope of gaine and speciall pretence of a resolute ende the which as it procéedes not but of a lust that falles in vs so the more we are tormented in it the more doe we settle our heart vpon it So that it is necessarye there be a certaine ende in loue wherein albeit we féele our selues affected according to the varietie of our passions it is néedefull there be a generall cause by which or for which wée loue But least we be abused by the meane of equalitye procéeding of the proximitie of causes you shall here vnderstande seigneur Monophylo that all the Philosophers maintaine as certainelye is true that in all the thinges of the worlde there be two principall causes efficiens and finalis that they name efficient or originall wherof the thing is and by the other is ment the cause why and in whose fauour the thing is which wordes albeit to some delicate stomackes maye séeme to smell somewhat of the schoole yet they are not impertinent to the present questiō as also necessarie to who soeuer séekes to vnderstande the knowledge of the truth oh thrise and thrise happie is hée who vnderstanding these causes hath the facultie to distinguish the one from the other the same being the want as I gesse which hytherto hath kept you in this fowle errour for to take away this impression from the people that this lust and desire of the fleshe is not the cause why we loue you séeke to prooue it to be a thing accidentall which notwithstanding procéedes assuredlie of the true pure substance of loue The efficient or originall cause by the which we loue a Ladye is in déede the selfe same instinct which you say bréedes in vs as it were by the permission of heauen but the ende and purpose why we loue is to possesse whollye pleasauntlye and absolutely and so euery one of vs doth loue as one daye to possesse at our pleasure and the cause by which we are induced to desire this coniunction more with our mistresse than any other riseth of I know not what which you say is more easie to féele than able to be expressed which we imprint in vs by a certaine opinion we conceaue of it making thereby a péecemeale or confusion of reason with passion This is the cause wherefore our common and generall mother sought to deuide vs from all other creatures who without discretion of that which pleaseth them but pushed forwarde by their first motion tending to the conseruation of their kinde séeke indifferent conuersation with their females not knowing what it is to loue bycause in them doth want
of theyr intentes bycause indiscréetelye they dressed their vowes and offeringes to Ladies who afore were consecrated to other saintes To auoyde this daunger sayth Phylopolo I saye as before a pleasaunt libertie is a precious price and by so much the dearer to me by how much my nature is impacient beyng denied what I demaunde and therefore if I be enforced to make loue I will eyther angle with an enchaunted hooke or at least fishe in that streame which wil giue me no cause of complaint This is your libertie of spéech aunswereth Monophylo by which you reueale your naturall ignoraunce in loue as the fonde man in his owne braine ymagines he maye dispose all the worlde you will not loue you say otherwayes than in an imperiall respect to choose and commaunde I would to God the choyse were in our powers or our discressioÌ„ hable to moderate our authoritie defie not that seigneur Phylopolo wherevnto we are drawne by nature and destinie seeing when you accompt you most frée from the motions of loue you shall finde your selfe most forced with his violence and so sharpely persecuted that in dispite of your wanton resistaunce you shall be enioyned to doe smarting penaunce for the blasphemie which now without aduise you maintaine as eyther to like loathsomely to loue desperatelye to choose vnaduisedly to possesse Ielously to liue poorely or to hate extréemelye of all these sayth Phylopolo the greatest plague is to loue and not be encountred séeing in our lyking we haue reason and iudgement afore wée choose wée eyther knowe or enquire in our loue we haue temperaunce to auoyde iealowsye touching our state we stande vpon Gods prouidence and to hate is improper to a man of reason without great cause so that next to desperation in loue a loathsome mate is the seconde infelicitie which I doubt not to auoyde by the helpe of nature who drawes vs all to desire the fayre and leaue the foule But take héede sayth Monophylo least séeking to enter into the rules of Philosophie you stumble not vpon Thequiuox for I neuer as yet hearde of louer who estéemed not his Ladie fayre wherein notwithstanding there is a singularitie in fayrenesse and some ladyes of greater beawtie than others yet we see the sillie heardeman or poore Peasaunt woulde not leaue his preatie Katie for the fayrest Lady in the realme and why bicause in hir hée hath layde vp his heart and shée in his rurall fancie appeares more contenting fayre than all the dainetie dames of the traine And yet perhaps he is no lesse studious in beawtie than you but his minde being fixed in one place by an opinion which he hath conceiued of the partie as of late seigneur Pasquier well approoued albeit in hir doe rest all the inciuilitie and rudenesse of the worlde yet he consters hir and hir qualitie to a singuler wise and séemely behauiour wherein what better example can I prefer then out of Angeliqua figured within Arioste in his booke of Furius shée who had béene beloued courted and pursued by numbers of the best knightes of the world without vsing any mercie vpon them in the ende when she thought hir selfe most frée from passion it was then she felt hir selfe so déepely enclined in affection to a meane souldiour not comparable to the least of the other that euen in hir was forced the office and indeuour of the man which is to require and demaunde here Phylopolo desired him to passe no further in that example least sayth hée you blinde vs all with that which earst you doubted in mée which is Thequiuox For by the nature of your present example the author of Furius sekes to teache vs no other thing then that the naturall inclination of a woman is not with the man to chuse the better but as children addresse themselues alwayes to the worsse as wée sée the shée Woolfe who amongst the whole troupe of Woolues doth commonlye make hir singuler choyse of him in whome appeares least likeyhoode of habilitie to satisfie hir appetite euen so the experience is common in many women who rather then they will yelde to the honest friendeshippe of some worthie man will dissimule to be a Penelope but hauing the place and oportunitie frée from daunger they will not sticke to enter foule conuersation with a foule grome of the stable or some loathsome Skullion of the kitchin so that if as touching the onely regarde of women you iudge with mée in this sorte of this inclination and opinion wherof you speake so muche I am of your side but otherwise not you shall pardon mée sir sayth Monophylo if at so deare a prise you holde your societie in iudgement séeing of an infected â—ier cannot come but a corrupt gaine and where the consent is bought the matter cannot escape dishonest incredulitie but touching your comparison of the Woolfe with the woman you are eyther a sworne enimie to women â—r else ignoraunt in the secret nature of the Woolfe in whome vnder correction aboue all other creatures is directlye discerned a most full and familier instruction to loue and to whose example we ought chiefely to apply the maner and measure of our affection if the same were in our power for suche is the condicion of the she Woolfe that being pursued by many dogge Woolues chooseth out of infinite numbers the most leane and euill fauoured amongst them euen he which first began to follow hir when she entred into hir heate and who by a weary pursute and infinite labours is so mortified for hir that to recompence his deformity procéeding for hir sake shée séemes to receyue him afore all the reast as hauing aboue the reast best deserued whose maner I wishe might stand in example to certaine Dames to whome the martirdome of a poore afflicted louer is a singuler felicitie a thing in my iudgement so abhominable to God and men as I thinke the heauens close their gates the earth vomits curses against such vnnaturall in iniquitie And yet Madam I may wrongfully lay this fault vpoÌ„ them seeing they haue to alleage the supremacie of Cupido who onely lyes in ambushe to steale our heartes to the ende that leading them in his authoritie he may dispose them at his pleasure For so doth this little Godde entangle himselfe with our doings by whome all Ladies falling into such inconuenience are dispensed withall and the whole guilt layd vpon him who vnwares to vs wretches infectes the best and soundest partes in vs without any libertie of health but such and in whome it pleaseth him to graunt it This is the cause why the auncientes made him an archer without eyes as hauing no respect to the qualities of persons doth oftentimes dazell our sight and blinde our sences that without any consideration we translate our heartes to such as the common people murmuring at our destinie holdes vnworthie of vs who as blinde iudges laye the fault to our owne mocion and cléere this little inuisible théefe by whose traines
our heartes are betrayed and yet seigneur Phylopolo if some fewe mistreses chaunce to fall into that inconuenience God defende that eyther in their example or iudgement shoulde be comprehended a generalitie of women as you séeme to maintaine which if it shoulde be so into this common errour shoulde wee fall to thinke that neuer manne of honour and value was beloued of a woman but suche onelye as deserued the names of villaines then many hundred thousand gentlemē were neuer beloued then men of noble high attempts were neuer estéemed yea then any sort of people in whome nature had planted a value of minde haue bene dissembled withall which is not onelye vnlikelye in common reason but altogither vntrue in familiar common proofe And yet I will not denie that manye valiaunt and noble knightes yea euen the verie Peragons of a kingdome may not sometimes and in some places bestowe their loue in vaine and euen so againe without longe or manye matches receyue a pleasaunt rewarde of their painefull merites the same lot or destinie being altogither gouerned by that little god Cupid who in his quiuer doth cary two sortes of arrowes whereof the one is tipped with golde to molyfie and allure the heartes of his subiectes and the other dipped in leade to harden the heartes of such to whome we pretend most affection by which fiction I finde no other signification then that the one féeleth himselfe in a mocion stricken with desire of a thing which he séeth in the other the same by a certaine secret instinct drawing him vnto him and in the other I can discerne nothing by which he may cleaue to his loue Here you haue preuented mée sayth Glaphyro for that according to my promisse I had prepared freshe charge for you as to reuerse your opinion that loue is not kindled but by a certayne thing which you coulde not well expresse wherein I hadde thought to haue contended with you bythe authoritie of certaine olde Philosophers who holde that loue dependes not but vppon a certaine desire of beautie wherewith he directed his spéech and countenaunce to me as to whome as he sayde this cause did most duely appertaine séeing as in my difinicion of loue he charged me to haue giuen that nature so hauing set forth a large and generall purtraict of him it belonged to me also to dissipher at full his seuerall qualities But I tolde hym this season of after dinner was due onely to him wishing him to remember the felicitie that fortune had purchased for him as to haue conquered the fauour of hir who standes as iudge ouer our exercises in whome happie Monophylo quod I you néede doubt no fauour to heare nor delaye in iudgement séeing I feare she will entangle his estate of a iudge with the office of an aduocate to defende you God forgiue you seigneur Pasquire sayth Charyclea the goodnesse of any cause is a iudgement in it selfe so that you nede not bée ielouse of my inclination to Monophylo whome I take to be of that merite as I can not thinke my selfe deceyued if I beare him fauour ah good Madam aunswereth Monophylo that the effect of this friendeshippe which you pretende to beare mée might be reserued for mine absence séeing I doubt not so to moderate the present season and ooportunitie as if you finde want of dutie in action you shall not fayle of readie good will which onelie is in my power to performe which if it bée not so much as I ought and you looke for at least I hope you wil satisfie in my good meaning But to drawe Glaphyro out of suspence séeing seigneur Pasquire séemes to feare the touche I am content to aunswere him in the poynt of beautie whereof he thinkes loue to take his beginning and not that instinct which you haue preferred albeit afore wée wade further I praye you let vs haue your fancie howe and in what sort you vnderstande this beautie I am consent sayth Glaphyro and to leade you to a more subtill and true sense of it you haue to note that beautie lyeth not altogither in the bodie but hath also hir residence in the partes of the minde the one is called beautie simplie and the other good behauiour which consistes not onely in good maners and outward fashions of conuersation but also hath a speciall perticipation wyth vertue euen as the beautie of the bodie restes not altogither in the lineamentes and feature of the face but also in a good composition and vniuersall proporcion of all the other parts of the bodie And thus beautie being vnderstanded as it is by this short and true signification my opinion is that the verie first daye wherein we are betrayed by loue we féele a certaine sparke of this beautye which is in our Ladies a thing which afterwardes by succession of time setles so in vs that with our ignoraunt confusion to all other respectes we come euen to loase the knowledge of our selues wherin as there is diuersitie of beauties so also euerie one enclining according to his perticuler fancie some delightes in the properties of the minde other takes pleasure in the personage to some the state and maiestie of the countinaunce are a singuler felicitie and to other the facilitie and promptnesse of spéeche is the onely cause to kindle affection but aboue all the eye hath a supreme power about the which the little Cupid flies and fléetes in ten thousande sortes and shapes By this I perswade we delight not in foule things neither can any be allured to loue hir in whome is a want of all these qualities so that as an imperfect and counterfeit woman cannot set hir selfe forth with cause to be beloued so I thinke she is exempted from all fortune and fauour of any to honour hir as a mistresse in loue this is the poynt in which I taried for you saith Monophylo séeing by your talke you séeme to establishe certaine kindes of beautie a thing notwithstanding not to bée done in déede I cannot but consent with you that euerie one pretendes to the fayrest but in case of loue to holde that one thing ought to be fairer then an other is a manifest errour séeing euery woman ingenerall findes a friend to endure losse passiōs for hir sake than may happen to any special louer on the behalfe of some singuler Ladie more fayre and perfit than shée and if your opinion should chalenge place of a law we might say that onely shée is honoured with seruauntes in loue to whome is alotted by nature a singularitie in one of these proportions you speake of and the more she is indued with them the more doth shée make hir selfe to merite in the fancie of men although we se the contrary in euery successe of time wherin let vs make an example by two Gentlewomen whereof the one by cōmon iudgement is thought to be singularly fayre to the other is giuen a comendation of meane or indifferent beauty if wée be inticed
as you say by this beawtie it is likely we shoulde rather encline to the singuler beauty than to the other albeit we prooue often times the contrarie séeing loue to make knowne vnto men his inuincible authoritie will as often pitche his aboade in hir of meane and indifferent beautie as in the other to whome nature séemes to haue giuen a singuler perfection But for a more familyar example I praye you seigneur Glaphyro looke into the choyse of one of your olde companions and my auncient friende and tell me what varietie or shift of witte what shape of personage what notable enamell of complexion or fauour what swéete deliuerie of spéeche yea what fauour of nature aboue hir common regarde to all ordinarie women hath shée for whom as you know our friend labours in no small torment of bodye and minde sometimes in an ydolatrous regarde to hyr he blasphemes openly all other women as not to holde value and comparison with hir in whome if loue be to be measured by that beautie you speake of there is no one sparke or part of suche perfection sometimes againe he sets hir in his minde as an oracle or Goddesse of contemplacion raysing hir euen vnto the highest heauens with hymnes prayses drawing hir excellencies into partes as it were with a pensell leauing no part vntouched with high reuerence deuocion But if eyther you or I should be called to iudge of this Goddesse hir excellencie I feare we would note more folly in hir friend than worthinesse in hir to deserue his affection So that what other thing causeth this fairenesse in hir if not the instinct wée speake of which hath drawne this oure friende to such an extremitie in conceyt that he estéemes his mistresse to be euen beautie hir selfe And so feigneur Glaphyro you sée how we aspire to this fayrenesse and beautie also being no other thing then as we are guided by our naturall inclinations such inclinations by infallible consequence must néedes be the verye motions and causers of loue For to holde as many pretende that the excellency of the eye consistes eyther in gréene or blacke or the talle or meane personage to be estéemed one aboue an other bée notable abuses moouing of the affections which we beare more to one than to an other whome bycause we estéeme so we woulde that euerie one woulde consent with vs in wyll and fancie wherein to giue you my plaine iudgement after long and much confusion in my selfe with no lesse perplexitie to iudge and discerne this difference I swere vnto you I stande in indifferent doubt whether beautie be the moouer of loue or our affections kindle by that which séemes fayre vnto vs But bicause onelye that thing that is fayre doth best please and agrée with vs I must néedes saye that the perfection in loue is the onely meane that makes some thinges appéere more fayre to vs then others as for example there was neuer father who in his owne fancie founde not his owne children fayrest albeit in common iudgement nature had made them imperfect what other thing drawes him to this perswasion of beautie in his children but loue yea that loue wherevnto only nature without other cause doth leade and induce him the like may we consider in our Ladies obseruing alwayes the suggestion of our instinct by the which we both loue our Mystresses and holde them in a value of beautie aboue all others yea farre otherwayes then the father doth by his childe for that when by a long absence not acknowledging himselfe as sonne the affection of the father will decaye and conuert into a common estimation where euen at the first and as often as wée settle our eyes vpon our Ladies wée féele such a translation of affection that it is without our power to resolue what mooues vs to loue them yea though they had in them all degrées of deformitie yet by this instinct their carectes and ymages would settle so suerlye in vs that in despite of vs we should both loue them and estéeme them the perfitest creatures in the worlde heare you séeme sayth Phylopolo to figure vnto vs a loue resting rather in ymagination then in truth yet methinkes it standes with congruent necessitie that there shoulde be something which shoulde be called fayre and the same to consist in the pure truth and not in the opinion of men as you séeme to maintaine I haue in déede maintayned it and still will defende it aunswereth Monophylo so long as I liue Not that I meane to denie you that there is not something which in it selfe ought to be called fayre but if there bée I say it is the onely creator which hath knowledge of it who albeit by his déere grace doe make distribution of some sparkes of it to men yet thinke not seigneur Phylopolo that it is in vs to knowe it we can not but confesse with one voyce that in all thinges there is one truth but what is hée who durst assure himselfe at any time to haue founde it but onely God who séemes to reserue it in himselfe as meaning that that title name should onely remayne to him and to none other and suche hath béene our punishment since the offence of the first man that from thence hithervnto it hath continued as a matter of continuall succession from the father to the sonne For where our nature afore was perfit and not corrupt nor blasted with such whirlewindes as we are now driuen to féele yea being bountie it selfe and standing as it were in a state of most pure innocencye since declining by this delight to corruption kéeping notwithstanding some sparckeling memorie of hir former felicitie there remaines onely an appetite to enter into it againe that is to séeke to aspire and pearce into this bounty and beautie which haue a societie togither and yet of our selues we are neuer hable to attaine therevnto the same perhappes being the cause why certaine notable personages sought in olde time to vsurpe the state of Philosophers and not to beare the name of wisemen professing onely to be zealors and seachers of wisdome which they coulde neuer finde notwithstanding by all their subtill Sillogismoes but speaking generally of that high benifit wherevnto we all pretende they disputed seuerally euery one according to his perticuler fancie So that if you aske me who hath euer possessed it I must aunswere with the deuine that onely he hath pearced into it who acknowledging the incomprehensible estate of God confesseth by an extréeme faith not to be able to reach the knowledge of this high science which lies onelie in the handes of the soueraine eternall For albeit nature hath made vs pertakers of a soule reasonable in it selfe to studie to knowe the truth yet shée hath sprinkled hir with passions which greatly hinder hir heauenly exercises The auncient Platonistes were of opinion that our soule occupied in vs two seates or places whereof the one they bestowed in the braine
which is reason and the other they say possesseth the inferior partes which they name lust or desire wherein albeit that which occupieth the partes more noble ought to assist the other as being most wise and forséeing yet such is our share and part with this massie earth being tickled by their flattering and deceitfull passions communicating with them hir secrets and as it were conspiring secretly against hir submittes hir selfe oftentimes to their mercie to hir great confusion For example who ought to haue bene more deuested of all humaine passion than our originall father Adam being in his innocencie séeing our mortall nature was as then in his most great perfection and yet was not he rather ouer ruled by concupiscence then guided by reason when in an ambicious humour he rebelled against the will of God But if we distende more familiarly by what other effect I praye you are we deuided from beastes but by this reason onelie which notwithstanding we sée so abused in thousandes of men that they séeme to pertake more with beasts than with humanity wherin what better testimonie can we produce than the doinges of wisemen and such as are inraged replenished with furie in whome notwithstanding that lust or desire neuer fayled which kepes residence in vs all which makes me think that when this mightie generall architector began to fashion man he framed him deuided as it were halfe diuine halfe brutish so that as he would not make him altogither ignorant in things passed nor directly to foresée chaunces to come so he intercepted him to flie with the winges of his minde to the consideration concerning only himselfe which is the knowledge of the truth but séemes contented only with our faith and credulitie And so in the matter of beautie wée néede not much to meruaile if our iudgement wauer séeing it hapneth in all other humaine actions which I thinke procéedes by the great prouidence of God yea euen in the matter of our present question bycause such women as of certayne are estéemed fowle séeme sufficiently fayre to others as not to be wholy abandoned being as necessarie for the encrease of the worlde as those that stande in a greater estimation of beautie And yet we must thinke that although in this opinion loue makes himselfe common with all other thinges of the worlde yet he containes a certaine nature in himselfe by which he is made altogither heauenly For except this generall league of pollicie which procéedes of the vnitie of our heartes whereof I will not now speake I haue alwaies learned of suche as imagined the heauenlie felicitie that the contentment that most wée founde in this supernall region is a perpetuall contemplation of this deuine essence which makes vs forget our selues wherein albeit I ought not to applie so high a similitude to the subiect we speake of yet if we be suffred to imprint in our heartes an ymage of that diuinitie I may well say that the impression we haue of the formes and figures of our Ladies doth so rauishe vs in them that by them we doe not onely holde all the ioyes of the worlde as transitorie but also they take from vs the knowledge of the very cause why we loue as being rapt in woonder in them euen as by a dilligent beholding the sunne we loase the naturall light of our owne eyes I consent to all you saye sayth Glaphyro confessing withall that as by the imbecilitie of our sences it is not lawfull for vs to flie or aspire to this truth so I beléeue also that it is the onelye cause of the diuersitie of lawes altogither contrarie in diuers places And yet you cannot denie to me that in the question of beautie there be not thinges which by common consent of the worlde are not allowed most fayre as who in a selfe obstinate fancie will giue vnto the crooked and wrinckled a more singularity in beautie then those whome nature hath created vpright and perfite hath in mine opinion no lesse mayme in his sight then imperfection of reason and iudgement I speake not of monsters sayth Monophylo but of thinges common and indifferent for séeing nature hath created vs all vpright I will not entangle our question with suche sort of people as you speake of affirming that in what proportion so euer we are framed if we procure to our selues no other defect of members then according to Gods generall distribution we are a substaunce sufficient ynough to be beloued Bicause all other accidents happening appeare not to vs eyther fayre or foule but according to the diuersitie of our humours which leade vs to that opinion yea we perswade often times a thing to séeme fayre in some season which in an other appeares foule and loathsome So that seigneur Glaphyro if this generalitie vary according to the diuersitie of tymes let vs not thinke straunge if our mindes in the same respect differ perticulerly wherin touching women on whome your late spéech did runne I can hardelye beléeue that in this varietie of opinions they finde not some friende in affection albeit not so commonly as others bicause they are further estraunged from our common nature herein you are both deceyued sayth Phylopolo for nature neuer created thing so rare but for admiration And albeit in regarde of their bodies suche women are not so generally delitefull to vs yet they haue alwayes a helpe of the minde to satisfie that default for God was neuer so niggardly bent to any but if he raysed an imperfite bodye he supplied it with some inwarde excellencie of minde as in the nature of insensible thinges we haue an example of the Vine who albeit seemes most crooked and counterfeyt of all other sortes of woode yet he contaynes euen in his succéeding effectes the spirite and minde of vs men This is somewhat to purpose for you sayth the Ladie and albeit you had vsed no other spéeche at all yet by these last wordes you shoulde haue bene dispensed with all touching all your blasphemies wherein all this afternoone you haue taken your voluntarie pleasure beséehing you all my Gentlemen and déere friendes to suffer this last spéeche of Phylopolo to cloase vp our long question of loue wherein Monophylo séemes to chalenge a singuler triumph who least he should ouer wéene in himselfe I thinke it is not impertinent so to moderate the state of his prosperitie as by our meane hée hoyse not sayle aboue our power to embase it by discresion wherein I holde opinion with an auncient Capitaine of Athens who being asked if he tooke not pleasure to learne the art of memorie no rather sayth he I delight in the art of forgetfulnesse bicause in his iudgement hée preserued well all thinges in his minde which being learned he forgat not But aboue all if a thing once engraued in vs cannot be defaced without great paine loue only once rooted in our heartes is most hardly yea impossible drawne from vs by any humaine art or pollysie and
chast in such great superfluitie of garments and lesse likelye by the same reason to wynne a contented husbande seing that so precious a vertue is chastitie eyther in mayde or maryed wife that it is as easily defyled in garmentes thought and the eyes as in the act For if she reapose in hir attire such a speciall bayte to allure a husbande she may on the otherside accompt hir selfe so much lesse lykely or worthye as he séeth hir vanitie and voyde of true argumentes of chastitie what néede we anye more disguise or suspende our purpose seing such spiced follies were neuer inuented but to aduaunce the last act in loue For to God hath bene alwaies more acceptable a woman in hir simple modestie or modest simplicitie then being imboast with such curious insolencie which we reade hath bene paineally forbidden to the wise matrones in Rome as the onely encomber of their common welth as fell out in example when by little and little it gat footing amongst them great is the follie of that husbande if we may touch the maried estate who not content with that bewtie which nature hath giuen his wyfe will set a newe forme vppon hir to abuse himselfe and make hir desired of others if she be fayre may not hir naturall bewtie content him if she be fowle or deformed forbeare to resist the will of God in séeking to suborne in hir an other forme then according to hir first creation least in gyuing an edge to the tongues of the multitude he be also subiect to the common destinie of the maried sort by this he helpes forward the rumours of the people to whome euerie light occasion is matter sufficient to set abroche their vessels of infamous spéeche yea by this the euill sort will take ready cause to make court to his wyfe in whome pyed attyre is like a marke in the fielde that leades the eyes of the Archer Ah manye be the examples of olde time and ten times so many are the miseries of the present season and ten times ten so manye infelicities will thunder vpon vs if there be not discipline to reforme this generall abuse what other cause rooted out the auncient kings of Rome if not the follye of the husbande of Lucrece who washed his fond mouth with such a flattering praise of his wyfe in the presence of Tarquyn that it wrought like a violent Medicine in the heart of the raâ—isher wherein what necessary occasion could draw him to such spéeche speciallye in a thing which touching himselfe in peculiar ought not to concerne others in common talke the rather if to him onely belong the vse and benefite of the bewtie of his wife how excellent or imperfect soeuer it be what néede he to blase it and so bring it into the desyre of the worlde whose nature is daungerous to allure such lipsubtill people I maye laye in comparison with that auncient Candaules who lesse prouident then was necessarie and more arrogant in the bewtie of his wife then able to vse it worthylie discouered hir immodestly to one Giges his supposed friende who to returne his deare familiaritie setled so déepely in loue with hir that to enter mariage with hir he prepared death for hir husbande But what such people are not perhappes to be resembled with that Candaules on whom fell such hyer for his desert seing of the contrarie those that I speake of more happie then wise receyue vpon credite a thousand fauors for their sakes to whome manye honest people make loue and so are they cherished of euery one for their wyues whome they besmeare with all painted brauerie A thing so hatefull to God and abhominable in reason that who suffreth it merites euen with beastes But whye stande I so long vppon this matter which is so conuenient for vs and preiudiciall to husbandes let them féede and flatter themselues with so fonde suffraunce and we in the meane while as errant knightes will trauayle in the conquests of their wyues For to beléeue that in the fauour of them these sumptuous pompes were fyrst drawne into vse were a faith without a reason But to holde them inuented onely as a visor to couer their wantonnesse is no lesse lykely in iudgement then most true in proofe as is directly manifest in the aunswere which Augustus daughter practised with hir father yea I saye and by this I leaue you to sée how farre I differ from you that lesse is the wydowe to be accused in this habite of immodestie then eyther the maide or maryed wyfe bicause that as she is a better warrant to make loue with more suretye so wyth lesse daunger shée may disguise hir selfe with these artificiall vanities then eyther of the other two whereof the one is commonly discouered by hir waspishe parentes and the other daungerously suspected by a shaded husbande yea and the wyddowe quoth I lyeth open to the whole popular sorte whose eyes are so much the more exercised vpon hir as hir vaile and visor is taken away which was hir husband whose affection blynded him in manye respectes to hys wyfe which lye naked to the worlde whose propertie is to vse the eyes of Argus in the discouerie of other mens dealings But you must consider aunswereth Phylopolo that the oportunitie eyther to speake or execute fauour not so familiarly the maried women as the wydowes who depend not but of themselues and therefore hauing a more due propertie to loue as well for the oportunitie as in a naturall heate and forwardnesse to that businesse whereof the mayde hath made no proofe and the maried wyfe fyndes some satisfaction with hir husbande it is also more conuenient for them to vse garmentes necessary for loue then the other two Here the Ladie suffring with a modest impacience this chalenge of their prerogatiue in attyre tolde him that his reasons might fynde place in such as woulde agree that this curiositie of attire was inuented as an instrument or occasion to loue the same beyng neyther indifferent in truth nor likely in resemblance as being a weake grounde in iudgement to resolue vpon an inwarde effect by an outwarde apparaunce of cause seing with the olde prouerbe as the feather makes not the byrde so our renowne ought not to be assured but vpon vertue For as the Frocke makes the Fryer neuer the more deuoute but is rather a signe of religion then a proofe of hys holynesse so in the attyre of a woman lyeth no true argument of incontinencie and much lesse ought hir garmentes to bréede any opinion of lewde lyfe And albeit they are matters apt to wher the suspicions of the worlde yet our conscience being cléere what other reckning haue we to make of wicked spéeches then that they are rather of custome then of credite Besides such is the bable of the enimyes to our behauiour if a Ladie should attyre hir selfe contrarie to the order and vse of others she should be noted eyther disdainfull of the present fashion or at least an
hypocrite in hir conuersation and no lesse blame shoulde she haue of the multitude who amid so many pompes would disclaime the vse then an other entangled with innouation would play the Courtier among a companie of seuere Noones bycause if all such newfangled deuises carie a propertie of hate in their beginning yet time and practise gettes them such authoritie that they are as easilie disgested as the other fashions And as those light challenges consist not but in the opinion of men so seigneur Phylopolo seing such fashions make their owne authoritie and by little and little become both tollerable in vse and séemely in conuersation I pray your with the propertie of an vpright iudgement misâ—yke not if we practise them by generall and common accorde some vppon a lewde will and others without euill thinking but most part for that vse and custome so require you knowe also how commonly it happeneth in our worldly experience that any thing howe good so euer it be yet if it be wrested to euill may be as easily fashioned thervnto as to good whereof the example is more then lamentable euen in the gospell the which with griefe I speake it we wrest and apply according to our wauering affections And so seigneur pasquyor to cut of this waspishe and wearie discourse I praye you worke vs out of thys encombred laborinth with a freshe onset of your fyrst beginning least with wandering in vnknowne wayes we lose the lynes that should leade vs to our fyrst entry Then Madame quoth I my opinion holdes it impossible that a woman throughly touched with loue notwithstanding all resistaunce at fyrst be not brought at last to reason and made tractable to the will of hir friend wherein notwithstanding I wishe you to holde my iudgement imperfite if the loue be not reciprocall betwéene the two parties as we presume for if it shoulde want on eyther side a thing likely to happen eyther by a preuention of some other or by a disconformitie in the persons there is no lesse impossibilitie to plant affection there then to kyndle a flame where is no fyre a sentence notwithstanding which I will not iustifie to the death seing I haue séene ere now most strong Castels inuincible by imagination brought to submission by time and pollicy such Ladies sayth Phylopolo would I practise with the Engine of Phylip king of Macedonia whose common saying was when he came afore any towne inassaultable by force that if an Asse loaden with Golde could enter he and his armie woulde not be kept out as aduising vs thereby that what friendship or force coulde not mollefie might be made soft by money who gouerning the thinges of the worlde doth also commaunde oure men euen so I beléeue there are fewe women whose vertue are not vanquished by this meane and in whome although loue can worke no power yet money bearing the nature of the Adamant is an instrument to drawe them to the pleasures of men ah seigneur Phylopolo aunswered I how vnnaturall is such pleasure whose price and value being vyle in it selfe the loue also is most abhominable that runnes vnder such hope yea they are to be condemned with the damnable pollicies of such who by magicall brothes and drinkes séeke to force the nature of women as a meane to induce them to loue For loue resting not but in the heart of small value is the vse of the body where wantes the consent of the minde and as what Ladye so euer bequeathes hir bodye to vse vnder a price and pretence of money cannot merite better than with a common strumpet So of the contrarie the honor were greater in hir not onely to withdrawe all affection from such a friende but also to settle in hate agaynst him as to holde hir in such vile estimation that rather money then other merite had power to leade hir affection yea this ought to stande in such high consideration with Ladies as not once to fall into the thought of any noble mynde the same being the cause whye some making a question whether it were better to offer loue to a gentlewoman or a Marchaunts wife maintaine that to the gentlewoman belongs a more propertie to loue as whose fancie is not defiled with vile respect of money nor hir pleasure subiect to other tribute then loue for loue and yet I will not excuse those people of their errors seing that as we sée commonly good high flying Hawkes of all sortes of plumes so I haue heard that the effect of money is no lesse hatefull to many marchauntes wiues then to most gentlewomen on whom in this case may be throwne a more suspition bicause their estate being great and of nature like to birdes desiring costly feathers requires a highe proportion and continuall supply of money where the condition of the other being lesse chargeable hath also lesse néede of reliefe and yet both liues and loues in no lesse felicitie then the gentlewoman and yet for my part I can not iudge eyther sort of those women hauing their affections setled in places worthie of them to owe more delight to welth then desyre to the persons And therfore to a man not being beloued and yet continuing in his purpose to possesse hir whome he pursueth a most proper and fitte waye were in my experience to stande vpon encrease of merites and by his readie seruices to declare the vehement nature of his loue to his mistresse seing that nature teacheth vs to holde reckning of such as be our well willers as also to be desirous of reuenge against those who prepare violence against vs yea euen as God fashioning man of matter more massye indued him with a force which the woman doth want so hauing framed the woman with a nature more tender and subtill hath made hir most familiar with mercy and pittie ah sayth Phylopolo how eyther you abuse your experience or are ignoraunt in the condition of women to whome in all other respectes mercie and pittie are most familier but in this their tirannie excéedes the naturall crueltie of beastes yea such is the violence of their spite that with the Salymander they séeme to haue a felicitie in the torment of their seruauntes whose presence they féede with a flattering hope and in their absence make a skoffe at their honest affection This I speake not without cause as being warranted by the maner of many Ladies who albeit haue their hartes setled in anye one place yet being courted by diuers honest gentlemen and desirous in a common humour to be séene to haue many seruaunts sue to them the same being in their fancie the chiefe testimonie of their bewtie they will not stick to imbrace euerye one with a perticuler affection and that with such cunning as the wisest shall be ledde in a blinde hope of their good willes yea such is the violence of this coossenage in loue that their louers falling from one hope to an other into infinite fancies happen at last into
there are none in whome libertie of spéeche hath lesse power or the wittes furthest enstranged from their due office function then where loue hath a sole soueraignetie and gouernement the same being an argument of opinion to me that the better to aduaunce their glorious excellencie in a subiect excéeding all consideration of manne euerye one of those voluble writers did fashion and choose a woman friende as in whose prayse and memorie they raysed so many excellent monumentes in writing if in such respect onely sayth Phylopolo as you presume these writers heaped suche famous exercises mée-thinkes their wrong was no lesse to the dignitie of their learning then their actions most intollerable in example séeing they might haue chosen many matters of much more worthynesse than to become vaine worshippers of transitorie ydols as though their iudgementes were so base and their wittes so vilely inclined as without the subiect of women they coulde bring foorth no substaunce of learning ah quod I beware of hastie iudgements séeing wée maye easelier slaunder their doings than knowe their pretence For as wée haue reason to thinke that all these great loues which in their young and gréene yeares they disguised in themselues vnder the shadowe of poeie doe promise more waightye exercises as they rise into more ripenesse of age so considering how all thinges haue their time and euery time his proper season it néede not séeme straunge if fashioning their rhymes according to the subiect resembling their present youth they suborned certayne passions and pangues and sawced their volumes with varieties of Venus miseries the better to serue as a looking glasse for all the worlde as for such as professe loue to finde necessarie rules for their instruction to such as hate him to abhorre hym more by their example the same being so much the more conuenient in them as whose age is not prepared for other studies as their indeuour brought foorth a fruite of common commoditie This spéech sayth Glaphyro is impertinent to our present purpose and yet to whosoeuer woulde demaunde a reason of their writinges I thinke the Poetes would aunswere that it was the most highe and excellent theame that coulde be deuised bicause loue hath alwayes caried such soueraine power that the highest elementes that euer were yea euen the auncient Gods themselues haue vouchsafed to be led in triumph vnder his banner And for my part if they trauelled in those exercises as men in experienced in his authoritie and but induced only to reueale the passions which he hiteth in himselfe I estéeme them so muche the more worthy as the matter was haughty and harde I meane to speake so properlye of loue hauing made no proofe of his nature but if they haue béene lymed with the fethers of his winges prooued the burthen of his power it were not amisse no lesse for the furtheraunce of their study then to fauour their health and quiet that they resigne their pretence séeing it brings such daunger in practises wherein they haue this assured and infallyble meane if afore they loase the vse of their senses they perswade no possibilitie to attaine to the end yea albeit there be power to possesse yet let them fixe vppon this as vpon the north starre that the pleasaunt vse being the ende and marke of all their pretence is no other thing then an opinion of pleasure raysed of an affection which is borne more to one woman than an other and lastelye that all women haue affinitie with the humors of their first mother Eue who was not without hir frayle and slyding infirmities I confesse that in this meane or medicine is neyther such facilitye nor constancie as maye be deuised bicause who hath once imprinted an opinion of a woman in his conceyte may aunswere that he makes no value or estimation to vse or possesse but onely bycause of an affection which is extreme towards his mistresse yea if causes be indifferently measured you shall finde no comparison betwéene the pleasure we receyue of a publike woman to whome we beare but a vile and squirilous affection in respect of the delight we féele in our peculiar friend so that the best aduise I can giue to hym that woulde beguile loue is to fashion at the first a desperate impossibility to possesse séeing that to warraunt vs from the passions amongst which loue raignes we haue a double medicine the one if in beléeuing the suggestions of reason purelye and simply wée doe supplant all affections leauing neyther roote nor rynde in vs the other if when passions kindle and preuaile ouer vs we fight against our proper willes maintayning a ciuill warre in our selues vnder the leading of reason accompanied notwithstanding with some contrary passion the first was familiar with Socrares who by a deepe and heauenly Philosophie being armed with a continuall contempt of all thinges obserued such constancy that neyther prosperitie coulde make him swell nor aduersitye cause him to stoupe This remedie séemes so muche the straunger as our soule being composed of reason and passion our passions oftentimes doe carye awaye our reason And therefore we must with diligence resort to the seconde medicine when reason enuironed with passions and not able of hyr selfe to shifte them of takes ayde of a contrarye passion which albeit of it selfe be not good yet enclyning in this hehalfe to reason wyth seruiceable duetie as to hir soueraigne mystrisse can not be called euill bycause affections be not euill but when against the order of nature they séeke to beare rule ouer reason This was the medicine which the Phylosopher Carneadus applyed to our instructions as aduising vs that amydde the froth of our mortall delightes we shoulde remember the myseries of the worlde to the ende that brydeling by that meane our vnbrydeled pleasure we maye temper the one with the other This was the wishe of Phylip of Macedonia who receyuing in one daye newes of the birth of his mightie sonne and report of two victories obteyned to his vse craued that Fortune would mixe his great felicity with some sharpe accident least his fleshe vsed hir propertie the wise Anaxagoras notwithstanding nature stirred him to delight singulerly in the lyfe of his childe yet his extreme ioy was so moderated with a continuall feare of our common frayltie that his death was not grieuous when he remembred he had begot him in the state of mortalitie These two wayes in déede are no lesse commendable for their excellencie then most conuenient to defende men from such sortes of furies And yet touching the first although in other affections it may preuaile by a continuall vse and meditation yet I stande in doubt to assure it anye place in loue for that he is a passion so subtill that we sée him no sooner enter into vs then we haue aduertisement of him yea euen Pallas the Goddesse of wisedome fell one day vpon a sodaine into the nettes of Venus Cupide choyce of place we shall reliefe our griefe
and release the bondes of our first sorrowes it may be this pollicie is nothing pleasaunt to Monophylo whose reasons yesterdaye conteyned matter of ymputation against such as were defyled in thought onely against their Ladies but for my part much lesse that I fynde cause of offence therin seing of the contrarie and yet I am not farre estraunged from your opinion I holde it the onely and readie meane to loue well and perfitely For if this loue as you say deriue from a heauenly power can you haue a better meane to knowe hir whome destenie and prouidence haue prouided for you then chaunging from one to another to fall at last vppon hir in whome your senses doe settle and your affections rest satisfied Thys is a perswasion amongst the Genetliake Phylosophers that to knowe the estate of our prouidence and followe our influence is required chaunge of habites names and diuers countries and their to pitche our staye where we encounter our best contentment and not to be obstinately bent to one place wherein if we looke to thriue we must reuerse the reuolution of the heauens who séeme to encline vs an other way And therefore seigneur Monophylo it were an error in all men of highe courage so to encomber his minde with peculier subiection that he had rather moue hys owne spoyle in the daylie pursute of a woman not predestinate to him then to searche his choyce seuerallye elsewhere whose fauours he shal obteyne at the first bicause both lot and destenie will incline to his affection This discourse of Phylopolo enuironed with miseries as to couer the opinion which he vnderstood better by effect then by spéech setting al the company on a pleasant laughter was sodainely answered by the Lady who vnder a smooth anger told him he néeded not adde an othe to make hir beléeue him muche lesse that himselfe was without experience of his owne remedie in whome shée doubted not there was fulfilled a more perfite warraunt and witnesse than in any of the companie which he denied assuring hir that he neuer embased hymselfe so much as to become the seruaunt of one mystresse onely estéeming it an act of great vnthankefulnesse to all the rest of that sex for the respect of one onelye to abandon the loue of infinite others to whome perhappes is more desert and dutie of obedience then to hir in whose regarde wée entangle our credit and consume our goods and tyme all of the contrarie aunswered I for singuler loue or affection simply and pefectly settle to one onely bréedes in vs a readie behauiour of generall curtesie to the rest where otherwayes in séeking to content all wée hazarde the displeasure of all for there is no other motion or originall cause of curtesie but of loue according to the testimonie of all the Romants and histories treating of suche affayres where you shall finde the most perfect and loyall louers to bée they that most exercise curtesie towardes all others induced onely by a reuerent respect to their onely mystresse howe many men doe we sée impotent in forme of mettall leade heauy of mind sluggishly inclined of maners loathsomely disposed in whome neyther learning siâ—nce vse custome nor example of wise conuersation can worke any honest alurement to honour yet loue whose entisements are proper spurres to ciuilitie hath so transnatured him as if hée were cast in a newe forme by which meane he becomes no lesse ciuill in life and maners then before he excelled in dumpish and lyther disposition the same agréeing with the common spéech and perswacion of the people that to fashion a yong man is necessarie to shrowde hym vnder the winges of some Lady of whome he is amorous as a sufficient meane to drawe him to honour and ciuilitie for suche is our common fault that being cladde with the mistie coulours of Philastie and selfe loue to our selues wée cannot enter into our owne errours whereof as our Ladies do giue vs often knowledge so their warninges become come commonly speciall instruments of our spéedie chauÌ„ge making their sleight corrections of farre more authoritye with vs than if wée had bene warned by any seuere preacher in a pulpet And albeit loue being once as déepely setled in the woman as in the man it is not vnlikelye that shée maye be no lesse blinded in the manners of hir friende then himselfe and that with the follye of parents towards their children for friendship sake she passe ouer necligentlye his imperfections yet the desire we haue to please the eye and iudgement of our Ladies is alwayes a quicke and cleare lantorne to leade vs to that behauiour of honor which we ymagine woulde satisfie them And euen as a good Captaine prepared to assault a towne reaposeth not altogither in his people who notwithstanding are his chiefest staye and strength but necessarilye applieth the cannon other engines of warre euen so runneth the condicion of the true louer who pretending to batter the heart of his Ladie doth not onely prepare loue to vanquish and possesse hir which is the principall of all but leades hir in many exercises of ciuilitie and honour as worthie pollecies to prefere his enterbose the same being the perswation of that auncient Poet in his art of loue who instructing him whome he would haue to faine loue giues also straight charge to him that loues indéede to vse his aduise without other art but such as he learneth of loue onely who may serue vs sufficiently as a Maske or Visor to play such a part These matters sayth Phylopolo are no lesse straunge to me in spéeche then their sence of harde vnderstanding wherein if I shoulde wade déeper I should but heape confusion and rather speake by heart then by the booke as being altogither inexperienced that waye But bycause I gouerne not my selfe in these matters so much by the booke as by mine owne contemplation and my fancie is not without singuler pleasure I praye you tell me what other signe or marke of curtesie can you discerne in these madde louers then a most solitarie and continuall care a distraughting of the witte a distemper of the body and lastly a generall contempt of all other thinges except hir to whome his thoughtes are addressed according to the late instruction of Monophylo So that seigneur pasquier you can hardly establishe honestie in your louer who you sée holdes the worlde in contempt and all thinges therein in hate yea they are eyther so rauished in passion or restrayned from reason that with the contempt of the worlde I haue séene them beare suche hate euen to themselues that their Ladies haue loathed their condicion and béene ashamed of their follye and being sometimes rebuked by them for such franticke behauiour what was the excuse of these poore fooles but that hauing no power of themselues their onely felicitie depended vpon the presence of their Ladies Suerly such haggard Pigions woulde hardlye be made tame and much lesse that their capacities stretched to