sufficiently treated; there be some good remedies remaining, by way of
prevention, precautions, or admonitions, which if rightly practised,
may do much good. Plato, in his Commonwealth, to prevent this mischief
belike, would have all things, wives and children, all as one: and
which Caesar in his Commentaries observed of those old Britons, that
first inhabited this land, they had ten or twelve wives allotted to
such a family, or promiscuously to be used by so many men; not one to
one, as with us, or four, five, or six to one, as in Turkey. The
[6217]Nicholaites, a set that sprang, saith Austin, from Nicholas the
deacon, would have women indifferent; and the cause of this filthy
sect, was Nicholas the deacon's jealousy, for which when he was
condemned to purge himself of his offence, he broached his heresy, that
it was lawful to lie with one another's wives, and for any man to lie
with his: like to those [6218]Anabaptists in Munster, that would
consort with other men's wives as the spirit moved them: or as
[6219]Mahomet, the seducing prophet, would needs use women as he list
himself, to beget prophets; two hundred and five, their Alcoran saith,
were in love with him, and [6220]he as able as forty men. Amongst the
old Carthaginians, as [6221]Bohemus relates out of Sabellicus., the
king of the country lay with the bride the first night, and once in a
year they went promiscuously all together. Munster Cosmog. lib. 3. cap.
497. ascribes the beginning of this brutish custom (unjustly) to one
Picardus, a Frenchman, that invented a new sect of Adamites, to go
naked as Adam did, and to use promiscuous venery at set times. When the
priest repeated that of Genesis, Increase and multiply, out [6222]went
the candles in the place where they met, and without all respect of
age, persons, conditions, catch that catch may, every man took her that
came next, &c.; some fasten this on those ancient Bohemians and
Russians: [6223]others on the inhabitants of Mambrium, in the Lucerne
valley in Piedmont; and, as I read, it was practised in Scotland
amongst Christians themselves, until King Malcolm's time, the king or
the lord of the town had their maidenheads. In some parts of
[6224]India in our age, and those [6225]islanders, [6226]as amongst the
Babylonians of old, they will prostitute their wives and daughters
(which Chalcocondila, a Greek modern writer, for want of better
intelligence, puts upon us Britons) to such travellers or seafaring men
as come amongst them by chance, to show how far they were from this
feral vice of jealousy, and how little they esteemed it. The kings of
Calecut, as [6227]Lod. Vertomannus relates, will not touch their wives,
till one of their Biarmi or high priests have lain first with them, to
sanctify their wombs. But those Esai and Montanists, two strange sects
of old, were in another extreme, they would not marry at all, or have
any society with women, [6228]because of their intemperance they held
them all to be naught. Nevisanus the lawyer, lib. 4. num. 33. sylv.
nupt. would have him that is inclined to this malady, to prevent the
worst, marry a quean, Capiens meretricem, hoc habet saltem boni quod
non decipitur, quia scit eam sic esse, quod non contingit aliis. A
fornicator in Seneca constuprated two wenches in a night; for
satisfaction, the one desired to hang him, the other to marry him.
[6229] Hierome, king of Syracuse in Sicily, espoused himself to Pitho,
keeper of the stews; and Ptolemy took Thais a common whore to be his
wife, had two sons, Leontiscus and Lagus by her, and one daughter
Irene: 'tis therefore no such unlikely thing. [6230]A citizen of
Engubine gelded himself to try his wife's honesty, and to be freed from
jealousy; so did a baker in [6231] Basil, to the same intent. But of
all other precedents in this kind, that of [6232]Combalus is most
memorable; who to prevent his master's suspicion, for he was a
beautiful young man, and sent by Seleucus his lord and king, with
Stratonice the queen to conduct her into Syria, fearing the worst,
gelded himself before he went, and left his genitals behind him in a
box sealed up. His mistress by the way fell in love with him, but he
not yielding to her, was accused to Seleucus of incontinency, (as that
Bellerophon was in like case, falsely traduced by Sthenobia, to King
Praetus her husband, cum non posset ad coitum inducere) and that by
her, and was therefore at his corning home cast into prison: the day of
hearing appointed, he was sufficiently cleared and acquitted, by
showing his privities, which to the admiration of the beholders he had
formerly cut off. The Lydians used to geld women whom they suspected,
saith Leonicus var. hist. Tib. 3. cap. 49. as well as men. To this
purpose [6233]Saint Francis, because he used to confess women in
private, to prevent suspicion, and prove himself a maid, stripped
himself before the Bishop of Assise and others: and Friar Leonard for
the same cause went through Viterbium in Italy, without any garments.
Our pseudo-Catholics, to help these inconveniences which proceed from
jealousy, to keep themselves and their wives honest, make severe laws;
against adultery present death; and withal fornication, a venal sin, as
a sink to convey that furious and swift stream of concupiscence, they
appoint and permit stews, those punks and pleasant sinners, the more to
secure their wives in all populous cities, for they hold them as
necessary as churches; and howsoever unlawful, yet to avoid a greater
mischief, to be tolerated in policy, as usury, for the hardness of
men's hearts; and for this end they have whole colleges of courtesans
in their towns and cities. Of [6234]Cato's mind belike, that would have
his servants (cum ancillis congredi coitus causa, definito aere, ut
graviora facinora evitarent, caeteris interim interdicens) familiar
with some such feminine creatures, to avoid worse mischiefs in his
house, and made allowance for it. They hold it impossible for idle
persons, young, rich, and lusty, so many servants, monks, friars, to
live honest, too tyrannical a burden to compel them to be chaste, and
most unfit to suffer poor men, younger brothers and soldiers at all to
marry, as those diseased persons, votaries, priests, servants.
Therefore, as well to keep and ease the one as the other, they tolerate
and wink at these kind of brothel-houses and stews. Many probable
arguments they have to prove the lawfulness, the necessity, and a
toleration of them, as of usury; and without question in policy they
are not to be contradicted: but altogether in religion. Others
prescribe filters, spells, charms to keep men and women honest.
[6235]Mulier ut alienum virum non admittat praeter suum: Accipe fel
hirci, et adipem, et exsicca, calescat in oleo, &c., et non alium
praeter et amabit. In Alexi. Porta, &c., plura invenies, et multo his
absurdiora, uti et in Rhasi, ne mulier virum admittat, et maritum solum
diligat, &c. But these are most part Pagan, impious, irreligious,
absurd, and ridiculous devices.
The best means to avoid these and like inconveniences are, to take away
the causes and occasions. To this purpose [6236]Varro writ Satyram
Menippeam, but it is lost. [6237]Patritius prescribes four rules to be
observed in choosing of a wife (which who so will may read); Fonseca,
the Spaniard, in his 45. c. Amphitheat. Amoris, sets down six special
cautions for men, four for women; Sam. Neander out of Shonbernerus,
five for men, five for women; Anthony Guivarra many good lessons;
[6238]Cleobulus two alone, others otherwise; as first to make a good
choice in marriage, to invite Christ to their wedding, and which
[6239]St. Ambrose adviseth, Deum conjugii praesidem habere, and to pray
to him for her, A Domino enim datur uxor prudens, Prov. xix. ) not to
be too rash and precipitate in his election, to run upon the first he
meets, or dote on every stout fair piece he sees, but to choose her as
much by his ears as eyes, to be well advised whom he takes, of what
age, &c., and cautelous in his proceedings. An old man should not marry
a young woman, nor a young woman an old man, [6240] Quam male
inaequales veniunt ad arata juvenci! such matches must needs minister a
perpetual cause of suspicion, and be distasteful to each other.
[6241]Noctua ut in tumulis, super atque cadavera bubo,
Talis apud Sophoclem nostra puella sedet.
Night-crows on tombs, owl sits on carcass dead,
So lies a wench with Sophocles in bed.
For Sophocles, as [6242]Atheneus describes him, was a very old man, as
cold as January, a bedfellow of bones, and doted yet upon Archippe, a
young courtesan, than which nothing can be more odious. [6243]Senex
maritus uxori juveni ingratus est, an old man is a most unwelcome guest
to a young wench, unable, unfit:
[6244]Amplexus suos fugiunt puellae,
Omnis horret amor Venusque Hymenque.
And as in like case a good fellow that had but a peck of corn weekly to
grind, yet would needs build a new mill for it, found his error
eftsoons, for either he must let his mill lie waste, pull it quite
down, or let others grind at it. So these men, &c.
Seneca therefore disallows all such unseasonable matches, habent enim
maledicti locum crebrae nuptiae. And as [6245]Tully farther inveighs,
'tis unfit for any, but ugly and filthy in old age. Turpe senilis amor,
one of the three things [6246]God hateth. Plutarch, in his book contra
Coleten, rails downright at such kind of marriages, which are attempted
by old men, qui jam corpore impotenti, et a voluptatibus deserti,
peccant animo, and makes a question whether in some cases it be
tolerable at least for such a man to marry,—qui Venerem affectat sine
viribus, that is now past those venerous exercises, as a gelded man
lies with a virgin and sighs, Ecclus. xxx. 20, and now complains with
him in Petronius, funerata est haec pars jam, quad fuit olim Achillea,
he is quite done,
[6247]Vixit puellae nuper idoneus,
Et militavit non sine gloria.
But the question is whether he may delight himself as those Priapeian
popes, which, in their decrepit age, lay commonly between two wenches
every night, contactu formosarum, et contrectatione, num adhuc gaudeat;
and as many doting sires do to their own shame, their children's
undoing, and their families' confusion: he abhors it, tanquam ab
agresti et furioso domino fugiendum, it must be avoided as a bedlam
master, and not obeyed.
[6248]Alecto———
Ipsa faces praefert nubentibus, et malus Hymen
Triste ululat,———
the devil himself makes such matches. [6249]Levinus Lemnius reckons up
three things which generally disturb the peace of marriage: the first
is when they marry intempestive or unseasonably, as many mortal men
marry precipitately and inconsiderately, when they are effete and old:
the second when they marry unequally for fortunes and birth: the third,
when a sick impotent person weds one that is sound, novae nuptae spes
frustratur: many dislikes instantly follow. Many doting dizzards, it
may not be denied, as Plutarch confesseth, [6250]recreate themselves
with such obsolete, unseasonable and filthy remedies (so he calls
them), with a remembrance of their former pleasures, against nature
they stir up their dead flesh: but an old lecher is abominable; mulier
tertio nubens, [6251]Nevisanus holds, praesumitur lubrica, et
inconstans, a woman that marries a third time may be presumed to be no
honester than she should. Of them both, thus Ambrose concludes in his
comment upon Luke, [6252]they that are coupled together, not to get
children, but to satisfy their lust, are not husbands, but fornicators,
with whom St. Austin consents: matrimony without hope of children, non
matrimonium, sed concubium dici debet, is not a wedding but a jumbling
or coupling together. In a word (except they wed for mutual society,
help and comfort one of another, in which respects, though
[6253]Tiberius deny it, without question old folks may well marry) for
sometimes a man hath most need of a wife, according to Puccius, when he
hath no need of a wife; otherwise it is most odious, when an old
Acherontic dizzard, that hath one foot in his grave, a silicernium,
shall flicker after a young wench that is blithe and bonny,
[6254]———salaciorque
Verno passere, et albulis columbis.
What can be more detestable?
[6255]Tu cano capite amas senex nequissime
Jam plenus aetatis, animaque foetida,
Senex hircosus tu osculare mulierem?
Utine adiens vomitum potius excuties.
Thou old goat, hoary lecher, naughty man,
With stinking breath, art thou in love?
Must thou be slavering? she spews to see
Thy filthy face, it doth so move.
Yet, as some will, it is much more tolerable for an old man to marry a
young woman (our ladies' match they call it) for cras erit mulier, as
he said in Tully. Cato the Roman, Critobulus in [6256]Xenophon,
[6257]Tiraquellus of late, Julius Scaliger, &c., and many famous
precedents we have in that kind; but not e contra: 'tis not held fit
for an ancient woman to match with a young man. For as Varro will, Anus
dum ludit morti delitias facit, 'tis Charon's match between
[6258]Cascus and Casca, and the devil himself is surely well pleased
with it. And, therefore, as the [6259]poet inveighs, thou old Vetustina
bedridden quean, that art now skin and bones,
Cui tres capilli, quatuorque sunt dentes,
Pectus cicadae, crusculumque formicae,
Rugosiorem quae geris stola frontem,
Et arenaram cassibus pares mammas.
That hast three hairs, four teeth, a breast
Like grasshopper, an emmet's crest,
A skin more rugged than thy coat,
And drugs like spider's web to boot.
Must thou marry a youth again? And yet ducentas ire nuptum post mortes
amant: howsoever it is, as [6260]Apuleius gives out of his Meroe,
congressus annosus, pestilens, abhorrendus, a pestilent match,
abominable, and not to be endured. In such case how can they otherwise
choose but be jealous, how should they agree one with another? This
inequality is not in years only, but in birth, fortunes, conditions,
and all good [6261]qualities, si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari, 'tis
my counsel, saith Anthony Guiverra, to choose such a one. Civis Civem
ducat, Nobilis Nobilem, let a citizen match with a citizen, a gentleman
with a gentlewoman; he that observes not this precept (saith he) non
generum sed malum Genium, non nurum sed Furiam, non vitae Comitem, sed
litis fomitem domi habebit, instead of a fair wife shall have a fury,
for a fit son-in-law a mere fiend, &c. examples are too frequent.
Another main caution fit to be observed is this, that though they be
equal in years, birth, fortunes, and other conditions, yet they do not
omit virtue and good education, which Musonius and Antipater so much
inculcate in Stobeus:
[6262]Dos est magna parentum
Virtus, et metuens alterius viri
Certo foedere castitas.
If, as Plutarch adviseth, one must eat modium salis, a bushel of salt
with him, before he choose his friend, what care should be had in
choosing a wife, his second self, how solicitous should he be to know
her qualities and behaviour; and when he is assured of them, not to
prefer birth, fortune, beauty, before bringing up, and good conditions.
[6263]Coquage god of cuckolds, as one merrily said, accompanies the
goddess Jealousy, both follow the fairest, by Jupiter's appointment,
and they sacrifice to them together: beauty and honesty seldom agree;
straight personages have often crooked manners; fair faces, foul vices;
good complexions, ill conditions. Suspicionis plena res est, et
insidiarum, beauty (saith [6264]Chrysostom) is full of treachery and
suspicion: he that hath a fair wife, cannot have a worse mischief, and
yet most covet it, as if nothing else in marriage but that and wealth
were to be respected. [6265]Francis Sforza, Duke of Milan, was so
curious in this behalf, that he would not marry the Duke of Mantua's
daughter, except he might see her naked first: which Lycurgus appointed
in his laws, and Morus in his Utopian Commonwealth approves. [6266]In
Italy, as a traveller observes, if a man have three or four daughters,
or more, and they prove fair, they are married eftsoons: if deformed,
they change their lovely names of Lucia, Cynthia, Camaena, call them
Dorothy, Ursula, Bridget, and so put them into monasteries, as if none
were fit for marriage, but such as are eminently fair: but these are
erroneous tenets: a modest virgin well conditioned, to such a fair
snout-piece, is much to be preferred. If thou wilt avoid them, take
away all causes of suspicion and jealousy, marry a coarse piece, fetch
her from Cassandra's [6267]temple, which was wont in Italy to be a
sanctuary of all deformed maids, and so shalt thou be sure that no man
will make thee cuckold, but for spite. A citizen of Bizance in France
had a filthy, dowdy, deformed slut to his wife, and finding her in bed
with another man, cried out as one amazed; O miser! quae te necessitas
huc adegit? O thou wretch, what necessity brought thee hither? as well
he might; for who can affect such a one? But this is warily to be
understood, most offend in another extreme, they prefer wealth before
beauty, and so she be rich, they care not how she look; but these are
all out as faulty as the rest. Attendenda uxoris forma, as
[6268]Salisburiensis adviseth, ne si alteram aspexeris, mox eam sordere
putes, as the Knight in Chaucer, that was married to an old woman,
And all day after hid him as an owl,
So woe was his wife looked so foul.
Have a care of thy wife's complexion, lest whilst thou seest another,
thou loathest her, she prove jealous, thou naught,
[6269]Si tibi deformis conjux, si serva venusta,
Ne utaris serva,———
I can perhaps give instance. Molestum est possidere, quod nemo habere
dignetur, a misery to possess that which no man likes: on the other
side, Difficile custoditur quod plures amant. And as the bragging
soldier vaunted in the comedy, nimia est miseria pulchrum esse hominem
nimis. Scipio did never so hardly besiege Carthage, as these young
gallants will beset thine house, one with wit or person, another with
wealth, &c. If she he fair, saith Guazzo, she will be suspected
howsoever. Both extremes are naught, Pulchra cito adamatur, foeda
facile concupiscit, the one is soon beloved, the other loves: one is
hardly kept, because proud and arrogant, the other not worth keeping;
what is to be done in this case? Ennius in Menelippe adviseth thee as a
friend to take statam formam, si vis habere incolumem pudicitiam, one
of a middle size, neither too fair nor too foul, [6270]Nec formosa
magis quam mihi casta placet, with old Cato, though fit let her beauty
be, neque lectissima, neque illiberalis, between both. This I approve;
but of the other two I resolve with Salisburiensis, caeteris paribus,
both rich alike, endowed alike, majori miseria deformis habetur quam
formosa servatur, I had rather marry a fair one, and put it to the
hazard, than be troubled with a blowze; but do as thou wilt, I speak
only of myself.
Howsoever, quod iterum maneo, I would advise thee thus much, be she
fair or foul, to choose a wife out of a good kindred, parentage, well
brought up, in an honest place.
[6271]Primum animo tibi proponas quo sanguine creta.
Qua forma, qua aetate, quibusque ante omnia virgo
Moribus, in junctos veniat nova nupta penates.
He that marries a wife out of a suspected inn or alehouse, buys a horse
in Smithfield, and hires a servant in Paul's, as the diverb is, shall
likely have a jade to his horse, a knave for his man, an arrant honest
woman to his wife. Filia praesumitur, esse matri similis, saith
[6272]Nevisanus? Such [6273]a mother, such a daughter; mali corvi malum
ovum., cat to her kind.
[6274]Scilicet expectas ut tradat mater honestos
Atque alios mores quam quos habet?
If the mother be dishonest, in all likelihood the daughter will
matrizare, take after her in all good qualities,
Creden' Pasiphae non tauripotente futuram
Tauripetam?———
If the dam trot, the foal will not amble. My last caution is, that a
woman do not bestow herself upon a fool, or an apparent melancholy
person; jealousy is a symptom of that disease, and fools have no
moderation. Justina, a Roman lady, was much persecuted, and after made
away by her jealous husband, she caused and enjoined this epitaph, as a
caveat to others, to be engraven on her tomb:
[6275]Discite ab exemplo Justinae, discite patres,
Ne nubat fatuo filia vestra viro, &c.
Learn parents all, and by Justina's case,
Your children to no dizzards for to place.
After marriage, I can give no better admonitions than to use their
wives well, and which a friend of mine told me that was a married man,
I will tell you as good cheap, saith Nicostratus in [6276]Stobeus, to
avoid future strife, and for quietness' sake, when you are in bed, take
heed of your wife's flattering speeches over night, and curtain,
sermons in the morning. Let them do their endeavour likewise to
maintain them to their means, which [6277]Patricius ingeminates, and
let them have liberty with discretion, as time and place requires: many
women turn queans by compulsion, as [6278]Nevisanus observes, because
their husbands are so hard, and keep them so short in diet and apparel,
paupertas cogit eas meretricari, poverty and hunger, want of means,
makes them dishonest, or bad usage; their churlish behaviour forceth
them to fly out, or bad examples, they do it to cry quittance. In the
other extreme some are too liberal, as the proverb is, Turdus malum
sibi cacat, they make a rod for their own tails, as Candaules did to
Gyges in [6279]Herodotus, commend his wife's beauty himself, and
besides would needs have him see her naked. Whilst they give their
wives too much liberty to gad abroad, and bountiful allowance, they are
accessory to their own miseries; animae uxorum pessime olent, as
Plautus jibes, they have deformed souls, and by their painting and
colours procure odium mariti, their husband's hate, especially,—[6280]
cum misere viscantur labra mariti. Besides, their wives (as [6281]Basil
notes) Impudenter se exponunt masculorum aspectibus, jactantes tunicas,
et coram tripudiantes, impudently thrust themselves into other men's
companies, and by their indecent wanton carriage provoke and tempt the
spectators. Virtuous women should keep house; and 'twas well performed
and ordered by the Greeks,
[6282]———mulier ne qua in publicum
Spectandam se sine arbitro praebeat viro:
which made Phidias belike at Elis paint Venus treading on a tortoise, a
symbol of women's silence and housekeeping. For a woman abroad and
alone, is like a deer broke out of a park, quam mille venatores
insequuntur, whom every hunter follows; and besides in such places she
cannot so well vindicate herself, but as that virgin Dinah (Gen.
xxxiv., 2,) going for to see the daughters of the land, lost her
virginity, she may be defiled and overtaken of a sudden: Imbelles damae
quid nisi praeda sumus? [6283]
And therefore I know not what philosopher he was, that would have women
come but thrice abroad all their time, [6284]to be baptised, married,
and buried; but he was too strait-laced. Let them have their liberty in
good sort, and go in good sort, modo non annos viginti aetatis suae
domi relinquant, as a good fellow said, so that they look not twenty
years younger abroad than they do at home, they be not spruce, neat,
angels abroad, beasts, dowdies, sluts at home; but seek by all means to
please and give content to their husbands: to be quiet above all
things, obedient, silent and patient; if they be incensed, angry, chid
a little, their wives must not [6285]cample again, but take it in good
part. An honest woman, I cannot now tell where she dwelt, but by report
an honest woman she was, hearing one of her gossips by chance complain
of her husband's impatience, told her an excellent remedy for it, and
gave her withal a glass of water, which when he brawled she should hold
still in her mouth, and that toties quoties, as often as he chid; she
did so two or three times with good success, and at length seeing her
neighbour, gave her great thanks for it, and would needs know the
ingredients, [6286]she told her in brief what it was, fair water, and
no more: for it was not the water, but her silence which performed the
cure. Let every froward woman imitate this example, and be quiet within
doors, and (as [6287]M. Aurelius prescribes) a necessary caution it is
to be observed of all good matrons that love their credits, to come
little abroad, but follow their work at home, look to their household
affairs and private business, oeconomiae incumbentes, be sober,
thrifty, wary, circumspect, modest, and compose themselves to live to
their husbands' means, as a good housewife should do,
[6288]Quae studiis gavisa coli, partita labores
Fallet opus cantu, formae assimulata coronae
Cura puellaris, circum fusosque rotasque
Cum volvet, &c.
Howsoever 'tis good to keep them private, not in prison;
[6289]Quisquis custodit uxorem vectibus et seris,
Etsi sibi sapiens, stultus est, et nihil sapit.
Read more of this subject, Horol. princ. lib. 2. per totum. Arnisaeus,
polit. Cyprian, Tertullian, Bossus de mulier. apparat. Godefridus de
Amor. lib. 2. cap. 4. Levinus Lemnius cap. 54. de institut. Christ.
Barbaras de re uxor. lib. 2. cap. 2. Franciscus Patritius de institut.
Reipub. lib. 4. Tit. 4. et 6. de officio mariti et uxoris, Christ.
Fonseca Amphitheat. Amor. cap. 45. Sam. Neander, &c.
These cautions concern him; and if by those or his own discretion
otherwise he cannot moderate himself, his friends must not be wanting
by their wisdom, if it be possible, to give the party grieved
satisfaction, to prevent and remove the occasions, objects, if it may
be to secure him. If it be one alone, or many, to consider whom he
suspects or at what times, in what places he is most incensed, in what
companies. [6290]Nevisanus makes a question whether a young physician
ought to be admitted in cases of sickness, into a new-married man's
house, to administer a julep, a syrup, or some such physic. The
Persians of old would not suffer a young physician to come amongst
women. [6291]Apollonides Cous made Artaxerxes cuckold, and was after
buried alive for it. A goaler in Aristaenetus had a fine young
gentleman to his prisoner; [6292]in commiseration of his youth and
person he let him loose, to enjoy the liberty of the prison, but he
unkindly made him a cornuto. Menelaus gave good welcome to Paris a
stranger, his whole house and family were at his command, but he
ungently stole away his best beloved wife. The like measure was offered
to Agis king of Lacedaemon, by [6293] Alcibiades an exile, for his good
entertainment, he was too familiar with Timea his wife, begetting a
child of her, called Leotichides: and bragging moreover when he came
home to Athens, that he had a son should be king of the Lacedaemonians.
If such objects were removed, no doubt but the parties might easily be
satisfied, or that they could use them gently and entreat them well,
not to revile them, scoff at, hate them, as in such cases commonly they
do, 'tis a human infirmity, a miserable vexation, and they should not
add grief to grief, nor aggravate their misery, but seek to please, and
by all means give them content, by good counsel, removing such
offensive objects, or by mediation of some discreet friends. In old
Rome there was a temple erected by the matrons to that [6294]Viriplaca
Dea, another to Venus verticorda, quae maritos uxoribus reddebat
benevolos, whither (if any difference happened between man and wife)
they did instantly resort: there they did offer sacrifice, a white
hart, Plutarch records, sine felle, without the gall, (some say the
like of Juno's temple) and make their prayers for conjugal peace;
before some [6295] indifferent arbitrators and friends, the matter was
heard between man and wife, and commonly composed. In our times we want
no sacred churches, or good men to end such controversies, if use were
made, of them. Some say that precious stone called [6296]beryllus,
others a diamond, hath excellent virtue, contra hostium injurias, et
conjugatos invicem conciliare, to reconcile men and wives, to maintain
unity and love; you may try this when you will, and as you see cause.
If none of all these means and cautions will take place, I know not
what remedy to prescribe, or whither such persons may go for ease,
except they can get into the same [6297]Turkey paradise, Where they
shall have as many fair wives as they will themselves, with clear eyes,
and such as look on none but their own husbands, no fear, no danger of
being cuckolds; or else I would have them observe that strict rule of
[6298]Alphonsus, to marry a deaf and dumb man to a blind woman. If this
will not help, let them, to prevent the worst, consult with an
[6299]astrologer, and see whether the significators in her horoscope
agree with his, that they be not in signis et partibus odiose
intuentibus aut imperantibus, sed mutuo et amice antisciis et
obedientibus, otherwise (as they hold) there will be intolerable
enmities between them: or else get them sigillum veneris, a
characteristical seal stamped in the day and hour of Venus, when she is
fortunate, with such and such set words and charms, which Villanovanus
and Leo Suavius prescribe, ex sigillis magicis Salomonis, Hermetis,
Raguelis, &c., with many such, which Alexis, Albertus, and some of our
natural magicians put upon us: ut mulier cum aliquo adulterare non
possit, incide de capillis ejus, &c., and he shall surely be gracious
in all women's eyes, and never suspect or disagree with his own wife so
long as he wears it. If this course be not approved, and other remedies
may not be had, they must in the last place sue for a divorce; but that
is somewhat difficult to effect, and not all out so fit. For as
Felisacus in his tract de justa uxore urgeth, if that law of
Constantine the Great, or that of Theodosius and Valentinian,
concerning divorce, were in use in our times, innumeras propemodum
viduas haberemus, et coelibes viros, we should have almost no married
couples left. Try therefore those former remedies; or as Tertullian
reports of Democritus, that put out his eyes, [6300]because he could
not look upon a woman without lust, and was much troubled to see that
which he might not enjoy; let him make himself blind, and so he shall
avoid that care and molestation of watching his wife. One other
sovereign remedy I could repeat, an especial antidote against jealousy,
an excellent cure, but I am not now disposed to tell it, not that like
a covetous empiric I conceal it for any gain, but some other reasons, I
am not willing to publish it: if you be very desirous to know it, when
I meet you next I will peradventure tell you what it is in your ear.
This is the best counsel I can give; which he that hath need of, as
occasion serves, may apply unto himself. In the mean time,—dii talem
terris avertite pestem, [6301]as the proverb is, from heresy, jealousy
and frenzy, good Lord deliver us.
SECT. IV. MEMB. I.
SUBSECT. I.—_Religious Melancholy. Its object God; what his beauty is;
How it allures. The parts and parties affected_.
That there is such a distinct species of love melancholy, no man hath
ever yet doubted: but whether this subdivision of [6302]Religious
Melancholy be warrantable, it may be controverted.
[6303]Pergite Pieridies, medio nec calle vagantem
Linquite me, qua nulla pedum vestigia ducunt,
Nulla rotae currus testantur signa priores.