«Анатомия меланхолии»

Теперь, когда те другие обстоятельства времени и места, возможности и настойчивости совпадут, чего они не совершат?

Fair opportunity can win the coyest she that is,

So wisely he takes time, as he'll be sure he will not miss:

Then lie that loves her gamesome vein, and tempers toys with art,

Brings love that swimmeth in her eyes to dive into her heart.

As at plays, masks, great feasts and banquets, one singles out his wife to dance, another courts her in his presence, a third tempts her, a fourth insinuates with a pleasing compliment, a sweet smile, ingratiates himself with an amphibological speech, as that merry companion in the [6115] Satirist did to his Glycerium, [6116]adsidens et interiorem palmam amabiliter concutiens,

Quod meus hortus habet sumat impune licebit,

Si dederis nobis quod tuus hortus habet;

with many such, &c., and then as he saith,

[6117]She may no while in chastity abide.

That is assaid on every side.

For after al great feast, [6118]Vino saepe suum nescit amica virum. Noah (saith [6119]Hierome) “showed his nakedness in his drunkenness, which for six hundred years he had covered in soberness.” Lot lay with his daughters in his drink, as Cyneras with Myrrha,—[6120]quid enim Venus ebria curat? The most continent may be overcome, or if otherwise they keep bad company, they that are modest of themselves, and dare not offend, “confirmed by [6121]others, grow impudent, and confident, and get an ill habit.”

[6122]Alia quaestus gratia matrimonium corrumpit,

Alia peccans multas vult morbi habere socias.

Or if they dwell in suspected places, as in an infamous inn, near some stews, near monks, friars, Nevisanus adds, where be many tempters and solicitors, idle persons that frequent their companies, it may give just cause of suspicion. Martial of old inveighed against them that counterfeited a disease to go to the bath; for so, many times,

———relicto

Conjuge Penelope venit, abit Helene.

Aeneas Sylvius puts in a caveat against princes' courts, because there be tot formosi juvenes qui promittunt, so many brave suitors to tempt, &c. [6123]“If you leave her in such a place, you shall likely find her in company you like not, either they come to her, or she is gone to them.” [6124]Kornmannus makes a doubting jest in his lascivious country, Virginis illibata censeatur ne castitas ad quam frequentur accedant scholares? And Baldus the lawyer scoffs on, quum scholaris, inquit, loquitur cum puella, non praesumitur ei dicere, Pater noster, when a scholar talks with a maid, or another man's wife in private, it is presumed he saith not a pater noster. Or if I shall see a monk or a friar climb up a ladder at midnight into a virgin's or widow's chamber window, I shall hardly think he then goes to administer the sacraments, or to take her confession. These are the ordinary causes of jealousy, which are intended or remitted as the circumstances vary.

ЧЛЕН II.

Симптомы ревности, страх, печаль, подозрение, странные действия, жесты, бесчинства, запирание, клятвы, испытания, законы и т. д.

Из всех страстей, как я уже доказал, любовь наиболее насильственна, и из тех горьких зелий, которые эта любовная меланхолия предоставляет, эта незаконнорожденная ревность — величайшая, как видно по тем чудовищным симптомам, которые она имеет, и которые она производит. Ибо помимо страха и печали, которые общи для всей меланхолии, тревоги ума, подозрения, усугубления, беспокойных мыслей, бледности, худобы, пренебрежения делами и тому подобного, эти люди еще более поражены и в более высокой степени. Это более сильная страсть, более неистовое возмущение, горькая боль, огонь, пагубное любопытство, желчь, разлагающая мед нашей жизни, безумие, головокружение, чума, ад, они более чем обычно обеспокоены, они теряют bonum pacis, как [6125] Златоуст отмечает; и хотя они богаты, держат роскошные столы, знатно связаны, все же miserrimi omnium sunt, они самые несчастные, они более чем обычно недовольны, более печальны, nihil tristius, более чем обычно подозрительны. Ревность, говорит [6126] Вивес, «порождает беспокойство в уме, ночью и днем: он охотится за каждым словом, которое слышит, каждым шепотом, и усиливает его для себя» (как все меланхолики делают в других делах) «с самой несправедливой клеветой на других, он неверно истолковывает все, что сказано или сделано, наиболее склонен ошибаться или неверно толковать», он проникает в каждый угол, следует близко, наблюдает до волоска. Это свойственно ревности так делать,

Pale hag, infernal fury, pleasure's smart,

Envy's observer, prying in every part.

Besides those strange gestures of staring, frowning, grinning, rolling of eyes, menacing, ghastly looks, broken pace, interrupt, precipitate, half-turns. He will sometimes sigh, weep, sob for anger. Nempe suos imbres etiam ista tonitrua fundunt,[6127]—swear and belie, slander any man, curse, threaten, brawl, scold, fight; and sometimes again flatter and speak fair, ask forgiveness, kiss and coll, condemn his rashness and folly, vow, protest, and swear he will never do so again; and then eftsoons, impatient as he is, rave, roar, and lay about him like a madman, thump her sides, drag her about perchance, drive her out of doors, send her home, he will be divorced forthwith, she is a whore, &c., and by-and-by with all submission compliment, entreat her fair, and bring her in again, he loves her dearly, she is his sweet, most kind and loving wife, he will not change, nor leave her for a kingdom; so he continues off and on, as the toy takes him, the object moves him, but most part brawling, fretting, unquiet he is, accusing and suspecting not strangers only, but brothers and sisters, father and mother, nearest and dearest friends. He thinks with those Italians,

Chi non tocca parentado,

Tocca mai e rado.

And through fear conceives unto himself things almost incredible and impossible to be effected. As a heron when she fishes, still prying on all sides; or as a cat doth a mouse, his eye is never off hers; he gloats on him, on her, accurately observing on whom she looks, who looks at her, what she saith, doth, at dinner, at supper, sitting, walking, at home, abroad, he is the same, still inquiring, maundering, gazing, listening, affrighted with every small object; why did she smile, why did she pity him, commend him? why did she drink twice to such a man? why did she offer to kiss, to dance? &c., a whore, a whore, an arrant whore. All this he confesseth in the poet,

[6128]Omnia me terrent, timidus sum, ignosce timori.

Et miser in tunica suspicor esse virum.

Me laedit si multa tibi dabit oscula mater,

Me soror, et cum qua dormit amica simul.

Each thing affrights me, I do fear,

Ah pardon me my fear,

I doubt a man is hid within

The clothes that thou dost wear.

Is it not a man in woman's apparel? is not somebody in that great chest, or behind the door, or hangings, or in some of those barrels? may not a man steal in at the window with a ladder of ropes, or come down the chimney, have a false key, or get in when he is asleep? If a mouse do but stir, or the wind blow, a casement clatter, that's the villain, there he is: by his goodwill no man shall see her, salute her, speak with her, she shall not go forth of his sight, so much as to do her needs. [6129]Non ita bovem argus, &c. Argus did not so keep his cow, that watchful dragon the golden fleece, or Cerberus the coming in of hell, as he keeps his wife. If a dear friend or near kinsman come as guest to his house, to visit him, he will never let him be out of his own sight and company, lest, peradventure, &c. If the necessity of his business be such that he must go from home, he doth either lock her up, or commit her with a deal of injunctions and protestations to some trusty friends, him and her he sets and bribes to oversee: one servant is set in his absence to watch another, and all to observe his wife, and yet all this will not serve, though his business be very urgent, he will when he is halfway come back in all post haste, rise from supper, or at midnight, and be gone, and sometimes leave his business undone, and as a stranger court his own wife in some disguised habit. Though there be no danger at all, no cause of suspicion, she live in such a place, where Messalina herself could not be dishonest if she would, yet he suspects her as much as if she were in a bawdy-house, some prince's court, or in a common inn, where all comers might have free access. He calls her on a sudden all to nought, she is a strumpet, a light housewife, a bitch, an arrant whore. No persuasion, no protestation can divert this passion, nothing can ease him, secure or give him satisfaction. It is most strange to report what outrageous acts by men and women have been committed in this kind, by women especially, that will run after their husbands into all places and companies, [6130]as Jovianus Pontanus's wife did by him, follow him whithersoever he went, it matters not, or upon what business, raving like Juno in the tragedy, miscalling, cursing, swearing, and mistrusting every one she sees. Gomesius in his third book of the Life and Deeds of Francis Ximenius, sometime archbishop of Toledo, hath a strange story of that incredible jealousy of Joan queen of Spain, wife to King Philip, mother of Ferdinand and Charles the Fifth, emperors; when her husband Philip, either for that he was tired with his wife's jealousy, or had some great business, went into the Low Countries: she was so impatient and melancholy upon his departure, that she would scarce eat her meat, or converse with any man; and though she were with child, the season of the year very bad, the wind against her, in all haste she would to sea after him. Neither Isabella her queen mother, the archbishop, or any other friend could persuade her to the contrary, but she would after him. When she was now come into the Low Countries, and kindly entertained by her husband, she could not contain herself, [6131]“but in a rage ran upon a yellow-haired wench,” with whom she suspected her husband to be naught, “cut off her hair, did beat her black and blue, and so dragged her about.” It is an ordinary thing for women in such cases to scratch the faces, slit the noses of such as they suspect; as Henry the Second's importune Juno did by Rosamond at Woodstock; for she complains in a [6132]modern poet, she scarce spake,

But flies with eager fury to my face,

Offering me most unwomanly disgrace.

Look how a tigress, &c.

So fell she on me in outrageous wise,

As could disdain and jealousy devise.

Or if it be so they dare not or cannot execute any such tyrannical injustice, they will miscall, rail and revile, bear them deadly hate and malice, as [6133]Tacitus observes, “The hatred of a jealous woman is inseparable against such as she suspects.”

[6134]Nulla vis flammae tumidique venti

Tanta, nec teli metuanda torti.

Quanta cum conjux viduata taedis

Ardet et odit.

Winds, weapons, flames make not such hurly burly,

As raving women turn all topsy-turvy.

So did Agrippina by Lollia, and Calphurnia in the days of Claudius. But women are sufficiently curbed in such cases, the rage of men is more eminent, and frequently put in practice. See but with what rigour those jealous husbands tyrannise over their poor wives. In Greece, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Africa, Asia, and generally over all those hot countries, [6135] Mulieres vestrae terra vestra, arate sicut vultis. Mahomet in his Alcoran gives this power to men, your wives are as your land, till them, use them, entreat them fair or foul, as you will yourselves. [6136]Mecastor lege dura vivunt mulieres, they lock them still in their houses, which are so many prisons to them. will suffer nobody to come at them, or their wives to be seen abroad,—nec campos liceat lustrare patentes. They must not so much as look out. And if they be great persons, they have eunuchs to keep them, as the Grand Signior among the Turks, the Sophies of Persia, those Tartarian Mogors, and Kings of China. Infantes masculos castrant innumeros ut regi serviant, saith [6137]Riccius, “they geld innumerable infants” to this purpose; the King of [6138]China “maintains 10,000 eunuchs in his family to keep his wives.” The Xeriffes of Barbary keep their courtesans in such a strict manner, that if any man come but in sight of them he dies for it; and if they chance to see a man, and do not instantly cry out, though from their windows, they must be put to death. The Turks have I know not how many black, deformed eunuchs (for the white serve for other ministeries) to this purpose sent commonly from Egypt, deprived in their childhood of all their privities, and brought up in the seraglio at Constantinople to keep their wives; which are so penned up they may not confer with any living man, or converse with younger women, have a cucumber or carrot sent into them for their diet, but sliced, for fear, &c. and so live and are left alone to their unchaste thoughts all the days of their lives. The vulgar sort of women, if at any time they come abroad, which is very seldom, to visit one another, or to go to their baths, are so covered, that no man can see them, as the matrons were in old Rome, lectica aut sella tecta, vectae, so [6139]Dion and Seneca record, Velatae totae incedunt, which [6140]Alexander ab Alexandro relates of the Parthians, lib. 5. cap. 24. which, with Andreas Tiraquellus his commentator, I rather think should be understood of Persians. I have not yet said all, they do not only lock them up, sed et pudendis seras adhibent: hear what Bembus relates lib. 6. of his Venetian history, of those inhabitants that dwell about Quilon in Africa. Lusitani, inquit, quorundum civitates adierunt: qui natis statim faeminis naturam consuunt, quoad urinae exitus ne impediatur, easque quum adoleverint sic consutas in matrimonium collocant, ut sponsi prima cura sit conglutinatas puellae oras ferro interscindere. In some parts of Greece at this day, like those old Jews, they will not believe their wives are honest, nisi pannum menstruatum prima nocte videant: our countryman [6141]Sands, in his peregrination, saith it is severely observed in Zanzynthus, or Zante; and Leo Afer in his time at Fez, in Africa, non credunt virginem esse nisi videant sanguineam mappam; si non, ad parentes pudore rejicitur. Those sheets are publicly shown by their parents, and kept as a sign of incorrupt virginity. The Jews of old examined their maids ex tenui membrana, called Hymen, which Laurentius in his anatomy, Columbus lib. 12. cap. 10. Capivaccius lib. 4. cap. 11. de uteri affectibus, Vincent, Alsarus Genuensis quaesit. med. cent. 4. Hieronymus Mercurialis consult. Ambros. Pareus, Julius Caesar Claudinus Respons. 4. as that also de [6142]ruptura venarum ut sauguis fluat, copiously confute; 'tis no sufficient trial they contend. And yet others again defend it, Gaspar Bartholinus Institut. Anat. lib. 1. cap. 31. Pinaeus of Paris, Albertus Magnus de secret. mulier. cap. 9 & 10. &c. and think they speak too much in favour of women. [6143] Ludovicus Boncialus lib. 4. cap. 2. muliebr. naturalem illam uteri labiorum constrictionem, in qua virginitatem consistere volunt, astringentibus medicinis fieri posse vendicat, et si defloratae sint, astutae [6144]mulieres (inquit) nos fallunt in his. Idem Alsarius Crucius Genuensis iisdem fere verbis. Idem Avicenna lib. 3. Fen. 20. Tract. 1, cap. 47. [6145]Rhasis Continent. lib. 24. Rodericus a Castro de nat. mul. lib. 1. cap. 3. An old bawdy nurse in [6146]Aristaenetus, (like that Spanish Caelestina, [6147]quae, quinque mille virgines fecit mulieres, totidemque mulieres arte sua virgines) when a fair maid of her acquaintance wept and made her moan to her, how she had been deflowered, and now ready to be married, was afraid it would be perceived, comfortably replied, Noli vereri filia, &c. “Fear not, daughter, I'll teach thee a trick to help it.” Sed haec extra callem. To what end are all those astrological questions, an sit virgo, an sit casta, an sit mulier? and such strange absurd trials in Albertus Magnus, Bap. Porta, Mag. lib. 2. cap. 21. in Wecker. lib. 5. de secret, by stones, perfumes, to make them piss, and confess I know not what in their sleep; some jealous brain was the first founder of them. And to what passion may we ascribe those severe laws against jealousy, Num. v. 14, Adulterers Deut. cap. 22. v. xxii. as amongst the Hebrews, amongst the Egyptians (read [6148]Bohemus l. 1. c. 5. de mor. gen. of the Carthaginians, cap. 6. of Turks, lib. 2. cap. 11.) amongst the Athenians of old, Italians at this day, wherein they are to be severely punished, cut in pieces, burned, vivi-comburio, buried alive, with several expurgations, &c. are they not as so many symptoms of incredible jealousy? we may say the same of those vestal virgins that fetched water in a sieve, as Tatia did in Rome, anno ab. urb. condita 800. before the senators; and [6149]Aemilia, virgo innocens, that ran over hot irons, as Emma, Edward the Confessor's mother did, the king himself being a spectator, with the like. We read in Nicephorus, that Chunegunda the wife of Henricus Bavarus emperor, suspected of adultery, insimulata adulterii per ignitos vomeres illaesa transiit, trod upon red hot coulters, and had no harm: such another story we find in Regino lib. 2. In Aventinus and Sigonius of Charles the Third and his wife Richarda, an. 887, that was so purged with hot irons. Pausanias saith, that he was once an eyewitness of such a miracle at Diana's temple, a maid without any harm at all walked upon burning coals. Pius Secund. in his description of Europe, c. 46. relates as much, that it was commonly practised at Diana's temple, for women to go barefoot over hot coals, to try their honesties: Plinius, Solinus, and many writers, make mention of [6150]Geronia's temple, and Dionysius Halicarnassus, lib. 3. of Memnon's statue, which were used to this purpose. Tatius lib. 6. of Pan his cave, (much like old St. Wilfrid's needle in Yorkshire) wherein they did use to try, maids, [6151]whether they were honest; when Leucippe went in, suavissimus exaudiri sonus caepit Austin de civ. Dei lib. 10. c. 16. relates many such examples, all which Lavater de spectr. part. 1. cap. 19 contends to be done by the illusion of devils; though Thomas quaest. 6. de polentia, &c. ascribes it to good angels. Some, saith [6152]Austin, compel their wives to swear they be honest, as if perjury were a lesser sin than adultery; [6153]some consult oracles, as Phaerus that blind king of Egypt. Others reward, as those old Romans used to do; if a woman were contented with one man, Corona pudicitiae donabatur, she had a crown of chastity bestowed on her. When all this will not serve, saith Alexander Gaguinus, cap. 5. descript. Muscoviae, the Muscovites, if they suspect their wives, will beat them till they confess, and if that will not avail, like those wild Irish, be divorced at their pleasures, or else knock them on the heads, as the old [6154]Gauls have done in former ages. Of this tyranny of jealousy read more in Parthenius Erot. cap. 10. Camerarius cap. 53. hor. subcis. et cent. 2. cap. 34. Caelia's epistles, Tho. Chaloner de repub. Aug. lib. 9. Ariosto lib. 31. stasse 1. Felix Platerus observat. lib. 1. &c.

ЧЛЕН III.

Прогнозы ревности. Отчаяние, безумие, покончить с собой и другими.

Те, которые ревнивы, по большей части, если они не облегчены иначе, [6155] «переходят от подозрения к ненависти, от ненависти к неистовству, безумию, оскорблению, убийству и отчаянию».

[6156]A plague by whose most damnable effect.

Divers in deep despair to die have sought,

By which a man to madness near is brought,

As well with causeless as with just suspect.

In their madness many times, saith [6157]Vives, they make away themselves and others. Which induceth Cyprian to call it, Foecundam et multiplicem perniciem, fontem cladium et seminarium delictorum, a fruitful mischief, the seminary of offences, and fountain of murders. Tragical examples are too common in this kind, both new and old, in all ages, as of [6158] Cephalus and Procris, [6159]Phaereus of Egypt, Tereus, Atreus, and Thyestes. [6160]Alexander Phaereus was murdered of his wife, ob pellicatus suspitionem, Tully saith. Antoninus Verus was so made away by Lucilla; Demetrius the son of Antigonus, and Nicanor, by their wives. Hercules poisoned by Dejanira, [6161]Caecinna murdered by Vespasian, Justina, a Roman lady, by her husband. [6162]Amestris, Xerxes' wife, because she found her husband's cloak in Masista's house, cut off Masista, his wife's paps, and gave them to the dogs, flayed her besides, and cut off her ears, lips, tongue, and slit the nose of Artaynta her daughter. Our late writers are full of such outrages.

[6163] Павел Эмилий, в своей истории Франции, имеет трагическую историю смерти Хильперика I, поконченного Фердегундой, его королевой. В ревнивом настроении он пришел с охоты и подкрался сзади к своей жене, когда она одевалась и расчесывала голову на солнце, дал ей фамильярное прикосновение своей палкой, что она, приняв за своего любовника, сказала: «Ах, Ландр, хороший рыцарь должен бить спереди, а не сзади»: но когда она увидела себя преданной его присутствием, она немедленно приняла меры, чтобы покончить с ним. Иероним Осорий, в своей одиннадцатой книге о деяниях Эмануила, короля Португалии, к этому эффекту имеет трагическое повествование об одном Фердинанде Чалдерии, который ранил Готерина, своего знатного соотечественника, в Гоа в Ост-Индии, [6164] «и отрезал одну из его ног, за то, что он смотрел, как он думал, слишком фамильярно на его жену, что было впоследствии причиной многих ссор и большого кровопролития». Гианерий (cap. 36. de aegritud. matr.) говорит о глупом ревнивом парне, который, видя своего ребенка новорожденного, заключенного в оболочку, подумал, конечно, [6165] францисканец, который привык приходить в его дом, был отцом его, он был так похож на капюшон монаха, и вследствие этого угрожал монаху убить его: Фульгоз — о женщине в Нарбонне, которая отрезала мужские органы своего мужа ночью, потому что она думала, что он играл нечестно с ней. История Йонусеса Бассы и прекрасной Манто, его жены, хорошо известна тем, кто читал турецкую историю; и та о Джоанне Испанской, о которой я лечил в моем предыдущем разделе. Ее ревность, говорит Гомезий, была причиной смерти их обоих: король Филипп умер от горя немного спустя, как [6166] Марциан, его врач, объявил, «и она со своей стороны после меланхоличной недовольной жизни, потраченной в укрытиях и углах, положила конец своим невзгодам». Феликс Платер, в первой книге своих наблюдений, имеет много таких примеров, врача его знакомства, [6167] «который был сначала безумен из-за ревности, а впоследствии отчаянным»: купца [6168] «который убил свою жену в том же настроении, а после бросился сам»: доктора права, который отрезал нос своего слуги: жены художника в Базеле, anno 1600, которая была матерью девяти детей и была двадцать семь лет замужем, все же впоследствии ревнива и столь нетерпелива, что стала отчаянной и не хотела ни есть, ни пить в своем собственном доме, из страха, что ее муж отравит ее. Это общий признак; ибо когда однажды гуморы взволнованы, и воображение поражено, оно будет варьировать себя в различных формах; и многие такие абсурдные симптомы будут сопровождать, даже само безумие. Шенкий (observat. lib. 4. cap. de Uter.) имеет пример ревнивой женщины, которая этим средством имела много приступов матери: и в своей первой книге о некоторых, которые из-за ревности сошли с ума: пекаря, который оскопил себя, чтобы испытать честность своей жены и т. д. Такие примеры слишком обычны.

ЧЛЕН IV.

ПОДРАЗД. I. — Лечение ревности; избегая поводов, не быть праздным: добрым советом; презирать ее, не следить или запирать их: притворяться ею и т. д.

Как и от всякой другой меланхолии, некоторые сомневаются, может ли эта болезнь быть вылечена или нет, они думают, что она подобна [6169] подагре, или швейцарцам, которых мы обычно называем валлонами, тем наемным солдатам, если однажды они завладеют замком, их никогда нельзя выбить.

Qui timet ut sua sit, ne quis sibi subtrahat illam,

Ille Machaonia vix ope salvus est.

[6170]This is the cruel wound against whose smart,

No liquor's force prevails, or any plaister,

No skill of stars, no depth of magic art,

Devised by that great clerk Zoroaster,

A wound that so infects the soul and heart,

As all our sense and reason it doth master;

A wound whose pang and torment is so durable,

As it may rightly called be incurable.

Yet what I have formerly said of other melancholy, I will say again, it may be cured or mitigated at least by some contrary passion, good counsel and persuasion, if it be withstood in the beginning, maturely resisted, and as those ancients hold, [6171]“the nails of it be pared before they grow too long.” No better means to resist or repel it than by avoiding idleness, to be still seriously busied about some matters of importance, to drive out those vain fears, foolish fantasies and irksome suspicions out of his head, and then to be persuaded by his judicious friends, to give ear to their good counsel and advice, and wisely to consider, how much he discredits himself, his friends, dishonours his children, disgraceth his family, publisheth his shame, and as a trumpeter of his own misery, divulgeth, macerates, grieves himself and others; what an argument of weakness it is, how absurd a thing in its own nature, how ridiculous, how brutish a passion, how sottish, how odious; for as [6172]Hierome well hath it, Odium sui facit, et ipse novissime sibi odio est, others hate him, and at last he hates himself for it; how harebrain a disease, mad and furious. If he will but hear them speak, no doubt he may be cured. [6173]Joan, queen of Spain, of whom I have formerly spoken, under pretence of changing air was sent to Complutum, or Alcada de las Heneras, where Ximenius the archbishop of Toledo then lived, that by his good counsel (as for the present she was) she might be eased. [6174]“For a disease of the soul, if concealed, tortures and overturns it, and by no physic can sooner be removed than by a discreet man's comfortable speeches.” I will not here insert any consolatory sentences to this purpose, or forestall any man's invention, but leave it every one to dilate and amplify as he shall think fit in his own judgment: let him advise with Siracides cap. 9. 1. “Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom;” read that comfortable and pithy speech to this purpose of Ximenius, in the author himself, as it is recorded by Gomesius; consult with Chaloner lib. 9. de repub. Anglor. or Caelia in her epistles, &c. Only this I will add, that if it be considered aright, which causeth this jealous passion, be it just or unjust, whether with or without cause, true or false, it ought not so heinously to be taken; 'tis no such real or capital matter, that it should make so deep a wound. 'Tis a blow that hurts not, an insensible smart, grounded many times upon false suspicion alone, and so fostered by a sinister conceit. If she be not dishonest, he troubles and macerates himself without a cause; or put case which is the worst, he be a cuckold, it cannot be helped, the more he stirs in it, the more he aggravates his own misery. How much better were it in such a case to dissemble or contemn it? why should that be feared which cannot be redressed? multae tandem deposuerunt (saith [6175]Vives) quum flecti maritos non posse vident, many women, when they see there is no remedy, have been pacified; and shall men be more jealous than women? 'Tis some comfort in such a case to have companions, Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris; Who can say he is free? Who can assure himself he is not one de praeterito, or secure himself de futuro? If it were his case alone, it were hard; but being as it is almost a common calamity, 'tis not so grievously to be taken. If a man have a lock, which every man's key will open, as well as his own, why should he think to keep it private to himself? In some countries they make nothing of it, ne nobiles quidem, saith [6176]Leo Afer, in many parts of Africa (if she be past fourteen) there's not a nobleman that marries a maid, or that hath a chaste wife; 'tis so common; as the moon gives horns once a month to the world, do they to their husbands at least. And 'tis most part true which that Caledonian lady, [6177]Argetocovus, a British prince's wife, told Julia Augusta, when she took her up for dishonesty, “We Britons are naught at least with some few choice men of the better sort, but you Romans lie with every base knave, you are a company of common whores.” Severus the emperor in his time made laws for the restraint of this vice; and as [6178]Dion Nicaeus relates in his life, tria millia maechorum, three thousand cuckold-makers, or naturae monetam adulterantes, as Philo calls them, false coiners, and clippers of nature's money, were summoned into the court at once. And yet, Non omnem molitor quae fluit undam videt, “the miller sees not all the water that goes by his mill:” no doubt, but, as in our days, these were of the commonalty, all the great ones were not so much as called in question for it. [6179]Martial's Epigram I suppose might have been generally applied in those licentious times, Omnia solus habes, &c., thy goods, lands, money, wits are thine own, Uxorem sed habes Candide cum populo; but neighbour Candidus your wife is common: husband and cuckold in that age it seems were reciprocal terms; the emperors themselves did wear Actaeon's badge; how many Caesars might I reckon up together, and what a catalogue of cornuted kings and princes in every story? Agamemnon, Menelaus, Philippus of Greece, Ptolomeus of Egypt, Lucullus, Caesar, Pompeius, Cato, Augustus, Antonius, Antoninus, &c., that wore fair plumes of bull's feathers in their crests. The bravest soldiers and most heroical spirits could not avoid it. They have been active and passive in this business, they have either given or taken horns. [6180]King Arthur, whom we call one of the nine worthies, for all his great valour, was unworthily served by Mordred, one of his round table knights: and Guithera, or Helena Alba, his fair wife, as Leland interprets it, was an arrant honest woman. Parcerem libenter (saith mine [6181]author) Heroinarum laesae majestati, si non historiae veritas aurem vellicaret, I could willingly wink at a fair lady's faults, but that I am bound by the laws of history to tell the truth: against his will, God knows, did he write it, and so do I repeat it. I speak not of our times all this while, we have good, honest, virtuous men and women, whom fame, zeal, fear of God, religion and superstition contains: and yet for all that, we have many knights of this order, so dubbed by their wives, many good women abused by dissolute husbands. In some places, and such persons you may as soon enjoin them to carry water in a sieve, as to keep themselves honest. What shall a man do now in such a case? What remedy is to be had? how shall he be eased? By suing a divorce? this is hard to be effected: si non caste, tamen caute they carry the matter so cunningly, that though it be as common as simony, as clear and as manifest as the nose in a man's face, yet it cannot be evidently proved, or they likely taken in the fact: they will have a knave Gallus to watch, or with that Roman [6182]Sulpitia, all made fast and sure,

Ne se Cadurcis destitutam fasciis,

Nudam Caleno concumbentem videat.

“she will hardly be surprised by her husband, be he never so wary.” Much better then to put it up: the more he strives in it, the more he shall divulge his own shame: make a virtue of necessity, and conceal it. Yea, but the world takes notice of it, 'tis in every man's mouth: let them talk their pleasure, of whom speak they not in this sense? From the highest to the lowest they are thus censured all: there is no remedy then but patience. It may be 'tis his own fault, and he hath no reason to complain, 'tis quid pro quo, she is bad, he is worse: [6183]“Bethink thyself, hast thou not done as much for some of thy neighbours? why dost thou require that of thy wife, which thou wilt not perform thyself?” Thou rangest like a town bull, [6184]“why art thou so incensed if she tread, awry?”

[6185]Be it that some woman break chaste wedlock's laws,

And leaves her husband and becomes unchaste:

Yet commonly it is not without cause,

She sees her man in sin her goods to waste,

She feels that he his love from her withdraws,

And hath on some perhaps less worthy placed.

Who strike with sword, the scabbard them may strike,

And sure love craveth love, like asketh like.

Ea semper studebit, saith [6186]Nevisanus, pares reddere vices, she will quit it if she can. And therefore, as well adviseth Siracides, cap. ix. 1. “teach her not an evil lesson against thyself,” which as Jansenius, Lyranus, on his text, and Carthusianus interpret, is no otherwise to be understood than that she do thee not a mischief. I do not excuse her in accusing thee; but if both be naught, mend thyself first; for as the old saying is, a good husband makes a good wife.

Да, но ты отвечаешь, нет такой же причины между мужчиной и женщиной, по ее вине мои дети — бастарды, я не могу терпеть этого; [6187] Sit amarulenta, sit imperiosa prodiga и т. д. Пусть она бранится, скандалит и тратит и т. д., я не забочусь, modo sit casta, лишь бы она была честной, я мог бы легко терпеть это; но этого я не могу, я не могу, я не буду; «моя вера, моя слава, мой глаз не должны быть тронуты», как гласит поговорка, Non patitur tactum fama, fides, oculus. Я говорю то же самое о моей жене, трогай все, используй все, бери все, кроме этого. Я признаю, что то Сенеки истинно, Nullius boni jucunda possessio sine socio, нет сладкого удовлетворения в обладании какой-либо хорошей вещью без компаньона, кроме этого только, я говорю, «Этого». И почему этого? Даже этого, что ты так сильно ненавидишь, это может быть для блага твоего потомства, [6188] лучше быть сыном любого человека, чем твоим, быть зачатым от низкого Ира, бедного Сея, или среднего Мевия, городского свинопаса, сына пастуха: и хорошо тому, что, как Геркулес, он имеет любых двух отцов; ибо ты сам, возможно, имеешь больше болезней, чем лошадь, больше немощей тела и ума, изъеденную душу, скверные условия, делай худшее из этого, как это vulnus insanabile, sic vulnus insensibile, как это неизлечимо, так это нечувствительно. Но уверен ли ты, что это так? [6189] res agit ille tuas? «делает ли он так действительно?» Может быть, ты чрезмерно подозрителен и без причины, как некоторые есть: если это octimestris partus, рожденный в восемь месяцев, или как он, и он, они глупо подозревают, что он зачал его; если она говорит или смеется фамильярно с тем или тем мужчиной, тогда сразу она негодна с ними; такова твоя слабость; тогда как милосердие, или хорошо расположенный ум, истолковали бы все к лучшему. Святой Франциск, случайно увидев монаха, фамильярно целующего чужую жену, был так далек от неверного понимания этого, что он сразу опустился на колени и поблагодарил Бога, что осталось так много милосердия: но они, с другой стороны, не припишут ничего естественным причинам, не потакают ничего фамильярности, взаимному обществу, дружбе: но из зловещего подозрения, сразу запирают их близко, следят за ними, думая этими средствами предотвратить все такие неудобства, это путь помочь этому; тогда как такими трюками они усугубляют зло. Тщетно следить за тем, что уйдет.

[6190]Nec custodiri si velit ulla potest;

Nec mentem servare potes, licet omnia serves;

Omnibus exclusis, intus adulter erit.

None can be kept resisting for her part;

Though body be kept close, within her heart

Advoutry lurks, t'exclude it there's no art.

Argus with a hundred eyes cannot keep her, et hunc unus saepe fefellit amor, as in [6191]Ariosto,

If all our hearts were eyes, yet sure they said

We husbands of our wives should be betrayed.

Hierome holds, Uxor impudica servari non potest, pudica non debet, infida custos castitatis est necessitas, to what end is all your custody? A dishonest woman cannot be kept, an honest woman ought not to be kept, necessity is a keeper not to be trusted. Difficile custoditur, quod plures amant; that which many covet, can hardly be preserved, as [6192] Salisburiensis thinks. I am of Aeneas Sylvius' mind, [6193]“Those jealous Italians do very ill to lock up their wives; for women are of such a disposition, they will most covet that which is denied most, and offend least when they have free liberty to trespass.” It is in vain to lock her up if she be dishonest; et tyrranicum imperium, as our great Mr. Aristotle calls it, too tyrannical a task, most unfit: for when she perceives her husband observes her and suspects, liberius peccat, saith [6194]Nevisanus. [6195]Toxica Zelotypo dedit uxor moecha marito, she is exasperated, seeks by all means to vindicate herself, and will therefore offend, because she is unjustly suspected. The best course then is to let them have their own wills, give them free liberty, without any keeping.

In vain our friends from this do us dehort,

For beauty will be where is most resort.

If she be honest as Lucretia to Collatinus, Laodamia to Protesilaus, Penelope to her Ulysses, she will so continue her honour, good name, credit, Penelope conjux semper Ulyssis ero; “I shall always be Penelope the wife of Ulysses.” And as Phocias' wife in [6196]Plutarch, called her husband “her wealth, treasure, world, joy, delight, orb and sphere,” she will hers. The vow she made unto her good man; love, virtue, religion, zeal, are better keepers than all those locks, eunuchs, prisons; she will not be moved:

[6197]At mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat,

Aut pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,

Pallentes umbras Erebi, noctemque profundam,

Ante pudor quam te violem, aut tua jura resolvam.

First I desire the earth to swallow me.

Before I violate mine honesty,

Or thunder from above drive me to hell,

With those pale ghosts, and ugly nights to dwell.

She is resolved with Dido to be chaste; though her husband be false, she will be true: and as Octavia writ to her Antony,

[6198]These walls that here do keep me out of sight,

Shall keep me all unspotted unto thee,

And testify that I will do thee right,

I'll never stain thine house, though thou shame me.

Turn her loose to all those Tarquins and Satyrs, she will not be tempted. In the time of Valence the Emperor, saith [6199]St. Austin, one Archidamus, a Consul of Antioch, offered a hundred pounds of gold to a fair young wife, and besides to set her husband free, who was then sub gravissima custodia, a dark prisoner, pro unius noctis concubitu: but the chaste matron would not accept of it. [6200]When Ode commended Theana's fine arm to his fellows, she took him up short, “Sir, 'tis not common:” she is wholly reserved to her husband. [6201]Bilia had an old man to her spouse, and his breath stunk, so that nobody could abide it abroad; “coming home one day he reprehended his wife, because she did not tell him of it: she vowed unto him, she had told him, but she thought every man's breath had been as strong as his.” [6202]Tigranes and Armena his lady were invited to supper by King Cyrus: when they came home, Tigranes asked his wife, how she liked Cyrus, and what she did especially commend in him? “she swore she did not observe him; when he replied again, what then she did observe, whom she looked on? She made answer, her husband, that said he would die for her sake.” Such are the properties and conditions of good women: and if she be well given, she will so carry herself; if otherwise she be naught, use all the means thou canst, she will be naught, Non deest animus sed corruptor, she hath so many lies, excuses, as a hare hath muses, tricks, panders, bawds, shifts, to deceive, 'tis to no purpose to keep her up, or to reclaim her by hard usage. “Fair means peradventure may do somewhat.” [6203] Obsequio vinces aptius ipse tuo. Men and women are both in a predicament in this behalf, no sooner won, and better pacified. Duci volunt, non cogi: though she be as arrant a scold as Xanthippe, as cruel as Medea, as clamorous as Hecuba, as lustful as Messalina, by such means (if at all) she may be reformed. Many patient [6204]Grizels, by their obsequiousness in this kind, have reclaimed their husbands from their wandering lusts. In Nova Francia and Turkey (as Leah, Rachel, and Sarah did to Abraham and Jacob) they bring their fairest damsels to their husbands' beds; Livia seconded the lustful appetites of Augustus: Stratonice, wife to King Diotarus, did not only bring Electra, a fair maid, to her good man's bed, but brought up the children begot on her, as carefully as if they had been her own. Tertius Emilius' wife, Cornelia's mother, perceiving her husband's intemperance, rem dissimulavit, made much of the maid, and would take no notice of it. A new-married man, when a pickthank friend of his, to curry favour, had showed him his wife familiar in private with a young gallant, courting and dallying, &c. Tush, said he, let him do his worst, I dare trust my wife, though I dare not trust him. The best remedy then is by fair means; if that will not take place, to dissemble it as I say, or turn it off with a jest: hear Guexerra's advice in this case, vel joco excipies, vel silentio eludes; for if you take exceptions at everything your wife doth, Solomon's wisdom, Hercules' valour, Homer's learning, Socrates' patience, Argus' vigilance, will not serve turn. Therefore Minus malum, [6205]a less mischief, Nevisanus holds, dissimulare, to be [6206]Cunarum emptor, a buyer of cradles, as the proverb is, than to be too solicitous. [6207]“A good fellow, when his wife was brought to bed before her time, bought half a dozen of cradles beforehand for so many children, as if his wife should continue to bear children every two months.” [6208]Pertinax the Emperor, when one told him a fiddler was too familiar with his empress, made no reckoning of it. And when that Macedonian Philip was upbraided with his wife's dishonesty, cum tot victor regnorum ac populorum esset, &c., a conqueror of kingdoms could not tame his wife (for she thrust him out of doors), he made a jest of it. Sapientes portant cornua in pectore, stulti in fronte, saith Nevisanus, wise men bear their horns in their hearts, fools on their foreheads. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, was at deadly feud with Perseus of Macedonia, insomuch that Perseus hearing of a journey he was to take to Delphos, [6209]set a company of soldiers to intercept him in his passage; they did it accordingly, and as they supposed left him stoned to death. The news of this fact was brought instantly to Pergamus; Attalus, Eumenes' brother, proclaimed himself king forthwith, took possession of the crown, and married Stratonice the queen. But by-and-by, when contrary news was brought, that King Eumenes was alive, and now coming to the city, he laid by his crown, left his wife, as a private man went to meet him, and congratulate his return. Eumenes, though he knew all particulars passed, yet dissembling the matter, kindly embraced his brother, and took his wife into his favour again, as if on such matter had been heard of or done. Jocundo, in Ariosto, found his wife in bed with a knave, both asleep, went his ways, and would not so much as wake them, much less reprove them for it. [6210]An honest fellow finding in like sort his wife had played false at tables, and borne a man too many, drew his dagger, and swore if he had not been his very friend, he would have killed him. Another hearing one had done that for him, which no man desires to be done by a deputy, followed in a rage with his sword drawn, and having overtaken him, laid adultery to his charge; the offender hotly pursued, confessed it was true; with which confession he was satisfied, and so left him, swearing that if he had denied it, he would not have put it up. How much better is it to do thus, than to macerate himself, impatiently to rave and rage, to enter an action (as Arnoldus Tilius did in the court of Toulouse, against Martin Guerre his fellow-soldier, for that he counterfeited his habit, and was too familiar with his wife), so to divulge his own shame, and to remain for ever a cuckold on record? how much better be Cornelius Tacitus than Publius Cornutus, to condemn in such cases, or take no notice of it? Melius sic errare, quam Zelotypiae curis, saith Erasmus, se conficere, better be a wittol and put it up, than to trouble himself to no purpose. And though he will not omnibus dormire, be an ass, as he is an ox, yet to wink at it as many do is not amiss at some times, in some cases, to some parties, if it be for his commodity, or some great man's sake, his landlord, patron, benefactor, (as Calbas the Roman saith [6211]Plutarch did by Maecenas, and Phayllus of Argos did by King Philip, when he promised him an office on that condition he might lie with his wife) and so let it pass:

[6212]pol me haud poenitet,

Scilicet boni dimidium dividere cum Jove,

“it never troubles me” (saith Amphitrio) “to be cornuted by Jupiter,” let it not molest thee then; be friends with her;

[6213]Tu cum Alcmena uxore antiquam in gratiam

Redi———

“Receive Alcmena to your grace again;” let it, I say, make no breach of love between you. Howsoever the best way is to contemn it, which [6214]Henry II. king of France advised a courtier of his, jealous of his wife, and complaining of her unchasteness, to reject it, and comfort himself; for he that suspects his wife's incontinency, and fears the Pope's curse, shall never live a merry hour, or sleep a quiet night: no remedy but patience. When all is done according to that counsel of [6215]Nevisanus, si vitium uxoris corrigi non potest, ferendum est: if it may not be helped, it must be endured. Date veniam et sustinete taciti, 'tis Sophocles' advice, keep it to thyself, and which Chrysostom calls palaestram philosophiae, et domesticum gymnasium a school of philosophy, put it up. There is no other cure but time to wear it out, Injuriarum remedium est oblivio, as if they had drunk a draught of Lethe in Trophonius' den: to conclude, age will bereave her of it, dies dolorem minuit, time and patience must end it.

[6216]The mind's affections patience will appease,

It passions kills, and healeth each disease.

ПОДРАЗД. II. — Предотвращением до или после брака, общность Платона, жениться на куртизанке, фильтры, бордели, жениться на равной годами, состоянием, из хорошей семьи, воспитания, хорошего места, хорошо обращаться с ними и т. д.

О тех лекарствах, что способствуют излечению от этого недуга, я уже достаточно сказал; однако остаются еще некоторые добрые средства — в качестве профилактики, предосторожности или наставлений, — которые при правильном применении могут принести немалую пользу. Платон в своем «Государстве», вероятно, чтобы предотвратить это зло, хотел, чтобы все было общим: жены и дети, все как одно; и то, что Цезарь в своих «Записках» отмечал у тех древних бриттов, что первыми населяли эту землю, а именно: у них на такую семью приходилось по десять или двенадцать жен, или же они беспорядочно использовались столькими мужчинами; не один к одной, как у нас, или четыре, пять или шесть к одной, как в Турции. Николаиты, секта, которая, как говорит Августин, произошла от Николая-диакона, хотели, чтобы женщины были общими; и причиной этой грязной секты была ревность Николая-диакона, из-за которой, когда его осудили, чтобы очиститься от своего проступка, он проповедовал свою ересь, что законно сожительствовать с женами друг друга, и любому мужчине сожительствовать с его женой: подобно тем анабаптистам в Мюнстере, которые хотели сожительствовать с женами других мужчин, как того желал дух: или как Магомет, пророк-обольститель, хотел использовать женщин, как ему заблагорассудится, чтобы порождать пророков; двести пять, говорит их Коран, были влюблены в него, и он был способен на то, что сорок мужчин. Среди древних карфагенян, как сообщает Богемус из Сабеллика, царь страны спал с невестой в первую ночь, и раз в год они все вместе предавались беспорядочным связям. Мюнстер в «Космографии» (кн. 3, гл. 497) приписывает начало этого скотского обычая (несправедливо) некоему Пикарду, французу, который изобрел новую секту адамитов, чтобы ходить нагими, как Адам, и предаваться беспорядочному блуду в установленное время. Когда священник повторял слова из Книги Бытия: «Плодитесь и размножайтесь», — гасли свечи в месте, где они собирались, «и без всякого уважения к возрасту, лицам, условиям, кто кого поймает, каждый мужчина брал ту, что оказывалась рядом» и т. д.; некоторые приписывают это тем древним богемцам и русским: другие — жителям Мамврия в долине Люцерн в Пьемонте; и, как я читал, это практиковалось в Шотландии среди самих христиан, до времен короля Малькольма, когда король или лорд города получали право первой ночи. В некоторых частях Индии в наш век, и у тех островитян, как среди вавилонян в древности, они проституируют своих жен и дочерей (что Халкокондил, современный греческий писатель, за неимением лучших сведений, приписывает нам, бриттам) таким путешественникам или мореплавателям, которые случайно оказываются среди них, чтобы показать, как далеки они от этого дикого порока ревности и как мало они его ценят. Цари Каликута, как сообщает Лод. Вертоман, не прикоснутся к своим женам, пока один из их биарми, или верховных жрецов, не переспит с ними первым, чтобы освятить их чрево. Но те ессеи и монтанисты, две странные секты древности, впадали в другую крайность: они вообще не хотели вступать в брак или иметь какое-либо общение с женщинами, «потому что из-за их невоздержанности они считали их всех порочными». Невизан, юрист (кн. 4, № 33, «Sylva nuptialis»), хотел бы, чтобы тот, кто склонен к этому недугу, во избежание худшего, женился на блуднице: Capiens meretricem, hoc habet saltem boni quod non decipitur, quia scit eam sic esse, quod non contingit aliis. Блудник у Сенеки за одну ночь осквернил двух девиц; в качестве удовлетворения одна пожелала его повесить, другая — выйти за него замуж. Иерон, царь Сиракуз на Сицилии, обручился с Пифо, содержательницей публичного дома; и Птолемей взял Таис, обычную шлюху, в жены, имел от нее двух сыновей, Леонтиска и Лага, и одну дочь Ирену: поэтому это не такая уж невероятная вещь. Гражданин Энгубины оскопл себя, чтобы испытать честность своей жены и освободиться от ревности; так же поступил пекарь в Базеле с той же целью. Но из всех других примеров в этом роде наиболее памятен пример Комбала, который, чтобы предотвратить подозрения своего господина, ибо он был красивым молодым человеком и был послан Селевком, своим господином и царем, вместе со Стратоникой, царицей, чтобы сопровождать ее в Сирию, опасаясь худшего, оскопл себя перед отъездом и оставил свои гениталии в запечатанной шкатулке. Его госпожа по дороге влюбилась в него, но он, не уступив ей, был обвинен перед Селевком в невоздержанности (как тот Беллерофонт в подобном случае, ложно оклеветанный Сфенебеей перед царем Претом, ее мужем, cum non posset ad coitum inducere) и именно ею, и поэтому по возвращении домой был брошен в тюрьму: в день слушания дела он был полностью оправдан и освобожден, показав свои гениталии, которые, к изумлению присутствующих, он ранее отрезал. Лидийцы имели обыкновение оскоплять женщин, которых подозревали, говорит Леоникус в «Различных историях» (кн. 3, гл. 49). С этой целью святой Франциск, поскольку он имел обыкновение исповедовать женщин наедине, чтобы предотвратить подозрения и доказать, что он девственник, разделся перед епископом Ассизским и другими: и брат Леонард по той же причине прошел через Витербо в Италии без всякой одежды. Наши псевдокатолики, чтобы помочь этим неудобствам, которые происходят от ревности, чтобы сохранить себя и своих жен в честности, издают суровые законы; против прелюбодеяния — немедленная смерть; и вместе с тем блуд, грех продажный, как сточную канаву, чтобы отвести этот яростный и быстрый поток похоти, они назначают и разрешают публичные дома, этих потаскух и приятных грешниц, чтобы еще больше обезопасить своих жен во всех густонаселенных городах, ибо они считают их столь же необходимыми, как церкви; и как бы незаконно это ни было, все же, чтобы избежать большего зла, это следует терпеть в политических целях, как ростовщичество, из-за жестокосердия людей; и для этой цели у них есть целые коллегии куртизанок в их городах и селениях. Вероятно, в духе Катона, который хотел, чтобы его слуги (cum ancillis congredi coitus causa, definito aere, ut graviora facinora evitarent, caeteris interim interdicens) имели близость с подобными женскими существами, чтобы избежать худших бед в своем доме, и делал на это допущение. Они считают невозможным для праздных людей, молодых, богатых и похотливых, столь многих слуг, монахов, монахов-нищенствующих, жить честно, слишком тираническим бременем — принуждать их к целомудрию, и крайне неуместно — вообще не позволять бедным людям, младшим братьям и солдатам вступать в брак, как тем больным людям, обетчикам, священникам, слугам. Поэтому, чтобы сохранить и облегчить одних, как и других, они терпят и закрывают глаза на эти виды борделей и публичных домов. У них есть много вероятных аргументов, чтобы доказать законность, необходимость и терпимость к ним, как и к ростовщичеству; и, без сомнения, в политическом отношении им нельзя противоречить: но совершенно — в религиозном. Другие прописывают фильтры, заклинания, чары, чтобы сохранить мужчин и женщин в честности. 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. В «Алекси», Порта и т. д. вы найдете больше, и гораздо более абсурдных, как и у Разеса, ne mulier virum admittat, et maritum solum diligat и т. д. Но это по большей части языческие, нечестивые, безрелигиозные, абсурдные и нелепые уловки. Лучшее средство избежать этих и подобных неудобств — устранить причины и поводы. С этой целью Варрон написал «Мениппову сатиру», но она утеряна. Патриций предписывает четыре правила, которые следует соблюдать при выборе жены (кто хочет, может прочитать); Фонсека, испанец, в 45-й главе «Амфитеатра любви» излагает шесть особых предостережений для мужчин, четыре для женщин; Сэм. Неандер из Шонбернера — пять для мужчин, пять для женщин; Антоний Гевара — много добрых уроков; Клеобул — только два, другие — иначе; как, во-первых, сделать хороший выбор в браке, пригласить Христа на свою свадьбу, и что святой Амвросий советует: Deum conjugii praesidem habere, и молиться ему о ней (A Domino enim datur uxor prudens, Притчи 19), не быть слишком опрометчивым и поспешным в своем выборе, не бросаться на первую встречную или не сохнуть по каждой статной красавице, которую видишь, но выбирать ее столько же ушами, сколько глазами, быть хорошо осведомленным, кого берешь, какого возраста и т. д., и быть осторожным в своих действиях. Старик не должен жениться на молодой женщине, а молодая женщина — на старике, Quam male inaequales veniunt ad arata juvenci! — такие браки неизбежно служат постоянной причиной подозрений и неприятны друг другу.

[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.