ner divert. Besides, _nihil in hac amoris voce subtimendum_, there
is nothing here to be excepted at; love is a species of melancholy, and a
necessary part of this my treatise, which I may not omit; _operi suscepto
inserviendum fuit_: so Jacobus Mysillius pleadeth for himself in his
translation of Lucian's dialogues, and so do I; I must and will perform my
task. And that short excuse of Mercerus, for his edition of Aristaenetus
shall be mine, [4419]"If I have spent my time ill to write, let not them be
so idle as to read." But I am persuaded it is not so ill spent, I ought not
to excuse or repent myself of this subject; on which many grave and worthy
men have written whole volumes, Plato, Plutarch, Plotinus, Maximus, Tyrius,
Alcinous, Avicenna, Leon Hebreus in three large dialogues, Xenophon
_sympos._ Theophrastus, if we may believe Athenaeus, _lib. 13. cap. 9._
Picus Mirandula, Marius, Aequicola, both in Italian, Kornmannus _de linea
Amoris, lib. 3._ Petrus Godefridus hath handled in three books, P. Haedus,
and which almost every physician, as Arnoldus, Villanovanus, Valleriola
_observat. med. lib. 2. observ. 7._ Aelian Montaltus and Laurentius in
their treatises of melancholy, Jason Pratensis _de morb. cap._ Valescus de
Taranta, Gordonius, Hercules de Saxonia, Savanarola, Langius, &c., have
treated of apart, and in their works. I excuse myself, therefore, with
Peter Godefridus, Valleriola, Ficinus, and in [4420]Langius' words. Cadmus
Milesius writ fourteen books of love, "and why should I be ashamed to write
an epistle in favour of young men, of this subject?" A company of stern
readers dislike the second of the Aeneids, and Virgil's gravity, for
inserting such amorous passions in an heroical subject; but [4421]Servius,
his commentator, justly vindicates the poet's worth, wisdom, and discretion
in doing as he did. Castalio would not have young men read the [4422]
Canticles, because to his thinking it was too light and amorous a tract, a
ballad of ballads, as our old English translation hath it. He might as well
forbid the reading of Genesis, because of the loves of Jacob and Rachael,
the stories of Sichem and Dinah, Judah and Thamar; reject the Book of
Numbers, for the fornications of the people of Israel with the Moabites;
that of Judges for Samson and Dalilah's embracings; that of the Kings, for
David and Bersheba's adulteries, the incest of Ammon and Thamar, Solomon's
concubines, &c. The stories of Esther, Judith, Susa