, one in
an age, _Qui nunquam visae flagravit amore puellae_; [4715]for _semel
insanivimus omnes_, dote we either young or old, as [4716]he said, and none
are excepted but Minerva and the Muses: so Cupid in [4717]Lucian complains
to his mother Venus, that amongst all the rest his arrows could not pierce
them. But this nuptial love is a common passion, an honest, for men to love
in the way of marriage; _ut materia appetit formam, sic mulier virum._
[4718]You know marriage is honourable, a blessed calling, appointed by God
himself in Paradise; it breeds true peace, tranquillity, content, and
happiness, _qua nulla est aut fuit unquam sanctior conjunctio_, as
Daphnaeus in [4719]Plutarch could well prove, _et quae generi humano
immortalitatem parat_, when they live without jarring, scolding, lovingly
as they should do.

[4720] "Felices ter et amplius
Quos irrupta tenet copula, nec ullis
Divulsus querimoniis
Suprema citius solvit amor die."

"Thrice happy they, and more than that,
Whom bond of love so firmly ties,
That without brawls till death them part,
'Tis undissolv'd and never dies."

As Seneca lived with his Paulina, Abraham and Sarah, Orpheus and Eurydice,
Arria and Poetus, Artemisia and Mausolus, Rubenius Celer, that would needs
have it engraven on his tomb, he had led his life with Ennea, his dear
wife, forty-three years eight months, and never fell out. There is no
pleasure in this world comparable to it, 'tis _summum mortalitatis bonum--
[4721]hominum divumque voluptas, Alma Venus--latet enim in muliere aliquid
majus potentiusque, omnibus aliis humanis voluptatibus_, as [4722]one
holds, there's something in a woman beyond all human delight; a magnetic
virtue, a charming quality, an occult and powerful motive. The husband
rules her as head, but she again commands his heart, he is her servant, she
is only joy and content: no happiness is like unto it, no love so great as
this of man and wife, no such comfort as [4723]_placens uxor_, a sweet
wife: [4724]_Omnis amor magnus, sed aperto in conjuge major_. When they
love at last as fresh as they did at first, [4725]_Charaque charo
consenescit conjugi_, as Homer brings Paris kissing Helen, after they had
been married ten years, protesting withal that he loved her as dear as he
did the first hour that he was betrothed. And in their old age, when they
make much of one another, saying, as he did to his wife in