miseries, or that they shall light, as [5928]"Lemnius saith, on a scold, a
slut, or a bad wife." And therefore, [5929]_Tristem Juventam venere deserta
colunt_, they are resolved to live single, as [5930]Epaminondas did,
[5931]_Nil ait esse prius, melius nil coelibe vita_, and ready with
Hippolitus to abjure all women, [5932]_Detestor omnes, horreo, fugio,
execror_, &c. But,

"Hippolite nescis quod fugis vitae bonum,
Hippolite nescis"------

"alas, poor Hippolitus, thou knowest not what thou sayest, 'tis otherwise,
Hippolitus." [5933]Some make a doubt, _an uxor literato sit ducenda_,
whether a scholar should marry, if she be fair she will bring him back from
his grammar to his horn book, or else with kissing and dalliance she will
hinder his study; if foul with scolding, he cannot well intend to do both,
as Philippus Beroaldus, that great Bononian doctor, once writ, _impediri
enim studia literarum_, &c., but he recanted at last, and in a solemn sort
with true conceived words he did ask the world and all women forgiveness.
But you shall have the story as he relates himself, in his Commentaries on
the sixth of Apuleius. For a long time I lived a single life, _et ab uxore
ducenda semper abhorrui, nec quicquam libero lecto censui jucundius_. I
could not abide marriage, but as a rambler, _erraticus ac volaticus amator_
(to use his own words) _per multiplices amores discurrebam_, I took a
snatch where I could get it; nay more, I railed at marriage downright, and
in a public auditory, when I did interpret that sixth Satire of Juvenal,
out of Plutarch and Seneca, I did heap up all the dicteries I could against
women; but now recant with Stesichorus, _palinodiam cano, nec poenitet
censeri in ordine maritorum_, I approve of marriage, I am glad I am a
[5934]married man, I am heartily glad I have a wife, so sweet a wife, so
noble a wife, so young, so chaste a wife, so loving a wife, and I do wish
and desire all other men to marry; and especially scholars, that as of old
Martia did by Hortensius, Terentia by Tullius, Calphurnia to Plinius,
Pudentilla to Apuleius, [5935]hold the candle whilst their husbands did
meditate and write, so theirs may do them, and as my dear Camilla doth to
me. Let other men be averse, rail then and scoff at women, and say what
they can to the contrary, _vir sine uxore malorum expers est_, &c., a
single man is a happy man, &c., but this is a toy. [5936]_Nec dulces amores
sperne puer, neque tu