auses of the love which I bear
to my Native Language, which is nearer to me than the others. The
above-mentioned cause, whereby that alone which stands first in each
mind is most bound to it, gave rise to the custom of the people, that
the first-born sons should succeed to the inheritance solely as being
the nearest relatives; and because the nearest relatives, therefore
the most beloved.

Again, Goodness made me a friend to it. And here it is to be known
that all goodness inherent in anything is loveable in that thing; as
in manhood to be well bearded, and in womanhood to be all over the
face quite free from hair; as in the setter to have good scent, and as
in the greyhound to be swift. And in proportion as it is native, so
much the more is it delightful. Hence, although each virtue is
loveable in man, that is the most loveable in him which is most human:
and this is Justice, which alone is in the rational part, or rather in
the intellectual, that is, in the Will. This is so loveable that as
says the Philosopher in the fifth book of the Ethics, its enemies love
it, such as thieves and robbers; and, therefore, we see that its
opposite, that is, Injustice, is especially hated; such as treachery,
ingratitude, falsehood, theft, rapine, deceit, and their like; the
which are such inhuman sins, that, in order to excuse himself from the
infamy of such, it is granted through long custom that a man may speak
of himself, as has been said above, and may say if he be faithful and
loyal. Of this virtue I shall speak hereafter more fully in the
fourteenth treatise; and here quitting it, I return to the
proposition. Having proved, then, that the goodness of a thing is
loved the more the more it is innate, the more it is to be loved and
commended for itself, it remains to see what that goodness is. And we
see that, in all speech, to express a thought well and clearly is the
thing most to be admired and commended. This, then, is its first
goodness. And forasmuch as this is in our Mother Tongue, as is made
evident in another chapter, it is manifest that it has been the cause
of the love which I bear to it; since, as has been said, "Goodness is
the producer of Love."

CHAPTER XIII.

Having said how in the Mother Tongue there are those two things which
have made me its friend, that is, nearness to me and its innate
goodness, I will tell how by kindness and union in study, and through
the benevolence of long use, the friendship