I ask again, then,
whither shall we fly, or what shall we do? The world may so come in
a man's way that he cannot choose but salute it; he must take heed,
though, not to go a whoring after it. If by any lawful vocation or
just necessity men happen to be married to it, I can only give them
St. Paul's advice: "Brethren, the time is short; it remains that
they that have wives be as though they had none. But I would that
all men were even as I myself."
In all cases they must be sure that they do mundum ducere, and not
mundo nubere. They must retain the superiority and headship over
it: happy are they who can get out of the sight of this deceitful
beauty, that they may not be led so much as into temptation; who
have not only quitted the metropolis, but can abstain from ever
seeing the next market town of their country.
CLAUDIAN'S OLD MAN OF VERONA.
Happy the man who his whole time doth bound
Within the enclosure of his little ground.
Happy the man whom the same humble place
(The hereditary cottage of his race)
From his first rising infancy has known,
And by degrees sees gently bending down,
With natural propension to that earth
Which both preserved his life, and gave him birth.
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