Page 143, l. 57. His steeds nill be restrain'd. I had adopted the reading 'nill' for 'will' conjecturally before I found it in W. There can be no doubt it is right. As printed, the two clauses (57-8) simply contradict each other. The use of 'nill' for 'will' was one of Spenser's Chaucerisms, and Donne comes closer to Spenser in the Epithalamia than anywhere else. Sylvester uses it in his translation of Du Bartas:
For I nill stiffly argue to and fro
In nice opinions, whether so or so.
And it occurs in Davison's Poetical Rhapsody:
And therefore nill I boast of war.
In Shakespeare, setting aside the phrase 'nill he, will he', we have:
in scorn or friendship, nill I construe whether.
ll. 81-2. Till now thou wast but able
To be what now thou art;
She has realized her potentiality; she is now actually what hitherto she has been only ἐν δυνάμει, therefore she 'puts on perfection'. 'Praeterea secundum Philosophum ... qualibet potentiâ melior est eius actus; nam forma est melior quam materia, et actio quam potentia activa: est enim finis eius.' Aquinas, Summa, xxv. i. See also Aristotle, Met. 1050 a 2-16. This metaphysical doctrine is not contradicted by the religious exaltation of virginity, for it is not virginity as such which is preferred to marriage by the Church, but the virgin's dedication of herself to God: 'Virginitas inde honorata, quia Deo dicata.... Virgines ideo laudatae, quia Deo dicatae. Nec nos hoc in virginibus praedicamus, quod virgines sunt; sed quod Deo dicatae piâ continentiâ virgines. Nam, quod non temere dixerim, felicior mihi videtur nupta mulier quam virgo nuptura: habet enim iam illa quod ista adhuc cupit.... Illa uni studet placere cui data est: haec multis, incerta cui danda est,' &c.; August. De Sanct. Virg. I. x, xi. Compare Aquinas, Summa II. 2, Quaest. clii. 3. Wedded to Christ the virgin puts on a higher perfection.