[5784]Nec integrum unquam transiges laetus diem.
If he or she be such a one,
Thou hadst much better be alone.
Hae sunt atque aliae multae in magnis dotibus
Incommoditates, sumptusque intolerabiles, &c.
[5801]—procreare liberos lepidissimum.
Hercle vero liberum esse, id multo est lepidius.
Vis juvenis nubere? nondum venit tempus.
Ingravescente aetate jam tempus praeteriit.
Consider withal how free, how happy, how secure, how heavenly, in respect, a single man is, [5803]as he said in the comedy, Et isti quod fortunatum esse autumant, uxorem nunquam habui, and that which all my neighbours admire and applaud me for, account so great a happiness, I never had a wife; consider how contentedly, quietly, neatly, plentifully, sweetly, and how merrily he lives! he hath no man to care for but himself, none to please, no charge, none to control him, is tied to no residence, no cure to serve, may go and come, when, whither, live where he will, his own master, and do what he list himself. Consider the excellency of virgins, [5804] Virgo coelum meruit, marriage replenisheth the earth, but virginity Paradise; Elias, Eliseus, John Baptist, were bachelors: virginity is a precious jewel, a fair garland, a never-fading flower; [5805]for why was Daphne turned to a green bay-tree, but to show that virginity is immortal?