Nicholas Sanders relates of Henry the 8th. (I know not how truly) Quod paucas vidit pulchriores quas non concupierit, & paucissimas non concupierit quas non violarit, He saw very few maids that he did not desire, and desired fewer whom he did not enjoy: nothing so familiar amongst them, ’tis most of their business:

Sardanapalus, Messalina, and Ione of Naples, are not comparable to meaner men and women; Solomon of old had a thousand Concubines, Assuerus his Eunuches, and keepers, Nero his Tigillinus, Panders and Bawds, the Turks, Muscovits, Mogors, Xeriffs of Barbary, and Persian Sophies, are no whit inferior to them in our times.

Delectus fit omnium puellarum toto regno formâ præstantiorum (saith Jovius) pro imperatore; & quas ille linquit, nobiles habent; They press and muster up wenches as we do souldiers, and have their choice of the rarest beauties their countries can afford, and yet all this cannot keep them from adultery, incest, sodomy, buggery, and such prodigious lusts.

We may conclude, that if they be yong, fortunate, rich, high-fed, and idle withall, it is almost impossible they should live honest, not rage, and precipitate themselves into those inconveniences of burning lust.

Otium & reges prius & beatas Perdidit urbes.

Idleness overthrowes all, Vacuæ pectore regnat amor, love tyrannizeth in an idle person. Amore abundas Antipho. If thou hast nothing to do.

Invidia vel amore miser torquebere ——

Thou shalt be haled in pieces with envy, lust, some passion or other. Homines nihil agendo malè agere discunt; ’Tis Aristotles Simile, as match or touchwood takes fire, so doth an idle person love.

Quæritur Ægystus quare sit factus adulter, &c.

why was Ægistus a whoremaster? You need not ask a reason of it. Ismenedora stole Baccho, a woman forced a man, as Aurora did Cephalus: No marvel, saith Plutarch, Luxurians opibus more hominum mulier agit: She was rich, fortunate and jolly, and doth as men do in that case, as Jupiter did by Europa, Neptune by Amymone.

The Poets therefore did well to feign all Shepheards Lovers, to give themselves to songs and dalliances, because they lived such idle lives. For love as Theophrastus defines it, is otiosi animi affectus, an affection of an idle minde, or as Seneca describes it, Juventâ gignitur, juxu nutritur, feriis alitur, otioq; inter læta fortunæ bona; Youth begets it, riot maintains it, idleness nourisheth it, &c.

which makes Gordonius the Physitian cap. 20. part. 2. call this disease the proper passion of Nobility. Now if a weak judgement and a strong apprehension do concurr, how, saith Hercules de Saxoniâ, shall they resist? Savanarola appropriates it almost to Monks, Friers, and religious persons, because they live solitary, fare daintily, and do nothing: and well he may, for how should they otherwise choose?

Diet alone is able to cause it: A rare thing to see a young man or a woman that lives idly, and fares well, of what condition soever, not to be in love. Alcibiades was still dallying with wanton young women, immoderate in his expences, effeminate in his apparel, ever in love, but why? he was over delicate in his diet, too frequent and excessive in banquets.

Ubicunq; securitas, ibi libido dominatur; lust and security domineer together, as S. Hierome averreth. All which the wife of Bath in Chaucer freely justifies.

For all to sicker, as cold engendreth hail, A liquorish tongue must have a liquorish tail.

Especially if they shall further it by choice Diet, as many times those Sybarites and Phæaces do, feed liberally, and by their good will, eat nothing else but lascivious meats.

Vinum imprimis generosum, legumen, fabas, radices omnium generum bene conditas, & largo pipere aspersas, carduos hortulanos, lactucas, erucas, rapas, porros, cæpas, nucem piceam, amygdalas dulces, electuaria, syrupos, succos, cochleas, conchas, pisces optimè præparatos, aviculas, testiculos animalium, ova, condimenta diversorum generum, molles lectos, pulvinaria, &c.

Et quicquid ferè medici impotentiâ rei venereæ laboranti præscribunt, hoc quasi diasatyrion habent in delitiis, & his dapes multò delicatiores; mulsum, exquisitas & exoticas fruges, aromata, placentas, expressos succos multis ferculis variatos, ipsumque vinum suavitate vincentes, & quicquid culina, pharmacopœa, aut quæque ferè officina subministrare possit.

Et hoc plerumque victu quum se ganeones infarciant, ut ille ob Chreseida suam, se bulbis & cochleis curavit; etiam ad Venerem se parent, & ad hanc palestram se exerceant, quâ fieri possit, ut non miserè depereant, ut non penitus insaniant?

Æstuans venter cito despuit in libidinem, Hieronymus ait. Post prandia, Callyroenda. Quis enim continere se potest? Luxuriosa res vinum, fomentum libidinis vocat Augustinus, blandum dæmonem, Bernardus; lac veneris, Aristophanes.

Non Ætna, non Vesuvius tantis ardoribus æstuant, ac juveniles medullæ vino plenæ, addit Hieronymus: unde ob optimum vinum Lampsacus olim Priapo sacer: & venerandi Bacchi socia, apud Orpheum Venus audit.

Hæc si vinum simplex, & per se sumptum præstare possit, nam —— quo me Bacche rapis tui plenum — quam non insaniam, quem non furorem à cæteris expectemus?

Gomesius salem enumerat inter ea quæ intempestivam libidinem provocare solent, Et salaciores fieri fœminas ob esum salis contendit. Venerem ideo dicunt ab Oceano ortam.

Unde tot in Veneta scortorum millia cur sunt? In promptu causa est, est Venus orta mari.

Et hinc fœta mater Salacea Oceani conjux, verbumque fortasse salax à sale effluxit. Mala Bacchica tantum olim in amoribus prævaluerunt, ut coronæ ex illis statuæ Bacchi ponerentur.

Cubebis in vino maceratis utuntur Indi orientales ad Venerem excitandum, & Surax radice Africani. Chinæ radix eundem effectus habet, talisq; herbæ meminit mag. nat. lib. 2. cap. 16. Baptista Porta ex India allatæ, cujus mentionem facit & Theophrastus.

Sed infinita his similia apud Rhasin, Matthiolum, Mizaldum, cæterosque medicos occurrunt, quorum ideo mentionem feci, ne quis imperitior in hos scopulos impingat, sed pro virili tanquam syrtes & cautes consulto effugiat.