Faults in such are no faults: For when the said Alcibiades had stoln Anytus his gold and silver plate, he was so far from prosecuting so foul a fact (though every man else condemned his impudence, and insolency) that he wished it had been more, and much better (he loved him dearly) for his sweet sake.

No worth is eminent in such lovely persons, all imperfections hid; non enim facile de his quos plurimum diligimus, turpitudinem suspicamur, for hearing, sight, touch, &c. our mind and all our senses are captivated, omnes sensus formosus delectat.

Many men have been preferred for their person alone, chosen Kings, as amongst the Indians, Persians, Æthiopians of old; the properest man of person the country could afford, was elected their Soveraign Lord; Gratior est pulchro veniens è corpore virtus, and so have many other nations thought and done, as Curtius observes; Ingens enim in corporis majestate veneratio est, for there is a majestical presence in such men;

and so far was beauty adored amongst them, that no man was thought fit to reign, that was not in all parts compleat and supereminent. Agis King of Lacedemon had like to have been deposed, because he married a little wife; they would not have their royal issue degenerate.

Who would ever have thought that Adrian the fourth, an English Monk’s bastard (as Papirius Massovius writes in his life) inops a suis relictus, squalidus & miser, a poor forsaken child should ever come to be Pope of Rome? But why was it? Erat acri ingenio, facundiâ expeditâ, eleganti corpore, facieque lætâ ac hilari, (as he follows it out of Nubrigensis, for he plows with his heifer,)

he was wise, learned, eloquent, of a pleasant, a promising countenance, a goodly proper man; he had, in a word, a winning look of his own, and that carryed it, for that he was especially advanced. So Saul was a goodly person and a fair. Maximinus elected Emperour, &c.

Branchus the son of Apollo, whom he begot of Jance, Sucrons daughter (saith Lactantius) when he kept King Admetus heards in Thessaly, now grown a man, was an earnest suiter to his mother to know his father; the Nymph denyed him, because Apollo had conjured her to the contrary; yet overcome by his importunity at last she sent him to his father;

when he came into Apollo’s presence, malas Dei reverenter osculatus, he carried himself so well, and was so fair a yong man, that Apollo was infinitely taken with the beauty of his person, he could scarce look off him, and said he was worthy of such parents, gave him a crown of gold, the spirit of Divination, and in conclusion, made him a Demi-god.

O vis superba formæ, a Goddess beauty is, whom the very Gods adore, nam pulchros dii amant; she is Amoris domina, loves harbinger, loves loadstone, a witch, a charm, &c. Beauty is a dowre of it self, a sufficient patrimony, an ample commendation, an accurate epistle, as Lucian, Apuleius, Tiraquellus, and some others conclude.

Imperio digna forma, Beauty deserves a Kingdome, saith Abulensis, paradox. 2. cap. 110. immortality; and more have got this honour and eternity for their beauty, then for all other vertues besides: and such as are fair, are worthy to be honoured of God and men. That Idalian Ganymedes was therefore fetched by Jupiter into Heaven, Hephestion dear to Alexander, Antinous to Adrian.

Plato calls beauty for that cause a priviledge of Nature, Naturæ gaudentis opus, natures master-piece, a dumb comment; Theophrastus, a silent fraud; still rhetorick Carneades, that perswades without speech, a kingdome without a guard, because beautiful persons command as so many Captains; Socrates, a tyranny, which tyrannizeth over tyrants themselves; which made Diogenes belike call proper women Queens, quod facerent homines quæ præciperent, because men were so obedient to their commands.

They will adore, cringe, complement and bow to a common wench (if she be fair) as if she were a noble woman, a Countess, a Queen or a goddess. Those intemperate yong men of Greece, erected at Delphos a golden image with infinite cost, to the eternal memory of Phryne the curtizan, as Ælian relates, for she was a most beautiful woman, in so much saith Atheneus, that Apelles and Praxitiles drew Venus picture from her.

Thus young men will adore and honour beauty; Nay Kings themselves I say will do it, and voluntarily submit their soveraignty to a lovely woman. Wine is strong, Kings are strong, but a woman strongest, 1 Esd. 4. 10. as Zerobabel proved at large to King Darius, his Princes and Noblemen.

Kings sit still and command Sea and Land, &c. all pay tribute to the King; but women make Kings pay tribute, and have dominion over them. When they have got gold and silver, they submit all to a beautiful woman, give themselves wholly to her, gape and gaze on her, and all men desire her more then gold or silver, or any pretious thing: they will leave father and mother, and venture their lives for her, labour and travel to get, and bring all their gains to women, steal, fight and spoil for their Mistress sakes. And no King so strong, but a fair woman is stronger then he is.

All things (as he proceeds) fear to touch the King; yet I saw him and Apame his concubine, the daughter of the famous Bartacus sitting on the right hand of the King, and she took the crown off his head, and put it on her own, and stroke him with her left hand; yet the King gaped and gazed on her, and when she laughed he laughed, and when she was angry he flattered to be reconciled to her.

So beauty commands even Kings themselves; nay whole armies and kingdomes are captivated together with their Kings: Forma vincit armatos, ferrum pulchritudo captivat; vincentur specie, qui non vincentur prælio.

And ’tis a great matter saith Xenophon, and of which all fair persons may worthily brag, that a strong man must labour for his living if he will have ought, a valiant man must fight and endanger himself for it, a wise man speak, shew himself and toil; but a fair and beautiful person doth all with ease, he compasseth his desire without any pains taking: