The Anatomy of Melancholy

This is not amongst your dust-worms alone, poor snakes that will prostitute their souls for mony, but with this bait you may catch our most potent, puissant, and illustrious Princes. That proud upstart domineering Bishop of Ely, in the time of Richard the first, Viceroy in his absence, as Nuburgensis relates it, to fortifie himself, and maintain his greatness, propinquarum suarum connubiis, plurimos sibi potentes & nobiles devincire curavit, married his poor kinswomen (which came forth of Normandy by droves) to the chiefest nobles of the land, and they were glad to accept of such matches, fair or foul, for themselves, their sons, nephews, &c. Et quis tam præclaram affinitatem sub spe magnæ promotionis non optaret? Who would not have done as much for mony and preferment? as mine author adds.

Vortiger King of Britain, married Rowena the daughter of Hengist the Saxon Prince, his mortal enemy; but wherefore? she had Kent for her dowry. Iagello the great Duke of Lituania, 1386. was mightily enamored on Hedergæ, insomuch that he turned Christian from a Pagan, and was baptized himself by the name of Vladislaus, and all his subjects for her sake: but why was it? she was daughter and heir of Poland, and his desire was to have both Kingdoms incorporated into one. Charls the great was an earnest suiter to Irene the Empress, but, saith Zonarus, ob regnum, to annex the Empire of the East to that of the West.

Yet what is the event of all such matches, that are so made for mony, goods, by deceit, or for burning lust, quos fœda libido conjunxit, what follows? they are almost mad at first, but ’tis a meer flash; as chaff and straw soon fired, burn vehemently for a while, yet out in a moment; so are all such matches made by those allurements of burning lust; where there is no respect of honesty, parentage, vertue, religion, education, and the like, they are extinguished in an instant, and instead of love, comes hate; for joy, repentance and desperation it self.

Franciscus Barbarus in his first book de re uxoria c. 5. hath a story of one Philip of Padua that fell in love with a common whore, and was now ready to run mad for her; his father having no more sons, let him enjoy her; but after a few days, the young man began to loath, could not so much as endure the sight of her, and from one madness fell into another. Such event commonly have all these lovers; and he that so marries, or for such respects, let them look for no better success, then Menelaus had with Helen, Vulcan with Venus, Theseus with Phædra, Minos with Pasiphae, and Claudius with Messalina; shame, sorrow, misery, melancholy, discontent.