To conclude, a virtuous wife is a crown and
ornament to her husband, and her price is above all rubies: but the
ways of a harlot are deceitful.

* * * * *

CHAPTER VII

_Of Errors in Marriages; Why they are, and the Injuries caused by
them._

By errors in marriage, I mean the unfitness of the persons marrying to
enter into this state, and that both with respect to age and the
constitution of their bodies; and, therefore, those who design to enter
into that condition ought to observe their ability and not run
themselves into inconveniences; for those that marry too young may be
said to marry unseasonably, not considering their inability, nor
examining the forces of nature; for some, before they are ripe for the
consummation of so weighty a matter, who either rashly, of their own
accord, or by the instigation of procurers or marriage-brokers, or else
forced thereto by their parents who covet a large dower take upon them
this yoke to their prejudice; by which some, before the expiration of a
year, have been so enfeebled, that all their vital moisture has been
exhausted; which had not been restored again without great trouble and
the use of medicines. Therefore, my advice is: that it is not convenient
to suffer children, or such as are not of age, to marry, or get
children.

He that proposes to marry, and wishes to enjoy happiness in that state,
should choose a wife descended from honest and temperate parents, she
being chaste, well bred, and of good manners. For if a woman has good
qualities, she has portion enough. That of Alcmena, in Plautus, is much
to the purpose, where he brings in a young woman speaking thus:--

"I take not that to be my dowry, which
The vulgar sort do wealth and honour call;
That all my wishes terminate in this:----
I'll obey my husband and be chaste withall;
To have God's fear, and beauty in my mind,
To do those good who are virtuously inclined."

And I think she was in the right, for such a wife is more precious than
rubies.

It is certainly the duty of parents to bring up their children in the
ways of virtue, and to have regard to their honour and reputation; and
especially to virgins, when grown to be marriageable. For, as has been
noted, if through the too great severity of parents, they may be crossed
in their love, many of them throw themselves into the unchaste arms of
the first alluring tempter that comes