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THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER are so rarely seen in men even in past centuries, is something that cannot be endured or hardly listened to. " Now, I am far from willing to affirm that women are imper- fect creatures, and consequently of less dignity than men, and not capable of those virtues that men are, — because these ladies' worth would suffice to prove me wrong:'*" but I do say that very learned men have left it in writing that since nature always aims and designs to make things most perfect, she would continually bring forth men if she could ; and when a woman is born, it is a (defect or mistake of nature, and contrary to that which she 'would wish to do: as is seen also in the case of one who is born blind or halt or with some other defect; and in trees, many fruits that never ripen. Thus woman may be said to be a crea- ture produced by chance and accident; and that this is so, mark a man's acts and a woman's, and judge therefrom the perfection of both. Yet, as these imperfections of women are the fault of na- ture who has made them so, we ought not on that account to hate them or fail to show them that respect which is their due. But to esteem them above what they are, seems to me plain errour." 12.— The Magnifico Giuliano waited for my lord Gaspar to con- tinue further, but seeing that he kept silent, said : " As to women's imperfection, methinks you have adduced a very weak argument; to which, although perhaps it be not timely to enter upon these subtleties now, I reply (according to the opinion of one who knows and according to truth) that the substance of anything you please cannot receive into itself more or less. For just as no one stone can be more perfectly stone than another as regards the essence of a stone, nor one piece of wood more perfectly wood than another, — so one man cannot be more perfectly man than another; and consequently the male will not be more perfect than the female as regards its essential substance, because both are included in the species man, and that wherein the one differs from the other is an accidental mat- ter and not essential. In case you then tell me that man is more perfect than woman, if not in essence, at least in non-essentials, I reply that these non-essentials must pertain either to the body or to the mind; if to the body (as in that man is more robust, more agile, lighter, or more capable of toil), I say that this is 182