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THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER i8 — " So you too," replied the Magnifico Giuliano, " wish to enter into subtleties; but you shall see that you will always have the worst of it : and that this is true, listen. "I grant you that warmth is in itself more perfect than cold;" but this is not the case with things mixed and composite; for if it were so, that body which is warmer would be more perfect, which is false, because temperate bodies are most perfect. Moreover, I tell you that woman is of frigid temperament by comparison with man, who by excess of warmth is far from tem- perate; but as for her, she is temperate (or at least more nearly temperate than man is) because she has in her a moisture pro- portioned to her natural warmth, which in man usually evapo- rates by reason of excessive dryness and is consumed. Further- more, her coldness is of the kind that resists and moderates her natural warmth and makes it more nearly temperate; while in man the surplus warmth soon raises his natural heat to the highest pitch, which wastes away for lack of sustenance. And thus, as men lose more in procreation than women do, it often happens that they are less long lived than women; wherefore this perfection also may be ascribed to women, that, living longer than men, they perform better than men that which is the intent of nature. " Of the warmth that the heavens shed upon us I do not speak now, because it is of a different sort from that which we are dis- cussing; for being preservative of all things under the moon's orb, warm as well as cold, it cannot be hostile to cold. But tim- idity in women, although it shows some imperfection, yet springs from a praiseworthy source, that is, from the subtlety and readi- ness of their wits, which picture images to their minds quickly and thus are easily disturbed by things external. You will very often see men who fear neither death nor anything else, and yet cannot be called courageous, because they do not know the dan- ger and go like fools jwhere they see the road open, and think no further; and this proceeds from a certain grossness of dull wits: wherefore we cannot say that a fool is brave. But true loftiness of mind comes from a due deliberation and determined resolve to act thus and so, and from esteeming honour and duty above all the dangers in the world; and from being of such stout heart 187