ON THE NOBILITY AND EXCELLENCE original: "DE NOBILIT. ET PRAECEL." This is a partial heading of the full title: De Nobilitate et Praecellentia Foeminei Sexus (On the Nobility and Excellence of the Female Sex).

...most beautiful, far more pleasing than the three Graces, In Greek mythology, the Graces (Charites) represent charm, beauty, and creativity. because women more beautiful than these have by no means been found in the whole earth. Let us read further of the histories of holy virgins; we will certainly marvel at how the Catholic Church solemnly praises and sings of their wondrous beauty and most excellent form, beyond the rest of the children of men.

But far and wide, the ruler of all is the immaculate Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, whose beauty the sun and moon admire. From her most beautiful face there shone forth such a purity and holiness of beauty that, although it struck the eyes and minds of everyone alike, no mortal ever fell into corruption through her charms, even by the smallest thought. I have reviewed these things—even if more extensively from the Holy Bible where mention is made of beauty so often, and in almost the very same words—so that we may clearly understand that the beauty of women is honored and loaded with dignity not only among men, but also before God.

Furthermore, Numbers 31 we read elsewhere in the sacred scriptures that God commanded every male, even the boys, to be killed, but that the beautiful women Deuteronomy 21 should be saved. And in Deuteronomy, the sons of Israel are permitted to choose for themselves a beautiful woman from among the captives to be a wife.

In addition to this admirable beauty, woman is also endowed with a certain dignity of modesty original: "honestatis," here referring to natural decency or moral respectability. that does not happen to men: for the hair of a woman grows so long that it is able to cover all the more private parts original: "pudentiores," literally the "shameful" parts, a common euphemism for the genitals in Renaissance texts. of the body. Add to this that for a woman to touch these parts of the body during the works of nature—something which is customary for men...

B This "B" is a signature mark used by early printers to help binders assemble the book's pages in the correct order.