Moral Essays

as they have married and adopted the public, both in matters of affection and of goods. Nevertheless, there are some who live celibate, whose thoughts end in themselves, and who esteem future times as impertinences: nay, there are even some others who hold a wife and children as nothing but expense slips. But the most ordinary cause of leading a celibate life is liberty. Especially in certain men who are enamored of themselves and are eccentric, who are so sensitive to any restriction that they almost consider their belts and garters to be shackles and chains. Men without wives are the best friends, the best masters, the best servants, but not always the best subjects; for they are quick to flee, and almost all fugitives are of those who have no wives. Celibacy is appropriate for churchmen, because charity flows with difficulty to water the earth where it is necessary that it first fill a private lake. It is indifferent to judges and magistrates; for if they are easily corrupted, you will find a servant much worse than a wife. As for soldiers, I find that generals commonly, in animating their