And torne in pieces doth their furie slake.
The bird shut vp in an unpleasing cage,
Which on the loftie trees did lately sing,
Though men her want of freedome to asswage,
Should vnto her with carefull labour bring
The sweetest meates, which they can best deuisė:
Yet when on toppes of houses fluttering
The pleasing shadows of the groues shee spies;
Her hated food she scatters with her feet,
And discontented to the woods shee flies,
And their delights to tune her accents sweete.
When some strong hand doth tender plant constraine
With his debased top the ground to meete,
If it let goe, the crooked twigge againe
Vp toward heauen it selfe it streight doth raise.
Phoebus doth fall into the Westerne maine,
Yet doeth he backe returne by secret wayes,
And to the East doeth guide his chariots race.
Each thing a certaine course and lawes obeyes,
Striuing to turne backe to his proper place;
Nor any setled order can be found,
But that, which doth within it selfe embrace
The birthes and ends of all things in a round.
Book iv, prose 2.
Wherefore if one, that can go vpon his feete, doeth walke, and another, who hath not this naturall function of his feete, endeuoureth to walke by creeping vpon his hands: which of these two is deseruedly to be esteemed the stronger? Inferre the rest (quoth I) for no man doubteth, but that hee which can vse that naturall function is stronger then he which cannot. But (quoth she) the good seeke to obtaine the chiefest good, which is equally proposed to badde and good, by the naturall function of vertues, but the euill endeuour to obtaine the same by diuers concupiscences, which are not the natural function of obtaining goodnesse. Thinkest thou otherwise? No (quoth I) for it is manifest, what followeth. For by force of that which I have already granted, it is
