16. Therefore if haply,
(which whether it can take place, I know not; and rather think it
cannot take place; but yet, if haply), having taken unto himself a
concubine for a time, a man shall have sought sons only from this
same intercourse; neither thus is that union to be preferred to the
marriage even of those women, who do this, that is matter of
pardon.1981
For we
must consider what
belongs to
marriage, not what
belongs to such
women as marry and use
marriage with less
moderation than they
ought. For neither if each one so use
lands entered upon unjustly
and wrongly, as out of their fruits to give large
alms, doth he
therefore
justify rapine: nor if another
brood over, through
avarice, an
estate to which he has succeeded, or which he hath
justly
gained, are we on this account to
blame the rule of
civil
law, whereby he is made a
lawful owner. Nor will the wrongfulness
of a tyrannical rebellion deserve
praise, if the tyrant treat his
subjects with
royal clemency: nor will the order of
royal power
deserve
blame, if a king
rage with tyrannical
cruelty. For it is
one thing to wish to use well
unjust power, and it is another thing
to use unjustly just
power. Thus neither do
concubines taken for a
time, if they be such in order to sons, make their concubinage
lawful; nor do
married women, if they live wantonly with their
husbands, attach any charge to the order of marriage.
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