reasonyng ought to be long, I will with your license take helpe of these
my frendes: and thei, and I praie you of one thyng, that is, that you
will not bee greved, if some tyme with some question of importaunce, we
interrupte you.

[Sidenote: Why a good man ought never to use the exercise of armes, as
his art.]

FABRICIO. I am moste well contented, that you Cosimo with these other
younge men here, doe aske me: for that I beleve, that youthfulnes, will
make you lovers of warlike thinges, and more easie to beleve thesame,
that of me shalbe saied. These other, by reason of havyng nowe their
hedde white, and for havyng upon their backes their bloude congeled,
parte of theim are wonte to bee enemies of warre, parte uncorrectable,
as those, whom beleve, that tymes, and not the naughtie maners,
constraine men to live thus: so that safely aske you all of me, and
without respecte: the whiche I desire, as well, for that it maie be unto
me a little ease, as also for that I shall have pleasure, not to leave
in your mynde any doubt. I will begin at your woordes, where you saied
unto me, that in the warre, that is my arte, I had not indevoured to
bryng it to any aunciente ende: whereupon I saie, as this beyng an arte,
whereby men of no maner of age can live honestly, it cannot bee used for
an arte, but of a common weale: or of a kyngdome: and the one and the
other of these, when thei bee well ordeined, will never consente to any
their Citezeins, or Subjectes, to use it for any arte, nor never any
good manne doeth exercise it for his particulare arte: for as moche as
good he shall never bee judged, whom maketh an excersise thereof, where
purposing alwaies to gaine thereby, it is requisite for hym to be
ravenyng, deceiptfull, violente, and to have many qualities, the whiche
of necessitie maketh hym not good: nor those menne cannot, whiche use it