but the spirit suffered him not, and thou wouldst peradventure be a married man with all thy will, but that protecting angel holds it not fit.  The devil too sometimes may divert by his ill suggestions, and mar many good matches, as the same [5900]Paul was willing to see the Romans, but hindered of Satan he could not.  There be those that think they are necessitated by fate, their stars have so decreed, and therefore they grumble at their hard fortune, they are well inclined to marry, but one rub or other is ever in the way; I know what astrologers say in this behalf, what Ptolemy quadripartit.  Tract. 4. cap. 4. Skoner lib. 1. cap. 12. what Leovitius genitur. exempl. 1. which Sextus ab Heminga takes to be the horoscope of Hieronymus Wolfius, what Pezelius, Origanaus and Leovitius his illustrator Garceus, cap. 12. what Junctine, Protanus, Campanella, what the rest, (to omit those Arabian conjectures a parte conjugii, a parte lasciviae, triplicitates veneris, &c., and those resolutions upon a question, an amica potiatur, &c.) determine in this behalf, viz. an sit natus conjugem habiturus, facile an difficulter sit sponsam impetraturus, quot conjuges, quo tempore, quales decernantur nato uxores, de mutuo amore conjugem, both in men’s and women’s genitures, by the examination of the seventh house the almutens, lords and planets there, a [Symbol:  Sun]d et [Symbol:  Moon-3/4]a &c., by particular aphorisms, Si dominus 7’mae in 7’ma vel secunda nobilem decernit uxorem, servam aut ignobilem si duodecima.  Si Venus in 12’ma, &c., with many such, too tedious to relate.  Yet let no man be troubled, or find himself grieved with such predictions, as Hier.  Wolfius well saith in his astrological [5901]dialogue, non sunt praetoriana decreta_, they be but conjectures, the stars incline, but not enforce,

[5902] “Sidera corporibus praesunt caelestia nostris,
        Sunt ea de vili condita namque luto: 
        Cogere sed nequeunt animum ratione fruentem,
        Quippe sub imperio solius ipse dei est.”

wisdom, diligence, discretion, may mitigate if not quite alter such decrees, Fortuna sua a cujusque fingitur moribus, [5903]_Qui cauti, prudentes, voti compotes_, &c., let no man then be terrified or molested with such astrological aphorisms, or be much moved, either to vain hope or fear, from such predictions, but let every man follow his own free will in this case, and do as he sees cause.  Better it is indeed to marry than burn, for their soul’s health, but for their present fortunes, by some other means to pacify themselves, and divert the stream of this fiery torrent, to continue as they are, [5904]rest satisfied, lugentes virginitatis florem sic aruisse, deploring their misery with that eunuch in Libanius, since there is no help or remedy, and with Jephtha’s daughter to bewail their virginities.