And she
all berated him, and asked him, "What will you do, that you will
not put yourself forth as other folk do? Will you sit by the fire
and make goslings in the ashes with a stick, as children do? Would
God I were a man--look what I would do!" "Why, wife," quoth her
husband, "what would you do?" "What? By God, go forward with the
best! For, as my mother was wont to say--God have mercy on her
soul--it is evermore better to rule than to be ruled. And
therefore, by God, I would not, I warrant you, be so foolish as to
be ruled where I might rule." "By my troth, wife," quoth her
husband, "in this I daresay you say truth, for I never found you
willing to be ruled yet."
VINCENT: Well, uncle, I follow you now, well enough! She is indeed
a stout master-woman. And in good faith, for aught that I can see,
even that same womanish mind of hers is the greatest commodity that
men reckon upon in offices of authority.
ANTHONY: By my troth, and methinketh there are very few who attain
any great commodity therein. For first there is, in every kingdom,
but one who can have an office of such authority that no man may
command him or control him. No officer can stand in that position
but the king himself; he only, uncontrolled or uncommanded, may
control and command all.
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