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.19811981 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.