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It was agreed vppon betwext two gent, that yf any of them did better behaue him selfe in combatt then his aduersarie that he sholde be victorious & haue the honor of the victorie, & the other be iudged as victored & a prisoner It chaunced that the one had his eie striken owte, the other his nose cleerely cutt of. In wch case it was demaunded whether of them had obteined greatest honnor. ffirst it was saide that he yt was depriued of his eie, hath loste ye most principall member. ffor a man beinge blinde is vnfitt for all exercyses, also the eie is placed hiest, as a moste worthie parte & beinge therof berefte incurreth greatest reproche because it is the guide of the whole bodie, the instrument of lighte & the only meane to convey the knowledge wherby the minde & harte be directed. By the eie the memorie of man is preserued & likewise delighted, but the nose is an instrument of the heade only of baser condicion, & serueth for ye dischardge of vnholsome humours & receaving in of vnpleasaunt savours. Also because the sence of smellinge is not much profitable to the bodie of man, it semeth the nose serueth only for an ornamente of the face wch nature hath purposely ordeygned. I saye therfore in conclusion that the eies are members of more exellencie, and are as it were the gates of sighte for openinge & shuttinge of them, we see howe nature as a skillfull mistres hath ordeined two eiliddes to defende them. In one other chapter we haue declared that the eie is an instruemnte of the sowle, & the minde discerneth by meane of the eie. Therfore the more exellent it is, the more is the greif & reproche of him that is therof berefte. On the contrarie it maye be alleadged, that the nose is a member ioyned to the face & a more necessarie ornament for ye bodie of man, also beinge cutt of, it cannot be recured, but losing one eie, the other may giue lighte sufficient for the vse of life, & as somme saye of more virtue, because the virtue of them both, naturallie resorteth to one, so as the sight of that one is better, then they were both togethers The reason therof is, that the virtue of seinge is not to be deuided thoughe it maye be diminished. ffor this respecte