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The Seuenth
Booke, wherin is discoursed

Off what estate they ought to be yt
are permitted to come to combatt.

ca. primu.

The lawe Emperiall ordeyneth that no yeo:
man or common Person ought to come to
combatt for lief and death wth anye gentleman
neither shall anye man vse thexercise of armes for
Triumphe or triall of virtue yf he be not noble of bloude and
honnorable. ffor as in suche cases the equalitite of honnor or
estate is reguarded, so whensoeuer any rusticall persouns or
of vile condicion doe offer them selves, they are repulsed as
vnworthie to come to thexercise of armes, as a thinge meete
onlie for gentlemen & others of noble race. It is therfore
expedient first to vnderstand what thinge nobilitie is, and
whence it prcedeth, and what priviledges it hathe. On this
behalf to write according to the opinion of the morall Flo:
rentine Dante in a certeine exellent songe of his which