"One must above all praise the wisdom of our King Francis I and his spirit of farsightedness, worthy of a great prince, to do specially with regard to men what others do for dogs and horses, in ordaining that, on one side as on the other, those who decide to unite under the holy ties of matrimony take into consideration the race from which they issue, in order that from good parents are born children who will later prove useful to king and country."
Jacopo Sadoleto (1477-1547), Cardinal and Bishop of Carpentras
De liberis recte instituendis (1530; trans. P. Charpenne, 1855)
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