7. But the divine Constantius is said to have done
the same. Let us rather imitate the other actions of that Prince,
who would have undertaken nothing of the kind, if any one else had
committed such an error before him. For the fall of the earlier
sets his successor right, and amendment results from the censure of a
previous example. It was pardonable for your Grace’s
ancestor in so novel a matter to fail in guarding against blame.
Can the same excuse avail us if we imitate what we know to have been
disapproved?