Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/211

CANTO III.] And make you keep to the question close, And argue dialecticōs. The question then, to state it first, Is, which is better, or which worst, Synods or bears. Bears I avow To be the worst, and synods thou. But, to make good th' assertion, Thou say'st th' are really all one. If so, not worst; for if th' are idem, Why then, tantundem dat tantidem. For if they are the same, by course Neither is better, neither worse. But I deny they are the same, More than a maggot and I am. That both are animalia, I grant, but not rationalia: For though they do agree in kind, Specific difference we find; And can no more make bears of these, Than prove my horse is Socrates. That synods are bear-gardens too, Thou dost affirm; but I say, No: And thus I prove it, in a word, Whats'ever assembly's not impow'r'd To censure, curse, absolve, and ordain, Can be no synod: but bear-garden