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52

And Juvenal supporteth this.

He saith: If e’er thy luck it is

To find an honest woman, go

Straight to the temple, fall alow

To Jupiter on bended knees,

And Goddess Juno strive to please

With sacrificial cow, whose horns

A film of precious gold adorns.

For never while thou liv’st will be

A rarer sight vouchsafed to thee.

Valerius moreover saith:

(Sans shame for that he uttereth)

That either at home or over-sea

Would one affect the company

Of vicious women, they are found

Plenty as bees when swarms fly round.

What deem you then shall be the fate

Of such a fool? ’Twere desperate—

He who a branch so frail doth choose

To trust, shall soul and body lose.

Valerius, when ’twas plainly seen

That young Rufinus, who had been

His friend from youth, would bend the knee

To Hymen, cried: What’s come to thee

In name of ail the Gods! dost set

Thy foot within the treacherous net

Designing women spread for men?

And Juvenal these words wrote when

Young Postumus would take a wife:

’Twere better far to end thy life!

Doth no man now stout halters sell?

Or can’st thou nowhere find a well