Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/90

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From bickering strife, nor only so,

But ’neath her rule should bend alow.

If she but wise and courteous were,

With gentle kindliness she’d bear

Herself towards her, all despite

Foregone, for so doth Virgil write

Within the Æneid’s sixth book:

(The word Cumæan Sibyl took).

That whoso chastely lives may well

Hope to escape the nether hell.

But swear I by the Lord who made

The heavens, that when some saucy jade

Doth impudently set about

To paint her face, and trick her out

In finery, ’tis plain that she

Makes war on saintly Chastity.

Alas! Poor Chastity hath got,

I fear me, many a foe red-hot

In convent cell and abbey cloister,

Who would not hesitate to hoist her

Oyer their walls; they should be built

Right high—’twould inmates save from guilt.

Homage to Venus all dames pay,

And daintily their forms array

To draw on those by whom they’re seen

About the ways with mincing mien,

And round them wanton glances fling,

Men to incite to dallying.

All equally they set their snares,

Whether at dances, or when prayers

Call them to church, and safe and sure

It is to say that such allure