Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/88

Of form than Alcibiades,
Whose beauteous shape perforce
must please All who beheld it, so the hand
Of Nature had in seeming planned
A godlike man, but who within
Should look would find him foul with sin.9380
Chastity’s evil plight And thus hath great Boethius said,
Whose wit was with fair virtue wed.
And he doth Aristotle call
To witness, as a man whom all
Put faith in, forasmuch as he
Declares a lynx may clearly see
Whate’er he will, right through and through.
Past doubt it must be owned for true
That Beauty is to Chastity
In nowise friendly, as we see9390
In many a legend, tale and song
Related, but unending wrong
Will do to her. War to the death
They wage so long as each draws breath,
And neither one will yield a foot,
Striving the other to uproot:
But all unequal is the fight,
And, whether in assault or flight,
Cold Chastity is overcome,
And lastly falling, worn and glum,9400
Throws down her arms. E’en Ugliness,
Her handmaid, seeing her distress,
Forbears to help her, but doth strive
The damsel forth her house to drive,