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

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:
Cumæan Sibyl’s saying (The word Cumæan Sibyl took).9440
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-hot9450
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.9460
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