Classic Poem

" SO soon as Vulcan, who was but a sot,
Had captured Mars and Venus in the net
That he had placed about their bed (more fool
Was he to dare to venture such a trick,
For little worldly wisdom has a man
Who thinks his wife belongs to him alone!)
In haste he called the gods, who laughed and joked
When they perceived the victims in such case.
Most of the gods at once were set on fire
By Venus' loveliness, as she made plaint
And her chagrin revealed, ashamed and grieved,
As well she might, so captured and disgraced;
For never had there been a like disgrace.
Yet 'twas no wonder that she gave herself
To Mars, for Vulcan was so foul and black —
Face, hands, and throat — with charcoal from his forge,
That he could not by Venus be beloved,
However much he claimed her as his wife.
Had it been Absalom with tresses blond
Or Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy,
She had not been complaisant, for she knew
Too well the game all women love to play.
" Women are freeborn; they've restricted been
By law, that takes away the liberty
That Nature gave them. Nature's not so fond,
As we should see if her intent we scanned,
That Margot she would bring into the world
Solely for Robichon, nor Robichon
Solely for Agnes, Margot, or Perette.
Rather, fair son, we're made, beyond a doubt,
All women for all men, and all the men
For all the women, interchangeably;
So that, when they're affianced and espoused
And seized by law intended to prevent
Dissentions, bickerings, and violence,
And to assist in bringing up the ones
Of whom they both together have the care,
Then dames and women, whosoe'er they are,
Ugly or fair, feel forced in various ways
To summon back the freedom that they've lost.
So far as in them lies, they will maintain
Their liberty, from which full many an ill
Comes and will come and has come formerly.
Well could I name ten evils — yes, or more —
But I pass over them. I should be tired,
And you'd be bored, before I numbered them.
However, when in former times one saw
The woman who most pleased him, on the spot
He'd seize her, if no stronger man than he
Took her away from him; and, if he pleased,
When his desire was satisfied, he'd leave.
Thence murders came and homes were broken up
Until, upon the counsel of the wise,
The marriage institution was ordained.
If Horace you'd believe — and he wrote well
And truly, for he was a poet sage —
I'd cite him here for you, for dame discreet
Need have no shame authorities to quote:
Before the time of Helen many fights
Broke out because of women, and there died
In greatest suffering the men who fought
For them, whose very names are now unknown,
For they're not found in books. Not first was she,
Nor will she be the last, for whom great wars
Came and will come among the men who loved
And e'er will love, of whom full many a one
Has sacrificed his body and his soul
And will so long as e'er the world shall last.
Regard, then, Nature; and, that you may see
More clearly what a wondrous power she has,
Many examples can I give to you
Which literally apparent make the fact.
" The bird that's captured in the forest green,
Shut in a cage and nourished carefully,
And fed delicious food, may seem to sing
With happy heart, in your opinion;
And yet it longs to be among the boughs
Out in the woods, which naturally it loves,
And howsoever well it may be fed
Would much prefer to flit among the trees.
Ever it pines and struggles to get free.
With all the ardor which fulfills its heart
It treads its food beneath its feet, and seeks
Throughout its cage, in greatest agony,
To find some door or other opening
Through which it may escape into the woods.
Know well that every damosel or dame,
Whatever her environment may be,
Has the inclination naturally
To long and search for roadways and for paths
By which to come into that liberty
Which all of them forever wish to have.
" I tell you it is so with everyone
Who in a cloister takes his place, for he
Will afterward to such repentance come
That scarce he fails to hang himself for grief.
He's inwardly tormented; he complains;
He lamentation makes. The one desire
That wells up in him is to hit upon
Some stratagem by which he may regain
The freedom that he's lost. His will's unchanged,
Spite of whatever habit he may don
And of whatever refuge he may seek.
" It is a foolish fish that swims within
The narrow opening of a net, and finds,
When he desires to go the way he came,
In spite of all his efforts, no escape.
While he remains a hopeless prisoner,
The others, who remain outside the net,
Crowd round, on seeing him, and think that he
Diverts himself in pleasure and great joy.
They watch him circle, seemingly content,
And note especially that he therein
Has food aplenty, such as each would like,
And so they gladly would their entry make.
They swim and wheel about, and push and search
So much that finally they find the hole,
And in they dart; but when they realize
That once within they're taken and confined
Forever, then they scarcely can refrain
From wishing to regain their liberty.
But that's impossible; more surely caught
Are they than if behooked upon a line.
Till death shall free them, there they'll live in woe.
" Just such a life does young man seek who takes
The monkish vow; he'll never learn to make
Shoes large enough, or cowl, or broad-brimmed hat
To hide what Nature's planted in his heart.
He's badly served, and might as well be dead,
When he gives up his former free estate,
Unless he makes, by great humility,
A virtue of necessity. When she
Fulfills his heart with thoughts of freedom lost,
Dame Nature does not lie; for Horace says,
And well he knew what such words signified,
" Who against Nature to defend himself
Should seize a fork to thrust her forth would find
She'd soon be back again." That I know well.
The cloth will never make her hesitate,
For Nature e're recurs. Why stress the point?
Each creature to its nature will return,
Nor can relinquish it for violence
Or force or covenant. This should excuse
Venus' desire to practice unrestraint,
And all the dames who play the game of Love
No matter how much hedged with marriage vows
Nature surpasses tutelage in power;
She is too strong for them, and makes them wish
Ever to strain toward greater liberty.
" Fair son, if one should take a cat brought up
Never to see a male or female rat
Or even mouse, and long time feed him well,
With most attentive care, delicious food,
And then allow a mouse to come in sight,
And let the cat escape, naught could prevent
The cat from running fast to seize its prey.
It matters not how hungry he may be;
His most attractive food he'll leave for it.
No penalty that man may e'er impose
Can with a peaceful treaty end their feud.
" If one knew how to rear a new-foaled colt
So that he never even saw a mare
Until he was a full-grown steed, and fit
For saddle and for stirrup, and then brought
A mare in sight, he'd hear the stallion neigh
And see him run to jennet to encounter,
If not restrained. Not only does the black
Seek black as mate, but white and gray and brown,
If not retarded by the bit and rein.
He will assail them all, and only looks
To see if he can find them disengaged
Where he can mount their backs and cover them.
So, too, a chestnut mare, if unrestrained,
Will come arunning to a chestnut steed
Or one that's gray or tawny, as she may please.
The first she finds is he she'll make her mate,
For she, in turn, will no espial plan
Except to find a stallion that's free.
" And what I say of horses — gray or brown —
And mares, of bull and cow, of ram and ewe
Is that (doubt not, fair son) each one desires
To seek a mate; and every female longs
For every male, and each gives free consent.
The natural appetite is just the same,
Upon my soul, in every maid and man,
Though law impose some moderate restraint.
Moderate, I say! It seems too much,
For when the marriage law together joins
A man and maid it would forbid them both,
At least so long as t'other partner lives,
To have the others who are not their mates.
But ne'ertheless they're tempted to enjoy
Free will, and well I know that but one thing
Will hold them to their vows, if even that:
'Tis fear of punishment restrains the one,
And shame the other. Nature's influence
Is just the same in them as in the beasts.
Thereof I've had experience myself,
For always I have taken greatest pains
To be beloved by all the men I knew;
Had it not been for fear of shame, which curbs
And halters many a heart, when through the streets
I sauntered — and I'd always go attired
With ornaments the like of which ne'er wore
The finest doll — and when the youths, who pleased
Me greatly, tender glances on me cast
(Good God! what tremors seized me when their looks
Were turned my way!), I gladly had received
As many as I pleased, or all of them,
And one by one I had embraced them all
Had I been equal to the task. It seemed
To me that all were willing, if they could,
To play their part with me. I'll not except
Prelate or canon, burgess, knight, or monk,
Cleric or layman, erudite or fool,
Provided he was still of virile age.
If they had thought it needful, when they sought
My love, they would have from religion leaped;
But had they known my mind, which held such thoughts
As are but common to all womankind,
They never would have had a lurking doubt.
And I believe, if some of them had dared,
They had annulled their marriages for me.
They surely had forgotten all their vows
Had they in private held me in their arms.
No one of them had thought of his estate,
His faith, or his religion, save some fool
Who might have been so manacled by Love
That he adored his sweetheart loyally.
He probably had called it quits with me
And turned to her for whom he'd take no price.
By God and by Saint Amand, I believe
The lovers of that sort are very rare.
However, if the rest would talk with me
But long enough, whatever they might say
Of lies or truth, I would inflame each one,
Whate'er he were — a layman or a monk,
Cinctured with leather red or with a cord;
And whatsoever chaperon he wore,
He'd take his joy with me did he but think
That 'twas my will or that I would permit.
Thus Nature governs us, incites our hearts
To take their pleasure. Venus, then, deserved
But little blame when she enamored Mars.
" When Venus was disclosed in Mars' embrace,
Most willingly had many of the gods
Been laughed at by the others, being found
In Mars' position; while two thousand marks
Had Vulcan given not to have revealed
To common knowledge what the lovers did,
For when the pair he thus exposed to shame
Perceived that everybody knew their case
They afterward performed with open doors
The acts that they kept secret formerly,
Nor ever felt the stigma of the deed;
And then the gods the tale told far and wide
Until it was well known throughout the heavens.
As things grew worse and worse, Vulcan in rage
Perceived that he could find no remedy;
And, as the story goes, that it had been
Better than set the net about the bed
To suffer silently and make pretense
That he knew nothing of the whole affair,
And not to be disturbed, if he would have
The favors of Venus, who then had more complaisant been. "