LI
Beauty and Ugliness assail
Fair Chastity with such avail,
That they subject her to their dame,
Who loves to put chaste maids to shame.
Ugliness turns traitor
And followeth her with ponderous mace,
Uplifted, round about the place9410
So fiercely, that ’twould seem as though
Her mistress she must overthrow
Within an hour.
O frail and weak
Is Chastity when both sides seek
Her death, and none appear to aid
Or help her; then, of all afraid,
She takes to flight.
If under oath
She were to fight, she yet were loth,
Knowing so little of the way
Of combat, to contest the day9420
Alone, for scarcely could she hope
With friend and foe alike to cope.
Alas! for traitorous Ugliness,
Whose duty ’twas and business
Frail Chastity to guard. I ween
Could she have hidden her between
Her skin and smock, she surely ought
Have popped her there as quick as thought.
Beauty, moreover, is to blame,
For Chastity may justly claim9430
Her love and reverence, and her peace
She ought to make with her, and cease
