Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 52
LII
The jealous husband, all a-heat,
From scolding next proceeds to beat9820
His wretched wife, and robe and hair
Doth in his rage from off her tear.
Personal violence
Forthwith as one whose every pore
With rage and passion boileth o’er,
His wife he seizes by the hair,
Shakes her as rudely as a bear
Is shaken by a lion, then,
E’en as it were a wild beast’s den,
He drags her madly round the room,
With frantic threats of direst doom,9830
While to her vows of innocence
He’s deaf, as one devoid of sense
Or hearing, foams, and rolls his eyes,
Regardless of the piteous cries
And shrieks with which she fills the air,
Piercing and shrill as trumpet blare,
Pours forth each brutal epithet
To which he in his wrath can set
His savage tongue, till neighbours haste
To separate the fools who waste9840
Their days in strife, and save from death
The wife, for nought but outworn breath
Can stay the husband’s rage.
Estrangement
When o’er
This scene of turmoil and uproar
She thinketh, and the ballading
Her jongleur made doth loudly ring
Within her ears, imagine you
The wife more faithfully will do
Her duty towards her spouse?
Nay, nay!
She will but wish him right away9850
In far Roumania or at Meaux.
Nor should I very widely go
From truth were I to say she ne’er
Will love him more, although that air
She may assume: could he but fly,
And get a bird’s-eye view on high
In safety, and from thence behold
What men are doing in this old
Worn world, and calmly muse thereon,
He’d see what misery he hath won,9860
And how his vision hath been blind
To all the ruses womenkind
Use to defend them, and to be
Safe-harboured from men’s tyranny.
If with his wife he shares his bed,
Much risk he runneth, by my head,
For if he sleep or if he wake,
Great fear pursues him lest she take
Swift vengeance on him, and his life
By poison cup or murderous knife9870
He lose, or else the victim be
From year to year of trickery;
Or if indeed she’s baffled quite
Of that she loves, she takes to flight.
Honour, and faith, and truth are spurned
By women when their heads are turned;
And truth it is, beyond all doubt,
That every woman is without
Conscience, who either loves or hates.
Valerius saith: She hesitates,9680
In such a case, at nought at all,
Nor recketh whatsoe’er befall.
Miseries of jealousy
My friend, the wretched man, turned sour
By jealousy, may wolves devour,
Who thus, as painted to the life,
Ill-treats and vilifies his wife,
And o’er her gets the mastery
With brutal hand; nor should she be
Supreme in rule, but each in awe
Of other stand, as saith God’s law,9690
Dwelling together, mate and mate;
But if in spirit separate
They live, their days are past and spent
In strife, and dead is sweet content.
Think you a man gains woman’s love
Who sets himself as lord above
Her will and ways? fair love falls dead
When seigniory exalts its head
Above affection, ne’er can dure
Love but in hearts, free, frank, and pure.9900
Courtship v. marriage
And verily, ’tis rarely seen
With those who lovers long have been
Ere wedlock joined them, that doth last
Fond nuptial love, for in the past
The lover would avow him for
The lady’s bounden servitor,
But after marriage doth declare
His lordship, which right hard to bear
She finds from him who late did waive
All right and vowed himself her slave.
The Lover.
Her slave ?
The Friend.
Past doubt.
The Lover.
And prithee why ?
The Friend.
Because he willingly would fly
At her command; if she but said:
Dear friend, my purse; away he sped,
Nothing could vex him, nought could tire,
To satisfy her least desire;
To speak, indeed, were scarce worth while,
He read each frown, and knew each smile,
His only thought was to obey
Her every wish in every way.9920
But when they’re once by wedlock tied.
This courtesy is cast aside,
The wheel is turned, and he who late
Before her will would fall prostrate
Doth now command, as though he might
From her claim service as of right,
Holds her in check, and makes her feel
That she from him hath no appeal;
She, who but yesterday he named
His mistress, and was nought ashamed9930
To serve, must now serve him, alas!
And many a rude experience pass.
Ah, then she plains her evil case,
Seeing the husband doth displace
The lover, and her closest friend
To friendship puts a bitter end
By contrariety; now no more
He worships her as heretofore.
But dead is joyousness, she dare
Scarce laugh so ’whelmed is she with care.9940
Nor knows she where to turn for aid
When on her neck he looks, afraid
Lest, as erewhile he ne’er took heed
Thereof, he now some ill may speed.
Obedience is her only choice,
For if in plaint she raise her voice,
Woe worth the day! it wakes his rage,
With threats wild war on her to wage.
Primitive simplicity
My friend, the earliest men were free
From bondage, yoke, and slavery,9950
And peaceably they shared their good
In perfect love and brotherhood.
Nor had they freedom’s joyance sold
For Araby’s or Frisia’s gold;
And if men once that treasure lack,
No gold on earth can win it back.
Then no man toiled in pilgrimage,
But lived from infancy to age
At home, nor cared to cross the wave
Of ocean for an outland grave.