|
(Franco, to a man who has insulted a woman.) Look with the eyes of your good sense and see for yourself how unworthy of you it is to insult and injure women. Unfortunate sex, always led about by cruel fortune, because you are always subjected and without freedom! But this has certainly been no fault of ours, because, if we are not as strong as men, like men we have a mind and intellect. And virtue does not lie in bodily strength but in the vigor of the soul and mind, through which all things come to be known; and I am certain that in this respect women lack nothing, but, rather, have given more than one sign of being greater than men. But if you think us inferior to you, perhaps it's because in modesty and wisdom we are more adept and better than you. And do you want to know what the truth is? That the wisest person should be the most patient squares with reason and with what is right; insolence is the mark of the madman, but the stone that the wise man draws from the well was thrown in by a foolish, imprudent man....... [ll. 52-75; pp. 245-247] |
 If you have any suggestions or questions regarding these poems please email me |