# Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 52

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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.