92
THE STAR IN THE WEST
long as man wages war against woman for sins that
he condones in himself , so long will vice reign supreme ,
so
long
will
women
prove
themselves
deceivers ,
harpyiæ and sirenes, let alone Eumenides .
Most will
recognize
the
following
as
the
opening
scene
in
Terence's
“
The Mother- in -Law ,” which
play sums
up the matter tersely enough :
Philotis . l ' faith , Syra, you
can
find
but very few lovers
who prove
constant to their mistresses
. For instance , how
often did this Pamphilus swear to Bacchis-how solemnly ,
so
that
anyone might
have
believed
him -- that
he
never
would take home a wife so long as she lived. Well now , he
is married .
Syra . Therefore
for that
very reason , I earnestly
both
advise and entreat you
to take pity upon
no one , but
plun
der, fleece , and rend
every
man you lay hold of.
Philotis . What ! Hold
no one exempt ?
Syra. No one ; for not a single one of them , rest assured ,
comes
to you without making up his mind , by means of his
flatteries , to gratify
his passion with you at the least
poss
ible
expense .
Will
you
not , pray , plot against
them
in
return
?
Philotis . And
yet , upon
my
faith , it
is unfair to
be
the
same to all .
Syra. What ! unfair
to take revenge on your
enemies ?
or for them to be caught in the very way they try to catch
you ? Alas ! wretched me ! why do not your age and beauty
belong to me , or else these
sentiments
of mine
to you ? ”
So long as we mentally castrate ourselves , so long
will this world remain a stew-pot of vice ; for it is only
when we have
realized the
ideal of Free
Love , and
have taken the matrix of prostitution
and cut from it
the gem which
underlies
all
its
gross vulgarity
and
sensuality
,
that we shall become
initiates
in
the code
of
the Essential
and ameliorate our lot
.
To this poem
indeed we trust
,
that God will write
a
fitting
end
.
If
at
one
end
of
a
sequence
we find abuse
,
then
at