The Star in the West

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