It gave the virtue of chaste love
And wifehood true to all that it did bear;
But whosoever contrary doth prove,
Might not the same about her middle wear,
But it would loose, or else asunder tear.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, iii. 7 (1590).
Girdle (Venus’s), a girdle on which was embroidered the passions, desires, joys, and pains of love. It was usually called a cestus, which means “embroidered,” and was worn lower down than the cin´gulum or matron’s girdle, but higher up than the zone or maiden’s girdle. It was said to possess the magical power of exciting love. Homer describes it thus:
In this was every art, and every charm,
To win the wisest, and the coldest warm;
Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire,