On woman falls that heritage of woe,
And e’en the virgin feels its dastard blow,—
For, long ere fit to wield maternal cares,
Abnormal fruits of birth her guiltless body bears.
XXIV.
Misread by man, this sign of his misdeed
Was held as symptom of her nubile need,
And on through history’s length her tender age
Has still been victim to his adult rage;
He, by his text, with irony serene,