Hence it is, that the wife of such a
man has no bosom delights such as we have, but only pleasures, which, on
the part of the man, ought to be called the pleasures of insanity,
because they are the pleasures of illicit love. Every chaste wife loves
her husband, even if he be unchaste; but since wisdom is alone recipient
of that love, therefore she exerts all her endeavours to turn his
insanity into wisdom, that is, to prevent his lusting after other women
besides herself. This she does by a thousand methods, being particularly
cautious lest any of them should be discovered by the man; for she is
well aware that love cannot be forced, but that it is insinuated in
freedom; wherefore it is given to women to know from the sight, the
hearing, and the touch, every state of the mind of their husbands; but
on the other hand it is not given to the men to know any state of the
mind of their wives. A chaste wife can look at her husband with an
austere countenance, accost him with a harsh voice, and also be angry
and quarrel, and yet in her heart cherish a soft and tender love towards
him; but such anger and dissimulation have for their end wisdom, and
thereby the reception of love with the husband: as is manifest from the
consideration, that she can be reconciled in an instant.
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