Transcript Pisan (Christine de): The Book of the City of Ladies

The Book of the City of Ladies
Christine de Pizan
(c.1364-1430)
Malaspina Great Books
Life
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Born Venice c. 1363
Moved to Paris at age 5 with father Thomas de Pisan
Father was astrologer and secretary to King Charles V
Married at 14 to Etienne du Castel
Widowed at 25
Earned living by writing
Compared (in her day) to Cicero & Cato
Instructional: Wrote Le Livre de Paix, a treatise dealing with the education of princes
(note: de Officiis & The Prince)
Poetry & Music: Le Livre des Mutations de Fortune; Le Chemin de Longue Etude; Le
Livre des cent Histoires de Troie: Hymn to Joan of Arc (last known work); collection of
shorter Ballades and Rondeaux – several set to music later by 3rd parties
Biography: The Book of the Deeds and Good Manners of the Wise King Charles V
Autobiography: Vision of Christine (approx. 75 years after Dante’s Comedy)
Prose: The Book of the City of the Ladies; The Treasure of the City of Ladies;
Lamentations on the Civil War; The Book of Feats of Arms and Chivalry; Livre du
corps de policie
Preface (a letter from Christine)
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The Romance of the Rose (Jean de Meun)
Letter from Royal Secretary Master Gontier Col, Secretary of the King our Lord who
criticized Pizan’s objections to The Romance of the Rose:
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“....Thus you accuse me, a woman, of folly and presumption in daring to correct and
reproach a teacher as exalted, well-qualified, and worthy as you claim the author of
that book to be. Hence, you earnestly exhort me to recant and repent....”
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“And if you despise my reasons so much because of the inadequacy of my faculties,
which you criticize by your words, "a woman impassioned," etc., rest assured that I
do not feel any sting in such criticism, thanks to the comfort I find in the knowledge
that there are, and have been, vast numbers of excellent, praiseworthy women,
schooled in all the virtues---which I would rather resemble than to be enriched with all
the goods of fortune.”
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“But, further, if you seek in every way to minimize my firm beliefs by your anti-feminist
attacks, please recall that a small dagger or knife point can pierce a great, bulging
sack and that a small fly can attack a great lion and speedily put him to flight. ”
Another Letter
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This to Pierre Col – another royal secretary
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“....And since you are angry at me without reason, you attack me harshly
with, "Oh outrageous presumption! Oh excessively foolish pride! Oh opinion
uttered too quickly and thoughtlessly by the mouth of a woman! A woman
who condemns a man of high understanding and dedicated study, a man
who, by great labor and mature deliberation, has made the very noble book
of the Rose, which surpasses all others that were ever written in French.
When you have read this book a hundred times, provided you have
understood the greater part of it, you will discover that you could never have
put your time and intellect to better use!“
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“My answer: Oh man deceived by willful opinion! I could assuredly answer
but I prefer not to do it with insult, although, groundlessly, you yourself
slander me with ugly accusations. Oh darkened understanding! Oh
perverted knowledge.... A simple little housewife sustained by the doctrine
of Holy Church could criticize your error!”
L'Avision-Christine (1405)
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An allegorical dream vision in which Christine learns about the history of
France, its present problems, and the meaning of her own life
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“I was already midway through the journey of my pilgrimage when one day
at eventide, I found myself fatigued by the long road and desirous of shelter.
Since I had arrived here through a desire for sleep, after I said grace and
taken and received the nourishment necessary for human life, I
recommended myself to the author of all things and betook myself to a bed
of troubled rest.”
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“Soon thereafter, my senses bound by the weight of sleep, an amazing
vision overcame me as a strange, prophetic sign. Even though I am hardly
Nebuchadnezzar, Scipio, or Joseph, the secrets of the Almighty are not
denied to the more unsophisticated.”
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“I wish to reveal everything to you.”
L'Avision-Christine (1405)
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A crowned lady, whom Christine's preface has identified as at once the
earth, the human soul and France, appeared and gave Christine a task:
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"Friend, to whom God and Nature have conceded the gift of a love of study
far beyond the common lot of women, prepare parchment, quill, and ink,
and write the words issuing from my breast; for I wish to reveal everything to
you."
...[W]hen I was at the two fonts of Philosophy themselves---those noble
fountains so bright and wholesome---I, like a young and pampered fool, took
not my fill of them, even though the beautiful water pleased me; rather, just
like the simpleton who sees the bright sun shining and considers not the
rain but thinks it will last forever, I neglected those things and thought to
recover my loss in time....
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For with my present desires, if I had such clarity at my side now, being
completely devoted to study and wearied of all other useless occupations
and pastimes, I would replenish myself from those fountains so exceedingly
and thoroughly that no woman born for a long time would surpass me.
L'Avision-Christine (1405)
• Then Nature ordered Christine to write
• She told me, "Take the tools and strike the anvil. The
material I will give you is so durable that neither iron or
fire nor anything else will be able to destroy it. So forge
pleasing things.”
• "When you carried children in your womb, you
experienced great pain in order to give birth. Now I want
books brought forth from you which will present your
memory before the worldly princes in the future and keep
it always and everywhere bright; these you will deliver
from your memory in joy and pleasure notwithstanding
the pain and labor."
Ditié de Jehanne d'Arc
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(1.XXII) Blessed be He who created you, Joan, who were born at a
propitious hour! Maiden sent from God, into whom the Holy Spirit poured
His great grace, in whom there was and is an abundance of noble
gifts, never did Providence refuse you any request. Who can ever begin to
repay you?
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(1.XXVIII) I have heard of Esther, Judith and Deborah, who were women of
great worth, through whom God delivered is people from oppression, and I
have heard of many other worthy women as well, champions every one,
through them He performed many miracles, but He has accomplished more
through this Maid.
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(1.XXXIV) Oh! What honour for the female sex! It is perfectly obvious that
God has special regard for it when all these wretched people who destroyed
the whole Kingdom - now recovered and made safe by a woman, some
thing that 5000 men could not have done - and the traitors [have been]
exterminated. Before the event they would scarcely have believed this
possible.
Ballade
Severe or slight, my heart has felt no wound
From Love’s sharp arrows that they say make war
In many of us folk, I’ve not been bound
God be thanked, by prison or snares, what’s more,
Of the god of Love.
Nothing I ask, nothing I seek to move,
Without him I live in joy and sunlight:
I love no lover: I want no love’s delight.
I’m not afraid either of being enslaved
By a glance or a gift or a long pursuit,
Nor of drowning deep in flattery’s wave,
For my heart there’s no man would suit:
Let none call above
For succour from me, I’d reject his love
Immediately, and tell him outright:
I love no lover: I want no love’s delight.
Ballade (Continued)
I laugh indeed at a woman who’s bound:
In such danger, she’d surely be better
To seize any sword or dagger around
And kill herself, having lost her honour.
And therefore I choose
To pass my days in this state and muse:
Saying to all who would love me quite:
I love no lover, I want no love’s delight.
Lord of Love, what use at your court am I?
I love no lover, I want no love’s delight.
Valentine
Not long ago, in the early morning,
The white sun, bearing his candle-shine,
Into my close chamber came stealing
In secret: the day was Saint Valentine’s.
All the brightness he had brought
Wakened me from the sleep of Care,
In which I’d passed the whole night there,
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
On that day too all the birds came flocking
To share what they had of Love’s treasure,
Aloud in their own sweet Latin calling,
Demanding Nature grant equal measure
All She ordained for them they sought:
A mate that is, as each might select.
Their noise was such none could have slept
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
Valentine (continued)
Then drenching my pillow with my tears,
I lamented my cruel destiny,
Saying: ‘You birds can have never a fear
Of finding the joy and pleasure you seek:
Each one an agreeable mate has caught
While I have none, for Death has betrayed me,
Taken my mate, so I languish grieving,
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
Let them choose a Valentine as they ought
Those men and women of Love’s party,
This year I’m alone, no comfort for me,
On the harsh bed of Wearied Thought.
Grief and Care and Melancholy
Off with you now, away, away,
Grief and Care and Melancholy!
Think you to take control of me
All my life, like yesterday?
I promise you, no, never, I say:
Reason shall have the mastery.
Off with you now, away, away,
Grief and Care and Melancholy!
If you ever come back this way
You and your whole, company,
May God curse you, all you three,
And whatever brought you, I pray:
Off with you now, away, away,
Grief and Care and Melancholy!
OF ALL THE LILIES OF THE
FIELD ...
Of all the lilies of the field
fairest, worthiest of praise,
at my will in all ways,
my choice, unparalleled.
Young, beautiful and mild
of manner: my courteous prize
of all the lilies of the field.
And if I bloom, fulfilled
in his love; if he is
my all, blame me the less
that it was him I chose and held
of all the lilies of the field.
Christine to Her Son
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I have no great fortune, my son,
To make you rich. In place of one
Here are some lessons I have learned-the finest things I've ever earned.
Before the world has borne you far,
Try to know people as they are.
Knowing that will help you take
The path that keeps you from mistake.
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Pity anyone who is poor
And stands in rags outside your door
Help them when you hear them cry!
Remember that you, too will die.
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Love those who have love for you
And keep your enemy in view:
Of allies none can have too many,
Small enemies there are not any.
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Never lose what the good Lord gave
To this, our world too much enslaved:
The foolish rush to end their lives.
Only the steadfast soul survives.
Gilles Binchois: Dueil angoisseux (text by Christine de Pisan)
grievous despair, full of madness,
endless languor and cursed life,
filled with tears, anguish and torment,
doleful heart which lives in darkness,
ghostly body at the brink of death,
I have ceaselessly,continually;
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
Disdain, harshness without joy,
sad thoughts, deep sighs,
Great anguish locked in the weary heart.
Fierce bitterness borne secretly,
mournful expession or without joy,
dread which silences all hope,
are in me and never leave me;
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
Cares and concerns which have continued forever,
bitter waking, shuddering sleep,
pointless labor , with languid expression,
doomed to the torment of grief,
and all the evils which one could ever
tell or think about, without hope of cure,
torment me immeasurably;
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
Envoi:
Princes, pray to God that very soon
he will give me death, if he does not wish
by any other means to cure the suffering in which I so bitterly anguish
and so I can neither be healed nor die.
Seulete sui. . . Alone am I
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Alone am I and alone I wish to be,
Alone my gentle friend has left me,
Alone am I, with neither master nor companion,
Alone am I, in bitterness and in pain,
Alone am I in tormented lamentation,
Alone am I much more than any wandering soul,
Alone am I and without a friend remain.
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Alone am I at door or at the window,
Alone am I when huddled in the corner,
Alone am I and have shed my fill of tears,
Alone am I, whether mourning or consoled,
Alone am I,--and nothing suits me so-Alone am I shut up inside my chamber,
Alone am I and without a friend remain.
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Alone am I in every place and state,
Alone am I, where e'er I go or sit,
Alone am I much more than any earthly thing,
Alone am I, by one and all forsaken,
Alone am I and deeply down am sunk,
Alone am I and so often drowned in tears,
Alone am I and without a friend remain.
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Prince, now is my pain begun.
Alone am I, as every grief afflicts me,
Alone am I, by darkness overtaken,
Alone am I and without a friend remain.
Feminism
• 1. The belief that women and men are, and have been,
treated differently by our society, and that women have
frequently and systematically been unable to participate
fully in all social arenas and institutions.
• 2. A desire to change that situation.
• 3. That this gives a "new" point-of-view on society, when
eliminating old assumptions about why things are the
way they are, and looking at it from the perspective that
women are not inferior and men are not "the norm."
Pizan’s Internalized Inferiority
• “But just the sight of this book, even though it was of no
authority, made me wonder how it happened that so
many different men– and learned men among them–
have been and are so inclined to express both in
speaking and in their treatises and writings so many
devilish and wicked thoughts about women and their
behavior” (Pizan on Matholeus)
Pizan’s Depression
• And I finally decided that God formed a vile creature when He made
woman, and I wondered how such a worthy artisan could have
deigned to make such and abominable work…
• great unhappiness welled up in my heart, for I detested myself and
the entire feminine sex, as though we were monstrosities in nature.
• I considered myself most unfortunate because God had made me
inhabit a female body in this world.
• “Women have been defined out and marginalized in every
philosophical system and have therefore had to struggle not only
against exclusion, but against a content which defines them as
subhuman and deviant” (Gerda Lerner)
Pizan’s Strategy
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Christine acknowledges a pressing need for female dialectic,
communication, information flow, and support between women.
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However, she understands there is a missing feminist consciousness – a
lack of female “voice.“ Without knowledge of the past, no group of women
could test their own ideas against equals, those who had come out of
similar conditions and life experiences. Every thinking woman had to argue
with the 'great man' inside her head”
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The actual plot of The Book of the City of Ladies begins when three
allegorical goddesses arrive and tell Christine that she must build a city for
honorable women of all types. Reason, Rectitude and Justice tell Christine:
“We have come to vanquish from the world the same problem upon which
you have fallen, so that from now on, ladies and valiant women may have a
refuge and a defense against the various assailants”.
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This allegoric need for a space where women can come together points to
the key element of feminist history: the formation of group subjectivity and
shared consciousness between women of all sorts.
Pizan’s Solutions
• Clearing the Field of Letters
• Building Walls
• Revisionism
Clearing the Field of Letters
• Pizan moves away from scholarly “fact” and toward her own
personal experience (the personal as “political”). In addressing the
Romance of the Rose and other texts like it that speak poorly of
women, Christine’s first response is to debunk their writing on the
basis of common-sense logic. “I could not see or realize how their
claims could be true when compared to the natural behavior and
character of women”. This argument is the first step in her allegorical
process of clearing out the field of letters for the foundation of her
city: with a literary shovel, Lady Reason helps her debunk this and
other miscomprehensions of misogyny.
• The stance that “personal” experience is a valid match for “scholarly
evidence” becomes a platform for new histories based in the
experiences of groups outside the norm.
Building Walls
• Pizan then appropriates the medieval tradition of
exemples: lists of biblical, mythical and historic
precedents, to help her argument.
• These serve the dual purpose of defending the sex
against anti-feminist rhetoric and of giving women
readers an impressive, expansive sense of the many
historic role models that are available to them.
• Christine de Pizan offers the idea that women should
look to other women for their defense, and that a
collective past of women could be a source of energy in
their collective struggle for justice.
Revisionism
• Finally, Pizan rewrites history in a revisionist
spirit. She reorders these women, excludes all
“evil” women, and reinterprets stories of women
with bad reputations. (example of Medea where
she shifts blame to Jason).
• Pizan’s goal is to “restore women to history,
restore history to women”. The foundation that
Christine builds for her City of Ladies is to
develop an historic base upon which a tradition
of feminist thinking, strategizing, and
historicizing can begin.
Pizan’s Choices
• Analyze examples under rubric of Clearing
the Field of Letters, building of walls and of
revisionism
Queen Fredegunde (c.545–597 )
• Frankish queen. The mistress of King Chilperic I of
Neustria, she became his wife after inducing him to
murder his wife Galswintha (567). Fredegunde and
Brunhilda, Galswintha's sister and wife of King Sigebert I
of Austrasia, were among the leading figures in the long
war (561–613) between the Frankish kingdoms of
Neustria and Austrasia. Fredegunde procured the deaths
of Sigebert I and of her own stepchildren. After
Chilperic's murder (584) she acted as regent for her son
Clotaire II. Clotaire had Brunhilda put to the rack and
stretched for three days, then chained between four
horses and eventually ripped limb from limb.
Pizan’s Account
“… Although the lady was unnaturally
cruel for a woman, she nonetheless ruled
over the kingdom of France most wisely
after her husband’s death…[she]
managed to save her son from his
enemies. She even brought him up
herself and crowned him with her own
hands. All this would have been
impossible had she been lacking in
prudence … (p. 31)”
Semiramis Semi-legendary
Assyrian Queen (9th c. BCE)
• King Ninus of Babylon became captivated by her beauty, and after
her first husband conveniently committed suicide, he married her.
• Semiramis, now Queen of Babylon, convinced Ninus to make her
"Regent for a Day." He did so - and on that day, she had him
executed, and she took the throne.
• She is said to have had a long string of one-night-stands with
handsome soldiers. So that her power would not be threatened by a
man who presumed on their relationship, she had each lover killed
after a night of passion.
• There's even one story that her army attacked and killed the sun
itself (in the person of the god Er), for the crime of not returning her
love. Echoing a similar myth about the goddess Ishtar, she implored
the other gods to restore the sun to life.
• Rossini's opera, Semiramide, premiered in 1823.
When Semiramis was quite young it
so happened that her husband Ninus
was killed by an arrow…Semiramis
confronted any type of danger with
such courage that she crushed all her
enemies … it is true that some
authors have criticized Semiramis …
for having married her own son …
[but] no other man was worthy of her
… if she had thought she was doing
anything wrong … she would have
refrained from doing as she did. (p.
37)
Amazons (legendary?)
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The historical factuality of Amazons as a people is still in debate. These
warrior women are described in the Iliad as "antianeirai", meaning: those
who go to war like men.
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They were also described by Herodotus as "androktones", killers of males.
It is believed they resided in Pontus, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) but
there are differing views as to how many nations of Amazons there were.
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Amazons worshiped Artemis the virgin goddess of the hunt, and Ares the
god of war. They also took men prisoner in battle, after choosing the most
handsome they then used them for their sexual pleasure, and would either
kill them or use them as slaves once their usefulness had been expended.
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If they gave birth to a male, they would kill, blind or cripple the infant. If they
kept them alive they would then use them when they grew into young men
(if they were suitable) as a supply of male seed.
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In medieval times, their kingdom was called 'Femyny'.
Battle of the Amazons - Rubens
Pizan’s Account
• If they gave birth to a male child, they
would send them away to be with their
fathers …
Queen Penthesilea
• Penthesilea was the queen of the Amazons and the daughter of
Ares and Otrere.
• Penthesilea accidentally killed an ally Amazon queen (Hippolyte,
Melanippe, or Glauce). To be purified of her crime, Penthesilea went
to Priam.
• Apparently in return for Priam's help, Penthesilea, with her
Amazons, entered the Trojan War on the side of the Trojans. She
entered the war in its 10th and final year, after the death of Hector.
• Achilles defeated Penthesilea, but when he saw her beauty, he fell
in love with the brave Amazon and quickly lamented his act.
• Thersites, a Greek, mocked Achilles and removed Penthesilea's
eyes with his sword. With a single blow, Achilles killed Thersites.
• Some traditions state that Achilles committed necrophilia with the
fallen Penthesilea, and one author even goes so far as to say that
the dead Penthesilea bore a son, Caystrius, to Achilles.
Pizan’s Account
• The Queen, distraught over the death of
the Trojan Hector (killed by Achilles),
seeks out and severely wounds Achilles’
son Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus later returns and
after other Greeks tear off her helmet,
Pyrrhus splits her skull in two with an axe.
Zenobia, Queen of Palmyria
(c. 231--271)
• Many modern historians believe she was descended
from Cleopatra VII of Egypt.
• In 269, she crushed an Egyptian who challenged Roman
rule and proclaimed herself Queen of Egypt.
• Zenobia was captured and paraded wearing gold chains
by the Roman emperor Aurelian. She was granted a villa
in Tivoli, Italy, where she spent the rest of her life as a
philosopher and socialite.
• It is probable that she treated the Jews in Palmyra with
favour; she is referred to in the Talmud, as protecting
Jewish rabbis.
Pizan’s Account
The noble Zenobia had an extremely
beautiful face and body but she paid no
attention to her looks … she consented
to intercourse solely for the purpose of
having children … She ate off plates
decorated with gold and precious stones
and dressed in luxurious robes … her
greatest accomplishment was her
knowledge of the arts … she was well
schooled … Her chosen teacher was
Longinus the philosopher … she wrote a
very elegant abridged history of
contemporary events in Latin and Greek
… she wanted her children to have an
education similar to her own …
Queen Artemesia
• (Herodotos) “I consider her to be a particular object of admiration
because she was a woman who played a part in the war against
Greece. She took power on the death of her husband, as she had a
son who was still a youth. Because of her courage and spirit she
went to war although she had no need to do so.”
• “For, according to the story, the king was watching and saw that it
was her ship that made the attack. What is more, one of the people
with him said, " Master, do you see how well Artemisia is fighting?
She has sunk an enemy ship." When the king asked whether it was
really Artemisia who had done so, they confirmed it was because
they recognised her vessel's flag clearly and assumed that she had
sunk an enemy ship. As far as the rest of the story goes, the incident
turned out to her advantage because no one from the Calyndian
ship survived to bring a charge against her. Xerxes is said to have
replied to the news, "My men have become women and my women,
men." This, they say, was the king's response. ”
Artemisia - Rembrandt
Pizan’s Account
• In short, she fought so well that she
crushed Xerxes as thoroughly on sea as
she had done on land. The dishonourable
king then took to his heels and fled … (p.
53)
Cloelia
• Modern historians debate whether the story of Cloelia is
a genuine historical record or a myth, although the truth
of the account was widely upheld by the Romans
themselves. According to Roman tradition, Cloelia was
one of the young Roman girls given as hostages to Lars
Porsenna, king of the Etruscan town of Chiusi. Cloelia,
however, escaped her captors, swimming across the
river Tiber. She also led many of the other Roman girls to
safety. Porsenna was furious when he learned of the
escape, but he eventually came to admire Cloelia's
courage. He granted her a promise of safety, should she
return to his camp, and even swore to return her to her
parents when his troops had left Roman territory. In later
times of peace, Rome celebrated her courage by
building a statue of her on the Via Sacra.
Manto
• The daughter of Tiresias of Thebes. After Thebes was
taken by the Epigonoi, Manto was brought back to Apollo
at Delphi as war prize. Apollo ordered the girl to found a
oracle of him in Colophon (Asia Minor). There, she
became the mother of the seer Mopsus. According to
another tradition, she ended up in Italy where she
became by Tiberinus the mother of Ocnus, the founder
of Mantua (Mantova) (Virgil X, 199). Other sources
mention that the city was named after a different Manto,
who was regarded as the daughter of Heracles. Mantua
is also connected to Mantus, god of the underworld.
Pizan: “Being gifted and intelligent she acquired a complete
knowledge of pyromancy, the art of diving the future from fire.
Medea
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Medea was a devotee of the goddess Hecate, and one of the great
sorceresses of the ancient world. She was the daughter of King Aeetes of
Colchis, and the granddaughter of Helios, the sun god.
•
King Aeetes' most valuable possession was a golden ram's fleece. When
Jason and the crew of the Argo arrived at Colchis seeking the Golden
Fleece, Aeetes was unwilling to relinquish it and set Jason a series of
seemingly impossible tasks as the price of obtaining it. Medea fell in love
with Jason and agreed to use her magic to help him, in return for Jason's
promise to marry her.
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Medea bore Jason two children before Jason forsook her in order to marry
the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Medea got revenge for Jason's
desertion by killing the new bride with a poisoned robe and crown which
burned the flesh from her body; King Creon died as well when he tried to
embrace his dying daughter. Medea fled Corinth in a chariot, drawn by
winged dragons, which belonged to her grandfather Helios. She took with
her the bodies of her two children, whom she had murdered in order to give
Jason further pain.
Pizan’s Account
Avoids the nasty bits …
Medea – Christopher Cairns
Ceres
… she was responsible for
inventing both the science and the
techniques of agriculture as well as
all the necessary tools …
Isis
… she showed the people many different
things, including how to create gardens,
grow plants and graft cuttings of one
species onto another. She also set up a
number of fine and decent laws …
Arachne
Arachne was the first person
to create the arts of dyeing
wool in different colours and
of producing what we would
call fine tapestries from
weaving pictures on cloth to
make them look like
paintings. There was even a
fable about Arachne which
tells how she was turned into
a spider by the goddess
Pallas whom she had dared
to challenge.
Pamphile
This lady was highly skilled in various
arts and took such delight in
experimenting and discovering new
things that it was she who first
invented the art of creating silk.
Sempronia of Rome
Her phenomenal intelligence meant
that there was no discipline, no
matter how difficult it was either
intellectually or practically, that she
couldn’t immediately pick up and
master …
Queen Dido
… good sense …
Cassandra
… she was often beaten by
her brothers and her father
who told her she was mad …
Xanthippe – wife of
Socrates
The honourable lady
Xanthippe was a very wise
and virtuous woman who
married the great philosopher
Socrates … the good lady
never stopped loving him …
never stopped grieving for
him …
Sulpicia
… she preferred to follow her husband into penury and banishment
Portia – Cato’s
daughter
… she went over to the
fire and swallowed some
live coals …
Judith
In the city lived a noble and
valiant lady named Judith, who
was a young and lovely woman
of exemplary virtue and chastity
Esther
The wise and noble Queen Esther
Veturia
… pleaded with her son to cease his siege on Rome … she
alone was able to do what Rome’s most prominent citizens
were unable to achieve.
Rebecca
“The good and honest lady Rebecca…”
Ruth
…this worthy lady was so decent
and virtuous that a whole book of
the Bible was written about her…
Ruth – David Buckhart
Penelope – Jacobo Bassano
Thisbe – John Waterhouse
Hero & Leander JMW Turner
Ghismonda - Bacchiacca
Afra