We learn from Du
Verdier that the continuator of the Romance of the Rose narrowly escaped
most condign chastisement from some of the insulted sex at the French
Court for the base insinuations in his poem against the character of
women. Christine herself heartily disapproved of the Romance of the
Rose, and wrote a sharp criticism upon it. Her "Cit? des Dames" is an
elaborate confutation of the opinion that women are naturally more
immoral and less capable of noble studies or high intellectual
attainments than men. In her introduction she says: "I reflected why men
are so unanimous in attributing wickedness to women. I examined my own
life and those of other women to learn why we should be worse than men,
since we also were created by God. I was sitting ashamed with bowed head
and eyes blinded with tears, resting my chin on my hands in my
elbow-chair, when a dazzling beam of Light flashed before me, which came
not from the sun, for it was late in the evening. I glanced up and saw
standing before me three female figures wearing crowns of gold, and with
radiant countenances. I crossed myself, whereupon one of the three
addressed me. 'Fear not, dear daughter, for we will counsel and help
thee. The aphorisms of the Philosophers are not Articles of Faith, but
simply the mists of error and self-deception.
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