COMUS
35
That I encline to hope rather then fear,
And gladly banish squint suspicion.
My sister is not so defenceless left
As you imagine; she has a hidden strength
Which you remember not.
And gladly banish squint suspicion.
My sister is not so defenceless left
As you imagine; she has a hidden strength
Which you remember not.
Second Brother
What hidden strength,
Unless the strength of Heav’n, if you mean that ?
Unless the strength of Heav’n, if you mean that ?
Elder Brother
I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength
Which, if Heav’n gave it, may be term’d her own:
’Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:
She that has that is clad in compleat steel,
And, like a quiver’d Nymph with Arrows keen,
May trace huge Forests, and unharbour’d Heaths,
Infamous Hills, and sandy perilous wildes;
Where, through the sacred rayes of Chastity,
No savage fierce, Bandite, or mountaineer
Will dare to soyl her Virgin purity;
Yea, there where very desolation dwels,
By grots and caverns shag’d with horrid shades,
She may pass on with unblench’t majesty,
Be it not don in pride, or in presumption.
Which, if Heav’n gave it, may be term’d her own:
’Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:
She that has that is clad in compleat steel,
And, like a quiver’d Nymph with Arrows keen,
May trace huge Forests, and unharbour’d Heaths,
Infamous Hills, and sandy perilous wildes;
Where, through the sacred rayes of Chastity,
No savage fierce, Bandite, or mountaineer
Will dare to soyl her Virgin purity;
Yea, there where very desolation dwels,
By grots and caverns shag’d with horrid shades,
She may pass on with unblench’t majesty,
Be it not don in pride, or in presumption.
