May he be quite undone, he well deserves it, Who dares to marry any second wife; A man who marries once may be excused; Not knowing what misfortune he was seeking. But he who, once escaped, then tries another, With his eyes open seeks for misery. And Antiphanes, in his Philopator, says— _A._ He's married now. _B._ How say you? do you mean He's really gone and married—when I left him, Alive and well, possess'd of all his senses? And Menander, in his Woman carrying the Sacred Vessel of Minerva, or the Female Flute-player, says— _A._ You will not marry if you're in your senses When you have left this life. For I myself Did marry; so I recommend you not to. _B._ The matter is decided—the die is cast. _A._ Go on then. I do wish you then well over it; But you are taking arms, with no good reason, Against a sea of troubles. In the waves Of the deep Libyan or Ægean sea Scarce three of thirty ships are lost or wreck'd; But scarcely one poor husband 'scapes at all. And in his Woman Burnt he says— Oh, may the man be totally undone Who was the first to venture on a wife; And then the next who follow'd his example; And then the third, and fourth, and all who follow'd. And Carcinus the tragedian, in his Semele (which begins, "O nights"), says— O Jupiter, why need one waste one's words In speaking ill of women? for what worse Can he add, when he once has call'd them women? 9. But, above all other cases, those who when advanced in years marry young wives, do not perceive that they are running voluntarily into danger, which every one else foresees plainly: and that, too, though the Megarian poet[15] has given them this warning:— A young wife suits not with an aged husband; For she will not obey the pilot's helm Like a well-managed boat; nor can the anchor Hold her securely in her port, but oft She breaks her chains and cables in the night, And headlong drives into another harbour. And Theophilus, in his Neoptolemus, says— A young wife does not suit an old man well; For, like a crazy boat, she not at all Answers the helm, but slips her cable off By night, and in some other port is found.