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The Worlds of the Renaissance Projects, 2000

Women in the Renaissance Lab

(19)Document 17 Moderata Fonte (Modesta Pozzo), The Worth of Women. ed. and tran s. by Virginia Cox (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997)

Moderata Fonte was an upper class Venetian woman. She wrote The Worth of Women in 1592.

"So you're saying that all men's hard labor," said Lucretia, "and all the endless exertions they undergo for us deserve so little gratitude from us that all they merit is the contempt you're expressing! And yet you know full well that men were created before us and that we stand in need of their help: you yourself confess it "

"Men were created before women," Corinna replied "But that doesn't prove their superiority-rather, it proves ours, for they were born out of the lifeless earth in order that we could then be born out of living flesh. And what's so important about this priority in creation, anyway? When we are building, we lay foundations on the ground first, things of no intrinsic merit or beauty, before subsequently raising up sumptuous buildings and ornate palaces Lowly seeds arc nourished in the earth, and then later the ravishing blooms appear, lovely roses blossom forth and scented narcissi And besides, as everyone knows, the first man, Adam, was created in the Damascene fields, while God chose to create woman within the Earthly Paradise, as a tribute to her greater nobility In short, we were created as men's helpmates, their companions, their joy, and their crowning glory, but men, though they know full well hew much women are worth and how great the benefits we bring them, nonetheless seek to destroy us out of envy for our merits It's just like the crow, when it produces white nestlings it is so stricken by envy, knowing how black it is itself, that it kills its own offspring out of pique."

"Not content to charge men with pride, you must label them envious as well," said Helena "And you full well know that envy reigns only in inferiors, so you arc trying to imply that men are inferior Bill. since it is envy that poisons the tongue of slanderers, if we speak ill of men, we shall be taken to be envious of them and, by implication, their inferiors. "

"We are not speaking Ill of them out of envy," Leonora said, "but cut of respect for the truth For if a man steals (to take an example), he must he called a thief If men usurp our rights. should we not complain and declare that they have wronged us? For if we are their inferiors in status, but not in worth, thus is an abuse that has been introduced into the world and that men have then, over time, gradually translated into law and custom, and it has become so entrenched that they claim (and even actually believe) that the status they have gained through their bullying is theirs by right And we women, who, among our other good qualities, are eminently mild, peaceable, and benign by nature, arc prepared to put up even with an offense of thus magnitude for the sake of a peaceful life And we would suffer it still more willingly of they would just he reasonable and allow things to he equal and there to be some parity, if they dud not insist on exerting such absolute control over us and in such an arrogant manner, treating us like slaves who cannot take a step without asking their permission or say a word without their jumping down our throats Does thus seem a matter of such little interest to us that we should be quiet and let things pass in silence?"

"But perhaps they do all this through ignorance," Virginia said, and not because they wish us any ill "

"Now you really sound like the naive little creature you are," Cornelia replied "Ignorance does not excuse a sin and, besides, their ignorance is a willful vice and they are all too aware of the evil they arc doing In fact they accuse us of ignorance and senselessness and uselessness. And they are right about one thing we are indeed senseless to suffer so many cruel deeds from them and not to flee their constant, tacit persecution of us and their hatred of us as we would a raging fire But we should not think that they behave like thus only toward our sex, for even among themselves they deceive one another, rob one another, destroy one another, and try to do each other down. Just think of all the assassinations, usurpations, perjuries, the blasphemy, gaming, gluttony, and other such vicious deeds they commit all the time! Not to mention the murders, assaults, and thefts, and other dissolute acts, all proceeding from men! And if they have so few Scruples about committing these kind of excesses, think of what they arc like where more minor vices arc concerned just give a thought to their ingratitude, faithlessness, falsity, cruelty, arrogance, lust, and dishonesty!"

(19)Document 17	Moderata Fonte (Modesta Pozzo), The Worth of Women. ed. and tran s. by Virginia Cox (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997)
	Moderata Fonte was an upper class Venetian woman. She wrote The Worth of Women in 1592.
"So you're saying that all men's hard labor," said Lucretia, "and all the endless exertions they undergo for us deserve so little gratitude from us that all they merit is the contempt you're expressing! And yet you know full well that men were created before us and that we stand in need of their help: you yourself confess it "
"Men were created before women," Corinna replied "But that doesn't prove their superiority-rather, it proves ours, for they were born out of the lifeless earth in order that we could then be born out of living flesh. And what's so important about this priority in creation, anyway? When we are building, we lay foundations on the ground first, things of no intrinsic merit or beauty, before subsequently raising up sumptuous buildings and ornate palaces Lowly seeds arc nourished in the earth, and then later the ravishing blooms appear, lovely roses blossom forth and scented narcissi And besides, as everyone knows, the first man, Adam, was created in the Damascene fields, while God chose to create woman within the Earthly Paradise, as a tribute to her greater nobility In short, we were created as men's helpmates, their companions, their joy, and their crowning glory, but men, though they know full well hew much women are worth and how great the benefits we bring them, nonetheless seek to destroy us out of envy for our merits It's just like the crow, when it produces white nestlings it is so stricken by envy, knowing how black it is itself, that it kills its own offspring out of pique."
"Not content to charge men with pride, you must label them envious as well," said Helena "And you full well know that envy reigns only in inferiors, so you arc trying to imply that men are inferior Bill. since it is envy that poisons the tongue of slanderers, if we speak ill of men, we shall be taken to be envious of them and, by implication, their inferiors. "
"We are not speaking Ill of them out of envy," Leonora said, "but cut of respect for the truth For if a man steals (to take an example), he must he called a thief If men usurp our rights. should we not complain and declare that they have wronged us? For if we are their inferiors in status, but not in worth, thus is an abuse that has been introduced into the world and that men have then, over time, gradually translated into law and custom, and it has become so entrenched that they claim (and even actually believe) that the status they have gained through their bullying is theirs by right And we women, who, among our other good qualities, are eminently mild, peaceable, and benign by nature, arc prepared to put up even with an offense of thus magnitude for the sake of a peaceful life And we would suffer it still more willingly of they would just he reasonable and allow things to he equal and there to be some parity, if they dud not insist on exerting such absolute control over us and in such an arrogant manner, treating us like slaves who cannot take a step without asking their permission or say a word without their jumping down our throats Does thus seem a matter of such little interest to us that we should be quiet and let things pass in silence?"
"But perhaps they do all this through ignorance," Virginia said, and not because they wish us any ill "
"Now you really sound like the naive little creature you are," Cornelia replied "Ignorance does not excuse a sin and, besides, their ignorance is a willful vice and they are all too aware of the evil they arc doing In fact they accuse us of ignorance and senselessness and uselessness. And they are right about one thing we are indeed senseless to suffer so many cruel deeds from them and not to flee their constant, tacit persecution of us and their hatred of us as we would a raging fire But we should not think that they behave like thus only toward our sex, for even among themselves they deceive one another, rob one another, destroy one another, and try to do each other down. Just think of all the assassinations, usurpations, perjuries, the blasphemy, gaming, gluttony, and other such vicious deeds they commit all the time! Not to mention the murders, assaults, and thefts, and other dissolute acts, all proceeding from men! And if they have so few Scruples about committing these kind of excesses, think of what they arc like where more minor vices arc concerned just give a thought to their ingratitude, faithlessness, falsity, cruelty, arrogance, lust, and dishonesty!"