Be she as foul as was Florentius’ love, 70 As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd 71 As Socrates’ Xanthippe,
PETRUCHIO . . .
Be she as foul as was Florentius’ love, 70
As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd 71
As Socrates’ Xanthippe, . . .
Footnotes
70. foul: ugly; Florentius’ love: Florentius, in John Gower’s fourteenth-century Confessio Amantis, agrees to marry an old hag, who is later transformed into a young beauty.
71. Sibyl: the Sibyl of Cumae, who had been granted as many years of life as there are grains in a handful of sand (See picture.) curst and shrewd: bad-tempered
72. Socrates’ Xanthippe: The wife of Socrates is usually represented as a shrew.
