IMPOTENTIS VINDICTAE
FOEMINA.

WOMEN ARE UNABLE TO CONTROL THE DESIRE FOR REVENGE

Dilaniat Tigris rabiosam Hyrcana[1] seipsam.
Et lacerat carnis propria membra suae.
In quemvis alium quoties saevire negatum est.
Impatiens irae tanta furit rabies.
Sic medaea suos, Progne sic impia natos
Occidêre: quia non potuere patres.
Illa duos pueros, ingulavit ad ora parentis:
Haec in dira patris prandia coxit Ithin [=Itys] .
O sexus cupiens vindictae, at viribus impos,
Hyrcana mulier Tigride saeva magis!

The rabid Hyrcanian tigress tears herself to pieces, and rends the members of her own flesh. No other target presents itself, and her rage, unable to control its anger, is so powerful in its madness. So Medea, so evil Procne killed their children because they could not kill their fathers. The one slit her two sons’ throats in their father’s face; the other cooked Itys into a monstrous lunch for his father. O female sex, desiring revenge on your husbands but unable to carry it off; o woman, more fearful than a tigress of Hyrcania!