By Preeve which that is Demonstratif (7)
The Wife continues her series of scholastic quaestiones when she asks,
Where can ye seye, in any maner age,
That hye God deended mariage
By expres word? I pray yow, telleth me.
Or wher commanded he virginite? (59-62)
Or again:
Why sholde men elles in hir bookes sette
Than man shal yelde to his wyf hire dette?
Now wherwith shold he make his paiement,
If he he used his sely instrument? (129-132)
The notion of sex as payment of a debt goes back ultimately to St Paul, I
Cor 7:3, but it is also used by medieval theologians. It is Aquinas'
favourite euphemism for sex. He writes a section of the Summa (Supplementum,
Q. 64) "De debiti redditione", On the payment of the Debt. He asks,
"Whether the man and women are equals in the matrimonial act?" (Supp. Q.
64, art. 3). Dismissing male chauvinist claims to the effect that it is
better to have than to be had, Aquinas maintains on biblical grounds that
men and women are equal partners in the sexual act. Had the Wife read
Aquinas, she would no doubt have commented,
"That gentil text kan I wel understonde."
Oriens.
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