Proverbs 11:22 [As] a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, [so is] a fair woman which is without discretion.
Ver. 22. As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout.] It is a small praise, saith one, to have a good face and an evil nature. No one means, saith another, hath so enriched hell as beautiful faces. Aureliae Orestillae praeter formam nihil unquam bonus laudavit, saith Sallust. In Aurelia Orestilla there was nothing praiseworthy but her beauty. Are thou fair? saith an author; be not like an Egyptian temple, or a painted sepulchre. Art thou foul? let thy soul be like a rich pearl in a rude shell.
“ Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit:
Ingenio formae damna rependo meae. ” a
So is a fair woman which is without discretion.] Sic dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in lute, saith Salvian. Fair and foolish ones abuse their beauty to pride and incontinence, and so give occasion to some Diogenes to say, O quam bona domus, et malus hospes - O fair house, but ill inhabitant.
a Sapph. ap. Ovid.