aristophanes

Was on Fark.com and saw a headline about how only 1 in 7 women is a virgin on her wedding night (frankly I'm surprised the numbers are that high. Shit, these days it seems most women have almost 7 husbands in a lifetime and clearly they can't be virgins for all of them, that alone would skew the results.)

Anyway, it caused me to recall a poem from Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack" that goes as follows:

When Robin now three days had married been,
And all his friends and neighbors gave him joy,
This question to his wife he asked then --
Why till her marriage day she prov'd so coy?
"Indeed," said he, "'twas well thou didst not yield,
For doubtless then my purpose was to leave thee."
"O sir, I once before was so beguil'd,
And was resolved the next should not deceive me."

However, when I went looking for it, I came across this version from about 100 years earlier than Franklin's:

When Caecus had been wedded now three days,
And all his neighbors bade God give him joy,
This strange conclusion with his wife assays --
Why till her marriage day she prov'd so coy?
"'Fore God," saith he, "'twas well thou didst not yield,
For doubtless then my purpose was to leave thee."
"O sir," quoth she, "I once was so beguil'd,
And thought the next man should not so deceive me."
"Now fie upon't," quoth he, "thou breed'st my woe!"
"Why man?" quoth she, "I speak but quid pro quo."

I'd wondered if Franklin was the actual author, and perhaps he was of the modified form, but it seems to have been a well-known poem of the day.