To take a wyf it is a glorious thyng,
And namely whan a man is oold and hoor;
Thanne is a wyf the fruyt of his tresor.
Thanne sholde he take a yong wyf and a feir,
On which he myghte engendren hym an heir,
And lede his lyf in joye and in solas,
Where as thise bacheleris synge "allas,"
Whan that they fynden any adversitee
In love, which nys but childyssh vanytee.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant’s Tale. This passage is part of a long bitterly ironic speech at the beginning of the tale eulogizing marriage. The unhappily wed Merchant in his mock eulogy describes it as a glorious thing to take a wife. He recommends that especially when a man is old like January he should marry a young wife to produce an heir for himself and lead a life of joy and pleasure. The woman is essentially a sexual device and supplier of heirs. But that kind of thinking sounds flawed and the marriage of an old man and a young wife does not in itself seem an ideal situation. Look what happens to old January.