Book of Emblems

Sirens.

Who would believe that there are any creatures—
Wingless, yet birds; legless, yet maidens;
Beakless, yet fish, who nonetheless sing with their mouths?
Nature denied that these could be joined,
But the Sirens teach that it could happen.
A woman is a lure, who ends in a black fish,
Because lust carries many monsters with it.
By their appearance, their words, and the brilliance of their minds,
Parthenope, Ligia, and Leucosia draw men in.
The Muses pluck their feathers, and Ulysses mocks them;
Clearly, for the learned, there is nothing in a harlot.