pEve tempting Adam with the apple, Delilah shearing Samson's hair, Phyllis riding the philosopher Aristotle like a horse--from the patristic period through the sixteenth century, examples of disorderly women such as these from the Bible, antiquity, and romance were cited to prove beyond any doubt that women exercise a power that no man, however superior his moral and physical qualities, can resist. An example of Latin itopicai, ilocii, or iloci communesi central to ancient rhetoric and medieval literature, the Power of Women topos illustrated how a woman could dominate, humiliate, and even destroy the man who loved her too well. Two or more infamous female figures were brought together to exemplify a cluster of interrelated themes the wiles of women, the power of love, and the trials of marriage. pSusan L. Smith's comprehensive study of the Power of Women itoposi in written texts and in art emphasizes the critical phase of its development from the late twelfth to the end of the fourtee