Explanations:
Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air,Weighs the men's with against the lady's hair;The doubtful beam long nods from side to side;At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside.
Answer: These conspicuous lines have been extracted from the famous mock-epic “The Rape of the Lock” which is composed by Alexander Pope who is called the representative poet of eighteenth-century English Literature. They are selected from the fifth canto of the poem. Here Pope is mocking the epic convention and at the same time man.
The fighting between Belinda and the Baron has been going on for some time. But the stage has come when the issue must be finally decided. Accordingly, Jove or Jupiter who is the chief god suspends his golden scales in heaven in order to determine which of the two sides should be made to win. He puts the wits of men on one side of the scale and the hair of women on the other side. The scales waver for some time indecisively. Even Jove's scale is unable to decide promptly. Ultimately, however, the hairs of ladies prove to be heavier than the wits of men. Accordingly, Jove reaches the conclusion that the ladies should win the battle against the men. The ladies turn out to be the victor.
These lines are an imitation of a similar passage in Homer's “The Iliad”. In the epic, “The Iliad” Jove uses his golden scales to decide whether Achilles or Hector should win. Pope has mimicked this episode in the epic to good effect. The fact that the hairs of the women folk prove to be heavier than the men's wit is a sharp commentary on the hollowness of men in Pope's age. The mock-epic element of “The Rape of the Lock” is obvious in these lines.
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