Ariosto's Orlando Furioso

CANTO V 
1 
No creatures on the earth, no matter whether 
Of peaceful disposition, mild and kind, 
Or fierce and merciless as wintry weather, 
Are hostile to the females of their kind. 
The she-bear and her mate in sport together, 
The lion and the lioness, we find; 
The she-wolf and the wolf at peace appear; 
The heifer from the bull has naught to fear. 

2 
What dreadful plague, what fury of despair 
In our tormented bosoms now holds sway, 
That wives and husbands constantly we hear 
Wounding each other with the things they say? 
With scratching, bruising, tearing out of hair, 
Assault and battery, in bitter fray 
They drench with scalding tears the marriage-bed, 
And not tears only; sometimes blood is shed.

Ariosto, Ludovico (2006-11-30). Orlando Furioso: Part One: Pt. 1 (Classics) (p. 197). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. 

This is one of my project books, considering its length and such.  While the tale is about chivalry and knights and all that sort of fun stuff, the lines here about men attacking their women, and how that only seems to happen with mankind, I thought interesting.  Perhaps he hadn't really a great knowledge of the wild kingdom, or perhaps he just felt it unnecessary for his poem, but he doesn't make mention of the species (especially arachnid) where the female make a meal of the male after copulation.