 It is incestuous because the Pope is the father of all and it is also implied that the city in that way rejects her true husband, the Emperor.In the poem "Venus and Adonis", written by William Shakespeare in 1593 Venus refers to Adonis' mother.In the 34th stanza Venus is lamenting because Adonis is ignoring her approaches and in her heart-ache she says "O, had thy mother borne so hard a mind, She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind."