This paper presents a reading on the chapter "Upon some verses of Virgil". Its first part compares love and friendship and questions the thesis that for Montaigne the latter is superior to the former. The second part consists of an interpretation of the chapter guided by the notions of "rule", "law", "norm" and their correlates, and identifies, taking into account the different perspectives in which Montaigne develops the matter, three different kinds of rules - those of men, those of love and those of the Essays' author himself. It intends to show that, although "Upon some verses of Virgil" is a chapter that speaks much about women, it is mainly a reflexion about men and the masculine condition.
law; rule; love; sex; women