"Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, content to dwell in decencies for ever"

Alexander Pope crafts a sharp observation about the human tendency to avoid striving for true virtue, finding it too arduous or demanding. The subject of his line is not outright vicious but rather someone for whom moral excellence, virtue, requires more sustained effort and personal transformation than she is willing to invest. The pursuit of virtue, in Pope's estimation, is no easy thing; it requires commitment, sacrifice, and often self-discipline that goes beyond the surface level.

Instead, she is satisfied to "dwell in decencies for ever", a phrase suggesting a comfortable stasis in outwardly proper behaviors and social conventions. "Decencies" here stand for the visible trappings of respectability: politeness, adherence to socially accepted norms, and the avoidance of scandal or impropriety. It is not real virtue but rather a simulacrum, a public display of correctness that is undemanding and risk-free compared to the inward, often uncomfortable work of forging real moral character.

Pope’s description carries an undercurrent of irony and disappointment. The drive to remain perpetually content with "decencies" implies a stunting of moral growth, a preference for the admiration or approval of others over genuine self-improvement. There is also an inherent critique of social environments where mere decency is not just tolerated but encouraged and rewarded, making the more difficult path toward virtue appear unnecessary or even foolhardy.

The contrast between true virtue and mere decency serves as a subtle indictment of superficial morality. Pope suggests that, for many, virtue remains an ideal too distant or strenuous, and society’s satisfaction with appearances allows this mediocrity to persist unabated. The passage, in its brevity, encapsulates a timeless contradiction in human nature: the wish for the rewards of virtue, without the willingness to undertake its trials, settling instead for the hollow comfort of outward respectability.