Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/460

286 The king hath asked of him thus— "Say, thou unsely Lucius, Why hast thou done this sacrilege?" "My lord, if I the cause allege," (Quoth he again,) "me-thinketh this, That I have done nothing amiss. Three points there be, which I have do, "Whereof the first-e point stands so, That I the ring have ta'en away— Unto this point this will I say. When I the god beheld about, I saw how he his hand stretched out, And proffered me the ring to yeve ; And I, which wold-e gladly live Out of povérte thro' his largéss, It underfang, so that I guess; And therefore, am I nought to wite. And overmore, I will me 'quit , Of gold that I the mantle took Gold in his kind, as saith the book, Is heavy both, and cold also; And fór that it was heavy so, Methought it was no garn-e-ment Unto the god convenient,