Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/253



Of plants of the wood. No wine they drank

Bright from the bowl;    none could boast

Skill to mingle    drink with his meat,

Water with honey,    nor to fashion by sewing

Clothing of silk;    nor had they cunning

In costly stuffs;    nor stood there halls

Cleverly planned;    but it was their custom

In every season    to sleep in the open

In the deep tree-shade. They drank burn-water

Cool from the spring. Never did chapman

See over the sea-surge    the shore of strange land;

Nor had men heard    of the harrying ship-host

No, nor was fighting    familiar to mortals.

Not as yet was the earth    anywhere stained

With the blood of a man    nor the dye of the blade,

Nor even one wounded    had any man witnessed

Under the sun. So too none was worthy

Held in the world    if his will seemed

Evil unto men;    by all was he loathed.

Oh! were it true,    or would God but grant

That here on earth    in our days now,

Over the wide world,    man's wont was such

Under the sun! But now 'tis more sinful,

For covetous greed    so clogs the soul

Of every man    that he heeds not other things.

And in the mind boiling    it burns ever,

This curse of covetise,    never contented,

Black and bottomless    blazes smouldering,

Even as the mountain    that mortals call

By name of Etna;    this on an island,