Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/284



So neither the sins    nor laziness of the body,

Nor its foul vices,    are fully able

To wrest from the mind    its righteous nature

In any mortal. Though that a man

By the sins of his body,    and by its laziness also,

And by vice be assailed    for many a season,

And though that his mind    be grievously marred

With the foul curse    of careless folly,

And a fog of error    float before

The dreary spirit    of the sons of men,

So that it cannot shine    at all so clearly

As it would do    if it were able,

Yet there remains    ever retained

Some seed of the truth    in the soul of man,

So long as united    it lives with body.

This corn of seed    is ever quickened

By means of inquiry,    and afterwards also

With good teaching,    if it is to grow.

How may any man    make out an answer

To anything asked,    by aid of reason,

Though others ask him    after it righteously,

Closely inquiring,    if he contains

In his own mind    neither much nor little

Of righteousness in him    nor anything of reason?

Yet no man lives    that is so lacking,

So utterly robbed    and void of reason,

That he is unable    the answer to find

Locked in his breast    if others beg him.

For this is true,    the proverb that our Plato,

The ancient sage,    once said unto us: