Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/261

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The plain corollary is then,

That less than nought are evil men.

Behold ye in this world what pranks

Dame Fortune plays, and less of thanks

Than curses gets thereby, for she

It was by whose supreme decree

The worst of all men was declared

Lord of the world, and ’neath him fared

The noble Seneca so ill.

Therefore let thou no longing fill

Thy heart for Fortune’s favours, for

The mightiest king or emperor

Is but her plaything. Better far

Persuade thyself her blessings are

But curses, and to be despised.

The poet, Claudian hight, surprised

And shocked at this, would cast the blame

Back on the Gods, as if it came

Of them that fools were set on high

And dowered with riches plenteously.

And honour great and uncurbed might.

With all that man’s heart longs for, dight.

But afterwards he wisely writ,

When he had thought and conned of it,

How that the Gods permit such things,

That later they on scatterlings

May send a heavier chastisement,

Whose day of power hath been misspent

In foolish vice, and do but call

Them into place that greater fall

May be their lot; higher the state

Such men attain, more dire their fate.

VOL. I.