Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/107

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And if men once that treasure lack,

No gold on earth can win it back.

Then no man toiled in pilgrimage,

But lived from infancy to age

At home, nor cared to cross the wave

Of ocean for an outland grave.

RINCE Jason ’twas who first of all

Built on the waves a vessel tall.

And voyaged therein to seek the fleece

Of gold, but Neptune deemed his peace

Invaded, and great Triton too,

And Doris with her daughters grew

Alarmed, and feared themselves betrayed,

Beholding these first men who made

Their road across the acres they

Had held with undisputed sway.

For earth’s first dwellers were content

To stay a-land, nor ever went

To plough the sea; enough they found

For all their needs on solid ground.

Where each man had what each required,

For none as yet ambition fired.

O happy men, of simple life—

Love reigned, and all unknown was strife