You shall too forsake the evil fear
Of worldly afflictions, nor wax ever for them
Utterly hopeless; no, nor have yourself
Weakened with wealth, lest with it you be
Brought to sorrow through the sin of pride,
And too puffed up by prosperous fortune,
By joys of the world. Nor again too feebly
Lose all your faith in future good,
When in this world the weight of afflictions
Bears on you sorely, and you are beset
With utter terror; for ever it tides
That a man's breast is bound most firmly
With dire confusion if either of these dangers
Here may trouble him, torture his spirit.
For both these hardships hand in hand,
A mist misleading draw over the mind,
So that the sun eternal its light may not send forth
For the black mists until these be blown away.
VI
Then Wisdom again unlocked her word-hoard.
Her tale of sooth sang in these words:
'While the bright sun most clear is beaming,
Gleaming in heaven, gloom enwraps
Over the world all other bodies;
For their light is nought, nothing at all,
When set against the sun's great brightness.
When softly blows from south and west
