Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/213

One denier from his daily gain
To ward the risk of future pain5320
By timely foresight; cold and heat
Alike with constant heart he’ll meet;
And if gaunt famine face him, he
Welcomes his end right manfully.
For all the sooner that he knows
The stroke of death, the sooner goes
His soul to paradise, where God
Grants heaven in change for earth’s dull sod.

Pythagoras and Boethius Pythagoras hath said the same
Within that noble book men name5330
‘The Golden Verses,’ fair and bright
They shine throughout the ages’ night.
‘When of thy body thou art quit.
Forthwith to heaven thy soul shall flit,
And freed from human grossness be
Absorbed within the Deity.’
Wretched the fool who dreams that this
Poor earth our only city is.
Let one demand of some wise clerk,
Well versed in that most noble work5340
‘Of Consolation,’ ’foretime writ
By great Boethius, for in it
Are stored and hidden most profound
And learned lessons: ’twould redound
Greatly to that man’s praise who should
Translate that book with masterhood.
Thrice happy he who knows to live
On that which kindly Heaven doth give
To feed his wants, nor strives for more
In hope to gather needless store;5350