Than this I offer? Doth he give
Guerdon more rich to those who live6160
Beneath his sceptre? For God’s sake
Refuse me not, or else will ache
My heart with pain which maidens know
Alone, who pine ’neath passion’s glow.
Bethink thee what Dan Ovid saith
Of Echo, and her woeful death.”
The Lover.
“From your hard Latin phrase I blench,
Can you not speak plain wholesome French?
Say plainly what you ask of me.”
Reason.
Despise Love and Fortune
“Fain would I thou my friend shouldst be,6170
And I thy humble slave. Forsake
Thy cruel God of Love, and make
No count of Fortune and her wheel
(Not worth a prune is she), but steel
Thy heart like Socrates, who ne’er
In all his life was swayed by her.
She smiled, his heart grew nowise gay;
She frowned, he laughed her frowns away.
Whatso of good or ill he met,
Was each ’gainst each in balance set,6180
Nor deigned he say that this was good,
Or that was fraught with drearihood.
No evil chances could destroy
His peace, nor good luck move to joy.
