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

The plain corollary is then,
That less than nought are evil men.6700

Desire not Fortune’s favours 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 emperor6710
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.6720
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.6730