Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/268

Bestow it where you dream not. Hear,
While yet I make my rede more clear:
Jupiter and Apollo God Jupiter, who you did wash,
Is air and cloud, whose rains shall lash
Your corpse; and Phœbus, who bedried
Your body, clearly typified
The sun; the high beech tree,
What should it but the gallows be?6920
This cruel path you needs must tread,
Dear father; on your glorious head
Will Fortune wreak her wrath as one
Whose arrogant pride hath vengeance won:
No man, whate’er his dignity.
More than an apple counteth she.
High loyalty or treachery base,
Lordly estate or pauper case,
Are one to her. As shuttlecock
Which playful damsels lightly knock6930
Hither and thither, so doth she
Toss gifts and favours recklessly,
Without a thought whereso they fall,
On mansion proud or cobbler’s stall.
For good or bad hath she no care,
All, all alike her giftings share;
She valueth none above a pea,
Saving her child Nobility,
Misfortune’s cousin, and her friend,
Who doth in Fortune’s balance pend.6940
But Fortune, though she take away
Nobility from whom she may,
Will deal it forth to none except
Such as through every change have kept