Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/279

From Fortune; and if thou too weak
Feel for this triple bond, I’ll seek
To spare thy strength, and will but ask
One simple boon, to light thy task.
List then my first demand; if thou
Thereto with ready heart wilt bow,
Then shalt thou from the other two
Be freed.
The example of Socrates Unless thy mind askew
Be turned as one who’s drunk or mad,
Thou’lt see that he whose soul is clad7260
In Reason’s garb must needs despise
Fortune and Love in carnal guise.
My well-loved friend, great Socrates,
Was one who scorned the vanities
Of Fortune and of Love alike,
God grant his great example strike
Thy heart, and make it one with mine,
And nought for this, as I opine,
Is lacking but thy word. Grant this,
My first request, and then, ywis,7270
Thou of the other two art quit,
Unglue thy lips, and therefrom flit
Thy answer—does thy heart agree?
Cry yea! and thou shalt find thee free
From further quests. Serve me alone,
Nor suffer treacherous love to wone
Within thy breast.
Cupid hath trapped
Thy courage, and thy memory sapped,
And round thy spirit’s eyes doth bind
A web whose woof obscures thy mind.”7280