Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/68

With golden chinking bezants, then
They’ll run with open arms towards men,
For they—for better or for worse—
Most dearly love a well-lined purse.
Far different once was man’s estate,
But now the world’s degenerate.

The golden age How pleasant were earth’s simpler ways
In our progenitors’ first days!
Old legends tell us how the fires
Of love burned bright amongst our sires;8770
No man called this or that his own,
And lust and rapine nought were known.
While ’dured that glorious golden age,
No man could boast of seigniorage,
No man affected robes of state.
No man e’er craved for delicate
Spiced meats, but simple woodland fruits,
Beech mast, or nuts, or wholesome roots
From out the earth all needs supplied;
While fish and flesh were left aside8780
As needless, ’mid the coverts wild
Men sought kind Nature’s store of mild
And bloodless food; the wilding vine
Gave berries though they knew not wine,
Apples and pears, and mulberries,
Rich plums and chestnuts, beans and peas,
And herbs and mushrooms from the field,
While valleys, plains, and heights would yield
Due sustenance from day to day.
From ears of corn they rubbed away8790
The chaff betwixt their palms; they sipped
The brown bees’ store which plenteous dripped