Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/207

So hard could friendship find fit place?
The miser knows how void of grace
He lives, and loving none, must die,
Unloved of all men, shamefully.

Friends in fortune Dame Fortune next beneath our ken
Appears; and how she deals with men
Shall be set forth. My tongue shall tell
Strange tales of her, past parallel.5140
Thou doubt’st my word? I marvel not,
Yet thou in my discourse no blot
Of falsity shalt find. We see
That Fortune falleth, so that she
Oft-times brings richer blessings down
On men who live beneath her frown,
Than those on whom she smiles. And though
This seems a paradox, yet so
It many a time hath proved, that when
Fortune doth sweetly smile on men5150
She lies, and gives good cause to weep,
Yet lulls them into gentle sleep,
As nursing mother lulls her child,
And oft hath she man’s heart beguiled
With favours, honours, and richesse,
And dignity, and prosperousness,
And promise given these things shall last
For aye, though soon all overpast
Is worldly might. When Fortune’s wheel
Men mount upon, exalt they feel,516O
Assured of safety, and are raised
So high, their better wit is dazed.
And when she setteth them on high
She will provide them royally