Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/268

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For his evil fortune; though all be his,

This world of ours, wherever begirdled

By ocean-waters, to him only given,

As far away as in the west

Outermost lies an isle in ocean,

Where never is night known in summer,

Nor is the day in winter divided,

Into times parted, Tile (Thule) men call it--

Though that a man be sole master

Of all this island, and from thence onward

Even to the Indies out in the east

Yes, though all this be his own to govern,

How is his might any the more,

If of himself control he has not,

Nor of his thoughts, nor thoroughly strive

Well to beware in word and in deed

Of all the sins of which we were speaking?

XVII

All earth-dwellers one origin had,

All men of the land, one like beginning;

From one pair only all proceeded,

From a man and woman, within the world

And to this day even all men alike,

The base and the high ones, are born in the world.

Nor is that a marvel, for all men know

That there is one God of all world-creatures,

Lord of mankind, Father and Maker.