Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/55

If that by force a tender Plant
Be made to ground to bend,
Do you but once let loose your hand,
It upward presently will tend.

The Sun each night falls in the West,
Yet still he does return,
Leaving all mortals to their rest,
Till he again salutes the Morn.

All things oblig'd are by this law,
And joy thereto to bend;
All do a perfect circle draw,
Joyn their beginning with their end.

Book iv, prose 2.

To move by walking (thon'lt not then
Deny) is natural to men.
'Tis so, said I. Nor canst deny
Bnt 'tis the feet move naturally.
I can't. Why then, if one do use
His feet, another does refuse
This natural means, and he will goe
Upon his hands; which of these two
Wilt thou the stronger deem to be?
Make out the rest; for surely he
Who goes the true and nat'ral way,
To be the strangest all will say.
Why so, said she, the chiefest Bliss
Which equally proposed is
To good and bad, the good apply
To get by Vertue naturally;
The bad by Lusts (but all in vain)
Seek their chief Good for to attain.
Dost think they can? Why no, said I;
The sequel plainly doest descry.
Then what is proved makes appear
The good are strong, the bad weak are.
'Tis right, said she, and by this scope
I do (as wont Physicians) hope

Good