Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/239

May God’s curse fall on me if I
Permit another to come nigh
The Rose.’
Lover’s oaths All reckless may he be
Of broken oaths and perjury;
Lovers false oaths the Gods amuse,
Who all such crimes with smiles excuse.13830
Great Jove and all the Gods loud laughed
At lovers’ lies the while they quaffed
Their nectar, nor did they disdain
False oaths their wished-for ends to gain.
When Jupiter would reassure
Queen Juno, and her doublings cure,
By the dark stream of Styx he sware,
Yet proved him perjured then and there.
Lovers the same course may pursue,
Nor feel one touch of shame thereto,13840
But swear by altar, saints, and fane—
The Gods example gave amain.
The Lord forgive me, but none e’er
Should credit oaths that lovers swear;
For young folks’ hearts are vain and light,
Changing as oft as day and night,
And old men’s too, for that, pardee!
Will swear false oaths right royally.

A proverb ’tis, known far and wide,
That, who doth o’er the fair preside13850
Should first his own advantage mind;
And if one miller will not grind
Your coin, forthwith you go elsewhere.
The mouse who must perforce repair