University of Virginia Library


316

ODE.

[Vengeance will sitt aboue our faults; but till]

Vengeance will sitt aboue our faults; but till
She there do sytt,
We see her not, nor them. Thus blynd, yet still
Wee lead her way; and thus whilst we doe ill,
Wee suffer it.
Unhappy hee whom youth makes not beware
Of doinge ill:
Enough we labour under age and care;
In number th'errors of the last place are
The greatest still.
Yet wee, that should the ill we new begin
As soone repent—
Strange thing—perceiue not; our faults are not seene,
But past us, neither felt, but only in
Our punishment.

317

But we know ourselves least; meere outward showes
Our mynds so store,
That our sowles, noe more then our eyes, disclose
But forme and colour. Only hee who knowes
Himselfe knowes more.