 | The Riddles of Heraclitus and Democritus |  |
5
[Say what it is and if you can]
Say what it is and if you can,That neither was by God create,
Nor framed by the hand of man,
Nor by the fiend that doth him hate;
But caused it was for tyrants strong,
As things are many of great woorth,
Which made it straight and woondrous long
When at the first, they brought it foorth:
And good it doth, and none ill deedes,
Feeding vpon greene grasse and weedes.
The high way, wheresoeuer it go, eateth vp the vesture of the earth. It was not created at the first, but is rather a priuation, then a thing made. And if men were makers of it, it was for the more part, rather with feete then with hands. By the Tyrants are meant, vse and necessitie: great rulers in the life of man.
| The Riddles of Heraclitus and Democritus | |