The Minor Poems of John Lydgate edited from all available mss. with an attempt to establish The Lydgate Canon: By Henry Noble MacCracken |
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| VII. | FABLE VII. Thys ffable is of þe hound that bare the chese, gronddyd
on Isopus agaynst covetousness, translatyd by Iohn Lydgat, made in Oxforde. |
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 | The Minor Poems of John Lydgate |  |
FABLE VII. Thys ffable is of þe hound that bare the chese, gronddyd on Isopus agaynst covetousness, translatyd by Iohn Lydgat, made in Oxforde.
134
An olde proverbe hathe bene sayd, and shall,Towchynge the vyce of grete covetyce—
Who all covetythe, offt he losythe all—
Where-wppon Isophus dothe devyce
A morall fabyll, rehersing in this wyse,
How a grete hownd over a bryge sqware
A large chese in his mouthe he bare.
599
135
Castynge his loke downe to the ryver,By apparence and fals yllusion,
As hym thought, a chese ther did apere,
And was nought els but a reflexion
Of the chese in his posescion;
Wiche to cache, whan he dyd his payne,
Opynynge his mouthe, he lost bothe twayne.
136
By whiche exsample men may conceyve & lere,By experience prevyd in many place,
Who all covetythe, faylyth offt in fere,
One man allone may not all purchace,
Nor in armys all the worlde enbrace,
A meane is best withe good governaunce,
To them that be content withe suffisaunce.
137
Ther is no man that lyvythe more at easeThan he that can withe lytill be content;
Even contrary, he standithe evar in disseasse
That in his hert with covetyce is blent;
Withe suche fals etykes many a man is shent:
Lyke as the hownd, not content withe one chese,
Desyryd tweyne, bothe he dyd lese.
finis
| The Minor Poems of John Lydgate | |