| sig: [unknown] | |
|
Here begynneth the Epigrams. |
|
| A Man is lyke | |
| A blaste of wynde | |
| Which at the fyrst bloweth softe | |
| And then with-in | |
| 5 | A lytle whyle |
| It commeth vp alofte | |
| And whan that it | |
| Hath bowen the full bowen the full ='bent you over completely'? See OED s.v bow v1. | |
| With all the force it maye | |
| 10 | At length the strength |
| And myghte therof | |
| Doth vanishe cleane awaye. | |
| THe childe beinge gotten | |
| Then is it after borne | |
| 15 | And commeth so to mans state |
| When twentye yeares be worne | |
| And for the space of fourty yeares | |
| A man he doeth remayne | |
| But when thre score yeare, is spent | |
| sig: [unknown] | |
| 20 | He is a childe agayne |
| For though he liue an hundred yeare | |
| Full in bredeth and length | |
| Yet shal he be after that tyme | |
| Without pleasure or strength | |
| 25 | And at the laste euen in an houre |
| He shall and muste nedes dye | |
| And al his humours, hotte and moyste | |
| Shalbe both colde and drye. | |
| I Muse muche in my mynde | |
| 30 | That whiche I am loth to tell |
| Howe ryche-men shalbe punished | |
| When that they come in hell | |
| I speake not of the good rych-men | |
| Who prayse-worthy are | |
| 35 | But I do meane the wycked sorte |
| Who doe destroye and marre | |
| The common-welth in euery place | |
| Where-as their landes doe lye | |
| And haue no pitie on the poore | |
| 40 | Although they wepe and crye |
| I praye to God to geue them grace | |
| sig: [unknown] | |
| From wickednes to turne | |
| So that they do not come where-as | |
| Continuall flames do burne. | |
| 45 | YF my death dyd lye |
| As neare and as nye | |
| Unto my hearte with-in | |
| As doeth myne eye my nose | |
| My legge vnto my hose | |
| 50 | Or fleashe vnto my skynne |
| Then woulde I as muche ioye | |
| As Hector dyd in Troye | |
| Or Herculus in Spayne | |
| For I knowe and truste | |
| 55 | To rise out of the duste |
| And come to lyfe agayne. | |
| A Man is, but fleashe or erth | |
| What-euer is his name | |
| And though he be, a lord by berth | |
| 60 | Yet is he but the same |
| And at the laste, within hys graue | |
| He must lay downe his hedde | |
| He shal not vse, no chaunge to haue | |
| sig: [unknown] | |
| Neyther of house nor bedde. | |
| 65 | FAme vnto Fortune, |
| Compared maye be | |
| For Fortune with Fame, | |
| Doeth euer agree | |
| Fortune doeth giue men | |
| 70 | Eyther good lucke or yll |
| And Fame doeth blowe them, | |
| Whereso-euer she wyll | |
| Fortune doeth make some, | |
| And some she doeth marre | |
| 75 | Fame bloweth not al men, |
| But some she blowes farre | |
| Some men she bloweth | |
| Ouer dales and downes | |
| And spredeth their names | |
| 80 | In cities and townes |
| Some for their connynge | |
| And some for their strength | |
| And some for their ryches | |
| She bloweth out a length | |
| 85 | Yet some there were also, The fragment breaks off at this point in the copytext. |