# Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 53

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LIII
How Jason erstwhile ploughed the sea, To seek the gold-fleece bravery, And by the folk where’er he went, Was seen with fear and wonderment.
Jason’s journeying Prince Jason ’twas who first of all Built on the waves a vessel tall. And voyaged therein to seek the fleece Of gold, but Neptune deemed his peace Invaded, and great Triton too, And Doris with her daughters grew9970 Alarmed, and feared themselves betrayed, Beholding these first men who made Their road across the acres they Had held with undisputed sway.
For earth’s first dwellers were content To stay a-land, nor ever went To plough the sea; enough they found For all their needs on solid ground. Where each man had what each required,
For none as yet ambition fired.9980
O happy men, of simple life— Love reigned, and all unknown was strife ​Earth’s curses Till Fraud arose, his lance in rest, And Crime and Evil-Hap confessed Stood, foes of sweet sufficiency. Then Pride, who scorns to equal be With others, came in grand estate With Covetousness, and hideous Hate, And Envy dire, and Avarice, And many another foul-faced vice.9990 And Poverty from hell they brought, Who there had long-time lived, and nought Men knew her on the happy earth, Till now new-born, ah! woeful birth! Wherefore, alas! came she at all? Worst evil that can man befall.
Drear Poverty, of wit bereft, Led by the hand her infant, Theft, Who to the gibbet goes straightway, Seeking his mother’s needs to stay.10000 All powerless she to take his part, As eke his sire, y’clept Faint-Heart; Nor doth for him aught good provide Laverna, of all thieves the guide And goddess, who with cloud and night Conceals their evil deeds, till light At last discovers them; and when They’re haled before their fellow-men, No pitying eye doth she afford, Seeing around their necks the cord10010 Fast tied, but gaily pulls it tight When penitence they’ve made aright.
Suddenly these mad fiends accurst (When once they hell’s dread bounds had burst), ​Their hearts aflame with envious rage ’Gainst dwellers in this golden age Of peace, o’erran the pleasant earth, Sowing ill will and murdering mirth, While envy, malice, spite, and hate They strove to spread and propagate.10020 The lust of gain Longing the ruddy gold to win From mother earth, her very skin Men tore, and then for treasures stored Beneath her breast deep caverns bored, And precious stones and metals sought, With life and labour dearly bought. For Avarice and Covetousness Torment the minds of men, and press Them on, e’en while they curse and ban Their lot, to win whate’er they can.10030 This strives to gain, and that to keep, For ne’er from out his useless heap The miser will one denier spend The while he lives, but when the end Falls on him, to his heir it goes, Unless God otherwise dispose Thereof; and if he lost it all, Pity therefor need be but small.
Ere long the unhappy human race Corrupted grew, and every trace10040 Of simple living lost, they came To be false tricksters, void of shame; The land they set about to share In seigniories, and here and there Fixed lines and limitations, but Thereout full many a man was shut. ​And next they fell to war thereon, And each man kept whate’er he won By force and fraud, and thus the strong Beat back the weak—if right or wrong.10050 But if awhile they left their lands, Arose some idle roving bands Of rascals, who would forge within Their dwellings, and their warnestore win. And so among them ’twas agreed To choose out one who might give heed To all men’s surety, and adjudge Each plaint of fraud, misdeed, or grudge With upright, fair, impartial voice; So gathered they to fix their choice.10060