# Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 40

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How Seneca, that noble man, Succumbed beneath his pupil’s ban; Set in a bath to die was he, By Nero’s savage cruelty.
The death of Seneca “The sentence given, no stop or stay Made Nero, mocked he all delay; And Seneca was straightway set Within a bath, and leeches let The blood from out his veins, till dead He lay—his glorious spirit fled.
No pretext Nero had for this Most treacherous crime, save that amiss He took it that, since childhood’s days, He had been taught his cap to raise In humbleness and reverence when He met his tutor. Cried he then: ‘Fit is it I should bow my face Either in house or public place To any man? As emperor No longer will I bend before Another, whosoe’er he be, Tutor or sire, ’tis one to me.’
Sithence he felt it as a brand Of tutelage that he should stand6600 Uncovered, as the custom bade That he from tender years had had, ​He made forthwith a royal decree, That Seneca should shamefully Be put to death. Unbridled rule This monster (mingled knave and fool) Held o’er the Roman Empire wide, That stretched its arms from side to side Of all the earth; north, south, and west And east, this madman’s sway confessed.6610
Good friend, I hope thou hast the wit, Hearing my tale, to learn from it That riches, rule, and honours high, Full power and great prosperity, And all the gifts Dame Fortune showers With lavish hand on those she dowers With worldly wealth, can never make Those whom she favoureth to break With vice and turn to virtuousness, Proving them worthy to possess6620 The kingly rod; for if abide Within their bosoms hateful pride, The germ of every poisonous fruit, Little to them will honours boot, For ever as men mount more high, Their crimes but blaze more openly; For had they ne’er to power attained, Their paltry vices had remained Obscure, but when aloft men rise, Then comes the crucial test which tries6630 The stuff they’re made of. Oft I’ve heard A proverb, which I count absurd And false, though many a man, forsooth, Will quote it for unquestioned truth. ​It boldly saith that: ‘Honours spoil Good manners.’ ’Twere but wasted toil If I should strive to prove how vain That proverb is; no poisonous bane Are honours if they chance to fall On worthy wights, for not at all6640 They change men’s natures; if erst good That nature proved in needihood, So will it still to good incline, When on it wealth and honour shine ’Fore all the world; but if poor men Are vicious, past all question then, If they arrive at high estate, They do but show more reprobate.
God all-powerful The name of power is ill applied To malice, ignorance, and pride,6650 For hath not sacred Scripture shown That power proceeds from God alone? And no man doth God’s law transgress, Save when misled by foolishness: And every man who sees aright, Knows lack of good is lack of might, For thus ’tis said in Holy Writ; But if, still unconvinced of it, Thy soul remaineth yet in doubt, Nor draws assurance full thereout,6660 I’ll quickly show that nought can be Impossible to the Deity.
No man would dare to say the will Of God could ever stoop to ill, And owning that, thou know’st right well, That God hath power o’er heaven and hell, ​Yet hath not power aught ill to do. Then is the axiom clearly true, That he who made all things in earth And heaven, ne’er gave foul evil birth.6670 E’en as a shadow hideth not. Except the light, one single jot Of matter, so in equal wise Vile men are nought The man in whom no virtue lies, By God was simply left all void Of good. His soul then if destroyed And lost for ever by gross sin, Did not from God perdition win. Also the Scriptures go so far, Well knowing what the wicked are,6680 As say a sinner is no man. To prove this were none other than Mere waste of time, for is it not In many a Scripture found, God wot?
Yet natheless, if thou wilt but bear Some short space with me, thou shalt hear, Among a thousand reasons, some Which, staying not for others, come Within my mind. The common end Toward which all living things should tend6690 Forsake they, yet the first it is, And highest of all things, ywis. And other reasons might, if sought, Be found, why wicked men are nought, By him who notes the road they fare. Seeing they live all unaware Of that one end and aim which each And all on earth should strive to reach. ​The plain corollary is then, That less than nought are evil men.6700
Desire not Fortune’s favours Behold ye in this world what pranks Dame Fortune plays, and less of thanks Than curses gets thereby, for she It was by whose supreme decree The worst of all men was declared Lord of the world, and ’neath him fared The noble Seneca so ill. Therefore let thou no longing fill Thy heart for Fortune’s favours, for The mightiest king or emperor6710 Is but her plaything. Better far Persuade thyself her blessings are But curses, and to be despised. The poet, Claudian hight, surprised And shocked at this, would cast the blame Back on the Gods, as if it came Of them that fools were set on high And dowered with riches plenteously. And honour great and uncurbed might. With all that man’s heart longs for, dight.6720 But afterwards he wisely writ, When he had thought and conned of it, How that the Gods permit such things, That later they on scatterlings May send a heavier chastisement, Whose day of power hath been misspent In foolish vice, and do but call Them into place that greater fall May be their lot; higher the state Such men attain, more dire their fate.6730 ​And if so be that thou forsake My counsels never, they shall make Thee wise and happy, and no man Shall higher be or richer than Thy very self, and thou shalt ne’er Eat out thine heart in dark despair Or wasting wrath, though Fortune’s stroke Thy friends, estate, and body broke; But having patience, thou in me, Shalt find a friend to comfort thee.6740
Wherefore discoverest thou such dole? Tears from between thine eyelids roll, As drops from some alembic stood Above a furnace. In the flood Thou mightst be washed out like a rag, None but a fool, or merry wag, Would call so poor a stick a man, For never creature looked so wan And wretched as dost thou. The devil, True spring and source of all things evil,6750 Within thy weakling heart hath set This love, and hence thy cheeks are wet With waterfalls; thou shouldst disdain To show thee so far weak and vain. This tyrant God whose breath doth fan The fire of love within the pan Of thy frail brain it is, alone, Who causeth thee to fret and moan. Thy noble liege! thy reverenced friend! Through whom thy soul thou dost expend6760 In tears—he sells his friendship dear, As doth to my poor wit appear. ​Brave, manly hearts do not disgrace Their souls with woe-worn maudlin face; To puny boys, and women weak, Leave it through sobs and sighs to speak Their griefs, poor feeble willow wands— But thou—stand firm with hard-clenched hands, When see’st thou Fortune near thee reel Her aye-revolving, changeful wheel.6770 Dost thou imagine thou canst stay Its turning e’en for one short day? Nay! never since first rose heaven’s sun, Hath rich or poor that marvel done.
Nero deserted Nero, of whom I lately spake, And whose mere frown sufficed to shake The world, o’er which he held such sway As never tyrant till his day Had known, had yet no power to check Fortune, but bowed before her beck,6780 If history lie not, for ’tis said Most wretchedly he perishèd. So did he fire the people’s hate, That rose they all infuriate Against this monster. Then he sent Envoys to all his friends, intent To save his worthless life, but not A single man he found, I wot, To give him refuge. Then while rocked His craven heart with fear, he knocked6790 With frantic strokes at many a portal, But, to his thundering, not a mortal Replied, and he aback returned, While helpless rage his vitals burned.”