ttler or one lyke
vnto hym, standeth euer redye, the _Muses_ stande rounde
aboute syngyng pleasauntly, mery _Silenus_ daunseth, ne ther
wanted noo fooles || too laugh at, and breuely, there was
euerye thynge that coulde delyght any sence of ma but
emongist all these, _Tantalus_ sytteth all sadde, syghyng,
and vnquiet with hym selfe, neither laughing nor yet
touching such thynges as were set before hym _SPVDE._ What
was the cause? _HED._ Over his head as he sate there haged
by an heere a great stone euer lyke too fall. _SPV._ I
woulde then haue conueied my selfe from suche a table.
_HEDO_ But his vowe had bound hym too the contrarye, for
Iupyter is not so easye too intreate as oure _GOD_, which
dooeth vnloose the pernitious vowes of menne, that bee made
contrary vnto his holy woord, if thei bee ||F.iii.|| penitent
and sorye therfore, or elles it myght bee thus, the same
stoone that woulde not suffer hym too eate, would neither
suffer hym to ryse, for if he had but ones moued he shuld
haue been quashed al in peeses with the fall thereof.
_SPVDE._ You haue shewed a very mery fable _HEDON._ But nowe
heare that thing, which you wil not laugh at: the commune
people seeke too haue a pleasaunt life in outwarde thynges,
where as noothyng can yeoue that, but onely a constant and a
quiet mind: for surely a far heuier stone hangeth ouer these
that grudge with them selues, then hanged ouer _Tantalus_:
it only hangeth not ouer them, but greueth and || oppresseth
the mynde, ne the mind is not troubled wyth any vayn hoope,
but looketh euery houre to bee caste in too the paynes of
hell, I praye you what can bee so pleasaunt emongist all
thinges that bee yeouen vnto man, that coulde reioyse the
mynde, whyche were oppressed wyth suche a stoone?
_SPVDE._ Truely there is nothyng but madnes, or elles
incredulitie. _HEDO._ Yf younge menne woulde weygh these
thynges, that bee quyckly prouoked and entised with pleasure
as it were wyth the cuppe of _Circes_, whiche in steade of
theyr greatest pleasures receiue poysone myxte with honye.
Howe circumspecte would they bee too doo anye thynge
||F.iiii|| vnaduisedly that shoulde grudge their mindes
afterward? What thinge is it that thei would not doo too
haue suche a godly treasure in store against their latter
daies? that is a minde knowyng it selfe cleane & honest and
a name that hath not been defiled at any time. But what
thyng now is more miserable then is agee? Whan it beholdeth,
and loketh