And he that faine woulde get the gallant rose,
And will not reache, for feare his fingers bleede;
A nettle, is more fitter for his nose?
Or hemblocke meete his appetite to feede?
None merites sweete, who tasted not the sower,
Who feares to climbe, deserues no fruicte, nor flower.”
In the Emblems of Otho Vænius (p. 160), Cupid is plucking a rose, to the motto from Claudian, “Armat spina rosas, mella tegunt apes,”—Englished, “No pleasure without payn.”
“In plucking of the rose is pricking of the thorne,
In the attayning sweet, is tasting of the sowre,
With ioy of loue is mixt the sharp of manie a showre,