[In the former edition nearly all the corruptions of the old copy, which was edited and printed with the grossest carelessness, were allowed to remain. A few still stand which baffle our ingenuity.]
THE PROLOGUE.
Qui[152] cupis æthereas et summas scandere sedes,
Vim simul ac fraudem discute, care, tibi.
Fraus hic nulla juvat, non fortia facta juvabunt:
Sola Dei tua te trahet tersa fides.
Qui placet in terris, intactæ paludis instar,
Vivere Virginiam nitore, virgo, sequi:
Quos tulit et luctus, discas [et] gaudia magna,
Vitæ dum Parcæ scindere fila parent.