Though Virtue's ways be very strait,
Her rocks be hard to climb:
Yet such as do aspire thereto,
Enjoy all joys in time.
Plain is the passage unto vice,
The gaps lie wide to ill:
To them that wade through lewdness' lake
The ice is broken still.
This therefore is the difference,
The passage first seems hard
To Virtue's train; but then most sweet
At length is their reward.
To those again, that follow vice,
The way is fair and plain;
But fading pleasures in the end
Are bought with lasting[414] pain.
If pleasure be the only thing, &c_.
SCENE IV.
Enter VIRTUE, EQUITY, LIBERALITY, MONEY, and the SHERIFF.
VIR. Now, my lords, I see no cause but that depart we may.
EQ. Madam, to that shall like you best we willingly obey.
LIB. Yet,[415] lady, stay awhile, and hear of strange adventures.