Eug. Thou art a lowler, by my troth, I warrants!
How many by-paths be in that way?
Iris. Six score and odd, I say.
Eug. Then one cannot fail where he go by night or day.
But may a man go to the stews that way
At his pleasure, if he list to play?
Iris. It brings men to the seat of rueful array;
The lady of confusion lieth therein,
That Babylon is called; she is the end of all sin.
Eug. Which way coasteth that country?
Iris. To an isle in the north, I say;
Ab aquilone pandetur omne malum.
Eug. That is the first place that men should assay,
Whether it be hedged or walled.
Iris. With boughs and trees it is marvellously paled.
There groweth the elders of envy,
Staked with pride full high,
And the briars of backbiting with wrath wreathed about, A4,v.
Full of slouthy bushes and lecherous thorns dry,
With gluttonous posts and covetise railed throughout,
And at Mischief's Gate many doth in run.
Eug. And where do they all become?
Iris. Down to the dungeon where the devil dwelleth,
Lucifer, that loathly lord, that is in bale blisses.
There is woe upon woe, as Christ us telleth;
All that may disease and nothing please, ever restless.
There is frost, there is fire,
Hope is lost and her desire;
There care hath no recover;
Without pity there is pain;
To cry for mercy it is in vain,
For grace is gone for ever.
Fumus tormentorum suorum
Ascendit in secula seculorum.
Lo! thus hath lost wedded confusion,
Lucifer's daughter damnation
In hell to have heritage.
Septum dominium peccati est mors.