¶ Ofte is it seen with sobre contenaunce ¶ That wyse men fooles ouercome ay ¶ Tornyng as hem lyst & all her varyaunce ¶ Chaunge from ernest in to mery play ¶ What were they bothe amendeth that day ¶ When they were dreuen to her wyttes ende ¶ Were they not fayne to graunt to be his frende ¶ Ryght soo fooles when they haue done ¶ All that they can than be they fayne ¶ Gyue vp hed mater to oblyuyone ¶ Without rewarde they haue no more brayne ¶ And yet ful ofte hath hit be sayne ¶ When they it haue foryete & set at nought ¶ That they full dere haue afterwarde it bought ¶ And as for all tho that represent ¶ To be called goddys at that banket ¶ Resemble false ydollys but to his entent ¶ Was Morpleus co{m}maunded thyder the to fet ¶ That thou sholdest know the maner & the get ¶ Of the paynym law and of her byleue ¶ How false ydolatry ledeth hem by the sleue ¶ For soone vppon the worldys creacyon ¶ When Adam and Eve had broke the precept ¶ Whiche clerkes call the tyme of deuyacyon ¶ The worldly people in paynym law slept ¶ Tyll moyses vnd{er} god the tables of stone kept ¶ In whiche tyme Poetes feyned many a fable ¶ To dyscrete Reason ryght acceptable ¶ And to the entent that they sholde sounde ¶ To the eeres of hem the more pleasantly ¶ That they{m} sholde rede or here the yaue they{m} a grou{n}d{e} ¶ And addid names vnto they{m} naturally ¶ Of whom they spake & callid he{m} goddis hy ¶ Some for the strength & myght of her nature ¶ And some for her sotyll wytty coniecture ¶ By nature thus as the seuen planettes ¶ Haue her propre names by Astronomeres ¶ But goddys were they called by old Poetes ¶ For her gret feruency of werkyng in her speres ¶ Experyence preueth this at all yeres ¶ And for as other that goddys called be ¶ For sotyll wytte that shall I teche the ¶ How they by that hyghe name of god cam ¶ In this sayd tyme the people was so rude ¶ That what maner creature man or woman ¶ Coude ony newelte contryue and conclude ¶ For the comon wele all the multytude ¶ Of the comon people a god sholde hym call ¶ Or a goddesse after hit was fall ¶ Of the same thyng that was so newefounde ¶ As Ceres for she the crafte of tylthe fonde ¶ Wherby more plentouously corne dyd habou{n}de ¶ The people her called thrugh out euery londe ¶ Goddesse of corne wendyng in her honde ¶ Had layn all power of cornes habundaunce ¶ Thus were {the} Paynems deceyued by ignorau{n}ce ¶ In lyke maner Isys was called the goddesse ¶ Of frute for she fyrst made it multuply ¶ By the name of graffyng & soo by processe ¶ The name of Pan gan to deyfy ¶ For he fyrst founde the mene shepe to guy ¶ Some toke it also by her condycyon ¶ As Pluto Fortune and suche other doon