The desteny is a thyng accydent, And by the werke doth take the effecte; Tyll it be done it is ay precedent, And man from it can him selfe abject. Thus every chaunce doth Fortune derecte. Wherfore, by reason, La Graunde Amoure Must sue unto me to do him socour. Aha! quod Mars, suche a one as thou I never knew before this ceason; For thou thy selfe doost so much enprou Above the havens by exaltacion; But what for all thy commendacion? Arte thou now any thing substanciall, Spirituall, or els yet terrestryall? How can a werke perfitely be grounded But in these two? and thou arte of those: Wherfore for nought thou mayst be confounded; For nought in substaunce can nothing transpose; Of none effecte thou canst thy selfe disclose; How hast thou power, in any maner of case, In heven or earth without a dwellyng place? But that poetes hath made a figure Of the, for the great sygnification The chaunge of man so for to discure, Accordyng to a moralyzacion; And of the trouth to make relacion, The man is fortune in the propre dede, And not thou that causeth hym to spede. What nedeth him unto his selfe to sue, Sythen thou art the dedes of his chaunce; Thou to rule man, it is a thynge not true, Nowe wherupon doth hange this ordenaunce, But accedent upon the governaunce Of the hye bodis, whiche doth man dispose The dede to do as hym lyst purpose. To here of Mars the marveylous argument, And of Fortune, I was sore amased; Tyll that I sawe a lady excellent, Clerely armed, upon whome I gased, And her armes ful prevely I blased: The shelde of golde, as I well understande, With a lyon of asure through passande. To me she came, with lowely countenaunce, And bad me welcome unto that mancion, Ledyng me forth wyth joy and pleasaunce Into an hall of mervaylous facion, Right strongly fortyfyde of olde foundacion, The pillers of yvery garnished with golde, With perles sette and broudred many a folde. The flore was paved with stones precious, And the rofe was braunched curiously Of the beten golde both gaye and glorious, Knotted with pomaunders right swetely, Encencing out the yll odours misty; And on the walles right well did appere The sege of Thebes depaynted fayre and clere. There were knightes playeng at the chesse, Which saw Minerve lede me in the hall; They lefte their play and all theyr besines, And welcomed me right gentely withall, With sir Nurture than moost in speciall, Accompanied of his brother Curtesy; They made me chere than full effectuall. And after that they brought me up a stayre, Into a chambre gayly glorified; And at the dore there stode a knight right fayre, Ye cleped Trouth, right clerely purified; His countenaunce was right well modified; To me he sayde that, before mine entres, Him for to love I should him promes.