From Mostellaria -

[ Fabrications ]

YOUNG LIONEL . To what may young men best compare themselves?
Better to what, then to a house new built,
The Fabricke strong, the chambers well contriv'd,
Polish'd within, without well beautifi'd;
When all that gaze upon the Edifice
Doe not alone commend the workemans craft,
But either make it their fair precedent
By which to build another, or at least,
Wish there to inhabite: Being set to sale,
In comes a slothfull Tenant, with a family
As lasie and debosht; Rough tempests rise,
Untile the roofe, which by their idlenesse,
Left unrepaired, the stormy showres beat in,
Rot the main Postes and Rafters, spoile the Roomes,
Deface the Seelings, and in little space,
Bring it to utter Ruine, yet the fault,
Not in the Architector that first reared it,
But him that should repaire it: So it fares
With us yong men; Wee are those houses made;
Our parents raise these Structures, the foundation
Laid in our Infancy; and as wee grow
In yeeres, they strive to build us by degrees
Story on story higher; up at height,
They cover us with Councell, to defend us
From stormes without: they polish us within,
With Learnings, Knowledge, Arts and Disciplines;
All that is nought and vicious, they sweepe from us,
Like Dust and Cobwebs, and our Roomes concealed,
Hang with the costliest hangings; Bout the Walls
Emblems and beautious Symbols pictured round;
But when that lasie Tenant, Love, steps in,
And in his Traine, brings Sloth and Negligence,
Lust, Disobedience, and profuse Excesse,
The Thrift with which our fathers tiled our Roofes
Submits to every storme and Winters blast,

Enter Blanda a Whore, and Scapha a Bawde .

And yeelding place to every riotous sinne,
Gives way without, to ruine what's within.
Such is the state I stand in.
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Plautus Titus Maccius
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