Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/216

Of evil priests And then divines who all the earth
O’errun that they may gather worth
Of worldly goods, and power and place,
Foremost in vice, and last in grace:
Most evil lives these preachers lead.
Treading in their unholy greed5420
Vainglory’s treacherous path, and eke
Thereby their souls’ damnation seek.
Their very selves do they deceive,
For through their preaching they receive
No vantage, though perchance their word
By others be with profit heard,
For if their sermonising be
Attaint with culpability,
Nought shall the preachers gain, but they,
Preaching, themselves are cast away,5430
And though the hearers virtue learn,
The teachers God’s damnation earn.

But let us leave the priests awhile,
And turn again unto the vile
Gold grubbers. Reverence, love, or fear
Of God they know not, but hold dear
Their pence alone: the trembling poor
They leave to starve beside their door,
Till God stretch forth His arm and show
How crime doth unto judgment grow.5440

Three cruel vengeances pursue
These miserable wretches who
Hoard up their worthless wealth: great toil
Is theirs to win it; then their spoil