Piers Ploughman (Wright)/Passus 12
Passus Duodecimus, etc.
"Ydel was I nevere,
Though I sitte by myself,
In siknesse nor in helthe.
I have folwed thee, in feith!
Thise fyve and fourty wynter, 7440
And manye tymes have meved thee
To thynke on thyn ende,
And how fele fernyeres are faren,
And so fewe to come;
And of thi wilde wantownesse
Tho thow yong were,
To amende it in thi middel age,
Lest myght the failled
In thyn olde elde,
That yvele kan suffre 7450
Poverte or penaunce,
Or preyeres to bidde.
Si non in prima vigilia, nec in secunda, etc.[1]
"Amende thee, while thow myght;
Thow hast ben warned ofte
With poustees of pestilences,
With poverte and with angres;
And with thise bittre baleises
God beteth his deere children. 7460
Quem diligo, castigo.
"And David in the Sauter seith
Of swiche that loveth Jhesus:
Virga tua et baculus tuus ipsa me consolati sunt.[1]
"Al though thow strike me with thi staf,
With stikke or with yerde,
It is but murthe as for me,
To amende my soule.
And thow medlest thee with makynges, 7470
And myghtest go seye thi Sauter,
And bidde for hem that gyveth thee breed,
For ther are bokes y-knowe
To telle men what Do-wel is,
Do-bet and Do-best bothe,
And prechours to preven what it is
Of many a peire freres."
I seigh wel he seide me sooth;
And som what me to excuse,
Seide Caton conforted me his sone, 7480
That clerk though he were,
To solacen hym som tyme,
As I do whan I make:
Interpone tuis interdum gaudia curis.
"And of holy men I herde, quod I,"[1]
"How thei outher while
Pleyden the parfiter,
To ben in manye places,
Ac if ther were any wight 7490
That wolde me telle
What were Do-wel and Do-bet
And Do-best at the laste,
Wolde I nevere do werk,
But wende to holi chirche,
And ther bidde my bedes,
But whan ich ete or slepe."
"Poul in his pistle," quod he,
"Preveth what is Do-wel:
Fides, spes, caritas, et major horum, etc.[1]
Feith, hope, and charité; 7502
And alle ben goode,
And saven men sondry tymes;
Ac noon so soone as charité.
For he dooth wel withouten doute,
That dooth as lewté techeth;
That is, if thow be man maryed,
Thi make thow lovye,
And lyve forth as lawe wole, 7510
While ye lyven bothe.
"Right so if thow be religious,
Ren thow nevere ferther
To Rome ne to Rochemador,
But as thi rule techeth;
And hold thee under obedience,
That heigh wey is to hevene.
"And if thow be maiden to marye,
And myght wel continue,
Seke thow nevere seint ferther 7520
For no soule helthe.
For what made Lucifer
To lese the heighe hevene?
Or Salomon his sapience,
Or Sampson his strengthe?
Job the Jew his joye
Ful deere a-boughte;
Aristotle and othere mo,
Ypocras and Virgile;
Alisaundre, that al wan, 7530
Elengliche ended.
Catel and kynde wit
Was combraunce to hem alle.
"Felice hir fairnesse
Fel hire al to sclaundre;
And Rosamounde right so,
Reufulliche to bileve,
The beauté of hir body
In baddenesse she despended.
Of manye swiche I may rede, 7540
Of men and of wommen,
That wise wordes wolde shewe,
And werche the contrarie.
Sunt homines nequam bene de virtute loquentes.[1]
"And riche renkes right so
Gaderen and sparen,
And tho men that thei moost haten
Mynistren it at the laste.
And for thei suffren and see 7550
So manye nedy folkes,
And love hem noght as oure Lord bit,
Thei lesen hir soules.
Date et dabitur vobis.
"And richesse right so,
But if the roote be trewe.
Ac grace is a gras therof
Tho grevaunces to abate.
Ac grace ne groweth noght
But amonges lowe; 7560
Pacience and poverte
The place highte ther it groweth,
And in lele lyvynge men,
And in lif holy,
And thorugh the gifte of the Holy Goost,
As the Gospel telleth.
Spiritus ubi vult spirat.
"Clergie and kynde wit
Cometh of sighte and techyng;
As the book bereth witnesse 7570
To burnes that kan rede.
Quod scimus loquimur, quod vidimus testamur.[1]
"Of quod scimus cometh clergie
And konnynge of hevene;
And of quod vidimus cometh kynde wit,
Of sighte of diverse peple.
Ac grace is a gifte of God,
And of greet love spryngeth;
Knew nevere clerk how it cometh forth, 7580
Ne kynde wit the weyes.
Nescit aliquis unde venit, aut quo vadit, etc.[1]
"Ac yet is clergie to comende,
And kynde wit bothe;
And namely clergie, for Cristes love
That of clergie is roote.
For Moyses witnesseth that God wroot
For to wisse the peple
In the olde lawe, as the lettre telleth, 7590
That was the lawe of Jewes,
That what womman were in avoutrye taken,
Were she riche or poore,
With stones men sholde hir strike,
And stone hire to dethe.
"A womman, as I fynde,
Was gilty of that dede.
Ac Crist of his curteisie
Thorugh clergie hir saved;
And thorugh caractes that Crist wroot, 7600
The Jewes knewe hemselve
Giltier as a-fore God,
And gretter in synne,
Than the womman that there was,
And wenten awey for shame.
"The clergie that there was,
Conforted the womman.
Holy kirke knoweth this,
That Cristes writyng saved hire.
So clergie is confort 7610
To creatures that repenten,
And to mansede men
Meschief at hire ende.
"For Goddes body myghte noght ben
Of breed, withouten clergie;
The which body is bothe
Boote to the rightfulle,
And deeth and dampnacion
To hem that deyeth yvele,
As Cristes caracte confortede, 7620
And bothe coupable shewed,
The womman that the Jewes broughte,
That Jhesus thoughte to save.
Nolite judicare, et non judicabimini.
Right so Goddes body, bretheren,
But if it be worthili taken,
Dampneth us at the day of dome,
As the caractes dide the Jewes.
"For-thi I counseille thee, for Cristes sake,
Clergie that thow lovye. 7630
For kynde wit is of his kyn,
And neighe cosynes bothe
To oure Lord, leve me;
For-thi love hem, I rede.
For bothe ben as mirours
To amenden oure defautes,
And lederes for lewed men
And for lettred bothe.
"For-thi lakke thow nevere logik,
Lawe ne hise custumes; 7640
Ne countreplede clerkes,
I counseille thee for evere.
For as a man may noght see,
That mysseth hise eighen;
Na-moore kan no clerk,
But if he caughte it first thorugh bokes.
Al though men made bokes,
God was the maister,
And seint spirit the samplarie,
And seide what men sholde write. 7650
"Right so ledeth lettrure
Lewed men to reson;
And as a blynd man in bataille
Bereth wepne to fighte,
And hath noon hap with his ax
His enemy to hitte,
Na-moore kan a kynde witted man,
But clerkes hym teche,
Come for al his kynde wit
To cristendom, and be saved. 7660
Which is the cofre of Cristes tresor,
And clerkes kepe the keyes
To unloken it at hir likyng,
And to the lewed peple
Gyve mercy for hire mysdedes,
If men it wolde aske
Buxomliche and benigneliche,
And bidden it of Grace.
"Archa Dei in the olde lawe
Levytes it kepten; 7670
Hadde nevere lewed man leve
To leggen hond on that cheste,
But he were preest or preestes sone,
Patriark or prophete.
For clergie is kepere
Under Crist of hevene.
Was ther nevere no knyght,
But clergie hym made.
Ac kynde wit cometh
Of alle kynnes syghtes, 7680
Of briddes and of beestes,
Of tastes of truthe and of deceites.
"Lyveris to-forn us
Useden to marke
For selkouthes that thei seighen,
Hir sones for to teche;
And helden it an heigh science
Hir wittes to knowe.
Ac thorugh hir science soothly
Was nevere no soule y-saved, 7690
Ne broght by hir bokes
To blisse ne to joye;
For alle hir kynde knowynges
Come but of diverse sightes.
"Patriarkes and prophetes
Repreveden hir science,
And seiden hir wordes and hir wisdomes
Nas but a folye;
And to the clergie of Crist
Counted it but a trufle. 7700
Sapientia hujus mundi stultitia est apud Deum.[1]
"For the heighe Holy Goost
Hevene shal to-cleve,
And love shall lepen out after
Into the lowe erthe;
And clennesse shal cacchen it,
And clerkes shullen it fynde.
Pastores loquebantur ad invicem.
"He speketh there of riche men right noght, 7710
Ne of right witty,
Ne of lordes that were lewed men,
But of the hyeste lettred oute.
Ibant magi ab oriente.
"If any frere were founde there,
I gyve thee fyve shillynges;
Ne in none burgeises cote
Was that barn born;
But in a burgeises place
Of Bethlem the beste. 7720
Sed non erat ei locus in diversorio, et
pauper non habet diversorium.
"To pastours and to poetes
Appered the aungel,
And bad hem go to Bethlem
Goddes burthe to honoure;
And songe a song of solas,
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
"Clerkes knewen it wel,
And comen with hir presentz, 7730
And diden homage honurably
To hym that was almyghty.
"Why I have tolde al this,
I took ful good hede
How thow contrariedest Clergie
With crabbede wordes,
How that lewde men lightloker
Than lettrede were saved,
Than clerkes or kynde witted men
Of cristene peple; 7740
And thow seidest sooth of somme,
Ac se in what manere.
"Tak two stronge men,
And in Themese cast hem,
And bothe naked as a nedle,
Her noon sikerer than oother;
That oon hath konnynge and kan
Swymmen and dyven;
That oother is lewed of that labour,
That lerned nevere swymme; 7750
Which trowestow of tho two
That is in moost drede?
He that nevere ne dyved,
Ne noght kan of swymmyng?
Or the swymmere that is saaf
By so hymself like,
Ther his felawe fleteth forth
As the flood liketh,
And is in drede to drenche,
That nevere dide swymme?" 7760
"That swymme kan noght," I seide,
"It semeth to my wittes."
"Right so," quod the renk.
"Reson it sheweth,
That he that knoweth clergie
Kan sonner arise
Out of synne, and be saaf,
Though he synne ofte,
If hym liketh and lest,
Than any lewed leelly. 7770
For if the clerk be konnynge,
He knoweth what is synne,
And how contricion withoute confession
Conforteth the soule;
As thow seest in the Sauter,
In Salmes oon or tweyne,
How contricion is comended,
For it cacheth awey synne.
Beati quorum remissæ sunt iniquitates,
et quorum tecta sunt, etc. 7780
"And this conforteth ech a clerk,
And covereth hym fro wanhope.
In which flood the fend
Fondeth a man hardest.
Ther the lewed lith stille,
And loketh after lente,
And hath no contricion er he come to shrifte,
And thanne kan he litel telle,
But as his lores-man lereth hym
Bileveth and troweth; 7790
And that is after person or parissh preest,
The whiche ben peraventure
Unkonnynge to lere lewed men,
As Luc bereth witnesse:
Dum cæcus ducit cæcum, etc.
"Wo was hym marked
That wade moot with the lewed!
Wel may the barn blesse that man
That hym to book sette,
That lyvynge after lettrure 7800
Saveth hym lif and soule.
Dominus pars hereditatis meæ,
Is a murye verset,
That hath take fro Tybourne
Twenty stronge theves;
Ther lewed theves ben lolled up,
Loke how thei be saved.
"The thef that hadde grace of God
On Good-friday, as thow spekest,
Was for he yald hym creaunt to Crist on the cros, 7810
And knewliched hym gilty,
And grace asked of God,
That to graunten it is redy
To hem that buxomliche biddeth it,
And ben in wille to amenden.
Ac though that theef hadde hevene,
He hadde noon heigh blisse,
As seint Johan and othere seintes
That deserved hadde bettre.
"Right as som man yeve me mete, 7820
And a-mydde the floor sette me,
And hadde mete moore than y-nough,
Ac noght so muche worshipe
As tho that seten at the syde table,
Or with the sovereynes of the halle;
But sete as a beggere bord-lees
By myself on the grounde.
So it fareth by that felon
That a Good-friday was saved.
He sit neither with seint Johan, 7830
Symond ne Jude,
Ne with maydenes ne with martires,
Confessours ne wydewes;
But by hymself as a soleyn,
And served on erthe.
For he that is ones a thef
Is evere moore in daunger,
And, as lawe liketh,
To lyve or to deye.
De peccato propitiato, noli esse sine metu.[1]
And for to serven a seint 7842
And swich a thef togideres,
It were neither reson ne right
To rewarde hem bothe y-liche.
"And right as Trojanus the trewe knyght
Dwelte noght depe in helle,
That oure Lord ne hadde hym lightly out,
So leve I the thef be in hevene.
For he is in the loweste of hevene, 7850
If oure bileve be trewe;
And wel loselly he lolleth there,
By the lawe of holy chirche.
Qui reddit unicuique juxta opera sua, etc.[1]
"And why that oon theef on the cros
Creaunt hym yald
Rather than that oother theef,
Though thow woldest appose,
Alle the clerkes under Crist 7860
Ne kouthe the skile assoille.
Quare placuit, quia voluit.
"And so I seye by thee
That sekest after the whyes,
And a-resonedest Reson
A rebukynge as it were;
And of the floures in the fryth,
And of hire faire hewes,
Wherof thei cacche hir colours
So clere and so brighte; 7870
And willest of briddes and of beestes,
And of hir bredyng, to knowe,
Why some be a-lough and some a-loft,
Thi likyng it were;
And of the stones and of the sterres
Thow studiest, as I leve;
How evere beest outher brid
Hath so breme wittes.
"Clergie ne kynde wit
Ne knew nevere the cause; 7880
Ac kynde knoweth the cause hymself,
And no creature ellis.
He is the pies patron,
And putteth it in hir ere
There the thorn is thikkest
To buylden and brede.
And kynde kenned the pecok
To cauken in swich a kynde;
And kenned Adam
To knowe his pryvé membres, 7890
And taughte hym and Eve
To helien hem with leves.
"Lewed men many tymes
Maistres thei apposen,
Why Adam ne hiled noght first
His mouth that eet the appul,
Rather than his likame a-logh;
Lewed asken thus clerkes.
"Kynde knoweth whi he dide so,
Ac no clerk ellis, 7900
Ac of briddes and of beestes
Men by olde tyme
Ensamples token and termes,
As telleth the poetes;
And that the faireste fowel
Foulest engendreth,
And feblest fowel of flight is
That fleeth or swymmeth;
And that the pecok and the pehen
Proude riche men bitokneth; 7910
For the pecok, and men pursue hym,
May noght flee heighe,
For the trailynge of his tail
Overtaken is he soone,
And his flessh is foul flessh,
And his feet bothe,
And un-lovelich of ledene,
And looth for to here.
"Right so the riche,
If he his richesse kepe, 7920
And deleth it noght til his deeth-day,
The tail of alle sorwe
Right so as the pennes of the pecok
Peyneth hym in his flight.
So is possession peyne
Of pens and of nobles,
To alle hem that it holdeth,
Til hir tail be plukked.
"And though the riche repente thanne
And bi-rewe the tyme 7930
That evere he gadered so grete,
And gaf therof so litel;
Though he crye to Crist thanne
With kene wil, I leve,
His ledene be in oure Lordes ere
Like a pies chiteryng.
And whan his caroyne shal come
In cave to be buryed,
I leve it flawme ful foule
The fold al aboute, 7940
And alle the othere ther it lith
Envenymeth thorugh his attre.
"By the po feet is understande,
As I have lerned in Avynet,
Executours false frendes
That fulfille noght his wille
That was writen and thei witnesse
To werche right as it wolde.
Thus the poete preveth that the pecok
For hise fetheres is reverenced, 7950
Right so is the riche
By reson of hise goodes.
"The larke, that is a lasse fowel,
Is moore lovelich of ledene,
And wel a wey of wynge
Swifter than the pecok,
And of flessh by fele fold
Fatter and swetter;
To lowe libbynge men
The larke is resembled. 7960
"Aristotle the grete clerk
Swiche tales he telleth.
Thus he likneth in his logik
The leeste fowel oute,
And wheither he be saaf or noght saaf
The sothe woot no clergie,
Ne of Sortes ne of Salomon
No scripture kan telle.
Ac God is so good, I hope,
That siththe he gaf hem wittes 7970
To wissen us weyes therwith
That wissen us to be saved,
And the bettre for hir bokes
To bidden we ben holden,
That God for his grace
Gyve hir soules reste.
For lettred men were lewed men yet,
Ne were loore of hir bokes."
"Alle thise clerkes," quod I tho,
"That in Crist leven, 7980
Seyen in hir sermons
That neither Sarsens ne Jewes
Ne no creature of Cristes liknesse
Withouten cristendom worth saved."
"Contra," quod Ymaginatif thoo,
And comsed for to loure;
And seide "Salvabitur
Vix justus in die judicii.
Ergo salvabitur," quod he,
And seide na-moore Latyn. 7990
"Trojanus was a trewe knyght,
And took nevere Cristendom,
And he is saaf, so seith the book,
And his soule in hevene.
For ther is fullynge of font,
And fullynge in blood shedyng,
And thorugh fir is fullyng,
And that is ferme bileve.
Advenit ignis divinus non comburens,
sed illuminans, etc. 8000
"Ac Truthe that trespased nevere,
Ne traversed ayeins his lawe,
But lyveth as his lawe techeth,
And leveth ther be no bettre;
And if ther were, he wolde amende,
And in swich wille deieth,
Ne wolde nevere trewe god,
But truthe were allowed,
And wheither it be worth or noght worth,
The bileve is gret of truthe, 8010
And an hope hangynge therinne
To have a mede for his truthe.
For Deus dicitur quasi dans vitam
æternam suis, hoc est fidelibus.
Et alibi: Si ambulavero in
medio umbræ mortis.
"The glose graunteth upon that vers
A greet mede to Truthe,
And wit and wisdom," quod that wye,
"Was som tyme tresor 8020
To kepe with a commune,
No catel was holde bettre,
And muche murthe and manhod;"
And right with that he vanysshed. 8024