Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 34
XXXIV
Herein we meet again sweet Reason,
Who ever, in or out of season,
Findeth, before all else, delight
For erring men the path to dight.4500
Reason reappears
While thus lamented I, aloud,
The many heavy griefs that bowed
My spirit, and all vainly sought
Comfort, I turned my head, and caught
Sight of Dame Reason, who had heard
My sighs, and unto pity stirred
Thereby,[errata 1] from out her tower descended.
And graciously towards me wended
With will to ease the grief she read
Within my visage. Thus she said:4510
Reason.
“My friend, how stands thy business now?
Of thy late folly dost not thou
Grow weary? What dost thou now think
Of lovers’ burdens? Dost thou sink
Beneath their weight? Or dost thou find
Therein delight and peace of mind?
Love’s burdens
Or bitter-sweet commingled? Say
Which of Love’s pleasures doth apay
Thine heart the best? Hast thou not then
For master one who slaveth men4520
All unawares, and evermore
Torments them? Fickle Fortune bore
Her kindly toward thee when she set
Thy feet within Love’s trammelling net,
And made of thee his bond! ’Tis clear
That little fathomed’st thou the cheer
Of him thou took’st for master, or
Thou ne’er hadst laid that fardel sore
Across thy shoulders, or, if thou
Becam’st his man, wouldst scarce, I trow,4530
Have borne his yoke a summer through,
Nor day, nor hour, had bowed thereto,
But, doubt I not, without delay
His homage hadst thou cast away.
Still dost thou know him?”
The Lover.
“Yea, heartwhole.”
Reason.
“You jest!”
The Lover.
“Not I.”
Reason.
“Upon thy soul?”
The Lover.
“He spake and said: ‘Thou oughtst to feel
Much honoured that thy name I seal
For servant to so great a lord.’”
Reason.
“Hast thou than that no surer word?”4540
The Lover.
“Nay, for when once his laws were said,
With eagle flight his wings he spread
And vanished, leaving me aghast.”
Reason.
Reason scoffs at Cupid
“Certes! ’twas no great thing that passed
Betwixt ye; well it were to know
More of that master who hath so
Entreated thee that, scarce e’en now
I recognised thy face, I vow.
Surely no creature doth exist,
Whate’er his trouble, who more trist4550
And doleful looks.
’Twere right ye should
Know well the lord ye serve, then could
Ye find perchance some way from out
The Lover.
“That, by our Lady, may not be,
Love’s liegeman sworn am I, and he
Ruleth my heart. Yet do I writhe
Thereunder, and were fain and blithe
To cast his yoke, if shown the way.”
Reason.
Reason’s exposition
“Then, by my head! will I essay4560
To teach thee. If thy heart doth yearn
For knowledge, thou mayst clearly learn
From me a thing by no means clear,
And thou, though ignorant, shalt hear
And know such matters as no man
Hath heard or dreamed of since began
The sun his rounds. This thing alone
I know for certain: if some one
His heart hath given to Love, there is,
To end his miseries, nought but this—4570
To fly. Now will I loose the knot
Which thou hast found drawn tight, I wot.
Give then thy most attentive ear,
And learn Love’s good and evil cheer:
Love oftentimes is amorous hate,
And hating, most affectionate,
Disloyal loyalty past reason,
And loyalty that nurseth treason,
’Tis craven fear, as lion bold,
’Tis ardent hope, all deadly cold,4580
Contrarities of Love
’Tis reason all unreasonable,
A raving madman, calm and stable;
A peril sweet, delightful fear,
A heavy burden light to bear,
Charybdis perilous and dread,
Horror to sweetest softness wed,
’Tis sickness wrapped in rudest health,
One sound, who haileth pain as wealth;
’Tis hunger overdone with meat,
’Tis covetousness with gold replete;4590
’Tis one, who sated, cries for drink,
’Tis thirst that doth from water shrink;
’Tis sadness gay, ’tis joyance sad,
’Tis calm contentment raving mad;
’Tis evil good, ’tis good malign,
’Tis odour sweet that savoureth swine;
’Tis holiness made up of sin,
’Tis crime that paradise may win;
A torment full of sweet delight,
A felon outrage pure and bright;4600
A game of hazard, constant never,
Ever the same, yet changing ever;
Weakness it is as Samson strong,
Doing the right for sake of wrong;
’Tis mighty strength devoid of force,
Yet strong enough to stay the course
Of Phœbus; folly wondrous wise
It is, and joy that mirth defies;
’Tis laughter fraught with sighs and tears,
Repose that knows no rest for years;4610
’Tis hell endowed with sweetest bliss,
’Tis heaven, a heap of miseries,
A dungeon foul of paradise,
A May-tide midst of snow and ice;
A moth which deigns alike to fret
Coarse woollen cloth and fine brunette;
For love will thrive as well between
Rough blankets as fair silken sheen,
And no man yet was born so wise,
Nor bore such quarterings and device,4620
Nor proved himself of such great might
In counsel, court, or field of fight,
Nor showed himself so stern and grim
But what strong Love hath conquered him.
Except I those of vile estate,
Cast out and excommunicate
By Genius, insomuch that they
Have given their lives and souls away
To such-like crime as none may name,
Of sense bereft and lost to shame.4630
No safety but in flight
Now if it be thy wish, above
The joys and pains alike of love
To set thee—flee—take not one sup
From out that sweet but venomed cup.
For thy disease there is but one
Complete and perfect guerison:
Flee Love, and Love from thee will flee,
Embrace him, and he’ll master thee.”
The Lover.
When heard I Reason beat the air
With many a word she well might spare,4640
I cried: “Good Lord! I know no more,
For all your talk, than heretofore,
How from my misery I may be
Deliverèd: all by contrary
You argue, but so far I nought
Have learned from all thy tongue hath taught.
By heart I know each saw that you
Have uttered, and will gladly do
All your commands; would God I might
Gain wisdom thence my soul to light.4650
But, by our Lady, I would know
What like may be this Love whom so
You blame and scorn; can you define
His ways and works, while I incline
A diligent ear to all you say?”
Reason.
Love’s aim
Quoth she: “Right readily, I pray
Thee give good heed: Love is, I trow,
A malady much prone to grow
Severe ’twixt folk of different sex,
And liable to sorely vex4660
Their minds. Once caught, betwixt the two
Befalls a strong desire to do
The self-same thing; to fondle, kiss.
And spend long hours in mutual bliss.
Love doth not crave by any measure
To fill the world—his aim is pleasure—
Thereto alone he gives his mind,
Not the engendering of mankind.
Yet on the other hand have I
Known some who loved but feignedly,4670
Of false lovers
Mocking fair ladies with pretence
Of true devotion and intense
And earnest love; full ripe to swear
Black-hearted lies for truths, where’er
They find fond dames, and thus they gain
Their pleasure oft through kind heart’s pain.
These are the jolly folk who thrive
At cost of others, and contrive
To show that better ’tis to be
Duper, than suffer dupery.4680
Now hearken what doth most befit
Love, as laid down in Holy Writ:
Although well ’ware am I that few
Follow the course God sets them to,
Namely, to carry on the race
He made, true image of his face.
Behold the end for which should mate
Man with a woman; to create
One who may follow him when he
Through God’s goodwill hath ceased to be.4690
For when the parents pass away,
Nature hath ordered it that they
Shall children leave, who, following still
Their forbears, shall the world refill.
Thereto her hand hath placed the fire,
Within man’s[errata 2] breast, of fierce desire,
That Love’s great work they should not hate,
But eagerly perpetuate
Their kind, which work were left undone
Unless soft joyance drew them on.4701
Nature herein with subtle hand
Doth work, and you may understand
How thus her nobleness doth speak
All trumpet-tongued ’gainst those who seek
Nought fairer in her work to see
Than carnal love and lechery.
For wot you well what those folk, who
But joyance seek herein, may do?
They give themselves as bondsmen o’er
To Satan, lord high chancellor4710
Of all foul vices, seen that this
The very fount and wellspring is
Of man’s worst woes, as Tully says.
Who, in his book ‘Of old age,’ lays
It clearly down that age should more
Be valued and esteemed therefore
Than youth, for man and maid doth youth
To follies numberless, forsooth,
Push on, and ’tis no simple thing
Both mind and body safe to bring4720
Through youth, devoid of shame, and free
From ills that curse posterity.
Youth and Age
In youth run lawless passions wild,
Till folly is on folly piled.
By loose companions led aside
Man changeth oft, and roaming wide,
Becomes at last, perchance, a monk;
Within some dreary convent shrunk,
He casts off Nature’s glorious gift
Of freedom, in the hope to lift4730
A fool to heaven when in the pew
Of vows he lives, like hawk in mew.
And then perchance he finds too great
The load, and out the convent gate
Fleeth[errata 3]; or craven fear or shame,
Maybe, will keep him there, and frame
Excuse to stay until he die,
Sighing and groaning woefully
For that fair freedom he hath lost;
Unless God, pitying the drear frost4740
That nips his every manly sense,
Grant patience and meek abstinence.
Youth’s joyousness
Through Youth’s quick goad ’tis people fall
To merry dance in bower and hall,
And ribald mirth and jollity,
While loose unbridled luxury
Doth cause within young hearts to rise
Desire, that bit and curb defies.
Such are the perils that attack
Bright youth astride fair Pleasure’s back.4750
And thus doth Pleasure deftly bind
Within his toils both body and mind
Of men, through Youth his chamberlain,
Who is of every folly fain,
And draws them on to crime, while they
List not his yoke to cast away.
But eld is she who casteth off
Folly; and if thereat you scoff.
Go ask the elders, who have been
Youth’s victims, but at last have seen4760
Escapement thence (and now repent
The madness which their backs hath bent),
Whether they’re not right glad to be
From thrall of Youth exempt and free.
Old age it is that brings men straight
With safety towards the postern-gate
Of life, but natheless, though she be
Heartwise and worthiest company,
Few people love her voice to hear,
Nor hail her steps, approaching near,4770
With welcome; nay, forsooth they hate
Her name as she were reprobate
And villain. For no man desires
To wed with Age and quench the fires
Of Youth that still burn clear and bright
In memory. Still old men delight
To stir the thought of bygone days,
And as the sun with setting rays
Gildeth awhile the world, so flings
Remembrance o’er far distant things,4780
With specious hand, a film of gold,
And putteth in dark shade the old
Forgotten troubles that, above
The throes of pleasure, ruled in love.
Right happy they if aught remains
Of health or goods as life tide wanes.
Youth’s dwelling place
But art thou fain to know where lives
Youth, unto whom the whole world gives
Such plenteous praise?
In Pleasure’s house
Her woning is, who keeps her thus4790
In bondage, nor desireth she
Aught else than bonded slave to be
To Pleasure; nay, therein she hath
Such joy that followeth she the path
Whereso she leads, and rendereth her,
Both body and soul, her worshipper.
The woning of Age
And where, deem’st thou, old age doth dwell?
To let thee know thereof were well
I trow, since thou must thither go
Unless in youth death lay thee low4800
Within his den, a dreary spot,
Dark, cold, and gloomy, well I wot.
Within Eld’s woning, Grief and Pain
Are lodged, and many a cruel chain
They bind around her, while they scourge[errata 4]
Her limbs, and point dread death to urge
Her soul to penitence, and she
Remembereth, all too tardily
(Hoar-headed, reft of every tooth),
How she hath been deceived by Youth,4810
Who all her years of vigour spent
In folly; now doth she repent
Her wasted preterite, and would fain
By painful penance seek to gain
Future forgiveness of the sin
Committed long ago, and win
Sweet heaven thereby, and thus redeem
Those days, that now so worthless seem,
When youth and all its joyance drew
Her feet from virtue’s paths, and slew4820
Remembrance of how quickly pass
The glorious hours of youth; alas!
Too late she sees how brief a time
Endure those days of golden prime.
Now whenso lovers will to do
The work Dame Nature sets them to,
True end of wedlock
Their thought therein should be of sweet
And pure enjoyment; when two meet
In marriage, nowise should they fear
Lest round about their hearth appear4830
Young faces, nor should think to shirk
Duties that wait on Nature’s work.
But many a woman, as I know,
Doth desolate of spirit grow
Whene’er she finds herself with child,
Yet dares not show it e’en by mild
Complaint, for fear she suffer blame
As lost to modesty and shame.
But soothly when in love’s delight
Twain join, they do but seek to ’quite4840
Their debt, except those slaves of vice,
Who set their bodies at a price.
Dame Nature’s laws account they nought,
By shameless compact sold and bought.
That woman all men worthless hold
Who sets herself to sale for gold,
And he a fool were who should take
A quean who loves for lucre’s sake;
Deems he a woman holds him dear
When he forsooth hath purchased her?4850
Is he so foolish as to dream
A woman hath for him extreme
And tender love, because in her
He finds a smooth-tongued flatterer?
O fool, bewitched with amorous smile!
O fool, that lets a strumpet’s guile
Master his heart; wife good and pure,
As jewel bright, through life will dure,
But folly ’tis to mate oneself
With one whose only thought is pelf 4860
Of gifts between lovers
And pillage. But I nowise say
It shames ii woman to display
On neck or arm a jewel fair,
If some true knight hath set it there
In gift; but ne’er should dame demand
An offering at her lover’s hand;
That savoureth much of sale, but she
May, saving still her modesty,
Exchange a token with her knight;
By such sweet take and give, more bright4870
The flame of love doth burn.
’Tis well
That lovers meet full oft, and tell
The thoughts that brim their hearts, and lace
Their arms in gentle, fond embrace.
But keep good heed against the wiles
Of love unholy, which defiles
Its votary; ne’er cease to be
On guard against venality,
Which heart untrue doth oft invade,
O’er true love casting deadly shade.4880
But perfect love is born of heart
Where gold hath neither lot nor part;
Nor should man let that love inmesh
His soul, whose trammels wake the flesh.
The burning love which overcame
Thy heart was carnal, purer flame
Burnt not within thee; thou the Rose
Thereof didst wish to pluck, God knows!
But far art thou from thy desire.
And that ’tis robs thine eye of fire4890
And pales thy cheek. O thou didst get
A fatal guest when moved to set
The door ajar that Love might come,
And make thy too fond heart his home.
Now rede I thee to drive him hence
Who clogs each high and noble sense,
To thy great loss and detriment.
The ills love entails
Full many a glorious soul hath spent
Vainly its force, intoxicate
With Love’s dread philtre: sad thy fate4900
Would prove, if all thy youth should be
Consumed in Love’s wild revelry,
And thou shouldst all too late behold
Thy life laid waste. If thou so bold
And strong art found that thou canst cast
And break Love’s bonds, thou then time past
Mayst mourn, but canst recover never.
But if, ere death comes, thou canst sever
Thyself from love, thereat mayst thou
Rejoice, for he hath known to bow4910
Men ’neath his yoke who thus have lost
All life holds dear—his power hath cost
Them body and soul, and strength and health,
And stripped them bare of worldly wealth.”
The Lover.
Thus Reason spent her words in air,
For Love had ta’en effectual care
That I should nought of profit draw
From all her wise and sober saw,
The Lover deaf to Reason
Though strict attention had I given
To every word, as though from Heaven4920
Her message came. But Love so held
My heart in bond, that he compelled
Me, as his thrall and liege confessed,
To shape my thought as pleased him best,
Keeping my heart beneath his wing,
While, as with shovel, did he fling
From out my head each sapient word
That I from Reason’s mouth had heard
Fall, and e’en fast as in one ear
Words entered, so did they appear4930
From out the other, insomuch
That nowise did her sermon touch
My spirit but to raise my ire.
Then cried I: “Is it your desire,
Madam, that I should feel despite
’Gainst all my neighbours! Shall I ’quite
The world with hate because the God
Of Love hath laid on me the rod
Of pain and dole? I then should live
In mortal sin that ne’er forgive4940
Would God; and I should be forsooth
(If I should count your words for truth)
Worse than a heathen.
Either hate
Or love must be to me the gate
Of life. I have small lust to try
The former, until finally
I find that Love has thrust me forth,
And proved his promises not worth
One penny. Counsel strict you gave
That I, all hastily, should save4950
Myself from Love’s employ, or be
Accounted mad; but eloquently
Discoursed you of a love beside
The love I’m bound to, which you chide
So sharply. That’s a love, meseems,
So pure as men but meet in dreams,
Where all is fair, and nought is wrong.
I humbly beg thee to prolong
Thy wise discourse, and you may deem
Me fool if I give not extreme4960
Attent thereto, and hear you out,
For you will teach me thus past doubt
The various forms of love, and show
The loves my spirit fain would know.”
Reason.
Various forms of love
“Good friend, no wiser than a daw
Art thou, who scarce above a straw
Esteem’st my sage discourse; yet fain
Thou seem’st to be that I amain
Should further speak of love. Good will
Have I to teach thee, hoping still,4970
Though doubtful if ’tis worth the while.
Love doth the soul of man beguile
In many ways, besides that blind,
Tormenting madness of the mind
’Neath which thou sufferest: God permit
That thou mayst free thy heart from it.
One precious kind of love men know
As friendship, where two spirits grow
Love of friends
Together, and no difference make
(For love of God and virtue’s sake)4980
Of thought, or speech, or worldly good,
But live in sweetest brotherhood,
With earnest purpose to fulfil
Thereby God’s high behest and will.
Each unto each should freely give
With open hand, and thus will live
Fair loyalty betwixt them both,
But lacking that, my tongue were loth
To call them friends.
In confidence
A friend should tell his friend each sense4990
That stirs his brain, nor doubt that he
Betray his trust. This certainty
Of faith becomes a bond to hold
With grip more firm than steel or gold,
True friends. Such perfect love unites
Those sworn in friendship, that the spites
Of Fortune move them not; though poor
One man become, his rich friend’s door
Is closed not on him, but one roof
Will cover both, in earnest proof5000
Their hearts are one. If one friend see
His fellow tend towards poverty,
With ready hand will he afford
Quick, generous succour, unimplored,
Nor leave unto his friend the task
Ungrateful, help or aid to ask,
For of a truth is bounty bought
Right dearly when with tears ’tis sought.