Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 37
XXXVII
This telleth how—the judgment given—
Virginius unto madness driven,
Strake off his well-loved daughter’s head,
Though to her life his life was wed,5950
Preferring rather that his child
Should die unstained than live defiled ;
Then the sad head to Appius sent.
Who met his well-earned chastisement.
“FOR not in rage, but fondest love,
Virginius slew this spotless dove,
And then, all gory, at the feet
Of Appius cast her visage sweet
Tn open court, before the eyes
Of all who stood there, and loud cries5960
Of horror raised they. History saith
That the vile judge ordained the death
good Virginius, but the crowd,
The tale all heard, cried out aloud
That such foul treason must not be
Wrought, and yet find impunity:
But for his treachery, to the jail
Straightway the unjust judge they hale,
Who there foul expiation made,
By his own hand to hell betrayed.5970
And Claudius, witness false and base,
Had met the hangman face to face
Had not Virginius nobly craved
His pardon from the crowd, and saved
His pitiful life; agreed he went
Thenceforth to outer banishment,
While other witnesses forsworn
Met death beneath the people’s scorn.
Power and virtue consort not
Judges, in short, are scoundrels vile;
List ye what Lucan saith the while5980
In golden verse: ‘Vain hope! to find
Great power with virtuous will combined.’
But if with hardened hearts they cling
To crime, and strive by pilfering
And robbery base to swell their stream
Of worldly wealth, the Judge supreme
Shall cast them down to hell, and there
Bid Satan cords of steel prepare
To bind their necks. Except I not
Proud kings or prelates, for their lot5990
Is cast with judges, whether they
Be shaven pates or people lay.
’Tis not for us these men to crown
With state, that they may trample down
Suitors, and every cause exploit
To fill their purses by adroit
Chicanery, and shut their door
To claimants cursed in being poor.
Judges the people's servants
But theirs in person ’tis to sit
Each cause to hear, and judge of it6000
With righteous care, for false or true,
With all the points that ’long thereto.
Slaves of the populace are they,
Who win full foison day by day
From mother earth, and not their will
It was to let these miscreants fill
Their maws by foul despoil. Their time
All folk should pass in peace, for crime
Judges should punish, and ’tis theirs
Themselves to mount the gallows stairs6010
And execution do on thieves,
If no man willingly relieves
Their hands thereof, for justice they
Should do whate’er the price they pay.
For since the people ’tis who ’quite
The justicers, undoubted right
Have they to justice, and a vow
These judges made thereto, I trow.
On their investment.
Thy request
Is now fulfilled, and thou mayst rest6020
Content, since I have given thee proof
Of all thou wouldst for thy behoof.”
The Lover.
Unseemly phrase
“That I allow, and fain confess
That words would fail me to express
My boundless thanks; but yet I heard,
Methinks, one most unseemly word,
Both wanton and inconsequent,
Which, if thereon my wit were spent,
All lightly I could show to be
Most gross, used indecorously,6030
Leaving you bare of all excuse.”
Reason.
“I know the word that doth induce
Thy wrath,” quoth she, “but thou shalt hear
Me later purge and make all clear
That word, if such be thy desire.”
The Lover.
“That certainly shall I require.
Most clearly in my memory fixed
Is that unseemly word you mixed
In your discourse, when you began
To rail at justice dealt to man.6040
But my great master bid me not
(His counsel ne’er have I forgot)
Speak any ribald word, and he
Shall be obeyed implicitly.
But since that word I did not name,
To me ’twill not be counted shame
Reason reproved
Though I repeat it. Not in vain
He speaks who to a fool makes plain
His foolishness. It is but right
That you should see in clearest light6050
How you, who hold yourself so high,
Have spoken most immodestly.”
Reason.
“I think I understand the gist
Of what thou say’st, but wherefore twist
My words to mean that I would urge
Thee on to hate? Shouldst thou emerge
From out one folly, pray what need
Is there that what I say should lead
On to another ? If I advise
Thee to forsake thy mad emprise6060
Of love, should that then indicate
A wish to see thee turn towards hate?
Horace hath writ—no dullard he—
That fools from one absurdity
Fall to a greater, and their last
Estate is worse than that they’ve passed.
The love whereof I raise alarm,
Is one that scarce can fail to harm
Thy life.
If I on thee should press
To flee the vice of drunkenness,6070
Wouldst thou suppose I’d have thee shrink
From every kind of wholesome drink?
Such counsel wouldst thou treat with scorn,
As not worth one poor peppercorn.
If I condemn a spendthrift’s ways,
It follows not I therefore praise
And recommend the converse vice
Of hard and grasping avarice.
I never spake so foolishly.”
The Lover.
“Nay, but you did.”
Reason.
Reason justifies herself
“’Fore God, ye lie!6080
Think’st thou to baffle me, I pray?
’Tis not to flatter thee I say
That of old lore thou know’st but little,
And of sound logic not a tittle.
It is not thus that I have read
Of love; but ne’er my mouth hath said
That hate should thrive.
Another sort
Of love is that which I exhort
Thee to embrace, the which I find
To bring both grace and peace of mind.6090
Another love Dame Nature gives
To every bird and beast that lives
On earth, through which to birth they bring
Their young and give them nourishing.
If thou perchance shouldst wish to know
What is this love, and whence doth flow
Its force, I answer that ’tis given
To all God’s creatures under heaven,
Fecundity Nature’s end
That they in loving pairs may mate,
And duly thus perpetuate6100
Their varied kinds with joyance rare,
Alike in water, earth, and air.
All creatures that Dame Earth doth own
For children, to this love are prone;
Which though it profits divers ways,
Yet casts no blame, nor merits praise,
For neither is it good or bad,
But since the world first rose it had
Its laws, and following those, no wrong,
Or vice, or blame, thereto belong,6110
But grievous wrong ’twere to reject
Dame Nature, and her laws neglect.
For instance, he who eats his food
Scarce merits praise as wise and good
Therefor, but he who nought at all
Will eat, a fool we justly call.
’Tis not this love, I doubt, that thou
Wouldst give thy heart to, but I trow
A love more mad dost thou design
To spend thy youth on; O incline6120
Thine ear to my advice, and leave
That love, it flattereth to deceive.
But prithee, dream not that my will
It is no loving friend should fill
Thy heart. Wilt thou not for thy love
Take me? Am I not fair above
Ten thousand, fit to rule the home
Reason
Reason proffers her love
Behold then, as my love and friend
Thou hast the choice thy life to spend.6130
Wot’st thou how great the gift I throw
Here at thy feet? Thou ne’er shouldst know
The pain of void unsatisfied,
But over all mischance shouldst ride
Triumphant, and shouldst lordly soar
’Bove proudest king or emperor.
How high soe’er thy soul aspire
Thou nought shalt fail of thy desire,
Seen thou art ready to fulfil,
Unmurmuring, all my sovereign will.6140
Dost thou with me in love engage,
One shall be thine whose lineage
Surpasseth all men might compare
Therewith, for I am child and heir
To God supreme, whose power and grace
Hath shed o’er all my form and face
His own unclouded brightness. See,
Dear friend, what beauty glows in me:
Yet ne’er hath dame of high repute
Loved with a love so absolute.6150
’Tis by my father’s will I make
That man my friend whose love I wake;
Nor need we tremble to incur
From him displeasure or demur,
But he will guard us ’neath his wing.
Say then, what think’st thou of this thing?
The god who holds thy heart in snare
So tightly, is his yoke more fair
Than this I offer? Doth he give
Guerdon more rich to those who live6160
Beneath his sceptre? For God’s sake
Refuse me not, or else will ache
My heart with pain which maidens know
Alone, who pine ’neath passion’s glow.
Bethink thee what Dan Ovid saith
Of Echo, and her woeful death.”
The Lover.
“From your hard Latin phrase I blench,
Can you not speak plain wholesome French?
Say plainly what you ask of me.”
Reason.
Despise Love and Fortune
“Fain would I thou my friend shouldst be,6170
And I thy humble slave. Forsake
Thy cruel God of Love, and make
No count of Fortune and her wheel
(Not worth a prune is she), but steel
Thy heart like Socrates, who ne’er
In all his life was swayed by her.
She smiled, his heart grew nowise gay;
She frowned, he laughed her frowns away.
Whatso of good or ill he met,
Was each ’gainst each in balance set,6180
Nor deigned he say that this was good,
Or that was fraught with drearihood.
No evil chances could destroy
His peace, nor good luck move to joy.
Fortitude of Socrates
Of all who lived was he the man
Judged by Apollo Pythian
For wisest, as Solinus saith;
For ne’er could Fortune’s changeful breath
Alter his visage—still ’twas seen,
In joy unmoved—in woe serene.6190
And even when, because, quoth he,
‘There is but one great Deity,’
They brought to him the poison cup,
Calmly he drank the potion up,
Charging his gaolers they should ne’er
By more than one God use to swear.
Bethink you of Diogenes[errata 1]
And Heraclitus, both of these[errata 2]
Had[errata 3] held it scorn that joy or woe
Should glad their souls or overthrow6200
Their calm of mind; without a sigh
Or smile they met stern destiny.
Follow these wise men’s ways, nor swerve
Therefrom, wouldst thou my love deserve.
But let not Fortune’s freaks dismay
Thine heart, although foul tricks she play.
A puny wrestler should I call
The man who suffers Fortune’s fall
Without a struggle, but a-low
Will lie, abashed by overthrow.6210
No man should let himself be ta’en,
But give her buffets back again
With vigour; Fortune faintly fights
With him who hardy battle dights,
And he who strikes and fears her not,
Whether in palace or in cot,
Shall win the vantage. Caitiff base
Is he who flincheth ’fore the face
Of Fortune when he feels her grip,
And suffereth her his feet to trip.
Shame and disgrace it is to see
A strong man unresistingly
Submit his neck to hangman’s cord;
Nor sympathy nor pitying word
Have I for such an one.
Despise
With sturdy heart the flattering lies
Of Fortune, whether she pretend
On thee her love or spite to spend.”