Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 42

Layout 2

XLII

This tells how Phanie to the king
Gave warning that his pride would bring
Him shameful death. The dream but sung
His knell, when he on gallows hung.

Phanie’s interpretation “‘Fair father,’ quoth the damosel,
‘This dream but rings your passing bell;
I count your pride not worth a cock;6891
The jade hight Fortune doth but mock
And jeer at you; by this portent
I clearly read that she is bent
That you, ere long, on gallows tree
Shall perish; and while mournfully,
The sport of winds, it swings in air,
Heaven’s rain upon your body bare
Shall beat, and then the scorching sun
Shall dry it. So doth Fortune run6900
Against you. She but gives and takes
As pleaseth her; one while she makes
The highest nought, and then amain
The pauper setteth up again
In wealth or splendour. Why should I
Betray your heart with flattery?
Fortune hath ruthlessly assigned
You to the gibbet, and will bind
The halter close about your neck,
And that gold crown that now doth deck6910
Your well-loved head will she uplift
Therefrom, and then as royal gift
Bestow it where you dream not. Hear,
While yet I make my rede more clear:
Jupiter and Apollo God Jupiter, who you did wash,
Is air and cloud, whose rains shall lash
Your corpse; and Phœbus, who bedried
Your body, clearly typified
The sun; the high beech tree,
What should it but the gallows be?6920
This cruel path you needs must tread,
Dear father; on your glorious head
Will Fortune wreak her wrath as one
Whose arrogant pride hath vengeance won:
No man, whate’er his dignity.
More than an apple counteth she.
High loyalty or treachery base,
Lordly estate or pauper case,
Are one to her. As shuttlecock
Which playful damsels lightly knock6930
Hither and thither, so doth she
Toss gifts and favours recklessly,
Without a thought whereso they fall,
On mansion proud or cobbler’s stall.
For good or bad hath she no care,
All, all alike her giftings share;
She valueth none above a pea,
Saving her child Nobility,
Misfortune’s cousin, and her friend,
Who doth in Fortune’s balance pend.6940
But Fortune, though she take away
Nobility from whom she may,
Will deal it forth to none except
Such as through every change have kept
Them pure in heart and courteous,
Upright, and good, and generous.
For never yet was man so bold
In field, but, if he chanced to hold
In heart some baseness, then would flee
Far from him fair Nobility.6950

True Nobility Nobility I greatly prize,
Because mean spirits in her eyes
Are hateful, and I meekly pray,
Dear father, that you cast away
All proud and villain thought, and reign
The good man’s prop, the bad man’s bane.
Make your dear heart the dwelling-place
Of gentle love and tender grace
For all poor folk; ’tis well a king
The portals of his heart should fling6960
Wide open. O my father, deign
To list my speech, you then shall gain
The people’s love; that lacking, poor
Is greatest king as rudest boor.’

O Phanie, precious words were these.
But never fool his folly sees
In other light than worthiest sense,
Wisdom he hears, but learns nought thence.

Thus Crœsus’ heart was obdurate,
And sternly scorned he to abate6970
His pride; if herein wise was he,
Or foolish, thou ere long shalt see.

Crœsus makes answer to Phanie.

The fall of pride ‘My daughter, neither courtesy
Nor sense you show herein,’ quoth he;
‘Much better versed am I than you
In what the Gods propose to do;
You do but treat me to a lie,
Interpreting most shamefully
This riddle hid within my dream:
Your gloss approacheth the extreme
Of witlessness: my dream will be
Fulfilled, I doubt not, literally:
Sure ne’er before did prophet dare
To shadow forth for dream so fair
Such vile fulfilment.
Yet will come
The Gods from out their sky-built home,
To work the end that they in sleep
Foretold to me, and I shall reap,
Dear child, from them such high reward
As they to those they love accord,6990
For well have I deserved of them.’”

Reason.

“Alas! the boastful apophthegm!
Fortune laid hand on him and gave
His body wastefully to wave
In wind and storm on gibbet hung,
And last be o’er the desert flung.

Doth this not plainly demonstrate
No man can cause her wheel to wait
Or stay its course, and thus be able,
Honour attained, to keep him stable?7000
| And dost thou aught of logic know
(Which falsity from truth doth show),
Thou’lt see, where great and strong men fall,
For poor and weak, the chance how small!
Manfred of Sicily But if examples thou shouldst scorn
From old authentic writings torn,
Then is it well that thou shouldst learn
That if thou wilt, thou need’st but turn
For good examples which have been
Before the eyes of all men seen,7010
Writ large for us in later days.
Of turmoils, battles, and affrays.
In Sicily we first may see
Lord Manfred, who by treachery
Long time unchallenged kept the land,
Till Charles of Anjou’s mighty hand
O’ercame him, and there reigns to-day,
Where no man dares dispute his sway.
Him thou mayst better know perchance
As Count of Anjou and Provence,7020
And who by providence of God
Is lord of Sicily’s fair sod.
This good King Charles from Manfred took
His kingdom not alone, but strook
The life from him; when he, with sword
Fine tempered, on the battle sward
Where first they met assailed him; high
On towering war-horse mounted: ‘Die,’
He cried, ‘shalt thou, for check and mate
I give thee,’ but soon met his fate,7030
Amid his goodly company,
By arrow-stroke, death pierced, fell he.
Death of Conradin It scarcely needs my page to blot
By telling of the woful lot
Of Conradin, whom Charles decreed
To death, although for him did plead
The German princes; or how fell
Henry, the prince of Spain as well,
In prison slain, as guerdon good
For one whose treason shamed manhood.7040
These two rash, foolish men, I ween,
Lost knights and rooks, and pawns and queen,
Till, seeing all against them scored,
They fled and left swept clear, the board.
Great fear they had lest round them spun
Should be the web they had begun,
Yet ne’er need they have been afraid
Lest they should see check-mate arrayed
Against them, since devoid of king
They fought, their foes could nowise bring7050
Those into check with whom they played,
Since first this noble game was made,
For never men at chess can fight
(How great soe’er the power they dight)
With check ’gainst those who fight afoot,
The pawn, or rook, or fool to boot,
Nor queen or knight, nor all the hoard
Of commoners who fill the board.
For of a truth I dare to state
What meaneth that men call ‘a mate’;7060
The king it is to whom we give
‘Check,’ when his men have ceased to live,
Or captive stand, and none he sees
Around him save his enemies,
And thus doth he in check remain,
Escape debarred, resistance vain.
The game of chess And thus saith Attains the wise,
Who did the game of chess devise
With worthy wit; its subtle trick
He found when deep arithmetic7070
He taught, and Polycraticus,
Of John of Sarum, showeth us
How he the intricate movements set,
Wherewith the game is played e’en yet.

From off the field these leaguers cleared,
Since to be captive ta’en they feared
Most bitterly. What say I then?
They feared captivity, these men?
Nay, but far worse; fierce death they fled,
Which ne’ertheless they sufferèd,7080
For in this wretched game had they
With impious daring played their play.
Despising faith, estranged from God,
They madly his chastising rod
Had bared their backs to; Holy Church
They braved, and found them left a-lurch.
And if their fortunes lay in wreck,
And on them cried their foes ‘a check!’
What wonder? Who would cover them,
Or who their tide of misery stem?7090
For when the onset came their queen
They lost, as well might be foreseen,
And then this worthless, foolish king
Lost rooks, knights, pawns, and everything.
Forsooth she nought was present there
But worn with grief, and wan with care
Could not defend herself nor flee,
Hearing how Manfred wretchedly
Lay dead and cold, head, hands, and feet.
Charles of Anjou And when these tidings men repeat7100
To good King Charles, how both these men
Like caitiffs fled the combat, then
On both he freely worked his will,
Giving command to slay and kill
Them and their fellows who had stood
To aid their impious hardihood.

This noble prince, whose deeds I sing,
Of many a tale hath been the spring.
May God preserve both night and day
His body, soul, and heirs I pray,7110
And grant such wisdom as ne’er fails:
The pride he conquered of Marseilles,
Whose rebel burghers’ heads lopped he
Ere yet high rule in Sicily
To him was given, where he as king
Was crowned, and vicar minist’ring
For all the Empire: but to write
His deeds at full must one indite
A ponderous tome.
See what became
Of all these favourites of fame7120
And Fortune.
Doth she not, I ask.
Make fools of those who calmly bask
Beneath her smiles?
At first they find
All fair, then comes a stab behind.
And thou, who joy’dst to kiss the Rose,
Through which to thee such misery grows
As seems would never more abate,
Dost thou desire it for thy fate
Ever to live in soft delight
Kissing fair roses, day and night?7130
Now swear I stoutly by my head,
Good sense within thee seemeth dead.
Victims of Fortune Lest thou beneath thy sorrow sink,
I counsel thee to muse and think
Of Manfred and of Conradin
And Henry, who, than Saladin,
Did deadlier crimes, since war they made
’Gainst Holy Church their nurse, who laid
Her curse on them, and mark how died
Those of Marseilles through fatal pride.7140
With ancient lore too well acquaint
Art thou that I again need paint
Vile Nero’s crime, or Crœsus’ fall,
Such lessons might’st thou well recall,
Showing how vain their power to stay
The turn of Fortune’s wheel one day.
I’faith! the freeman who in pride
Of freedom scorneth all beside,
Forgets how mighty Crœsus fell
From freedom’s heaven to serfdom’s hell,7150
And in his memory holds he not
Sad Hecuba’s unhappy lot,
The wife of Priam, nor the fate
Of Sisygambis, who the great
Darius, king of Persia, bore,
Yet Alexander fell before;
All these o’er realms in freedom reigned,
Yet slaves became when Fortune waned.
Study Homer’s page ’Fore God I count it shame to thee
That, having studied history,7160
Thou ne’ertheless hast clean forgot
Examples which thou well shouldst wot
From out great Homer’s page; why spend
Thy time in reading if the end
Is but forgetfulness, and nought
Thou hast by all thy study bought?
Who is there if thou still lackst wit
Except thyself to thank for it?
Each man great benefit will find
If Homer’s lessons in his mind7170
Are duly stored; each word he said
Should be with care rememberèd
While life endures, and he whose heart
Pastures thereon shall ne’er depart
From wisdom’s ways, but surely know
To tread her holy path, nor go
Therefrom: he no mischance need fear,
But safely through the world may steer,
Whatever haps of good or bad,
Hard, soft, sweet, bitter, bright or sad.7180
For he so perfectly doth paint
Dame Fortune’s tricks and manners quaint,
That every man may mark the sense
Who’s blest with slight intelligence.
’Tis strange thy brain should lie a-waste
If e’er thou Homer’s wit didst taste,
But this insensate game of love
Would seem all better sense to shove
Aside. To make my meaning clear
I’ll tell a tale, thereto give ear:7190

Jupiter’s two wells Great Jupiter hath dight two wells
Or water-tuns, as Homer tells,
Before the threshold of his door,
From which nor youth nor grandsire hoar,
Nor buxom dame, nor damsel slim,
(Nor young nor old, nor fair nor grim),
Who at his hands their being take,
But drink a draught their thirst to slake,
And o’er this inn, to all men free,
Fortune presides as deity,7200
And open-handed doth assign
To all who come, of well-spiced wine
Or wormwood, great or little cups,
But every man some liquor sups;
Her hand deals out or more or less,
As pleaseth best her fickleness.
And day by day the drinkers come
For barrels, hogsheads, gallons some,
And some for quarts and pints, or e’en
A palmful or a suplet mean,7210
As Fortune chooseth to bestow,
And cross or kind she haps to grow;
For while to some she’s soft and good,
To others hard as ebon wood.
And no man such great happiness
Can boast him, but that some distress
Shall come to dash his cup of joy;
Yet shall not misery destroy
Wise men’s content and peace of mind,
But each in darkest hour shall find7220
Some comforting, unless despair
O’erwhelm them. None, how great soe’er
His wisdom or his learning be,
For this can find a remedy.

Sighs and tears unmanly What purpose think you then can serve
These sighs and tears which so unnerve
Thy manhood? Cheerfully accept
Whatever Fortune’s hand hath kept
In store for thee of good or bad,
Joyous or dull, or bright or sad.7230

’Twere vain to tell the many turns
Of Fortune’s wheel, by which she earns
The name of fickle; pile and cross
She plays, a game of gain and loss,
And Fortune so her gifts doth cast
Around, that whether first or last
A man may be, he scarce can say
On loss or gain from day to day.

Of her awhile I’ll stay my tongue,
Although perchance I may ere long7240
Return thereto, when unto three
Righteous requests thou answerest me,
For readily from lips depart
Those things a man hath most at heart.
And shouldst thou my requests refuse,
In no degree mayst thou excuse
Thy folly, that can spare thee shame.
I firstly then request and claim
Thy love, and next that thou reject
Dan Cupid, thirdly, nought expect7250
From Fortune; and if thou too weak
Feel for this triple bond, I’ll seek
To spare thy strength, and will but ask
One simple boon, to light thy task.
List then my first demand; if thou
Thereto with ready heart wilt bow,
Then shalt thou from the other two
Be freed.
The example of Socrates Unless thy mind askew
Be turned as one who’s drunk or mad,
Thou’lt see that he whose soul is clad7260
In Reason’s garb must needs despise
Fortune and Love in carnal guise.
My well-loved friend, great Socrates,
Was one who scorned the vanities
Of Fortune and of Love alike,
God grant his great example strike
Thy heart, and make it one with mine,
And nought for this, as I opine,
Is lacking but thy word. Grant this,
My first request, and then, ywis,7270
Thou of the other two art quit,
Unglue thy lips, and therefrom flit
Thy answer—does thy heart agree?
Cry yea! and thou shalt find thee free
From further quests. Serve me alone,
Nor suffer treacherous love to wone
Within thy breast.
Cupid hath trapped
Thy courage, and thy memory sapped,
And round thy spirit’s eyes doth bind
A web whose woof obscures thy mind.”7280

Here the Lover replies to Reason.

Love before all else “Nay, nay!” I cried, “that would but be
To treat my master treacherously,
Who hath the power to make me rich
With wealth that monarchs’ palms might itch
In vain for. His kind hand will give
To me the Rose if I but live
True to my oath, and if I gain
That prize, I count all else but vain.
Your Socrates, and all his riches,
I value not three bodkin stitches;7290
I pray you speak of him no more;
My master, Love, I prize before
Aught else, and joyfully confess
His might, his love, his tenderness.
Nay, though he led the way to hell
I’d follow him and cry ‘’tis well.
My heart belongs no more to me,
’Tis his to deal with utterly,
And past persuasion am I loth
To make to any other oath7300
Of fealty; my testament
Fair-Welcome hath, wherein I’ve spent
My very soul; my fate is sealed
By law that ne’er can be repealed.
My precious Rose I would not change
For all your promise, nor estrange
My heart therefrom.
It seems to me
You lack the flower of courtesy,
For erstwhile did you cullions name,
A word no maid, with sense of shame,7310
Reason reproached Would set her tongue to. More than much
I marvel one so sage should smutch
Her speech with such a phrase, unless
She glossed it into seemliness.
Oft have I heard a gentle nurse
Washing an infant say ‘the purse’
(While she her love on it hath spent
With many a kiss and blandishment)
For that you named so shamelessly.
Speak out and say then, do I lie?”7320

Then Reason smiled a merry smile.
And smiling, thus she spake the while:

Reason.

“Fair friend, I may with justice call
(Yet nowise under censure fall)
That by its name which if not good
Is nothing ; no unseemlihood
I see therein. I feel no shame
For that which none as sin can blame.
Nay, even though ’twere thing unfit,
Yet may I fitly speak of it.7330
Rest you assured that when of sin
A matter savours, nought therein
Would I take part. But ’tis without
A taint of sin to speak about
Such things as God’s own hands have made,
Free of all gloss, and unafraid
Discourse of what in paradise
Our Maker ordered to suffice
For carrying on the human race
(Formed in the image of his face),7340
And which, except for these, had been
Void of succession, as I ween.
But in his wisdom God supplied
The purse and staff, which might provide,
By natural force, the race of men
In undisturbed succession; then
From age to age would mother earth
Rejoice, from whom they erst had birth.
For when one dies another lives;
That sire God takes, this child he gives.7350
And so likewise with beast and bird,
Some flit, but nature’s force hath stirred
Others to fill their place; through time
Ring life and death in equal chime.”

The Lover.

The Lover feels outraged Cried I, “You do but make things worse,
For now I reckon most perverse
And lewd your speech, not only bad
You seem to me, but downright mad.
For if so be that everything
From God’s unerring hand doth spring,7360
As you have said, at least not he
’Twas taught your tongue this ribaldry.”

Reason.

“Fair friend,” wise Reason said, “thou mak’st
A grievous error if thou tak’st
Folly for valiance; that it ne’er
Hath been, nor shall be; speak, nor spare,
If so thou wilt, my heart is fain
Thy good esteem and lore to gain;
Talk on if so thou wilt, and I
Will stand to hear thee silently.7370
Ready am I to suffer all
That may be; so thou dost not fall
From bad to worse, I care not how
Thou treat’st me, I my neck will bow.
Reason defends herself It seems as if thou’dst draw me on
To talk as fool or simpleton:
That is but vain, for thine own good
I speak to thee with hardihood:
Thine enemy forsooth were I
If I should stoop me angrily7380
To check thy folly. Vengeance is
An evil weapon, but, ywis,
Slander is worse. Some fitter way
Than that I’d surely find to pay
My vengeance were I thereto driven;
And if it happed that you had given
By word or deed offence to me,
’Twould be more fit that secretly
I gave reproof without disgrace
Or shame to thee; and if in face7390
Of kind and friendly counsel thou
Laughed me to scorn, ’twere then, I trow,
Better before some magistrate,
Whate’er the grievance were, to state
It calmly, and redress amain,
Receive or other vengeance gain
Unblameful. No desire to scold
My neighbours have I, or to hold
Them up to scorn, nor through my tongue
Shall good or evil folk be stung.7400
Let all and each their burdens bear,
And each and all confess them where
It please them, or confess them not,
The case is none of mine, God wot.
No lust have I to say or do
Such things as folly lead unto.
Although to keep a silent tongue
May be small merit, yet among
The foulest crimes it is to say
Things it behoves us hide away.7410

The tongue needs a bridle The tongue hath sorely need of rein,
As Ptolemy doth well explain
In that fair book, the ‘Almagest’;
For in its opening he addressed
Himself to show that those do well
Who keep their tongues beneath the spell
Of silence, saving when they raise
Loud voice to God in prayer or praise,
For then need men seek no excuse
However much their tongues they loose,7420
For never yet was tongue too free
In praising God’s high majesty.
Of due obedience, love, and fear
No mortal who life’s bark doth steer
E’er gave his God too much; his gift
It is that man from earth may lift
His soul to heaven.
Great Cato said
The same, as those well know who’ve read
His book, for we therein may find
He hath the highest praise assigned7430
To those who strictly keep the tongue
’Neath bridle; ‘Be not found among
Such folk as let their tongues run wild
In foolish, brutal speech, but filed
And polished be thy words:’ much good
Christians may learn from paganhood.

A daughter of the Deity On one thing will I make remark,
Although it be without a spark
Of hatred, blame or bitterness.
Saving thy grace, thou dost express7440
Thyself in terms which but reveal
That thou within thy heart dost feel
Displeasure great ’gainst me, and why?
My Father, who beyond the sky
Rules o’er the angels and no less
Is than the type of nobleness
To those on earth, most graciously
Hath in all good instructed me,
I by his precepts guide my speech,
Nor hesitate to give to each7450
Created thing its proper name,
Free from all gloss; but if you claim
That when God made all things ’twas not
From him they names distinctive got,
I answer that herein forsooth
Your words are not divorced from truth,
Though had it pleased him, well he might
Have done so when the world he dight.
But his good pleasure ’twas that I
Should name all things distinctively,7460
And indicate their use and sense
To further man’s intelligence,
And thereto gave he me that gift
Of speech, which man o’er brutes doth lift,
But to thy folly doth appear
More comely as it grows less clear.
Thou good authority mayst find
For that I say, if so inclinèd,
For, in his school, great Plato said,
That God the gift of talking shed7470
On man that, learning, he might teach
Others, and greater learning reach.

No names unseemly This proverb which I set in rhyme,
Was taught by Plato in old time
(Than whom ne’er lived more witful wight)
Within the book Timæus hight.
And since a word thou tak’st to task
I used erewhile, I dare to ask
Before the face of God, if I
Perchance had called Jove’s cullions by7480
The name of relics, and had named
Saints’ relics cullions, hadst thou blamed
That name and straightway wouldst thou find
Relics in no degree behind
The other as a blameful word?
’Twas I who gave the names which stirred
Your anger, and they are to me
Devoid all taint of ribaldry.
One’s free to use such words, i’faith,
Yet rest assured that nought he saith7490
To reprehend. Now if I’d named
The cullions relics, nought ashamed
Thou’dst been thereat, but hadst been fired
With approbation, and admired
The word as something quite divine,
And in the church wouldst thou incline
Thine head before them set in gold
And silver, and wouldst doubtless hold
Thy breath whilst with adoring kiss
Thou knelt’st before them. God, who is7500
All wise, will note the word I say,
Yet nought will turn his face away
In wrath.
Modern squeamishness By body of Saint Omer!
Dream’st thou that I do ill whene’er
I mention God’s good work? Shall I
To suit thee blame the Deity?
Each thing it pleased him to create
Must be by some name designate,
Therefore is thy contention dross,
That names for things we needs must gloss.7510
If noble dames of France use not
These words, the reason is, I wot,
Simply because the usance they
Have lost in this our squeamish day.
But if the fashion ’twas, no sin
Or harm fair dames would find therein.

In all the world there’s nought more strong
Than custom, whether right or wrong.
Men hate new ways until they through
Time’s course are old, which once were new.7520
Each woman who essays to speak
Hereof some periphrase will seek
As purse and staff, or things, or horns
(E’en as she gloved her hand ’gainst thorns).
But time and place according, nought
Objects if by such thorns she’s caught,
And following custom gives a name
To suchlike things, untouched by shame.
Plain speech is good No fault I find therewith, but I
My privilege claim equally7530
A thistle not to call a rose,
Or otherwise good words to gloze.

Within the schools one oft may hear
Lessons in parables made clear,
But grievous error those would make
Who should each word for gospel take.
And when of cullions I discoursed.
You put upon that word a forced
And needless sense. When I to you
Of those things spake, ’twas with the view7540
Of showing briefly what I meant
In parable, thereto was bent
My reasoning. Whosoe’er should see
The words of scripture literally,
Ere long would pierce the sense obscure
That lies beneath their coverture.
Uplift the veil that hideth truth,
And bright it flashes forth forsooth.
This shalt thou find if thou rehearse
The noble stories writ in verse7550
By ancient poets. Great delight
Will flood thy soul if thou aright
Dost read, for thou shalt see unrolled
Secret philosophy of old,
Profiting thou amused shalt be,
And thine amusement profit thee,
For oft their quip and crank and fable
Is wondrous good and profitable,
And much deep subtle thought they hide
’Neath veils torn easily aside.7560
Now have I given two words that should
By thee be scarce misunderstood,
And best were taken by the letter,
Gloss them thou mayst, but nought wilt better.”

The Lover.

The Lover forgoes blame “Lightly will all who know the tongue
Of our fair France allow you strung
Your words so clearly that no man
In any sort or fashion can
Misunderstand them. Needless quite
Is further talk to prove you right.7570
The fiction, fable, metaphor,
That poets wrote in days of yore,
I’ve no intention to expound.
Right joyfully will I resound
The pleasant tale of what hath happed
To me, if but my life be capped
With such rich guerdon as should pay
My constancy for many a day,
In suchwise as all men might see
Clearly whate’er hath happed to me.7580
I grant you to be well excused
The manner you your tongue have used,
And nowise shall I strive to fit
Your phrase with gloss, nor think of it.
But for sweet sake of God above,
Forbear to blame my ardent love.
If I be mad, ’tis my affair,
And well content am I to bear
The yoke of Love, and ever be
A slave ’neath his sweet mastery.7590
If I am mad, regard me not,
To Love I’m vowed, whate’er my lot,
And to the Rose have given troth-plight:
If wrong, ’tis wrong; if right, ’tis right.
If now my love I gave to you,
Alas! I then must prove untrue
To my sweet Rose, and can but be
A traitor either unto thee
Reason dismissed Or Love, my master. But I’ve said
Already, that my heart is dead7600
To all except the Rose, and when
With tiresome talk you press me, then
I feel outwearied; I shall fly
Your presence if persistently
You talk against my love, for she
Is more than all the world to me.”