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Confessio Amantis: Book 2

The marginal Latin glosses, identified by a capital L in the left margin next to the text, are transcribed and translated in the notes and can be accessed by clicking on (see note) at the corresponding line.

JOHN GOWER, CONFESSIO AMANTIS, BOOK 2: FOOTNOTES



1 The sin of Envy is greatly chafed by sorrow, for his mind does not stay happy for any time at all; what others rejoice in, he laments. He has not a single friend whose desire he would carry out from simple helpfulness. A neighbor's glory vexes his thoughts, and every delight of others is a sorrow to him. Indeed, this vice frequently assails a lover, when Venus sheds favor not on him but on the rest. It is a love that is delusional by its own workings, and the joys that another carries he believes are an injury to himself.

2 Envy feels joy, born in mind from itself alone, when it sees another's pain of sorrow. The envious man chortles today at others' weeping, for whom tomorrow's outcomes prepare his own laments. Thus in love, the man who is joyous when he sees baffled lovers stands in the same circumstance as the envious man. Even if in vain, and even if he himself is destroyed at the same time, he nonetheless hopes for solace by another's ruin.

3 The worst part of Envy is Detraction, which stirs up a plague of infamy with the mouth's ill winds. The tongue resounds in the air with poisonous speech, just as Rumor flies forth, scandalizing someone else. The faithful ones whom she inflicts unawares with bites from behind often lack a medicine for the wound. But noble love guards a tongue, so that the word he speaks produces nothing baleful.

4 Whose tongue neither tower nor cross (i.e., head or tail of a coin, hence, "no money")

5 Lines 970-72: I.e., we replaced it with a healthy child of poor parents

6 A double-talker will undertake nothing without singing with a forked tongue, and while he speaks in daylight, night covers his intentions. His face holds light, his mind shadows; his words offer healing, but his action produces grave illness. The peace that he solemnly promises you instead foreshadows war; if he should offer helpfulness, learn what guile lies beneath it. What lies displayed as faith is fraud within, and the conclusion of a crafted truce negates its first impression. Oh, how such a condition deforms a lover, who, appearing to be in love, instead is not at all.

7 The envious man is a supplanter of another's honor, and where he plows he turns over your rows. There is a secret work he carries out that lies hidden like a snake in the grass: and all of a sudden the venomous thing is present. Thus a cunning lover supplants another lover, and seizes hiddenly what he cannot openly possess. And often, the supplanter grafts onto his plant of love what another thinks he possesses among his own goods.

8 Lines 2872-78: And then make yourself so sly / As to blow a note of such a pitch / Through the trumpet into his ear, / As if it were a voice from heaven, / [So] that he might consider it and believe / It was by God's command

9 The ill-born goad of envy hurts without cause, for it possesses sin without sin tempting it. There is no need for Cupid's bow to tempt him when the heathen flame of Aetna devours Venus' torches. The cheeks, drained of red and obscured by dusky pallor, reveal that the other limbs of nature are stone cold.
 

JOHN GOWER, CONFESSIO AMANTIS, BOOK 2: EXPLANATORY NOTES

Abbreviations

AG
Anel.
BD
CA
Civ. Dei
CT
Fab.
Gest Hyst.The
HF
KJV
LGW
MED
Metam.
MO
OED
PF
PL
Rom.
RR
TC
Vat. Myth.
VC
Andrew Galloway
Anelida and Arcite
Book of the Duchess
Confessio Amantis
De Civitate Dei (Augustine)
Canterbury Tales
Hygini Fabvlae (Hyginus)
"Gest Hystoriale" of the Destruction of Troy
House of Fame
King James Version (Bible)
Legend of Good Women
Middle English Dictionary
Metamorphoses (Ovid)
Mirour de l'Omme
Oxford English Dictionary
Parliament of Fowls
Patrologia Latina, ed. Migne
Romaunt of the Rose (Chaucer)
Le Roman de La Rose
Troilus and Criseyde
Vatican Mythographers
Vox Clamantis


*For MS abbreviations, see head of textual notes.


9 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic in secundo libro tractat de Inuidia et eius speciebus, quarum dolor alterius gaudii prima nuncupatur, cuius condicionem secundum vicium Confessor primitus describens, Amanti, quatenus amorem concernit, super eodem consequenter opponit. [Here in the second book he discourses about Envy and its species, the first of which is called Sorrow for Another's Joy; and the Confessor, initially describing to the Lover its condition as a vice as far as love is concerned, subsequently interrogates him about this.]

10 hot Envie. See Braswell's discussion in "Confession as Characterization" on similarities between Gower's method of interrogation and fourteenth-century penitential manuals (Medieval Sinner, pp. 81-87). See Olsson (Structures of Conversion, pp. 92 ff.) on Genius' use of "conventional modes of the forma tractandi - definition, proof and refutation, division, and the positing of examples" in his confessional discourse on the vices.

11 my sone. See Craun (p. 133) on Gower's extensive use of the phrase throughout CA as a formula of subordination derived from practices of confession.

16 ff. So God avance my querele. From the beginning of Book 2 Amans is more fully developed as a "character," representing what Burrow calls "the inconsistencies of an undisinterested mind" (1983, p. 10). From this point on in Books 2-4 Amans himself becomes as interesting in his dramatically convoluted responses to questions of his behavior as the tales Genius tells for his instruction. His origin shares more with Machaut's Le Livre dou Voir Dit and Froissart's Espinette Amoureuse than with the RR (1983, p. 6). The querele - a dispute, debate, complaint, lament, argument - becomes a genre in its own right in the later fourteenth century, especially for lovers with their perpetual questions and sallies into arenas of contention. The term carries connotations of battle as well as legal strife. Gower uses the term a couple dozen times in CA, and it defines most of Amans' postures in the middle books of the poem.

20 Ethna. Gower often uses the volcanic Mt. Etna as a sign of the eruptive nature of Envy and also Wrath. Compare Prol.329-30, and 2.163-66, 2837-39. Stockton (Gower, Major Latin Works, p. 477n21) cites comparable passages in MO, lines 3805 ff., and Tripartite Chronicle 2.207. The idea perhaps originates in Ovid, Met. 5.346-58, where the proud and envious giant Typhoesus, buried under Sicily, vents his rage by means of the volcano's eruptions, and 13.867-69, where Cyclops, with Etna in his breast, pleads with Galatea to love him rather than Acis.

83 Write in Civile. That is, in civil law (the Roman law used in England only in special property cases, especially the transmission of clerical property; other kinds of property were governed by English common law). As Macaulay (2:480) shrewdly suggests, the proverbial statement Gower presents seems ultimately dependent on Justinian's Institutes 1.7, which repeals the law passed under Augustus Caesar (3 AD). The Fufian Caninian Act restricted the proportion of an owner's slaves who could be freed at the owner's death (a restriction apparently originally intended to keep down the numbers of new citizens at a time when the empire "still seemed to be expanding" (Robinson, "Persons," p. 21); for a text and translation of the act in Justinian, see Justinian, Institutes (trans. Birks and McLeod), pp. 40-41. The proverbial notion alluded to in lines 83-87 evidently emerged from an early misreading: the text of Justinian that medieval authors read usually corrupted the names used to identify the law to read "Lex Fusia Canina" ("the Fusian canine law," with both a misreading of minims to make Caninia into canina, and a misreading of f as s to make Fusia from Fufia - both errors that probably dated back early in the textual tradition of Justinian and remained uncertain until more recent editions: Macaulay's own source-text apparently read "Furia Caninia"). Since the text in Justinian argued that the law should be repealed "quasi libertatibus impedientem et quodammodo invidam" ("as a hindrance to and in some sense an invidious enemy of freedoms"), medieval authors found ways to link the idea of invidia (in context "invidious enemy" but also simply the sin "envy") to this "Fusian canine law," and thence to the useless envy of dogs who protect property from which they do not themselves benefit. Thus, as Macaulay (2:480) notes, John Bromyard in the later fourteenth century under Invidia in his Summa confessorum states that "omnes isti sunt de professione legis Fusie canine. Ille enim Fusius inventor fuit legis cuius exemplum seu casus est iste. Quidam habet fontem quo non potest proprium ortum irrigare . . . Posset tamen alteri valere sine illius nocumento, ipse tamen impedit ne alteri prosit quod sibi prodesse non potest, ad modum canis, sicut predictum est: a cuius condicione lex canina vocata est inter leges duodecim tabularum, que quia iniqua fuit, in aliis legibus correcta est, sicut patet Institut. lib. i de lege Fusia canina tollenda" ("all those of the legal profession are Fusian canines. For this Fusius was the founder of a law whose pattern or circumstance was this: a certain man owned a spring from which he could not water his own fields. . . . Even though he would have been able to help another without harming himself, he nonetheless prevented anyone else from profiting from what could not profit him, just like a dog, according to the saying. From this the law was called the 'canine law' among the laws of the twelve tables, but because it was iniquitous, it was corrected in other laws, just as is said in the Institutes, book 1, 'concerning the repeal of the Fusian canine law'") (Galloway, "Literature of 1388"). See also Fisher, John Gower, pp. 155-56, 365n38, who compares dog-in-the-manger passages in MO and VC.

101 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic ponit Confessor exemplum saltem contra istos qui in amoris causa aliorum gaudiis inuidentes nequaquam per hoc sibi ipsis proficiunt. Et narrat, qualiter quidam iuuenis miles nomine Acis, quem Galathea Nimpha pulcherrima toto corde peramauit, cum ipsi sub quadam rupe iuxta litus maris colloquium adinuicem habuerunt, Poliphemus Gigas concussa rupe magnam inde partem super caput Acis ab alto proiciens ipsum per inuidiam interfecit. Et cum ipse super hoc dictam Galatheam rapere voluisset, Neptunus Giganti obsistens ipsam inuiolatam salua custodia preseruauit. Set et dii miserti corpus Acis defuncti in fontem aque dulcissime subito transmutarunt. [Here the Confessor presents an illustrative example at least against those who, while in the cause of love being envious of the joys of others, do not at all profit themselves by this. And he tells about a certain young knight named Acis, whom the most beautiful nymph Galatea deeply loved with her whole heart. When they were under a certain rock next to the shores of the sea holding conversation with one another, Polyphemos the giant, having broken a rock, threw a huge part of it from above onto Acis' head, killing him through envy. And although after this the giant wanted to rape the aforesaid Galatea, Neptune prevented him, preserving her inviolate by his safe custody. But even the gods, pitying dead Acis, instantly transformed his body into a spring of sweetest water.]

104 ff. The story of Acis and Galatea may be found in Ovid, Met. 13.738-897. N.b. also Vat. Myth. II 201. Macaulay notes that Polyphemous' running around Etna in a jealous rage before killing Acis is Gower's addition (2:480). See Runacres' discussion of the tale as an exemplum that balances artistry of narrative with ethics, particularly in its focus on Polipheme's voyeuristic obsession ("Art and Ethics," pp. 111-14) that leads to his hatred not of Galatea herself but of her capacity to love another (pp. 130-34).

106 As Ovide in his bok recordeth. Ovid is Gower's major literary source for CA. Pearsall ("Gower's Narrative Art," p. 478) notes that Ovid "provides 38 of the 133 stories in the poem." See also Simpson ("Genius's 'Enformacioun'").

107-84 Chaucer's Ghoast (1672) borrows these lines as Arg. 5 in the "love of antiquity"'s "twelve pleasant fables of Ovid penn'd after the ancient manner of writing in England."

145 grete see. I.e., the Mediterranean. See CA 3.2488. Compare CT I(A)59.

150 fyre. See MED s. v. vire n. 1, i.e., a bolt from a crossbow. But Gower could be punning: Itô (John Gower, p. 38n21) reads as fire, thinking perhaps of a flaming arrow, relating the passage to MO, lines 3805-19, where Envy, Etna, and burning are affiliated. See also Runacres on Poliphemous: "His heart burns, and he flees like some huge flaming arrow, burning like Etna" (p. 131).

224 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic loquitur Confessor de secunda specie Inuidie, que gaudium alterius doloris dicitur, et primo eiusdem vicii materiam tractans amantis conscienciam super eodem vlterius inuestigat. [Here the Confessor speaks about the second species of Envy, which is called Joy for Another's Sorrow, and, at first treating the substance of that vice, he then investigates further the Lover's conscience in terms of it.] Burrow ("Portrayal of Amans," p. 9) emphasizes the orderly, point-by-point manner of Genius' questions, noting that delight in the poem lies less in the systematic opposing of the lover's conscience than the unpredictable ingenuity of Amans' responses.

246-47 of that thei brewe soure / I drinke swete. Proverbial. Not cited by Whiting.

261 ff. Latin marginalia: Boicius: Consolacio miserorum est habere consortem in pena. [Boethius: "A consolation of the wretched is to have company in their pain."] Proverbial, but not in fact by Boethius ("misery loves company"). A common proverb. See Whiting W715. Reidy (Riverside Chaucer, note to lines 746-47 of The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, p. 949) observes: "A Latin marginal note in Ellesmere and one other MS have the beginning of the common Latin proverb 'The solace of the wretched is to have companions in grief' (Walther 29943), quoted in slightly different form (Walther, Nova Series, 35687) in some other MSS." See also TC 1.708-09, with Latin marginal glosses in MSS Rawlinson Poet. 163 and Arch. Selden. B.24, both in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

291 ff. The Tale of the Travelers and the Angel derives from the widely known Fables of Avianus, fable 22. The Latin text and translation may be found in Minor Latin Poets, ed. Duff and Duff, pp. 715-17. A lively translation appears by Slavitt in The Fables of Avianus, p. 30. In Latin the fable is only 20 lines long (13 lines of prose in Crane's edition). See also Jacques de Vitry's Exemplum 196 on the avaricious and envious men; Robert Holcot, In Librum Sapientiae Regis Solomonis, lectio 29; Guilelmus Peraldus, Summa Virtutum ac Vitiorum; and John Bromyard, Summa Prædicantium l.6.19, to name a few. See Crane's edition of Jacques de Vitry (Exempla, p. 212) for more.

293 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic ponit Confessor exemplum presertim contra illum, qui sponte sui ipsius detrimentum in alterius penam maiorem patitur. Et narrat quod, cum Iupiter angelum suum in forma hominis, vt hominum condiciones exploraret, ab excelso in terram misit, contigit quod ipse angelus duos homines, quorum vnus cupidus, alter inuidus erat, itinerando spacio quasi vnius dici comitabatur. Et cum sero factum esset, angelus eorum noticie seipsum tunc manifestans dixit, quod quicquid alter eorum ab ipso donari sibi pecierit, illud statim obtinebit, quod et socio suo secum comitanti affirmat duplicandum. Super quo cupidus impeditus auaricia, sperans sibi diuicias carpere duplicatas, primo petere recusauit. Quod cum inuidus animaduerteret, naturam sui vicii concernens, ita vt socius suus vtroque lumine priuaretur, seipsum monoculum fieri constanter primus ab angelo postulabat. Et sic vnius inuidia alterus auariciam maculauit. [Here the Confessor presents an instructive example especially against that man who willingly endures his own detriment for the sake of another's greater pain. And he narrates how, when Jupiter sent his angel in a man's form from on high down to earth in order to investigate the circumstances of men, it happened that this angel journeyed around for about the span of a day in the company of two men, one of whom was covetous, the other envious. And when it had become late, the angel, then making clear his identity to their understanding, said that whatever one of them should petition him for, that he would obtain immediately, and he swore that it would be doubled for the companion traveling with him. Whereupon the covetous man, snared by avarice, refused to petition first, hoping to receive double wealth for himself. When the envious man, perceiving the nature of his vice, had noticed this, he unflinchingly demanded that he himself might first be one-eyed in order that his companion might be deprived of both eyes. And thus the envy of the one spoiled the avarice of the other.]

298 An angel. Sidrak and Bokkus labels the covetous man "þe deuelis gripe [griffen] of helle"; the angels would be a better model for man since in heaven no angels "coueiteþ oþeris blis / But holdeþ hem paide [pleased] eche of his" (1.285, lines 4766, 4779-80). Thus it is that angels are particularly shrewd at investigating this particular sin and serve as "Goddes sonde" (2.324).

387 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic tractat Confessor de tercia specie Inuidie, que Detraccio dicitur, cuius morsus vipereos lesa quamsepe fama deplangit. [Here the Confessor discourses about the third species of Envy, which is called Detraction, whose venomous bites very often a wounded reputation bewails.]

Craun (Lies, Slander, and Obscenity, p. 136n63) relates Genius' remarks on Detraction, Malebouche, and backbiting to to Peyraut's Summa de Vitiis, fols. G8r-H2v; the Speculum Vitae, lines 14143-228; De Lingua, fols. 165v-168v; Etienne de Bourbon's Tractatus, fols. 228v-230v; the Speculum Morale, cols. 1144-51; Carpenter's Destructorium, fols. 507v-508v; the Fasciculus Morum, pp. 158-62; John Bromyard's Summa Prædicantium, fols. 71r-84v; and Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne, lines 1239-1306 and 3529-646.

389 Malebouche. "Wicked-tongue," a dangerous slanderer of lovers in RR (e.g., lines 2847 ff.), becomes a common prop in courtly literature for malicious gossip that degrades the lofty feelings the would-be lover wishes to engage in. See MO, lines 2677 ff. Chaucer uses only the anglicized form "Wikkid-Tunge" (Rom. 3871, 3878, 4141, 4233, 4267, 4484, 5851, 7355, 7422, 7474, 7476, 7498; compare TC 1.39, 2.785, 804, 5.755). But Lydgate follows Gower's French vocabulary with Malebouche in The Complaint of the Black Knight, line 260, as does Roos in La Belle Dame sans Mercy, line 741.

398 jangle. Gower devotes considerable attention to the sin of jangling, especially as a feature of Detraction (see 2.425, 452, and 526); but also of Cheste and Envy (3.832, 887), Idleness (4.1474), Jealousy (5.519 ff.), Stealth and Michery (5.6532), and Gossip (7.4774). Usually it is a woman, like the Wife of Bath or Dame Sirith, or the women in Dunbar's "Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo": all of whom are presented as archjanglers. (See Trevisa, Governance of Kings 2.2.21, pp. 248-49, on the evil of women janglers, or Jacques de Vitry for dozens of exempla on quarrelsome women.) In Gower, however, every instance of the vice exemplifies a negative trait in men.

399 heraldie. "Office of herald"; or perhaps "livery." See Macaulay (2.481).

417-32 Craun (Lies, Slander, and Obscenity, p. 138) notes that the same image of flying dung beetles as a commentary on detraction occurs in the fourteenth-century Book of Vices and Virtue: "[detractors] ben þe biteles þat flen þe floures and loueþ þe dong of an hors or a best, as men seen alday bi þe weye" (as quoted by Craun).

452 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic in amoris causa huius vicii crimen ad memoriam reducens Confessor Amanti super eodem plenius opponit. [Here in the cause of love, the Confessor rehearses for remembrance the sin of this vice, more fully questioning the Lover.]

454-551 Gower has received praise for his lively presentation of Amans in this third confession in Book 2. Burrow (1983) sees it as one of the best illustrations of Gower's "penetrating, but always general, psychological perception," a portrayal of what Burrow wittily calls "the inconsistencies of an undisinterested mind" (p. 10). See Nicholson's useful summary of critical observations on the passage (p. 184).

467 unknowe unkest. Proverbial. See Whiting U5. Compare Chaucer, TC 1.809: "Unknowe, unkist, and lost that is unsought." The idiom also occurs in Usk and Charles of Orleans (see Whiting). Evidently its purview is courtly and literary. As is often the case in CA, proverbs come in clusters. Compare the proverbial effects of 2.470 and 473.

479 evere I am adrad of guile. "In speaking against detractors, the lover asks for [his lady's] good, but ironically, his own speech, as he colors 'the wordes of his sawe,' includes the deceit and enchantment he fears his lady is subjected to by others." Besides, she is "a knowing person and not a mere innocent, and . . . does not really need his protection" (Olsson, 1992, p. 94).

513-14 Burrow comments on this dramatic moment as Amans' comic inconsistency shifts from "self-righteous claims" to open confession (1983, p. 10).

529 I wolde save. The lover's protecting of his beloved's good name is a commonplace requirement of courtesy. See Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love, trans. John Jay Parry (New York: Columbia University Press, 1941), the first case (pp. 167-68), and rule 13, "When made public love rarely endures" (p. 185).

587 ff. Chaucer's Man of Law also tells the "Tale of Constance" (see Schlauch's discussion in Sources and Analogues, ed. Bryan and Dempster, pp. 155-206; and Hibbard, Mediæval Romance). Olsson (Structures of Conversion, pp. 92-106) comments on the radical differences between the complex narration of Chaucer and the plain style of Gower. Unlike Chaucer's heroine, surrounded with the "ring of protective, talismanic texts" of the Man of Law, Gower's Constance is "self-possessed" (Olsson, Structures of Conversion, p. 95). Although both Gower's and Chaucer's poems are derived from Trivet's Chronique, Gower's version is closer to the source and was apparently written earlier than Chaucer's. See Correale on the relationship of Gower to Trivet. Macaulay enumerates Gower's variations from his original (2:482-484). An analogue of the story of Constance, which includes a moral commentary, may be found in the English Gesta Romanorum (cap. 69). For further discussion of the tale, see Wetherbee, "Constance and the World"; Peck, Kingship and Common Profit, pp. 62-70; Esch, "John Gower's Erzählkunst"; Archibald, "Flight from Incest," pp. 259-72; and Yeager, "Gower's Images." See Wetherbee ("John Gower," pp. 605-06) and Dimmick ("'Redinge of Romance,'" pp. 132-36) for links with the Tale of Apollonius. See also Hibbard (Mediæval Romance, pp. 23-34), for comparisons with the Middle English romance Emaré; and Dimmick (pp. 130-37) on the tale in terms of conventions of romance narrative.

587 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic loquitur Confessor contra istos in amoris causa detrahentes, qui suis obloquiis aliena solacia perturbant. Et narrat exemplum de Constancia Tiberii Rome Imparatoris filia, omnium virtutum famosissima, ob cuius amorem Soldanus tunc Persie, vt eam in vxorem ducere posset, Cristianum se fieri promisit; cuius accepta caucione consilio Pelagii tunc pape dicta filia vna cum duobus Cardinalibus aliisque Rome proceribus in Persiam maritagii causa nauigio honorifice destinata fuit: que tamen obloquencium postea detraccionibus variis modis, prout inferius articulatur, absque sui culpa dolorosa fata multipliciter passa est. [Here the Confessor speaks against those making detractions in the cause of love, who by their slurs disturb others' comforts. And he narrates an instructive example about Constance, daughter of Tiberius the emperor of Rome, a woman most famous for every virtue, on account of whose love the one who was then sultan of Persia promised to make himself Christian, in order that he might take her as a bride. With his pledge having been accepted, by the counsel of Pelagius, the pope at that time, the said daughter along with two cardinals and other dignitaries of Rome was sent with full ceremony on the voyage for the sake of the marriage in Persia. She, however, by the detractions in various manners of those casting slurs on her, as is detailed below, later without any guilt of her own suffered in many ways wretched travails.]

590 Tiberie Constantin. For discussion of the father-daughter relationship between Constance and her father, particularly in terms of power and authority issues, see Bullón-Fernández (pp. 75-101).

601-10 Sche hath converted. In Chaucer Christ does the converting. See also 4.597-98. Wetherbee contrasts Gower's Constance with Chaucer's, emphasizing the "measure of reality" (1989, p. 72), that she has in Gower. She is "continually engaged with the world around her through the medium of social institutions." Although she is "in many respects a representation of the mission of the church," carrying with her

the threat or promise of radical transformation . . . the prevailing emphasis is on how she fulfils her evangelical mission, how her influence is mediated by the attraction her human presence exerts on others, and by the institutions of the different cultures with which she comes in contact. Her strength involves not only her constancy in faith but her humanity and intelligence, and it expresses itself best in situations which call her womanhood into action and enable her to function as daughter, wife, and mother as well as saint. (P. 70)

In the end, she does not simply transcend earthly confines, she becomes "in effect the Church itself" (p. 81).

641 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter adueniente Constancia in Barbariam Mater Soldani, huiusmodi nupcias perturbare volens, filium suum vna cum dicta Constancia Cardinalibusque et aliis Romanis primo die ad conuiuium inuitauit: et conuescentibus illis in mensa ipsum Soldanum omnesque ibidem preter Constanciam Romanos ab insidiis latitantibus subdola detraccione interfici procurauit. Ipsam que Constanciam in quadam naui absque gubernaculo positam per altum mare ventorum flatibus agitandam in exilium dirigi solam constituit. [How, when Constance had arrived in Barbary, the sultan's mother, desiring to disturb this marriage, on the first day invited her son along with the said Constance and the cardinals and other Romans to a feast. And while they were all gorging together at the table, she procured that, by hidden treachery with sly detraction, the sultan and all the Romans there, apart from Constance, would be killed. She ordered that Constance be cast into exile, placed onto the high seas in a ship without a steering-oar, assailed by the blasts of the winds.]

656 be double weie. Several have commented on Gower's keen awareness and strong asseverations on double talk (Sins of the Tongue) in the Tale of Constance. Elizabeth Allen compares Gower with Chaucer "as a fellow muddier of moral waters" (p. 629), who, as a moral poet, explores contingencies rather than positing answers and uses this tale in particular to trouble audiences rather than reassure them. Gower seems fully aware of "the moral value of narrative instability" as he "destabilizes" Trivet (p. 641).

693-94 what . . .God wol spare / It mai for no peril misfare. Proverbial. See Whiting, G276. Compare 5.2426 and 8.1160.

699-700 The dissh forth with the coppe and al / Bebled thei weren overal. The grotesque uses of sacramental imagery "provides a measure of the alienation of the culture of Barbarie, not only from Christianity, but from simply human pietas" (Wetherbee, 1989, p. 71).

714 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter nauis cum Constancia in partes Anglie, que tunc pagana fuit, prope Humber sub quodam castello Regis, qui tunc Allee vocabatur, post triennium applicuit, quam quidam miles nomine Elda, dicti castelli tunc custos, e naui lete suscipiens vxori sue Hermynghelde in custodiam honorifice commendauit. [How after three years, the ship with Constance arrived in the regions of England, which was then pagan, near the Humber under a castle of the king at that time, who was called Allee. A certain knight, Elda by name, at that time the guardian of the said castle, happily taking her from the ship, commended her to the keeping of his wife Hermynghelda with all honor.]

749-834 Trivet has Hermyngeld baptized before she dies. In Gower she is murdered before baptism. Dulak ("Gower's 'Tale of Constance,'" pp. 368-69) remarks that the alteration is significant in that Gower thus represents the three kinds of baptism in his conversion narrative: baptism of blood (the Sultan), baptism of desire (Hermyngeld), and baptism of water (Alla). In Chaucer "Jhesu hath converted [her] thurgh his grace" (CT II[B1]538).

751 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Constancia Eldam cum vxore sua Her-mynghelda, qui antea Cristiani non extiterant, ad fidem Cristi miraculose conuertit. [How Constance miraculously converted Elda and his wife Hermynghelda, who had not been Christians before then, to the faith of Christ.]

769-71 'In trust of Cristes lawe . . . behold and se.' That Hermyngeld through her "creance" (2.754) can assist in miracles without having been baptized of water supports Dulak's notion that her desire constitutes baptism. See explanatory note to lines 749-834.

779 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter quidam miles iuuenes in amorem Contancie exardescens, pro eo quod ipsa assentire noluit, eam de morte Hermynghelde, quam ipsemet noctanter interfecit, verbis detractoriis accusauit. Set Angelus domini ipsum sic detrahentem in maxilla subito percuciens non solum pro mendace comprobauit, set ictu mortali post ipsius confessionem penitus interfecit. [How a young knight burning with love for Constance, to which she did not want to assent, accused her with detracting words of the death of Hermynghelda, whom he himself had killed by night. But an angel of the Lord, striking him suddenly in the jaw while he was detracting her, not only convicted him for his lie but also, with a mortal blow after his confession, utterly killed him.]

811-13 Craun notes that the knight chiefly defames Constance because he envies her advancement of the chamberlain who had previously had to rely on him; such political motivation is not evident in Trivet, where the knight seemingly "acts to cover his sexual advances" (Lies, Slander, and Obscenity, p. 149).

847 stille as eny ston. Proverbial. See Whiting S772 and variants "dumb as any stone," S762, and "mute as any stone," S765. Compare CA 1.1794 and 2104.

890 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Rex Allee ad fidem Cristi conuersus baptismum recepit et Contanciam super hoc leto animo desponsauit; que tamen qualis vel vnde fuit alicui nullo modo fatebatur. Et cum infra breue postea a domino suo impregnata fuisset, ipse ad debellandum cum Scotis iter arripuit, et ibidem super guerras aliquamdiu permansit. [How King Allee, having been converted to the faith of Christ, received baptism, and after this married Constance with a joyous soul; but she did not at all declare to anyone what she was or where she was from. And when, after a short time, she had become pregnant by her lord, he left to fight with the Scots, and he remained there for a time engaged in battles.]

905 Lucie. Macaulay observes that the name appears to be trisyllabic: Lucíe (2.485).

911 She tolde hem nevere what sche was. Several have commented on Constance's maintaining an aura of mystery about her origins. See Nicholson (p. 192). Of particular interest is Esch's suggestion that Constance's silence creates a Märchenmotif about her that adds to Domilde's accusation that she is "of fairie" (2.964). Gower heightens the fairytale quality of the story when, upon the death of Constance, we are told that God takes her "fro this worldes faierie" into his own "compaignie" (2.1593-94).

916-17 Kelly (pp. 140-41) compares the role of nature in conception here with natures role in the impregnation of Canacee in 3.143 ff.

931 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Regina Constancia infantem masculum, quem in baptismo Mauricium vocant, Rege absente enixa est. Set inuida Regis mater Domilda super isto facto condolens litteris mendacibus Regi certificauit quod vxor sua demoniaci et non humani generis quoddam monstrosum fantasma loco geniture ad ortum produxit; huius modique detraccionibus aduersus Contanciam in tanto procurauit, quod ipsa in nauim, qua prius venerat, iterum ad exilium vna cum suo partu remissa desolabatur. [How while the king was absent Queen Constance gave birth to a male infant, whom in baptism they call Maurice. But the envious queen mother Domilda, lamenting because of this, certified with lying letters to the king that his wife had brought into the world a monstrous phantasm of demonic and not human species in the place of an offspring; and by means of these detractions against Constance so managed it that she was abandoned again to exile in the ship in which she had first arrived, along with her tender offspring.]

947 Domilde. In Trivet her name is given as "Deumylde," "Doumilde," "Dounylde," "Domulde," and "Domylde." In Chaucer she is "Donegild." Macaulay notes that the Rawlinson manuscript has "Downilde" (2:485).

960 ff. Latin marginalia: Prima littera in commendacionem Constancie ab Episcopo Regi missa per Domildam in contrarium falsata. [First letter in commendation of Constance, sent by the bishop to the king, falsified to its opposite by Domilda.]

964 faierie. See explanatory note to 2.749-834, above.

1013 ff. Latin marginalia: Secunda littera per Regem Episcopo remissa a Domilda iterum falsata. [Second letter sent back by the king to the bishop, again falsified by Domilda.]

1048 Brent in a fyr before here yhen. Elizabeth Allen (p. 644) comments on the irony of Constance's "imagined public burning" as a result of Domilde's deceit. Domilde will ultimately be the one "caste" into the fire (2.1287).

1078-83 Dimmick notes the "delicate pathos" of the lines as "an emblem of human love informed by the divine" ("'Redinge of Romance,'" p. 131).

1084 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Nauis Constancie post biennium in partes Hispanie superioris inter Sarazenos iactabatur, a quorum manibus deus ipsam conseruans graciosissime liberauit. [How after two years Constance's ship was tossed into the regions of upper Spain among the Saracens, from whose hands God, preserving her, liberated her by His grace.]

1084-1125 Chaucer's heroine is more placid than Gower's. In Chaucer an unnamed thief boards the boat to make her his leman, but Mary helps her, the thief falls overboard, and "Crist unwemmed kept Custance" (CT II[B1]924). Gower's heroine is closer to Trivet's, where when Constance convinces Theloüs, the "fals knyht and a renegat" (2.1093), to look out at the port to see if anyone is near, he, as a result of Constance's prayer, is blown overboard.

1126 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter nauicula Constancie quodam die per altum mare vagans inter copiosam Nauium multitudinem dilapsa est, quarum Arcennus Romanorum Consul, Dux et Capitaneus ipsam ignotam suscipiens vsque ad Romam secum perduxit; vbi equalem vxori sue Helene permansuram reuerenter associauit, necnon et eiusdem filium Mauricium in omni habundancia quasi proprium educauit. [How Constance's little ship, wandering through the high seas, one day fell in among an abundant multitude of ships, whose leader and captain, Arcennus, the consul of the Romans, led her unrecognized all the way with him to Rome. There he reverently associated her as an equal with his wife Helen, so long as she would remain there, and he also reared her son Maurice with every benefit as if he were his own.]

1148-49 I am / A womman wofully bestad. Constance's point is injustice done, not self-pity. See Grennen's discussion of Chaucer's Custance as the "embodiment of the virtue of constantia, a virtue she is given innumerable opportunities to demonstrate precisely because of the failure of human legal structures to protect her" ("Chaucer's Man of Law," p. 498). The same is true of Gower's heroine. But, as Olsson points out, her security lies in her nature. "Her eyes are always open, and her tale never betrays in her an attitude of 'hadde I wiste'" ("Love, Intimacy and Gower," p. 96).

1226 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Rex Allee inita pace cum Scotis a guerris rediens et non inuenta vxore sua causam exilii diligencius perscrutans, cum Matrem suam Domildam inde culpabilem sciuisset, ipsam in igne proiciens comburi fecit. [How King Allee, returning from the wars after peace had been entered into with the Scots, and with his wife not to be found, and diligently inquiring into the cause of her exile, caused his mother Domilda to be burned by throwing her into the fire when he discovered her in that matter to be guilty.]

1264 At Knaresburgh. Edwards (pp. 306-09) argues that, because of its affiliations with the murder of Thomas à Becket, Knaresburgh still bore the aroma of treachery and treason in Gower's day, hence Gower's addition of the detail.

1278-93 O beste of helle . . . thi bacbitinge . . . to dethe broght / And brent tofore hire sones yhe. Chaucer simply says "that Alla, out of drede, / His mooder slow" (CT II[B1]893-94). Itô (John Gower, pp. 32-33) links Gower's more violent account to "Trivet's lurid description of the matricide" but notes that Gower, appropriately, shifts the mode of execution from the sword to the fire, as befits the volcanic rage of Domilde's backbiting. Compare Gower's affiliation of Envy and Wrath with Mt. Etna elsewhere in CA (2.163, 2037, and Prol.329), and also MO, lines 3805-18.

1285 I schal be venged. Macaulay notes that "the first and second recensions have 'It shal'" (2.486).

1310 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter post lapsum xii annorum Rex Allee absolucionis causa Romam proficiscens vxorem suam Constanciam vna cum filio suo diuina prouidencia ibidem letus inuenit. [How after the passage of twelve years, King Allee, making his way to Rome for the sake of absolution, joyously discovered by divine providence his wife Constance there, along with his son.]

1355-63 Peck notes that Gower, unlike Chaucer or Trivet, places Alla's encounter with Constance on the return trip, after visiting the pope, as if to link the king's shriven condition with his recovery of his family. "The king sets his life in hierarchical order so that other reorderings may follow" (1978, p. 68).

1370-82 Moris is not the only child in CA who makes possible the denouement. Gower often uses children as guides to their stumbling parents. Compare his role with that of Peronelle in the Tale of Three Questions (1.3067 ff.), and Thais in the Tale of Apollonius (8.271 ff.).

1473 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Constancia, que antea per totum tempus exilii sui penes omnes incognitam se celauit, tunc demum patri suo Imperatori seipsam per omnia manifestauit: quod cum Rex Allee sciuisset, vna cum vniuersa Romanorum multitudine inestimabili gaudio admirantes cunctipotentem laudarunt. [How Constance, who previously for the entire time of her exile had concealed herself unrecognized from everyone, finally then revealed herself in all ways to her father the emperor. And when King Allee had understood, he, along with the entire multitude of Romans, marveling in inestimable joy, together praised the Almighty.]

1516 my querele. See Bullón-Fernández's remarks on the significance of Constance's querele with her father (pp. 83-86), which to some degree reflects the perpetual debate between the Church and spiritual ideology, and political and lay power invested in the state.

1524-25 thogh his moder were come / Fro deth to lyve out of the grave. This striking metaphor, in which the father sees his mother in his daughter (a passage original with Gower), perpetrates a number of provocative innuendoes. Bullón-Fernández compares Constance to Mary vis-à-vis her father as "she becomes her father's mother" (Fathers and Daughters, p. 92). The passage also strengthens Genius' emphasis on the law of nature so central to his ideology.

1555 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Mauricius cum Imperatore vt heres Imperii remansit, et Rex Allee cum Constancia in Angliam regressi sunt. [How Maurice remained with the emperor as the heir of the empire, and King Allee returned with Constance to England.]

1572 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Rex Allee post biennium in Anglia humane carnis resolucionem subiens nature debitum persoluit, post cuius obitum Constancia cum patre suo Rome se transtulit moraturam. [How King Allee, after two years in England, underwent the decline of human flesh and paid his debt to nature; after his death Constance betook herself to stay in Rome with her father.]

1572-77 Bot he (death) which hindreth . . . And for no gold mai be forboght . . . Tok with this king such aqueintance . . . he parteth from his wif. Tatlock (p. 184n) suggests that this passage lies behind Chaucer's flourish, "For Deeth, that taketh of heigh and logh his rente, / Whan passed was a yeer . . . / Out of this world this kyng Alla he hente" (CT II[B1]1142-44).

1589 Latin marginalia: De morte Imperatoris. [Concerning the emperor's death.]

1592 Latin marginalia: De morte Constancie. [Concerning Constance's death.]

1594 ff. Latin marginalia: De coronacione Mauricii, qui adhuc in Cronicis Mauricius Imperator Cristianissimus nuncupatus est. [Concerning the coronation of Maurice, who to this day is called in chronicles "Maurice the most Christian emperor."]

1595 Moris hir sone was corouned. Bullón-Fernández speculates that there may be a hint of "a kind of incestuous love" here, "that Moris's inheriting from Constantine suggests that he is the offspring of the father and the daughter" (p. 92). But the point seems rather to be that Constantine, who sought an heir by marrying Constance to the Sultan, simply accepts his only child's offspring, which fortunately is male. He, in his long-standing grief over the alleged death of Constance, finds that his lineage is not barren after all - a provocative Christian motif of the grafted-on heritage, especially since Moris is "the Cristeneste of alle" (2.1598).

1613 ff. The story of Demetrius and Perseus is found in several potential sources, including Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book 32; Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium 1.5.3; Orosius, Commonitorium 5.20; and perhaps Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale 5.65 ff. (see Macaulay 2.487 for discussion).

1613 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic ponit Confessor exemplum contra istos detractores, qui in alterius vituperium mendacia confingentes diffamacionem fieri procurant. Et narrat qualiter Perseus, Philippi Regis Macedonie filius, Demetrio fratri suo ob eius probitatem inuidens, composito detraccionis mendacio ipsum apud patrem suum mortaliter accusauit, dicens quod ipse non solum patrem set et totum Macedonie regnum Romanis hostibus proditorie vendidisset: quem super hoc in iudicium producens, testibus que iudicibus auro subornatis, quamuis falsissime morte condempnatum euicit: quo defuncto eciam et pater infra breue postea mortuus est. Et sic Perseo successiue regnante deus huiusmodi detraccionis inuidiam abhorrens ipsum cum vniuersa suorum pugnatorum multitudine extra Danubii fluuium ab Emilio tunc Romanorum Consule euentu bellico interfici fortunauit. Ita quod ab illo die Macedonie potestas penitus destructa Romano Imperio subiugata deseruiuit, et eius detraccio, quam contra alium conspirauerat, in sui ipsius diffamacionem pro perpetuo diuulgata consistit. [Here the Confessor presents an instructive example against those detractors who, fashioning lies in vituperation of another, cause defamation to be made. And he tells how Perseus, son of Philip, king of the Macedonians, being envious of his brother Demetrius on account of his probity, lethally accused him before his father, composing a lie of detraction, declaring that Demetrius was selling by treachery not only his father but also the whole kingdom of Macedonia to their enemies, the Romans. Bringing him to the judicial court on these grounds, and with witnesses and judges having been suborned by money, he destroyed him by having him condemned to death, however falsely. And after he died, his father within a short time had died as well. And thus with Perseus taking the throne as successor, God, abhorring the envy of this kind of detraction, destined him to be killed as a consequence of war along with the entire multitude of his warriors beyond the Danube River by Emilius, then consul of the Romans. Wherefore from that day on the power of Macedonia, having been entirely destroyed and subjugated, was subservient to the Roman Empire; and his detraction, which he had conspired against the other, became well known in perpetuity to his own defamation.]

1706 Godd wode noght it were unknowe. Gower often presents God as an overseer who sets things straight after deceitful men pervert them. E.g., 1.2776-79, where God uses Nebuchadnezzar to show just vengeance; also the several proverbs on truth, including "For trowthe hise wordes wol noght peinte" (1.284). See also explanatory note to 2.1752-53, below.

1728 th'envious belle runge. Proverbial. See Whiting B233.

1745-51 The maladie (line 1747) that the king catches, a malady that catches all men, is apparently not in this instance death but rather a deep depression that is the result of his distraught and sorrowful condition (lines 1745-46). And whan this king was passed thus (line 1749) does not mean that he died but rather that he sojourns in his debilitating condition. Perseus thus must seize the regiment (line 1751), rather than inherit it. We are told subsequently that the king dies by starvation in prison in Albe (2.1853-57).

1752-53 Proverbial. Whiting does not cite this specific passage, but it is akin to such truth proverbs in CA as Prol.369, 3.205, 5.4604, and 7.1957-60.

1884 ff. Latin Marginalia: Hic tractat Confessor super quarta specie Inuidie, que dissimilacio dicitur, cuius vultus quanto maioris amicicie apparenciam ostendit, tanto subtilioris doli fallacias ad decipiendum mens ymaginatur. [Here the Confessor discourses about the fourth species of Envy, which is called Dissimulation. The more his face displays an appearance of friendship, the more his mind schemes tricks for deceiving by subtler guile.]

1912 Genius uses the term semblant as an equivalent to "good intention"; "that is, Genius is suggesting that Amans attempt to see without prejudice what is being intuited, knowing that that is impossible" (Peck, 1994, p. 259).

1921-22 See explanatory note to 3.1076-78.

1926 ff. Latin Marginalia: Hic in amoris causa Confessor super isto vicio Amanti opponit. [Here in the cause of love the Confessor questions the Lover about that vice.]

1928-29 custummer / To Falssemblant. On the capitalistic metaphor linking Falssemblant to the merchants and Lombard bankers as well as lovers, see Peck (1994, pp. 259-60).

1938 if evere was thi thought. See Galloway, "Middle English as a Foreign Language," on Gower's use of French construction in shaping, for comic effect, the spirit of conjecture in hypothetical situations and thoughts on what nearly was true (pp. 96-97).

2090 asay. Macaulay follows F to read a say, then views say as a shortened form meaning "trial." But given the a- here and the common word asay (from French assai) it is more likely that the scribe left a space accidentally and that asay is the intended form (AG).

2100-22 Gower's hostility toward Lombard bankers and their Falssemblant and Fa-crere (make-believe, deception) resonates throughout the poem and is echoed in Chaucer too (e.g., The Shipman's Tale). Lombard values seek gain and mercantile profit, rather than common profit, "to cheat men of the profits from their own land" and to usurp the rights of others (Peck, Kingship and Common Profit, p.70).

2145 ff. The story of Deianira and Nessus is found in Ovid, Met. 9.8-272. It also appears in Hyg. 34-36; Vat. Myth. I 58; Ovid, Heroides 9; and Boccaccio, Genealogie Deorum Gentilium Libri 9.17. Mainzer ("Gower's Use of the 'Mediaeval Ovid,'" p. 217) identifies two details in Gower's version that are found in Ovidius Moralizatus but not in Ovid's narrative, namely that Iole is the daughter of King Eurytus and that "Hercules changed clothes with her." The idea of Falssemblant comes mainly from Jean de Meun's allegorical representation in RR, where he is one of the principal agents in Jean's attack on hypocrisy amongst the friars, as well as lovers (lines 10467-12380). In Gower, Deianara is more clearly a victim than she is in the sources, suggesting once again his sympathy for women. See Brown ("Tale of Deinira and Nessus," pp. 15-19).

2148 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic ponit Confessor exemplum contra istos, qui sub dissimilate beneuolencie speculo alios in amore defraudant. Et narrat qualiter Hercules, cum ipse quoddam fluuium, cuius vada non nouit, cum Deianira transmeare proposuit, superueniens Nessus Gigas ob amiciciam Herculis, vt dixit, Deianiram in vlnas suas suscipiens trans ripam salvo perduxit. Et statim cum ad litus peruenisset, quamcito currere potuit, ipsam tanquam propriam in preiudicium Herculis asportare fugiens conabatur: per quod non solum ipsi set eciam Herculi mortis euentum fortuna postmodum causauit. [Here the Confessor presents an instructive example against those who defraud others in love under a falsified image of benevolence. And he narrates how, when Hercules tried with Deianira to cross a certain river whose fords he did not know, Nessus the Giant intervened on behalf of his friendship for Hercules (as he claimed), and, lifting Deianira up onto his shoulders, transported her across the stream to safety. But as soon as he had arrived at the shore he fled as fast as he could, trying to carry her away for himself to Hercules' disadvantage. By this means he later brought about, by chance, the result of his own as well as Hercules' death.]

2227 lief or loth. Proverbial. See Whiting L232. The sense might also be "friend or foe," i.e., "everyone."

2270 he him clotheth in hire cote. Gower makes emphatically clear the maxim that each man must wear what he chooses, setting up the conclusion, 2.2279-2302, where Hercules willfully clothes himself in the shirt that destroys him. See Peck (1978, pp. 61-62).

2270-71 clotheth . . . clothed. On the interstices between make-believe, false-seeming, feigned "chiere" (2.2143), clothing, and staged fantasies in the tale, see Peck, "Phenomenology of Make Believe," pp. 260-62.

2331 ff. Latin Marginalia: Hic tractat Confessor de quinta specie Inuidie, que Supplantacio dicitur, cuius cultor, priusquam percipiatur, aliene dignitatis et officii multociens intrusor existit. [Here the Confessor discourses about the fifth species of Envy, which is called Supplantation, whose plowshare, before it might be noticed, often gouges as an intruder another's dignity and duty.]

2346 chalk for chese. Proverbial. See Whiting C134. Compare CA Prol.416.

2366 The gloss is Macaulay's (2:489).

2382 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic in amoris causa opponit Confessor Amanti super eodem. [Here in the cause of love the Confessor asks the Lover about that same thing.]

2430 tant ne quant. Macaulay compares MO, lines 3654 and 23358 (2.489).

2452 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Agamenon de amore Brexeide Achillem, et Diomedes de amore Criseide Troilum supplantauit. [How Agamenon supplanted Achilles from Brisede's love, and Diomedes supplanted Troilus from Criseyde's love.] Gower may have gotten the story from Hyginus (Fab. CVI) or Ovid (Heroides 3). Macaulay notes that "In Benoît and Guido the name is 'Briseida,' but Boccaccio was aware that Briseis was a different person (Gen. Deorum, xii. 52)" (2.489).

2459-95 Gower's story of Geta and Amphitrion relates to the legend of Hercules' conception. See Met. 6.112, Hyg. 29, and Vat. Myth I 50, where Jupiter lies with Alcmene disguised as Amphitrion, her husband, while he is away in battle. Gower substitutes Amphitrion for the supplanter, though the wife Alcmene remains the same; where he gets Geta, the new husband, is not known. Nor is there reference to the conception of Hercules. In Hyginus, Amphitrion accepts the fact that Jove must have lain with his wife and from that day he does not lie with her himself. Perhaps in Gower we are to understand that Amphitrion follows Jove's example and seeks out other women who might "undo" the door (line 2483) for a husband in disguise. Genius' making of Geta and Amphitrion close friends adds to the villainy of Amphitrion's behavior. See Wright on links with Vitalis of Blois' twelfth-century Latin comedy, Geta, particularly with regard to names and motifs of supplantation ("Gower's Geta," pp. 214-17).

2459 ff. Latin Marginalia: Qualiter Amphitrion socium suum Gentam, qui Almeenam peramavit, seipsum loco alterius cautelosa supplantacione substituit. [How Amphitrion substituted himself for his companion Geta by a deceptive supplantation in another's place.]

2483 Undo. The undo-the-door trope is a favorite fabliaux convention, as the virtuous one asks for entry but is frustrated by circumstances on the other side. N.b., the comic variation in The Squire of Low Degree, lines 534 ff. See Stith Thompson, The Folktale (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), p. 323, on the false bridegroom motif.

2499-2500 enforme . . . forme. See Simpson (Sciences and the Self, pp. 1-6) on Gower's wordplay on enforme/forme/enformasioun. "Genius is not simply passing on 'information' passively; he is instead actively informing a tale" (p. 4). (N.b. also 4.924-25.) Simpson emphasizes the polysemous wordplay on form as "shape," "material," "a process of filling the shape," an imparting process. "[I]n practice Genius's literary act of informing stories is designed to teach, or inform, Amans, and so the act of literary information shades into a pedagogic sense" (p. 5). See 5.450 on Genius who "wolde enforme and teche."

2501 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic in amoris causa contra fraudem detraccionis ponit Confessor exemplum. Et narrat de quodam Romani Imparatoris filio, qui probitates armorum super omnia excercere affectans nesciente patre vltra mare in partes Persie ad deseruiendum Soldano super guerras cum solo milite tanquam socio suo ignotus se transtulit. Et cum ipsius milicie fama super alios ibidem celsior accreuisset, contigit ut in quodam bello contra Caliphum Egipti inito Soldanus a sagitta mortaliter vulneratus, priusquam moreretur, quendam anulum filie sue secretissimum isti nobili Romano tradidit, dicens qualiter filia sua sub paterne benediccionis vinculo adiurata est, quod quicumque dictum anulum ei afferret, ipsam in coniugem pre omnibus susciperet. Defuncto autem Soldano, versus Ciuitatem que Kaire dicitur itinerantes, iste Romanus commilitoni suo huius misterii secretum reuelauit; qui noctanter a bursa domini sui anulum furto surripiens, hec que audiuit usui proprio falsissima Supplantacione applicauit. Et sic seruus pro domino desponsata sibi Soldani filia coronatus Persie regnauit. [Here in the cause of love the Confessor presents an instructive example against the fraud of detraction. And he tells about a certain son of the Roman emperor, who, desiring above all things to engage in deeds of arms, betook himself across the sea, without his father's knowledge, into regions of Persia to serve the sultan in the wars, remaining anonymous and with only one knight as his companion. And when the repute of his knightly prowess had grown higher there than any others, it happened that in a certain war that had broken out against the caliph of Egypt, the sultan was mortally wounded by an arrow; before he died, he passed a certain most secret ring of his daughter's to the nobleman, saying how his daughter had sworn under the bond of paternal blessing that whoever offered her the said ring would gain her as wife ahead of all others. After the Sultan had died, the Roman, traveling with his companion toward the city which is called Cairo, revealed to him the secret of his mystery. And his companion knight, stealing the ring furtively from his lord's purse at night, applied what he had heard to his own purposes, by most false Supplantation. And thus the servant instead of the lord, having married the sultan's daughter, was crowned and reigned over Persia.]

2501 ff. The cronique (line 2504) that Genius cites as source for the Tale of the False Bachelor has not been found. Thorpe (pp. 175-81) suggests that Gower may have known an early sequel to The Seven Sages of Rome, Le Roman de Marques de Rome, which has numerous parallels with Gower's tale, up to line 2714. Minnis (1983, p. 60) proposes a juxtaposition of two Roman tales, one pagan and one Christian, in this tale and the Tale of Constantine and Sylvester that follows.

2741 ded as eny ston. Proverbial. See Whiting S759 and S759a. Compare "still as any stone," S771. See note to line 847.

2795 ff. Gower might have found accounts of Boniface's corruption of the papacy in various chronicles, including those of Rishanger, Higden, and Walsingham. See Macaulay's discussion (2:490-91) of both historical and legendary materials on Boniface. The tale includes a number of inaccuracies, particularly the capture at Avignon, but suits Genius' purposes well. See Scanlon's discussion of the anticlerical critique in CA that begins in the Prologue and culminates in the tales of Boniface and Constantine in Book 2, where Gower demonstrates shrewdly the necessity of lay authority in the face of clerical corruption (Narrative, Authority, and Power, pp. 248-67).

2804 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic ponit Confessor exemplum contra istos in causa dignitatis adquirende supplantatores. Et narrat qualiter Papa Bonefacius predecessorem suum Celestinum a papatu coniectata circumuencione fraudulenter supplantauit. Set qui potentes a sede deponit, huiusmodi supplantacionis fraudem non sustinens, ipsum sic in sublime exaltatum postea in profundi carceris miseriam proici, fame que siti cruciari, necnon et ab huius vite gaudiis dolorosa morte explantari finali conclusione permisit. [Here the Confessor presents an instructive example against those who are supplanters in the cause of acquiring dignity. And he tells how Pope Boniface supplanted his predecessor Celestine from the papacy, with a scheme fraudulently constructed. But He Who deposes the powerful from their seats, not tolerating the fraud of this sort of supplantation, allowed the one who had been sublimely exalted to be thrown later into the wretchedness of deep prison, tortured by hunger and thirst, and at the last end to be uprooted from the joys of this life in a sorrowful death.] Gower's shift of the exempla from romance traditions to historical exempla, such as Boniface and Constantine, links the conclusion of Book 2 to the earlier chronicle of Constance and illustrates well Gower's perception of the close relationships between "history" and "tale-making" as components of ethical reflection. See Macaulay's extended discussion of English chronicle accounts of Boniface, particularly those of Walsingham and Higden (2:490-91).

2966 Lowyz. The French king who deposed Boniface VIII, when the pope threatened him with excommunication, was Philip the Fair (Philip IV, 1268-1314), not Louis.

2983 miht with miht schal be withstonde. Proverbial. See Whiting M535.

2995 Guilliam de Langharet. Guillaume de Nogaret, whom Philip sent to arrest the pope and bring him to trial by a church council in France. For discussion of events surrounding the two "quarelles" (n.b. 2.2967), see Brian Tierney, The Crisis of Church and State, 1050-1300: with Selected Documents (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988); Joseph R. Strayer, The Reign of Philip the Fair (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980); and Charles T. Wood, Philip the Fair and Boniface VIII: State vs. Papacy (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1967).

3028-29 The image of the envious man devouring himself evokes Gower's strong conviction that "the church destroys itself when its officials supplant Christ and, with Envy and Avarice, devour their own members. Such robbing of the people is a form of cannibalism" (Peck 1978, p. 73).

3033 ff. Latin marginalia: Cronica Bonefacii: Intrasti ut vulpis, regnasti ut leo, et mortuus es ut canis. [Chronicle of Boniface: "You have entered like a wolf, reigned like a lion, and died like a dog."]

3055 kepe Simon fro the folde. I.e., protected the people from simony; that is, the buying and selling of ecclesiastical preferments and benefices, or any form of making profit from sacred things, a practice named after Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24).

3056 ff. Latin marginalia: Nota de prophecia Ioachim Abbatis. [Note concerning the prophecy of Abbot Joachim.] Macaulay (2.491) notes that the marginal notation is in a different hand and that the Latin is omitted altogether in some MSS.

3058 ff. Latin marginalia: Quanti Mercenarii erunt in ouile dei, tuas aures meis narracionibus fedare nolo. [I do not wish to befoul your ears with my declarations of how many merchants there will be in the sheepfold of God.]

3059 mercerie. On the basis of this passage MED, n. (a), suggests figuratively "the stock in trade of simoniacs."

3085 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter Ioab princeps milicie Dauid inuidie causa Abner subdole interfecit. Et qualiter eciam Achitofell ob hoc quod Cusy in consilio Absolon preferebatur, accensus inuidia laqueo se suspendit. [How Joab, a leader in David's army, because of envy killed Abner by guile. And how also Achitophel hanged himself with a noose, burning in envy because Cusy was exalted among Absolon's counselors.] See 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 3:27 and 17:23.

3085-94 Abbot Joachim's warning has not been identified. Accounts of Joab's treachery and Achitophel's death occur in 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 3:6-39; 16:20-17:23. The reference to Seneca in line 3095 is based on Dante, Inferno 13.64. Compare Gower's earlier mention of the business in MO (lines 3831 ff.). See Stollreither's discussion of eighteen passages that Gower draws from the Old Testament in compiling the exempla of CA (see Strollreither, Quellen-Nachweise).

3095-99 Compare Chaucer, LGW F.358-60, where Envy is compared to a "lavendere [washerwoman] of court."

Latin verses vi (before line 3111). Line 4: The ethnica flamma is, literally, a "heathen flame" (from the Vulgate Bible on); but Macaulay takes it as possibly an adjective for "Mt. Ethna," described at several spots in Gower's texts as a metaphor for Envy. A pun on such a sense is very likely. Yet here the literal sense "heathen" seems primary, because the cult of Venus is described throughout the CA in quasi-Christian terms (with Genius as priest, etc.), so any force that competed with that quasi-religion would be (quasi-) heathen. The Christian scope of what follows in this section of Book 2, with the story of Constantine and Pope Sylvester, strongly reinforces the intersection, here at least, between Venus' teachings and those of Christianity (Galloway, "Literature of 1388").

3114 ff. Latin Marginalia: Hic describit Confessor naturam Inuidie tam in amore quam aliter secundum proprietatem vicii sub compendio. [Here the Confessor describes the nature of Envy, as much in love as in a summary of the vice according to its properties.]

3122-25 thilke blod . . . / Is drye . . . / Thurgh whiche Envie is fyred ay. See Fox (Mediaeval Sciences, pp. 32-33) on the destructive effects that Envy can have on the physiology of the body.

3174 moder of Pité. In MO charity is presented as the remedy. Thus the strong emphasis in the story of Constantine and Sylvester makes a fitting conclusion to Book 2. On thematic links between the story and that of Constance at the beginning of Book 2, see Bullón-Fernández, pp. 42-45, 83-86, and 97-100; and Yeager (2001), where the theme of "motherhood" links the mother Constance to the mother church. On the political potency of the ethics of pity in the latter 1380s, see Galloway, pp. 90-104.

3187 ff. The story of Constantine and Sylvester is based on the Legenda Aurea. See Porter's remarks on Amans as "surrogate for Richard II" in this section of the poem, where "the Donation of Constantine . . . sow[s] the seeds of dissolution within the Church," a topic he had previously explored in VC (p. 147).

3190 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic ponit Confessor exemplum de virtute caritatis contra Inuidiam. Et narrat de Constantino Helene filio, qui cum Imperii Romani dignitatem optinuerat, a morbo lepre infectus, medici pro sanitate recuperanda ipsum in sanguine puerorum masculorum balneare proposuerunt. Set cum innumera multitudo matrum cum filiis huiusmodi medicine causa in circuitu palacii affuisset, Imparatorque eorum gemitus et clamores percepisset, caritate motus ingemiscens sic ait: "O vere ipse est dominus, qui se facit seruum pietatis." Et hiis dictis statum suum cunctipotentis medele committens, sui ipsius morbum pocius quam infancium mortem benignus elegit. Vnde ipse, qui antea Paganus et leprosus extiterat, ex vnda baptismatis renatus vtriusque materie, tam corporis quam anime, diuino miraculo consecutus est salutem. [Here the Confessor presents an instructive example concerning the virtue of charity against envy. And he narrates about Constantine, the son of Helen, who when he had obtained high office in the Roman Empire became infected by the illness of leprosy; and for the sake of recovering his health, the physicians proposed to bathe him in the blood of male children. But when an innumerable multitude of mothers with sons had arrived in the courtyard of the palace on account of this medicine, and the emperor had perceived their moaning and outcries, he, groaning and moved by charity, thus spoke: "O truly he is a lord who makes himself the servant of charity." And with these words committing his condition to the healing of the Almighty, he benignly chose his own illness rather than the death of infants. Whence he who previously had been pagan and leprous emerged from the waves of baptism having been reborn in both substances of his being, body and soul, and was consequently healed by divine miracle.]

3220 leche. The sense here may be simply "physician" or "cure," but the more technical sense of the term may be more precise, where leche refers to a solution poured over something to draw out a particular substance; hence, my gloss "solution," with reference to the blood of infants in which Constantine is to bathe to draw out the leprosy.

3243-73 Pearsall (1966, p. 478) singles out this passage as an example of Gower's narrative power: "Gower's special achievement is to embody, in Constantine's soliloquy and in the description of the working of his mind and heart, the very substance of human charity and pity, and not only that, but also to convey, through Constantine's meditation on the essential equality of all men in the sight of the 'divine pourveance' (lines 3243-73) the justness of moral discrimination which precedes virtuous action."

3249-59 White cites this passage as evidence for Gower's aligning of nature with the body. The And ek of line 3257 "marks a movement away from the sphere of kinde toward the reasonable soul," which is of God's shaping jurisdiction that lies beyond nature (Nature, Sex, and Goodness, pp. 185-86).

3251 kinde hath in hire lawe. Yeager (John Gower's Poetic) attempts to differentiate Gower's use of kinde and nature. But White, citing Gower's use of the feminine adjective in this line, challenges the distinction: "Gower conceives of Kinde here in terms of Romance literature's Goddess Nature (contrast Langland's male personification Kinde), demonstrating how the native and romance terms can be equivalent for Gower in at least one very important area" (Nature, Sex, and Goodness, p. 174n2).

3257-59 Fisher (p. 196) sees the passage on equality as "one of Gower's favorite adages," derived "ultimately from Cassiodorus' Varia xii.3."

3263-64 The universal enfranchisement of people, regardless of estate, is a common topic in Gower. Compare 8.2109-20.

3275-79 Genius echoes Matthew 7:12 (also Luke 6:31), the "Golden Rule," a biblical passage that Gratian, in his discussion of natural law, picked up from Isidore: "Ius naturae est quod in lege et in euangelio continetur, quo quisque iubetur alii facere, quod sibi uult fieri, et prohibetur alii inferre, quod sibi nolit fieri" [Natural law is what is contained in the law and the Gospels, by which each person is commanded to do to another what he would wish done to himself, and is prohibited from doing to another what he would not wish done to himself]. Dist. I ante c. 1 (Gratian, Corpus Iuris Canonici, ed.  Friedberg and Richter, 1.1). I am indebted to Barr ("Treatment of Natural Law," p. 50) for the reference and translation. Gower's phrasing reflects his interest in law even as much as his interest in Scripture.

3432 The ground of al the Newe Lawe. On the intersection of Christian charity and natural law as a focal topic in the Tale of Constantine and Sylvester, see Olsson (1992), pp. 102-06.

3491-92 Compare Piers Plowman B.15.556-68. The claim about the Donation of Constantine was significant to the Lollards, who (unlike Gower) sought to strip the church altogether of its "poisonous" worldly possessions. The story of the angel appears as early as Gerald of Wales in the twelfth century; some accounts present the voice as the devil's. For references to further reading, see Hudson,  Premature Reformation, pp. 330-35).

JOHN GOWER, CONFESSIO AMANTIS, BOOK 2: TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: A = Bodleian Library MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573), fols. 2r-183r; B = Bodleian Library MS Bodley 294 (SC 2449), fols. 1r-197r; C = Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 67, fols. 1r-209r; F = Bodleian Library MS Fairfax 3 (SC 3883; copy-text for this edition), fols. 2r-186r; J = Cambridge, St. John's College MS B.12 (34), fols. 1r-214r; Mac = G. C. Macaulay; S = Stafford, now Ellesmere 26, fols. 1r-169v; T = Cambridge, Trinity College MS R.3.2 (581), fols. 1r-147v.


44 Mi. Mac reads My, as in B. So too in lines 48, 79, and 1998. B often reads My, but F, S, and J usually read Mi, as in this instance.

71 othre. So in F, A, J, C, S, and B; Mac: other.

117 Bot. So in S and Mac; F: Bo; J: Bote; B: But.

149 sette. So in F and A. Mac emends to set on the basis of J, S, and B.

352 Envie. F: Ennvie; J: enuie; S: Enuie; B: enuye. Mac's emendation.

Latin Verses iii (before line 383). Line 2: infamem. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: infamen.

409 suche. Mac emends to such, as in J, S, and B.

674 sche. So in F, S, and B; J: heo; Mac: she. So too in lines 678, 848, and 1587.

710 hire. So in J, S, and Mac; F: hiere; B: hir.

844 cast. So in F, J, and B. Mac emends to caste, as in A, C, and S.

890 dai. So in F, J, and S; B and Mac: day.

949 thonk. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: thong. So also in line 2562.

1039 forfet. So in B; F: forffet; J: forfeet. Mac reads forsfet, as in S.

1103 mo men sih sche. So in A, S, and Mac; F: no men seih sche; J: no men seith hire.

1151 forth with. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: forthwith. So too in lines 1479, 1495, and 1803.

1169 ne. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: no.

1353 which. So in S, B, and Mac; F: wich; J: whech. See also line 3492.

1441 kiste. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: keste.

1539 the. So in J, S, B, and Mac; omitted in F.

1640 knihthode. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: knithode.

1675 hath. F: as. Mac's emendation, largely on the authority of S.

1778 And he. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: As he.

1788 his hed. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: is hed.

1856 hungre. So in F, A, and J. Mac emends to hunger, as in S and B.

1860 detraccioun. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: detractioun.

1896 be told. So in J, B, and Mac; F, A, and S: betold.

2072 told. So in F and B; Mac: tolde, as in A, J, and S.

2214 The. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: Thei.

2247 Al. So in S, B, and Mac; F: And; J: All.

2328 manye. So in F, A, and S. Mac emends to many, as in J and B.

2477 a wise. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F and A: awise.

2537 And. So in F, A, J, S, and B. Mac emends to As, but see MED: and 5b.

2698 therupon. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F, A: thervpon.

2822 With. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: Wit.

2903 is. So in J, S, B, and Mac; omitted in F.

2917 schop. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: schap.

3119 And. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: An.

3486 For. So in J, S, B, and Mac; F: ffro.

3492 Which. So in S, B, and Mac; F: Wich; J: Whech.
 

 
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1880



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1890




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1925
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2080




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2115




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Inuidie culpa magis est attrita dolore,
   Nam sua mens nullo tempore leta manet:
Quo gaudent alii, dolet ille, nec unus amicus
   Est, cui de puro comoda velle facit.
Proximitatis honor sua corda veretur, et omnis
   Est sibi leticia sic aliena dolor.
Hoc etenim vicium quam sepe repugnat amanti,
   Non sibi, set reliquis, dum fauet ipsa Venus.
Est amor ex proprio motu fantasticus, et que
   Gaudia fert alius, credit obesse sibi.
1

"Now after Pride the secounde
Ther is, which many a woful stounde
Towardes othre berth aboute
Withinne himself and noght withoute;
For in his thoght he brenneth evere,
Whan that he wot another levere
Or more vertuous than he,
Which passeth him in his degré;
Therof he takth his maladie:
That vice is cleped hot Envie.
   Forthi, my sone, if it be so
Thou art or hast ben on of tho,
As for to speke in loves cas,
If evere yit thin herte was
Sek of another mannes hele?"

[Sorrow for Another's Joy]

    "So God avance my querele,
Mi fader, ye, a thousend sithe:
Whanne I have sen another blithe
Of love, and hadde a goodly chiere,
Ethna, which brenneth yer be yere
Was thanne noght so hot as I
Of thilke sor which prively
Min hertes thoght withinne brenneth.
The schip which on the wawes renneth,
And is forstormed and forblowe,
Is noght more peined for a throwe
Than I am thanne, whanne I se
Another which that passeth me
In that fortune of loves gifte.
Bot, fader, this I telle in schrifte,
That is nowher bot in o place;
For who that lese or finde grace
In other stede, it mai noght grieve.
Bot this ye mai riht wel believe,
Toward mi ladi that I serve,
Thogh that I wiste for to sterve,
Min herte is full of such sotie,
That I myself mai noght chastie.
Whan I the court se of Cupide
Aproche unto my ladi side
Of hem that lusti ben and freisshe
(Thogh it availe hem noght a reisshe,
Bot only that thei ben in speche),
Mi sorwe is thanne noght to seche.
Bot whan thei rounen in hire ere,
Than groweth al my moste fere,
And namly whan thei talen longe;
Mi sorwes thanne be so stronge
Of that I se hem wel at ese,
I can noght telle my desese.
Bot, sire, as of my ladi selve,
Thogh sche have wowers ten or twelve,
For no mistrust I have of hire
Me grieveth noght, for certes, sire,
I trowe, in al this world to seche,
Nis womman that dede and speche
Woll betre avise hire what sche doth,
Ne betre, for to seie a soth,
Kepe hire honour ate alle tide,
And yit get hire a thank beside.
Bot natheles I am beknowe,
That whanne I se at eny throwe,
Or elles if I mai it hiere,
That sche make eny man good chiere,
Thogh I therof have noght to done,
Mi thought wol entermette him sone.
For thogh I be miselve strange,
Envie makth myn herte change,
That I am sorghfully bestad
Of that I se another glad
With hire; bot of othre alle,
Of love what so mai befalle,
Or that he faile or that he spede,
Therof take I bot litel heede.
Now have I seid, my fader, al
As of this point in special,
Als ferforthli as I have wist.
Now axeth further what you list."
"Mi sone, er I axe eny more,
I thenke somdiel for thi lore
Telle an ensample of this matiere
Touchende Envie, as thou schalt hiere.
Write in Civile this I finde:
Thogh it be noght the houndes kinde
To ete chaf, yit wol he werne
An oxe which comth to the berne,
Therof to taken eny fode.
And thus, who that it understode,
It stant of love in many place.
Who that is out of loves grace
And mai himselven noght availe,
He wolde another scholde faile;
And if he may put eny lette,
He doth al that he mai to lette.
Wherof I finde, as thou schalt wite,
To this pourpos a tale write.

[The Tale of Acis and Galatea]

   Ther ben of suche mo than twelve,
That ben noght able as of hemselve
To gete love, and for Envie
Upon alle othre thei aspie;
And for hem lacketh that thei wolde,
Thei kepte that non other scholde
Touchende of love his cause spede.
Wherof a gret ensample I rede,
Which unto this matiere acordeth,
As Ovide in his bok recordeth,
How Poliphemus whilom wroghte,
Whan that he Galathee besoghte
Of love, which he mai noght lacche.
That made him for to waite and wacche
Be alle weies how it ferde,
Til ate laste he knew and herde
How that another hadde leve
To love there as he mot leve,
As for to speke of eny sped.
So that he knew non other red,
Bot for to wayten upon alle,
Til he may se the chance falle
That he hire love myhte grieve,
Which he himself mai noght achieve.
This Galathee, seith the poete,
Above alle othre was unmete
Of beauté, that men thanne knewe,
And hadde a lusti love and trewe,
A bacheler in his degree.
Riht such another as was sche,
On whom sche hath hire herte set,
So that it myhte noght be let
For gifte ne for no beheste,
That sche ne was al at his heste.
This yonge knyht Acis was hote,
Which hire ageinward als so hote
Al only loveth and no mo.
Hierof was Poliphemus wo
Thurgh pure Envie, and evere aspide,
And waiteth upon every side,
Whan he togedre myhte se
This yonge Acis with Galathé.
   So longe he waiteth to and fro,
Til ate laste he fond hem tuo,
In privé place wher thei stode
To speke and have here wordes goode.
The place wher as he hem syh,
It was under a banke nyh
The grete see, and he above
Stod and behield the lusti love
Which ech of hem to other made
With goodly chiere and wordes glade,
That al his herte hath sette afyre
Of pure Envie: and as a fyre
Which fleth out of a myhti bowe,
Aweie he fledde for a throwe,
As he that was for love wod,
Whan that he sih how that it stod.
This Polipheme a geant was;
And whan he sih the sothe cas,
How Galathee him hath forsake
And Acis to hire love take,
His herte mai it noght forbere
That he ne roreth lich a bere;
And as it were a wilde beste,
The whom no reson mihte areste,
He ran Ethna the hell aboute,
Wher nevere yit the fyr was oute,
Fulfild of sorghe and gret desese,
That he syh Acis wel at ese.
Til ate laste he him bethoghte,
As he which al Envie soghte,
And torneth to the banke agein,
Wher he with Galathee hath seyn
Acis, whom that he thoghte grieve,
Thogh he himself mai noght relieve.
This geant with his ruide myht
Part of the banke he schof doun riht,
The which evene upon Acis fell,
So that with fallinge of this hell
This Poliphemus Acis slowh,
Wherof sche made sorwe ynowh.
And as sche fledde fro the londe,
Neptunus tok hire into honde
And kept hire in so sauf a place
Fro Polipheme and his manace,
That he with al his false Envie
Ne mihte atteigne hir compaignie.
This Galathee of whom I speke,
That of hirself mai noght be wreke,
Withouten eny semblant feigned
Sche hath hire loves deth compleigned,
And with hire sorwe and with hire wo
Sche hath the goddes moeved so,
That thei of pité and of grace
Have Acis in the same place,
Ther he lai ded, into a welle
Transformed, as the bokes telle,
With freisshe stremes and with cliere,
As he whilom with lusti chiere
Was freissh his love for to qweme.
And with this ruide Polipheme
For his Envie and for his hate
Thei were wrothe.
      And thus algate,
Mi sone, thou myht understonde,
That if thou wolt in grace stonde
With love, thou most leve Envie:
And as thou wolt for thi partie
Toward thi love stonde fre,
So most thou soffre another be,
What so befalle upon the chance:
For it is an unwys vengance,
Which to non other man is lief,
And is unto himselve grief."
    "Mi fader, this ensample is good;
Bot how so evere that it stod
With Poliphemes love as tho,
It schal noght stonde with me so,
To worchen eny felonie
In love for no such Envie.
Forthi if ther oght elles be,
Now axeth forth, in what degré
It is, and I me schal confesse
With schrifte unto youre holinesse."

Orta sibi solito mentalia gaudia liuor
   Dum videt alterius dampna doloris agit.
Inuidus obridet hodie fletus aliorum,
   Fletus cui proprios crastina fata parant.
Sic in amore pari stat sorte iocosus, amantes
   Cum videt illusos, inuidus ille quasi.
Sit licet in vacuum, sperat tamen ipse leuamen
   Alterius casu, lapsus et ipse simul.2

"Mi goode sone, yit ther is
A vice revers unto this,
Which envious takth his gladnesse
Of that he seth the hevinesse
Of othre men. For his welfare
Is whanne he wot another care:
Of that another hath a fall,
He thenkth himself arist withal.
Such is the gladschipe of Envie
In worldes thing, and in partie
Fulofte times ek also
In loves cause it stant riht so.
If thou, my sone, hast joie had,
Whan thou another sihe unglad,
Schrif thee therof."
       "Mi fader, yis:
I am beknowe unto you this.
Of these lovers that loven streyte,
And for that point which thei coveite
Ben poursuiantz fro yeer to yere
In loves court, whan I may hiere
How that thei clymbe upon the whel,
And whan thei wene al schal be wel,
Thei ben doun throwen ate laste,
Thanne am I fedd of that thei faste,
And lawhe of that I se hem loure;
And thus of that thei brewe soure
I drinke swete, and am wel esed
Of that I wot thei ben desesed.
Bot this which I you telle hiere
Is only for my lady diere;
That for non other that I knowe
Me reccheth noght who overthrowe,
Ne who that stonde in love upriht.
Bot be he squier, be he knyht,
Which to my ladiward poursuieth,
The more he lest of that he suieth,
The mor me thenketh that I winne,
And am the more glad withinne
Of that I wot him sorwe endure.
For evere upon such aventure
It is a confort, as men sein,
To him the which is wo besein
To sen another in his peine,
So that thei bothe mai compleigne.
Wher I miself mai noght availe
To sen another man travaile,
I am riht glad if he be let;
And thogh I fare noght the bet,
His sorwe is to myn herte a game.
Whan that I knowe it is the same
Which to mi ladi stant enclined,
And hath his love noght termined,
I am riht joifull in my thoght.
If such Envie grieveth oght,
As I beknowe me coupable,
Ye that be wys and resonable,
Mi fader, telleth youre avis."
    "Mi sone, Envie into no pris
Of such a forme, I understonde,
Ne mihte be no resoun stonde.
For this Envie hath such a kinde,
That he wole sette himself behinde
To hindre with anothre wyht,
And gladly lese his oghne riht
To make another lesen his.
And for to knowe how it so is,
A tale lich to this matiere
I thenke telle, if thou wolt hiere,
To schewe proprely the vice
Of this Envie and the malice.

[The Tale of the Travelers and the Angel]

   Of Jupiter this finde I write,
How whilom that he wolde wite
Upon the pleigntes whiche he herde,
Among the men how that it ferde,
As of here wrong condicion
To do justificacion.
And for that cause doun he sente
An angel, which aboute wente,
That he the sothe knowe mai.
So it befell upon a dai
This angel, which him scholde enforme,
Was clothed in a mannes forme,
And overtok, I understonde,
Tuo men that wented over londe,
Thurgh whiche he thoghte to aspie
His cause, and goth in compaignie.
This angel with hise wordes wise
Opposeth hem in sondri wise,
Now lowde wordes and now softe,
That mad hem to desputen ofte,
And ech of hem his reson hadde.
And thus with tales he hem ladde
With good examinacioun,
Til he knew the condicioun,
What men thei were bothe tuo;
And sih wel ate laste tho,
That on of hem was coveitous,
And his fela was envious.
And thus, whan he hath knowlechinge,
Anon he feigneth departinge,
And seide he mot algate wende.
Bot herkne now what fell at ende:
For thanne he made hem understonde
That he was there of Goddes sonde,
And seide hem, for the kindeschipe
That thei have don him felaschipe,
He wole hem do som grace agein,
And bad that on of hem schal sein
What thing him is lievest to crave,
And he it schal of gifte have.
And over that ek forthwithal
He seith that other have schal
The double of that his felaw axeth;
And thus to hem his grace he taxeth.
   The coveitous was wonder glad,
And to that other man he bad
And seith that he ferst axe scholde,
For he supposeth that he wolde
Make his axinge of worldes good;
For thanne he knew wel how it stod,
That he himself be double weyhte
Schal after take, and thus be sleyhte,
Because that he wolde winne,
He bad his fela ferst beginne.
This envious, thogh it be late,
Whan that he syh he mot algate
Make his axinge ferst, he thoghte,
If he worschipe or profit soghte,
It schal be doubled to his fiere:
That wolde he chese in no manere.
Bot thanne he scheweth what he was
Toward Envie, and in this cas
Unto this Angel thus he seide
And for his gifte this he preide,
To make him blind of his on yhe,
So that his fela nothing syhe.
This word was noght so sone spoke,
That his on yhe anon was loke,
And his felawh forthwith also
Was blind of bothe his yhen tuo.
Tho was that other glad ynowh,
That on wepte, and that other lowh,
He sette his on yhe at no cost,
Wherof that other two hath lost.
   Of thilke ensample which fell tho,
Men tellen now fulofte so,
The world empeireth comunly,
And yit wot non the cause why.
For it acordeth noght to kinde
Min oghne harm to seche and finde
Of that I schal my brother grieve;
It myhte nevere wel achieve.
   What seist thou, sone, of this folie?"
    "Mi fader, bot I scholde lie,
Upon the point which ye have seid
Yit was myn herte nevere leid,
Bot in the wise as I you tolde.
Bot overmore, if that ye wolde
Oght elles to my schrifte seie
Touchende Envie, I wolde preie."
    "Mi sone, that schal wel be do.
Now herkne and ley thin ere to."


[Detraction]

Inuidie pars est detraccio pessima, pestem

   Que magis infamem flatibus oris agit.
Lingua venenato sermone repercutit auras,
   Sic ut in alterius scandala fama volat.
Morsibus a tergo quos inficit ipsa fideles,
   Vulneris ignoti sepe salute carent.
Set generosus amor linguam conseruat, vt eius
   Verbum quod loquitur nulla sinistra gerat.3

"Touchende as of envious brod
I wot noght on of alle good;
Bot natheles, suche as thei be,
Yit is ther on, and that is he
Which cleped is Detraccioun.
And to conferme his accioun,
He hath withholde Malebouche,
Whos tunge neither pyl ne crouche4
Mai hyre, so that he pronounce
A plein good word withoute frounce
Awher behinde a mannes bak.
For thogh he preise, he fint som lak,
Which of his tale is ay the laste,
That al the pris schal overcaste:
And thogh ther be no cause why,
Yit wole he jangle noght forthi,
As he which hath the heraldie
Of hem that usen for to lye.
For as the netle which up renneth
The freisshe rede roses brenneth
And makth hem fade and pale of hewe,
Riht so this fals envious hewe,
In every place wher he duelleth,
With false wordes whiche he telleth
He torneth preisinge into blame
And worschipe into worldes schame.
Of suche lesinge as he compasseth,
Is non so good that he ne passeth
Betwen his teeth and is bacbited,
And thurgh his false tunge endited.
Lich to the scharnebudes kinde,
Of whos nature this I finde,
That in the hoteste of the dai,
Whan comen is the merie Maii,
He sprat his wynge and up he fleth.
And under al aboute he seth
The faire lusti floures springe,
Bot therof hath he no likinge;
Bot where he seth of eny beste
The felthe, ther he makth his feste,
And therupon he wole alyhte,
Ther liketh him non other sihte.
Riht so this janglere envious,
Thogh he a man se vertuous
And full of good condicioun,
Therof makth he no mencioun:
Bot elles, be it noght so lyte,
Wherof that he mai sette a wyte,
Ther renneth he with open mouth,
Behinde a man and makth it couth.
Bot al the vertu which he can,
That wole he hide of every man,
And openly the vice telle,
As he which of the scole of helle
Is tawht, and fostred with Envie
Of houshold and of compaignie,
Wher that he hath his propre office
To sette on every man a vice.
How so his mouth be comely,
His word sit evermore awry
And seith the worste that he may.
   And in this wise now a day
In loves court a man mai hiere
Fulofte pleigne of this matiere,
That many envious tale is stered,
Wher that it mai noght ben ansuered;
Bot yit fulofte it is believed,
And many a worthi love is grieved
Thurgh bacbitinge of fals Envie.
   If thou have mad such janglerie
In loves court, mi sone, er this,
Schrif thee therof."
       "Mi fader, yis:
Bot wite ye how? Noght openly,
Bot otherwhile prively,
Whan I my diere ladi mete,
And thenke how that I am noght mete
Unto hire hihe worthinesse,
And ek I se the besinesse
Of al this yonge lusty route,
Whiche alday pressen hire aboute,
And ech of hem his time awaiteth,
And ech of hem his tale affaiteth,
Al to deceive an innocent,
Which woll noght ben of here assent;
And for men sein 'unknowe unkest,'
Hire thombe sche holt in hire fest
So clos withinne hire oghne hond,
That there winneth no man lond;
Sche lieveth noght al that sche hiereth,
And thus fulofte hirself sche skiereth
And is al war of 'hadde I wist.'
Bot for al that myn herte arist,
Whanne I thes comun lovers se,
That woll noght holden hem to thre,
Bot welnyh loven overal,
Min herte is envious withal,
And evere I am adrad of guile,
In aunter if with eny wyle
Thei mihte hire innocence enchaunte.
Forthi my wordes ofte I haunte
Behynden hem, so as I dar,
Wherof my ladi may be war:
I sai what evere comth to mowthe,
And worse I wolde, if that I cowthe;
For whanne I come unto hir speche,
Al that I may enquere and seche
Of such deceipte, I telle it al,
And ay the werste in special.
So fayn I wolde that sche wiste
How litel thei ben for to triste,
And what thei wolde and what thei mente,
So as thei be of double entente.
Thus toward hem that wicke mene
My wicked word was evere grene.
And natheles, the soth to telle,
In certain if it so befelle
That althertrewest man ybore,
To chese among a thousend score,
Which were alfulli for to triste,
Mi ladi lovede, and I it wiste,
Yit rathere thanne he scholde spede,
I wolde swiche tales sprede
To my ladi, if that I myhte,
That I scholde al his love unrihte,
And therto wolde I do mi peine.
For certes thogh I scholde feigne,
And telle that was nevere thoght,
For al this world I myhte noght
To soffre anothre fully winne,
Ther as I am yit to beginne.
For be thei goode, or be thei badde,
I wolde non my ladi hadde;
And that me makth fulofte aspie
And usen wordes of Envie,
Al for to make hem bere a blame.
And that is bot of thilke same,
The whiche unto my ladi drawe,
For evere on hem I rounge and gknawe
And hindre hem al that evere I mai;
And that is, sothly for to say,
Bot only to my lady selve.
I telle it noght to ten ne tuelve,
Therof I wol me wel avise,
To speke or jangle in eny wise
That toucheth to my ladi name,
The which in ernest and in game
I wolde save into my deth.
For me were levere lacke breth
Than speken of hire name amis.
Now have ye herd touchende of this,
Mi fader, in confessioun,
And therfor of Detraccioun
In love, of that I have mispoke,
Tel how ye wole it schal be wroke.
I am al redy for to bere
Mi peine, and also to forbere
What thing that ye wol noght allowe.
For who is bounden, he mot bowe.
So wol I bowe unto youre heste,
For I dar make this beheste,
That I to yow have nothing hid,
Bot told riht as it is betid.
And otherwise of no mispeche,
Mi conscience for to seche,
I can noght of Envie finde,
That I mispoke have oght behinde
Wherof love owhte be mispaid.
Now have ye herd and I have said;
What wol ye, fader, that I do?"
    "Mi sone, do no more so,
Bot evere kep thi tunge stille,
Thou miht the more have of thi wille.
For as thou saist thiselven here,
Thi ladi is of such manere,
So wys, so war in alle thinge,
It nedeth of no bakbitinge
That thou thi ladi misenforme.
For whan sche knoweth al the forme,
How that thiself art envious,
Thou schalt noght be so gracious
As thou peraunter scholdest elles.
Ther wol no man drinke of tho welles
Whiche as he wot is puyson inne;
And ofte swich as men beginne
Towardes othre, swich thei finde,
That set hem ofte fer behinde,
Whan that thei wene be before.
Mi goode sone, and thou therfore
Bewar and lef thi wicke speche,
Wherof hath fallen ofte wreche
To many a man befor this time.
For who so wole his handes lime,
Thei mosten be the more unclene;
For many a mote schal be sene,
That wolde noght cleve elles there,
And that schold every wys man fere.
For whoso wol another blame,
He secheth ofte his oghne schame,
Which elles myhte be riht stille.
Forthi if that it be thi wille
To stonde upon amendement,
A tale of gret entendement
I thenke telle for thi sake,
Wherof thou miht ensample take.

[The Tale of Constance]

   A worthi kniht in Cristes lawe
Of grete Rome, as is the sawe,
The sceptre hadde for to rihte;
Tiberie Constantin he hihte,
Whos wif was cleped Ytalie.
Bot thei togedre of progenie
No children hadde bot a maide,
And sche the God so wel apaide,
That al the wide worldes fame
Spak worschipe of hire goode name.
Constance, as the cronique seith,
Sche hihte, and was so ful of feith,
That the greteste of Barbarie,
Of hem whiche usen marchandie,
Sche hath converted, as thei come
To hire upon a time in Rome,
To schewen such thing as thei broghte;
Whiche worthili of hem sche boghte,
And over that in such a wise
Sche hath hem with hire wordes wise
Of Cristes feith so full enformed,
That thei therto ben all conformed,
So that baptesme thei receiven
And alle here false goddes weyven.
Whan thei ben of the feith certein,
Thei gon to Barbarie agein,
And ther the Souldan for hem sente
And axeth hem to what entente
Thei have here ferste feith forsake.
And thei, whiche hadden undertake
The rihte feith to kepe and holde,
The matiere of here tale tolde
With al the hole circumstance.
And whan the Souldan of Constance
Upon the point that thei ansuerde
The beauté and the grace herde,
As he which thanne was to wedde,
In alle haste his cause spedde
To sende for the mariage.
And furthermor with good corage
He seith, be so he mai hire have,
That Crist, which cam this world to save,
He woll believe: and this recorded,
Thei ben on either side acorded,
And therupon to make an ende
The Souldan hise hostages sende
To Rome, of princes sones tuelve:
Wherof the fader in himselve
Was glad, and with the pope avised
Tuo cardinals he hath assissed
With othre lordes many mo,
That with his doghter scholden go,
To se the Souldan be converted.
   Bot that which nevere was wel herted,
Envie, tho began travaile
In destourbance of this spousaile
So prively that non was war.
The moder which this Souldan bar
Was thanne alyve, and thoghte this
Unto hirself: 'If it so is
Mi sone him wedde in this manere,
Than have I lost my joies hiere,
For myn astat schal so be lassed.'
Thenkende thus sche hath compassed
Be sleihte how that sche may beguile
Hire sone; and fell withinne a while,
Betwen hem two whan thei were,
Sche feigneth wordes in his ere,
And in this wise gan to seie:
'Mi sone, I am be double weie
With al myn herte glad and blithe,
For that miself have ofte sithe
Desired thou wolt, as men seith,
Receive and take a newe feith,
Which schal be forthringe of thi lif:
And ek so worschipful a wif,
The doughter of an emperour,
To wedde it schal be gret honour.
Forthi, mi sone, I you beseche
That I such grace mihte areche,
Whan that my doughter come schal,
That I mai thanne in special,
So as me thenkth it is honeste,
Be thilke which the ferste feste
Schal make unto hire welcominge.'
The Souldan granteth hire axinge,
And sche therof was glad ynowh.
For under that anon sche drowh
With false wordes that sche spak
Covine of deth behinde his bak.
And therupon hire ordinance
Sche made so, that whan Constance
Was come forth with the Romeins,
Of clerkes and of citezeins,
A riche feste sche hem made;
And most whan that thei weren glade,
With fals covine which sche hadde
Hire clos Envie tho sche spradde,
And alle tho that hadden be
Or in apert or in privé
Of conseil to the mariage,
Sche slowh hem in a sodein rage
Endlong the bord as thei be set,
So that it myhte noght be let;
Hire oghne sone was noght quit,
Bot deide upon the same plit.
Bot what the hihe God wol spare
It mai for no peril misfare.
This worthi maiden which was there
Stod thanne, as who seith, ded for feere,
To se the feste how that it stod,
Which al was torned into blod.
The dissh forth with the coppe and al
Bebled thei weren overal.
Sche sih hem deie on every side;
No wonder thogh sche wepte and cride
Makende many a wofull mone.
Whan al was slain bot sche alone,
This olde fend, this Sarazine,
Let take anon this Constantine
With al the good sche thider broghte,
And hath ordeined, as sche thoghte,
A nakid schip withoute stiere,
In which the good and hire in fiere,
Vitailed full for yeres fyve;
Wher that the wynd it wolde dryve,
Sche putte upon the wawes wilde.
   Bot He which alle thing mai schilde,
Thre yer, til that sche cam to londe,
Hire schip to stiere hath take in honde,
And in Northumberlond aryveth.
And happeth thanne that sche dryveth
Under a castel with the flod,
Which upon Humber banke stod
And was the kynges oghne also,
The which Allee was cleped tho,
A Saxon and a worthi knyht,
Bot he believeth noght ariht.
Of this castell was chastellein
Elda the kinges chamberlein,
A knyhtly man after his lawe;
And whan he sih upon the wawe
The schip drivende alone so,
He bad anon men scholden go
To se what it betokne mai.
This was upon a somer dai,
The schip was loked and sche founde.
Elda withinne a litel stounde
It wiste, and with his wif anon
Toward this yonge ladi gon,
Wher that thei founden gret richesse.
Bot sche hire wolde noght confesse,
Whan thei hire axen what sche was.
And natheles upon the cas
Out of the schip with gret worschipe
Thei toke hire into felaschipe,
As thei that weren of hir glade.
Bot sche no maner joie made,
Bot sorweth sore of that sche fond
No Cristendom in thilke lond.
Bot elles sche hath al hire wille,
And thus with hem sche duelleth stille.
   Dame Hermyngheld, which was the wif
Of Elda, lich her oghne lif
Constance loveth; and fell so,
Spekende alday betwen hem two,
Thurgh grace of Goddes pourveance
This maiden tawhte the creance
Unto this wif so parfitly,
Upon a dai that faste by
In presence of hire housebonde,
Wher thei go walkende on the stronde,
A blind man, which cam there lad,
Unto this wif criende he bad,
With bothe hise hondes up and preide
To hire, and in this wise he seide:
'O Hermyngeld, which Cristes feith,
Enformed as Constance seith,
Received hast, gif me my sihte.'
   Upon his word hire herte afflihte
Thenkende what was best to done,
Bot natheles sche herde his bone
And seide, 'In trust of Cristes lawe,
Which don was on the crois and slawe,
Thou bysne man, behold and se.'
With that to God upon his kne
Thonkende he tok his sihte anon,
Wherof thei merveile everychon,
Bot Elda wondreth most of alle.
This open thing which is befalle
Concludeth him be such a weie,
That he the feith mot nede obeie.
   Now lest what fell upon this thing.
This Elda forth unto the king
A morwe tok his weie and rod,
And Hermyngeld at home abod
Forth with Constance wel at ese.
Elda, which thoghte his king to plese,
As he that thanne unwedded was,
Of Constance al the pleine cas
Als goodliche as he cowthe tolde.
The king was glad and seide he wolde
Come thider upon such a wise
That he him mihte of hire avise,
The time apointed forthwithal.
This Elda triste in special
Upon a knyht, whom fro childhode
He hadde updrawe into manhode.
To him he tolde al that he thoghte,
Wherof that after him forthoghte;
And natheles at thilke tide
Unto his wif he bad him ride
To make redi alle thing
Agein the cominge of the king,
And seith that he himself tofore
Thenkth for to come, and bad therfore
That he him kepe, and told him whanne.
This knyht rod forth his weie thanne;
And soth was that of time passed
He hadde in al his wit compassed
How he Constance myhte winne.
Bot he sih tho no sped therinne,
Wherof his lust began t'abate,
And that was love is thanne hate;
Of hire honour he hadde Envie,
So that upon his tricherie
A lesinge in his herte he caste.
Til he cam home he hieth faste,
And doth his ladi t'understonde
The message of hire housebonde:
And therupon the longe dai
Thei setten thinges in arrai,
That al was as it scholde be
Of everything in his degree;
And whan it cam into the nyht,
This wif hire hath to bedde dyht,
Wher that this maiden with hire lay.
This false knyht upon delay
Hath taried til thei were aslepe,
As he that wolde his time kepe
His dedly werkes to fulfille;
And to the bed he stalketh stille,
Wher that he wiste was the wif,
And in his hond a rasour knif
He bar, with which hire throte he cutte,
And prively the knif he putte
Under that other beddes side,
Wher that Constance lai beside.
Elda cam hom the same nyht,
And stille with a privé lyht,
As he that wolde noght awake
His wif, he hath his weie take
Into the chambre, and ther liggende
He fond his dede wif bledende,
Wher that Constance faste by
Was falle aslepe; and sodeinly
He cride alowd, and sche awok,
And forthwithal sche cast a lok
And sih this ladi blede there,
Wherof swounende ded for fere
Sche was, and stille as eny ston
Sche lay, and Elda therupon
Into the castell clepeth oute,
And up sterte every man aboute,
Into the chambre and forth thei wente.
Bot he, which alle untrouthe mente,
This false knyht, among hem alle
Upon this thing which is befalle
Seith that Constance hath don this dede;
And to the bed with that he yede
After the falshed of his speche,
And made him there for to seche,
And fond the knif, wher he it leide,
And thanne he cride and thanne he seide,
'Lo, seth the knif al blody hiere!
What nedeth more in this matiere
To axe?' And thus hire innocence
He sclaundreth there in audience
With false wordes whiche he feigneth.
Bot yit for al that evere he pleigneth,
Elda no full credence tok:
And happeth that ther lay a bok,
Upon the which, whan he it sih,
This knyht hath swore and seid on hih,
That alle men it mihte wite,
'Now be this bok, which hier is write,
Constance is gultif, wel I wot.'
With that the hond of hevene him smot
In tokne of that he was forswore,
That he hath bothe hise yhen lore,
Out of his hed the same stounde
Thei sterte, and so thei weren founde.
A vois was herd, whan that they felle,
Which seide, 'O dampned man to helle,
Lo, thus hath God the sclaundre wroke
That thou agein Constance hast spoke:
Beknow the sothe er that thou dye.'
And he told out his felonie,
And starf forth with his tale anon.
Into the ground, wher alle gon,
This dede lady was begrave.
Elda, which thoghte his honour save,
Al that he mai restreigneth sorwe.
   For the seconde dai a morwe
The king cam, as thei were acorded;
And whan it was to him recorded
What God hath wroght upon this chaunce,
He tok it into remembrance
And thoghte more than he seide.
For al his hole herte he leide
Upon Constance, and seide he scholde
For love of hire, if that sche wolde,
Baptesme take and Cristes feith
Believe, and over that he seith
He wol hire wedde, and upon this
Asseured ech til other is.
And for to make schorte tales,
Ther cam a Bisschop out of Wales
Fro Bangor, and Lucie he hihte,
Which thurgh the grace of God almihte
The king with many another mo
Hath cristned, and betwen hem tuo
He hath fulfild the mariage.
Bot for no lust ne for no rage
Sche tolde hem nevere what sche was;
And natheles upon the cas
The king was glad, how so it stod,
For wel he wiste and understod
Sche was a noble creature.
The hihe makere of nature
Hire hath visited in a throwe,
That it was openliche knowe
Sche was with childe be the king,
Wherof above al other thing
He thonketh God and was riht glad.
And fell that time he was bestad
Upon a werre and moste ride;
And whil he scholde there abide,
He lefte at hom to kepe his wif
Suche as he knew of holi lif,
Elda forth with the Bisschop eke.
And he with pouer goth to seke
Agein the Scottes for to fonde
The werre which he tok on honde.
   The time set of kinde is come:
This lady hath hire chambre nome,
And of a sone bore full,
Wherof that sche was joiefull,
Sche was delivered sauf and sone.
The bisshop, as it was to done,
Gaf him baptesme and Moris calleth;
And therupon, as it befalleth,
With lettres writen of record
Thei sende unto here liege lord,
That kepers weren of the qweene.
And he that scholde go betwene,
The messager, to Knaresburgh,
Which toun he scholde passe thurgh,
Ridende cam the ferste day.
The kinges moder there lay,
Whos rihte name was Domilde,
Which after al the cause spilde.
For he, which thonk deserve wolde,
Unto this ladi goth and tolde
Of his message al how it ferde.
And sche with feigned joie it herde
And gaf him giftes largely,
Bot in the nyht al prively
Sche tok the lettres whiche he hadde,
Fro point to point and overradde,
As sche that was thurghout untrewe,
And let do wryten othre newe
In stede of hem, and thus thei spieke:
    'Oure liege lord, we thee beseke
That thou with ous ne be noght wroth,
Though we such thing as is thee loth
Upon oure trowthe certefie.
Thi wif, which is of faierie,
Of such a child delivered is
Fro kinde which stant al amis:
Bot for it scholde noght be seie,
We have it kept out of the weie
For drede of pure worldes schame,
A povere child and in the name
Of thilke which is so misbore
We toke,5 and therto we be swore,
That non bot only thou and we
Schal knowen of this priveté.
Moris it hatte, and thus men wene
That it was boren of the qweene
And of thin oghne bodi gete.
Bot this thing mai noght be forgete,
That thou ne sende ous word anon
What is thi wille therupon.'
   This lettre, as thou hast herd devise,
Was contrefet in such a wise
That no man scholde it aperceive:
And sche, which thoghte to deceive,
It leith wher sche that other tok.
This messager, whan he awok,
And wiste nothing how it was,
Aros and rod the grete pas
And tok this lettre to the king.
And whan he sih this wonder thing,
He makth the messager no chiere,
Bot natheles in wys manere
He wrot agein, and gaf hem charge
That thei ne soffre noght at large
His wif to go, bot kepe hire stille,
Til thei have herd mor of his wille.
This messager was gifteles,
Bot with this lettre natheles,
Or be him lief or be him loth,
In alle haste agein he goth
Be Knaresburgh, and as he wente,
Unto the moder his entente
Of that he fond toward the king
He tolde; and sche upon this thing
Seith that he scholde abide al nyht
And made him feste and chiere ariht,
Feignende as thogh sche cowthe him thonk.
Bot he with strong wyn which he dronk
Forth with the travail of the day
Was drunke, aslepe, and while he lay,
Sche hath hise lettres overseie
And formed in another weie.
   Ther was a newe lettre write,
Which seith: 'I do you for to wite,
That thurgh the conseil of you tuo
I stonde in point to ben undo,
As he which is a king deposed.
For every man it hath supposed,
How that my wif Constance is faie;
And if that I, thei sein, delaie
To put hire out of compaignie,
The worschipe of my regalie
Is lore; and over this thei telle,
Hire child schal noght among hem duelle,
To cleymen eny heritage.
So can I se non avantage,
Bot al is lost, if sche abide.
Forthi to loke on every side
Toward the meschief as it is,
I charge you and bidde this,
That ye the same schip vitaile
In which that sche tok arivaile,
Therinne and putteth bothe tuo,
Hireself forth with hire child also,
And so forth broght unto the depe
Betaketh hire the see to kepe.
Of foure daies time I sette,
That ye this thing no longer lette,
So that your lif be noght forfet.'
And thus this lettre contrefet
The messager, which was unwar,
Upon the kinges halve bar,
And where he scholde it hath betake.
Bot whan that thei have hiede take,
And rad that writen is withinne,
So gret a sorwe thei beginne,
As thei here oghne moder sihen
Brent in a fyr before here yhen:
Ther was wepinge and ther was wo,
Bot finaly the thing is do.
   Upon the see thei have hire broght,
Bot sche the cause wiste noght,
And thus upon the flod thei wone,
This ladi with hire yonge sone.
And thanne hire handes to the hevene
Sche strawhte, and with a milde stevene
Knelende upon hire bare kne
Sche seide, 'O hihe magesté,
Which sest the point of every trowthe,
Tak of thi wofull womman rowthe
And of this child that I schal kepe.'
And with that word sche gan to wepe,
Swounende as ded, and ther sche lay.
Bot He which alle thinges may
Conforteth hire, and ate laste
Sche loketh and hire yhen caste
Upon hire child and seide this:
'Of me no maner charge it is
What sorwe I soffre, bot of thee
Me thenkth it is a gret pité,
For if I sterve thou schalt deie.
So mot I nedes be that weie
For moderhed and for tendresse
With al myn hole besinesse
Ordeigne me for thilke office,
As sche which schal be thi norrice.'
Thus was sche strengthed for to stonde;
And tho sche tok hire child in honde
And gaf it sowke, and evere among
Sche wepte, and otherwhile song
To rocke with hire child aslepe.
And thus hire oghne child to kepe
Sche hath under the Goddes cure.
   And so fell upon aventure,
Whan thilke yer hath mad his ende,
Hire schip, so as it moste wende
Thurgh strengthe of wynd which God hath give,
Estward was into Spaigne drive
Riht faste under a castell wall,
Wher that a hethen amirall
Was lord, and he a stieward hadde,
Oon Theloüs, which al was badde,
A fals knyht and a renegat.
He goth to loke in what astat
The schip was come, and there he fond
Forth with a child upon hire hond
This lady, wher sche was alone.
He tok good hiede of the persone,
And sih sche was a worthi wiht,
And thoghte he wolde upon the nyht
Demene hire at his oghne wille,
And let hire be therinne stille,
That mo men sih sche noght that dai.
At Goddes wille and thus sche lai,
Unknowe what hire schal betide;
And fell so that be nyhtes tide
This knyht withoute felaschipe
Hath take a bot and cam to schipe,
And thoghte of hire his lust to take,
And swor, if sche him daunger make,
That certeinly sche scholde deie.
Sche sih ther was non other weie,
And seide he scholde hire wel conforte,
That he ferst loke out ate porte,
That no man were nyh the stede,
Which myhte knowe what thei dede,
And thanne he mai do what he wolde.
He was riht glad that sche so tolde,
And to the porte anon he ferde.
Sche preide God, and He hire herde,
And sodeinliche he was out throwe
And dreynt, and tho began to blowe
A wynd menable fro the lond,
And thus the myhti Goddes hond
Hire hath conveied and defended.
   And whan thre yer be full despended,
Hire schip was drive upon a dai,
Wher that a gret navye lay
Of schipes, al the world at ones.
And as God wolde for the nones,
Hire schip goth in among hem alle,
And stinte noght, er it be falle
And hath the vessell undergete,
Which maister was of al the flete,
Bot there it resteth and abod.
This grete schip on anker rod;
The lord cam forth, and whan he sih
That other ligge abord so nyh,
He wondreth what it myhte be,
And bad men to gon in and se.
This ladi tho was crope aside,
As sche that wolde hireselven hide,
For sche ne wiste what thei were:
Thei soghte aboute and founde hir there
And broghten up hire child and hire;
And therupon this lord to spire
Began, fro whenne that sche cam,
And what sche was. Quod sche, 'I am
A womman wofully bestad.
I hadde a lord, and thus he bad,
That I forth with my litel sone
Upon the wawes scholden wone,
Bot why the cause was, I not.
Bot He which alle thinges wot
Yit hath, I thonke Him, of His miht
Mi child and me so kept upriht,
That we be save bothe tuo.'
This lord hire axeth overmo
How sche believeth, and sche seith,
'I lieve and triste in Cristes feith,
Which deide upon the Rode tree.'
'What is thi name?' tho quod he.
'Mi name is Couste,' sche him seide,
Bot forthermor for noght he preide
Of hire astat to knowe plein,
Sche wolde him nothing elles sein
Bot of hir name, which sche feigneth.
Alle othre thinges sche restreigneth,
That a word more sche ne tolde.
This lord thanne axeth if sche wolde
With him abide in compaignie,
And seide he cam fro Barbarie
To Romeward, and hom he wente.
Tho sche supposeth what it mente,
And seith sche wolde with him wende
And duelle unto hire lyves ende,
Be so it be to his plesance.
And thus upon here aqueintance
He tolde hire pleinly as it stod,
Of Rome how that the gentil blod
In Barbarie was betraied,
And therupon he hath assaied
Be werre, and taken such vengance,
That non of al thilke alliance,
Be whom the tresoun was compassed,
Is from the swerd alyve passed;
Bot of Constance hou it was,
That cowthe he knowe be no cas,
Wher sche becam, so as he seide.
   Hire ere unto his word sche leide,
Bot forther made sche no chiere.
And natheles in this matiere
It happeth thilke time so,
This lord, with whom sche scholde go,
Of Rome was the senatour,
And of hir fader th'emperour
His brother doughter hath to wyve,
Which hath hir fader ek alyve,
And was Salustes cleped tho;
This wif Heleine hihte also,
To whom Constance was cousine.
Thus to the sike a medicine
Hath God ordeined of His grace,
That forthwith in the same place
This senatour his trowthe plihte,
Forevere, whil he live mihte,
To kepe in worschipe and in welthe,
Be so that God wol give hire helthe,
This ladi, which fortune him sende.
And thus be schipe forth sailende
Hire and hir child to Rome he broghte,
And to his wif tho he besoghte
To take hire into compaignie.
And sche, which cowthe of courtesie
Al that a good wif scholde konne,
Was inly glad that sche hath wonne
The felaschip of so good on.
Til tuelve yeres were agon,
This emperoures dowhter Custe
Forth with the dowhter of Saluste
Was kepte, bot no man redily
Knew what sche was, and noght forthi
Thei thoghten wel sche hadde be
In hire astat of hih degré,
And every lif hire loveth wel.
   Now herke how thilke unstable whel
Which evere torneth went aboute.
The king Allee, whil he was oute,
As thou tofore hast herd this cas,
Deceived thurgh his moder was:
Bot whan that he cam home agein,
He axeth of his chamberlein
And of the bisschop ek also,
Wher thei the qweene hadden do.
And thei answerde, there he bad,
And have him thilke lettre rad,
Which he hem sende for warant,
And tolde him pleinli as it stant,
And sein, it thoghte hem gret pité
To se so worthi on as sche,
With such a child as ther was bore,
So sodeinly to be forlore.
He axeth hem what child that were;
And thei him seiden, that naghere,
In al the world thogh men it soghte,
Was nevere womman that forth broghte
A fairer child than it was on.
And thanne he axede hem anon,
Whi thei ne hadden write so?
Thei tolden so thei hadden do.
He seide, 'Nay.' Thei seiden, 'Yis.'
The lettre schewed rad it is,
Which thei forsoken everidel.
Tho was it understonde wel
That ther is tresoun in the thing.
The messager tofore the king
Was broght and sodeinliche opposed;
And he, which nothing hath supposed
Bot alle wel, began to seie
That he nagher upon the weie
Abod, bot only in a stede;
And cause why that he so dede
Was, as he wente to and fro,
At Knaresburgh be nyhtes tuo
The kinges moder made him duelle.
And whan the king it herde telle,
Withinne his herte he wiste als faste
The treson which his moder caste.
And thoghte he wolde noght abide,
Bot forth riht in the same tide
He tok his hors and rod anon.
With him ther riden mani on,
To Knaresburgh and forth thei wente,
And lich the fyr which tunder hente,
In suche a rage, as seith the bok,
His moder sodeinliche he tok
And seide unto hir in this wise:
'O beste of helle, in what juise
Hast thou deserved for to deie,
That hast so falsly put aweie
With tresoun of thi bacbitinge
The treweste at my knowlechinge
Of wyves and the most honeste?
Bot I wol make this beheste,
I schal be venged er I go.'
And let a fyr do make tho,
And bad men for to caste hire inne.
But ferst sche tolde out al the sinne,
And dede hem alle for to wite
How sche the lettres hadde write,
Fro point to point as it was wroght.
And tho sche was to dethe broght
And brent tofore hire sones yhe;
Wherof these othre, which it sihe
And herden how the cause stod,
Sein that the juggement is good,
Of that hir sone hire hath so served.
For sche it hadde wel deserved
Thurgh tresoun of hire false tunge,
Which thurgh the lond was after sunge,
Constance and every wiht compleigneth.
Bot he, whom alle wo distreigneth,
This sorghfull king, was so bestad,
That he schal nevermor be glad,
He seith, eftsone for to wedde,
Til that he wiste how that sche spedde,
Which hadde ben his ferste wif.
And thus his yonge unlusti lif
He dryveth forth so as he mai.
   Til it befell upon a dai,
Whan he hise werres hadde achieved,
And thoghte he wolde be relieved
Of soule hele upon the feith
Which he hath take, thanne he seith
That he to Rome in pelrinage
Wol go, wher pope was Pelage,
To take his absolucioun.
And upon this condicioun
He made Edwyn his lieutenant,
Which heir to him was apparant,
That he the lond in his absence
Schal reule. And thus be providence
Of alle thinges wel begon
He tok his leve and forth is gon.
Elda, which tho was with him there,
Er thei fulliche at Rome were,
Was sent tofore to pourveie;
And he his guide upon the weie,
In help to ben his herbergour,
Hath axed who was senatour,
That he his name myhte kenne.
Of Capadoce, he seide, Arcenne
He hihte, and was a worthi kniht.
To him goth Elda tho forth riht
And tolde him of his lord tidinge,
And preide that for his comynge
He wolde assigne him herbergage;
And he so dede of good corage.
   Whan al is do that was to done,
The king himself cam after sone.
This senatour, whan that he com,
To Couste and to his wif at hom
Hath told how such a king Allee
Of gret array to the citee
Was come, and Couste upon his tale
With herte clos and colour pale
Aswoune fell, and he merveileth
So sodeinly what thing hire eyleth,
And cawhte hire up, and whan sche wok,
Sche syketh with a pitous lok
And feigneth seknesse of the see;
Bot it was for the king Allee,
For joie which fell in hire thoght
That God him hath to toune broght.
This king hath spoke with the pope
And told al that he cowthe agrope,
What grieveth in his conscience;
And thanne he thoghte in reverence
Of his astat, er that he wente,
To make a feste, and thus he sente
Unto the senatour to come
Upon the morwe and othre some,
To sitte with him at the mete.
This tale hath Couste noghte forgete,
Bot to Moris hire sone tolde
That he upon the morwe scholde
In al that evere he cowthe and mihte
Be present in the kinges sihte,
So that the king him ofte sihe.
Moris tofore the kinges yhe
Upon the morwe, wher he sat,
Fulofte stod, and upon that
The king his chiere upon him caste,
And in his face him thoghte als faste
He sih his oghne wif Constance.
For nature as in resemblance
Of face hem liketh so to clothe,
That thei were of a suite bothe.
The king was moeved in his thoght
Of that he seth, and knoweth it noght;
This child he loveth kindely,
And yit he wot no cause why.
Bot wel he sih and understod
That he toward Arcenne stod,
And axeth him anon riht there,
If that this child his sone were.
He seide, 'Yee, so I him calle,
And wolde it were so befalle,
Bot it is al in other wise.'
   And tho began he to devise
How he the childes moder fond
Upon the see from every lond
Withinne a schip was stiereles,
And how this ladi helpeles
Forth with hir child he hath forthdrawe.
The king hath understonde his sawe,
The childes name and axeth tho,
And what the moder hihte also
That he him wolde telle he preide.
'Moris this child is hote,' he seide,
'His moder hatte Couste, and this
I not what maner name it is.'
But Allee wiste wel ynowh,
Wherof somdiel smylende he lowh;
For Couste in Saxoun is to sein
Constance upon the word Romein.
Bot who that cowthe specefie
What tho fell in his fantasie,
And how his wit aboute renneth
Upon the love in which he brenneth,
It were a wonder for to hiere.
For he was nouther ther ne hiere,
Bot clene out of himself aweie,
That he not what to thenke or seie,
So fain he wolde it were sche.
Wherof his hertes priveté
Began the werre of yee and nay,
The which in such balance lay,
That contenance for a throwe
He loste, til he mihte knowe
The sothe; bot in his memoire
The man which lith in purgatoire
Desireth noght the hevene more,
That he ne longeth al so sore
To wite what him schal betide.
And whan the bordes were aside
And every man was rise aboute,
The king hath weyved al the route,
And with the senatour alone
He spak and preide him of a bone,
To se this Couste, wher sche duelleth
At hom with him, so as he telleth.
The senatour was wel appaied;
This thing no lengere is delaied.
To se this Couste goth the king,
And sche was warned of the thing,
And with Heleine forth sche cam
Agein the king, and he tho nam
Good hiede, and whan he sih his wif,
Anon with al his hertes lif
He cawhte hire in his arm and kiste.
Was nevere wiht that sih ne wiste
A man that more joie made,
Wherof thei weren alle glade
Whiche herde tellen of this chance.
   This king tho with his wif Constance,
Which hadde a gret part of his wille,
In Rome for a time stille
Abod and made him wel at ese.
Bot so yit cowthe he nevere plese
His wif, that sche him wolde sein
Of hire astat the trowthe plein,
Of what contré that sche was bore,
Ne what sche was, and yit therfore
With al his wit he hath don sieke.
Thus as they lihe abedde and spieke,
Sche preide him and conseileth bothe,
That for the worschipe of hem bothe,
So as hire thoghte it were honeste,
He wolde an honourable feste
Make, er he wente, in the cité,
Wher th'emperour himself schal be.
He graunteth al that sche him preide.
Bot as men in that time seide,
This emperour fro thilke day
That ferst his dowhter wente away
He was thanne after nevere glad;
Bot what that eny man him bad
Of grace for his dowhter sake,
That grace wolde he noght forsake.
And thus ful gret almesse he dede,
Wherof sche hadde many a bede.
   This emperour out of the toun
Withinne a ten mile enviroun,
Where as it thoghte him for the beste,
Hath sondry places for to reste;
And as fortune wolde tho,
He was duellende at on of tho.
The king Allee forth with th'assent
Of Couste his wif hath thider sent
Moris his sone, as he was taght,
To th'emperour, and he goth straght
And in his fader half besoghte,
As he which his lordschipe soghte
That of his hihe worthinesse
He wolde do so gret meknesse,
His oghne toun to come and se,
And give a time in the cité,
So that his fader mihte him gete
That he wolde ones with him ete.
This lord hath granted his requeste,
And whan the dai was of the feste,
In worschipe of here emperour
The king and ek the senatour
Forth with here wyves bothe tuo,
With many a lord and lady mo,
On horse riden him agein;
Til it befell, upon a plein
Thei sihen wher he was comende.
With that Constance anon preiende
Spak to hir lord that he abyde,
So that sche mai tofore ryde,
To ben upon his bienvenue
The ferste which schal him salue.
And thus after hire lordes graunt
Upon a mule whyt amblaunt
Forth with a fewe rod this qweene.
Thei wondren what sche wolde mene,
And riden after softe pas;
Bot whan this ladi come was
To th'emperour, in his presence
Sche seide alowd in audience,
'Mi lord, mi fader, wel you be!
And of this time that I se
Youre honour and your goode hele,
Which is the helpe of my querele,
I thonke unto the Goddes myht.'
For joie his herte was affliht
Of that sche tolde in remembrance;
And whanne he wiste it was Constance,
Was nevere fader half so blithe.
Wepende he keste hire ofte sithe,
So was his herte al overcome;
For thogh his moder were come
Fro deth to lyve out of the grave,
He mihte no mor wonder have
Than he hath whan that he hire sih.
With that hire oghne lord cam nyh
And is to th'emperour obeied;
Bot whan the fortune is bewreied,
How that Constance is come aboute,
So hard an herte was non oute,
That he for pité tho ne wepte.
   Arcennus, which hire fond and kepte,
Was thanne glad of that is falle,
So that with joie among hem alle
Thei riden in at Rome gate.
This emperour thoghte al to late,
Til that the pope were come,
And of the lordes sende some
To preie him that he wolde haste;
And he cam forth in alle haste,
And whan that he the tale herde,
How wonderly this chance ferde,
He thonketh God of His miracle,
To whos miht mai be non obstacle.
The king a noble feste hem made,
And thus thei weren alle glade.
A parlement, er that thei wente,
Thei setten unto this entente,
To puten Rome in full espeir
That Moris was apparant heir
And scholde abide with hem stille,
For such was al the londes wille.
   Whan everything was fulli spoke,
Of sorwe and queint was al the smoke,
Tho tok his leve Allee the king,
And with full many a riche thing,
Which th'emperour him hadde give,
He goth a glad lif for to live;
For he Constance hath in his hond,
Which was the confort of his lond.
For whan that he cam hom agein,
Ther is no tunge it mihte sein
What joie was that ilke stounde
Of that he hath his qweene founde,
Which ferst was sent of Goddes sonde,
Whan sche was drive upon the stronde,
Be whom the misbelieve of sinne
Was left, and Cristes feith cam inne
To hem that whilom were blinde.
   Bot he which hindreth every kinde
And for no gold mai be forboght,
The deth, comende er he be soght,
Tok with this king such aqueintance,
That he with al his retenance
Ne mihte noght defende his lif;
And thus he parteth from his wif,
Which thanne made sorwe ynowh.
And therupon hire herte drowh
To leven Engelond forevere
And go wher that sche hadde levere,
To Rome, whenne that sche cam.
And thus of al the lond sche nam
Hir leve, and goth to Rome agein.
And after that the bokes sein,
Sche was noght there bot a throwe,
Whan deth of kinde hath overthrowe
Hir worthi fader, which men seide
That he betwen hire armes deide.
And afterward the yer suiende
The God hath mad of hire an ende,
And fro this worldes faierie
Hath take hire into compaignie.
Moris hir sone was corouned,
Which so ferforth was abandouned
To Cristes feith, that men him calle
Moris the Cristeneste of alle.
   And thus the wel meninge of love
Was ate laste set above;
And so as thou hast herd tofore,
The false tunges weren lore,
Whiche upon love wolden lie.
Forthi touchende of this Envie
Which longeth unto bacbitinge,
Be war thou make no lesinge
In hindringe of another wiht.
And if thou wolt be tawht ariht
What meschief bakbitinge doth
Be other weie, a tale soth
Now miht thou hiere next suiende,
Which to this vice is acordende.

[The Tale of Demetrius and Perseus]

   In a cronique, as thou schalt wite,
A gret ensample I finde write,
Which I schal telle upon this thing.
Philippe of Macedoyne kyng
Two sones hadde be his wif,
Whos fame is yit in Grece rif.
Demetrius the ferste brother
Was hote, and Perseus that other.
Demetrius men seiden tho
The betre knyht was of the tuo,
To whom the lond was entendant,
As he which heir was apparant
To regne after his fader dai.
Bot that thing which no water mai
Quenche in this world, bot evere brenneth,
Into his brother herte it renneth,
The proude Envie of that he sih
His brother scholde clymbe on hih,
And he to him mot thanne obeie:
That may he soffre be no weie.
With strengthe dorst he nothing fonde,
So tok he lesinge upon honde,
Whan he sih time and spak therto.
For it befell that time so,
His fader grete werres hadde
With Rome, whiche he streite ladde
Thurgh mihty hond of his manhode,
As he which hath ynowh knihthode,
And ofte hem hadde sore grieved.
Bot er the werre were achieved,
As he was upon ordinance
At hom in Grece, it fell per chance,
Demetrius, which ofte aboute
Ridende was, stod that time oute,
So that this Perse in his absence,
Which bar the tunge of pestilence,
With false wordes whiche he feigneth
Upon his oghne brother pleigneth
In priveté behinde his bak.
And to his fader thus he spak:
    'Mi diere fader, I am holde
Be weie of kinde, as resoun wolde,
That I fro yow schal nothing hide,
Which mihte torne in eny side
Of youre astat into grevance.
Forthi myn hertes obeissance
Towardes you I thenke kepe,
For it is good ye take kepe
Upon a thing which is me told.
Mi brother hath ous alle sold
To hem of Rome, and you also;
For thanne they behote him so,
That he with hem schal regne in pes.
Thus hath he cast for his encress
That youre astat schal go to noght;
And this to proeve schal be broght
So ferforth, that I undertake
It schal noght wel mow be forsake.'
   The king upon this tale ansuerde
And seide, if this thing which he herde
Be soth and mai be broght to prove,
'It schal noght be to his behove,
Which so hath schapen ous the werste,
For he himself schal be the ferste
That schal be ded, if that I mai.'
   Thus afterward upon a dai,
Whan that Demetrius was come,
Anon his fader hath him nome,
And bad unto his brother Perse
That he his tale schal reherse
Of thilke tresoun which he tolde.
And he, which al untrowthe wolde,
Conseileth that so hih a nede
Be treted wher as it mai spede,
In comun place of juggement.
The king therto gaf his assent;
Demetrius was put in hold,
Wherof that Perseüs was bold.
Thus stod the trowthe under the charge,
And the falshede goth at large,
Which thurgh beheste hath overcome
The greteste of the lordes some,
That privelich of his acord
Thei stonde as witnesse of record:
The jugge was mad favorable;
Thus was the lawe deceivable
So ferforth that the trowthe fond
Rescousse non, and thus the lond
Forth with the king deceived were.
   The gulteles was dampned there
And deide upon accusement.
Bot such a fals conspirement,
Thogh it be privé for a throwe,
Godd wode noght it were unknowe;
And that was afterward wel proved
In him which hath the deth controved.
Of that his brother was so slain
This Perseus was wonder fain,
As he that tho was apparant,
Upon the regne and expectant,
Wherof he wax so proud and vein,
That he his fader in desdeign
Hath take and set of non acompte,
As he which thoghte him to surmonte;
That wher he was ferst debonaire,
He was tho rebell and contraire,
And noght as heir bot as a king
He tok upon him alle thing
Of malice and of tirannie
In contempt of the regalie,
Livende his fader, and so wroghte,
That whan the fader him bethoghte
And sih to whether side it drowh,
Anon he wiste well ynowh
How Perse after his false tunge
Hath so th'envious belle runge,
That he hath slain his oghne brother.
Wherof as thanne he knew non other,
Bot sodeinly the jugge he nom,
Which corrupt sat upon the dom,
In such a wise and hath him pressed,
That he the sothe him hath confessed
Of al that hath be spoke and do.
   Mor sori than the king was tho
Was nevere man upon this molde,
And thoghte in certein that he wolde
Vengance take upon this wrong.
Bot th'other parti was so strong,
That for the lawe of no statut
Ther mai no riht ben execut.
And upon this division
The lond was torned up so doun,
Wherof his herte is so distraght,
That he for pure sorwe hath caght
The maladie of which nature
Is queint in every creature.
   And whan this king was passed thus,
This false-tunged Perseüs
The regiment hath underfonge.
Bot ther mai nothing stonde longe
Which is noght upon trowthe grounded,
For God, which alle thing hath bounded
And sih the falshod of his guile,
Hath set him bot a litel while,
That he schal regne upon depos.
For sodeinliche as he aros
So sodeinliche doun he fell.
   In thilke time it so befell,
This newe king of newe Pride
With strengthe schop him for to ride,
And seide he wolde Rome waste,
Wherof he made a besi haste,
And hath assembled him an host
In al that evere he mihte most.
What man that mihte wepne bere
Of alle he wolde non forbere;
So that it mihte noght be nombred,
The folk which after was encombred
Thurgh him, that God wolde overthrowe.
   Anon it was at Rome knowe,
The pompe which that Perse ladde,
And the Romeins that time hadde
A consul, which was cleped thus
Be name, Paul Emilius,
A noble, a worthi kniht withalle.
And he which chief was of hem alle
This werre on honde hath undertake.
And whanne he scholde his leve take
Of a yong dowhter which was his,
Sche wepte, and he what cause it is
Hire axeth, and sche him ansuerde
That Perse is ded; and he it herde,
And wondreth what sche meene wolde;
And sche upon childhode him tolde
That Perse hir litel hound is ded.
With that he pulleth up his hed
And made riht a glad visage,
And seide how that was a presage
Touchende unto that other Perse,
Of that fortune him scholde adverse,
He seith, for such a prenostik
Most of an hound was to him lik:
For as it is an houndes kinde
To berke upon a man behinde,
Riht so behinde his brother bak
With false wordes whiche he spak
He hath do slain, and that is rowthe.
'Bot he which hateth alle untrowthe,
The hihe God, it schal redresse;
For so my dowhter prophetesse
Forth with hir litel houndes deth
Betokneth.' And thus forth he geth
Conforted of this evidence,
With the Romeins in his defence
Agein the Greks that ben comende.
   This Perseüs, as noght seende
This meschief which that him abod,
With al his multitude rod,
And prided him upon the thing,
Of that he was become a king,
And how he hadde his regne gete.
Bot he hath al the riht forgete
Which longeth unto governance.
Wherof thurgh Goddes ordinance
It fell, upon the wynter tide
That with his host he scholde ride
Over Danubie thilke flod,
Which al befrose thanne stod
So harde, that he wende wel
To passe. Bot the blinde whiel,
Which torneth ofte er men be war,
Thilke ys which that the horsmen bar
Tobrak, so that a gret partie
Was dreint; of the chivalerie
The rerewarde it tok aweie;
Cam non of hem to londe dreie.
   Paulus the worthi kniht Romein
Be his aspie it herde sein,
And hasteth him al that he may,
So that upon that other day
He cam wher he this host beheld,
And that was in a large feld,
Wher the baneres ben desplaied.
He hath anon hise men arraied,
And whan that he was embatailled,
He goth and hath the feld assailed,
And slowh and tok al that he fond;
Wherof the Macedoyne lond,
Which thurgh king Alisandre honoured
Long time stod, was tho devoured.
To Perse and al that infortune
Thei wyte, so that the comune
Of al the lond his heir exile;
And he despeired for the while
Desguised in a povere wede
To Rome goth, and ther for nede
The craft which thilke time was,
To worche in latoun and in bras,
He lerneth for his sustienance.
Such was the sones pourveance,
And of his fader it is seid,
In strong prisoun that he was leid
In Albe, wher that he was ded
For hungre and defalte of bred.
The hound was tokne and prophecie
That lich an hound he scholde die,
Which lich was of condicioun,
Whan he with his detraccioun
Bark on his brother so behinde.
   Lo, what profit a man mai finde,
Which hindre wole another wiht.
Forthi with al thin hole miht,
Mi sone, eschuie thilke vice."
    "Mi fader, elles were I nyce:
For ye therof so wel have spoke,
That it is in myn herte loke
And evere schal. Bot of Envie,
If ther be more in his baillie
Towardes love, sai me what."
    "Mi sone, as guile under the hat
With sleyhtes of a tregetour
Is hidd, Envie of such colour
Hath yit the ferthe deceivant,
The which is cleped Falssemblant,
Wherof the matiere and the forme
Now herkne and I thee schal enforme."

Nil bilinguis aget, nisi duplo concinat ore,
   Dumque diem loquitur, nox sua vota tegit.
Vultus habet lucem, tenebras mens, sermo salutem,
   Actus set morbum dat suus esse grauem.
Pax tibi quam spondet, magis est prenostica guerre;
   Comoda si dederit, disce subesse dolum.
Quod patet esse fides in eo fraus est, que politi
   Principium pacti finis habere negat.
O quam condicio talis deformat amantem,
   Qui magis apparens est in amore nichil.6

"Of Falssemblant if I schal telle,
Above alle othre it is the welle
Out of the which deceipte floweth.
Ther is no man so wys that knoweth
Of thilke flod which is the tyde,
Ne how he scholde himselven guide
To take sauf passage there.
And yit the wynd to mannes ere
Is softe, and as it semeth oute
It makth clier weder al aboute;
Bot thogh it seme, it is noght so.
For Falssemblant hath evermo
Of his conseil in compaignie
The derke untrewe Ypocrisie,
Whos word descordeth to his thoght.
Forthi thei ben togedre broght
Of o covine, of on houshold,
As it schal after this be told.
Of Falssemblant it nedeth noght
To telle of olde ensamples oght;
For al dai in experience
A man mai se thilke evidence
Of faire wordes which he hiereth;
Bot yit the barge Envie stiereth
And halt it evere fro the londe,
Wher Falssemblant with ore on honde
It roweth, and wol noght arive,
Bot let it on the wawes dryve
In gret tempeste and gret debat,
Wherof that love and his astat
Empeireth. And therfore I rede,
Mi sone, that thou fle and drede
This vice, and what that othre sein,
Let thi semblant be trewe and plein.
For Falssemblant is thilke vice,
Which nevere was withoute office.
Wher that Envie thenkth to guile,
He schal be for that ilke while
Of privé conseil messagier.
For whan his semblant is most clier,
Thanne is he most derk in his thoght.
Thogh men him se, thei knowe him noght;
Bot as it scheweth in the glas
Thing which therinne nevere was,
So scheweth it in his visage
That nevere was in his corage.
Thus doth he al his thing with sleyhte.
   Now ley thi conscience in weyhte,
Mi goode sone, and schrif thee hier,
If thou were evere custummer
To Falssemblant in eny wise."
    "For ought I can me yit avise,
Mi goode fader, certes no.
If I for love have oght do so,
Now asketh, I wol praie yow,
For elles I wot nevere how
Of Falssemblant that I have gilt."
    "Mi sone, and sithen that thou wilt
That I schal axe, gabbe noght,
Bot tell if evere was thi thoght
With Falssemblant and coverture
To wite of eny creature
How that he was with love lad;
So were he sori, were he glad,
Whan that thou wistest how it were,
Al that he rounede in thin ere
Thou toldest forth in other place,
To setten him fro loves grace
Of what womman that thee best liste,
Ther as no man his conseil wiste
Bot thou, be whom he was deceived
Of love and from his pourpos weyved;
And thoghtest that his destourbance
Thin oghne cause scholde avance,
As who saith, 'I am so celee,
Ther mai no mannes priveté
Be heled half so wel as myn.'
Art thou, mi sone of such engin,
Tell on."
        "Mi goode fader, nay
As for the more part I say;
Bot of somdiel I am beknowe,
That I mai stonde in thilke rowe
Amonges hem that saundres use.
I wol me noght therof excuse,
That I with such colour ne steyne,
Whan I my beste semblant feigne
To my felawh, til that I wot
Al his conseil bothe cold and hot:
For be that cause I make him chiere,
Til I his love knowe and hiere;
And if so be myn herte soucheth
That oght unto my ladi toucheth
Of love that he wol me telle,
Anon I renne unto the welle
And caste water in the fyr,
So that his carte amidd the myr,
Be that I have his conseil knowe,
Fulofte sithe I overthrowe,
Whan that he weneth best to stonde.
Bot this I do you understonde,
If that a man love elleswhere,
So that my ladi be noght there,
And he me telle, I wole it hide.
Ther schal no word ascape aside,
For with deceipte of no semblant
To him breke I no covenant;
Me liketh noght in other place
To lette no man of his grace,
Ne for to ben inquisitif
To knowe an other mannes lif.
Wher that he love or love noght,
That toucheth nothing to my thoght,
Bot al it passeth thurgh myn ere
Riht as a thing that nevere were,
And is forgete and leid beside.
Bot if it touche on eny side
Mi ladi, as I have er spoken,
Myn eres ben noght thanne loken.
For certes, whanne that betitt,
Mi will, myn herte, and al my witt
Ben fully set to herkne and spire
What eny man wol speke of hire.
Thus have I feigned compaignie
Fulofte, for I wolde aspie
What thing it is that eny man
Telle of mi worthi lady can.
And for tuo causes I do this,
The ferste cause wherof is
If that I myhte ofherkne and seke
That eny man of hire mispeke,
I wolde excuse hire so fully,
That whan sche wist it inderly,
Min hope scholde be the more
To have hir thank foreveremore.
   That other cause, I you assure,
Is, why that I be coverture
Have feigned semblant ofte time
To hem that passen alday by me
And ben lovers als wel as I.
For this I weene trewely,
That ther is of hem alle non,
That thei ne loven everich on
Mi Ladi: for sothliche I lieve
And durste setten it in prieve,
Is non so wys that scholde asterte,
Bot he were lustles in his herte,
Forwhy and he my ladi sihe,
Hir visage and hir goodlych yhe,
Bot he hire lovede, er he wente.
And for that such is myn entente,
That is the cause of myn aspie,
Why that I feigne compaignie
And make felawe overal;
For gladly wolde I knowen al
And holde me covert alway,
That I fulofte ye or nay
Ne liste ansuere in eny wise,
Bot feigne semblant as the wise
And herkne tales, til I knowe
Mi ladi lovers al arowe.
And whanne I hiere how thei have wroght,
I fare as thogh I herde it noght
And as I no word understode;
Bot that is nothing for here goode.
For lieveth wel, the sothe is this,
That whanne I knowe al how it is,
I wol bot forthren hem a lite,
Bot al the worste I can endite
I telle it to my ladi plat
In forthringe of myn oghne astat,
And hindre hem al that evere I may.
Bot for al that yit dar I say,
I finde unto miself no bote,
Althogh myn herte nedes mote,
Thurgh strengthe of love, al that I hiere
Discovere unto my ladi diere:
For in good feith I have no miht
To hele fro that swete wiht,
If that it touche hire eny thing.
Bot this wot wel the hevene king,
That sithen ferst this world began,
Unto non other strange man
Ne feigned I semblant ne chiere,
To wite or axe of his matiere,
Thogh that he lovede ten or tuelve,
Whanne it was noght my ladi selve.
Bot if he wolde axe eny red
Al onlich of his oghne hed,
How he with other love ferde,
His tales with myn ere I herde,
Bot to myn herte cam it noght
Ne sank no deppere in my thoght,
Bot hield conseil, as I was bede,
And told it nevere in other stede,
Bot let it passen as it com.
Now, fader, say what is thi dom,
And hou thou wolt that I be peined
For such semblant as I have feigned."
    "Mi sone, if reson be wel peised,
Ther mai no vertu ben unpreised
Ne vice non be set in pris.
Forthi, my sone, if thou be wys,
Do no viser upon thi face,
Which as wol noght thin herte embrace,
For if thou do, withinne a throwe
To othre men it schal be knowe,
So miht thou lihtli falle in blame
And lese a gret part of thi name.
And natheles in this degree
Fulofte time thou myht se
Of suche men that now aday
This vice setten in asay.
I speke it for no mannes blame,
Bot for to warne thee the same.
Mi sone, as I mai hiere talke
In every place where I walke,
I not if it be so or non,
Bot it is manye daies gon
That I ferst herde telle this,
How Falssemblant hath ben and is
Most comunly fro yer to yere
With hem that duelle among ous here,
Of suche as we Lombardes calle.
For thei ben the slyeste of alle,
So as men sein in toune aboute,
To feigne and schewe thing withoute
Which is revers to that withinne.
Wherof that thei fulofte winne,
Whan thei be reson scholden lese.
Thei ben the laste and yit thei chese,
And we the ferste, and yit behinde
We gon, there as we scholden finde
The profit of oure oghne lond.
Thus gon thei fre withoute bond
To don her profit al at large,
And othre men bere al the charge.
Of Lombardz unto this covine,
Whiche alle londes conne engine,
Mai Falssemblant in special
Be likned, for thei overal,
Wher as they thenken for to duelle,
Among hemself, so as thei telle,
Ferst ben enformed for to lere
A craft which cleped is Fa-crere.
For if Fa-crere come aboute,
Thanne afterward hem stant no doute
To voide with a soubtil hond
The beste goodes of the lond
And bringe chaf and take corn.
Whereas Fa-crere goth toforn,
In all his weie he fynt no lette;
That dore can non huissher schette
In which him list to take entré:
And thus the conseil most secré
of every thing Fa-crere knoweth,
Which into strange place he bloweth,
Where as he wot it mai most grieve.
And thus Fa-crere makth believe,
So that fulofte he hath deceived,
Er that he mai ben aperceived.
Thus is this vice for to drede;
For who these olde bokes rede
Of suche ensamples as were ar,
Him oghte be the more war
Of alle tho that feigne chiere,
Wherof thou schalt a tale hiere.

[The Tale of Deianira, Hercules, and Nessus]

   Of Falssemblant which is believed
Ful many a worthi wiht is grieved,
And was long time er we wer bore.
To thee, my sone, I wol therfore
A tale telle of Falssemblant,
Which falseth many a convenant,
And many a fraude of fals conseil
Ther ben hangende upon his seil.
And that aboghten gulteles
Bothe Deianire and Hercules,
The whiche in gret desese felle
Thurgh Falssemblant, as I schal telle.
Whan Hercules withinne a throwe
Al only hath his herte throwe
Upon this faire Deianire,
It fell him on a dai desire,
Upon a rivere as he stod,
That passe he wolde over the flod
Withoute bot, and with him lede
His love, bot he was in drede
For tendresce of that swete wiht,
For he knew noght the forde ariht.
Ther was a geant thanne nyh,
Which Nessus hihte, and whanne he sih
This Hercules and Deianyre,
Withinne his herte he gan conspire,
As he which thurgh his tricherie
Hath Hercules in gret envie,
Which he bar in his herte loke,
And thanne he thoghte it schal be wroke.
Bot he ne dorste natheles
Agein this worthi Hercules
Falle in debat as for to feihte;
Bot feigneth Semblant al be sleihte
Of frendschipe and of alle goode,
And comth where as thei bothe stode,
And makth hem al the chiere he can,
And seith that as here oghne man
He is al redy for to do
What thing he mai; and it fell so
That thei upon his Semblant triste,
And axen him if that he wiste
What thing hem were best to done,
So that thei mihten sauf and sone
The water passe, he and sche.
And whan Nessus the priveté
Knew of here herte what it mente,
As he that was of double entente,
He made hem riht a glad visage.
And whanne he herde of the passage
Of him and hire, he thoghte guile,
And feigneth semblant for a while
To don hem plesance and servise,
Bot he thoghte al another wise.
This Nessus with hise wordes slyhe
Gaf such conseil tofore here yhe
Which semeth outward profitable
And was withinne deceivable.
He bad hem of the stremes depe
That thei be war and take kepe,
So as thei knowe noght the pas;
Bot for to helpe in such a cas,
He seith himself that for here ese
He wolde, if that it mihte hem plese,
The passage of the water take,
And for this ladi undertake
To bere unto that other stronde
And sauf to sette hire up alonde,
And Hercules may thanne also
The weie knowe how he schal go,
And herto thei acorden alle.
Bot what as after schal befalle,
Wel payd was Hercules of this,
And this geant also glad is,
And tok this ladi up alofte
And set hire on his schuldre softe
And in the flod began to wade,
As he which no grucchinge made,
And bar hire over sauf and sound.
Bot whanne he stod on dreie ground
And Hercules was fer behinde,
He sette his trowthe al out of mynde,
Whoso therof be lief or loth,
With Deianyre and forth he goth,
As he that thoghte to dissevere
The compaignie of hem for evere.
Whan Hercules therof tok hiede,
Als faste as evere he mihte him spiede
He hyeth after in a throwe.
And hapneth that he hadde a bowe,
The which in alle haste he bende,
As he that wolde an arwe sende,
Which he tofore hadde envenimed.
He hath so wel his schote timed,
That he him thurgh the bodi smette,
And thus the false wiht he lette.
   Bot lest now such a felonie:
Whan Nessus wiste he scholde die,
He tok to Deianyre his scherte,
Which with the blod was of his herte
Thurghout desteigned overal,
And tolde how sche it kepe schal
Al prively to this entente,
That if hire lord his herte wente
To love in eny other place,
The scherte, he seith, hath such a grace,
That if sche mai so mochel make
That he the scherte upon him take,
He schal alle othre lete in vein
And torne unto hire love agein.
Who was tho glad bot Deianyre?
Hire thoghte hire herte was afyre
Til it was in hire cofre loke,
So that no word therof was spoke.
   The daies gon, the yeres passe,
The hertes waxen lasse and lasse
Of hem that ben to love untrewe:
This Hercules with herte newe
His love hath set on Eolen,
And therof spieken alle men.
This Eolen, this faire maide,
Was, as men thilke time saide,
The kinges dowhter of Eurice;
And sche made Hercules so nyce
Upon hire love and so assote,
That he him clotheth in hire cote,
And sche in his was clothed ofte;
And thus fieblesce is set alofte,
And strengthe was put underfote,
Ther can no man therof do bote.
Whan Dianyre hath herd this speche,
Ther was no sorwe for to seche.
Of other helpe wot sche non,
Bot goth unto hire cofre anon.
With wepende yhe and woful herte
Sche tok out thilke unhappi scherte,
As sche that wende wel to do,
And broghte hire werk aboute so
That Hercules this scherte on dede,
To such entente as she was bede
Of Nessus, so as I seide er.
Bot therof was sche noght the ner,
As no fortune may be weyved;
With Falssemblant sche was deceived,
That whan sche wende best have wonne,
Sche lost al that sche hath begonne.
For thilke scherte unto the bon
His body sette afyre anon,
And cleveth so, it mai noght twinne,
For the venym that was therinne.
And he thanne as a wilde man
Unto the hihe wode he ran,
And as the clerk Ovide telleth,
The grete tres to grounde he felleth
With strengthe al of his oghne myht,
And made an huge fyr upriht,
And lepte himself therinne at ones
And brende him bothe fleissh and bones.
Which thing cam al thurgh Falssemblant,
That false Nessus the Geant
Made unto him and to his wif,
Wherof that he hath lost his lif,
And sche sori for everemo.
   Forthi, my sone, er thee be wo,
I rede, be wel war therfore;
For whan so gret a man was lore,
It oghte give a gret conceipte
To warne alle othre of such deceipte."
    "Grant mercy, fader, I am war
So fer that I no more dar
Of Falssemblant take aqueintance;
Bot rathere I wol do penance
That I have feigned chiere er this.
Now axeth forth, what so ther is
Of that belongeth to my schrifte."
    "Mi sone, yit ther is the fifte
Which is conceived of Envie,
And cleped is Supplantarie,
Thurgh whos compassement and guile
Ful many a man hath lost his while
In love als wel as otherwise,
Hierafter as I schal devise."

Inuidus alterius est supplantator honoris,
   Et tua quo vertat culmina subtus arat.
Est opus occultum, quasi que latet anguis in herba,
   Quod facit, et subita sorte nociuus adest.
Sic subtilis amans alium supplantat amantem,
   Et capit occulte, quod nequit ipse palam;
Sepeque supplantans in plantam plantat amoris,
   Quod putat in propriis alter habere bonis.7

"The vice of Supplantacioun
With manye a fals collacioun,
Which he conspireth al unknowe,
Full ofte time hath overthrowe
The worschipe of another man.
So wel no lif awayte can
Agein his sleyhte for to caste,
That he his pourpos ate laste
Ne hath, er that it be withset.
Bot most of alle his herte is set
In court upon these grete offices
Of dignitees and benefices.
Thus goth he with his sleyhte aboute
To hindre and schowve another oute
And stonden with his slyh compas
In stede there another was;
And so to sette himselven inne,
He reccheth noght, be so he winne,
Of that another man schal lese,
And thus fulofte chalk for chese
He changeth with ful litel cost,
Wherof another hath the lost
And he the profit schal receive.
For his fortune is to deceive
And for to change upon the whel
His wo with othre mennes wel.
Of that another man avaleth,
His oghne astat thus up he haleth,
And takth the bridd to his beyete,
Wher othre men the buisshes bete.
   Mi sone, and in the same wise
Ther ben lovers of such emprise,
That schapen hem to be relieved
Where it is wrong to ben achieved.
For it is other mannes riht,
Which he hath taken dai and niht
To kepe for his oghne stor
Toward himself for everemor,
And is his propre be the lawe,
Which thing that axeth no felawe,
If love holde his covenant.
Bot thei that worchen be supplaunt,
Yit wolden thei a man supplaunte,
And take a part of thilke plaunte
Which he hath for himselve set.
And so fulofte is al unknet
That som man weneth be riht fast.
For Supplant with his slyhe cast
Fulofte happneth for to mowe
Thing which another man hath sowe,
And makth comun of propreté
With sleihte and with soubtilité,
As men mai se fro yer to yere.
Thus cleymeth he the bot to stiere,
Of which another maister is.
   Forthi, my sone, if thou er this
Hast ben of such professioun,
Discovere thi confessioun:
Hast thou supplanted eny man?"
    "For oght that I you telle can,
Min holi fader, as of the dede
I am withouten eny drede
Al gulteles; bot of my thoght
Mi conscience excuse I noght.
For were it wrong or were it riht,
Me lakketh nothing bote myht
That I ne wolde longe er this
Of other mannes love ywiss
Be weie of Supplantacioun
Have mad apropriacioun
And holde that I nevere boghte,
Thogh it another man forthoghte.
And al this speke I bot of on,
For whom I lete alle othre gon;
Bot hire I mai noght overpasse,
That I ne mot alwey compasse,
Me roghte noght be what queintise,
So that I mihte in eny wise
Fro suche that mi ladi serve
Hire herte make for to swerve
Withouten eny part of love.
For be the goddes alle above
I wolde it mihte so befalle,
That I alone scholde hem alle
Supplante, and welde hire at mi wille.
And that thing mai I noght fulfille,
Bot if I scholde strengthe make;
And that I dar noght undertake,
Thogh I were as was Alisaundre,
For therof mihte arise sklaundre;
And certes that schal I do nevere,
For in good feith yit hadde I levere
In my simplesce for to die,
Than worche such Supplantarie.
Of otherwise I wol noght seie
That if I founde a seker weie,
I wolde as for conclusioun
Worche after Supplantacioun,
So hihe a love for to winne.
Now, fader, if that this be sinne,
I am al redy to redresce
The gilt of which I me confesse."
    "Mi goode sone, as of Supplant
Thee thar noght drede tant ne quant,
As for nothing that I have herd,
Bot only that thou hast misferd
Thenkende, and that me liketh noght,
For Godd beholt a mannes thoght.
And if thou understode in soth
In loves cause what it doth,
A man to ben a Supplantour,
Thou woldest for thin oghne honour
Be double weie take kepe.
Ferst for thin oghne astat to kepe,
To be thiself so wel bethoght
That thou supplanted were noght,
And ek for worschipe of thi name
Towardes othre do the same,
And soffren every man have his.
Bot natheles it was and is,
That in a wayt at alle assaies
Supplant of love in oure daies
The lief fulofte for the levere
Forsakth, and so it hath don evere.
   Ensample I finde therupon,
At Troie how that Agamenon
Supplantede the worthi knyht
Achilles of that swete wiht,
Which named was Brexeida;
And also of Criseida,
Whom Troilus to love ches,
Supplanted hath Diomedes.

[The Tale of Geta and Amphitrion]

   Of Geta and Amphitrion,
That whilom weren bothe as on
Of frendschipe and of compaignie,
I rede how that Supplantarie
In love, as it betidde tho,
Beguiled hath on of hem tuo.
For this Geta that I of meene,
To whom the lusti faire Almeene
Assured was be weie of love,
Whan he best wende have ben above
And sikerest of that he hadde,
Cupido so the cause ladde,
That whil he was out of the weie,
Amphitrioun hire love aweie
Hath take, and in this forme he wroghte.
Be nyhte unto the chambre he soghte,
Wher that sche lay, and with a wyle
He contrefeteth for the whyle
The vois of Gete in such a wise,
That made hire of hire bedd arise,
Wenende that it were he,
And let him in, and whan thei be
Togedre abedde in armes faste,
This Geta cam thanne ate laste
Unto the dore and seide, 'Undo.'
And sche ansuerde and bad him go,
And seide how that abedde al warm
Hir lief lay naked in hir arm.
Sche wende that it were soth.
Lo, what Supplant of love doth:
This Geta aforth bejaped wente,
And yit ne wiste he what it mente;
Amphitrion him hath supplanted
With sleyhte of love and hire enchaunted.
And thus put every man out other,
The schip of love hath lost his rother,
So that he can no reson stiere.
And for to speke of this matiere
Touchende love and his Supplant,
A tale which is acordant
Unto thin ere I thenke enforme.
Now herkne, for this is the forme.

[The Tale of the False Bachelor]

   Of thilke cité chief of alle
Which men the noble Rome calle,
Er it was set to Cristes feith,
Ther was, as the cronique seith,
An emperour, the which it ladde
In pes, that he no werres hadde.
There was nothing desobeissant
Which was to Rome appourtenant,
Bot al was torned into reste.
To some it thoghte for the beste,
To some it thoghte nothing so
And that was only unto tho
Whos herte stod upon knyhthode.
Bot most of alle of his manhode
The worthi sone of th'emperour,
Which wolde ben a werreiour,
As he that was chivalerous
Of worldes fame and desirous,
Began his fadre to beseche
That he the werres mihte seche,
In strange marches for to ride.
His fader seide he scholde abide,
And wolde granten him no leve.
Bot he, which wolde noght beleve,
A kniht of his to whom he triste,
So that his fader nothing wiste,
He tok and tolde him his corage,
That he pourposeth a viage.
If that fortune with him stonde,
He seide how that he wolde fonde
The grete see to passe unknowe,
And there abyde for a throwe
Upon the werres to travaile.
And to this point withoute faile
This kniht, whan he hath herd his lord,
Is swore and stant of his acord.
And thei that bothe yonge were,
So that in privé conseil there,
Thei ben assented for to wende.
And therupon to make an ende,
Tresor ynowh with hem thei token,
And whan the time is best thei loken
That sodeinliche in a galeie
From Romelond thei wente here weie
And londe upon that other side.
The world fell so that ilke tide,
Which evere hise happes hath diverse,
The grete Soldan thanne of Perse
Agein the Caliphe of Egipte
A werre, which that him beclipte,
Hath in a marche costeiant.
And he, which was a poursuiant
Worschipe of armes to atteigne,
This Romein, let anon ordeigne,
That he was redi everydel.
And whan he was arraied wel
Of everything which him belongeth,
Straght unto Kaire his weie he fongeth,
Wher he the Soldan thanne fond,
And axeth that withinne his lond
He mihte him for the werre serve,
As he which wolde his thonk deserve.
   The Soldan was riht glad with al,
And wel the more in special
Whan that he wiste he was Romein.
Bot what was elles in certein,
That mihte he wite be no weie.
And thus the kniht of whom I seie
Toward the Soldan is beleft,
And in the marches now and eft,
Wher that the dedli werres were,
He wroghte such knihthode there,
That every man spak of him good.
And thilke time so it stod,
This mihti Soldan be his wif
A dowhter hath, that in this lif
Men seiden ther was non so fair.
Sche scholde ben hir fader hair,
And was of yeres ripe ynowh.
Hire beauté many an herte drowh
To bowe unto that ilke law
Fro which no lif mai be withdrawe,
And that is love, whos nature
Set lif and deth in aventure
Of hem that knyhthode undertake.
   This lusti peine hath overtake
The herte of this Romein so sore,
That to knihthode more and more
Prouesce avanceth his corage.
Lich to the leoun in his rage,
Fro whom that alle bestes fle,
Such was the knyht in his degré.
Wher he was armed in the feld,
Ther dorste non abide his scheld;
Gret pris upon the werre he hadde.
Bot sche which al the chance ladde,
Fortune, schop the marches so
That be th'assent of bothe tuo,
The Soldan and the Caliphe eke,
Bataille upon a dai thei seke,
Which was in such a wise set
That lengere scholde it noght be let.
Thei made hem stronge on every side,
And whan it drowh toward the tide
That the bataille scholde be,
The Soldan in gret priveté
A gold ring of his dowhter tok
And made hire swere upon a bok
And ek upon the goddes alle,
That if fortune so befalle
In the bataille that he deie,
That sche schal thilke man obeie
And take him to hire housebonde,
Which thilke same ring to honde
Hire scholde bringe after his deth.
This hath sche swore, and forth he geth
With al the pouer of his lond
Unto the marche, where he fond
His enemy full embatailled.
   The Soldan hath the feld assailed:
Thei that ben hardy sone assemblen,
Wherof the dredfull hertes tremblen.
That on sleth, and that other sterveth,
Bot above alle his pris deserveth
This knihtly Romein; where he rod,
His dedly swerd no man abod,
Agein the which was no defence.
Egipte fledde in his presence,
And thei of Perse upon the chace
Poursuien: bot I not what grace
Befell, an arwe out of a bowe
Al sodeinly that ilke throwe
The Soldan smot, and ther he lay.
The chace is left for thilke day,
And he was bore into a tente.
   The Soldan sih how that it wente,
And that he scholde algate die;
And to this knyht of Romanie,
As unto him whom he most triste,
His dowhter ring, that non it wiste,
He tok, and tolde him al the cas,
Upon hire oth what tokne it was
Of that sche scholde ben his wif.
Whan this was seid, the hertes lif
Of this Soldan departeth sone;
And therupon, as was to done,
The dede body wel and faire
Thei carie til thei come at Kaire,
Wher he was worthily begrave.
   The lordes, whiche as wolden save
The regne which was desolat,
To bring it into good astat
A parlement thei sette anon.
Now herkne what fell therupon:
This yonge lord, this worthi kniht
Of Rome, upon the same niht
That thei amorwe trete scholde,
Unto his bacheler he tolde
His conseil, and the ring withal
He scheweth, thurgh which that he schal,
He seith, the kinges dowhter wedde,
For so the ring was leid to wedde,
He tolde, into hir fader hond,
That with what man that sche it fond
She scholde him take to hire lord.
And this, he seith, stant of record,
Bot no man wot who hath this ring.
   This bacheler upon this thing
His ere and his entente leide,
And thoghte more thanne he seide,
And feigneth with a fals visage
That he was glad, bot his corage
Was al set in another wise.
These olde philosophres wise
Thei writen upon thilke while,
That he mai best a man beguile
In whom the man hath most credence;
And this befell in evidence
Toward this yonge lord of Rome.
His bacheler, which hadde tome,
Whan that his lord be nihte slepte,
This ring, the which his maister kepte,
Out of his pours awey he dede,
And putte another in the stede.
   Amorwe, whan the court is set,
The yonge ladi was forth fet,
To whom the lordes don homage,
And after that of mariage
Thei trete and axen of hir wille.
Bot sche, which thoghte to fulfille
Hire fader heste in this matiere,
Seide openly, that men mai hiere,
The charge which hire fader bad.
   Tho was this lord of Rome glad
And drowh toward his pours anon,
Bot al for noght, it was agon.
His bacheler it hath forthdrawe,
And axeth therupon the lawe
That sche him holde covenant.
The tokne was so sufficant
That it ne mihte be forsake,
And natheles his lord hath take
Querelle agein his oghne man;
Bot for nothing that evere he can
He mihte as thanne noght ben herd,
So that his cleym is unansuerd,
And he hath of his pourpos failed.
   This bacheler was tho consailed
And wedded, and of thilke empire
He was coroned lord and sire,
And al the lond him hath received;
Wherof his lord, which was deceived,
A seknesse er the thridde morwe
Conceived hath of dedly sorwe.
And as he lay upon his deth,
Therwhile him lasteth speche and breth,
He sende for the worthieste
Of al the lond and ek the beste,
And tolde hem al the sothe tho,
That he was sone and heir also
Of th'emperour of grete Rome,
And how that thei togedre come,
This kniht and he. Riht as it was,
He tolde hem al the pleine cas,
And for that he his conseil tolde,
That other hath al that he wolde,
And he hath failed of his mede.
As for the good he takth non hiede,
He seith, bot only of the love
Of which he wende have ben above.
And therupon be lettre write
He doth his fader for to wite
Of al this matiere as it stod;
And thanne with an hertly mod
Unto the lordes he besoghte
To telle his ladi how he boghte
Hire love, of which another gladeth.
And with that word his hewe fadeth,
And seide, 'Adieu, my ladi swete.'
The lif hath lost his kindly hete,
And he lay ded as eny ston,
Wherof was sory many on,
Bot non of alle so as sche.
   This false knyht in his degree
Arested was and put in hold,
For openly whan it was told
Of the tresoun which is befalle,
Thurghout the lond thei seiden alle,
If it be soth that men suppose,
His oghne untrowthe him schal depose.
And for to seche an evidence,
With honour and gret reverence,
Wherof they mihten knowe an ende,
To th'emperour anon thei sende
The lettre which his sone wrot.
And whan that he the sothe wot,
To telle his sorwe is endeles.
Bot yit in haste natheles
Upon the tale which he herde
His stieward into Perse ferde
With many a worthi Romein eke,
His liege tretour for to seke;
And whan thei thider come were,
This kniht him hath confessed there
How falsly that he hath him bore,
Wherof his worthi lord was lore.
Tho seiden some he scholde deie,
Bot yit thei founden such a weie
That he schal noght be ded in Perse;
And thus the skiles ben diverse.
Because that he was coroned,
And that the lond was abandoned
To him, althogh it were unriht,
Ther is no peine for him diht;
Bot to this point and to this ende
Thei granten wel that he schal wende
With the Romeins to Rome agein.
And thus acorded ful and plein,
The qwike body with the dede
With leve take forth thei lede,
Wher that Supplant hath his juise.
   Wherof that thou thee miht avise
Upon this enformacioun
Touchende of supplantacioun,
That thou, my sone, do noght so.
And for to take hiede also
What Supplant doth in other halve,
Ther is no man can finde a salve
Pleinly to helen such a sor.
It hath and schal ben everemor,
Whan Pride is with Envie joint,
He soffreth no man in good point,
Wher that he mai his honour lette.
And therupon if I schal sette
Ensample, in holy cherche I finde
How that Supplant is noght behinde;
God wot if that it now be so.
For in cronique of time ago
I finde a tale concordable
Of Supplant, which that is no fable,
In the manere as I schal telle,
So as whilom the thinges felle.

[The Tale of Pope Boniface]

   At Rome, as it hath ofte falle,
The vicair general of alle
Of hem that lieven Cristes feith
His laste day, which non withseith,
Hath schet as to the worldes yë,
Whos name if I schal specefie,
He hihte Pope Nicolas.
And thus whan that he passed was,
The cardinals, that wolden save
The forme of lawe, in the conclave
Gon for to chese a newe pope,
And after that thei cowthe agrope
Hath ech of hem seid his entente,
Til ate laste thei assente
Upon an holy clerk reclus,
Which full was of gostli vertus.
His pacience and his simplesse
Hath set him into hih noblesse.
Thus was he pope canonized,
With gret honour and intronized.
And upon chance as it is falle,
His name Celestin men calle;
Which notefied was be bulle
To holi cherche and to the fulle
In alle londes magnified.
Bot every worschipe is envied,
And that was thilke time sene.
For whan this pope of whom I meene
Was chose, and othre set beside,
A cardinal was thilke tide
Which the papat longe hath desired
And therupon gretli conspired;
Bot whan he sih fortune is failed,
For which long time he hath travailed,
That ilke fyr which Ethna brenneth
Thurghout his wofull herte renneth,
Which is resembled to Envie,
Wherof Supplant and tricherie
Engendred is; and natheles
He feigneth love, he feigneth pes,
Outward he doth the reverence,
Bot al withinne his conscience
Thurgh fals ymaginacioun
He thoghte Supplantacioun.
And therupon a wonder wyle
He wroghte: for at thilke whyle
It fell so that of his lignage
He hadde a clergoun of yong age,
Whom he hath in his chambre affaited.
This cardinal his time hath waited,
And with his wordes slyhe and queinte,
The whiche he cowthe wysly peinte,
He schop this clerk of which I telle
Toward the pope for to duelle,
So that withinne his chambre anyht
He lai, and was a privé wyht
Toward the pope on nyhtes tide.
   Mai no man fle that schal betide.
This cardinal, which thoghte guile,
Upon a day whan he hath while
This yonge clerc unto him tok,
And made him swere upon a bok,
And told him what his wille was.
And forth withal a trompe of bras
He hath him take, and bad him this:
'Thou schalt,' he seide, 'whan time is,
Awaite, and take riht good kepe
Whan that the pope is fast aslepe
And that non other man be nyh.
And thanne that thou be so slyh
Thurghout the trompe into his ere,
Fro hevene as thogh a vois it were,
To soune of such prolacioun
That he his meditacioun
Therof mai take and understonde,
As thogh it were of Goddes sonde.8
And in this wise thou schal seie,
That he do thilke astat aweie
Of pope, in which he stant honoured;
So schal his soule be socoured
Of thilke worschipe ate laste
In hevene which schal evere laste.'
   This clerc, whan he hath herd the forme
How he the pope scholde enforme,
Tok of the cardinal his leve,
And goth him hom, til it was eve,
And prively the trompe he hedde,
Til that the pope was abedde.
And at the midnyht, whan he knewh
The pope slepte, thanne he blewh
Withinne his trompe thurgh the wal,
And tolde in what manere he schal
His papacie leve, and take
His ferste astat. And thus awake
This holi pope he made thries,
Wherof diverse fantasies
Upon his grete holinesse
Withinne his herte he gan impresse.
The pope ful of innocence
Conceiveth in his conscience
That it is Goddes wille he cesse;
Bot in what wise he may relesse
His hihe astat, that wot he noght.
And thus withinne himself bethoght,
He bar it stille in his memoire,
Til he cam to the consistoire;
And there in presence of hem alle
He axeth if it so befalle
That eny pope cesse wolde,
How that the lawe it soffre scholde.
Thei seten alle stille and herde,
Was non which to the point ansuerde,
For to what pourpos that it mente
Ther was no man knew his entente,
Bot only he which schop the guile.
   This cardinal the same while
Al openly with wordes pleine
Seith if the pope wolde ordeigne
That ther be such a lawe wroght
Than mihte he cesse and elles noght.
And as he seide, don it was,
The pope anon upon the cas
Of his papal autorité
Hath mad and gove the decré.
And whan that lawe was confermed
In due forme and al affermed,
This innocent, which was deceived,
His papacie anon hath weyved,
Renounced, and resigned eke.
That other was nothing to seke,
Bot undernethe such a jape
He hath so for himselve schape,
That how as evere it him beseme,
The mitre with the diademe
He hath thurgh Supplantacion.
And in his confirmacion
Upon the fortune of his grace
His name is cleped Boneface.
Under the viser of Envie,
Lo, thus was hid the tricherie,
Which hath beguiled many on.
Bot such conseil ther mai be non,
With treson whan it is conspired,
That it nys lich the sparke fyred
Up in the rof, which for a throwe
Lith hidd, til whan the wyndes blowe
It blaseth out on every side.
This Bonefas, which can noght hyde
The tricherie of his Supplant,
Hath openly mad his avant
How he the papacie hath wonne.
Bot thing which is with wrong begonne
Mai nevere stonde wel at ende.
Wher Pride schal the bowe bende,
He schet fulofte out of the weie.
And thus the pope of whom I seie,
Whan that he stod on hih the whiel,
He can noght soffre himself be wel.
Envie, which is loveles,
And Pride, which is laweles,
With such tempeste made him erre,
That charité goth out of herre,
So that upon misgovernance
Agein Lowyz the king of France
He tok querelle of his oultrage
And seide he scholde don hommage
Unto the cherche bodily.
Bot he that wiste nothing why
He scholde do so gret servise
After the world in such a wise,
Withstod the wrong of that demande;
For noght the pope mai comande
The king wol noght the pope obeie.
This pope tho be alle weie
That he mai worche of violence
Hath sent the bulle of his sentence
With cursinge and with enterdit.
   The king upon this wrongful plyt,
To kepe his regne fro servage,
Conseiled was of his barnage
That miht with miht schal be withstonde.
Thus was the cause take on honde,
And seiden that the papacie
Thei wolde honoure and magnefie
In al that evere is spirital;
Bot thilke Pride temporal
Of Boneface in his persone,
Agein that ilke wrong alone
Thei wolde stonden in debat.
And thus the man and noght the stat
The Frensche schopen be her miht
To grieve. And fell ther was a kniht,
Sire Guilliam de Langharet,
Which was upon this cause set;
And therupon he tok a route
Of men of armes and rod oute,
So longe and in a wayt he lay,
That he aspide upon a day
The pope was at Avinoun,
And scholde ryde out of the toun
Unto Pontsorge, the which is
A castell in Provence of his.
Upon the weie and as he rod,
This kniht, which hoved and abod
Embuisshed upon horse bak,
Al sodeinliche upon him brak
And hath him be the bridel sesed,
And seide: 'O thou, which hast desesed
The court of France be thi wrong,
Now schalt thou singe another song:
Thin enterdit and thi sentence
Agein thin oghne conscience
Hierafter thou schalt fiele and grope.
We pleigne noght agein the pope,
For thilke name is honourable,
Bot thou, which hast be deceivable
And tricherous in al thi werk,
Thou Bonefas, thou proude clerk,
Misledere of the papacie,
Thi false bodi schal abye
And soffre that it hath deserved.'
   Lo, thus the Supplantour was served;
For thei him ladden into France
And setten him to his penance
Withinne a tour in harde bondes,
Wher he for hunger bothe hise hondes
Eet of and deide - God wot how -
Of whom the wrytinge is yit now
Registred, as a man mai hiere,
Which spekth and seith in this manere:
   Thin entré lich the fox was slyh,
Thi regne also with pride on hih
Was lich the leon in his rage;
Bot ate laste of this passage
Thi deth was to the houndes like.
   Such is the lettre of his cronique
Proclamed in the court of Rome,
Wherof the wise ensample nome.
And yit, als ferforth as I dar,
I rede alle othre men be war,
And that thei loke wel algate
That non his oghne astat translate
Of holi cherche in no degree
Be fraude ne soubtilité:
For thilke honour which Aaron tok
Schal non receive, as seith the bok
Bot he cleped as he was.
What I schal thenken in this cas
Of that I hiere now aday,
I not: bot he which can and may,
Be reson bothe and be nature
The help of every mannes cure,
He kepe Simon fro the folde.
For Joachim thilke abbot tolde
How suche daies scholden falle,
That comunliche in places alle
The chapmen of such mercerie
With fraude and with Supplantarie
So manye scholden beie and selle,
That he ne may for schame telle
So foul a senne in mannes ere.
Bot God forbiede that it were
In oure daies that he seith.
For if the clerc beware his feith
In chapmanhod at such a feire,
The remenant mot nede empeire
Of al that to the world belongeth;
For whan that holi cherche wrongeth,
I not what other thing schal rihte.
And natheles at mannes sihte
Envie for to be preferred
Hath conscience so differred,
That no man loketh to the vice
Which is the moder of malice,
And that is thilke false Envie,
Which causeth many a tricherie;
For wher he may another se
That is mor gracious than he,
It schal noght stonden in his miht
Bot if he hindre such a wiht.
And that is welnyh overal,
This vice is now so general.
   Envie thilke unhapp indrowh,
Whan Joab be deceipte slowh
Abner, for drede he scholde be
With King David such as was he.
And thurgh Envie also it fell
Of thilke false Achitofell,
For his conseil was noght achieved,
Bot that he sih Cusy believed
With Absolon and him forsake,
He heng himself upon a stake.
   Senec witnesseth openly
How that Envie proprely
Is of the court the comun wenche,
And halt taverne for to schenche
That drink which makth the herte brenne,
And doth the wit aboute renne,
Be every weie to compasse
How that he mihte alle othre passe,
As he which thurgh unkindeschipe
Envieth every felaschipe.
   So that thou miht wel knowe and se,
Ther is no vise such as he,
Ferst toward Godd abhominable,
And to mankinde unprofitable:
And that be wordes bot a fewe
I schal be reson prove and schewe."

Inuidie stimulus sine causa ledit abortus,
   Nam sine temptante crimine crimen habet.
Non est huius opus temptare Cupidinis archum,
   Dumque faces Veneris ethnica flamma vorat.
Absque rubore gene, pallor quas fuscus obumbrat,
   Frigida nature cetera membra docent.9

"Envie if that I schal descrive,
He is noght schaply for to wyve
In erthe among the wommen hiere;
For ther is in him no matiere
Wherof he mihte do plesance.
Ferst for his hevy continance
Of that he semeth evere unglad,
He is noght able to ben had;
And ek he brenneth so withinne,
That kinde mai no profit winne,
Wherof he scholde his love plese.
For thilke blod which scholde have ese
To regne among the moiste veines,
Is drye of thilke unkendeli peines
Thurgh whiche Envie is fyred ay.
And thus be reson prove I may
That toward love Envie is noght;
And otherwise if it be soght,
Upon what side as evere it falle,
It is the werste vice of alle,
Which of himself hath most malice.
For understond that every vice
Som cause hath, wherof it groweth,
Bot of Envie no man knoweth
Fro whenne he cam bot out of helle.
For thus the wise clerkes telle,
That no spirit bot of malice
Be weie of kinde upon a vice
Is tempted, and be such a weie
Envie hath kinde put aweie
And of malice hath his steringe,
Wherof he makth this bakbitinge,
And is himself therof desesed.
So mai ther be no kinde plesed;
For ay the mor that he envieth,
The more agein himself he plieth.
Thus stant Envie in good espeir
To ben himself the develes heir,
As he which is his nexte liche
And forthest fro the heveneriche,
For there mai he nevere wone.
   Forthi, my goode diere sone,
If thou wolt finde a siker weie
To love, put Envie aweie."
    "Min holy fader, reson wolde
That I this vice eschuie scholde.
Bot yit to strengthe mi corage,
If that ye wolde in avantage
Therof sette a recoverir,
It were to me a gret desir,
That I this vice mihte flee."   

[Charity and Pity as Remedy]

   "Now understond, my sone, and se,

Ther is phisique for the seke,
And vertus for the vices eke.
Who that the vices wolde eschuie,
He mot be resoun thanne suie
The vertus; for be thilke weie
He mai the vices don aweie,
For thei togedre mai noght duelle.
For as the water of a welle
Of fyr abateth the malice,
Riht so vertu fordoth the vice.
Agein Envie is Charité,
Which is the moder of Pité,
That makth a mannes herte tendre,
That it mai no malice engendre
In him that is enclin therto.
For his corage is tempred so,
That thogh he mihte himself relieve,
Yit wolde he noght another grieve,
Bot rather for to do plesance
He berth himselven the grevance,
So fain he wolde another ese.
Wherof, mi sone, for thin ese
Now herkne a tale which I rede,
And understond it wel, I rede.

[The Tale of Constantine and Sylvester]

   Among the bokes of Latin
I finde write of Constantin
The worthi Emperour of Rome,
Suche infortunes to him come,
Whan he was in his lusti age,
The lepre cawhte in his visage
And so forth overal aboute,
That he ne mihte ryden oute:
So lefte he bothe schield and spere,
As he that mihte him noght bestere,
And hield him in his chambre clos.
Thurgh al the world the fame aros,
The grete clerkes ben asent
And come at his comandement
To trete upon this lordes hele.
So longe thei togedre dele,
That thei upon this medicine
Apointen hem, and determine
That in the maner as it stod
Thei wolde him bathe in childes blod
Withinne sevene wynter age.
For, as thei sein, that scholde assuage
The lepre and al the violence,
Which that thei knewe of accidence
And noght be weie of kinde is falle.
And therto thei acorden alle
As for final conclusioun,
And tolden here opinioun
To th'emperour. And he anon
His conseil tok, and therupon
With lettres and with seales oute
Thei sende in every lond aboute
The yonge children for to seche,
Whos blod, thei seiden, schal be leche
For th'emperours maladie.
Ther was ynowh to wepe and crie
Among the modres whan thei herde
Hou wofully this cause ferde,
Bot natheles thei moten bowe;
And thus wommen ther come ynowhe
With children soukende on the tete.
Tho was ther manye teres lete,
Bot were hem lieve or were hem lothe,
The wommen and the children bothe
Into the paleis forth be broght
With many a sory hertes thoght
Of hem whiche of here bodi bore
The children hadde, and so forlore
Withinne a while scholden se.
The modres wepe in here degré,
And manye of hem aswoune falle,
The yonge babes criden alle.
This noyse aros, the lord it herde,
And loked out, and how it ferde
He sih, and as who seith abreide
Out of his slep, and thus he seide:
    'O thou divine pourveance,
Which every man in the balance
Of kinde hast formed to be liche,
The povere is bore as is the riche
And deieth in the same wise.
Upon the fol, upon the wise
Siknesse and hele entrecomune.
Mai non eschuie that fortune
Which kinde hath in hire lawe set;
Hire strengthe and beauté ben beset
To every man aliche fre,
That sche preferreth no degré
As in the disposicioun
Of bodili complexioun.
And ek of soule resonable
The povere child is bore als able
To vertu as the kinges sone;
For every man his oghne wone
After the lust of his assay
The vice or vertu chese may.
Thus stonden alle men franchised,
Bot in astat thei ben divised;
To some worschipe and richesse,
To some poverté and distresse,
On lordeth and another serveth;
Bot yit as every man deserveth
The world gifth noght his giftes hiere.
Bot certes he hath gret matiere
To ben of good condicioun,
Which hath in his subjeccioun
The men that ben of his semblance.'
And ek he tok a remembrance
How He that made lawe of kinde
Wolde every man to lawe binde,
And bad a man, such as he wolde
Toward himself, riht such he scholde
Toward another don also.
And thus this worthi lord as tho
Sette in balance his oghne astat
And with himself stod in debat,
And thoghte hou that it was noght good
To se so mochel mannes blod
Be spilt for cause of him alone.
He sih also the grete mone,
Of that the modres were unglade,
And of the wo the children made,
Wherof that al his herte tendreth,
And such pité withinne engendreth,
That him was levere for to chese
His oghne bodi for to lese,
Than se so gret a moerdre wroght
Upon the blod which gulteth noght.
Thus for the pité which he tok
Alle othre leches he forsok.
And put him out of aventure
Al only into Goddes cure;
And seith, 'Who that woll maister be,
He mot be servant to pité.'
So ferforth he was overcome
With charité, that he hath nome
His conseil and hise officers,
And bad unto hise tresorers
That thei his tresour al aboute
Departe among that povere route
Of wommen and of children bothe,
Wherof thei mihte hem fede and clothe
And saufli tornen hom agein
Withoute lost of eny grein.
Thurgh charité thus he despendeth
His good, wherof that he amendeth
The povere poeple, and contrevaileth
The harm, that he hem so travaileth:
And thus the woful nyhtes sorwe
To joie is torned on the morwe.
Al was thonkinge, al was blessinge,
Which erst was wepinge and cursinge.
Thes wommen gon hom glade ynowh,
Ech on for joie on other lowh
And preiden for this lordes hele,
Which hath relessed the querele,
And hath his oghne will forsake
In charité for Goddes sake.
   Bot now hierafter thou schalt hiere
What God hath wroght in this matiere,
As He which doth al equité.
To him that wroghte charité
He was ageinward charitous,
And to pité he was pitous.
For it was nevere knowe yit
That charité goth unaquit.
The nyht, whan he was leid to slepe,
The hihe God, which wolde him kepe,
Seint Peter and seint Poul him sende,
Be whom he wolde his lepre amende.
Thei tuo to him slepende appiere
Fro God, and seide in this manere:
'O Constantin, for thou hast served
Pité, thou hast pité deserved:
Forthi thou schalt such pité have
That God thurgh pité woll thee save,
So schalt thou double hele finde,
Ferst for thi bodiliche kinde,
And for thi wofull soule also,
Thou schalt ben hol of bothe tuo.
And for thou schalt thee noght despeire,
Thi lepre schal no more empeire
Til thou wolt sende therupon
Unto the Mont of Celion,
Wher that Silvestre and his clergie
Togedre duelle in compaignie
For drede of thee, which many day
Hast ben a fo to Cristes lay,
And hast destruid to mochel schame
The prechours of His holy name.
Bot now thou hast somdiel appesed
Thi God, and with good dede plesed,
That thou thi pité hast bewared
Upon the blod which thou hast spared.
Forthi to this salvacioun
Thou schalt have enformacioun,
Such as Silvestre schal thee teche.
Thee nedeth of non other leche.'
   This emperour, which al this herde,
'Grant merci lordes,' he ansuerde,
'I wol do so as ye me seie.
Bot of o thing I wolde preie:
What schal I telle unto Silvestre
Or of youre name or of youre estre?'
And thei him tolden what thei hihte,
And forthwithal out of his sihte
Thei passen up into the hevene.
And he awok out of his swevene,
And clepeth, and men come anon.
He tolde his drem, and therupon
In such a wise as he hem telleth
The mont wher that Silvestre duelleth
Thei have in alle haste soght,
And founde he was and with hem broght
To th'emperour, which to him tolde
His swevene and elles what he wolde.
And whan Silvestre hath herd the king,
He was riht joiful of this thing,
And him began with al his wit
To techen upon holi writ
Ferst how mankinde was forlore,
And how the hihe God therfore
His Sone sende from above,
Which bore was for mannes love,
And after of His oghne chois
He tok His deth upon the Crois;
And how in grave He was beloke,
And how that He hath helle broke,
And tok hem out that were Him lieve;
And for to make ous full believe
That He was verrai Goddes Sone,
Agein the kinde of mannes wone
Fro dethe He ros the thridde day,
And whanne He wolde, as He wel may,
He styh up to His Fader evene
With fleissh and blod into the hevene;
And riht so in the same forme
In fleissh and blod He schal reforme,
Whan time comth, the qwike and dede
At thilke woful dai of drede,
Where every man schal take his dom,
Als wel the maister as the grom.
The mihti kinges retenue
That dai may stonde of no value
With worldes strengthe to defende;
For every man mot thanne entende
To stonde upon his oghne dedes
And leve alle othre mennes nedes.
That dai mai no consail availe,
The pledour and the plee schal faile,
The sentence of that ilke day
Mai non appell sette in delay;
Ther mai no gold the jugge plie,
That he ne schal the sothe trie
And setten every man upriht,
Als wel the plowman as the kniht.
The lewed man, the grete clerk
Schal stonde upon his oghne werk,
And such as he is founde tho,
Such schal he be for everemo.
Ther mai no peine be relessed,
Ther mai no joie ben encressed,
Bot endeles, as thei have do,
He schal receive on of the tuo.
And thus Silvestre with his sawe
The ground of al the Newe Lawe
With gret devocion he precheth,
Fro point to point and pleinly techeth
Unto this hethen emperour,
And seith the hihe creatour
Hath underfonge his charité,
Of that he wroghte such pité,
Whan he the children hadde on honde.
Thus whan this lord hath understonde
Of al this thing how that it ferde,
Unto Silvestre he thanne ansuerde,
With al his hole herte and seith
That he is redi to the feith.
And so the vessel which for blod
Was mad, Silvestre, ther it stod,
With clene water of the welle
In alle haste he let do felle,
And sette Constantin therinne
Al naked up unto the chinne.
And in the while it was begunne,
A liht, as thogh it were a sunne,
Fro hevene into the place com
Wher that he tok his Cristendom.
And evere among the holi tales
Lich as thei weren fisshes skales
Ther fellen from him now and eft,
Til that ther was nothing beleft
Of al his grete maladie.
For he that wolde him purefie,
The hihe God hath mad him clene,
So that ther lefte nothing sene;
He hath him clensed bothe tuo,
The bodi and the soule also.
   Tho knew the emperour in dede
That Cristes feith was for to drede,
And sende anon hise lettres oute
And let do crien al aboute,
Up peine of deth that no man weyve
That he baptesme ne receive.
After his moder qweene Heleine
He sende, and so betwen hem tweine
Thei treten, that the cité all
Was cristned, and sche forth withall.
This emperour, which hele hath founde,
Withinne Rome anon let founde
Tuo cherches, whiche he dede make
For Peter and for Poules sake,
Of whom he hadde a visioun;
And gaf therto possessioun
Of lordschipe and of worldes good.
Bot how so that his will was good
Toward the pope and his franchise,
Yit hath it proved other wise,
To se the worchinge of the dede:
For in cronique this I rede;
Anon as he hath mad the gifte,
A vois was herd on hih the lifte,
Of which al Rome was adrad,
And seith: 'Today is venym schad
In holi cherche of temporal,
Which medleth with the spirital.'
And hou it stant of that degree
Yit mai a man the sothe se.
God mai amende it, whan He wile;
I can therto non other skile.
   Bot for to go ther I began,
How charité mai helpe a man
To bothe worldes, I have seid;
And if thou have an ere leid,
Mi sone, thou miht understonde,
If charité be take on honde,
Ther folweth after mochel grace.
Forthi, if that thou wolt pourchace
How that thou miht Envie flee,
Aqueinte thee with charité,
Which is the vertu sovereine."
    "Mi fader, I schal do my peine.
For this ensample which ye tolde
With al myn herte I have withholde,
So that I schal for everemore
Eschuie Envie wel the more.
And that I have er this misdo,
Gif me my penance er I go.
And over that to mi matiere
Of schrifte, why we sitten hiere
In priveté betwen ous tweie,
Now axeth what ther is, I preie."
    "Mi goode sone, and for thi lore
I woll thee telle what is more,
So that thou schalt the vices knowe.
For whan thei be to thee full knowe,
Thou miht hem wel the betre eschuie.
And for this cause I thenke suie
The forme bothe and the matiere,
As now suiende thou schalt hiere
Which vice stant next after this.
And whan thou wost how that it is,
As thou schal hiere me devise,
Thow miht thiself the betre avise."

Explicit Liber Secundus












occasion (attitude)
bears

burns perpetually
knows; more loved


is afflicted with; (see note)
called burning Envy; (see note)
(see note)
one of those


Sick from (by); health



aid in; (see note)
times
glad
happy countenance
Etna; burns year by; (see note)

pain; secretly
burns

beaten by storms; tossed about by winds
time

surpasses

confession
one
[should] lose



knew [that I would] die
foolishness
chastise (control)



helps them not at all (not a twig)

not far away; (t-note)
whisper; her ear
increases; worst fear
converse

Because I; them; ease

herself
would-be lovers


believe; seek
There is no woman who [by] deed
counsel herself
Nor better, to tell the truth
times
earn herself an expression of gratitude as well
I acknowledge (confess)
time
hear


interpose itself (interfere) instantly
distant

distressed

(t-note)

Whether . . . or; succeed



understood
desire
before I ask any



Civil Law; (see note)
hound's nature
straw; harass
barn




advance his own cause
would [have it that]
obstacle
hinder
know







spy
(see note)
would take care

(see note)
corresponds
(see note)
(see note)
entreated
obtain
observe and watch (spy)
fared

permission
might desire
success
counsel
observe everything; (t-note)

their; spoil (destroy)


unsurpassed





hindered
bribes; promise
command
called
Who in return just as passionately
Exclusively





looks around everywhere

secret
their
them saw
hill near
(see note)



inflamed (aroused); (t-note)
bolt for a crossbow; (see note)
flies
time
mad

giant
true situation

accepted Acis as her beloved

bear

restrain
hill

sorrow; agitation
Since; saw




planned to harm

barbarous strength
hill; shoved

hill
killed
enough





obtain

avenged








streams

please
crude
hatred

in every respect














To practice

















derives happiness
(see note)



powerful








admit this to you
possessively (tightly)

plaintiffs
hear
[Fortune's] wheel
think

feast on what they starved from
laugh; them scowl dejectedly
(see note)

know; upset



I care not



loses; pursues
it seems to me



(see note)
in a sad state


may not help myself
labor
hampered




brought to a successful conclusion


acknowledge myself to be guilty


esteem (good repute)

by no reason
nature
set himself at a disadvantage
To cause hindrance against
lose; entitlement (just claim/possessions)
lose








written; (see note)
once; wished to investigate
complaints; (see note)
fared
Specifically concerning their
bring justice

(see note)









Questions
Now [with] loud







one
companion
recognition of this

must soon leave


by God's command




most dear according to his desire




appoints
covetous person



request

by

Since he wished to

envious person



companion


(t-note)


one eye
might see

blinded (shut)



laughed




becomes worse
none know





unless

set
Except


















kind of person
know not one of any


(see note)
deed
retained; (see note)


complication (ambiguity)
Anywhere
finds (invents)
always the conclusion
good repute; destroy

quarrel; nonetheless; (see note)
office of herald; (see note)
are accustomed to deceit
nettle
stings (burns)





honor
lies; devises; (t-note)

traduced
composed
dung beetle's (scarab's) nature



(see note)
in all directions; sees



excrement


backbiter



regardless of how insignificant it may be
blame (fault)

known



school





askance (slanderous)




proposed (concocted)


injured

(see note)

Confess yourself; (see note)




equal

preoccupation
crowd

abides
invents

their
'unknown unkissed'; (see note)
thumb; holds; fist
tightly; own hand
gains; ground
believes
defends (preserves)
'if I had only known'
swells with passion
promiscuous
three [women]


afraid of; (see note)
In case

employ








knew
be trusted
would like; would intend
deceitful
intend wickedness
vigorous
truth

the utterly most true; born

fully
if I knew it
succeed


dislodge






(see note)

continuously spy


only of the same sort

slander; disparage








protect; (see note)
rather lack life





judged (punished)

desist from

compelled; comply
command
promise

has happened




displeased










details (essence of the thing)



those
poison



think to have the advantage

quit


smear with bird lime

speck of dirt






[moral] improvement






(see note)
so says the story
rule
was called; (see note)



pleased




nobility of heathendom
who engage in commerce
(see note)








renounce







their
whole
















appointed
more


of a kind disposition
to work; (see note)
marriage
secretly












(see note)





honorable



obtain





request

(t-note)

Conspiracy






agreement
hidden

Either publically or privately


All along the table
hindered
acquitted
circumstance
(see note)





(see note)
Covered with blood




female pagan


prepared
empty; rudder
her (Constance) together; (t-note)
Fully provided with food

waves
protect; (see note)

guide





called then

in the right way



saw; waves


might portend

examined
short time
knew


explain herself


honor



sorely because; found


in quiet
(see note)

(see note)


faith
perfectly


along the beach







was disturbed

prayer
(see note)
Who was put; slain
dim-eyed man, look

received



Constrained

listen; (see note)

rode








scrutinize



raised

he regretted
time


Against





devised
conquer [sexually]

to decline
hatred
(see note)

deceit; plotted
hastens swiftly





its

prepared







razor


side of the bed


dim


lying
dead; bleeding



(t-note)

fainting dead away; fear
(see note)

calls


unfaithfulness intended


deed
went

pretended; search












[So] that; know

guilty

perjured
eyes lost
instant
popped out


avenged

Confess
confessed
died




(see note); (t-note)

reported



whole


Be baptized


Each of them makes vows to the other


was named; (see note)

more



(see note)




(see note)
in an instant




intent
war



also
with [a] force
wage

by nature; (see note)
taken


sound

names him









(see note)
Who subsequently; destroyed
(t-note)







utterly unfaithful
had written

(see note)


faith
(see note)

nature; entirely amiss
seen







deem

begotten





notice















Whether it pleased him or not













(see note)





bewitched


reign



benefit



demand





sea

permit
(t-note)


On the king's behalf




As [if]; their own; had seen
Burnt; in front of their eyes; (see note)



knew
dwell


meek voice


condition of every act of loyalty
pity


Fainting
who; has power to do







necessarily by that reason
On behalf of
whole diligence
Ordain myself for that role
As one who; nursemaid

(see note)
again and again (at times)




(see note)





admiral

who was utterly vicious
apostate




sized her up
handsome creature

Have intercourse with her
leave her there alone
[So] that; (t-note)










If he would
place



went



favorable


passed; (see note)








remained


[ship] lay alongside so near


crept into seclusion




inquire

(see note)
afflicted

(t-note)

know not




moreover


Cross







(t-note)


Muslim world




Provided that
their familiarity


betrayed


members of the alliance




went







brother's; as a wife

called





pledged


Provided that






know
inwardly
a person




nonetheless



(see note)
turned again
away at war





(i.e., caused to go)




it seemed to them


abandoned

nowhere





spoke as


utterly repudiated



interrogated


nowhere
one place


(see note)


knew immediately
had perpetrated
delay
time

many [a] one

tinder catches



devil; legal punishment; (see note)





promise
(see note)



caused them











And every person laments for Constance
torments
distressed

ever again


listless

(see note)


soul's health; by means of

pilgrimage
Pelagius



Who was his heir apparent


provided



make provisions

harbinger

know

is called



allocate; lodging
good-heartedly







constricted
Fainted
ails

sighs
sea sickness
because of
(t-note)

(see note)
could find out






feast





might often see him
(see note)









sees; understands
naturally











without rudder

fostered




called
is called
know not
knew
laughed





burns



knows not
eagerly he wished
secret place
war of yes and no
suspense
time






tables; out of the way

dismissed; company

petition


pleased


given notice

Toward; then took


(t-note)
creature; saw; knew




desire







endeavored to learn















alms
prayer
(see note)

seemed to him





instructed















toward him





festive welcoming


ambling
rode





to your health


(see note)

excited

knew
glad
kissed; repeatedly

[even] though; (see note)



near
submissive
revealed
met with a certain fortune







(t-note)











hope



(see note)
quenched








same time

by God's command




(see note)
redeemed

fellowship



Who


rather [be]
whence
took

according to what
short time

(see note)

following
(see note)

(see note)
(see note)
devoted fully

most Christian



lost


defamation
lying




following




know; (see note)




well known

was called






burns

because he saw



By force of arms; attempt
lying



turbulently led

(t-note)























promised

determined; gain



be able to be



advantage (benefit)
(t-note)




taken



















Rescue


(i.e., [was] executed); indictment

hidden for a time
(see note)



glad
heir apparent



of no importance
have control over





royal prerogative
With his father still living




spread the news; (see note)
own

took
bench of justice
tortured



earth






upside down
(see note)

depression by which natural vigor
quenched
entrapped by grief

government; seized
(see note)

limited



For as suddenly as



military force prepared himself

vigorous
army


excuse [from conscription]






who was called


(t-note)







in her innocence

head; (t-note)



be unfavorable to him



bark at a man from behind


causes to be slain; pity




goes



not seeing




reign obtained





river
frozen over
knew well
blind (governed by chance)


Broke apart

rear guard
dry







marshaled
arrayed for battle
besieged




And on Perse
lay the blame


beggar's clothes


bronze





lack of food; (t-note)



(t-note)


person


stupid

locked

charge


sleight of hand; magician


False-seeming



















(see note)

ear









(t-note)





boat; guides

oar

causes; waves to ride


Deteriorates; advise


countenance; (see note)

duties
deceive





(see note)


That [which] never

balance; (see note)
confess yourself
(see note)







since you desire
What; ask, don't tell lies
(see note)
concealment (stealth)
know
by love guided

knew
whispered

displace
desire
In a case in which; knew
by
turned away

advance
apt to keep secrets

hidden
scheming


In general
acknowledge

false colors (lit., red sandalwood)







suspects





Since
Many times
thinks


Provided that
If











set aside

previously
locked shut


listen; inquire







hear of


inwardly





in competition with me








if he should see my lady
eye
Who would not love her


feign courtesy (friendship)







one after another






advance their cause only a little (i.e., not at all)
compose
straight out



advantage
might necessarily have to


ability
To conceal; creature
in any way

since


know

lady's person
counsel
(i.e., without any outside manipulation)





place; (t-note)

judgment

appearances; adopted
weighed

esteem

Put no mask

in a short time


lose; repute



trial; (see note)




know not




(see note)

most sneaky




lose
choose



fetter


gang
manipulate




teach
called; Make-believe






hindrance
door; usher close
he desires


spreads about
harm
creates credence (confidence)




in former times
wary
all those who




(see note)


(see note)

breaks

sail
paid the penalty



one time




river
boat



giant; near
was called; saw




locked
satisfied


do battle




their


trusted
knew

safe and sound






deceitfully




their eye




passage





shore
upon

(t-note)


pleased


gently

complaining (i.e., apparently gladly)

dry
far

agreeable or disagreeable; (see note)




move himself



arrow
previously; poisoned

smote
stopped (prevented)
hear

gave

stained

secretly; (t-note)





others leave


It seemed to her
locked










foolish
infatuated
coat; (see note)

weakness; on top

Where; bring deliverance

seek


weeping eye
ill-fortuned
thought


counseled


avoided

thought; won

to the quick
set on fire
be separated
Because of

deep wood

trees


suddenly
burned himself up







lost
pattern








fifth [division]


scheming and deceit


consider











inference; (t-note)


(see note)
guard









place where

cares not, provided that
lose
cheese; (see note)





woe; gladness
By that which; humiliates (reduces in fortune)
uplifts
bird; possession
beat the bushes

a purpose
contrive





own by
requires none to share it; (see note)

by supplantation

graft

unraveled
thinks to be secure
stratagem
harvest
sown



boat

(see note)









power

truly
By
appropriated
what
[Even] though; [might] displease



scheme
should care not; cunning







possess her according to

use force


slander

rather



more certain way


exalted




so many nor how many (i.e., in any way); (see note)

proceeded incorrectly [in your]

contemplates




In double measure be careful



honor



in an ambush

loved one; more desired one


(see note)

creature







(see note)
Who once; as one


happened then



Was bound by promise of matrimony

most certain



manner

cunning deceit

(t-note)

Thinking

bound in an embrace

(see note)


beloved
thought; true

tricked
knew not



its rudder




(see note)




(see note)






pertaining (i.e., a rightful possession)












foreign lands
stay
permission to depart
tarry (remain)
trusted
knew
secret plan
journey

attempt

time
labor


sworn
Even if; (t-note)

depart



galley ship
their



sultan; Persia

surrounded
bordering (adjacent) district





for which it is his duty
Cairo; battle position he takes






knew



departed








father's heir





Put life and death in the balance




Bravery emboldens; heart




dared none stand [and face]
repute


by



delayed

time














arrayed for battle
taken

timorous
one slays; other dies
honor

could withstand
Against

chase
know not



pursuit of the enemy

saw
in any event

trusted
[so] that







to Cairo
buried

kingdom







likewise


pledged

















who had opportunity


purse
place






father's command





removed
(t-note)









then


















reward
wealth

believed existed in the heavens

causes; know

heartfelt passion





its natural heat
(see note)



prison














traveled
also
seek



lost



reasonings

given over
unjust
punishment; allowable

depart


living

just dessert







heal; wound



obstruct

(see note)






formerly




(see note)
believe
none may oppose
shut; eye

was called

who wanted to maintain

Proceeded to choose
according to what they could determine

agree

spiritual



enthroned; (t-note)





honor








same; burns
runs








remarkable trick



educated



arranged for
Near
at night


that [which] must occur
who thought [to] beguile




trumpet
given to him
when it is time
Observe

near








give that estate

saved from damnation
honor

outline [of the plan]


evening
secretly; hid


sounded (blew)


return to
former estate






[that] he resign; (t-note)

knows
convinced










contrived; (t-note)



created
resign or else not


official papal position
given

ratified

abandoned

(i.e., Boniface); readily available [for the office]













is not like
roof; moment
Lies hidden
bursts into flame


boast










deviate
out of kilter

(see note)
outrage

in person








papal edict



peers of the realm
opposed; (see note)










it so happened
William; (see note)

company

an ambush






stayed; waited
In ambush
sprang into action
by the rein seized

by your










be punished



subjected
tower; shackles
(see note)
Devoured (Ate off); died



Your beginning like; sly; (see note)






took

advise









know not


(see note)
(see note)

(see note)
merchandise; (see note)

buy




uses
bargaining


behaves wrongly
know not; provide correction










Unless; person


(see note)









(see note)


pour




unnatural behavior



odious to God











describe
appropriate to marry

(see note)




(t-note)


(see note)

by those unnatural
always

near love

whatsoever side it [might] occur





except

except a malicious one
By way of nature


its motivation




strives
hope

closest peer (closest look-a-like)
heavenly kingdom
dwell

would like to find a more secure




in addition (to boot)
remedy






medicine; sick
antidotes

follow





drives out

(see note)




gain comfort



gladly






(see note)


(see note)

leprosy; face
then everywhere else


take vigorous action
secluded
was spread abroad
[medical] scholars; sent for

health
consult

Resolve themselves

child's blood


leprosy
by circumstance (i.e., pathologically)



their


official documents

seek
solution; (see note)



fared
must be submissive



like it or not




destroyed

according to their nature
faints
infants


started

providence; (see note)
scales
nature; the same
poor
dies; manner

have fellowship; (see note)

(see note)
bestowed
equally
[Such] that she exalts no social rank


(see note)
as capable
Of attaining virtue
by his own habit
desire; attempt
choose
possessing freedom; (see note)



One is a lord




[He] who
likeness

(see note)










lament


becomes sympathetic

it was preferable to him; choose
lose
murder perpetrated
is in no way guilty

physicians
danger (risk)




taken



Distribute; crowd



loss; vigorous youth

recompenses
countermands
vexes


good will
formerly

one; laughed
good health
Who






in return


unrequited



leprosy cure
come into view
spoke
because you have



two different kinds of health
physical nature



grow worse





foe; law
slaughtered; great

placated

bestowed




physician


you tell me


country
were called


dream
calls; quickly






dream




lost





enclosed
harrowed
those out; dear to Him
fully accept as valid
true
Against; nature; custom


ascended


resurrect
living; dead

receive; judgment
servant



must



advocate

legal appeal
sway
test


layman; scholar

then





wise words
foundation; (see note)




accepted
[Because] of







where

he caused to be filled









left over



remained






should turn aside
[Such] that he not take baptism

the two of them
negotiated an agreement
together with [them]

had built


prophetic dream



jurisdiction


(t-note)

above in the air


(see note)
(t-note)



know; reason



ear placed





Ally yourself

so endeavor (take pains)

retained













pursue







 


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