Verily it is proved that richesse, dignitè, and power ben not
trewe way to the knotte, but as rathe by suche thinges the
knotte to be unbounde; wherfore on these thinges I rede no
wight truste to gette any good knotte. But what shul we saye of
renomè in the peoples mouthes? Shulde that ben any cause? 5
What supposest thou in thyn herte?'
'Certes,' quod I, 'yes, I trowe; for your slye resons I dare not
safely it saye.'
'Than,' quod she, 'wol I preve that shrewes as rathe shul ben
in the knotte as the good; and that were ayenst kynde.' 10
'Fayn,' quod I, 'wolde I that here; me thinketh wonder how
renomè shuld as wel knitte a shrewe as a good person; renomè
in every degree hath avaunced; yet wist I never the contrarye.
Shulde than renomè accorde with a shrewe? It may not sinke in
my stomake til I here more.' 15
'Now,' quod she, 'have I not sayd alwayes, that shrewes shul
not have the knotte?'
'What nedeth,' quod I, 'to reherse that any more? I wot wel
every wight, by kyndely reson, shrewes in knitting wol eschewe.'
'Than,' quod she, 'the good ought thilke knotte to have.' 20
'How els?' quod I.
'It were greet harm,' quod she, 'that the good were weyved
and put out of espoire of the knotte, if he it desyred.'
'O,' quod I, 'alas! On suche thing to thinke, I wene that
heven wepeth to see suche wronges here ben suffred on erthe; the 25
good ought it to have, and no wight els.'
'The goodnesse,' quod she, 'of a person may not ben knowe
outforth but by renomè of the knowers; wherfore he must be
renomed of goodnesse, to come to the knot.'
'So must it be,' quod I, 'or els al lost that we carpen.' 30
'Sothly,' quod she, 'that were greet harm, but-if a good man
might have his desyres in service of thilke knot, and a shrewe to
be +weyved, and they ben not knowen in general but by lacking
and praysing, and in renomè; and so by the consequence it
foloweth, a shrewe to ben praysed and knit; and a good to be 35
forsake and unknit.'
'Ah,' quod I tho, 'have ye, lady, ben here abouten; yet wolde
I see, by grace of our argumentes better declared, how good and
bad do acorden by lacking and praysing; me thinketh it ayenst
kynde.' 40
'Nay,' quod she, 'and that shalt thou see as yerne; these
elementes han contrarious qualitees in kynde, by whiche they
mowe not acorde no more than good and badde; and in [some]
qualitees they acorde, so that contraries by qualitè acorden by
qualitè. Is not erthe drye; and water, that is next and bitwene 45
th'erthe, is wete? Drye and wete ben contrarie, and mowen not
acorde, and yet this discordaunce is bounde to acorde by cloudes;
for bothe elementes ben colde. Right so the eyre, that is next
the water, is wete; and eke it is hot. This eyre by his hete
contrarieth water that is cold; but thilke contrarioustè is oned +by 50
moysture; for bothe be they moyst. Also the fyr, that is next
the +eyre and it encloseth al about, is drye, wherthrough it
contrarieth +eyre, that is wete; and in hete they acorde; for
bothe they ben hote. Thus by these acordaunces discordantes
ben joyned, and in a maner of acordaunce they acorden by 55
conneccion, that is, knitting togither; of that accorde cometh
a maner of melodye that is right noble. Right so good and bad
arn contrarie in doinges, by lacking and praysing; good is bothe
lacked and praysed of some; and badde is bothe lacked and
praysed of some; wherfore their contrarioustee acorde bothe by 60
lacking and praysing. Than foloweth it, though good be never
so mokel praysed, [it] oweth more to ben knit than the badde;
or els bad, for the renomè that he hath, must be taken as wel as
the good; and that oweth not.'
'No, forsothe,' quod I. 65
'Wel,' quod she, 'than is renomè no way to the knot. Lo,
foole,' quod she, 'how clerkes wryten of suche glorie of renomè:--"O
glorie, glorie, thou art non other thing to thousandes of folke
but a greet sweller of eeres!" Many oon hath had ful greet renomè
by false opinion of variaunt people. And what is fouler than 70
folk wrongfully to ben praysed, or by malice of the people giltlesse
lacked? Nedes shame foloweth therof to hem that with wrong
prayseth, and also to the desertes praysed; and vilanye and
reproof of him that disclaundreth.
Good child (quod she) what echeth suche renomè to the 75
conscience of a wyse man, that loketh and mesureth his goodnesse,
not by slevelesse wordes of the people, but by sothfastnesse
of conscience? By god, nothing. And if it be fayr, a mans name
be eched by moche folkes praysing, and fouler thing that mo folk
not praysen? I sayd to thee a litel here-beforn, that no folk in 80
straunge countreyes nought praysen; suche renomè may not
comen to their eeres, bycause of unknowing and other obstacles,
as I sayde: wherfore more folk not praysen, and that is right foul
to him that renomè desyreth, to wete, lesse folk praisen than
renomè enhaunce. I trowe, the thank of a people is naught 85
worth in remembraunce to take; ne it procedeth of no wyse
jugement; never is it stedfast pardurable. It is veyne and fleing;
with winde wasteth and encreseth. Trewly, suche glorie ought to
be hated. If gentillesse be a cleer thing, renomè and glorie to
enhaunce, as in reckening of thy linage, than is gentilesse of thy 90
kinne; for-why it semeth that gentilesse of thy kinne is but
praysing and renomè that come of thyne auncestres desertes:
and if so be that praysing and renomè of their desertes make
their clere gentillesse, than mote they nedes ben gentil for their
gentil dedes, and not thou; for of thy-selfe cometh not such 95
maner gentilesse, praysinge of thy desertes. Than gentillesse of
thyne auncesters, that forayne is to thee, maketh thee not gentil,
but ungentil and reproved, and-if thou continuest not their
gentilesse. And therfore a wyse man ones sayde: "Better is it
thy kinne to ben by thee gentyled, than thou to glorifye of thy 100
kinnes gentilesse, and hast no desert therof thy-selfe."
How passinge is the beautee of flesshly bodyes, more flittinge
than movable floures of sommer! And if thyne eyen weren as good
as the lynx, that may seen thorow many stone walles, bothe fayre
and foule, in their entrayles, of no maner hewe shulde apere to 105
thy sight; that were a foule sight. Than is fayrnesse by feblesse
of eyen, but of no kynde; wherfore thilke shulde be no way to
the knot; whan thilke is went, the knotte wendeth after. Lo,
now, at al proves, none of al these thinges mowe parfitly ben in
understanding, to ben way to the during blisse of the knotte. 110
But now, to conclusion of these maters, herkeneth these wordes.
Very sommer is knowe from the winter: in shorter cours draweth
the dayes of Decembre than in the moneth of June; the springes
of Maye faden and +falowen in Octobre. These thinges ben not
unbounden from their olde kynde; they have not lost her werke 115
of their propre estat. Men, of voluntarious wil, withsitte that
hevens governeth. Other thinges suffren thinges paciently to
werche; man, in what estat he be, yet wolde he ben chaunged.
Thus by queynt thinges blisse is desyred; and the fruit that
cometh of these springes nis but anguis and bitter; al-though it 120
be a whyle swete, it may not be with-holde; hastely they departe;
thus al-day fayleth thinges that fooles wende. Right thus hast
thou fayled in thy first wening. He that thinketh to sayle, and drawe
after the course of the sterre _de polo antartico_, shal he never
come northward to the contrarye sterre of _polus articus_; of whiche 125
thinges if thou take kepe, thy first out-waye-going "prison" and
"exile" may be cleped. The ground falsed underneth, and so
hast thou fayled. No wight, I wene, blameth him that stinteth
in misgoing, and secheth redy way of his blisse. Now me
thinketh (quod she) that it suffyseth in my shewing; the wayes 130
by dignetè, richesse, renomè, and power, if thou loke clerely, arn
no wayes to the knotte.'
CH. VIII. 2. waye. 11. Fayne. howe. 14. maye. 16. Nowe. 18. wotte. 19.
reason. 21. Howe. 22. great harme. 25. se.
31. great harme. 33. veyned; _read_ weyued. 38. se. howe. 41. se. 42.
qualyties. 43. _I supply_ some. 46. therthe. 49. hotte. 50. colde.
co_n_trariousty. my; _read_ by. 51. fyre. 52. erthe; _read_ eyre (_twice_).
56. connection. 58. arne. 60. contraryoustie. 62. _I supply_ it. 66. waye.
67. howe.
68. arte none. thynge. 69. great. one. great. 71. folke. 74. reprofe. 75.
chylde. 76. measureth. 78. fayre. 79. folke. 80. the. beforne. folke. 83.
folke. foule. 84. folke. 85. thanke. 86. worthe. 88. encreaseth. 89. clear
thynge. 97-100. the (_thrice_). 101. haste. deserte. 102. Howe. beautie.
104. maye sene thorowe.
106. fayrenesse. 109-111. nowe (_twice_). 110. waye. 111. nowe. 114.
folowen; _read_ falowen. 115. loste. 116. estate. 119. fruite. 121. maye.
122. al-daye. haste. 125. northwarde. 127. grounde. 129. Nowe. 132. ways.