And thou, Valerian, for thou so sone
Assentedest to good conseil also,
Sey what thee list, and thou shalt han thy bone.’
‘I have a brother,’ quod Valerian tho, 235
‘That in this world I love no man so.
I pray yow that my brother may han grace
To knowe the trouthe, as I do in this place.’
[517: T. 15707-15737.]
The angel seyde, ‘god lyketh thy requeste,
And bothe, with the palm of martirdom, 240
Ye shullen come unto his blisful feste.’
And with that word Tiburce his brother com.
And whan that he the savour undernom
Which that the roses and the lilies caste,
With-inne his herte he gan to wondre faste, 245
And seyde, ‘I wondre, this tyme of the yeer,
Whennes that sote savour cometh so
Of rose and lilies that I smelle heer.
For though I hadde hem in myn hondes two,
The savour mighte in me no depper go. 250
The sote smel that in myn herte I finde
Hath chaunged me al in another kinde.’
251. _The MSS. have_ swete _here; but in_ l. 247 _we find only _sote,
soote, swote, suote, _except_ swete _in_ Pt.; _in_ l. 229, E. Hl.
soote; Hn. swote; Cm. sote; Cp. Pt. Ln. swete.
Valerian seyde, ‘two corones han we,
Snow-whyte and rose-reed, that shynen clere,
Whiche that thyn yën han no might to see; 255
And as thou smellest hem thurgh my preyere,
So shaltow seen hem, leve brother dere,
If it so be thou wolt, withouten slouthe,
Bileve aright and knowen verray trouthe.’
Tiburce answerde, ‘seistow this to me 260
In soothnesse, or in dreem I herkne this?’
‘In dremes,’ quod Valerian, ‘han we be
Unto this tyme, brother myn, y-wis.
But now at erst in trouthe our dwelling is.’
‘How woostow this,’ quod Tiburce, ‘in what wyse?’ 265
Quod Valerian, ‘that shal I thee devyse.
The angel of god hath me the trouthe y-taught
Which thou shalt seen, if that thou wolt reneye
The ydoles and be clene, and elles naught.’—
[518: T. 15738-15769.]
And of the miracle of thise corones tweye 270
Seint Ambrose in his preface list to seye;
Solempnely this noble doctour dere
Commendeth it, and seith in this manere: