Confessio Amantis | Page 9

thei woxen seke;
For as the man hath
passioun
Of seknesse, in comparisoun
So soffren othre creatures.

Lo, ferst the hevenly figures,
The Sonne and Mone eclipsen bothe,

And ben with mannes senne wrothe; 920
The purest Eir for Senne
alofte
Hath ben and is corrupt fulofte,
Right now the hyhe wyndes
blowe,
And anon after thei ben lowe,
Now clowdy and now clier it
is:
So may it proeven wel be this,
A mannes Senne is forto hate,

Which makth the welkne to debate.
And forto se the proprete
Of
every thyng in his degree, 930
Benethe forth among ous hiere
Al
stant aliche in this matiere:
The See now ebbeth, now it floweth,

The lond now welketh, now it groweth,
Now be the Trees with leves
grene,
Now thei be bare and nothing sene,
Now be the lusti somer

floures,
Now be the stormy wynter shoures,
Now be the daies, now
the nyhtes,
So stant ther nothing al upryhtes, 940
Now it is lyht,
now it is derk;
And thus stant al the worldes werk
After the
disposicioun
Of man and his condicioun.
Forthi Gregoire in his
Moral
Seith that a man in special
The lasse world is properly:

And that he proeveth redely;
For man of Soule resonable
Is to an
Angel resemblable, 950
And lich to beste he hath fielinge,
And lich
to Trees he hath growinge;
The Stones ben and so is he:
Thus of his
propre qualite
The man, as telleth the clergie,
Is as a world in his
partie,
And whan this litel world mistorneth,
The grete world al
overtorneth.
The Lond, the See, the firmament,
Thei axen alle
jugement 960
Ayein the man and make him werre:
Therwhile
himself stant out of herre,
The remenant wol noght acorde:
And in
this wise, as I recorde,
The man is cause of alle wo,
Why this world
is divided so.
Division, the gospell seith,
On hous upon another
leith,
Til that the Regne al overthrowe:
And thus may every man
wel knowe, 970
Division aboven alle
Is thing which makth the
world to falle,
And evere hath do sith it began.
It may ferst proeve
upon a man;
The which, for his complexioun
Is mad upon divisioun

Of cold, of hot, of moist, of drye,
He mot be verray kynde dye:

For the contraire of his astat
Stant evermore in such debat, 980
Til
that o part be overcome,
Ther may no final pes be nome.
Bot other
wise, if a man were
Mad al togedre of o matiere
Withouten
interrupcioun,
Ther scholde no corrupcioun
Engendre upon that
unite:
Bot for ther is diversite
Withinne himself, he may noght laste,

That he ne deieth ate laste. 990
Bot in a man yit over this
Full
gret divisioun ther is,
Thurgh which that he is evere in strif,
Whil
that him lasteth eny lif:
The bodi and the Soule also
Among hem
ben divided so,
That what thing that the body hateth
The soule
loveth and debateth;
Bot natheles fulofte is sene
Of werre which is
hem betwene 1000
The fieble hath wonne the victoire.
And who so
drawth into memoire
What hath befalle of old and newe,
He may
that werre sore rewe,
Which ferst began in Paradis:
For ther was

proeved what it is,
And what desese there it wroghte;
For thilke
werre tho forth broghte
The vice of alle dedly Sinne,
Thurgh which
division cam inne 1010
Among the men in erthe hiere,
And was the
cause and the matiere
Why god the grete flodes sende,
Of al the
world and made an ende
Bot Noe5 with his felaschipe,
Which only
weren saulf be Schipe.
And over that thurgh Senne it com
That
Nembrot such emprise nom,
Whan he the Tour Babel on heihte
Let
make, as he that wolde feihte 1020
Ayein the hihe goddes myht,

Wherof divided anon ryht
Was the langage in such entente,
Ther
wiste non what other mente,
So that thei myhten noght procede.

And thus it stant of every dede,
Wher Senne takth the cause on honde,

It may upriht noght longe stonde;
For Senne of his condicioun
Is
moder of divisioun 1030
And tokne whan the world schal faile.
For
so seith Crist withoute faile,
That nyh upon the worldes ende
Pes
and acord awey schol wende
And alle charite schal cesse,
Among
the men and hate encresce;
And whan these toknes ben befalle,
Al
sodeinly the Ston schal falle,
As Daniel it hath beknowe,
Which al
this world schal overthrowe, 1040
And every man schal thanne arise

To Joie or elles to Juise,
Wher that he schal for evere dwelle,
Or
straght to hevene or straght to helle.
In hevene is pes and al acord,

Bot helle is full of such descord
That ther may be no loveday:

Forthi good is, whil a man may,

Echon to sette pes with other
And
loven as his oghne brother; 1050
So may he winne worldes welthe

And afterward his soule helthe.
Bot wolde god that now were on

An other such as Arion,
Which hadde an harpe of such temprure,

And therto of so good mesure
He song, that he the bestes wilde

Made of his note tame and milde,
The Hinde in pes with the Leoun,

The Wolf in pes with the Moltoun, 1060
The Hare in pees stod
with the Hound;
And every man upon this ground
Which Arion that
time herde,
Als wel the lord as the schepherde,
He broghte hem alle
in good acord;
So that the comun with the lord,
And lord with the
comun also,
He sette in love bothe tuo
And putte awey malencolie.

That was a lusti melodie, 1070
Whan every man with other low;


And if ther