Confessio Amantis | Page 4

that ben the worldes guides?With good consail on alle sides?Be kept upriht in such a wyse,?That hate breke noght thassise?Of love, which is al the chief?To kepe a regne out of meschief. 150?For alle resoun wolde this,?That unto him which the heved is?The membres buxom scholden bowe,?And he scholde ek her trowthe allowe,?With al his herte and make hem chiere,?For good consail is good to hiere.?Althogh a man be wys himselve,?Yit is the wisdom more of tuelve;?And if thei stoden bothe in on,?To hope it were thanne anon 160?That god his grace wolde sende?To make of thilke werre an ende,?Which every day now groweth newe:?And that is gretly forto rewe?In special for Cristes sake,?Which wolde his oghne lif forsake?Among the men to yeve pes.?But now men tellen natheles?That love is fro the world departed,?So stant the pes unevene parted 170?With hem that liven now adaies.?Bot forto loke at alle assaies,?To him that wolde resoun seche?After the comun worldes speche?It is to wondre of thilke werre,?In which non wot who hath the werre;?For every lond himself deceyveth?And of desese his part receyveth,?And yet ne take men no kepe.?Bot thilke lord which al may kepe, 180?To whom no consail may ben hid,?Upon the world which is betid,?Amende that wherof men pleigne?With trewe hertes and with pleine,?And reconcile love ayeyn,?As he which is king sovereign?Of al the worldes governaunce,?And of his hyhe porveaunce?Afferme pes betwen the londes?And take her cause into hise hondes, 190?So that the world may stonde apppesed?And his godhede also be plesed.?To thenke upon the daies olde,?The lif of clerkes to beholde,?Men sein how that thei weren tho?Ensample and reule of alle tho?Whiche of wisdom the vertu soughten.?Unto the god ferst thei besoughten?As to the substaunce of her Scole,?That thei ne scholden noght befole 200?Her wit upon none erthly werkes,?Which were ayein thestat of clerkes,?And that thei myhten fle the vice?Which Simon hath in his office,?Wherof he takth the gold in honde.?For thilke tyme I understonde?The Lumbard made non eschange?The bisschopriches forto change,?Ne yet a lettre for to sende?For dignite ne for Provende, 210?Or cured or withoute cure.?The cherche keye in aventure?Of armes and of brygantaille?Stod nothing thanne upon bataille;?To fyhte or for to make cheste?It thoghte hem thanne noght honeste;?Bot of simplesce and pacience?Thei maden thanne no defence:?The Court of worldly regalie?To hem was thanne no baillie; 220?The vein honour was noght desired,?Which hath the proude herte fyred;?Humilite was tho withholde,?And Pride was a vice holde.?Of holy cherche the largesse?Yaf thanne and dede gret almesse?To povere men that hadden nede:?Thei were ek chaste in word and dede,?Wherof the poeple ensample tok;?Her lust was al upon the bok, 230?Or forto preche or forto preie,?To wisse men the ryhte weie?Of suche as stode of trowthe unliered.?Lo, thus was Petres barge stiered?Of hem that thilke tyme were,?And thus cam ferst to mannes Ere?The feith of Crist and alle goode?Thurgh hem that thanne weren goode?And sobre and chaste and large and wyse.?Bot now men sein is otherwise, 240?Simon the cause hath undertake,?The worldes swerd on honde is take;?And that is wonder natheles,?Whan Crist him self hath bode pes?And set it in his testament,?How now that holy cherche is went,?Of that here lawe positif?Hath set to make werre and strif?For worldes good, which may noght laste.?God wot the cause to the laste 250?Of every right and wrong also;?But whil the lawe is reuled so?That clerkes to the werre entende,?I not how that thei scholde amende?The woful world in othre thinges,?To make pes betwen the kynges?After the lawe of charite,?Which is the propre duete?Belongende unto the presthode.?Bot as it thenkth to the manhode, 260?The hevene is ferr, the world is nyh,?And veine gloire is ek so slyh,?Which coveitise hath now withholde,?That thei non other thing beholde,?Bot only that thei myhten winne.?And thus the werres thei beginne,?Wherof the holi cherche is taxed,?That in the point as it is axed?The disme goth to the bataille,?As thogh Crist myhte noght availe 270?To don hem riht be other weie.?In to the swerd the cherche keie?Is torned, and the holy bede?Into cursinge, and every stede?Which scholde stonde upon the feith?And to this cause an Ere leyth,?Astoned is of the querele.?That scholde be the worldes hele?Is now, men sein, the pestilence?Which hath exiled pacience 280?Fro the clergie in special:?And that is schewed overal,?In eny thing whan thei ben grieved.?Bot if Gregoire be believed,?As it is in the bokes write,?He doth ous somdel forto wite?The cause of thilke prelacie,?Wher god is noght of compaignie:?For every werk as it is founded?Schal stonde or elles be confounded; 290?Who that only for Cristes sake?Desireth cure forto take,?And noght for pride of thilke astat,?To bere a name of a prelat,?He schal be resoun do profit?In holy cherche upon the plit?That he hath set his conscience;?Bot in the worldes reverence?Ther ben of suche manie glade,?Whan thei to