Confessio Amantis | Page 8

as he wel hath deserved,?The Diademe and was coroned.?Of Rome and thus was abandoned?Thempire, which cam nevere ayein?Into the hond of no Romein;?Bot a long time it stod so stille?Under the Frensche kynges wille, 770?Til that fortune hir whiel so ladde,?That afterward Lombardz it hadde,?Noght be the swerd, bot be soffrance?Of him that tho was kyng of France,?Which Karle Calvus cleped was;?And he resigneth in this cas?Thempire of Rome unto Lowis?His Cousin, which a Lombard is.?And so hit laste into the yeer?Of Albert and of Berenger; 780?Bot thanne upon dissencioun?Thei felle, and in divisioun?Among hemself that were grete,?So that thei loste the beyete?Of worschipe and of worldes pes.?Bot in proverbe natheles?Men sein, ful selden is that welthe?Can soffre his oghne astat in helthe;?And that was on the Lombardz sene,?Such comun strif was hem betwene 790?Thurgh coveitise and thurgh Envie,?That every man drowh his partie,?Which myhte leden eny route,?Withinne Burgh and ek withoute:?The comun ryht hath no felawe,?So that the governance of lawe?Was lost, and for necessite,?Of that thei stode in such degre?Al only thurgh divisioun,?Hem nedeth in conclusioun 800?Of strange londes help beside.?And thus for thei hemself divide?And stonden out of reule unevene,?Of Alemaine Princes sevene?Thei chose in this condicioun,?That upon here eleccioun?Thempire of Rome scholde stonde.?And thus thei lefte it out of honde?For lacke of grace, and it forsoke,?That Alemans upon hem toke: 810?And to confermen here astat,?Of that thei founden in debat?Thei token the possessioun?After the composicioun?Among hemself, and therupon?Thei made an Emperour anon,?Whos name as the Cronique telleth?Was Othes; and so forth it duelleth,?Fro thilke day yit unto this?Thempire of Rome hath ben and is 820?To thalemans. And in this wise,?As ye tofore have herd divise?How Daniel the swevene expondeth?Of that ymage, on whom he foundeth?The world which after scholde falle,?Come is the laste tokne of alle;?Upon the feet of Erthe and Stiel?So stant this world now everydiel?Departed; which began riht tho,?Whan Rome was divided so: 830?And that is forto rewe sore,?For alway siththe more and more?The world empeireth every day.?Wherof the sothe schewe may,?At Rome ferst if we beginne:?The wall and al the Cit withinne?Stant in ruine and in decas,?The feld is wher the Paleis was,?The toun is wast; and overthat,?If we beholde thilke astat 840?Which whilom was of the Romeins,?Of knyhthode and of Citezeins,?To peise now with that beforn,?The chaf is take for the corn,?As forto speke of Romes myht:?Unethes stant ther oght upryht?Of worschipe or of worldes good,?As it before tyme stod.?And why the worschipe is aweie,?If that a man the sothe seie, 850?The cause hath ben divisioun,?Which moder of confusioun?Is wher sche cometh overal,?Noght only of the temporal?Bot of the spirital also.?The dede proeveth it is so,?And hath do many day er this,?Thurgh venym which that medled is?In holy cherche of erthly thing:?For Crist himself makth knowleching 860?That noman may togedre serve?God and the world, bot if he swerve?Froward that on and stonde unstable;?And Cristes word may noght be fable.?The thing so open is at ije,?It nedeth noght to specefie?Or speke oght more in this matiere;?Bot in this wise a man mai lere?Hou that the world is gon aboute,?The which welnyh is wered oute, 870?After the forme of that figure?Which Daniel in his scripture?Expondeth, as tofore is told.?Of Bras, of Selver and of Gold?The world is passed and agon,?And now upon his olde ton?It stant of brutel Erthe and Stiel,?The whiche acorden nevere a diel;?So mot it nedes swerve aside?As thing the which men sen divide. 880?Thapostel writ unto ous alle?And seith that upon ous is falle?Thende of the world; so may we knowe,?This ymage is nyh overthrowe,?Be which this world was signified,?That whilom was so magnefied,?And now is old and fieble and vil,?Full of meschief and of peril,?And stant divided ek also?Lich to the feet that were so, 890?As I tolde of the Statue above.?And this men sen, thurgh lacke of love?Where as the lond divided is,?It mot algate fare amis:?And now to loke on every side,?A man may se the world divide,?The werres ben so general?Among the cristene overal,?That every man now secheth wreche,?And yet these clerkes alday preche 900?And sein, good dede may non be?Which stant noght upon charite:?I not hou charite may stonde,?Wher dedly werre is take on honde.?Bot al this wo is cause of man,?The which that wit and reson can,?And that in tokne and in witnesse?That ilke ymage bar liknesse?Of man and of non other beste.?For ferst unto the mannes heste 910?Was every creature ordeined,?Bot afterward it was restreigned:?Whan that he fell, thei fellen eke,?Whan he wax sek, 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