Confessio Amantis | Page 9

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 were such on now,?Which cowthe harpe as he tho dede,?He myhte availe in many a stede?To make pes wher now is hate;?For whan men thenken to debate,?I not what other thing is good.?Bot wher that wisdom waxeth wod,?And reson torneth into rage,?So that mesure upon oultrage 1080?Hath