Hic ponit exemplum fuper eodem et nar
While the the charge mighte bere Of children, which the world forbere but if it fhulde faile. But what maiden that in her spousaile Wol tarie, whan she take may, She shall perchaunce an other day Be let, whan that her leveft were, Wherof a tale unto her ere, Whiche is coulpable upon this dede, I thenke telle of that I rede.
Among the Jewes, as men tolde, rat de filia Jepte, que There was whilom by daies olde cum ex fui patris voto A noble duke, which Jepte hight.
occidi et offerri debe- And fell, he fhulde go to fight ret, ipfa pro eo, quod
virgo fuiffet et prolem Ayein Amon the cruel kinge. ad augmentacionem
populi dei nondum And for to speke upon this thinge genuiffet. xl. dierum
fpacium, ut cum fuis Within his herte he made a vow fodalibus virginibus To god and faid: Ha lorde, if thou
tatem priufquam mo- Wolt graunt unto thy man victoire, aliorum a patre pof- I fhall in token of thy memoire The firste life, that I may fe,
Of man or woman, where it be, Anone as I come home ayeine, To the, which art god foverein, Sleen in thy name and facrifie. And thus with his chivalrie
He goth him forth, fo as he fholde, And wanne all that he winne wolde And overcame his fomen alle. May no man lette, that shall falle.
This duke a lufty doughter had, And fame, which the wordes fprad, Hath brought unto this ladies ere, How that her fader hath don there. She waiteth upon his cominge With daunfinge and with carolinge As fhe, that wolde be to-fore All other, and fo fhe was therfore In Masphat at her faders gate The first, and whan he cam ther at And figh his doughter, he to-braide His clothes and wepend he saide :
O mighty god among us here, Now wot I that in no manere This worldes joie may be pleine. I had all that I couthe faine Ayein my fomen by thy grace, So whan I came toward this place There was no gladder man than I. But now, my lorde, all fodeinly My joie is torned into forwe, For I my doughter fhall to morwe To-hewe and brenne in thy service To loenge of thy facrifice Through min avowe, so as it is. The maiden, whan fhe wift of this And figh the forwe her fader made, So as she may with wordes glade Comforted him and bad him holde His covenaunt, which he is beholde
Towardes god, as he behight.
But netheles her herte aflight Of that she figh her deth comende, And than unto the grounde knelende To-fore her fader fhe is falle
And faith, fo as it is befalle
Upon this point, that she shall deie, Of o thing first she wolde him prey, That forty daies of refpite
He wolde her graunt upon this plight, That she the while may bewepe Her maidenhede, which fhe to kepe So longe hath had, and nought be set Wherof her lufty youth is let,
That she no children hath forth drawe In mariage after the lawe,
So that the people is nought encrefed, But that it might be relesed,
That she her time hath lore fo, She wolde by his leve go
With other maidens to compleigne And afterward unto the peine Of deth she wolde come ayein. The fader herde his doughter fain, And therupon of one affent
The maidens weren anone affent, That fhulden with this maiden wende.
So for to fpeke unto this ende
They gone the downes and the dales
With weping and with wofull tales,
And every wight her maidenhede Compleigneth upon thilke nede, That she no children hadde bore, Wherof she hath her youthe lore, Which never she recover may. For fo fell, that her lafte day
Was come, in which fhe fhulde take
Her deth, which she may nought forfake. Lo, thus fhe deiede a wofull maide For thilke caufe, which I faide, As thou haft understonde above. My fader, as toward the love Of maidens for to telle trouthe, Ye have thilke vice of flouthe
Me thenketh right wonder wel declared, That ye the women have nought spared Of hem that tarien fo behinde.
But yet it falleth in my minde
Toward the men, how that
Of hem that woll no travail feke In cause of love upon deferte To fpeke in wordes fo coverte, I not what travail that ye ment.
My fone, and after min entent I woll the telle, what I thought, How whilom men her loves bought Through great travaile in ftraunge londes, Where that they wroughten with her hondes Of armes many a worthy dede
In fondry places, as men may rede.
6. Quem probat armorum probitas Venus approbat, et quem Torpor habet reprobum reprobat illa virum. Vecors fegnicies infignia nefcit amoris, Nam piger ad bravium tardius ipfe venit.
Hic loquitur, quod
in amoris caufa mi
That every love of pure kinde
licie probitas ad ar- Is first forth drawe, well I finde. morum laboris ex- But netheless yet over this Deferte doth fo, that it is
ercicium nullatenus torpefcat.
The rather had in many place. Forthy who fecheth loves grace, Where that these worthy women are, He may nought than him selve spare Upon his travail for to serve, Wherof that he may thank deserve, Where as these men of armes be Sometime over the grete fee, So that by londe and eke by ship He mot travaile for worship And make many hastif rodes, Somtime in Pruse, somtime in Rodes And fome time into Tartarie,
So that these heralds on him crie: Vailant, vailant, lo, where he goth. And than he yiveth hem golde and cloth, So that his fame mighte springe And to his ladies ere bringe Some tiding of his worthinesse, So that she might of his proweffe Of that she herde men recorde The better unto his love accorde And daunger put out of her mood, Whan alle men recorden good,
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