Page images
PDF
EPUB

Hic ponit exemplum fuper eodem et nar

Ne

may,

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.

in holocauftum deo

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

fuam defleret virgini

reretur, in exemplum

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,

tulavit.

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

ye speke

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.

Amans

Confeffor.

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,

« PreviousContinue »