They chose in this condicion, That upon here election
Thempire of Rome fholde ftonde. And thus they left it out of honde For lacke of grace and it forfoke, That Alemains upon hem toke. And to confermen here estate Of that they founden in debate They token the poffeffion After the compoficion
Among hem self and ther upon They made an emperour anon, Whos name as the cronique telleth Was Othes, and fo forth it dwelleth. Fro thilke daie yet unto this Thempire of Rome hath ben and is To thalemains, and in this wife
to-fore have herd devise How Daniel the fweven expoundeth Of that ymage, on whom he foundeth The world, which after fholde falle, Come is the last token of alle. Upon the feet of erthe and steel So ftant the world now every dele Departed, which began right tho, Whan Rome was devided fo. And that is for to rewe fore, For alwey fithe more and more The worlde empeireth every day, Wherof the fothe shewe may.
At Rome first if we beginne,
The walle and al the citee withinne
Stant in ruine and in decas,
The feld is where the palais was,
The town is waft, and over that If we behold thilke estate, Whiche whilome was of the Romains
Of knighthod and of citizeins To peise now with that beforne, The chaf is take for the corne, And for to fpeke of Romes might Unnethes ftant ther ought upright Of worship or of worldes good, As it before time ftood. And why the worship is away If that a man the fothe say, The cause hath ben devifion, Which moder of confufion Is, where the cometh overall Nought only of the temporall But of the fpirital also. The dede proveth it is fo
And hath do many daies er this Through venim, which that medled is In holy chirche of erthely thing. For Crift him self maketh knowleching, That no man may to-gider serve God and the world, but if he swerve Froward that one and ftonde unstable, And Criftes word may nought be fable.
The thing fo open is at theye, It nedeth nought to specifie
Or fpeke ought more in this matere. But in this wife a man may lere
How that the worlde is
gone aboute, The whiche wel nigh is wered out After the forme of that figure, Which Daniel in his fcripture Expoundeth as to-fore is tolde, Of bras, of filver and of golde The worlde is passed and agone, And nowe upon his olde tone It stant of brutel erthe and steel, The whiche accorden never a dele, So mot it nedes fwerve afide
As thing the which men seen divide. Thapoftel writ unto us alle
And faith, that upon us is falle Thend of the world, fo may we knowe This ymage is nigh overthrowe, By which this world was fignified, That whilom was fo magnified And nowe is olde and feble and vile Full of mischefe and of peril And ftant divided eke also Lich to the feet, that were fo
As I tolde of the statue above.
And thus men feen, through lacke of love Where as the lond divided is,
It mot algate fare amis.
Hic dicit fecundum apoftolum, quod nos fumus, in quos fines feculi devenerunt.
Hic fcribit, quod
ex divifionis paf
And now to loke on every fide
A man may se the world divide, The werres ben fo generall Amonge the Criften overall,
That every man now fecheth wreche, And yet these clerkes alday preche And fain, good dede may none be Whiche stant nought upon charite. I not how charite may ftonde Where dedly werre is taken on honde, But al this wo is caufe of man The which that wit and reson can, And that in token and in witnesse That ilke ymage bare liknesse Of man and of none other beste. For firft unto the mannes hefte Was every creature ordeigned, But afterward it was reftreigned, Whan that he fel they fellen eke, Whan he wax fike they woxen fike, For as the man hath paffion, Of fikeneffe in comparison,
So fuffren other creatures. Lo, first the hevenly figures.
The fonne and mone eclipfen both
fione fingula creati And ben with mannes finne wroth, detrimentum cor- The purest air for finne alofte
Hath ben and is corrupt ful ofte,
Right now the highe windes blowe And anon after they ben lowe,
Now cloudy and now clere it is, So it may proven wel by this,
A mannes finne is for to hate,
Which maketh the welken to debate. And for to fe the properte
Of every thinge in his degre, Benethe forth amonges us here
Al ftant a lich in this matere.
The fee nowe ebbeth and nowe it floweth, The lond now welketh and now it groweth, Now be the trees with leves grene, Now they be bare and no thing sene, Now be there lufty fomer floures, Now be there ftormy winter fhoures, Now be the daies, now the nightes, So ftant there no thing al uprightes, Nowe it is light, nowe it is derke, And thus ftant al the worldes werke After the difpoficion
Of man and his condicion. Forthy Gregoire in his morall Saith, that a man in speciall The laffe worlde is properly, And that he proveth redily, For man of foule refonable Is to an angel resemblable And lich to beste he hath feling And lich to tres he hath growing. The ftones ben and fo is he, Thus of his propre qualite
« PreviousContinue » |