Entamed haft in fuch a wife,
In shrifte thou the might avise
And telle it me, if it be so.
Min holy fader, certes no.
As for to feigne fuch fikenesse
It nedeth nought, for this witnesse
I take of god, that my corage
Hath ben more fike than my visage.
And eke this may I well avowe,
So lowe couthe I never bowe
To feigne humilite withoute,
That me ne lifte better loute
With all the thoughtes of min herte.
For that thing shall me never afterte,
I fpeke as to my lady dere
To make her any feigned chere,
God wot well there I lie nought,
My chere hath ben such as my thought.
For in good feith, this leveth wele,
My wil was better a thousand dele
Than any chere that I couthe.
But fire, if I have in my youthe
Done other wife in other place,
I put me therof in your grace.
For this excufen I ne fhall,
That I have elles over all
To love and to his compaignie
Be plein without ypocrifie.
But there is one, the whiche I serve,
All though I may no thank deserve,
To whom yet never unto this day
I faide onlich or ye or nay,
But if it fo were in my thought
As touchend other fay I nought,
That I nam fomdele for to wite
Of that ye clepe an ypocrite.
My fone, it fit wel every wight
To kepe his worde in trouth upright
Towardes love in alle wife.
For who that wold him wel avise
What hath befalle in this matere,
He shulde nought with feigned chere
Deceive love in no degre.
To love is every herte fre,
But in deceipt if that thou feigneft
And therupon thy lufte atteignest,
That thou haft wonne with thy wile,
Though it the like for a while,
Thou shalt it afterward repente.
And for to prove min entente
I finde enfample in a cronique
Of hem, that love fo befwike.
It fell by olde daies thus,
Whil themperour Tiberius
The monarchie of Rome ladde,
There was a worthy Romain hadde
A wife, and the Pauline hight,
Which was to every mannes fight
Of al the cite the fairest
And as men faiden eke the best.
Quod ypocrifia fit in amore periculofa, narrat exemplum, qualiter fub regno Tiberii imperatoris quidam miles nomine Mundus, qui Romanorum dux milicie tunc prefuit, dominam Paulinam pulcherrimam caftitatisque famofiflimam mediantibus duobus falfis prefbiteris in
templo Yfis deum fe It is and hath ben ever yit
titatis ypocrifi noc- That fo ftrong is no mannes wit,
vit, unde idem dux in Which through beaute ne may be drawe exilium, prefbiteri in
mortem ob fui cri- To love and ftonde under the lawe
minis enormitatem Of thilke bore free kinde,
ymagoque dee Yfis a Which maketh the hertes
verfo conclamante Where no refon may be communed.
beriadis proiecta mer- And in this wife ftode fortuned
This tale, of whiche I wol mene
This wife, whiche in her luftes grene
Was faire and fresh and tender of
She may nought lette the corage
Of him, that wol on her affote.
There was a duke, and he was hote
Mundus, which had in his baillie
To lede the chivalrie
Of Rome and was a worthy knight.
But yet he was nought of such might
The strength of love to withstonde,
That he ne was fo brought to honde,
That malgre where he wol or no
This yonge wife he loveth fo,
That he hath put all his affay
To winne thing, which he ne may
Get of her graunt in no manere
By yefte of gold, ne by praiere.
And whan he figh, that by no mede
Toward her love he mighte spede,
By fleighte feignend than he wrought
And therupon he him bethought,
How that there was in the cite
A temple of fuche auctorite,
To which with great devocion
The noble women of the towne
Most comunlich a pelerinage
Gone for to pray thilke ymage,
Which the goddeffe of childing is
And cleped was by name Yfis.
And in her temple thanne were
To reule and to miniftre there
After the lawe, which was tho,
Above all other preftes two.
This duke, which thought his love get,
Upon a day hem two to mete
Hath bede, and they come at his heste,
Where that they had a riche feste.
And after mete in prive place
This lord, which wold his thank purchace,
To eche of hem yaf thanne a yift
And spake so by waie of shrift,
He drough hem into his covine
To helpe and shape, how he Pauline
After his luft deceive might.
And they her trouthes bothe plight,
That they by night her shulden winne
Into the temple, and he therinne
Shall have of her all his entent.
And thus accorded forth they went.
Now lift, through which ypocrifie
Ordeigned was the trecherie,
Wherof this lady was deceived.
These preftes hadden wel conceived,
That she was of great holineffe.
And with a counterfeit fimpleffe,
Which hid was in a fals corage,
Feignend an hevenly message
They cam and faide unto her thus:
Pauline, the god Anubus
Hath fent us bothe preftes here
And faith, he wol to the
appere
By nightes time him felfe alone,
For love he hath to thy perfone.
And therupon he hath us bede,
That we in Yfis temple a stede
Honestly for the purveie,
Where thou by night as we the saie
Of him fhalt take a vifion.
For upon thy condicion,
The whiche is chafte and full of feith,
Suche price, as he us tolde, he leith,
That he wol ftonde of thin accorde,
And for to beare herof recorde
He fende us hider bothe two.
Glad was her innocence tho
Of fuche wordes as the herd,
With humble chere and thus answerd
And faide, that the goddes will
She was all redy to fulfill,
That by her husbondes leve
She wolde in Yfis temple at eve
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