Confessio Amantis of John Gower, Volume 1

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Bell and Daldy, 1857 - Christian ethics

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Page 175 - But for all that min hert ariste Whan I these comun lovers see That wol nought holden hem to thre But well nigh loven over al, Min hert is envious with all, And ever I am adrad of guile, In aunter if with any wile They might her innocence enchaunte.
Page 8 - ... that men now clepe and calle And sain, that regnes ben devided, In stede of love is hate guided, The werre wol no pees purchace, And lawe hath take her double face, So that justice out of the wey With rightwisnesse is gone awey. And thus to loke on every halve, Men sene the sore without salve, Whiche al the worlde hath overtake. Ther is no regne of alle out take, For every climat hath his dele After the torninge of the whele, Which blinde fortune overthroweth, Wherof the certain no man knoweth,...
Page 3 - And so befell, as I came nigh, Out of my bote, whan he me sigh, He bad me come into his barge. And whan I was with him at large, Amonges other thinges said, He hath this charge upon me laid And bad me do my besinesse, That to his highe worthynesse Some newe thing I shulde boke, That he himself it mighte loke After the forme of my writing.
Page 22 - For ever while they deden wel Fortune was hem debonaire, And whan they deden the contraire Fortune was contrariende. So that it proveth wel at ende, Why that the worlde is wonderful And may no while ftonde ful, Though that it feme wel befein, For every worldes thinge is vein And ever goth the whele aboute And ever ftant a man in doute, Fortune ftant no while ftille.
Page xxxiii - Venus appears to him, and, after having heard his prayer, appoints her priest called Genius, like the mystagogue in the picture of Cebes, to hear the lover's confession. This is the frame of the whole work, which is a singular mixture of classical notions, principally borrowed from Ovid's Ars Amandi, and of the purely medieval idea, that as a good Catholic the unfortunate lover must state his distress to a father confessor.
Page xxxiii - The poem opens by introducing the author himself, in the character of an unhappy lover In despair, smitten by Cupid's arrow. Venus appears to him, and, after having heard his prayer, appoints her priest called Genius, like the mystagogue in the Picture of Cebes, to hear the lover's confession. This is the frame of the whole work, which is a singular mixture of classical notions, principally borrowed from Ovid's Ars...
Page 140 - And eke of that thou herdeft feie To take a mannes hert aweie And fette there a beftiall So that he like an oie fhall Pafture. and that he be bereined Be tymes fefne and fore peined, Till that he knowe his goddes mijtes, Than fhuld he ftonde ayein vprighte...
Page 263 - Gower (CA ed. Pauli, i. 263) says : — ' Senec witnesseth openly How that envie properly Is of the court the comun wenche.' Note that parteth in 1. 359 means 'departeth.' 361. ' Whoever goes away, at any rate she will not be wanting.
Page xix - And moreover he hath an obite yerelv, done for hym within the same churche, on Fridaie after the feaste of the blessed pope Saynte Gregorie. " Beside on the wall where he lieth, there be peinted three virgins, with crownes on their heades, one of the...
Page 89 - There was whilom by daies olde A worthy knight and as men tolde He was neveu to themperour And of his court a courteour.

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