HEU QUAM PRECIPITI MERSA PROFUNDO. — Metrum
2
"Allas! How the thought of this man, dreynt in overthrowynge
depnesse, dulleth and forleteth his propre clernesse, myntynge
to gon into foreyne dirknesses as ofte as his anoyos bysynes
waxeth withoute mesure, that is dryven with werldly wyndes. This
man, that whilom was fre, to whom the hevene was opyn and knowen,
and was wont to gon in hevenliche pathes, and saughe the
lyghtnesse of the rede sonne, and saughe the sterres of the
coolde mone, and whiche sterre in hevene useth wandrynge
recourses iflyt by diverse speeris — this man, overcomere,
hadde comprehendid al this by nombre (of
acontynge in
astronomye). And, over this, he was wont to seken the causes
whennes the sounynge wyndes moeven and bysien the smothe watir
of the see; and what spirit turneth the stable hevene; and why
the sterre ariseth out of the rede est, to fallen in the westrene
wawes; and what attemprith the lusty houres of the firste somer
sesoun, that highteth and apparaileth the erthe with rosene
floures; and who maketh that plentyvous autumpne in fulle [yere]
fletith with hevy grapes. And eek this man was wont to tellen the
diverse causes of nature that weren yhidd. Allas! Now lyth he
emptid of lyght of his thoght, and his nekke is pressyd with hevy
cheynes, and bereth his chere enclyned adoun for the grete
weyghte, and is constreyned to loken on the fool erthe!"
