QUICUMQUE SOLAM MENTE. — Metrum 7
"Whoso that with overthrowynge thought oonly seketh glorie
of fame, and weneth that it be sovereyn good, lat hym looke upon
the brode schewynge contrees of the hevene, and upon the streyte sete
of this erthe; and he schal he asschamed of the encres of his
name, that mai nat fulfille the litel compas of the erthe. O,
what coveyten proude folk to lyften up hir nekkes on idel in the
dedly yok of this world? For although that renoun ysprad,
passynge to ferne peples, goth by diverse tonges; and although
that greet houses or kynredes shynen with cleer titles of
honours; yit natheles deth despiseth al heye glorie of fame, and
deth wrappeth togidre the heyghe heved and the lowe, and maketh
egal and evene the heygheste to the loweste. Where wonen now the
bones of trewe Fabricius?
What is now Brutus or
stierne Catoun? The thynne fame yit lastynge of here idel names
is marked with a fewe lettres. But althoughe that we han knowen
the fayre wordes of the fames of hem, it is nat yyven to knowen
hem that ben dede and consumpt. Liggeth thanne stille, al outrely
unknowable, ne fame ne maketh yow nat knowe. And yif ye wene to
lyve the lengere for wynd of yowr mortel name whan o cruel day
schal ravyssche yow, than is
the seconde deth duellynge unto yow." (Glose.
The first deeth he clepeth here departynge of the body and the
soule, and the seconde deth he clepeth as here the styntynge of
the renoun of fame.)
