QUISQUIS PROFUNDA.
— Metrum 11
"Whoso that seketh sooth by a deep
thought, and coveyteth not
to ben disseyvid by no mysweyes, lat hym rollen and trenden
withynne hymself the lyght of his ynwarde sighte; and let hym
gaderyn ayein, enclynynge into a compas, the longe moevynges of
his thoughtes; and let hym techyn his corage that he hath
enclosid
and hid in his tresors al that he compasseth
or secheth fro withoute. And thanne thilke thing that the blake
cloude of errour whilom hadde ycovered schal lighte more clerly
than Phebus hymself ne schyneth. (Glosa.
Whoso wol seke the
depe ground of soth in his thought, and wil nat ben disseyvid by
false proposiciouns that goon amys fro the trouthe, lat hym wel
examine and rolle withynne hymself the nature and the propretes
of the thing; and let hym yet eftsones examinen and rollen his
thoughtes by good deliberacioun or that he deme, and lat hym
techyn his soule that it hath, by naturel principles kyndeliche
yhud withynne itself, al the trouthe the whiche he ymagineth to
ben in thinges withoute. And thanne al the derknesse of his
mysknowynge shall [schewen] more evydently to the sighte of his
undirstondynge then the sonne ne semeth to the sighte
withoute+forth.) For certes the body, bryngynge the weighte
of foryetynge, ne hath nat chased out of your thought al the
cleernesse of your knowyng; for certeynli the seed of soth
haldeth and clyveth within yowr corage, and it is awaked and
excited by the wynde and by the blastes of doctrine. For wherfore
elles demen ye of your owene wil the ryghtes, whan ye ben axid,
but if so were that the norysschynges of resoun ne lyvede
yplounged in the depe of your herte? (This to seyn, how
schulde men deme the sothe of any thing that were axid, yif ther
nere a rote of sothfastnesse that were yploungid and hyd in the
naturel principles, the whiche sothfastnesse lyvede within the
depnesse of the thought?) And if so be that the Muse and the
doctrine of Plato syngeth soth, al that every wyght leerneth, he
ne doth no thing elles thanne but recordeth, as men recorden
thinges that ben foryeten."
