Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte Edited from the Fairfax MS. 16 (Bodleian) and the additional MS. 29,729 (Brit. Mus.) by Ernst Sieper |
 |
|
Her descriveth thauctour, how Mercure conveyde the thre goddesse[s]. |
 | Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte |  |
Her descriveth thauctour, how Mercure conveyde the thre goddesse[s].
Now haue I tolde in substaunceThe maner and the gouernaunce
Of thre goddesses by and by,
As ye haue herde, ceriously,
Of Pallas, Iuno, and Venus.
But now vnto Mercurius
I must in hast my stile dresse
To al the maner to expresse:
First of his natiuite,
And eke also, how that he
Was getyn in a-vowtrie,
As poetys specefie,
And reherse eke in thys cas
That Iubiter his fader was;
And also eke, lych as they feyn,
He be-gat him, in certeyn,
Of a mayde ful entere,
Which was Atlas doghter dere,
The myghty geaunt strong and large,
Whiche vpon him took the charge
44
To bere the hevene, and stond vpryght.
And thogh Mercure was thus borne,
Lych as I haue told to forn,
Iuno, Iubiter[e]s Wyfe,
Made quarel non nor stryf,
Nor was wrothe for this offence,
But took hyt al in pacience;
But bisyly dide hir cure
To yive him mylke to hys norture:
The whiche thinges doth signifye
That wisdam and philosophie
Yfostred ben with rychesse,
And also eke I dar expresse,
Marchaundyse nor eloquence
Ne shold[e] ha noon excellence,
But Iuno, goddesse of rychesse,
Ne dyde her hool[e] besynesse
To yive hem mylke to her fosterynge,
Ellis in veyn wer her werkyng.
And thogh this Iuno, as I fynde,
Was stepmoder, as be kynde,
Of hir pappis softe as silke
She brough[te] forth and gaf eke mylke,
Poetis pleynly write thus,
Vnto this god Mercurius,
Al thogh ful selde, as men may se,
That stepmodres kynde be
To children born out of wed-lok,
Or geten of a foreyn stok;
Stepmodres han hem in hatrede,
As hyt sheweth ofte in dede,
Thogh Iuno of gentilesse
Shewed[e] gret kyndenesse,
To Mercure, as ye may se,
A god of gret Auctorite.
For he is lorde most facounde,
The whiche sothly doth habounde
To be except in al langage,
And eke to haven avauntage,
45
To set in ordre and mesure
Euery worde, that no thing skape,
Throgh negligence, for no rape,
And, specialy, to be reserved
That peyse and novmbre be observed,
Throgh rethoryke, as in sentence,
And, by craft of eloquence,
First to examyne in his thought,
And for noon hast to sey ryght nought
Vnavised, fer nor nere.
This god is also messagere
Of the court celestial,
For to report in special
The secre thingis of the hevene,
Of sterris, and of planetis sevene.
And eke this god Mercurius
Is [y]called with Phebus,
Be synguler aqueyntance,
And for special alliaunce,
He is to Phebus, in certeyn,
By office maked chaumberleyn,
Called eke hys secretairye
And ther with al his chefe notairie.
| Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte | |