CHAPTER XXI.
Off Abrahamys posterite
Heir may ȝe fynd gif ȝe will se.
Twa thousand ȝeris and tene beforne
That Crist wes of þe madin borne,
Quhen þat xl. ȝeris and ane
Fra Nynus raiss wes fully gane,
Than ane followand þe nixt ȝere
Off Abraham quham ȝe now sall heire
Wes borne, and þan ane wes he
Off þe sonnys gottin throuch Thare.
This Abraham liffit ay vertuously;
For thy God blessit him specialy.
In till his tyme he fand of new
To writt letereȝ of Hebrew,
For þe bukis þat Enoke wrait
Drownyt all in Noyis spait.
He kennyt þe Caldeis perfitly
The science of astronomy;
He gaif first in till his dayis
Teyndis, as þe Bibill sayis,
To Melchisedech, þat þan had
The souerane ordoure of preistheid,
That offerit till Abraham breid and wyne,
That blessit him directly syne,
Quhen þat he come hame agane
Fra þat þe kingis foure were slane,
Quhare þat Lothe reskewit he
With all his gudis and his menȝe.
He kennyt Egiptis wisly
The science of geometry;
The circumcisioun first tuke he
And, as we fynd, in Iubile
First in his tyme funding was,
That we call now þe ȝere of grace.
A sone he gat apone Sarray,
That Ysaac wes callit verray.
A hundere ȝeris quhen he wes auld
And sevinty to þe gaist he ȝald,
Quhen all his dayis fulfillit was
In gud eild and in rychttuissnes.
Isaac weddit Rebecca,
And one hir he gat sonnis twa;
Esaw wes callit þe eldest,
And luffit wes with þe fader best;
Iacob callit wes þe toþer,
Off byrth he wes þe youngest broþer;
Atanis þe moder deliuer was
Off þame baith in till schort space.
In hunting Esaw had delite,
Iacob set him all for profitt
Off corne and catell and of fee,
Quharewith he mycht sustenit be.
Fra hunting Esaw all wery
Come one a day, and richt hungry
He wes, and of potage wes maid
To Iacobis dynere wald haue had;
For quhy him thocht it ane hard thraw,
Hungyre in till hungry maw;
And Iacob warnyt vtraly
Bot gif he sald him halely
All his avantage and degre
That to þe eldest sone suld be.
Than Esaw foroutin mare let,
For hungyre at he wes in set,
For a dischefull of þai potage
Gaif him vp all his heretage.
Thus Iacob wane þe eldest gre,
Thocht ȝoungest in þe byrth wes he.
Syne how þis Iacob stelely
Prevenyt his broþer and quayntly,
Quhen throuch his moderis suggestioun
He wan his faderis benysoune,
And how syne of þire breþer twa
Iow and Gentill come alsua,
Than Gentill wes all generaly
That come nocht discendand lynyaly
Fra Iacob be successioun,
Na of his generacioun.
Iowis fra þi ar in þat degre
That Cristin men now in ȝe se.
This Iacob wes callit Israell
Fra with him werstlit þe angell,
As in þe Bibyll writtin is,
In to þe buke of Genesis.
This Iacob one his wiffis twa,
Rachaell callit and Lya,
Gat xii. sonnys, and Iudas
Ane of þai xii. sonnis was.
Thire xii., þat I now of tell,
The tribus were of Israel,
Off quham come oure sueit Lady,
Goddis moder, sanct Mary.
Tribus may be þe ymage
Properly callit in oure langage.
Thire xii. tribus in possessioun
The land of repromissioun
Wes hecht, bot þai it tynt throuch syne,
That Cristin men throuch grace sall wyne.
Innacus in Nyale
In till þis tyme gat Phaȝone.
He wes þe first þat in his dawis
Ordanit in to Greece his lawis,
And befor iugis ordanit he
Be pleid caussis mot to be.
He ordanit þe iugis set
To be in to þe plane merket.
Ysis, þat wes his sister, syne
In Egipt past be nawyne,
And þare scho kennyt þaim letterature,
And to wyne corne with þar culture;
For þai said þat scho þan wes
Amangis þare goddis a goddess.
Apis þai say at he suld be
A sone of this Pharone.
He passit þe se till Egipt wan
Quhare þai say he wes weddit man
To þis woman callit Ysis,
And god wes callit with þar goddis,
And Sarapis wes efter calld;
And I fynd in to storyis tald
The madyn þat tyme Mynerwa
Besyde a loge in Affrica
Wes funding, with craftis seire
Thame kend be werk and be manere.
The wemen þat tyme of þat land
Scho gert þaim leire to be wirkand,
And maist in woll to kem and spyne,
And claith weif to cleith folkis in.
This Mynerua þat þan wes
Efter þat wes callit Pallas.
In Trace kinrik in ane ile
Thare in scho fosterit wes a quhile
And as scho slane had a gyand
That to name hattyne wes Palland,
For þi Pallas wes hir name,
That madyne of sa Ryall fame.
