Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiae Translated by John Walton ... Edited with introduction, notes and glossary by Mark Science |
 |
INCIPIT PROLOGUS EIUSDEM SUPER LIBRUM BOECIJ |
 |
 | Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiae |  |
INCIPIT PROLOGUS EIUSDEM SUPER LIBRUM BOECIJ
1.
The while þat Rome was reignyng in hir flouresAnd [of] þe worlde held all þe monarchie,
Sche was gouerned þenne be emperoures
And was renouned wondir nobelye
Till pride had set þaire hertes vpon hye.
Þenne gan thei for to vsen cruelte
And regne by rigour and by tyrannye
In sore oppressioun of þe comynalte.
2.
For right as pouert causeth sobirnesse,& febilnesse enforceth continence,
Right so prosperite and sekirnesse
Þe moder is of vice and necligence.
And pouer also causeþ insolence,
And often honour chaungeþ goode þewes;
Þere is none more parelouse pestilence
Þan hyhe estates gyffen vnto schrewes.
5
3.
Of wiche was Nero oon þe principallÞat suche manere of tyrannye began;
Þough he bare dyademe imperiall
Yit was hym-self a verry cursed man,
So cruelly he gan to regne þan.
He slowh hys moder and hys maister bothe,
And myche he dide þat tellen I ne can
Who so haþ it red, he knoweþ wel þe sothe.
4.
The cheef of holy chirche he slowh alsoSeynt Paule and Peter boþe vpon a day
And after þeym full many other mo;
And of hym-self it is, I dar wel say,
Þat Paule writeth þus, it is no nay,
And seith, now [is] þe forme of wickednesse
And figure right of antecristes lay
In whom schal ben all manere cursednesse.
5.
For þey þat trewly teche Cristes loreTo maken men forletten of þeire vice,
Antecrist will pursue þeym þerfore
And all þis prechyng setten at no pryse.
So was he gifen to lustes and delice,
In what desire þat come to hys þoght
He wolde it done wiþouten more avise
For noþing þere-of spare wolde he noght.
6
6.
And he þat wolde ageyn hys vices speke,Conseilynge hym hys lustes to refreyne,
Wiþ-outen more anon he wolde be wreke;
He wolde hym put in torment and in peyne.
And he þat wolde hys lustes ouȝt wiþ-seyne
He was but deed if þat he wolde appere:
For suche acause Boecius was sleyn
Of whom þis processe after techeþ here.
7.
The yere of Crist fyve hondred and fifteneWhan Anastasius was Emperour,
Boecius, þis same of whom I mene,
In Rome he was a noble senatour.
But þo, in manere of a conquerour
Theodoricus regned in Ytalie
And Rome he helde as heed and gouernour;
He hadde it wonne by conquest and bataile.
8.
For Anastasius was noght ilykeNe noght so strong of meyne atte leste;
He was consentant þat Theodorik
Schulde regne in Rome and holde hit at hys heste
And he wolde holde hym-seluen in þe este.
He seyde it was accordant to his hele,
7
For romeyns ben ful perelous wiþ to dele.
9.
This kyng of Rome þan TheodorikWas full of malice and of cursidnesse,
And eek for cause he was an heretyk
þe Christen peple gan he sore oppresse.
Boecius with his besynesse
Wiþstode hym evire, sparynge none offence,
And hym presente ful often tyme expresse
Reuersed [h]is vnlawefull iuggementis.
10.
He spared noght þe helþe of hys estate,But euer he spak aȝeyn his tyrannye.
Wherfore þe kyng hym hadde sore in hate
And hym exciled in-to Lumbardye
To prisone in þe citee of Pavie
Where ynne as for a recreacioun
B[erwyng] hym-self in philosophie
He wrot þis book of consolacioun
11.
In prose and metre enterchaungynglyWiþ wordes set in colour wonder wele
Of rethoryk endited craftily;
And schewyng þat þis welþ is temporele
8
Ne worldly meschief noþyng for to drede,
Enforsyng vs be resoun naturele
To vertu fully for to taken hede.
12.
When Anastasius had made hys fyne,As tyme of age into his deth hym drewe,
Þan after hym was Emperour Justyne,
A noble knyght a feithful and a trewe;
For Cristes lawes wonder wel he knewe
And keped hem as a verry Cristen man,
And heretikes faste he gan pursewe
Þat Arrian[e]s were clepid than.
13.
His lettres in-to Rome þan he sentFor to destroyen al þat heresye,
And fully gaf h[e]m in comandement
Þat þey schulde putte hem out of companye.
Theodoricus took þis wonder hyhe
For he hym-self was only on of þo.
Thys message he repeled vtterlye
And made a uow it schulde not stonde so,
14.
And swore but if þe Arrian[e]s mosteHaue fully pees & graunted hem ageyn,
He nold not leuen oon in all þe coste
Of Cristen feith þat he ne scholde be slayn.
9
Þat if he wolde wiþ Arrian[e]s stryve,
Seie to þe Emperour in wordes playn,
Of Cristen wil I leue non on-lyue.
15.
To Constantinopill he sent anoneOf senatoures wiche þat hym-selue leste,
And so among[es] other pope Jone
And bad þaim laboren for þaire avne beste.
And rufulliche þey maden þaire requeste
Þat Justyne schulde þis maundement relees;
For þe Cristen myght noght be in reste
But if he graunted Arrian[e]s pees.
16.
The empour his malice understood;Beny[gne]ly he graunted haþ hire bone,
And wel he þoghte þat it was as good
Þat mater for to cessen til eft sone;
And better mighte it afterward be done
Be good avise of wyser ordinaunce.
Þe arrian[e]s so he lette alone
To vsen forth þaire olde gouernaunce.
17.
These messager[e]s to þe kynges payRetourned noght so hastely ageyne
10
Wherfore in hert he had[de] gret disdeyne,
And Boece þat lay in prisoun and in peyne
Exiled in þe citee of Pavye
In myleyne þan he made hym to [be] sleyne;
In Pavie been his boones sikerlye.
18.
And whan thise messager[e]s at þe lastRetourned were, in hert he gan to brenne,
And pope Joone in prisoun þan he cast
All fer in-to þe citee of Ravenne,
And made hym closid in a narow denne
Where he ne myghte torne hym-self ne wende,
And sothe to seyn he went[e] neuer þenne
Bot of his lyf right þere he made an ende.
19.
Also þe worthy noble SymachusÞat was a man full grounded al in grace
Þat as in vertu was heroycus,—
Þere lefte not suche an oþer as he wace—
Wiþ-outen cause, surfet or trespace
At Rauenne eke he slow hym cruellye.
And afterward in þat same place
Þe nexte yere he deide sodeynlye.
11
20.
And as seynt Gregor doth hym-selfe write,As his diologe makiþ mercioun,
Þere was þat tyme an holy heremyte;
As he was in his contemplacioun
He sawe Theodoryk in visioun
Bytwene Symachus and pope John,
Right as a þeef to his dampnacioun
How he was led, and after þat anon,
21.
In þe yle of vlcane was he casten þenneÞat full is of a fury flaumbe of hell,
Þer-inne alwey in peynes for to brenne,
And wiþ þe foule fendys for to dwell.
For tyrantes þat so fiers been and fell
Suche reward is arraied for þaire mede.
I saye ȝow but as olde bokes telle,
Now to my purpos tyme is þat I spede.
22.
And euery lord or lady what ȝe beOr clerk þat likeþ for to rede þis,
Besekyng lawly wiþ humylite
Supporte where I haue [seyde] amys;
12
If word or sentence be noght as it scholde.
My-self I am vnsuffishaunt I-wys
For if I couthe have bettre done I wolde.
Explicit Prologus.
| Boethius: De Consolatione Philosophiae | |