Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte Edited from the Fairfax MS. 16 (Bodleian) and the additional MS. 29,729 (Brit. Mus.) by Ernst Sieper |
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Here ansuereth Diane vn-to the Auctour. |
 | Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte |  |
Here ansuereth Diane vn-to the Auctour.
“Thogh I al day do forth my peyne,By force I may the nat restreyne,
Nor I wil nat the conterplete
Nouther in colde, nouther in hete,
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Til thou falle in Venus trappe
By somme vnhappy frowarde chaunce,
That thow falle in repentaunce
Of thing wherin thou doost offende,
And seyst: thow mayst yt nat amende,
Nouther by wyt nor purveyaunce,
Thorgh foly of thy gouernaunce,
That thow lyst the nat provyde
To caste aforn, on euery syde,
The perel of thyn auenture,
Which thou art lykly to endure.
Ther may be made noon avoydaunce;
Thow hast nat yet swich aqueyntaunce
On euery part of thy maistresse,
Whom thow callyst thy goddesse,
In euery cost, both fer and nere,
And yivest to hir so gret powere,
As al wer lacyd in hir cheyne,
As thogh she myghte al restreyne;
But yif thow wistest euerydelle
And knew what she were ryght welle,
Al hir maner and hir gyse,
In hyr thow sholdest in no wise
Han so grete affeccion
Nor swyche ymaginacion,
But ageyn hir lust debate
And haten hir of gretter hate
Than euer dyde dyomede,
Which with his suerde made hir blede.
To hir he gaf so grete a wounde
So mortal and so profounde
That without[e] more abood
She shoold ha deyed, so yt stood;
Ther was non other mene weye,
Yif goddys myght of kynde deye,
But deth hath, in conclusyon,
In hem no dominacion.
For thingys which that be dyvyne
Vnto deth may nat enclyne.
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Of hyr wonderful wyrkyng,
Thow sholdest not, and thou wer wys,
Yife to hir so grete a pris,
Yif thou knyw in thy reson
The noble sentence of Caton,
Which comaundeth, thus I mene,
A man to preysen in A mene,
Both in high and low degre,
And by no superfluyte,
Lyst after be no lak y-founde;
And wher as thou lyst the to grounde,
To sustene thy grete errour,
To make nature thyn Auctour,
That she sholde ha commaundyd thus
The to folwe Dame Venus,
Which was no thing hir entent
Nor fyn of hyr comaundement.
For I dar seyn and yt expresse
That nature, the goddesse,
By recorde of wysest clerkes,
Hath noon errour in hir werkes.
For god, which gouerneth al
By hys pover eternal
And hys dyvyne sapience,
Hath throgh hys myghty providence
Dame nature ordeyned so
That she may noon errour do
Nor forfete to no maner wyght.
Thow vnderstood hir nat a-ryght,
To comprehende in thy felyng
The cler entent of hir menyng;
She bad the, nouther fer nor nere,
To soiourne in the Erbere,
By no maner feyned weye,
Wher ydelnesse bereth the key,
Nor wher as she ys porteresse
Of the gate and chefe maistresse,
Wher as Deduit was first foundour,
Lord, and sire, and gouernour,
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And voluptuouse appetyte.
For both the host and the hostel
Ben so perilouse and cruel
That, to rekene hem oon by oon,
A man wer bet in sooth to goon,
Who al the pereils kan espye,
In-to the dredful host[e]rye,
A-forne consydred euery thing,
Wher Lychaon was, lord and kyng
Of Archadie, the myghty londe,
Which slough and mordred with his honde
Hys gestys soothly euerychon;
Whan they kam, he spared non.
But thys erber, as I ha tolde,
Is wel wors a thousande folde,
For which consydre in thy thought
To be war, thou entre nought.”
| Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte | |