HEC UBI CONTINUATO DOLORE DELATRAUI. — Prosa
5
Whan I hadde with a contynuel sorwe sobbyd or borken out thise
thynges, sche, with hir cheere pesible and nothyng amoeved with
my compleyntes, seide thus: "Whan I saugh the," quod sche,
"sorwful and wepynge, I wiste anoon that thow were a wrecche
and
exiled; but I wyste nevere how fer thyn exil was yif thy tale ne
hadde schewid it me. But certes, al be thow fer fro thy cuntre,
thou n'art nat put out of it, but thow hast fayled of thi weye
and gon amys. And yif thou hast levere for to wene that thow be
put out of thy cuntre, thanne hastow put out thyselve rather than
ony other wyght hath. For no wyght but thyselve ne myghte nevere
han doon that to the. For yif thow remembre of what cuntre thow
art born, it nys nat governed by emperoures, ne by governement
of multitude, as weren the cuntrees of hem of Atthenes; but o
lord and o kyng, and that is God, that is lord of thi cuntre,
whiche that rejoisseth hym of the duellynge of his citezeens, and
nat for to putten hem in exil; of the whiche lord it is a
sovereyn fredom to ben governed by the brydel of hym and obeye
to his justice. Hastow foryeten thilke ryghte oolde lawe of thi
citee, in the whiche cite it es ordeyned and establysschid that
what wyght that hath levere founden therin his sete or his hous
than elleswhere, he may nat ben exiled by no ryght fro that
place? For whoso that is contened inwith the palys and the clos
of thilke cite, ther nys no drede that he mai deserve to ben
exiled; but who that leteth the wil for to enhabyten there, he
forleteth also to deserve to ben citezen of thilke cite. So that
I seie that the face of this place ne moeveth me noght so mochel
as thyn owene face, ne I ne axe nat rather the walles of thy
librarye, apparayled and wrought with yvory and with glas, than
after the sete of thi thought, in whiche I put noght whilom
bookes, but I putte that that maketh bokes wurthy of prys or
precyous, that is to seyn the sentence of my bookes.
"And certeynly of thy dessertes bystowed in comune good
thow
hast seyd soth, but after the multitude of thy gode dedes thou
hast seyd fewe. And of the honestete or of the falsnesse of
thynges that ben opposed ayens the, thow hast remembred thynges
that ben knowen to alle folk. And of the felonyes and fraudes of
thyn accusours, it semeth the have touched it for sothe
ryghtfully and schortly, al myghten tho same thynges betere and
more plentevously ben couth in the mouth of the peple that
knoweth al this. Thow hast eek blamed gretly and compleyned of
the wrongdede of the senat, and thow hast sorwyd for my blame,
and thow hast wepen for the damage of thi renoun that is apayred;
and thi laste sorwe eschaufede ayens Fortune, and compleyndest
that guerdouns ne ben nat eveneliche yolden to the dessertes of
folk; And in the lattre eende of thy wode muse, thow preydest
that thilke pees that governeth the hevene schulde governe the
erthe.
"But for that many [turbacions] of affeccions han
assailed
the, and sorwe and ire and wepynge todrawen the diversely, as
thou art now feble of thought, myghtyere remedies ne schullen
noght yit touchen the. For wyche we wol usen somdel lyghtere
medicynes,
so that thilke passiouns that ben waxen
hard in swellynge by perturbacions flowynge into thy thought,
mowen waxen esy and softe to resceyven the strengthe of a more
myghty and more egre medicyne, by an esyere touchynge.
