The Minor Poems of John Lydgate edited from all available mss. with an attempt to establish The Lydgate Canon: By Henry Noble MacCracken |
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| II. | FABLE II. The Tale of the Wolfe and the Lambe groundyd opon
Isopus, the phylosophor of Rome, ayenst raueyn & tiranny. |
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 | The Minor Poems of John Lydgate |  |
FABLE II. The Tale of the Wolfe and the Lambe groundyd opon Isopus, the phylosophor of Rome, ayenst raueyn & tiranny.
33
R]yght as atwene turment & delycesThere ys in kynde a gret difference,
Ryght so atwene vertues lyfe & vyces
There may be no iust conuenience:
Malyce contrary to pure innocence,
And phylosophers by wrytyng bere recorde,
Twene trowþe & fraude may be non acorde.
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Atwene rancour & humble pacienceTher ys in nature a gret diuision:
A sely shepe make may no resistence
Ageyn þe power of a strong lyon;
A dwerfe to fyght with a champyon
Were to febyll in a felde to endure,
By lykenes agayn nature.
575
35
Grete pykes, þat swymme in large stewes,Smaller fysshe most felly þey deuour.
Who haþe most myght, þe febler gladly sewes:
The pore haþe few hys party to socour.
The rauenous wolf opon þe lambe doþe lour;
Of whyche Isopus in hys booke
Full notably thys example he toke.
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The lambe, þe wolf[e], contrary of nature,Euer diuerse & noþyng oon þey þynke.
Boþe at onys of soden auenture
To a fresshe ryuer þey came downe to drynke:
At þe hede spryng hy opon þe brynke
Stondeþ þe wolfe, a froward beste of kynde;
The sely lambe stood fer abak behynde.
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Who þat is froward of condicionAnd disposyd to malyce & outrage,
Can sone seke & fynde occasion
Pyke a quarell for to do damage;
And vnto purpose malycious of corage
The furyos wolfe out with hys venym brake,
And euyn þys vnto þe lambe he spake:
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“Lyke þy ffadyr, þou art false & doubleAnd hym resemblest of dysposicion,
For he was wont my water here to trouble,
To meue þe þyk, þat lay low doune:
Þat I myght haue no recreacioune
To drynk my fyll of water pure and clere,
He was so contrary to trouble þys ryuere.
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“And þou of malyce art com to do þe same,Sekest occasion by trobly vyolence
576
To fynde mater and for to do offence.”
The lambe answerd with humble reuerence:
“Thys may nat be; þe preef ys seyn full oft:
I stond beneþe, & ye stond aloft.
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“From þe hyll þe ryuer downe dyscendeþ:For to ascende hit were ageyn nature.
That I stond here hit noþyng yow offendeþ:
The trowble goþe low, aboue hit ys most pure;
The clere ys youres, but I must endure,
Tyll ye haue dronke, and þen at erst begyn,
Take, as hit falleþ, þe þyk with the þyn.
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“I may nat chese: þe choyse to yow ys fall.Hyt were but foly for me with yow to stryue.
Ye shall for me haue your desyres all:
Of your ryght I wyll nat yow depryue.”
But þe wolfe a cause gan contryue
Ageyn the lambe of naturall haterede,
Seyd vnto hym quakyng in hys drede:
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“Thy feynyd speche flatteryng & benygne,I see hit well in myn inward syght,
How þou dost ayene me malygne
To vex me wrongfully, yef þou haddyst myght.
The lawe shall part vs, whyche of vs haþ ryght.”
But he no lenger on þe lawe abood,
Deuouryd þe lambe & aftyr soke hys blood.
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The lambe was sleyn, for he seyd soþ.Thus was law tornyd to rauyne,
Dome execute by þe wolfis tothe;
By whyche lawe Naboth lost hys vyne,
Whylom commaundyd by law, whyche ys dyuyne,
No rauenous beste (þe Byble doþ deuyse)
Shuld be offred to God in sacryfyse.
577
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Herdys be rekles þe lambe for to defende,Take noon hede on theyr flock to tary;
Ther hounde ys muett, whyche þat shuld attende
To kepe þe wache fro wolues most contrary;
Fewe sheperdys & many mercynary,
That falsly entre, as Iohns gospell tolde,
By þe wyndow into Crystis folde.
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The lambe ys clyppyd, chese and mylke ys peysyd,On felle & flesshe ys set a certayn pryse,
For tylþe of lond þe dong ys also preysyd,
Noþyng foryete (sheperdys be so wyse):
The beest ys spoylyd & nat without avyse.
The wolf haþ so ferre þe lambe purchasyd,
That he ys deuouryd & haþ noþyng trespasyd.
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The ram in Colches bare a flees of golde;Therof he was dyspoylyd by Iason,
The body left hoole, lyke as hit ys tolde.
But shepe þese dayes be spoylyd to þe bon;
For þer be wolfes many mo þen oon,
That clyp lamborn at sessions & at shyres
Bare to þe bone, & yet þey haue no sheres.
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The sely lambe ys spoylyd to þe bones,The wolf goþ fre, wheþer hit be ryght or wrong.
When [a] iorrour haþe caught sauour ones
To be forsworn, custom makeþ hym strong.
Si dedero ys now so mery a song,
Haþ founde a practyk by lawe to make a preef
To hang a trew man & saue an errant theef.
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With empty hande men may noon hawkis lewreNor cache a iorrour, but yef he yeue hym mede.
The pore pleteþ: what ys hys auenture?
Voyde purse causeþ he may nat spede.
The lambe put bak, þe wolf þe daunce doþ lede.
578
Causyd Isopus þys tale for to feyne.
Conclusio.
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The wolfe ys lykenyd to folkys rauenous,The sely lambe resembleþ þe porayle;
The wolfe ys gredy, fell, cruell, dyspituous,
The lambe content with grasse for hys vytayle.
The[i] dey[e] boþe: þe wolfe may nat auayle,
Be hit for houndis caren most corumpable,
The lambe vp seruyd at þe kyngis table.
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As men deserue, þey receue þeyr guerdon.On repentaunte þe tyraunt goþ to hell.
The pore man with small possession
Vertuosly doþ in þe erþe dwell,
Content with lytell doþ trewly by and sell
And of hoole hert can loue God & drede;
When he goþ hens, haþe heuen to hys mede.
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To encrese vertu and vyces to confoundeExample here shewyd of gret diuersyte;
By Isopus was þys fable founde,
Where ys rehersyd, toforne as ye may se,
The wolfis felnesse, þe lambes properte;
The lambe commendyd for naturall mekenes
The wolfe rebuked for rauenous felnes.
Explicit.
| The Minor Poems of John Lydgate | |