58. A FREOND AT NEODE.
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[MS. Ashmole 59, leaves 35 to 37. 17 stanzas of 8 lines.]
Here begynneþe a Polletyke Balade Ryale made by
þat approbate Poete Lidegate þe Munk of Burye
with þe gode Refrayde, To fynde a freonde at neode.
1
Late whane Aurora of Tytane toke leve,
Nought longe agone in a gladde mor[we]nyng,
Soole by my self walking in a greve,
Goldyne Phebus feyre in chare shyninge,
I harde a larke in maner compleyninge,
Seying þis refreyde, I toke þer off heede,
“Þe worlde is divers, ffortune is chaungyng,
Ful weele is him þat fyndeþe a freonde at neede.”
2
Gret noumbre of frendes in prosperitee
Whylest fortune sheweþe hir lookes glade;
Gret prees of coustume is abowte þe tree,
While þat boughes beon with fruytes lade;
But whane þe braunches beon bareine and fade
Þat he revested is in wynters weede,
Fare weele þe prees, þis liknesse þat I made,
Is agayne hem þat fayle þeire freonde at neede.
3
Þe ryche man haþe freondes gret plentee,
Every wight redy til do him plesaunce.
But folke þat beon fallen in pouerte
Noman desireþe to haue þeire qweyntance,
To þeyme men chaunge chere and contenaunce,
Þe poure haþe none to wysse him and to rede,
Lat every man have þis in remembraunce
It is ful vnkouþe to fynde a freonde at nede.
4
Whilome Horaste was freonde vnto Pilade,
Never to part as seyþe Ovydius,
In frowarde fortune ne in þeire stoundes glade,
So did Achilles and Patreolus,
Þe duc Prothee and eke duc Theseus,
Þeire thoughtes oone in herte, wille, and dede,
Giving ensaumple to prynces vertuous,
Howe gret a tresore to fynde a freonde at nede.
5
Kyng Dauid alsoo and freondly Ionathas,
Loved as brether voyde of devisyoun,
Þey sparde not for daunger nor manasse
Ne for al Saulus fel parsecucyoun,
Ay to contynue in oone opynyoun,
And never dessever for no foreine dede,
Texemplefie by short conclusioun
Howe muche avayleþe to fynde a frende at nede.
6
Þer is a storye noted in substaunce
Of knightes tweyne, Amys and Amylon,
As þey were lyke of chere and countenaunce,
Of all þeire fayture made none excepcion,
Booþe of one porte and one condicion
Hole, vndeparted of courage and manhede,
As by þere fatal constillacyoun
Echeone til oþer feythfull founde at nede.
7
Rethor Tulius, De Amicicia,
Hyest of vertues frenship doþe preferre,
In þe hevenly courte supra cidera,
With gods goddesse caste heos beemis ferre,
In whos clere stremis pilgrymes may not erre,
What cooste or parte heos lightes for to shede,
A precyous tresore founde in pees and werre,
A man to fynde a feythful freonde at nede.
8
Þe doctrinal þus writeþe is me tolde
Sepe viatorem nona
non vetus orbita fallit.
Þereinne concludeþe pleinly by sentence,
For nuwe knowelegge chaunge not þy freondes alde.
Straunge bypathes doone offt gret offence,
Til vnkouþe folke þat fayle exparience
Vnto what parte þat pathe doþe hem lede,
By whiche ensaumple gif to my worde credence,
Kepe wele þat freonde þat wil not fayle at neede.
9
Þeos stately freondes boþe of worde and chere,
Salmon calþe hem felawes at þe table,
As at feestis at dyners and sowpere,
With feyre byhestis as þey were vaillable,
But at þe point, adieux, al nys but fable,
Save worde and wynde conclusion of þeire crede,
As weþercok þeire faites beo founde vnstable,
Yitte wele is him þat fyndeþe a freonde at nede.
10
And who þat haþe his feithfull freonde ef wonne
Vndesseuered þeire hertis knitte in feere
Tulius seyþe, þeire frenship is lyche sunne,
Whane it sitte hyest in þe midday spere
Þat wyndy clowdes approchen man no nere,
Nothing but cleer heos bemys ay sprede,
Þeire frenship wol not twynne in no manere,
For lyff nor deþe to fayle his freonde at nede.
11
By þe counseyle of prudent Salamon,
Si possides amicum in temptaccione posside ipsum.
Yif þou of freondes make elleccion
By gode avyse cheese þee vnto such one,
Preved and expert of olde affeccion,
And whane þou haste of him pocession,
Þane for no nuwe þou chaunge him I þee rede,
Of golde of tresore make no comparisoun,
To him þat wil not fayle his freonde at nede.
12
Þere ben eke freondes founden for a tyme
Est amicus secundum tempus.
Wheche þat endure but a smal saysoun,
Of whiche chaunge is aye þe nuwe pryme,
Stoundemele diuers off entencion,
Gerisshe, stormisshe of entencion,
Liche march weder, let noman take hede,
Preyse as þou fyndest in þyne opynioun,
And chese þy freonde þat wol not fayle at neode.
13
Þe sone of Syrake called was Ihesus,
Whiche in heos dytes hade so gret a fame,
Seþe þere beo freondes of langage glorious
Þeire worde and worke not lyke who list atame
For hem he callþe freonde but of name,
Þeire heestis suspecte, deperted is þeire wede,
But þey of frenship bere but þe surname,
Be no fals feynier, þat faileþe freonde at nede.
14
Alle one to me þat freonde þat doþe no gode,
And þat enemye þat doþe me no damage,
As Ianus Byfronus twoo faces in oone hode
Byhinde and fore double of þeire vysage,
Peyse yee hem boþe with footeles avauntage,
Oone countrepeyse þeire love and þeire haterede,
A smal destinccion sette in þeire ymage,
Þeire trust, þeire hate conclude all one at nede.
15
Þere beon freondfull freondes in wele and woo,
And ever elych[e] truwe in þeire entent,
And þere beo freondes, Salamon seyþe eke soo,
Feyning, flatering, fals, and fraudelente,
And some beo double of entendement,
Þat flourisshe and floure, but þei do not feede,
Of whome I may conclude in sentement,
Alle suche wol fayle þeire freonde at his neode.
16
Blessed þis man þat dooþe his freonde socour,
Him to support at neode frome his mescheef,
Incomporable to golde or suche tresore,
Bavme or tryacle agenst alkyns greef,
Of pryce no charboncle ne perlle is so cheef,
Who fynþe suche one, amisse he may not spede,
He may beo marked and trusted, I let you leve,
As for to fynde so feythfull freonde at neode.
17
O Cryste Ihesu, whos frenship may not fayle,
For love of man þat suffred passyoun,
And with Golye þat heldest gret battayle,
Oure Dauid þat sloughe bere and lyoun,
Oure Moyses, oure Gedeon, oure Sampson,
On Calvarie þat list for vs to blede
For Maries sake be oure proteccion
And helpe alle þoo þat calne þee at þeire nede.
