35. HOW THE PLAGUE WAS CEASED IN ROME.
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[MS. B. M. Adds. 29729, leaves 4 back–5.]
how the plage was sesyd in Rome / John Lidgat.
1
So noble medesyne, ne so sovereyne,
So speciall stronge gayn ffever pestilent,
Avicen, Ypocras, nor yet Galien
Cerapion nothar for all his jugement
Nor Esculapius, for all his medicament
Coulde nevar make in all his lyves space
Medecene lyke to the lord omnipotent
When to his peoples he lyste send his grace.
2
It is remembryd in gestys of Lumbardy,
Reynynge kynge Gilberte, a cruell pestilence,
An vgsom dethe environde Italy,
Where crafti cure coude make no resistence
As provyd was, by dredfull experience
In Rome and Pavy, to carefull Citees
Wher pestilence regnyng dyd tyrannees.
3
In sondry placys this furious syknes
So cruelly racyd, that mo were dede
Then lefte on lyve, and thus with hevynes
The lytell nomber lyvynge in gret drede,
Seynge so myche caren, the Erthe dyd sprede
Scant they myght them bery, gret was theyr payne
For nothynge erthly, from deth myght them restrayne.
4
Ther were to Aungels visibly sene with eyne
The good before, the evyll dyd hym folowe,
How ofte the good to smyte dyd assigne,
That oder smote, to folkes full grete sorowe,
So thousands died, nyght, myddaye, & morowe
Oute of eche place, whiche tokened thus,
That thoos Aungels wer pestiferus.
5
In the meane seson, an holy man
Had revelation, when that in Pavye
Was made an Auctor to sent Sebastian,
Shulde cese that pestilence & that malady,
This Auctor made in the chirche callid Petry
Advincula, to the martirs Reverence
The plage cesid, and eke the pestilence
6
Not golde potable, nor pured quintessence,
Not Rewe barbaryn, nor Alpharike Triacle,
Surmounte the power of myghti pestilence,
But God [thorugh] his seyntis doth his miracle
To everi person, by grace Receptakle,
Worshipynge this martir, he instillith his grace,
Moste sovereyne diaprodest, in all pestilence case.
Explicit John lidgate
