Chaucerian and Other Pieces. Various

this answere to saye: "trewly thou saydest; for thyne

      adversaryes thy wordes affirmed." And if thou haddest lyed, yet

      are they discomfited, the prise leved on thy syde; so that fame

      shal holde down infame; he shal bringe [it in] upon none

      halfe. What greveth thee thyne enemye[s] to sayn their owne

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      shame, as thus: "we arn discomfited, and yet our quarel is

      trewe?" Shal not the loos of thy frendes ayenward dequace thilke

      enfame, and saye they graunted a sothe without a stroke or fighting?

      Many men in batayle ben discomfited and overcome in

      a rightful quarel, that is goddes privy jugement in heven; but

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      yet, although the party be yolden, he may with wordes saye his

      quarel is trewe, and to yelde him, in the contrarye, for drede of

      dethe he is compelled; and he that graunteth and no stroke hath

      feled, he may not crepe away in this wyse by none excusacion.

      Indifferent folk wil say: "ye, who is trewe, who is fals, him-selfe

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      knowlegeth tho thinges." Thus in every syde fame sheweth to

      thee good and no badde.'

      'But yet,' quod I, 'some wil say, I ne shulde, for no dethe,

      have discovered my maistresse; and so by unkyndnesse they

      wol knette infame, to pursue me aboute. Thus enemyes of wil,

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      in manyfolde maner, wol seche privy serpentynes queintyses, to

      quenche and distroye, by venim of many besinesses, the light of

      tr[o]uthe; to make hertes to murmure ayenst my persone, to have

      me in hayne withouten any cause.'

      'Now,' quod she, 'here me a fewe wordes, and thou shalt fully

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      ben answered, I trowe. Me thinketh (quod she) right now, by

      thy wordes, that sacrament of swering, that is to say, charging by

      othe, was oon of the causes to make thee discover the malicious

      imaginacions tofore nempned. Every ooth, by knittinge of copulation,

      muste have these lawes, that is, trewe jugement and rightwysenesse;

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      in whiche thinge if any of these lacke, the ooth is

      y-tourned in-to the name of perjury. Than to make a trewe

      serment, most nedes these thinges folowe. For ofte tymes, a man

      to saye sothe, but jugement and justice folowe, he is forsworn;

      ensample of Herodes, for holdinge of his serment was [he]

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      dampned.

      Also, to saye tr[o]uthe rightfulliche (but in jugement) otherwhile

      is forboden, by that al sothes be nat to sayne. Therfore in

      jugement, in tr[o]uthe, and rightwisenesse, is every creature

      bounden, up payne of perjury, ful knowing to make, tho[ugh] it

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      were of his owne persone, for drede of sinne; after that worde,

      "better is it to dey than live false." And, al wolde perverted people

      fals report make in unkyndnesse, in that entent thy [en]fame to

      reyse, whan light of tr[o]uthe in these maters is forth sprongen

      and openly publisshed among commens, than shal nat suche

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      derke enfame dare appere, for pure shame of his falsnesse. As some

      men ther ben that their owne enfame can none otherwyse voide

      or els excuse, but †by hindringe of other mennes fame; which

      that by non other cause clepen other men false, but for [that]

      with their owne falsnesse mowen they nat ben avaunsed; or els

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      by false sklaund[r]inge wordes other men shenden, their owne

      

      trewe sklaunder to make seme the lasse. For if such men wolden

      their eyen of their conscience revolven, [they] shulden seen the

      same sentence they legen on other springe out of their sydes, with

      so many braunches, it were impossible to nombre. To whiche

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      therefore may it be sayd in that thinge, "this man thou demest,

      therein thy-selfe thou condempnest."

      But (quod she) understand nat by these wordes, that thou

      wene me saye thee to be worthy sclaunder, for any mater tofore

      written; truely I wolde witnesse the contrary; but I saye that

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      the bemes of sclaundring wordes may not be don awaye til the

      daye of dome. For how shulde it nat yet, amonges so greet

      plentee of people, ben many shrewes, sithen whan no mo but

      eight persons in Noes shippe were closed, yet oon was a shrewe

      and skorned his father? These thinges (quod she) I trowe, shewen

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      that fals fame is nat to drede, ne of wyse persons to accepte, and

      namely nat of thy Margarite, whose wysdom here-after I thinke to

      declare; wherfore I wot wel suche thing shal nat her asterte;

      than of unkyndnesse thyn ooth hath thee excused at the fulle.

      But now, if thou woldest nat greve, me list a fewe thinges to

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      shewe.'

      'Say on,' quod I, 'what ye wol; I trowe ye mene but trouthe

      and my profit in tyme cominge.'

      'Trewly,' quod she, 'that is sothe, so thou con wel kepe these

      wordes, and in the in[ne]rest secrè chambre of thyne herte so

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      faste hem close that they never flitte; than shalt thou fynde hem

      avayling. Loke now what people hast thou served; whiche of

      hem al in tyme of thyne exile ever thee refresshed, by the valewe

      of the leste coyned plate that walketh in money? Who was sory,

      or made any rewth for thy disese? If they hadden getten their

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      purpose, of thy misaventure sette they nat an hawe. Lo, whan

      thou were emprisonned, how faste they hyed in helpe of thy

      deliveraunce! I wene of thy dethe they yeve but lyte. They

      loked after no-thing but after their owne lustes. And if thou liste

      say the sothe, al that meyny that in this †brige thee broughten,

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      lokeden