Confessio Amantis; Or, Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins. John Gower

and fieble and vil,

       Full of meschief and of peril,

       And stant divided ek also

       Lich to the feet that were so, 890

       As I tolde of the Statue above.

       And this men sen, thurgh lacke of love

       Where as the lond divided is,

       It mot algate fare amis:

       And now to loke on every side,

       A man may se the world divide,

       The werres ben so general

       Among the cristene overal,

       That every man now secheth wreche,

       And yet these clerkes alday preche 900

       And sein, good dede may non be

       Which stant noght upon charite:

       I not hou charite may stonde,

       Wher dedly werre is take on honde.

       Bot al this wo is cause of man,

       The which that wit and reson can,

       And that in tokne and in witnesse

       That ilke ymage bar liknesse

       Of man and of non other beste.

       For ferst unto the mannes heste 910

       Was every creature ordeined,

       Bot afterward it was restreigned:

       Whan that he fell, thei fellen eke,

       Whan he wax sek, thei woxen seke;

       For as the man hath passioun

       Of seknesse, in comparisoun

       So soffren othre creatures.

       Lo, ferst the hevenly figures,

       The Sonne and Mone eclipsen bothe,

       And ben with mannes senne wrothe; 920

       The purest Eir for Senne alofte

       Hath ben and is corrupt fulofte,

       Right now the hyhe wyndes blowe,

       And anon after thei ben lowe,

       Now clowdy and now clier it is:

       So may it proeven wel be this,

       A mannes Senne is forto hate,

       Which makth the welkne to debate.

       And forto se the proprete

       Of every thyng in his degree, 930

       Benethe forth among ous hiere

       Al stant aliche in this matiere:

       The See now ebbeth, now it floweth,

       The lond now welketh, now it groweth,

       Now be the Trees with leves grene,

       Now thei be bare and nothing sene,

       Now be the lusti somer floures,

       Now be the stormy wynter shoures,

       Now be the daies, now the nyhtes,

       So stant ther nothing al upryhtes, 940

       Now it is lyht, now it is derk;

       And thus stant al the worldes werk

       After the disposicioun

       Of man and his condicioun.

       Forthi Gregoire in his Moral

       Seith that a man in special

       The lasse world is properly:

       And that he proeveth redely;

       For man of Soule resonable

       Is to an Angel resemblable, 950

       And lich to beste he hath fielinge,

       And lich to Trees he hath growinge;

       The Stones ben and so is he:

       Thus of his propre qualite

       The man, as telleth the clergie,

       Is as a world in his partie,

       And whan this litel world mistorneth,

       The grete world al overtorneth.

       The Lond, the See, the firmament,

       Thei axen alle jugement 960

       Ayein the man and make him werre:

       Therwhile himself stant out of herre,

       The remenant wol noght acorde:

       And in this wise, as I recorde,

       The man is cause of alle wo,

       Why this world is divided so.

       Division, the gospell seith,

       On hous upon another leith,

       Til that the Regne al overthrowe:

       And thus may every man wel knowe, 970

       Division aboven alle

       Is thing which makth the world to falle,

       And evere hath do sith it began.

       It may ferst proeve upon a man;

       The which, for his complexioun

       Is mad upon divisioun

       Of cold, of hot, of moist, of drye,

       He mot be verray kynde dye:

       For the contraire of his astat

       Stant evermore in such debat, 980

       Til that o part be overcome,

       Ther may no final pes be nome.

       Bot other wise, if a man were

       Mad al togedre of o matiere

       Withouten interrupcioun,

       Ther scholde no corrupcioun

       Engendre upon that unite:

       Bot for ther is diversite

       Withinne himself, he may noght laste,

       That he ne deieth ate laste. 990

       Bot in a man yit over this

       Full gret divisioun ther is,

       Thurgh which that he is evere in strif,

       Whil that him lasteth eny lif:

       The bodi and the Soule also

       Among hem ben divided so,

       That what thing that the body hateth

       The soule loveth and debateth;

       Bot natheles fulofte is sene

       Of werre which is hem betwene 1000

       The fieble hath wonne the victoire.

       And who so drawth into memoire

       What hath befalle of old and newe,

       He may that werre sore rewe,

       Which ferst began in Paradis:

       For ther was proeved what it is,

       And what desese there it wroghte;

       For thilke werre tho forth broghte

       The vice of alle dedly Sinne,

       Thurgh which division cam inne 1010

       Among the men in erthe hiere,

       And was the cause and the matiere

       Why god the grete flodes sende,

       Of al the world and made an ende

       Bot Noe5 with his felaschipe,

       Which only weren saulf be Schipe.

       And over that thurgh Senne it com

       That Nembrot such emprise nom,

       Whan he the Tour Babel on heihte

       Let make, as he that wolde feihte 1020