The God of Love Accepts the Service of False Seeming, Who Recounts His Deceits
" ALL that you have recounted is most true, "
The barons said. " Well may you keep the oath,
As right and just and proper, that you've made
Against the rich. They certainly will be
But fools if they pay homage to you now.
You'll never be forsworn nor cease to drink
Your piment with the gods, nor suffer shame.
Ladies into whose clutches rich men fall
For them will stinging pepper pulverize
Until they shall bewail their fate. The dames
Will be so courteous that they'll discharge
Your vow; you will no better vicars need.
Don't fear that you will not be recompensed.
Don't interfere with them; they'll talk until
Their dupes cannot tell black from white. Such tales
They will recount, and make such bold requests,
With most disgraceful acts of flattery,
With kisses and embraces, smacks, and pats,
That, if they are acceded to, the men
Will not retain even the residence
From which they first the furniture have sold.
" Give your commands; be it or right or wrong,
We will perform whatever is your wish.
But, sir, False Seeming fears to come more near —
Because you hate him, thinks he may be shamed —
And so we pray you to abate your ire
And welcome him into your barony
With Abstinence, his friend. This is our wish. "
" My faith, " said Love, " I grant that he may be
Henceforth one of my court. Let him come nigh. "
False Seeming thither ran, and Love went on:
" False Seeming, you may now become my man
By swearing that you'll succor all our friends
And grieve them never, but afford relief,
And ever will afflict our enemies.
The bail and bond are yours, and you shall be
Our King of Ribalds; thus the court ordains.
'Tis true you are a thief and traitor vile —
A hundred thousand times you've been forsworn —
But yet, to chase our doubts, in audience
Inform our people, by some general sign
At least, where they can find you easily
If they have need of you — how recognize
You then, for knowing you demands some skill.
Tell us where it will be you'll make your haunt. "
" Sire, I have many mansions so diverse
That if you please to grant me this respite
I'd much prefer to name them not to you
Lest I incriminate and shame myself.
If my companions knew I had disclosed
Their secrets, they would hurt and harry me,
If aught about their cruelty I know.
Opposed to them is truth, which they'd not hear,
But rather everywhere they'd silence keep.
Too much of evil treatment I might get
If I should say of them a single word
That is not sweet and pleasing to their ears.
A speech that pricks them rouses them to rage,
They are so cruel in their wickedness,
Although 'twere the Evangelist himself
Who reprimanded them for their ill deeds.
I know if I a single secret tell
Your court could not so hide my evidence
That they'd not learn of it or late or soon.
I have no fear of good men, who would take
Naught that I say to heart, as touching them;
For if they did, suspicion would alight
On them that Fraud and false Hypocrisy,
By whom I was begotten and brought up,
Had also some connection with their lives. "
" Fine job they did when they engendered you! "
Said Love. " Great benefit to them it was!
Better might they have brought the Devil to birth.
But just the same, however that may be,
It's necessary that you name your homes
At once, without mistake, that all may hear.
Give explanation of your way of life as well;
To hide it longer from us is unwise.
Discover likewise, now you're one of us,
What are your deeds — how is it that you work.
If beaten just because you tell the truth,
Which you're not used to do, you will not be
The first to suffer so. "
" If it please you,
I have so great desire to do your will
That I'll fulfill it though I die therefor. "
False Seeming, no more tarrying, began
His speech as follows, to the audience:
" Hear me, O barons, as I now declare
That he who would False Seeming find may go
To cloister or to secular abode.
I live in both, preferring neither place,
But more in one than in the other dwell.
In short, I stay where I can best keep hid.
Concealment is most sure 'neath humble dress.
Religious folk more covert are than lay.
I'll not defame religion or those blame
Who in whatever habit follow it
In humble loyalty, though ne'ertheless
E'en these I will confess I cannot love.
" I speak of false, felonious priests and nuns —
Malicious ones who would the habit wear
But never would subdue their evil hearts.
Charitable are true religious folk;
You'll find no one of them who pity lacks.
They humbly live and have no trace of pride.
I would not dwell with such; or, if I must,
I'd make pretense. I could assume their clothes;
But I would rather let myself be hanged
Than leave my purpose, whate'er cheer I make.
" With those who're tricky, proud, astute, I live —
With those who covet worldly reverence —
With those who needs of other men exploit —
With those who highest salaries pursue —
With those who purchase the acquaintanceship
Of men of worldly power, and follow them —
With those who, though they poverty pretend,
Drink precious wine and eat delicious food —
With those who preach the boon of poverty,
Yet fish for gold with mighty nets and seines.
An evil catch they'll compass, by my head!
Neither religious are such folk nor pure;
Fallacious is the logic of their claim:
" Religious garment makes religious man."
Such argument's not worth a privet knife.
" A monk's not made by his habiliments."
So high they have the hair trimmed on their heads
And shaved with razor argumentative,
Wielded by Fraud, who thirteen cuts has made,
That no one knows a way to answer them;
No one can such a close distinction make
That he would dare to say a single word.
But wheresoe'er I go, howe'er I act,
Naught I pursue but fraud; just as the cat,
Sir Tybert, only thinks of rats and mice,
So do I think of nothing but of guile.
You'd not know whom I live with by my clothes,
Nor by my words, so soft and mild are they.
You'll see me in my works, unless you're blind.
The one whose promise is unlike his deed
Will surely dupe you, whate'er robe he wears,
Whoever he may be — woman or man,
Learned or lewd, knight, squire, lady, or maid. "
As thus False Seeming spoke, the God of Love
Again addressed him, breaking off his speech,
As though he were a liar or a fool,
" What's this, you fiend, have you quite lost your head?
Who are these folks you cite? Can one of them find
Religion in a secular abode? "
" Yes, sire; 'twould be too bad if worldly clothes
Should mean their wearers all must lose their souls;
It follows not at all they live bad lives.
Holy religion thrives in colored clothes;
Many a virgin, many a glorious saint,
Religious and devout, have men seen die,
Who all their lives had worn the common dress;
Yet ne'ertheless they all were canonized.
Many a one of such I could adduce.
The saints in churches — those to whom we pray —
Chaste virgins, married wives who brought to birth
Full many a noble child — were almost all
Such as in worldly clothing lived and died;
Yet they are saints and saints will always be.
Eleven thousand virgins who in heaven
Their tapers bear before the Lord himself
(Their festivals are held in every church)
Were taken in their secular attire
When they received the boon of martyrdom;
Yet they are now no whit the worse for that.
Habiliment nor gives nor takes away;
Good thoughts produce good hearts and worthy deeds
Which show religion, which is rightly this.
Sir Isengrin, the wolf, who donned the skin
Of Don Belin, the ram, as sable robe,
Refrained not from devouring the sheep
Because he joined with them in this disguise.
No whit the less he drank his victims' blood,
But rather more, for they were so deceived
They could not recognize their mortal foe
But followed him e'en when he tried to flee.
" If there are but a few of such-like wolves
Among your new apostles, Holy Church,
You're badly off; your city is assailed
By knights of your own table, and your rule
Is sadly in decline. If those who've sworn
You to defend are leading the attack,
Who against them will give you guarantee?
You will be taken ere you feel one stroke
Of trepeget or mangonel, or see
A single banner flaunted in the wind.
If you're not rescued, they'll o'errun your land.
Then you must give permission, not commands;
Or, if you do, no force can rescue you.
Their tributary you will then become
In making peace — accepting it from them —
Unless (what's worse) they master everything.
Well know they how to circumvent you now:
By day they man, by night they mine your walls.
Root other plants, if you would gather fruit,
Without delay. But now I'll hold my peace
Upon this point, which I'll no longer urge,
If I may pass it o'er, lest I you tire.
" But I will make a covenant with you
To aid your friends who keep me company,
But they will die if they'll not me receive.
And they must likewise treat my paramour,
Or never, God forbid, achieve their ends.
I am a traitor and adjudged a thief
By God. Perjured I am most certainly;
But till it is accomplished scarcely known
Is the conclusion that I'm aiming at.
Many I've killed who ne'er perceived my guile;
And this shall happen many a time again.
If any man suspects me, and is wise,
Let him take care, or 'twill be just too bad.
" The more deceit, the harder 'tis to see.
Old Proteus, who changed, oft as he wished,
His shape, knew not so much deceitfulness
And guile as I; for ne'er in any town
Have I been recognized, though seen and heard
There many times before. For I know well
The way to make my habits strange appear.
Now I wear one, next to another change:
Now knight, now prelate, canon now, now monk,
Now clerk, now master, student now, now priest;
Now I'm a castellan, now forester —
In every occupation I engage —
Now prince, now page — I every language know —
Now old and gray, next hour I'm young again;
Now I am Robbie called, now Robbins named;
Now I'm Franciscan, now Dominican.
" Many another guise do I assume
To follow in the footsteps of my love,
This lady who is named Feigned Abstinence,
Who gives me solace and companionship —
To please her and accomplish her desires.
In women's clothes now am I maid, now dame;
Sometimes I am religious — anchorite,
Abbess, novitiate, probationer,
Or prioress or nun. But everywhere
I'm turning all religion inside out.
I take the straw, but let the kernels lie.
I ask no more than just to wear the robe
To fool the folk whom I am living with.
What more's to say? In whatsoever guise
Best pleases me I muffle up myself.
My tune is changeable. My words and deeds
To one another but a slight resemblance have. "
The barons said. " Well may you keep the oath,
As right and just and proper, that you've made
Against the rich. They certainly will be
But fools if they pay homage to you now.
You'll never be forsworn nor cease to drink
Your piment with the gods, nor suffer shame.
Ladies into whose clutches rich men fall
For them will stinging pepper pulverize
Until they shall bewail their fate. The dames
Will be so courteous that they'll discharge
Your vow; you will no better vicars need.
Don't fear that you will not be recompensed.
Don't interfere with them; they'll talk until
Their dupes cannot tell black from white. Such tales
They will recount, and make such bold requests,
With most disgraceful acts of flattery,
With kisses and embraces, smacks, and pats,
That, if they are acceded to, the men
Will not retain even the residence
From which they first the furniture have sold.
" Give your commands; be it or right or wrong,
We will perform whatever is your wish.
But, sir, False Seeming fears to come more near —
Because you hate him, thinks he may be shamed —
And so we pray you to abate your ire
And welcome him into your barony
With Abstinence, his friend. This is our wish. "
" My faith, " said Love, " I grant that he may be
Henceforth one of my court. Let him come nigh. "
False Seeming thither ran, and Love went on:
" False Seeming, you may now become my man
By swearing that you'll succor all our friends
And grieve them never, but afford relief,
And ever will afflict our enemies.
The bail and bond are yours, and you shall be
Our King of Ribalds; thus the court ordains.
'Tis true you are a thief and traitor vile —
A hundred thousand times you've been forsworn —
But yet, to chase our doubts, in audience
Inform our people, by some general sign
At least, where they can find you easily
If they have need of you — how recognize
You then, for knowing you demands some skill.
Tell us where it will be you'll make your haunt. "
" Sire, I have many mansions so diverse
That if you please to grant me this respite
I'd much prefer to name them not to you
Lest I incriminate and shame myself.
If my companions knew I had disclosed
Their secrets, they would hurt and harry me,
If aught about their cruelty I know.
Opposed to them is truth, which they'd not hear,
But rather everywhere they'd silence keep.
Too much of evil treatment I might get
If I should say of them a single word
That is not sweet and pleasing to their ears.
A speech that pricks them rouses them to rage,
They are so cruel in their wickedness,
Although 'twere the Evangelist himself
Who reprimanded them for their ill deeds.
I know if I a single secret tell
Your court could not so hide my evidence
That they'd not learn of it or late or soon.
I have no fear of good men, who would take
Naught that I say to heart, as touching them;
For if they did, suspicion would alight
On them that Fraud and false Hypocrisy,
By whom I was begotten and brought up,
Had also some connection with their lives. "
" Fine job they did when they engendered you! "
Said Love. " Great benefit to them it was!
Better might they have brought the Devil to birth.
But just the same, however that may be,
It's necessary that you name your homes
At once, without mistake, that all may hear.
Give explanation of your way of life as well;
To hide it longer from us is unwise.
Discover likewise, now you're one of us,
What are your deeds — how is it that you work.
If beaten just because you tell the truth,
Which you're not used to do, you will not be
The first to suffer so. "
" If it please you,
I have so great desire to do your will
That I'll fulfill it though I die therefor. "
False Seeming, no more tarrying, began
His speech as follows, to the audience:
" Hear me, O barons, as I now declare
That he who would False Seeming find may go
To cloister or to secular abode.
I live in both, preferring neither place,
But more in one than in the other dwell.
In short, I stay where I can best keep hid.
Concealment is most sure 'neath humble dress.
Religious folk more covert are than lay.
I'll not defame religion or those blame
Who in whatever habit follow it
In humble loyalty, though ne'ertheless
E'en these I will confess I cannot love.
" I speak of false, felonious priests and nuns —
Malicious ones who would the habit wear
But never would subdue their evil hearts.
Charitable are true religious folk;
You'll find no one of them who pity lacks.
They humbly live and have no trace of pride.
I would not dwell with such; or, if I must,
I'd make pretense. I could assume their clothes;
But I would rather let myself be hanged
Than leave my purpose, whate'er cheer I make.
" With those who're tricky, proud, astute, I live —
With those who covet worldly reverence —
With those who needs of other men exploit —
With those who highest salaries pursue —
With those who purchase the acquaintanceship
Of men of worldly power, and follow them —
With those who, though they poverty pretend,
Drink precious wine and eat delicious food —
With those who preach the boon of poverty,
Yet fish for gold with mighty nets and seines.
An evil catch they'll compass, by my head!
Neither religious are such folk nor pure;
Fallacious is the logic of their claim:
" Religious garment makes religious man."
Such argument's not worth a privet knife.
" A monk's not made by his habiliments."
So high they have the hair trimmed on their heads
And shaved with razor argumentative,
Wielded by Fraud, who thirteen cuts has made,
That no one knows a way to answer them;
No one can such a close distinction make
That he would dare to say a single word.
But wheresoe'er I go, howe'er I act,
Naught I pursue but fraud; just as the cat,
Sir Tybert, only thinks of rats and mice,
So do I think of nothing but of guile.
You'd not know whom I live with by my clothes,
Nor by my words, so soft and mild are they.
You'll see me in my works, unless you're blind.
The one whose promise is unlike his deed
Will surely dupe you, whate'er robe he wears,
Whoever he may be — woman or man,
Learned or lewd, knight, squire, lady, or maid. "
As thus False Seeming spoke, the God of Love
Again addressed him, breaking off his speech,
As though he were a liar or a fool,
" What's this, you fiend, have you quite lost your head?
Who are these folks you cite? Can one of them find
Religion in a secular abode? "
" Yes, sire; 'twould be too bad if worldly clothes
Should mean their wearers all must lose their souls;
It follows not at all they live bad lives.
Holy religion thrives in colored clothes;
Many a virgin, many a glorious saint,
Religious and devout, have men seen die,
Who all their lives had worn the common dress;
Yet ne'ertheless they all were canonized.
Many a one of such I could adduce.
The saints in churches — those to whom we pray —
Chaste virgins, married wives who brought to birth
Full many a noble child — were almost all
Such as in worldly clothing lived and died;
Yet they are saints and saints will always be.
Eleven thousand virgins who in heaven
Their tapers bear before the Lord himself
(Their festivals are held in every church)
Were taken in their secular attire
When they received the boon of martyrdom;
Yet they are now no whit the worse for that.
Habiliment nor gives nor takes away;
Good thoughts produce good hearts and worthy deeds
Which show religion, which is rightly this.
Sir Isengrin, the wolf, who donned the skin
Of Don Belin, the ram, as sable robe,
Refrained not from devouring the sheep
Because he joined with them in this disguise.
No whit the less he drank his victims' blood,
But rather more, for they were so deceived
They could not recognize their mortal foe
But followed him e'en when he tried to flee.
" If there are but a few of such-like wolves
Among your new apostles, Holy Church,
You're badly off; your city is assailed
By knights of your own table, and your rule
Is sadly in decline. If those who've sworn
You to defend are leading the attack,
Who against them will give you guarantee?
You will be taken ere you feel one stroke
Of trepeget or mangonel, or see
A single banner flaunted in the wind.
If you're not rescued, they'll o'errun your land.
Then you must give permission, not commands;
Or, if you do, no force can rescue you.
Their tributary you will then become
In making peace — accepting it from them —
Unless (what's worse) they master everything.
Well know they how to circumvent you now:
By day they man, by night they mine your walls.
Root other plants, if you would gather fruit,
Without delay. But now I'll hold my peace
Upon this point, which I'll no longer urge,
If I may pass it o'er, lest I you tire.
" But I will make a covenant with you
To aid your friends who keep me company,
But they will die if they'll not me receive.
And they must likewise treat my paramour,
Or never, God forbid, achieve their ends.
I am a traitor and adjudged a thief
By God. Perjured I am most certainly;
But till it is accomplished scarcely known
Is the conclusion that I'm aiming at.
Many I've killed who ne'er perceived my guile;
And this shall happen many a time again.
If any man suspects me, and is wise,
Let him take care, or 'twill be just too bad.
" The more deceit, the harder 'tis to see.
Old Proteus, who changed, oft as he wished,
His shape, knew not so much deceitfulness
And guile as I; for ne'er in any town
Have I been recognized, though seen and heard
There many times before. For I know well
The way to make my habits strange appear.
Now I wear one, next to another change:
Now knight, now prelate, canon now, now monk,
Now clerk, now master, student now, now priest;
Now I'm a castellan, now forester —
In every occupation I engage —
Now prince, now page — I every language know —
Now old and gray, next hour I'm young again;
Now I am Robbie called, now Robbins named;
Now I'm Franciscan, now Dominican.
" Many another guise do I assume
To follow in the footsteps of my love,
This lady who is named Feigned Abstinence,
Who gives me solace and companionship —
To please her and accomplish her desires.
In women's clothes now am I maid, now dame;
Sometimes I am religious — anchorite,
Abbess, novitiate, probationer,
Or prioress or nun. But everywhere
I'm turning all religion inside out.
I take the straw, but let the kernels lie.
I ask no more than just to wear the robe
To fool the folk whom I am living with.
What more's to say? In whatsoever guise
Best pleases me I muffle up myself.
My tune is changeable. My words and deeds
To one another but a slight resemblance have. "
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