Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (44 page)

And, now that I have spoke of gluttony,
Now will I you
¹
defende hazardry.
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forbid gambling
¹
Hazard is very mother of leasings,
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lies
And of deceit, and cursed forswearings:
Blasphem’ of Christ, manslaughter, and waste also
Of chattel
¹
and of time; and furthermo’
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property
It is repreve,
¹
and contrar’ of honour,
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reproach
For to be held a common hazardour.
And ever the higher he is of estate,
The more he is holden desolate.
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undone, worthless
If that a prince use hazardry,
In alle governance and policy
He is, as by common opinion,
Y-hold the less in reputation.

Chilon, that was a wise ambassador,
Was sent to Corinth with full great honor
From Lacedemon,
 
to make alliance;
And when he came, it happen’d him, by chance,
That all the greatest that were of that land,
Y-playing atte hazard he them fand.
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found
For which, as soon as that it mighte be,
He stole him home again to his country
And saide there, “I will not lose my name,
Nor will I take on me so great diffame,
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reproach
You to ally unto no hazardors.
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gamblers
Sende some other wise ambassadors,
For, by my troth, me were lever
¹
die,
¹
rather
Than I should you to hazardors ally.
For ye, that be so glorious in honours,
Shall not ally you to no hazardours,
As by my will, nor as by my treaty.”
This wise philosopher thus said he.
Look eke how to the King Demetrius
The King of Parthes, as the book saith us,
Sent him a pair of dice of gold in scorn,
For he had used hazard therebeforn:
For which he held his glory and renown
At no value or reputatioun.
Lordes may finden other manner play
Honest enough to drive the day away.

Now will I speak of oathes false and great
A word or two, as olde bookes treat.
Great swearing is a thing abominable,
And false swearing is more reprovable.
The highe God forbade swearing at all;
Witness on Matthew:
 
but in special
Of swearing saith the holy Jeremie,
Thou thalt swear sooth thine oathes, and not lie:
And swear in doom
¹
and eke in righteousness;
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judgement
But idle swearing is a cursedness.
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wickedness
Behold and see, there in the firste table
Of highe Godde’s hestes
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honourable,
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commandments
How that the second best of him is this,
Take not my name in idle
¹
or amiss.
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in vain
Lo, rather
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he forbiddeth such swearing,
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sooner
Than homicide, or many a cursed thing;
I say that as by order thus it standeth;
This knoweth he that his hests
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understandeth,
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commandments
How that the second hest of God is that.
And farthermore, I will thee tell all plat,
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flatly, plainly
That vengeance shall not parte from his house,
That of his oathes is outrageous.
“By Godde’s precious heart, and by his nails,
And by the blood of Christ, that is in Hailes,
Seven is my chance, and thine is cinque and trey:
By Godde’s armes, if thou falsely play,
This dagger shall throughout thine hearte go.”
This fruit comes of the
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bicched bones two,
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two cursed bones (dice)
¹
Forswearing, ire, falseness, and homicide.
Now, for the love of Christ that for us died,
Leave your oathes, bothe great and smale.
But, Sirs, now will I ell you forth my tale.

These riotoures three, of which I tell,
Long
¹
erst than
¹
prime rang of any bell,
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before
Were set them in a tavern for to drink;
And as they sat, they heard a belle clink
Before a corpse, was carried to the grave.
That one of them gan calle to his knave,
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servant
“Go bet,”
 
quoth he, “and aske readily
What corpse is this, that passeth here forth by;
And look that thou report his name well.”
“Sir,” quoth the boy, “it needeth never a deal;
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whit
It was me told ere ye came here two hours;
He was, pardie, an old fellow of yours,
And suddenly he was y-slain to-night;
Fordrunk
¹
as he sat on his bench upright,
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completely drunk
There came a privy thief, men clepe Death,
That in this country all the people slay’th,
And with his spear he smote his heart in two,
And went his way withoute wordes mo’.
He hath a thousand slain this pestilence;
And, master, ere you come in his presence,
Me thinketh that it were full necessary
For to beware of such an adversary;
Be ready for to meet him evermore.
Thus taughte me my dame; I say no more.”
“By Sainte Mary,” said the tavernere,
“The child saith sooth, for he hath slain this year,
Hence ov’r a mile, within a great village,
Both man and woman, child, and hind, and page;
I trow his habitation be there;
To be advised
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great wisdom it were,
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watchful, on one’s guard
Ere
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that he did a man a dishonour.”
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lest

“Yea, Godde’s armes,” quoth this riotour,
“Is it such peril with him for to meet?
I shall him seek, by stile and eke by street.
I make a vow, by Godde’s digne
¹
bones.”
¹
worthy
Hearken, fellows, we three be alle ones:
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at one
Let each of us hold up his hand to other,
And each of us become the other’s brother,
And we will slay this false traitor Death;
He shall be slain, he that so many slay’th,
By Godde’s dignity, ere it be night.”
Together have these three their trothe plight
To live and die each one of them for other
As though he were his owen sworen brother.
And up they start, all drunken, in this rage,
And forth they go towardes that village
Of which the taverner had spoke beforn,
And many a grisly
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oathe have they sworn,
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dreadful
And Christe’s blessed body they to-rent;
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tore to pieces
“Death shall be dead, if that we may him hent.”
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catch
When they had gone not fully half a mile,
Right as they would have trodden o’er a stile,
An old man and a poore with them met.
This olde man full meekely them gret,
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greeted
And saide thus; “Now, lordes, God you see!”
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look on graciously
The proudest of these riotoures three
Answer’d again; “What? churl, with sorry grace,
Why art thou all forwrapped
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save thy face?
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closely wrapt up
Why livest thou so long in so great age?”
This olde man gan look on his visage,
And saide thus; “For that I cannot find
A man, though that I walked unto Ind,
Neither in city, nor in no village go,
That woulde change his youthe for mine age;
And therefore must I have mine age still
As longe time as it is Godde’s will.
And Death, alas! he will not have my life.
Thus walk I like a resteless caitife,
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miserable wretch
And on the ground, which is my mother’s gate,
I knocke with my staff, early and late,
And say to her, ‘Leve
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mother, let me in.
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dear
Lo, how I wane, flesh, and blood, and skin;
Alas! when shall my bones be at rest?
Mother, with you I woulde change my chest,
That in my chamber longe time hath be,
Yea, for an hairy clout to
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wrap in me.’
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wrap myself in
¹
But yet to me she will not do that grace,
For which fall pale and welked
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is my face.
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withered
But, Sirs, to you it is no courtesy
To speak unto an old man villainy,
But
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he trespass in word or else in deed.
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except
In Holy Writ ye may yourselves read;
‘Against
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an old man, hoar upon his head,
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to meet
Ye should arise:’ therefore I you rede,
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advise
Ne do unto an old man no harm now,
No more than ye would a man did you
In age, if that ye may so long abide.
And God be with you, whether ye go or ride
I must go thither as I have to go.”

“Nay, olde churl, by God thou shalt not so,”
Saide this other hazardor anon;
“Thou partest not so lightly, by Saint John.
Thou spakest right now of that traitor Death,
That in this country all our friendes slay’th;
Have here my troth, as thou art his espy;
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spy
Tell where he is, or thou shalt it abie,
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suffer for
By God and by the holy sacrament;
For soothly thou art one of his assent
To slay us younge folk, thou false thief.”
“Now, Sirs,” quoth he, “if it be you so lief
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desire
To finde Death, turn up this crooked way,
For in that grove I left him, by my fay,
Under a tree, and there he will abide;
Nor for your boast he will him nothing hide.
See ye that oak? right there ye shall him find.
God save you, that bought again mankind,
And you amend!” Thus said this olde man;
And evereach of these riotoures ran,
Till they came to the tree, and there they found
Of florins fine, of gold y-coined round,
Well nigh a seven bushels, as them thought.
No longer as then after Death they sought;
But each of them so glad was of the sight,
For that the florins were so fair and bright,
That down they sat them by the precious hoard.
The youngest of them spake the firste word:
“Brethren,” quoth he, “
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take keep
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what I shall say;
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heed
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My wit is great, though that I bourde
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and play
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joke, frolic
This treasure hath Fortune unto us given
In mirth and jollity our life to liven;
And lightly as it comes, so will we spend.
Hey! Godde’s precious dignity! who wend
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weened, thought
Today that we should have so fair a grace?
But might this gold he carried from this place
Home to my house, or elles unto yours
(For well I wot that all this gold is ours),
Then were we in high felicity.
But truely by day it may not be;
Men woulde say that we were thieves strong,
And for our owen treasure do us hong.
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have us hanged
This treasure muste carried be by night,
As wisely and as slily as it might.
Wherefore I rede,
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that cut
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among us all
¹
advise
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lots
We draw, and let see where the cut will fall:
And he that hath the cut, with hearte blithe
Shall run unto the town, and that full swithe,
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quickly
And bring us bread and wine full privily:
And two of us shall keepe subtilly
This treasure well: and if he will not tarry,
When it is night, we will this treasure carry,
By one assent, where as us thinketh best.”
Then one of them the cut brought in his fist,
And bade them draw, and look where it would fall;
And it fell on the youngest of them all;
And forth toward the town he went anon.
And all so soon as that he was y-gone,
The one of them spake thus unto the other;
“Thou knowest well that thou art my sworn brother,
¹
Thy profit
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will I tell thee right anon.
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what is for thine
Thou knowest well that our fellow is gone, advantage
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And here is gold, and that full great plenty,
That shall departed
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he among us three.
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divided
But natheless, if I could shape
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it so
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contrive
That it departed were among us two,
Had I not done a friende’s turn to thee?”
Th’ other answer’d, “I n’ot
¹
how that may be;
¹
know not
He knows well that the gold is with us tway.
What shall we do? what shall we to him say?”
“Shall it be counsel?”
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said the firste shrew;
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secret
²
wretch
“And I shall tell to thee in wordes few
What we shall do, and bring it well about.”
“I grante,” quoth the other, “out of doubt,
That by my truth I will thee not bewray.”
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betray
“Now,” quoth the first, “thou know’st well we be tway,
And two of us shall stronger be than one.
Look; when that he is set,
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thou right anon
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sat down
Arise, as though thou wouldest with him play;
And I shall rive
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him through the sides tway,
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stab
While that thou strugglest with him as in game;
And with thy dagger look thou do the same.
And then shall all this gold departed
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be,
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divided
My deare friend, betwixte thee and me:
Then may we both our lustes
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all fulfil,
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pleasures
And play at dice right at our owen will.”
And thus accorded
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be these shrewes
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tway
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agreed
²
wretches
To slay the third, as ye have heard me say.

The youngest, which that wente to the town,
Full oft in heart he rolled up and down
The beauty of these florins new and bright.
“O Lord!” quoth he, “if so were that I might
Have all this treasure to myself alone,
There is no man that lives under the throne
Of God, that shoulde have so merry as I.”
And at the last the fiend our enemy
Put in his thought, that he should poison buy,
With which he mighte slay his fellows twy.
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two
For why, the fiend found him
¹
in such living,
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leading such a
That he had leave to sorrow him to bring. (bad) life
¹
For this was utterly his full intent
To slay them both, and never to repent.
And forth he went, no longer would he tarry,
Into the town to an apothecary,
And prayed him that he him woulde sell
Some poison, that he might
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his rattes quell,
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kill his rats
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And eke there was a polecat in his haw,
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farm-yard, hedge
That, as he said, his eapons had y-slaw:
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slain
And fain he would him wreak,
¹
if that he might,
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revenge
Of vermin that destroyed him by night.
Th’apothecary answer’d, “Thou shalt have
A thing, as wisly
¹
God my soule save,
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surely
In all this world there is no creature
That eat or drank hath of this confecture,
Not but the mountance
¹
of a corn of wheat,
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amount
That he shall not his life
¹
anon forlete;
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immediately lay down
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Yea, sterve
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he shall, and that in lesse while
¹
die
Than thou wilt go
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apace
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nought but a mile:
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quickly
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This poison is so strong and violent.”
This cursed man hath in his hand y-hent
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taken
This poison in a box, and swift he ran
Into the nexte street, unto a man,
And borrow’d of him large bottles three;
And in the two the poison poured he;
The third he kepte clean for his own drink,
For all the night he shope him
¹
for to swink
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purposed
²
labour
In carrying off the gold out of that place.
And when this riotour, with sorry grace,
Had fill’d with wine his greate bottles three,