Chaucer's Works, Volume 2 — Boethius and Troilus

What delyteth you to excyten so grete moevinges of hateredes,

and to hasten and bisien the fatal disposicioun of your deeth with

your propre handes? that is to seyn, by batailes or by contek. For

yif ye axen the deeth, it hasteth him of his owne wil; ne deeth

ne tarieth nat his swifte hors. And the men that the serpent and

the lyoun and the tygre and the bere and the boor seken to sleen

with hir teeth, yit thilke same men seken to sleen everich of hem

other with swerd. Lo! for hir maneres ben dyverse and descordaunt,

they moeven unrightful ostes and cruel batailes, and wilnen

to perisshe by entrechaunginge of dartes. But the resoun of

crueltee nis nat y-nough rightful.

Wiltow thanne yelden a covenable guerdoun to the desertes of

men? Love rightfully goode folk, and have pitee on shrewes.'

'Thus see I wel,' quod I, 'either what blisfulnesse or elles

what unselinesse is establisshed in the desertes of goode men and

of shrewes. But in this ilke fortune of poeple I see somwhat of

good and somwhat of yvel. For no wyse man hath lever ben

exyled, poore and nedy, and nameles, than for to dwellen in his

citee and flouren of richesses, and be redoutable by honour, and

strong of power. For in this wyse more cleerly and more witnesfully

is the office of wyse men y-treted, whan the blisfulnesse and

the poustee of governours is, as it were, y-shad amonges poeples

that be neighebours and subgits; sin that, namely, prisoun, lawe,

and thise othre torments of laweful peynes ben rather owed to

felonous citezeins, for the whiche felonous citezeins tho peynes

ben establisshed, than for good folk. Thanne I mervaile me

greetly,' quod I, 'why that the thinges ben so mis entrechaunged,

that torments of felonyes pressen and confounden goode folk, and

shrewes ravisshen medes of vertu, and ben in honours and in

gret estats. And I desyre eek for to witen of thee, what semeth

thee to ben the resoun of this so wrongful a conclusioun? For I

wolde wondre wel the lasse, yif I trowede that al thise thinges

weren medled by fortunous happe; but now hepeth and encreseth

myn astonyinge god, governour of thinges, that, so as god

yeveth ofte tymes to gode men godes and mirthes, and to shrewes

yveles and aspre thinges: and yeveth ayeinward to gode folk hardnesses,

and to shrewes he graunteth hem hir wil and that they

desyren: what difference thanne may ther be bitwixen that that

god doth, and the happe of fortune, yif men ne knowe nat the

cause why that it is?'

'Ne it nis no mervaile,' quod she, 'though that men wenen that

ther be somewhat folissh and confuse, whan the resoun of the

ordre is unknowe. But al-though that thou ne knowe nat the

cause of so greet a disposicioun, natheles, for as moche as god,

the gode governour, atempreth and governeth the world, ne doute

thee nat that alle thinges ben doon a-right.

Who-so that ne knowe nat the sterres of Arcture, y-torned neigh

to the soverein contree or point, that is to seyn, y-torned neigh to

the soverein pool of the firmament, and wot nat why the sterre

Bootes passeth or gadereth his weynes, and drencheth his late

flambes in the see, and why that Bootes the sterre unfoldeth his

over-swifte arysinges, thanne shal he wondren of the lawe of the

heye eyr.

And eek, yif that he ne knowe nat why that the hornes of the fulle

mone wexen pale and infect by the boundes of the derke night;

and how the mone, derk and confuse, discovereth the sterres that

she hadde y-covered by hir clere visage. The comune errour

moeveth folk, and maketh wery hir basins of bras by thikke

strokes; that is to seyn, that ther is a maner of poeple that highte

Coribantes, that wenen that, whan the mone is in the eclipse, that it

be enchaunted; and therfore, for to rescowe the mone, they beten hir

basins with thikke strokes.

Ne no man ne wondreth whan the blastes of the wind Chorus

beten the strondes of the see by quakinge flodes; ne no man ne

wondreth whan the weighte of the snowe, y-harded by the colde,

is resolved by the brenninge hete of Phebus the sonne; for heer

seen men redely the causes.

But the causes y-hid, that is to seyn, in hevene, troublen the

brestes of men; the moevable poeple is astoned of alle thinges

that comen selde and sodeinly in our age. But yif the troubly

errour of our ignoraunce departede fro us, so that we wisten the

causes why that swiche thinges bi-tyden, certes, they sholden cese

to seme wondres.'

'Thus is it,' quod I. 'But so as thou hast yeven or bi-hight

me to unwrappen the hid causes of thinges, and to discovere me

the resouns covered with derknesses, I prey thee that thou devyse

and iuge me of this matere, and that thou do me to understonden

it; for this miracle or this wonder troubleth me right gretly.'

And thanne she, a litel what smylinge, seyde: 'thou clepest

me,' quod she, 'to telle thing that is grettest of alle thinges that

mowen ben axed, and to the whiche questioun unnethes is ther

aught y-nough to laven it; as who seyth, unnethes is ther suffisauntly

anything to answere parfitly to thy questioun. For the

matere of it is swich, that whan o doute is determined and cut

awey, ther wexen other doutes with-oute number; right as the

hevedes wexen of Ydre, the serpent that Ercules slowh. Ne ther

ne were no manere ne non ende, but-yif that a wight constreinede

tho doutes by a right lyfly and quik fyr of thought; that is to

seyn, by vigour and strengthe of wit. For in this manere men

weren wont to maken questions of the simplicitee of the purviaunce

of god, and of the order of destinee, and of sodein

happe, and of the knowinge and predestinacioun divyne, and of

the libertee of free wille; the whiche thinges thou thy-self

aperceyvest wel, of what weight they ben. But for as mochel

as the knowinge of thise thinges is a maner porcioun of the

medicine of thee, al-be-it so that I have litel tyme to don it,

yit natheles I wol enforcen me to shewe somwhat of it. But

al-thogh the norisshinges of ditee of musike delyteth thee, thou

most suffren and forberen a litel of thilke delyte, whyle that

I weve to thee resouns y-knit by ordre.'

'As it lyketh to thee,' quod I, 'so do.' Tho spak she right as

by another biginninge, and seyde thus. 'The engendringe of

alle thinges,' quod she, 'and alle the progressiouns of muable

nature, and al that moeveth in any manere, taketh his causes, his

ordre, and his formes, of the stablenesse of the divyne thoght;

and thilke divyne thought, that is y-set and put in the tour, that

is to seyn, in the heighte, of the simplicitee of god, stablissheth

many maner gyses to thinges that ben to done; the whiche

maner, whan that men loken it in thilke pure clennesse of the

divyne intelligence, it is y-cleped purviaunce; but whan thilke

maner is referred by men to thinges that it moveth and disponeth,

thanne of olde men it was cleped destinee. The whiche thinges,

yif that any wight loketh wel in his thought the strengthe of that

oon and of that other, he shal lightly mowen seen, that thise two

thinges ben dyverse. For purviaunce is thilke divyne reson that

is establisshed in the soverein prince of thinges; the whiche purviaunce

disponeth alle thinges. But destinee is the disposicioun

and ordinaunce clyvinge to moevable thinges, by the whiche

disposicioun the purviaunce knitteth alle thinges in hir ordres;

for purviaunce embraceth alle thinges to-hepe, al-thogh that they

ben dyverse, and al-thogh they ben infinite; but destinee departeth

and ordeineth alle thinges singulerly, and divyded in

moevinges, in places, in formes, in tymes, as thus: lat the

unfoldinge of temporel ordinaunce, assembled and ooned in the

lokinge of the divyne thought, be cleped purviaunce; and thilke

same assemblinge and ooninge, divyded and unfolden by tymes,

lat that ben called destinee. And al-be-it so that thise thinges

ben dyverse, yit natheles hangeth that oon on that other; for-why

the order destinal procedeth of the simplicitee of purviaunce.

For right as a werkman, that aperceyveth in his thoght the forme

of the thing that he wol make, and moeveth the effect of the

werk, and ledeth that he hadde loked biforn in his thoght simply

and presently, by temporel ordinaunce: certes, right so god

disponeth in his purviaunce, singulerly and stably, the thinges

that ben to done, but he aministreth in many maneres and in

dyverse tymes, by destinee, thilke same thinges that he hath

disponed.

Thanne, whether that destinee be exercysed outher by some

divyne spirits, servaunts to the divyne purviaunce, or elles by

som sowle, or elles by alle nature servinge to god, or elles by the

celestial moevinges of sterres, or elles by the vertu of angeles, or

elles by the dyverse subtilitee of develes, or elles by any of hem,

or elles by hem alle, the destinal ordinaunce is y-woven and

acomplisshed. Certes, it is open thing, that the purviaunce is

an unmoevable and simple forme of thinges to done; and the

moveable bond and the temporel ordinaunce of thinges, whiche

that the divyne simplicitee of purviaunce hath ordeyned to done,

that is destinee. For which it is, that alle thinges that ben put

under destinee ben, certes, subgits to purviaunce, to whiche purviaunce

destinee itself is subgit and under. But some thinges

ben put under purviaunce, that surmounten the ordinaunce of

destinee; and tho ben thilke that stably ben y-ficched negh to the

firste godhed: they surmounten the ordre of destinal moevabletee.

For right as of cercles that tornen a-boute a same centre or a-boute

a poynt, thilke cercle that is innerest or most with-inne ioyneth to

the simplesse of the middel, and is, as it were, a centre or a poynt

to that other cercles that tornen a-bouten him; and thilke that is

outterest, compassed by larger envyronninge, is unfolden by

larger spaces, in so moche as it is forthest fro the middel simplicitee

of the poynt; and yif ther be any-thing that knitteth and

felawshippeth him-self to thilke middel poynt, it is constreined

in-to simplicitee, that is to seyn, in-to unmoevabletee, and it ceseth

to be shad and to fleten dyversely: right so, by semblable resoun,

thilke thing that departeth forthest fro the first thoght of god, it is

unfolden and summitted to gretter bondes of destinee: and in so

moche is the thing more free and laus fro destinee, as it axeth and

holdeth him ner to thilke centre of thinges, that is to seyn, god.

And yif the thing clyveth to the stedefastnesse of the thoght of god,

and be with-oute moevinge, certes, it sormounteth the necessitee of

destinee. Thanne right swich comparisoun as it is of skilinge to

understondinge, and of thing that is engendred to thing that is, and

of tyme to eternitee, and of the cercle to the centre, right so is the

ordre of moevable destinee to the stable simplicitee of purviaunce.

Thilke ordinaunce moeveth the hevene and the sterres, and

atempreth the elements to-gider amonges hem-self, and transformeth

hem by entrechaungeable mutacioun; and thilke same

ordre neweth ayein alle thinges growinge and fallinge a-doun, by

semblable progressiouns of sedes and of sexes, that is to seyn,

male and femele. And this ilke ordre constreineth the fortunes and

the dedes of men by a bond of causes, nat able to ben unbounde;

the whiche destinal causes, whan they passen out fro the biginninges

of the unmoevable purviaunce, it mot nedes be that they

ne be nat mutable. And thus ben the thinges ful wel y-governed,

yif that the simplicitee dwellinge in the divyne thoght sheweth

forth the ordre of causes, unable to ben y-bowed; and this ordre

constreineth by his propre stabletee the moevable thinges, or elles

they sholden fleten folily. For which it is, that alle thinges semen

to ben confus and trouble to us men, for we ne mowen nat considere

thilke ordinaunce; natheles, the propre maner of every

thinge, dressinge hem to goode, disponeth hem alle.

For ther nis no-thing don for cause of yvel; ne thilke thing

that is don by wikkede folk nis nat don for yvel. The whiche

shrewes, as I have shewed ful plentivously, seken good, but

wikked errour mistorneth hem, ne the ordre cominge fro the

poynt of soverein good ne declyneth nat fro his biginninge. But

thou mayst seyn, what unreste may ben a worse confusioun than

that gode men han somtyme adversitee and somtyme prosperitee,

and shrewes also now han thinges that they desiren, and now

thinges that they haten? Whether men liven now in swich

hoolnesse of thoght, (as who seyth, ben men now so wyse), that

swiche folk as they demen to ben gode folk or shrewes, that

it moste nedes ben that folk ben swiche as they wenen? But in

this manere the domes of men discorden, that thilke men that

some folk demen worthy of mede, other folk demen hem worthy of

torment. But lat us graunte, I pose that som man may wel demen

or knowen the gode folk and the badde; may he thanne knowen

and seen thilke innereste atempraunce of corages, as it hath ben

wont to be seyd of bodies; as who seyth, may a man speken and

determinen of atempraunces in corages, as men were wont to demen or

speken of complexiouns and atempraunces of bodies? Ne it ne is nat

an unlyk miracle, to hem that ne knowen it nat, (as who seith, but it

is lyke a merveil or a miracle to hem that ne knowen it nat), why that

swete thinges ben covenable to some bodies that ben hole, and to

some bodies bittere thinges ben covenable; and also, why that

some syke folk ben holpen with lighte medicynes, and some folk

ben holpen with sharpe medicynes. But natheles, the leche that

knoweth the manere and the atempraunce of hele and of maladye,

ne merveileth of it no-thing. But what other thing semeth hele

of corages but bountee and prowesse? And what other thing

semeth maladye of corages but vyces? Who is elles kepere of

good or dryver awey of yvel, but god, governour and lecher of

thoughtes? The whiche god, whan he hath biholden from the

heye tour of his purveaunce, he knoweth what is covenable to

every wight, and leneth hem that he wot that is covenable to hem.

Lo, her-of comth and her-of is don this noble miracle of the ordre

destinal, whan god, that al knoweth, doth swiche thing, of which

thing that unknowinge folk ben astoned. But for to constreine,

as who seyth, but for to comprehende and telle a fewe thinges of the

divyne deepnesse, the whiche that mannes resoun may understonde,

thilke man that thou wenest to ben right Iuste and right

kepinge of equitee, the contrarie of that semeth to the divyne

purveaunce, that al wot. And Lucan, my familer, telleth that

"the victorious cause lykede to the goddes, and the cause over-comen

lykede to Catoun." Thanne, what-so-ever thou mayst seen

that is don in this werld unhoped or unwened, certes, it is the

right ordre of thinges; but, as to thy wikkede opinioun, it is a

confusioun. But I suppose that som man be so wel y-thewed,

that the divyne Iugement and the Iugement of mankinde acorden

hem to-gider of him; but he is so unstedefast of corage, that, yif

any adversitee come to him, he wol forleten, par-aventure, to

continue innocence, by the whiche he ne may nat with-holden

fortune. Thanne the wyse dispensacioun of god spareth him, the

whiche man adversitee mighte enpeyren; for that god wol nat

suffren him to travaile, to whom that travaile nis nat covenable.

Another man is parfit in alle vertues, and is an holy man, and

negh to god, so that the purviaunce of god wolde demen, that

it were a felonye that he were touched with any adversitees; so

that he wol nat suffre that swich a man be moeved with any

bodily maladye. But so as seyde a philosophre, the more excellent

by me: he seyde in Grek, that "vertues han edified the body

of the holy man." And ofte tyme it bitydeth, that the somme of

thinges that ben to done is taken to governe to gode folk, for that

the malice haboundaunt of shrewes sholde ben abated. And god

yeveth and departeth to othre folk prosperitees and adversitees

y-medled to-hepe, after the qualitee of hir corages, and remordeth

som folk by adversitee, for they ne sholde nat wexen proude by

longe welefulnesse. And other folk he suffreth to ben travailed

with harde thinges, for that they sholden confermen the vertues

of corage by the usage and exercitacioun of pacience. And

other folk dreden more than they oughten [that] whiche they

mighten wel beren; and somme dispyse that they mowe nat

beren; and thilke folk god ledeth in-to experience of himself by

aspre and sorwful thinges. And many othre folk han bought

honourable renoun of this world by the prys of glorious deeth.

And som men, that ne mowen nat ben overcomen by torments,

have yeven ensaumple to othre folk, that vertu may nat ben overcomen

by adversitees; and of alle thinges ther nis no doute, that

they ne ben don rightfully and ordenely, to the profit of hem to

whom we seen thise thinges bityde. For certes, that adversitee

comth somtyme to shrewes, and somtyme that that they desiren,

it comth of thise forseide causes. And of sorwful thinges that

bityden to shrewes, certes, no man ne wondreth; for alle men

wenen that they han wel deserved it, and that they ben of

wikkede merite; of whiche shrewes the torment somtyme agasteth

othre to don felonyes, and somtyme it amendeth hem that suffren

the torments. And the prosperitee that is yeven to shrewes

sheweth a greet argument to gode folk, what thing they sholde

demen of thilke welefulnesse, the whiche prosperitee men seen

ofte serven to shrewes. In the which thing I trowe that god

dispenseth; for, per-aventure, the nature of som man is so overthrowinge

to yvel, and so uncovenable, that the nedy povertee of

his houshold mighte rather egren him to don felonyes. And to

the maladye of him god putteth remedie, to yeven him richesses.

And som other man biholdeth his conscience defouled with sinnes,

and maketh comparisoun of his fortune and of him-self; and

dredeth, per-aventure, that his blisfulnesse, of which the usage is

Ioyeful to him, that the lesinge of thilke blisfulnesse ne be nat

sorwful to him; and therfor he wol chaunge his maneres, and, for

he dredeth to lese his fortune, he forleteth his wikkednesse. To

othre folk is welefulnesse y-yeven unworthily, the whiche overthroweth

hem in-to distruccioun that they han deserved. And to

som othre folk is yeven power to punisshen, for that it shal be

cause of continuacioun and exercysinge to gode folk and cause of

torment to shrewes. For so as ther nis non alyaunce by-twixe

gode folk and shrewes, ne shrewes ne mowen nat acorden amonges

hem-self. And why nat? For shrewes discorden of hem-self by

hir vyces, the whiche vyces al to-renden hir consciences; and don

ofte tyme thinges, the whiche thinges, whan they han don hem,

they demen that tho thinges ne sholden nat han ben don. For

which thing thilke soverein purveaunce hath maked ofte tyme fair

miracle; so that shrewes han maked shrewes to ben gode men.

For whan that som shrewes seen that they suffren wrongfully

felonyes of othre shrewes, they wexen eschaufed in-to hate of hem

that anoyeden hem, and retornen to the frut of vertu, whan they

studien to ben unlyk to hem that they han hated. Certes, only

this is the divyne might, to the whiche might yveles ben thanne

gode, whan it useth tho yveles covenably, and draweth out the

effect of any gode; as who seyth, that yvel is good only to the might

of god, for the might of god ordeyneth thilke yvel to good.

For oon ordre embraseth alle thinges, so that what wight that

departeth fro the resoun of thilke ordre which that is assigned to

him, algates yit he slydeth in-to another ordre, so that no-thing

nis leveful to folye in the reame of the divyne purviaunce; as who

seyth, nothing nis with-outen ordinaunce in the reame of the divyne

purviaunce; sin that the right stronge god governeth alle thinges

in this world. For it nis nat leveful to man to comprehenden by

wit, ne unfolden by word, alle the subtil ordinaunces and disposiciouns

of the divyne entente. For only it oughte suffise to

han loked, that god him-self, maker of alle natures, ordeineth and

dresseth alle thinges to gode; whyl that he hasteth to with-holden

the thinges that he hath maked in-to his semblaunce, that is to

seyn, for to with-holden thinges in-to good, for he him-self is good,

he chaseth out al yvel fro the boundes of his comunalitee by the

ordre of necessitee destinable. For which it folweth, that yif thou

loke the purviaunce ordeininge the thinges that men wenen ben

outrageous or haboundant in erthes, thou ne shalt nat seen in no

place no-thing of yvel. But I see now that thou art charged with

the weighte of the questioun, and wery with the lengthe of my

resoun; and that thou abydest som sweetnesse of songe. Tak

thanne this draught; and whan thou art wel refresshed and refect,

thou shal be more stedefast to stye in-to heyere questiouns.

If thou, wys, wilt demen in thy pure thought the rightes or the

lawes of the heye thonderer, that is to seyn, of god, loke thou and

bihold the heightes of the soverein hevene. There kepen the

sterres, by rightful alliaunce of thinges, hir olde pees. The sonne,

y-moeved by his rody fyr, ne distorbeth nat the colde cercle of

the mone. Ne the sterre y-cleped "the Bere," that enclyneth his

ravisshinge courses abouten the soverein heighte of the worlde, ne

the same sterre Ursa nis never-mo wasshen in the depe westrene

see, ne coveiteth nat to deyen his flaumbes in the see of the occian,

al-thogh he see othre sterres y-plounged in the see. And Hesperus

the sterre bodeth and telleth alwey the late nightes; and Lucifer

the sterre bringeth ayein the clere day.

And thus maketh Love entrechaungeable the perdurable courses;

and thus is discordable bataile y-put out of the contree of the

sterres. This acordaunce atempreth by evenelyk maneres the

elements, that the moiste thinges, stryvinge with the drye thinges,

yeven place by stoundes; and the colde thinges ioynen hem by

feyth to the hote thinges; and that the lighte fyr aryseth in-to

heighte; and the hevy erthes avalen by hir weightes. By thise

same causes the floury yeer yildeth swote smelles in the firste

somer-sesoun warminge; and the hote somer dryeth the cornes;

and autumpne comth ayein, hevy of apples; and the fletinge reyn

bideweth the winter. This atempraunce norissheth and bringeth

forth al thing that [bretheth] lyf in this world; and thilke same

atempraunce, ravisshinge, hydeth and binimeth, and drencheth

under the laste deeth, alle thinges y-born.

Amonges thise thinges sitteth the heye maker, king and lord,

welle and biginninge, lawe and wys Iuge, to don equitee; and

governeth and enclyneth the brydles of thinges. And tho thinges

that he stereth to gon by moevinge, he withdraweth and aresteth;

and affermeth the moevable or wandringe thinges. For yif that

he ne clepede ayein the right goinge of thinges, and yif that he ne

constreinede hem nat eft-sones in-to roundnesses enclynede, the

thinges that ben now continued by stable ordinaunce, they sholden

departen from hir welle, that is to seyn, from hir biginninge, and

faylen, that is to seyn, torne in-to nought.

This is the comune Love to alle thinges; and alle thinges axen

to ben holden by the fyn of good. For elles ne mighten they nat

lasten, yif they ne come nat eft-sones ayein, by Love retorned, to

the cause that hath yeven hem beinge, that is to seyn, to god.

Seestow nat thanne what thing folweth alle the thinges that I

have seyd?' Boece. 'What thing?' quod I.

'Certes,' quod she, 'al-outrely, that alle fortune is good.'

'And how may that be?' quod I.

'Now understand,' quod she, 'so as alle fortune, whether so it

be Ioyeful fortune or aspre fortune, is yeven either by cause of

guerdoning or elles of exercysinge of good folk, or elles by cause

to punisshen or elles chastysen shrewes; thanne is alle fortune

good, the whiche fortune is certein that it be either rightful or

elles profitable.'

'Forsothe, this is a ful verray resoun,' quod I; 'and yif I consider

the purviaunce and the destinee that thou taughtest me a

litel her-biforn, this sentence is sustened by stedefast resouns.

But yif it lyke unto thee, lat us noumbren hem amonges thilke

thinges, of whiche thou seydest a litel her-biforn, that they ne were

nat able to ben wened to the poeple.' 'Why so?' quod she.

'For that the comune word of men,' quod I, 'misuseth this

maner speche of fortune, and seyn ofte tymes that the fortune of

som wight is wikkede.'

'Wiltow thanne,' quod she, 'that I aproche a litel to the wordes

of the poeple, so that it seme nat to hem that I be overmoche departed

as fro the usage of mankinde?'

'As thou wolt,' quod I.

'Demestow nat,' quod she, 'that al thing that profiteth is good?'

'Yis,' quod I.

'And certes, thilke thing that exercyseth or corigeth, profiteth?'

'I confesse it wel,' quod I.

'Thanne is it good?' quod she.

'Why nat?' quod I.

'But this is the fortune,' quod she, 'of hem that either ben put

in vertu and batailen ayeins aspre thinges, or elles of hem that

eschuen and declynen fro vyces and taken the wey of vertu.'

'This ne may I nat denye,' quod I.

'But what seystow of the mery fortune that is yeven to good

folk in guerdoun? Demeth aught the poeple that it is wikked?'

'Nay, forsothe,' quod I; 'but they demen, as it sooth is, that it

is right good.'

'And what seystow of that other fortune,' quod she, 'that,

al-thogh that it be aspre, and restreineth the shrewes by rightful

torment, weneth aught the poeple that it be good?'

'Nay,' quod I, 'but the poeple demeth that it is most wrecched

of alle thinges that may ben thought.'

'War now, and loke wel,' quod she, 'lest that we, in folwinge

the opinioun of the poeple, have confessed and concluded thing

that is unable to be wened to the poeple.

'What is that?' quod I.

'Certes,' quod she, 'it folweth or comth of thinges that ben

graunted, that alle fortune, what-so-ever it be, of hem that ben

either in possessioun of vertu, or in the encres of vertu, or elles in

the purchasinge of vertu, that thilke fortune is good; and that alle

fortune is right wikkede to hem that dwellen in shrewednesse;' as

who seyth, and thus weneth nat the poeple.

'That is sooth,' quod I, 'al-be-it so that no man dar confesse it

ne biknowen it.'

'Why so?' quod she; 'for right as the stronge man ne semeth

nat to abaissen or disdaignen as ofte tyme as he hereth the noise

of the bataile, ne also it ne semeth nat, to the wyse man, to beren

it grevously, as ofte as he is lad in-to the stryf of fortune. For

bothe to that oon man and eek to that other thilke difficultee is

the matere; to that oon man, of encres of his glorious renoun,

and to that other man, to confirme his sapience, that is to seyn, to

the asprenesse of his estat. For therfore is it called "vertu," for

that it susteneth and enforseth, by hise strengthes, that it nis nat

overcomen by adversitees. Ne certes, thou that art put in the

encres or in the heighte of vertu, ne hast nat comen to fleten with

delices, and for to welken in bodily luste; thou sowest or plauntest

a ful egre bataile in thy corage ayeins every fortune: for that the

sorwful fortune ne confounde thee nat, ne that the merye fortune

ne corumpe thee nat, occupye the mene by stedefast strengthes.

For al that ever is under the mene, or elles al that overpasseth the

mene, despyseth welefulnesse (as who seyth, it is vicious), and ne

hath no mede of his travaile. For it is set in your hand (as who

seyth, it lyth in your power) what fortune yow is levest, that is to

seyn, good or yvel. For alle fortune that semeth sharp or aspre,

yif it ne exercyse nat the gode folk ne chastyseth the wikked folk, it

punissheth.