The complete works of John Gower, volume 2 : $b The English worksGower, John
General
The complete works of John Gower, volume 2 : $b The English works
Gower, John
Poetry
Yea, father, I may not excuse myself therof, and love is the cause of
it. My heart is ever hot and I burn with wrath, angered with myself
because I cannot speed. Waking I dream that I meet with my lady and
pray her for an answer to my suit, and she, who will not gladly swear,
saith me nay without an oath, wherewith I am so distempered that I
almost lose my wits; and when I think how long I have served and how I
am refused, I am angry for the smallest thing, and every servant in my
house is afraid of me until the fit passes. If I approach my lady and
she speaks a fair word to me, all my anger is gone; but if she will not
look upon me, I return again to my former state. Thus I hurt my hand
against the prick and make a whip for my own self; and all this springs
from Melancholy. I pray you, my father, teach me some example whereby I
may appease myself.
My son, I will fulfil thy prayer. (25-142.)
_Canace and Machaire._ There was a king called Eolus, and he had
two children, a son Machaire and a daughter Canace. These two grew
up together in one chamber, and love made them blind, so that they
followed only the law of nature and saw not that of reason. As the bird
which sees the food but not the net, so they saw not the peril. At
length Canace was with child and her brother fled. The child was born
and the truth could not be hid. The father came into her chamber in a
frenzy of wrath, and she in vain entreated for mercy. He sent a knight
to her with a sword, that she might slay herself; but first she wrote a
letter to her brother, while her child lay weeping in her breast. Then
she set the pommel of the sword to ground and pierced her heart with
the point. The king bade them take the child and cast it out for wild
beasts to devour. Little did he know of love who wrought such a cruel
deed. (143-336.)
Therefore, my son, have regard to love, and remember that no man’s
might can resist what Nature has ordained. Otherwise vengeance may
fall, as in a tale that I will tell. (337-360.)
_Tiresias_ saw two snakes coupled together and smote them with his
staff. Thereupon, as he had disturbed nature, so he was transformed
against nature into a woman. (361-380.)
Thus wrote Ovid, and thus we see that we ought not to be wroth against
the law of nature in men. There may be vice in love, but there is no
malice.
My father, all this is true. Let every man love whom he will; I shall
not be wroth, if it be not my lady. I am angry only with myself,
because I can find no remedy for my evils. (381-416.)
417-842. CHESTE. The second kind of Wrath is Cheste, which has his
mouth ever unlocked and utters evil sayings of every one. Men are more
afraid of him than of thunder and exclaim against his evil tongue. Tell
me, my son, if thou hast ever chid toward thy love.
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