A Sone was the ferste of alle, And Chain be name thei him calle;[1457] 60 Abel was after the secounde, And in the geste as it is founde, Nature so the cause ladde, Tuo douhtres ek Dame Eve hadde, The ferste cleped Calmana Was, and that other Delbora. [Sidenote: [LAWS OF MARRIAGE.]] Thus was mankinde to beginne; Forthi that time it was no Sinne The Soster forto take hire brother, Whan that ther was of chois non other: 70 To Chain was Calmana betake,[1458] And Delboram hath Abel take,[1459] In whom was gete natheles Of worldes folk the ferste encres. Men sein that nede hath no lawe, And so it was be thilke dawe [Sidenote: =P. iii. 278=] And laste into the Secounde Age,[1460] Til that the grete water rage, Of Noë which was seid the flod,[1461] The world, which thanne in Senne stod, 80 Hath dreint, outake lyves Eyhte. Tho was mankinde of litel weyhte; Sem, Cham, Japhet, of these thre, That ben the Sones of Noë, The world of mannes nacion Into multiplicacion Was tho restored newe ayein So ferforth, as the bokes sein, That of hem thre and here issue Ther was so large a retenue, 90 Of naciouns seventy and tuo; In sondri place ech on of tho The wyde world have enhabited. Bot as nature hem hath excited, Thei token thanne litel hiede, The brother of the Sosterhiede To wedde wyves, til it cam Into the time of Habraham.[1462] Whan the thridde Age was begunne, The nede tho was overrunne,[1463] 100 For ther was poeple ynouh in londe: Thanne ate ferste it cam to honde, That Sosterhode of mariage Was torned into cousinage, So that after the rihte lyne The Cousin weddeth the cousine. [Sidenote: =P. iii. 279=] For Habraham, er that he deide, This charge upon his servant leide, To him and in this wise spak, That he his Sone Isaäc 110 Do wedde for no worldes good, Bot only to his oghne blod: Wherof this Servant, as he bad, Whan he was ded, his Sone hath lad To Bathuel, wher he Rebecke Hath wedded with the whyte necke; For sche, he wiste wel and syh, Was to the child cousine nyh. And thus as Habraham hath tawht, Whan Isaäc was god betawht, 120 His Sone Jacob dede also, And of Laban the dowhtres tuo, Which was his Em, he tok to wyve, And gat upon hem in his lyve, Of hire ferst which hihte Lie, Sex Sones of his Progenie, And of Rachel tuo Sones eke: The remenant was forto seke, That is to sein of foure mo, Wherof he gat on Bala tuo, 130 And of Zelpha he hadde ek tweie. And these tuelve, as I thee seie,