The epistle of Othea to Hector; or, The boke of knyghthodeChristine, de Pisan
Philosophy
The epistle of Othea to Hector; or, The boke of knyghthode
Christine, de Pisan
Fastolf, John, 1378?-1459; French poetry -- To 1500 -- Translations into English
Venus, of whom the good knyght shuld not make hys godes, it is þat the
good speryth in hym selphe shuld haue no vanyte. And Cassidore seyth
vpon the Sawtyr, “Vanite made avoyde degre[174] to becum a fende and
yafe dethe[175] to the fryste man and voyeddid hyme frome the
blyssidnesse that was grawntyd on to hyme.” Vanite is modyr off all
evelles, welle off all vices, and the weyne[176] of wykydnesse, the
which puttyth a man oute of the grace of God and setti[t]h hym in his
hate. To this purpose Dauid seyth in his Sauter, spekyng to God, “Odisti
[observantes vanitates supervacue”].[177]
VIII.
Yf thou asemble the in jugement, [Sidenote: f. 14.]
Be leke to Saturne in avisement;
Or that thou gyf thy sentence, veryly
Be ware that thou yif it not doutously.
Satyrday is named after Saturne, ande the metall lede is youen therto,
and it is a planete of slow condicion, hevy and wyse. And there was a
kyng in Grece hadde the same name, the [which] was full wyse, off whom
poyetis spake vnder conuerteure of fable, and they seyde that his sone
Jubiter kutte from hym his preuy menbres. The which is to vnderstond
that he toke ffrom hym his myghte and dysheryted him and drwe[178] hym
avay. And becawse that Saturne is hevy and wyse, Othea seyth that a good
knyght shuld peyse a thynge grettely or[179] that he[180] shulde yefe
his sentence, weythir that it be in pris of armes or of ony othir dede.
And euery iuge may not[181] the same that hathe offices longgynge to
iugement. And to thys purpoise Hermes seith, “Thynkke wele on all
thinges that thou hast for to do and in especyall of iugement of othyr.”
As the good knyghte scholde be slowe in the iugement of othir, that is
to sey, to peise wele the sentence or þat he gyf it, on the same wyse
the goode spiryte shulde doo in that the which longyth to hyme; for to
Gode longeth the iugement, the which can discerne cawses ryghtwysly. And
Seynt Grigorye seyth in hys Moralles[182] that, whan owre frelnes cannot
comprehende the iugementes of God, we oughte not to discute them in
bolde wordes, but we ought to worchippe thyme wyth ferefull scilens and,
how mervelyous that euer we thowght theyme, we shulde holde them iuste.
And to this purpoose spekyth Dauid in the Sawter-booke, “Timor [Domini
sanctus, permanet in seculum seculi. Judicia Domini vera iustificata in
semet ipsa”].[183]
IX.
Lete thi worde be clere and trwe in kynde.
Appollo shall gif it the in mynde,
For he by no mene may non ordure
Suffir no wyse vndere couerture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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