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
Cyrces was a qwene, whos reaume was opon the see of Ytaile, and she was
a grete enchaunteresse and knew meche of sorcery and wichcraft. And whan
Vlixes, the which wente to the se after the destruccion off Troye, as he
went to a returnyd[579] into his cuntre, throwe many grete and perlyous
tormentes that he hadde he aryved at a hauen of the same lande. He sent
to the qwene by his knyghtes to wete wheythir he myght swrely taken
hauen in her lond or noon. Circes reseyuyd his knyghtes full gentely and
of curtesei made ordeyne for theyme a potage full delicious to drynke,
but the potage hade sich a strengh that sodenly the knyghttes were
chaunged into swyne. Circes may be vnderstond in many maners. It ma[y]
be vndirstonde be a lande or a cuntre where that knyghtes were putte in
fowle and veleyns preson; and allso she may be lekened to a lady full of
wantonnesse and ydilnes, that by hire many errant knyghtes, that is to
sey, sewyng armes, þe which anamly were of Vlixes pepill, that is to
vndirstonde, malicious and noyens, were kepte to soiorne as swyne. And
therefor it is seide to þe good knyght that he shulde not reste in sich
a soioryng. For Arystotill [Sidenote: f. 74.] seith, “He that is
holy[580] in fornicacion may not be aloved[581] in the ende.”
Cyrceses swyne may we take for ypocrysy, the which the goode sperite
shulde eschewe off all thynges. Ayens ypocrytes Seynt Gregory seith in
his Moralles,[582] that the lyfe of ypocrytes is but a frawdelous vysyon
and as a fantasye ymagenid, the which shewith owtewarde lykenes of an
ymage, the which is not in very dede inwarde. To this purpose owre Lorde
seith in the Gospell, [“Væ vobis, hypocritæ, quia similes estis
sepulchris dealbatis,” etc.].[583]
XCIX.
Thou shulde no grete reson shewe to þe man
The which as that tyme vndirstond ne can.
Yno, the which the soddyn corne dide sowe,
Noteth it to the well inowgh, I trowe.
Yno was a qwene, the which made sothyn[584] corne to be sowen, the which
comme not vppe. And therfor it is seide to the goode knyght þat gode
resons and weele sette and wyse autorites shulde not be tolde to the
pepill of rude vndirstondyng and that cannot vndirstond them, ffor they
be lost. And therfor Aristotile seith, “As reyne avaylith notte to corne
that is sowen on a stone, no more availleth argumentes to an onwyse
man.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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