The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman, Volume 2

Name: The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman, Volume 2
Author: Langland, William

Langland, William

Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages -- Poetry

"Wite ye noght, ye wise men,
  How tho men honoured                                   10640
  Moore tresor than trouthe,
  I dar noght telle the sothe,
  Reson and rightful doom
  The religiouse demede.

    "Right so, ye clerkes,
  For youre coveitise, er longe,
  Shal thei demen _dos ecclesiæ_,
  And youre pride depose,
  _Deposuit potentes de sede, etc._

    "If knyghthod and kynde wit                          10650
  And the commune by conscience
  Togideres love leelly,
  Leveth it wel, ye bisshopes,
  The lordshipe of youre londes
  For evere shul ye lese,
  And lyven as _levitici_,
  As oure Lord techeth.
  _Per primitias et decimas, etc._

    "Whan Costantyn of curteisie
  Holy kirke dowed                                       10660
  {326}
  With londes and ledes,
  Lordshipes and rentes,
  An aungel men herden
  An heigh at Rome crye,
  _Dos ecclesiæ_ this day
  Hath y-dronke venym,
  And tho that han Petres power
  Arn apoisoned alle.

    "A medicyne moot therto,
  That may amende prelates,                              10670
  That sholden preie for the pees,
  Possession hem letteth;
  Taketh hire landes, ye lordes,
  And leteth hem lyve by dymes.

    "If possession be poison,
  And inparfite hem make,
  Good were to deschargen hem,
  For holy chirches sake,
  And purgen hem of poison,
  Er moore peril falle.                                  10680

    "If preesthode were parfit,
  The peple sholde amende
  That contrarien Cristes lawe,
  And cristendom dispise.
  For alle paynymes preieth,
  And parfitly bileveth
  In the holy grete God,
  And his grace thei asken,
  And make hir mone to Makometh
  Hir message to shewe.                                  10690
  Thus in a feith leve that folk,
  And in a fals mene;
  And that is routhe for rightful men
  That in the reawme wonyen,
  {327}
  And a peril to the pope,
  And prelates that he maketh,
  That bere bisshopes names
  Of Bethleem and Babiloigne,
  That huppe aboute in Engelond
  To halwe mennes auteres,                               10700
  And crepe amonges curatours,
  And confessen ageyn the lawe.
  _Nolite mittere falcem in messem alienam, etc._

    "Many man for Cristes love
  Was martired in Romayne,
  Er any cristendom was knowe there,
  Or any cros honoured.

    "Every bisshop that bereth cros,
  By that he is holden
  Thorugh his province to passe,                         10710
  And to his peple to shewe hym,
  Tellen hem and techen hem
  On the Trinité to bileve,
  And feden hem with goostly foode,
  And gyve there it nedeth.
  _In domo mea non est panis neque
      vestimentum, et ideo nolite constituere
      me regem._

    "Ozias seith for swiche
  That sike ben and feble,                               10720
  _Inferte omnes decimas in horreum
      meum, ut sit cibus in domo mea._

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman, Volume 2

No reviews yet