Canterbury Tales (Middle English) — The Tale of Melibeus - Part One
‘Why so?
’ quod I, ‘why wiltow lette me More of my tale than another man, Sin that it is the beste rym I can?
’ (10) 2118. E.
tale; _rest_ rym, ryme.
‘By god,’ quod he, ‘for pleynly, at a word, Thy drasty ryming is nat worth a tord; 2120 Thou doost nought elles but despendest tyme, Sir, at o word, thou shall no lenger ryme.
Lat see wher thou canst tellen aught in geste, Or telle in prose somwhat at the leste In which ther be som mirthe or som doctryne.
’ 2125 ‘Gladly,’ quod I, ‘by goddes swete pyne, I wol yow telle a litel thing in prose, That oghte lyken yow, as I suppose, (20) Or elles, certes, ye been to daungerous.
It is a moral tale vertuous, 2130 Al be it told som-tyme in sondry wyse Of sondry folk, as I shal yow devyse.
As thus; ye woot that every evangelist, That telleth us the peyne of Iesu Crist, Ne saith nat al thing as his felaw dooth, 2135 But natheles, hir sentence is al sooth, And alle acorden as in hir sentence, [198: T.
13876-13894. ] Al be ther in hir telling difference.
(30) For somme of hem seyn more, and somme lesse, Whan they his pitous passioun expresse; 2140 I mene of Marke, Mathew, Luk and Iohn;
But doutelees hir sentence is al oon.
Therfor, lordinges alle, I yow biseche, If that ye thinke I varie as in my speche, As thus, thogh that I telle som-what more 2145 Of proverbes, than ye han herd bifore, Comprehended in this litel tretis here, To enforce with the theffect of my matere, (40) And thogh I nat the same wordes seye As ye han herd, yet to yow alle I preye, 2150 Blameth me nat; for, as in my sentence, Ye shul not fynden moche difference Fro the sentence of this tretis lyte After the which this mery tale I wryte.
And therfor herkneth what that I shal seye, 2155 And lat me tellen al my tale, I preye.
’ (48) _Explicit_.
2131. E.
take; _rest_ told, tolde, toold.
2139. E.
Hn.
Ln.
somme seyn; _but_ Cp.
Pt.
Hl.
_omit 2nd_ seyn.
2141. Ed.
1561, Marke; E. Cp.
Pt.
Hl.
Marke (?
); Hn.
Ln.
Mark.
2144. E.
Hl.
yow; _rest_ ye.
Cp.
Ln.
_om.
_ as.
2146. Cp.
prouerbis.
2152. Cm.
Cp.
Ln.
Ye schal not fynden moche; E. Hn.
Pt.
Hl.
Shul ye nowher fynden.
2154. E.
murye; Hn.
myry; Hl.
litil; _rest_ mery.
[199] * * * * * THE TALE OF MELIBEUS.
* * * * * =Here biginneth Chaucers Tale of Melibee.
= § 1. A yong man called Melibeus, mighty and riche, bigat up-on his wyf that called was Prudence, a doghter which that called was Sophie.
/ HEADING.
_From_ E. § 2. Upon a day bifel, that he for his desport is went in-to the feeldes him to pleye.
/ His wyf and eek his doghter hath he left inwith his hous, of which the dores weren fast y-shette.
/ Thre of his olde foos han it espyed, and setten laddres to the walles of his hous, and by the windowes been entred, /2160 and betten his wyf, and wounded his doghter with fyve mortal woundes in fyve sondry places; / this is to seyn, in hir feet, in hir handes, in hir eres, in hir nose, and in hir mouth; and leften hir for deed, and wenten awey.
/ 2159. inwith] Ln.
Cp.
within.
2160. Thre] Cp.
Ln.
Foure.
E.
hise.
E.
foes; Hn.
Cp.
Ln.
Hl.
foos.
by the] E. Hn.
_om.
_ the.
2162. E.
erys.
§ 3. Whan Melibeus retourned was in-to his hous, and saugh al this meschief, he, lyk a mad man, rendinge his clothes, gan to wepe and crye.
/ 2163. E.
Hn.
Ln.
rentynge; _rest_ rendyng.
§ 4. Prudence his wyf, as ferforth as she dorste, bisoghte him of his weping for to stinte; / but nat for-thy he gan to crye and wepen ever lenger the more.
/2165 § 5. This noble wyf Prudence remembered hir upon the sentence of Ovide, in his book that cleped is The Remedie of Love, wher-as he seith; / ‘he is a fool that destourbeth the moder to wepen in the deeth of hir child, til she have wept hir fille, as for a certain tyme; / and thanne shal man doon his diligence with amiable wordes hir to reconforte, and preyen hir of hir weping for to stinte.
’ / For which resoun this noble wyf Prudence suffred hir housbond for to wepe and crye as for a certein space; / and whan she saugh hir tyme, she seyde him in this wyse.
‘Allas, my lord,’ quod she,’ why make ye your-self for to be lyk a fool?
/2170 For [200] sothe, it aperteneth nat to a wys man, to maken swiche a sorwe.
/ Your doghter, with the grace of god, shal warisshe and escape.
/ And al were it so that she right now were deed, ye ne oghte nat as for hir deeth your-self to destroye.
/ Senek seith: “the wise man shal nat take to greet disconfort for the deeth of his children, / but certes he sholde suffren it in pacience, as wel as he abydeth the deeth of his owene propre persone.
”’ /2175 2172. Cp.
Ln.
be warisshed; Hl.
warischt be.
2173. _Only_ E. Cp.
Ln.
_insert_ to _before_ destroye.
§ 6. This Melibeus answerde anon and seyde, ‘What man,’ quod he, ‘sholde of his weping stinte, that hath so greet a cause for to wepe?
/ Iesu Crist, our lord, him-self wepte for the deeth of Lazarus his freend.
’ / Prudence answerde, ‘Certes, wel I woot, attempree weping is no-thing defended to him that sorweful is, amonges folk in sorwe, but it is rather graunted him to wepe.
/ The Apostle Paul un-to the Romayns wryteth, “man shal reioyse with hem that maken Ioye, and wepen with swich folk as wepen.
” / But thogh attempree weping be y-graunted, outrageous weping certes is defended.
/2180 Mesure of weping sholde be considered, after the lore that techeth us Senek.
/ “Whan that thy freend is deed,” quod he, “lat nat thyne eyen to moyste been of teres, ne to muche drye; althogh the teres come to thyne eyen, lat hem nat falle.
” / And whan thou hast for-goon thy freend, do diligence to gete another freend; and this is more wysdom than for to wepe for thy freend which that thou hast lorn; for ther-inne is no bote.
/ And therfore, if ye governe yow by sapience, put awey sorwe out of your herte.
/ Remembre yow that Iesus Syrak seith: “a man that is Ioyous and glad in herte, it him conserveth florisshing in his age; but soothly sorweful herte maketh his bones drye.
” /2185 He seith eek thus: “that sorwe in herte sleeth ful many a man.
” / Salomon seith: “that, right as motthes in the shepes flees anoyeth to the clothes, and the smale wormes to the tree, right so anoyeth sorwe to the herte.
” / Wherfore us oghte, as wel in the deeth of our children as in the losse of our goodes temporels, have pacience.
/ 2176. E.
Pt.
stente.
2178, 2180. E.
deffended.
2182. E.
teeris.
2185. E.
florissynge.
2187. E.
Hl.
Motthes; Pt.
Cm.
mothes; Hn.
moththes; Cp.
moughtes.
2188. E.
othere (_for_ our _before_ goodes);
_rest_ oure, our.
§ 7. Remembre yow up-on the pacient Iob, whan he hadde lost his children and his temporel substance, and in his body [201] endured and receyved ful many a grevous tribulacioun; yet seyde he thus: / “our lord hath yeven it me, our lord hath biraft it me; right as our lord hath wold, right so it is doon; blessed be the name of our lord.
”’ /2190 To thise foreseide thinges answerde Melibeus un-to his wyf Prudence: ‘Alle thy wordes,’ quod he, ‘been sothe, and ther-to profitable; but trewely myn herte is troubled with this sorwe so grevously, that I noot what to done.
’ / ‘Lat calle,’ quod Prudence, ‘thy trewe freendes alle, and thy linage whiche that been wyse;
telleth your cas, and herkneth what they seye in conseiling, and yow governe after hir sentence.
/ Salomon seith: “werk alle thy thinges by conseil, and thou shalt never repente.
”’ / 2189. E.
temporeel.
2190. Cp.
haþ ȝoue [_read_ yeuen] it me; Ln.
yaue it me; Hl.
it sent vnto me; _rest omit_; _only_ Cp.
Ln.
Hl.
_repeat_ our lord.
2191. E.
therwith; _rest_ ther-to.
§ 8. Thanne, by the conseil of his wyf Prudence, this Melibeus leet callen a greet congregacioun of folk; / as surgiens, phisiciens, olde folk and yonge, and somme of hise olde enemys reconsiled as by hir semblaunt to his love and in-to his grace; /2195 and ther-with-al ther comen somme of hise neighebores that diden him reverence more for drede than for love, as it happeth ofte.
/ Ther comen also ful many subtile flatereres, and wyse advocats lerned in the lawe.
/ 2196, 7. E.
coomen.
§ 9. And whan this folk togidre assembled weren, this Melibeus in sorweful wyse shewed hem his cas; / and by the manere of his speche it semed that in herte he bar a cruel ire, redy to doon vengeaunce up-on hise foos, and sodeynly desired that the werre sholde biginne; / but nathelees yet axed he hir conseil upon this matere.
/2200 A surgien, by licence and assent of swiche as weren wyse, up roos and un-to Melibeus seyde as ye may here.
/ 2199. E.
_only ins.
_ wel _after_ semed.
E.
baar a crueel; foes.
2200. E.
Cm.
matiere; Hl.
matier.
2201. E.
Hl.
to (_for_ un-to).
§ 10. ‘Sir,’ quod he, ‘as to us surgiens aperteneth, that we do to every wight the beste that we can, wher-as we been with-holde, and to our pacients that we do no damage; / wherfore it happeth, many tyme and ofte, that whan twey men han everich wounded other, oon same surgien heleth hem bothe; / wherefore un-to our art it is nat pertinent to norice werre, ne parties to supporte.
/ But certes, as to the warisshinge of your doghter, al-be-it so that she perilously be wounded, we shullen do so ententif bisinesse fro day to night, that with the grace of god she shal be hool and [202] sound as sone as is possible.
’ /2205 Almost right in the same wyse the phisiciens answerden, save that they seyden a fewe wordes more: / ‘That, right as maladyes been cured by hir contraries, right so shul men warisshe werre by vengeaunce.
’ / His neighebores, ful of envye, his feyned freendes that semeden reconsiled, and his flatereres, / maden semblant of weping, and empeireden and agreggeden muchel of this matere, in preising greetly Melibee of might, of power, of richesse, and of freendes, despysinge the power of his adversaries, / and seiden outrely that he anon sholde wreken him on his foos and biginne werre.
/2210 2209. E.
matiere.
2210. E.
foes.
§ 11. Up roos thanne an advocat that was wys, by leve and by conseil of othere that were wyse, and seyde: / ‘Lordinges, the nede for which we been assembled in this place is a ful hevy thing and an heigh matere, / by-cause of the wrong and of the wikkednesse that hath be doon, and eek by resoun of the grete damages that in tyme cominge been possible to fallen for this same cause; / and eek by resoun of the grete richesse and power of the parties bothe; / for the whiche resouns it were a ful greet peril to erren in this matere.
/2215 Wherfore, Melibeus, this is our sentence: we conseille yow aboven alle thing, that right anon thou do thy diligence in kepinge of thy propre persone, in swich a wyse that thou ne wante noon espye ne wacche, thy body for to save.
/ And after that we conseille, that in thyn hous thou sette suffisant garnisoun, so that they may as wel thy body as thyn hous defende.
/ But certes, for to moeve werre, or sodeynly for to doon vengeaunce, we may nat demen in so litel tyme that it were profitable.
/ Wherfore we axen leyser and espace to have deliberacioun in this cas to deme.
/ For the commune proverbe seith thus: “he that sone demeth, sone shal repente.
” /2220 And eek men seyn that thilke Iuge is wys, that sone understondeth a matere and Iuggeth by leyser.
/ For al-be-it so that alle tarying be anoyful, algates it is nat to repreve in yevynge of Iugement, ne in vengeance-taking, whan it is suffisant and resonable.
/ And that shewed our lord Iesu Crist by ensample; for whan that the womman that was taken in avoutrie was broght in his presence, to knowen what sholde be doon with hir persone, al-be-it so that he wiste wel him-self what that he [203] wolde answere, yet ne wolde he nat answere sodeynly, but he wolde have deliberacioun, and in the ground he wroot twyes.
/ And by thise causes we axen deliberacioun, and we shal thanne, by the grace of god, conseille thee thing that shal be profitable.
’ / 2212, 2215. E.
matiere.
2216. E.
_om.
1st.
_ ne.
E.
p_er_sone (_for_ body).
2217. E.
sufficeant; Cp.
suffisaunt; Hn.
Pt.
suffisant.
2218. or] _so_ E. Pt; _rest_ ne.
2221. E.
matiere.
2222. E.
sufficeant; Cp.
Pt.
suffisaunt; Hn.
Ln.
suffisant.
2223. Cm.
Pt.
Hl.
of (_for_ with).
§ 12. Up stirten thanne the yonge folk at-ones, and the moste partie of that companye han scorned the olde wyse men, and bigonnen to make noyse, and seyden: that, /2225 right so as whyl that iren is hoot, men sholden smyte, right so, men sholde wreken hir wronges whyle that they been fresshe and newe; and with loud voys they cryden, ‘werre!
werre!
’ / 2225. E.
_om.
_ han.
Up roos tho oon of thise olde wyse, and with his hand made contenaunce that men sholde holden hem stille and yeven him audience.
/ ‘Lordinges,’ quod he, ‘ther is ful many a man that cryeth “werre!
werre!
” that woot ful litel what werre amounteth.
/ Werre at his biginning hath so greet an entree and so large, that every wight may entre whan him lyketh, and lightly finde werre.
/ But, certes, what ende that shal ther-of bifalle, it is nat light to knowe.
/2230 For sothly, whan that werre is ones bigonne, ther is ful many a child unborn of his moder, that shal sterve yong by-cause of that ilke werre, or elles live in sorwe and dye in wrecchednesse.
/ And ther-fore, er that any werre biginne, men moste have greet conseil and greet deliberacioun.
’ / And whan this olde man wende to enforcen his tale by resons, wel ny alle at-ones bigonne they to ryse for to breken his tale, and beden him ful ofte his wordes for to abregge.
/ For soothly, he that precheth to hem that listen nat heren his wordes, his sermon hem anoyeth.
/ For Iesus Syrak seith: that “musik in wepinge is anoyous thing;” this is to seyn: as muche availleth to speken bifore folk to whiche his speche anoyeth, as dooth to singe biforn him that wepeth.
/2235 And whan this wyse man saugh that him wanted audience, al shamefast he sette him doun agayn.
/ For Salomon seith: “ther-as thou ne mayst have noon audience, enforce thee nat to speke.
” / ‘I see wel,’ quod this wyse man, ‘that the commune proverbe is sooth; that “good conseil wanteth whan it is most nede.
”’ / 2229. Hn.
entree; Cm.
Pt.
Hl.
entre; E. Cp.
Ln.
entryng.
2235. Hn.
Cm.
Hl.
a noyous; E. anoyous; Cp.
annoyous; Pt.
noyous.
Cm.
doth;
_rest_ it is (_badly_).
2236. E.
_om.
_ whan.
E.
and al (_for_ al).
2238. E.
_om.
_ nede.
§ 13. Yet hadde this Melibeus in his conseil many folk, that [204] prively in his ere conseilled him certeyn thing, and conseilled him the contrarie in general audience.
/ Whan Melibeus hadde herd that the gretteste partie of his conseil weren accorded that he sholde maken werre, anoon he consented to hir conseilling, and fully affermed hir sentence.
/2240 Thanne dame Prudence, whan that she saugh how that hir housbonde shoop him for to wreken him on his foos, and to biginne werre, she in ful humble wyse, when she saugh hir tyme, seide him thise wordes: / ‘My lord,’ quod she, ‘I yow biseche as hertely as I dar and can, ne haste yow nat to faste, and for alle guerdons as yeveth me audience.
/ For Piers Alfonce seith: “who-so that dooth to that other good or harm, haste thee nat to quyten it; for in this wyse thy freend wol abyde, and thyn enemy shal the lenger live in drede.
” / The proverbe seith: “he hasteth wel that wysely can abyde;” and in wikked haste is no profit.
’ / 2241. E.
foes; to him (_rest om.
_ to).
2242. Pt.
guerdons; Cp.
Ln.
Hl.
guerdouns; E. Hn.
gerdons.
§ 14. This Melibee answerde un-to his wyf Prudence: ‘I purpose nat,’ quod he, ‘to werke by thy conseil, for many causes and resouns.
For certes every wight wolde holde me thanne a fool; /2245 this is to seyn, if I, for thy conseilling, wolde chaungen thinges that been ordeyned and affermed by so manye wyse.
/ Secoundly I seye, that alle wommen been wikke and noon good of hem alle.
For “of a thousand men,” seith Salomon, “I fond a good man: but certes, of alle wommen, good womman fond I never.
” / And also certes, if I governed me by thy conseil, it sholde seme that I hadde yeve to thee over me the maistrie; and god forbede that it so were.
/ For Iesus Syrak seith; “that if the wyf have maistrie, she is contrarious to hir housbonde.
” / And Salomon seith: “never in thy lyf, to thy wyf, ne to thy child, ne to thy freend, ne yeve no power over thy-self.
For bettre it were that thy children aske of thy persone thinges that hem nedeth, than thou see thy-self in the handes of thy children.
” /2250 And also, if I wolde werke by thy conseilling, certes my conseilling moste som tyme be secree, til it were tyme that it moste be knowe; and this ne may noght be.
/ [For it is writen, that “the Ianglerie of wommen can hyden thinges that they witen noght.
” / [205] Furthermore, the philosophre seith, “in wikked conseil wommen venquisshe men;” and for thise resouns I ne owe nat usen thy conseil.
’] / 2247. E.
Hn.
foond; Cm.
fond.
2248. E.
weere.
2250. see] E. be; Pt.
sese.
2251. E.
_om.
_ also.
2252, 3. _Not in the_ MSS.
, _but necessary; see_ ll.
2274, 2280, _and see_ Note.
§ 15. Whanne dame Prudence, ful debonairly and with greet pacience, hadde herd al that hir housbonde lyked for to seye, thanne axed she of him licence for to speke, and seyde in this wyse.
/ ‘My lord,’ quod she, ‘as to your firste resoun, certes it may lightly been answered.
For I seye, that it is no folie to chaunge conseil whan the thing is chaunged; or elles whan the thing semeth otherweyes than it was biforn.
/2255 And more-over I seye, that though ye han sworn and bihight to perfourne your emprise, and nathelees ye weyve to perfourne thilke same emprise by Iuste cause, men sholde nat seyn therefore that ye were a lyer ne forsworn.
/ For the book seith, that “the wyse man maketh no lesing whan he turneth his corage to the bettre.
” / And al-be-it so that your emprise be establissed and ordeyned by greet multitude of folk, yet thar ye nat accomplice thilke same ordinaunce but yow lyke.
/ For the trouthe of thinges and the profit been rather founden in fewe folk that been wyse and ful of resoun, than by greet multitude of folk, ther every man cryeth and clatereth what that him lyketh.
Soothly swich multitude is nat honeste.
/ As to the seconde resoun, where-as ye seyn that “alle wommen been wikke,” save your grace, certes ye despysen alle wommen in this wyse; and “he that alle despyseth alle displeseth,” as seith the book.
/2260 And Senek seith that “who-so wole have sapience, shal no man dispreise; but he shal gladly techen the science that he can, with-outen presumpcioun or pryde.
