Piers Plowman

by Sutton, Peter, Langland, William

  235  “God has often been at home among the hungry23

       But has never sought refuge in the ranks of the rich.

       Saint John and other saints weren’t seen in silks,

       And they prayed for alms like impoverished pilgrims.

       The Jewish gentlewoman, the mother of Jesus

  240  Was pure but poor like her penniless spouse,

       And Martha complained about Mary Magdalene

       And said to our Savior himself these words:

           Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve?24

       And promptly he replied and praised both sisters,

       Both Martha and Mary, as Matthew bears witness,

  245  But poverty he put in the higher place:

           Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.25

       “And from what I have heard, all the wise men in the world

       Have praised poverty that is borne with patience

       As bound to be better and more blessed than wealth:

       Though suffering is sour, sweetness comes after,

  250  For while a walnut has bitter walls,

       When shorn of its shell, sheltering inside,

       You’ll find a kernel of comforting kindness.

       So it is with poverty and penitent patience,

       Which make a man to be mindful of God

  255  And willing to wait and to weep for mercy.

       Christ is that kernel which comforts the soul,

       And a person who is poor sleeps more soundly

       And dreads both death and thieves in the dark

       Less than the prosperous, as is perfectly plain:

  260  A pauper plays but a rich man ponders.26

       “Although Solomon asserts,” Scripture said, “in the Bible,

           Give me neither beggary, nor riches,27

       Those wiser than Solomon have borne witness and said

       That perfect poverty means forsaking possessions,

       As Luke says, leading the life that God loves:

           If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.28

  265  For those who serve God sincerely shall suffer

       No shortage or want, as the psalmist says:

           Trust in the Lord, and thou shalt be fed.29

       They shall not be harmed or hurt by hardship—

           Because no word shall be impossible with God—30

       Nor lack for a livelihood, woolens or linen:

           They that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.31

       So priests would be wise not to pocket a penny

  270  For Masses or Matins, for meals or for clothes

       From usurers, though crying and quaking with cold.

       For Hope in God means not hoping for goods

       But toiling truly and trusting in God.

       If they did their duty, they could then say like David:

           Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy.32

  275  “The title that you take betokens ordination

       So you need no payment for repeating prayers.

       If you merit the money, the man who ordained you

       Or the bishop who blessed you should bear your wages.

       For no king would accredit a knight but decline

  280  To apportion property and payment for his office;

       A knight without lands or lineage or laurels

       Is a risible wretch, and the king a rascal.

       And I say that the same applies to priests

       With no breeding or brains, just a tonsure that’s bald,

  285  A status and title to stop you from starving.

       You count on your cloth for a curacy appointment

       Rather than learning or salubrious living,

       And I wonder why and for what any bishop

       Can appoint such priests to betray the people.”

  290  “A cheapskate charter can be challenged,” I agreed.33

       “It flouts the law if a phrase is false Latin,

       If items are added or clauses left out,

       And the scribes who scribble such stuff are all gowks.

       And so are the gowks who garble the Gospel

  295  Or make mistakes in the Mass or in Matins:

           Whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all.34

       To the skippers of lines, David says in the psalms:

           Sing praises to our God, sing ye; For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye wisely.35

       Bishops will be brought before God and blamed,

       I do believe, for ordaining duffers

       Who simply can’t sing or make sense of the Latin.”

  300  “The priests and the bishop are both to blame

       For each is ignorant,” Scripture responded,

       “Which excuses neither bishops nor clownish parish clerks.

       But complaining of priests interrupted my plaudit

       For poverty with patience, which I praise more than wealth.”

  305  I saw all this while soundly asleep,36

       And more besides that I spoke of with Scripture.

       But Nature then called me by name and announced

       I should seek for wisdom in the wonders of the world.

       On the mountain I remember as Middle Earth

  310  I was set to study every species in nature,

       And I learnt to love their loving Creator.

       I saw both the sun, the sea and the shore,

       And the birds and the beasts go about with their mates,

       Wild serpents in woods, and the striking shades

  315  Of profuse flocks of birds with variegated feathers.

       I made out man and his mate as well

       In poverty and plenty, in peace and in war,

       In merriment and misery muddled together,

       Amassing money and refusing mercy.

  320  I realized the animals were ruled by Reason

       In feeding and drinking and fecundation,

       For right after rutting and riding their mates

       They paid no more heed to each other at all.

       Both morning and night the males were removed

  325  From the females and mingled and mixed with males.

       No cow with calf, no creature with young

       Then bellowed for a bull, nor a boar for a sow;

       Neither horses nor hounds nor any other beasts

       Interfered with females in foal or with pup.

  330  I beheld the birds that were building in bushes

       Nests which we want the wit to weave,

       And I marveled who taught the magpies to make<
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       Their homes of tied and twisted twigs,

       For no carpenter could clamp them so cleanly together,

  335  No mason could mold them except by magic.

       I marveled yet more at the many more birds

       That cunningly covered and kept their eggs hidden

       In marshes and moors to disguise them from men,

       And protected them well when they went away

  340  From hunting wild beasts and hovering hawks.

       And some birds I saw squatting on their mates

       And having their offspring high in the trees,

       And some that conceived through the bill with their breath,

       And I puzzled at the peacock’s implacable trampling,37

  345  And I asked myself how and from whom the birds learnt

       To take to the trees to protect their young

       Well clear of the clutches of creatures and men.

       Then I looked on the sea and stared at the stars

       And witnessed wonders I will not tell now.

  350  I saw flowers in the forest with their feast of colors,

       And the hues that grow in the green of the grass,

       Some sour and some sweet; a miracle, it seemed,

       For I cannot describe all their colors and kinds.

       But what moved me the most and changed my mood

  355  Was that Reason ruled and recompensed beasts,

       Save man and his mate, who many times and oft,

       Both the rich and the poor, repudiated Reason.

       So I scolded Reason and said to him straight,

       “It’s strange that you, who are said to have sense,

  360  Don’t watch people warily to see they act wisely.”

       But Reason rebuffed and rebutted me bluntly:

       “What I let happen is a matter for me;

       Be wise if you will, but my task is to wait,

       For vengeance is swift, and to suffer a virtue.

  365  Who suffers more than God? Not a single soul!

       He could mend in a moment every mischief there is

       But he suffers for our sins, and so is our better.

       And from Scripture,” said Reason, “we see we must suffer:

           Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake.38

       And the French and our freemen teach children this refrain:

  370  Bele vertue est soffrance mal dire est petyt veniance,

       Bien dire et bien soffrir fait lui soffrant a bien venir.39

       “So I recommend ruling your tongue,” said Reason,

       “And before you point fingers, make sure you’ve no faults!

       For men lack the mastery to make their own selves,

  375  But if they rewarded their own supposed worth,

       They’d find themselves free of every fault!

       You’ll find but few who are fain to hear

       Their faults rehearsed before their fellows.

       As the Bible sensibly says on this subject:

           Strive not in a matter which doth not concern thee.40

  380  For however handsome or ugly a man,

       We should not shame his God-given shape;

       For all that God fashioned was fair and well-favored:

           And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good.41

       And he bade every creature increase in its kind

       For the pleasure and profit of man, who is plagued

  385  By fleshly fancies and the devil’s falsehoods.

       For man is made of such a matter

       That he’s sometimes constrained to pursue his urges;

       And Cato too finds ‘no one free of offense.’”42

       I awoke feeling worried and very unworthy,

  390  Blushing and embarrassed, bowed with shame

       And lamenting that I might have learnt more from my dreams.

       I swore to myself and sarcastically said,

       “It’s plain as a pikestaff what Do-well implies!”

       But as I looked up I heard someone ask

  395  If I knew what it signified. “Sir,” I said,

       “It means seeing much and suffering more!”

       “Had you truly suffered,” the voice said, “though sleeping,

       You’d have realized what Learning can reach through Reason,

       For Reason sheds light on the lessons of Learning.

  400  But because you kept carping you were left in the cold:

       A philosopher listens and stays silent.43

       When Adam kept his peace, his Paradise was perfect,

       But as soon as he fussed about food and aspired

       To know God’s purpose he was put out and punished.

  405  You wanted to be wiser than Reason as well,

       Putting questions and quibbles that were quite inept,

       So that Reason decided to cease his instruction.

       Now you’ll keep the company most probably of Pride

       And Presumption instead of pursuing Learning.

  410  “But no chiding or challenging will chasten a man

       Or persuade him to change as swiftly as shame.

       If a drunken dolt falls into a ditch

       Leave him to rot till he’s ready to rise.

       There’s no point in reproach for he won’t reply

  415  To lectures or lessons from Learning or Reason,

       And to blame him or beat him would be but a sin.

       But once he’s aware and worried he may die,

       He cleans up his clothes and his shins out of shame,

       And he sees how stupid his swilling has been.”

  420  “That makes sense,” I said, “for I’ve seen

       Nothing stings so smartly or smells so sour

       As a show of shame, which everyone shuns!

       You were right to reproach me for my rudeness to Reason.”

       “Just so,” he said, and he started to go,

  425  But I jumped up and hurried after him in haste,

       Requesting him kindly to declare his name.

  1Langland may be punning on his name in “Land of Longing.”

  2Again Langland appears to be referring to himself.

  3A saying of unknown origin.

  4Source not known.

  5John iii 5.

  6Leviticus xix 17 combined with 1 Timothy v 20.

  7Matthew vii 1.

  8Such wording is not found in Saint Paul’s Epistles.

  9Psalm il (=49) 21 (KJV Psalm l 21).

  10Source unknown. The preceding line is omitted to avoid repetition.

  11Isaiah lv 1.

  12Mark xvi 16.

  13Psalm cxliv 9 (KJV Psalm cxlv 9).

  14Langland is probably thinking of the best-known compilation, the thirteenth-century Legenda aureum (Golden Legend) by Jacobus or Giacomo de Voragine.

  15It is again not clear who speaks lines 172–304. In the C version, Reckless
ness is once more the speaker, but it is more logical that Scripture should continue the argument.

  161 John iii 14. A line is then omitted to avoid repetition.

  17Luke xiv 12. A preceding line is omitted to avoid repetition.

  18Newborn babes: 1 Peter ii 2.

  19John viii 34.

  20Galatians vi 2.

  21Not John but Matthew vii 2.

  22Not known among Saint Gregory’s works.

  23Here a line almost identical to Line 228 is omitted.

  24Luke x 40.

  25Not Matthew but Luke x 42.

  26A saying from the twelfth-century Alexander of Villedieu (Schmidt p. 179).

  27Proverbs xxx 8.

  28Not Luke but Matthew xix 21. Four subsequent lines are omitted to avoid repetition.

  29Psalm xxxvi 3 (KJV Psalm xxxvii 3). This quotation is only in Skeat.

  30Luke i 37, cf. Matthew xvii 19 (KJV Matthew xvii 20).

  31Psalm xxxiii 11 (KJV Psalm xxxiv 10).

  32Psalm xlii 1 (KJV Psalm xliii 1). A line very similar to line 268 is omitted.

  33Since Langland refers later to his continuing debate with Scripture it is reasonable to give these lines to the narrator.

  34James ii 10.

  35Psalm xlvi 7–8 (KJV Psalm xlvii 6–7).

  36He wakes from his dream within a dream, but is still sleeping.

  37It was believed that the peacock destroyed even his own fertilized eggs in order to continue indulging his lust. The notion of conception through the bill goes back to Aristotle.

  381 Peter ii 13.

  39“Suffering is a virtue, swearing is small vengeance; gentle speech and suffering bring future rewards.” French was still spoken in polite society.

  40Ecclesiasticus xi 9. (Ecclesiasticus is regarded as Apocryphal in KJV.)

  41Genesis i 31.

  42Dionysius Cato, Distich i 5.

  43Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae Book 2 Prosa 7.

  Step XII

  In which the voice, my own Imagination, explains Do-well, Do-better and Do-best as living humbly at home, avoiding riches and respecting true learning rather than pursuing speculation, for there are some things that only Nature can know. God will grant grace to the meek, although the penitent thief will still sit lower in heaven than the saint. All one can do is live by God’s law. I try to argue, but Imagination vanishes.

       “My name,” he announced, “is Imagination.

       I have sat by myself in sickness and in health

       For forty-five winters, waking and watching,