# Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 42

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XLII
This tells how Phanie to the king Gave warning that his pride would bring Him shameful death. The dream but sung His knell, when he on gallows hung.
Phanie’s interpretation “‘Fair father,’ quoth the damosel, ‘This dream but rings your passing bell;
I count your pride not worth a cock;6891 The jade hight Fortune doth but mock And jeer at you; by this portent I clearly read that she is bent That you, ere long, on gallows tree Shall perish; and while mournfully, The sport of winds, it swings in air, Heaven’s rain upon your body bare Shall beat, and then the scorching sun Shall dry it. So doth Fortune run6900 Against you. She but gives and takes As pleaseth her; one while she makes The highest nought, and then amain The pauper setteth up again In wealth or splendour. Why should I Betray your heart with flattery? Fortune hath ruthlessly assigned You to the gibbet, and will bind The halter close about your neck, And that gold crown that now doth deck6910 Your well-loved head will she uplift Therefrom, and then as royal gift ​Bestow it where you dream not. Hear, While yet I make my rede more clear: Jupiter and Apollo God Jupiter, who you did wash, Is air and cloud, whose rains shall lash Your corpse; and Phœbus, who bedried Your body, clearly typified The sun; the high beech tree, What should it but the gallows be?6920 This cruel path you needs must tread, Dear father; on your glorious head Will Fortune wreak her wrath as one Whose arrogant pride hath vengeance won: No man, whate’er his dignity. More than an apple counteth she. High loyalty or treachery base, Lordly estate or pauper case, Are one to her. As shuttlecock Which playful damsels lightly knock6930 Hither and thither, so doth she Toss gifts and favours recklessly, Without a thought whereso they fall, On mansion proud or cobbler’s stall. For good or bad hath she no care, All, all alike her giftings share; She valueth none above a pea, Saving her child Nobility, Misfortune’s cousin, and her friend, Who doth in Fortune’s balance pend.6940 But Fortune, though she take away Nobility from whom she may, Will deal it forth to none except Such as through every change have kept ​Them pure in heart and courteous, Upright, and good, and generous. For never yet was man so bold In field, but, if he chanced to hold In heart some baseness, then would flee Far from him fair Nobility.6950
True Nobility Nobility I greatly prize, Because mean spirits in her eyes Are hateful, and I meekly pray, Dear father, that you cast away All proud and villain thought, and reign The good man’s prop, the bad man’s bane. Make your dear heart the dwelling-place Of gentle love and tender grace For all poor folk; ’tis well a king The portals of his heart should fling6960 Wide open. O my father, deign To list my speech, you then shall gain The people’s love; that lacking, poor Is greatest king as rudest boor.’
O Phanie, precious words were these. But never fool his folly sees In other light than worthiest sense, Wisdom he hears, but learns nought thence.
Thus Crœsus’ heart was obdurate, And sternly scorned he to abate6970 His pride; if herein wise was he, Or foolish, thou ere long shalt see.
Crœsus makes answer to Phanie.
The fall of pride ‘My daughter, neither courtesy Nor sense you show herein,’ quoth he; ‘Much better versed am I than you In what the Gods propose to do; You do but treat me to a lie, Interpreting most shamefully This riddle hid within my dream: Your gloss approacheth the extreme Of witlessness: my dream will be Fulfilled, I doubt not, literally: Sure ne’er before did prophet dare To shadow forth for dream so fair Such vile fulfilment. Yet will come The Gods from out their sky-built home, To work the end that they in sleep Foretold to me, and I shall reap, Dear child, from them such high reward As they to those they love accord,6990 For well have I deserved of them.’”
Reason.
“Alas! the boastful apophthegm! Fortune laid hand on him and gave His body wastefully to wave In wind and storm on gibbet hung, And last be o’er the desert flung.
Doth this not plainly demonstrate No man can cause her wheel to wait ​Or stay its course, and thus be able, Honour attained, to keep him stable?7000 | And dost thou aught of logic know (Which falsity from truth doth show), Thou’lt see, where great and strong men fall, For poor and weak, the chance how small! Manfred of Sicily But if examples thou shouldst scorn From old authentic writings torn, Then is it well that thou shouldst learn That if thou wilt, thou need’st but turn For good examples which have been Before the eyes of all men seen,7010 Writ large for us in later days. Of turmoils, battles, and affrays. In Sicily we first may see Lord Manfred, who by treachery Long time unchallenged kept the land, Till Charles of Anjou’s mighty hand O’ercame him, and there reigns to-day, Where no man dares dispute his sway. Him thou mayst better know perchance As Count of Anjou and Provence,7020 And who by providence of God Is lord of Sicily’s fair sod. This good King Charles from Manfred took His kingdom not alone, but strook The life from him; when he, with sword Fine tempered, on the battle sward Where first they met assailed him; high On towering war-horse mounted: ‘Die,’ He cried, ‘shalt thou, for check and mate I give thee,’ but soon met his fate,7030 ​Amid his goodly company, By arrow-stroke, death pierced, fell he. Death of Conradin It scarcely needs my page to blot By telling of the woful lot Of Conradin, whom Charles decreed To death, although for him did plead The German princes; or how fell Henry, the prince of Spain as well, In prison slain, as guerdon good For one whose treason shamed manhood.7040 These two rash, foolish men, I ween, Lost knights and rooks, and pawns and queen, Till, seeing all against them scored, They fled and left swept clear, the board. Great fear they had lest round them spun Should be the web they had begun, Yet ne’er need they have been afraid Lest they should see check-mate arrayed Against them, since devoid of king They fought, their foes could nowise bring7050 Those into check with whom they played, Since first this noble game was made, For never men at chess can fight (How great soe’er the power they dight) With check ’gainst those who fight afoot, The pawn, or rook, or fool to boot, Nor queen or knight, nor all the hoard Of commoners who fill the board. For of a truth I dare to state What meaneth that men call ‘a mate’;7060 The king it is to whom we give ‘Check,’ when his men have ceased to live, ​Or captive stand, and none he sees Around him save his enemies, And thus doth he in check remain, Escape debarred, resistance vain. The game of chess And thus saith Attains the wise, Who did the game of chess devise
With worthy wit; its subtle trick He found when deep arithmetic7070 He taught, and Polycraticus, Of John of Sarum, showeth us How he the intricate movements set, Wherewith the game is played e’en yet.
From off the field these leaguers cleared, Since to be captive ta’en they feared Most bitterly. What say I then? They feared captivity, these men? Nay, but far worse; fierce death they fled, Which ne’ertheless they sufferèd,7080 For in this wretched game had they With impious daring played their play. Despising faith, estranged from God, They madly his chastising rod Had bared their backs to; Holy Church They braved, and found them left a-lurch. And if their fortunes lay in wreck, And on them cried their foes ‘a check!’ What wonder? Who would cover them, Or who their tide of misery stem?7090 For when the onset came their queen They lost, as well might be foreseen, And then this worthless, foolish king Lost rooks, knights, pawns, and everything. ​Forsooth she nought was present there But worn with grief, and wan with care Could not defend herself nor flee, Hearing how Manfred wretchedly Lay dead and cold, head, hands, and feet. Charles of Anjou And when these tidings men repeat7100 To good King Charles, how both these men Like caitiffs fled the combat, then On both he freely worked his will, Giving command to slay and kill Them and their fellows who had stood To aid their impious hardihood.
This noble prince, whose deeds I sing, Of many a tale hath been the spring. May God preserve both night and day His body, soul, and heirs I pray,7110 And grant such wisdom as ne’er fails: The pride he conquered of Marseilles, Whose rebel burghers’ heads lopped he Ere yet high rule in Sicily To him was given, where he as king Was crowned, and vicar minist’ring For all the Empire: but to write His deeds at full must one indite A ponderous tome. See what became Of all these favourites of fame7120 And Fortune. Doth she not, I ask. Make fools of those who calmly bask Beneath her smiles? At first they find All fair, then comes a stab behind. ​And thou, who joy’dst to kiss the Rose, Through which to thee such misery grows As seems would never more abate, Dost thou desire it for thy fate Ever to live in soft delight Kissing fair roses, day and night?7130 Now swear I stoutly by my head, Good sense within thee seemeth dead. Victims of Fortune Lest thou beneath thy sorrow sink, I counsel thee to muse and think Of Manfred and of Conradin And Henry, who, than Saladin, Did deadlier crimes, since war they made ’Gainst Holy Church their nurse, who laid Her curse on them, and mark how died Those of Marseilles through fatal pride.7140 With ancient lore too well acquaint Art thou that I again need paint Vile Nero’s crime, or Crœsus’ fall, Such lessons might’st thou well recall, Showing how vain their power to stay The turn of Fortune’s wheel one day. I’faith! the freeman who in pride Of freedom scorneth all beside, Forgets how mighty Crœsus fell From freedom’s heaven to serfdom’s hell,7150 And in his memory holds he not Sad Hecuba’s unhappy lot, The wife of Priam, nor the fate Of Sisygambis, who the great Darius, king of Persia, bore, Yet Alexander fell before; ​All these o’er realms in freedom reigned, Yet slaves became when Fortune waned. Study Homer’s page ’Fore God I count it shame to thee That, having studied history,7160 Thou ne’ertheless hast clean forgot Examples which thou well shouldst wot From out great Homer’s page; why spend Thy time in reading if the end Is but forgetfulness, and nought Thou hast by all thy study bought? Who is there if thou still lackst wit Except thyself to thank for it? Each man great benefit will find If Homer’s lessons in his mind7170 Are duly stored; each word he said Should be with care rememberèd While life endures, and he whose heart Pastures thereon shall ne’er depart From wisdom’s ways, but surely know To tread her holy path, nor go Therefrom: he no mischance need fear, But safely through the world may steer, Whatever haps of good or bad, Hard, soft, sweet, bitter, bright or sad.7180 For he so perfectly doth paint Dame Fortune’s tricks and manners quaint, That every man may mark the sense Who’s blest with slight intelligence. ’Tis strange thy brain should lie a-waste If e’er thou Homer’s wit didst taste, But this insensate game of love Would seem all better sense to shove ​Aside. To make my meaning clear I’ll tell a tale, thereto give ear:7190
Jupiter’s two wells Great Jupiter hath dight two wells Or water-tuns, as Homer tells, Before the threshold of his door, From which nor youth nor grandsire hoar, Nor buxom dame, nor damsel slim, (Nor young nor old, nor fair nor grim), Who at his hands their being take, But drink a draught their thirst to slake, And o’er this inn, to all men free, Fortune presides as deity,7200 And open-handed doth assign To all who come, of well-spiced wine Or wormwood, great or little cups, But every man some liquor sups; Her hand deals out or more or less, As pleaseth best her fickleness. And day by day the drinkers come For barrels, hogsheads, gallons some, And some for quarts and pints, or e’en A palmful or a suplet mean,7210 As Fortune chooseth to bestow, And cross or kind she haps to grow; For while to some she’s soft and good, To others hard as ebon wood. And no man such great happiness Can boast him, but that some distress Shall come to dash his cup of joy; Yet shall not misery destroy Wise men’s content and peace of mind, But each in darkest hour shall find7220 ​Some comforting, unless despair O’erwhelm them. None, how great soe’er His wisdom or his learning be, For this can find a remedy.
Sighs and tears unmanly What purpose think you then can serve These sighs and tears which so unnerve Thy manhood? Cheerfully accept Whatever Fortune’s hand hath kept In store for thee of good or bad, Joyous or dull, or bright or sad.7230
’Twere vain to tell the many turns Of Fortune’s wheel, by which she earns The name of fickle; pile and cross She plays, a game of gain and loss, And Fortune so her gifts doth cast Around, that whether first or last A man may be, he scarce can say On loss or gain from day to day.
Of her awhile I’ll stay my tongue, Although perchance I may ere long7240 Return thereto, when unto three Righteous requests thou answerest me, For readily from lips depart Those things a man hath most at heart. And shouldst thou my requests refuse, In no degree mayst thou excuse Thy folly, that can spare thee shame. I firstly then request and claim Thy love, and next that thou reject Dan Cupid, thirdly, nought expect7250 ​From Fortune; and if thou too weak Feel for this triple bond, I’ll seek To spare thy strength, and will but ask One simple boon, to light thy task. List then my first demand; if thou Thereto with ready heart wilt bow, Then shalt thou from the other two Be freed. The example of Socrates Unless thy mind askew Be turned as one who’s drunk or mad, Thou’lt see that he whose soul is clad7260 In Reason’s garb must needs despise Fortune and Love in carnal guise. My well-loved friend, great Socrates, Was one who scorned the vanities Of Fortune and of Love alike, God grant his great example strike Thy heart, and make it one with mine, And nought for this, as I opine, Is lacking but thy word. Grant this, My first request, and then, ywis,7270 Thou of the other two art quit, Unglue thy lips, and therefrom flit Thy answer—does thy heart agree? Cry yea! and thou shalt find thee free From further quests. Serve me alone, Nor suffer treacherous love to wone Within thy breast. Cupid hath trapped Thy courage, and thy memory sapped, And round thy spirit’s eyes doth bind A web whose woof obscures thy mind.”7280
Here the Lover replies to Reason.
Love before all else “Nay, nay!” I cried, “that would but be To treat my master treacherously, Who hath the power to make me rich With wealth that monarchs’ palms might itch In vain for. His kind hand will give To me the Rose if I but live True to my oath, and if I gain That prize, I count all else but vain. Your Socrates, and all his riches, I value not three bodkin stitches;7290 I pray you speak of him no more; My master, Love, I prize before Aught else, and joyfully confess His might, his love, his tenderness. Nay, though he led the way to hell
I’d follow him and cry ‘’tis well. My heart belongs no more to me, ’Tis his to deal with utterly, And past persuasion am I loth To make to any other oath7300 Of fealty; my testament Fair-Welcome hath, wherein I’ve spent My very soul; my fate is sealed By law that ne’er can be repealed. My precious Rose I would not change For all your promise, nor estrange My heart therefrom. It seems to me You lack the flower of courtesy, For erstwhile did you cullions name, A word no maid, with sense of shame,7310 ​Reason reproached Would set her tongue to. More than much I marvel one so sage should smutch Her speech with such a phrase, unless She glossed it into seemliness. Oft have I heard a gentle nurse Washing an infant say ‘the purse’ (While she her love on it hath spent With many a kiss and blandishment) For that you named so shamelessly. Speak out and say then, do I lie?”7320
Then Reason smiled a merry smile. And smiling, thus she spake the while:
Reason.
“Fair friend, I may with justice call (Yet nowise under censure fall) That by its name which if not good Is nothing ; no unseemlihood I see therein. I feel no shame For that which none as sin can blame. Nay, even though ’twere thing unfit, Yet may I fitly speak of it.7330 Rest you assured that when of sin A matter savours, nought therein Would I take part. But ’tis without A taint of sin to speak about Such things as God’s own hands have made, Free of all gloss, and unafraid Discourse of what in paradise Our Maker ordered to suffice ​For carrying on the human race (Formed in the image of his face),7340 And which, except for these, had been Void of succession, as I ween. But in his wisdom God supplied The purse and staff, which might provide, By natural force, the race of men In undisturbed succession; then From age to age would mother earth Rejoice, from whom they erst had birth. For when one dies another lives; That sire God takes, this child he gives.7350 And so likewise with beast and bird, Some flit, but nature’s force hath stirred Others to fill their place; through time Ring life and death in equal chime.”
The Lover.
The Lover feels outraged Cried I, “You do but make things worse, For now I reckon most perverse And lewd your speech, not only bad You seem to me, but downright mad. For if so be that everything From God’s unerring hand doth spring,7360 As you have said, at least not he ’Twas taught your tongue this ribaldry.”
Reason.
“Fair friend,” wise Reason said, “thou mak’st A grievous error if thou tak’st Folly for valiance; that it ne’er Hath been, nor shall be; speak, nor spare, ​If so thou wilt, my heart is fain Thy good esteem and lore to gain; Talk on if so thou wilt, and I Will stand to hear thee silently.7370 Ready am I to suffer all That may be; so thou dost not fall From bad to worse, I care not how Thou treat’st me, I my neck will bow. Reason defends herself It seems as if thou’dst draw me on To talk as fool or simpleton: That is but vain, for thine own good I speak to thee with hardihood: Thine enemy forsooth were I If I should stoop me angrily7380 To check thy folly. Vengeance is An evil weapon, but, ywis, Slander is worse. Some fitter way Than that I’d surely find to pay My vengeance were I thereto driven; And if it happed that you had given By word or deed offence to me, ’Twould be more fit that secretly I gave reproof without disgrace Or shame to thee; and if in face7390 Of kind and friendly counsel thou Laughed me to scorn, ’twere then, I trow, Better before some magistrate, Whate’er the grievance were, to state It calmly, and redress amain, Receive or other vengeance gain Unblameful. No desire to scold My neighbours have I, or to hold ​Them up to scorn, nor through my tongue Shall good or evil folk be stung.7400 Let all and each their burdens bear, And each and all confess them where It please them, or confess them not, The case is none of mine, God wot. No lust have I to say or do Such things as folly lead unto. Although to keep a silent tongue May be small merit, yet among The foulest crimes it is to say Things it behoves us hide away.7410
The tongue needs a bridle The tongue hath sorely need of rein, As Ptolemy doth well explain In that fair book, the ‘Almagest’; For in its opening he addressed Himself to show that those do well Who keep their tongues beneath the spell Of silence, saving when they raise Loud voice to God in prayer or praise, For then need men seek no excuse However much their tongues they loose,7420 For never yet was tongue too free In praising God’s high majesty. Of due obedience, love, and fear No mortal who life’s bark doth steer E’er gave his God too much; his gift It is that man from earth may lift His soul to heaven. Great Cato said The same, as those well know who’ve read His book, for we therein may find He hath the highest praise assigned7430 ​To those who strictly keep the tongue ’Neath bridle; ‘Be not found among Such folk as let their tongues run wild In foolish, brutal speech, but filed And polished be thy words:’ much good Christians may learn from paganhood.
A daughter of the Deity On one thing will I make remark, Although it be without a spark Of hatred, blame or bitterness. Saving thy grace, thou dost express7440 Thyself in terms which but reveal That thou within thy heart dost feel Displeasure great ’gainst me, and why? My Father, who beyond the sky Rules o’er the angels and no less Is than the type of nobleness To those on earth, most graciously Hath in all good instructed me, I by his precepts guide my speech, Nor hesitate to give to each7450 Created thing its proper name, Free from all gloss; but if you claim That when God made all things ’twas not From him they names distinctive got, I answer that herein forsooth Your words are not divorced from truth, Though had it pleased him, well he might Have done so when the world he dight. But his good pleasure ’twas that I Should name all things distinctively,7460 And indicate their use and sense To further man’s intelligence, ​And thereto gave he me that gift Of speech, which man o’er brutes doth lift, But to thy folly doth appear More comely as it grows less clear. Thou good authority mayst find For that I say, if so inclinèd, For, in his school, great Plato said, That God the gift of talking shed7470 On man that, learning, he might teach Others, and greater learning reach.
No names unseemly This proverb which I set in rhyme, Was taught by Plato in old time (Than whom ne’er lived more witful wight) Within the book Timæus hight. And since a word thou tak’st to task I used erewhile, I dare to ask Before the face of God, if I Perchance had called Jove’s cullions by7480 The name of relics, and had named Saints’ relics cullions, hadst thou blamed That name and straightway wouldst thou find Relics in no degree behind The other as a blameful word? ’Twas I who gave the names which stirred Your anger, and they are to me Devoid all taint of ribaldry. One’s free to use such words, i’faith, Yet rest assured that nought he saith7490 To reprehend. Now if I’d named The cullions relics, nought ashamed Thou’dst been thereat, but hadst been fired With approbation, and admired ​The word as something quite divine, And in the church wouldst thou incline Thine head before them set in gold And silver, and wouldst doubtless hold Thy breath whilst with adoring kiss Thou knelt’st before them. God, who is7500 All wise, will note the word I say, Yet nought will turn his face away In wrath. Modern squeamishness By body of Saint Omer! Dream’st thou that I do ill whene’er I mention God’s good work? Shall I To suit thee blame the Deity? Each thing it pleased him to create Must be by some name designate, Therefore is thy contention dross, That names for things we needs must gloss.7510 If noble dames of France use not These words, the reason is, I wot, Simply because the usance they Have lost in this our squeamish day. But if the fashion ’twas, no sin Or harm fair dames would find therein.
In all the world there’s nought more strong Than custom, whether right or wrong. Men hate new ways until they through Time’s course are old, which once were new.7520 Each woman who essays to speak Hereof some periphrase will seek As purse and staff, or things, or horns (E’en as she gloved her hand ’gainst thorns). But time and place according, nought Objects if by such thorns she’s caught, ​And following custom gives a name To suchlike things, untouched by shame. Plain speech is good No fault I find therewith, but I My privilege claim equally7530 A thistle not to call a rose, Or otherwise good words to gloze.
Within the schools one oft may hear Lessons in parables made clear, But grievous error those would make Who should each word for gospel take. And when of cullions I discoursed. You put upon that word a forced And needless sense. When I to you Of those things spake, ’twas with the view7540 Of showing briefly what I meant In parable, thereto was bent My reasoning. Whosoe’er should see The words of scripture literally, Ere long would pierce the sense obscure That lies beneath their coverture. Uplift the veil that hideth truth, And bright it flashes forth forsooth. This shalt thou find if thou rehearse The noble stories writ in verse7550 By ancient poets. Great delight Will flood thy soul if thou aright Dost read, for thou shalt see unrolled Secret philosophy of old, Profiting thou amused shalt be, And thine amusement profit thee, For oft their quip and crank and fable Is wondrous good and profitable, ​And much deep subtle thought they hide ’Neath veils torn easily aside.7560 Now have I given two words that should By thee be scarce misunderstood, And best were taken by the letter, Gloss them thou mayst, but nought wilt better.”
The Lover.
The Lover forgoes blame “Lightly will all who know the tongue Of our fair France allow you strung Your words so clearly that no man In any sort or fashion can Misunderstand them. Needless quite Is further talk to prove you right.7570 The fiction, fable, metaphor, That poets wrote in days of yore, I’ve no intention to expound. Right joyfully will I resound The pleasant tale of what hath happed To me, if but my life be capped With such rich guerdon as should pay My constancy for many a day, In suchwise as all men might see Clearly whate’er hath happed to me.7580 I grant you to be well excused The manner you your tongue have used, And nowise shall I strive to fit Your phrase with gloss, nor think of it. But for sweet sake of God above, Forbear to blame my ardent love. If I be mad, ’tis my affair, And well content am I to bear ​The yoke of Love, and ever be A slave ’neath his sweet mastery.7590 If I am mad, regard me not, To Love I’m vowed, whate’er my lot, And to the Rose have given troth-plight: If wrong, ’tis wrong; if right, ’tis right. If now my love I gave to you, Alas! I then must prove untrue To my sweet Rose, and can but be A traitor either unto thee Reason dismissed Or Love, my master. But I’ve said Already, that my heart is dead7600 To all except the Rose, and when With tiresome talk you press me, then I feel outwearied; I shall fly Your presence if persistently You talk against my love, for she Is more than all the world to me.”