Читать книгу The Political Songs of England: From the Reign of John to That of Edward II - Various - Страница 13

[MS. Harl. No. 978. fol. 105, v^o. reign of Hen. III.]

Contra avaros.

Quam sit lata scelerum et quam longa tela

Sub qua latent pectora vitiis anhela,

Musa vultu lugubri refer et revela,

Si curas cor spectantis tetigisse querela.

Pensant vota miseræ gentis et prophanæ

Non virtutis pretium, set lini vel lanæ;

Vespere quod agitur est infectum mane,

O curas hominum, o quantum est [in] rebus inane!

Est ad jura quilibet oculus obtusus;

Omnis ad injurias animus diffusus;

Ad fortunæ prodeunt aleas et usus

Mille hominum spes et rerum discolor usus.

Cum Sabinæ conferant saltum meretrici,

Pauperizent Arabes sub toga mendici,

Suo neget Tydeus fidem Polynici,

Spectatum admissi, risum teneatis, amici?

Singulos per singula si nosse labores,

Qui cultores otii, qui doli structores,

Qui ministri Mammonæ, qui Dei spretores,

Ætatis cujusque notandi sunt mores.

Puer pede certior, odit fores, foras

Fugit, minus minimis colit res, honoras,

Et iram post gaudia, breves rumpens moras,

Colligit et ponit, temere mutatur in horas.

A custode juvenis evolat et seris,

Gaudet equis, canibus, aleis, et meris,

Venator libidinis, auceps mulieris,

Utilium tardus provisor, prodigus æris.

Vir ut præsit civibus, imperet prætori,

Ut extendat prædia fune longiori,

Et impregnet scrinia censu pleniori;

Quærit opes et amicitias, inservit honori.

Multa circumveniunt senem casus duri,

Vel quod eget, abstinens, census perituri,

Vel quod tractat gelide res, ut prosint furi,

Dilator, spe longus, iners, avidusque futuri.

Sic ætates variat temporum respectus,

Transit ætas tenera cordis in affectus,

Vir in alta, sed ei quem torquet senectus,

Fervet avaritia miseraque cupidine pectus.

Omnis ad hoc hominum animus senescit,

Qui dum quærit extra se res, quærens se nescit,

Non rebus crescentibus ambitus quiescit;

Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit.

Sed hoc uno veniam vitium meretur,

Quod cum rerum dominis semper dominetur;

Tanto mens conspectius quæ nil reveretur

Crimen habet, quanto qui peccat major habetur.

Roma, turpitudinis jacens in profundis,

Virtutes præposterat opibus inmundis,

Vacillantis animi fluctuans sub undis,

Diruit, ædificat, mutat quadrata rotundis.

Vultus blandos asperat, quibus nunc arrisit;

Sinu fovet placido quos prius elisit;

Dum monetam recipit, tractat, et revisit;

Quod petiit, spernit, repetit quod nuper omisit.

Si non recte percipit quocumque modo rem,

Et quem primo didicit non oblita morem,

Morem testæ redolet, quæ diutiorem

Quo semel est inbuta recens servabit odorem.

Coram cardinalibus, coram patriarcha,

Libra libros, reos res, Marcum vincit marca,

Tantumque dat gratiæ lex non parco parca,

Quantum quisque sua nummorum servat in arca.

Si stateram judicum quæris, quæras ære,

Cum ab ære pendeat gratia stateræ;

Non quæras inducias, sed quod quærunt quære,

Unde habeas quærit nemo, sed oportet habere.

Commissus notario munera suffunde;

Statim causæ subtrahet, quando, cur, et unde,

Et formæ subjiciet canones rotundæ,

Quem res plus nimio delectavere secundæ.

Roma cunctos erudit ut ad opus transvolent,

Plus quam Deo Mammonæ cor et manus inmolent,

Sic nimirum palmites mala stirpe redolent,

Cui caput infirmum cetera membra dolent.

Calcant archipræsules colla cleri prona,

Et extorquent lacrimas ut emungant dona;

Nec, si ferunt miseri pauca, vel non bona,

Æquis accipient animis, donantve corona.

Si de contumelia cæperit quis conqueri,

Statim causæ porrigunt aurem, manum muneri;

Si semel acceperint rem pluralis numeri,

Cras poterunt fieri turpia sicut heri.

Diligit episcopus hilarem datorem,

Fas et nefas ausus post muneris odorem,

Nescius resumere, post lapsum pudorem,

Ejectum semel attrita de fronte ruborem.

Nec archidiacono minor turpitudo,

Quem semel arripuit serio vel ludo

Tenet, nec misertus est inopi vel nudo;

Non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo.

Decanus insidias natus ad æternas,

Ut exploret symbolum et res subalternas,

Mutans linguæ modulum et vestes hesternas,

Migrat in obscuras humili sermone tabernas.

Presbiter quæ mortui quæ dant vivi, quæque

Refert ad focariam, cui dat sua seque;

Ille sacri nominis, ille mentis æquæ,

Legem qui Domini meditatur nocte dieque.

Fulti verbis laici cleri delinquentis,

Non tam verbis inhiant quam famæ docentis:

Nec sensus sic flectere minis aut tormentis

Humanos edicta valent, quam vita regentis.

Regna movent principes statusque lascivi,

Ut ducant exercitus, pœnam donativi

Infligentes rustico miseroque civi;

Quicquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi.

Qui regni vel curiæ curis accinguntur,

Dum arrident detrahunt, et dum blandiuntur

Jacturam vel dedecus semper moliuntur;

Nulla fides pietasve viris qui castra sequuntur.

Si te civis percipit, demollit ut urat,

Si dena contuleris mutuum futurat,

Te de tuo submovet, percipe, dum durat;

Pone merum et talos pereat, qui crastina curat.

Si quis ad forensium domos devolutus

Censum palam deferat, et minus astutus,

Nam cum cubans dormiet fessus et imbutus,

Vivitur ex rapto, non hospes ab hospite tutus.

Sic raptus, insidiæ, dolus, et simultas

Reddunt gentes devias, miseras, et stultas;

Sic inescant omnium mentes inconsultas

Ambitus, et luxus, et opum metuenda facultas.

Sed quid confert miseris luxus aut potestas

Qui spretis virtutibus colunt res funestas,

Aurum, gemmas, purpuram, et opes congestas?

Cum labor in dampno est, crescit mortalis egestas.

Quid ad rem, de purpura, gemmis, auro, rure?

Assunt cum divitiis odia, jacturæ,

Placita, jejunia, metus, et de jure

Insompnes longo veniunt ex agmine curæ.

Regnat pauper tutius quam rerum collator,

Qui, dum rapit domini gratiam delator,

Vel onustum spoliat prudens spoliator;

Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.

Sæpe vivunt gratius rebus destituti,

Sub exili tegete lateris aut luti,

Quam in regum domibus mollibus induti;

Serviet æternum qui parvo nesciet uti.

Sed si quæris copiam veræ facultatis,

Rejice superflua, cole quod est satis,

Exue divitias, nudus cede fatis;

Tolle moram, nocuit semper differre paratis.

Si dum iter arripis ad utiliora,

Spem metus dissuadeat, vel successus mora,

Animum ne revoces, nec reflectas lora,

Grata superveniet quæ non sperabitur hora.

Thesaurizes illud quo non potes abuti,

Curam gerens inopis, cæci, claudi, muti;

Animæ, non animo servias vel cuti,

Pauca voluptati debentur, plura saluti.

Nemo regis solio tutus, vel asylo,

Cum nec lingua nequeat exprimi vel stilo

Quam sub fato pendulo vicinoque pilo,

Omina sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo.

Prospere dum navigas æquoris extremum,

Pensa non præsentia, sed futura demum,

Et puppim considerans, non proram vel remum,

Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum.

Translation.—How wide and how long is the web of crimes with which our breasts, choked with vices, are enveloped, tell, and reveal, O muse, with a mournful countenance, if you care to touch the heart of the spectator with your lament.—The wretched and profane people seem to form their wishes in consideration, not of the price of virtue, but of flax or wool: what is done in the evening is unwrought in the morning. O cares of men! O how much emptiness there is in things!—Every eye is blind to justice; every mind is large to injustice; a thousand hopes of men and the differing aspects of things depend on the dice and uses of fortune.—When chaste maidens join in dance with the strumpet, when the Arabs play the pauper under the robe of a beggar, when Tydeus denies his faith to his Polynices, then, if you are admitted to the spectacle, my friends, can you restrain your laughter?—If you are anxious to know all men by their several failings, who practise sloth, who are the plotters of treason, who the servants of Mammon, who the despisers of God, we must observe the manners of every age of life.—The boy, as he learns the use of feet, hates the doors, flies abroad; he respects things and honours less than the least; anger and joy succeed each other with short intervals, for his changes are sudden.—The youth flies from his tutor and confinement; he delights in horses, dogs, dice, and wine, a hunter of his pleasures, whose occupation is with women, a slow provider of useful things, prodigal of money.—When arrived at manhood, that he may rule the citizens and dictate to the prætor, that he may extend his possessions with a longer cable, and fill his bags with greater treasure, he seeks riches and friendships, and is a slave to honours.—Many serious troubles surround the old man, either that, from stinginess, he spares his perishing wealth, or that he handles his riches with fear, lest they should fall to the thief; he is one who delays long, depending on hope, inactive, and greedy of the future.—Thus difference of time causes variety of ages; the tender age is occupied on the affections of the heart, the man on lofty things, but he whom old age bends, his breast glows with avarice and miserable cupidity.—In this respect the whole mind of men grows old, which, while it seeks things external, is ignorant of itself in the pursuit; ambition is not quieted by success: the love of money increases as fast as the money itself increases.—But in this point alone may vice claim some credit, that it is always prevalent among the great; yet that disposition which respects no control is the more conspicuously criminal, in proportion as the sinner occupies a higher station.—Rome, lying in the depths of turpitude, ranks virtues beneath filthy lucre; fluctuating under the waves of a vacillating mind, she overthrows, builds, and changes square things for round.—She despises the bland countenances at which but now she smiled; she cherishes in her placid breast those whom before she rolled down; while she receives money, she treats and revises: what she sought she despises, and seeks again what lately she let go.—If she does not perceive rightly a thing in any manner whatever, and has not forgotten the custom which she first learnt, she smells of the custom of the cask, which will keep very long the odour with which it was once endued while fresh.—Before the cardinals and before the patriarch, a pound overcomes the Bible, money the accused, and a marc Mark, the law sparing to him who is not sparing, gives only as much grace as each has money in his purse.—If you seek the balance of the judges, you should seek it with copper, since the favour of the balance hangs from copper; you should not ask respite, but ask what they ask; whence you obtain it nobody will inquire, but you needs must have it.—When you are turned over to the notary, pour out your bribes; he will at once extricate you from your cause, when, why, or whence it may arise, and will subject the canons to the form that is round (i. e. the coin), whom prosperity delights not a little.—Rome teaches all that they should fly over to expediency, that they should offer heart and hand to Mammon rather than to God; thus it happens that the branches smell of a bad root; where the head is infirm, the other members are in pain.—The archbishops tread under foot the necks of the clergy, and extort tears in order that they may be dried by gifts; nor, if the poor wretches bring few or not good ones, do they take them in good part, or acknowledge them with favour.—If any one begins to complain of an injury, they immediately stretch their ear to the cause, their hand to the gift; if they once receive a thing of the plural number, to-morrow the same basenesses may be done as yesterday.—The bishop loves a cheerful giver, and dares either right or wrong after the smell of a bribe, unable to resume, after he has thrown shame aside, the blush once rejected from his worn brow.—Nor is there less baseness in the archdeacon; whom he has once taken up, whether in earnest or in joke, he holds; nor has he mercy for the needy or the naked; the leech which will not let go the skin till he is filled with blood.—The dean, born to everlasting wiles, that he may explore the creed (symbolum) and the things which succeed, changing the tune of his tongue and yesterday’s garments, migrates with humble speech to the obscure taverns.—The priest, whatever either the dead or the living give, carries all to his fireside-woman, to whom he gives himself and what he has; he of the holy name and the equal mind, who meditates the law of the Lord by day and by night.—The laymen resting on the words of the clergy who depart from them, pay less attention to the words than to the character of the teacher: nor can laws subdue the senses of men by threats and torments, so much as the example of the ruler.—The luxurious princes stir kingdoms and states, that they may lead armies, inflicting the punishment of a tax on the rustic and the miserable citizen; for whenever the kings run wild, the Greeks pay the piper.—They who are occupied with the cares of the kingdom or of the court, detract while they smile, and when they flatter they are plotting damage or disgrace; there is neither faith nor honesty in those who follow camps.—If a citizen perceive you, he caresses that he may burn you; if you lay down ten, he puts the payment of his stake to another time; he cheats you out of your own; look to it, while it lasts; he may perish behind the wine and the dice, who leaves care till to-morrow.—If any one going to the houses of the lawyers, carries his money openly, he also is a simpleton; for when he sleeps in his bed weary and full, people live by rapine, the guest is not safe from his host.—Thus rapine, snares, treachery, and strife, lead people into error, misery, and folly; thus ambition and luxury, and the revered possession of riches, allure the foolish minds of all men.—But what availeth luxury and power to those miserable people who, despising virtues, esteem only things that produce evil, such as gold, gems, and heaps of wealth? when our labour is expended on what is injurious to us, the misery of mortals is on the increase.—What avails it to talk of purple, gems, gold, land? With riches we have feuds, losses, pleas, fastings, fears, and justly sleepless cares come in a long train.—The poor man reigns more safely than he that amasses wealth, who, while the informer deprives the lord of his favour, or the lurking spoiler spoils him who is laden, he, an empty traveller, will sing before the thief.—They who are destitute often live more pleasantly under a slight hut of brick or mud, than those who are delicately clothed in the palaces of kings; he will be ever a slave who knows not how to use moderation.—But if you seek abundance of true property, reject superfluity, seek what is enough, strip yourself of riches, and die naked; delay not this, for those who are prepared are ever injured by delay.—If while you are on your road to what is more useful, fear dissuade hope, or delay endanger success; change not your mind, nor slacken your reins; the grateful hour will arrive when least expected.—Treasure up that which you cannot abuse, having a care of the needy, the blind, the lame, and the dumb; serve your soul, and not your mind or your skin; you owe little to pleasure, but more to your salvation.—No one is safe on a king’s throne, or in a sanctuary, since it can be expressed neither by tongue nor pen by how slender a thread the destinies of men hang under the imminent approach of death.—While you navigate prosperously the far side of the sea, weigh not the present but the future, and considering the poop more than the prow or the oar, act as though you thought every day your last.

The foreign policy of Henry III. was even less manly than that of his father. Among the many songs of the Normans and Poitevins, reclaiming the assistance of their ancient sovereign, we may give as an example the Sirvente of Bernard de Rovenac, addressed to Henry and his contemporary James I. King of Aragon, from whom Louis IX. had taken Languedoc to give it as a portion to his brother Alphonsus. There is internal evidence that it was written about 1229, the year in which Henry III. made his ill-conducted expedition into Brittany.