Classic Poem

" TELL me, " said Love, " how able-bodied man
Who'd follow God religiously can live
When he's sold all and given it to the poor
And would devote his time to prayer, not work.
Can he contrive to do it? "
" Yes. "
" Then how? "
" He can avoid all mendicancy, and live
If he will enter, as the Scripture says,
The abbey that his own goods have endowed,
Like those of Canons Regular, or those
Of White or Black Monks, or the Hospitalers
Or Templars (more examples I'll not give).
Many a monk first works and then tells beads.
Since discord, I remember, there has been
About the mendicants' estate, I'll tell
In brief how one may beg who lacks the means
To feed himself. The cases, one by one,
You'll hear, so that you can repeat them all
To spite felonious scandal; for the truth
Will ever try to hide behind some quoin.
Though I, who've never dared to plow such field
Before, may suffer for the tale I tell.
" These are the special cases: if a man
So beastly is that he has learned no trade
And yet desires to leave his ignorance,
He well may beg till he has learned a craft,
And, without vagrancy, thus gain his bread;
If one's too young or old or sick to work,
He legally may beg his livelihood;
Or if a man of gentle family
Has been brought up to live too soft a life
We ought to pity him with charity
And let him beg rather than starve to death;
Or e'en a man who has the skill and strength
And will to toil, and gladly would find work,
When there is no demand for what he does,
May beg to satisfy necessity;
Or if the income from his work be small
And insufficient to sustain his life,
He then may beg to supplement his wage,
Going from door to door to seek his bread;
Or if he will engage in chivalry
And guard our faith in arms, or otherwise,
As by the composition of a book,
If poverty then grieves him he may well
Resort to begging to supply his needs
Till he can work again; but then he must
With force corporeal, not spiritual,
Perform his labor. That's no metaphor!
In all these cases, and in others like,
If other reasonable ones you find
Besides those I have offered here to you,
A man may beg to live — not otherwise —
Unless I've been misled by Saint Amour,
Who used to preach and lecture on this point
And argue it at Paris with divines.
" May I ne'er drink of wine or eat of bread
If in this truth the University
And all the people there who heard him talk
Were not in full accord with him. No man
Who this denies will find excuse with God.
Let grumblers grumble, let the scoffers scoff,
I'll this assert though I should lose my life
Or like Saint Paul unjustly go to jail
Or from the realm be banished without cause
As was the teacher, William of Saint Amour,
Exiled by envious Hypocrisy.
My mother's plot it was that drove away
This valiant man because he taught the truth.
My mother he offended far too much,
When later he wrote his biography,
Saying I should forsake mendicancy
And labor if I had no other means.
Did he think me befuddled? I hate work.
I've naught to do with labor; it's too hard.
Better I like to pray before the folk
And 'neath my mother's mantle hide my sin. "

" You devil, dare you say such words to me? "
" What, sir? "
" Your speech confesses perfidy.
Fear you not God? "
" Most certainly I don't.
A man who fears his God can scarce attain,
Here in this world, to any great estate.
The good, who evil shun, and honestly
Maintain themselves as he would have them do
On their own means, will lastly come to beg
Of others bread, imbibing great misease,
Than which nothing exists that I hate more.
But see what heaps of gold the usurers,
The bankers, coiners, beadles, magistrates,
Provosts, and bailiffs have in treasuries.
They well-nigh all exist by knavery,
Like wolves devouring folk of little means
Who still must bow to them. They all despoil
The poor; not one of them himself restrains.
Scalding them not, they pluck the birds alive,
Of the plumes make their adornments, suck them dry.
The stronger rob the weaker ones; but I,
Wearing my simple robe, the cozeners
And cozened cozen — rob robbers and robbed.
" By my chicanery I gain and keep
A treasure great in weight as well as size
That cannot waste away. With it I build
A palace where I taste of all delights
Companions and bedfellows can supply
Or tables loaded down with entremets.
I'd never wish for other life than this.
My gold and silver multiply meanwhile,
For ere my treasury can emptied be,
Abundantly the coins roll in again.
Do you not think I make my bears dance well?
Acquisition is my only care;
Better than my tithings is my graft.
At risk of scourge or death, unceasingly,
I'll venture anywhere to hear confess
A king, duke, baron, count, or emperor.
But 'twere a shame to shrive the indigent,
Unless for other reason. I love not
Such shriving; for the poor I have no care.
Their situation's neither fair nor fine.
The empresses and queens, the duchesses,
The countesses and wives of palatines,
The abbesses and Beguines, bailies' wives,
The ladies, and the bourgeoise rich and proud,
The nuns and maidens — wealthy ones or fair —
Without my counsel never will depart
Whether I find them nude or richly dressed.
For the salvation of their souls, I ask
Of lord and lady and their servants all
About their wealth, about the lives they lead.
Into their heads I put a firm belief
That their own parish priests are only beasts
Compared to my companions and to me.
Yet I'm in league with these same filthy dogs,
To whom the people's secrets I reveal,
Withholding nothing; they in turn disclose
Whate'er they know to me — so I know all.
" That you may know the rascals who deceive
People continually, I will quote
Saint Matthew's gospel, chapter twenty-three,
Where we may read, " Now sit in Moses" seat
(The gloss says 'tis the Older Testament)
The Scribes and Pharisees (the Scriptures call
Them men of falsehood and cursed hypocrites).
Do what they say, but act not as they act;
For though they're not remiss with good advice
They have no mind to practice what they preach.
The foolish man they bind with grievous loads
Which he upon his shoulders cannot bear;
But they'll not aid with e'en a finger's touch." "
" Why not? "
" They do not want to, by my faith!
They know the porters' shoulders often ache;

They would avoid such pain. " They do good works
But to be seen by men; and they enlarge
Their garments' hems and their phylacteries;
They love, at table and in synagogues,
The highest and most honorable seats;
And in the streets (the proud and haughty rogues!)
To hear men call them Rabbi as they pass."
(This should not be, for it is most opposed
To Scripture, which reveals their wickedness.)
" Against opponents still another plan
We have: we hate them all with deadly hate
And all unite against them. Whom one hates
We all detest and strive to overthrow.
If we see one prevail with certain folk
To gain a prebend or some other place
Of worldly honor, we attempt to find
The ladder which enabled him to mount.
The better to discomfit him, and shame,
We stuff his patron's ears with scandal false;
For we have not a bit of love for him.
So we dismount him from the steps he mounts,
And cut him off, and steal his friends away.
Until they're lost, he'll nothing know of it;
For we'd be blamed if openly we worked,
And we might miss our aim. If he but knew
Our ill intent, he would defend himself;
And we might be well punished for our sin.
" If one of us has done some good, we say
It was the work of all. Though it were feigned
And he but boasted to have helped advance
Some worthy man, we all claim partnership
And say he was promoted by our aid.
To have the people's praise, by flattery
We letters get from influential men
Who to our excellence will testify,
So that the people commonly believe
That we have all the virtues in the world;
And, though we always feign that we are poor,
We are, however much we make complaint,
The non-possessors that possess all things.
" I intermeddle in diplomacy,
Settle estates, make peace and marriages,
As envoy or attorney sometimes act,
Hold inquests, going beyond my true employ.
But my most pleasant enterprise it is.
To intermix in other folks' affairs.
If any business you should have with those
With whom I mingle, place it in my hands;
It will be done as soon as it's explained.
If you serve me, my service you deserve.
But he who'd chastise me will lose my grace
At once. I neither love nor prize the man
By whom I am reproved for anything.
I'll reprehend the others, one and all;
But will not listen, in my turn, to blame.
Though scourging others, I've no taste for it.
" I've little love for hermitages, woods,
And deserts. Wilderness and hut and lodge
I leave to John the Baptist; too remote
Are they from burgs and cities where I build
My castles and my palaces and halls
To which a man at full speed may retreat
And say that he's renounced the worldly life.
There I immerse myself in worldliness
And bathe and swim and dive and take my ease
Better than any fish that swims with fin.
One of the slaves of Antichrist am I —
Those wretches who, the Scripture says, are clad
In saintly robes, but live in wickedness.
" Pious lambs we seem outside, but we,
Inside, are ravening wolves. We overrun
The land and sea, make war on all the world,
And fain would rule the life of every man.
If of a castle or a town we hear
Where there's a bugger rumored to reside,
Though from Milan he were, which has the blame
For such; or if a man assuredly
Take usury or sell on terms, so mad
He is for gain; or if one lecherous be;
Or if a provost or an officer
Of simony or theft should be accused;
Or prelate lead too jovial a life;
Or priest possess a mistress; or a bawd
Or pimp or brothel wench open a stew;
Or anyone's accused of any vice
For which he ought to answer to a judge —
By all the saints to whom a man may pray,
Unless with feasts he make a good defense,
With lampreys, luces, salmons, and with eels
(If they are to be purchased in his town),
With tarts and custards, basketfuls of cheese
(Which is the finest jewel of them all),
With Cailloux pears, capons, and fatted geese
(Which tickle gullets well); unless he serve
Us promptly with a roebuck or a hare
Larded upon a spit, or at the least
A loin of pork — he'll feel a length of cord
By which the folk will drag him to the stake
(And then we'll hear him yelling loud enough
At least a league away), or in a cell
He'll be immured for life, or otherwise
Get greater punishment than he deserves —
Unless he has provided for us well
But if he has the wit to build a tower,
I care not of what stone, or if 'twere built
With neither square nor compass out of wood,
Turf, or material of other kind;
Provided that he shall amass within
An ample store of worldly goods, and mount
An arbalest upon it, fit to hurl
To either side, and to the front and back,
Upon us, thick as hail, such ball and shot
As I have said, his good name to redeem,
And from great mangonels whole barrels throw,
And tuns, of wine, and heavy sacks of gold —
Then shall he find himself delivered soon.
But if he cannot find such pittances
Let him lay sophistry and lies aside
And study how to find equivalents
If he would hope to win to our good grace;
Or such false witness we'll against him bear
That if he's not condemned to burn alive
He'll pay a penance far worse than the doles.
These wretched traitors, full of dire deceit,
You'll never recognize in their array;
If you would guard against them, scan their deeds.
" Did not the University well guard
The key of Christianity, our faith
Beyond all recognition had been marred
When in the year twelve hundred fifty-four
(No man now living will gainsay my words)
With bad intent there published was a book
The Devil must have written. I speak truth.
The Everlasting Gospel it was called,
And by its title page we were informed
It was transmitted by the Holy Ghost
(Though it was worthy only to be burned).
In Paris there no woman was, nor man,
Within the square in front of Notre Dame
Who could not get the book if he desired
To copy it; and in it he would find
Such blasphemous comparisons as this:

" As much as does the sun surpass the moon
In value for its gift of heat and light,
Because the latter is more faint and dull —
Much as the shell by kernel is surpassed"
(Think not that I am joking; on my soul
I swear that I am quoting accurately!)
" So does this gospel that old book surpass
That bears the names of four evangelists
Of Jesus Christ." Unless I make mistake,
A host of such comparisons were there.
" The University had been asleep,
But at the noise about the book awoke
And raised its head; nor did it slumber more
But armed itself and was prepared to fight
Soon as it saw this monster horrible
Ready to take the field. Then to the judge
The book was borne; but authors of the work
Regained it by a desperate attack
And hid it promptly; for full well they knew
There was no explanation and no gloss
That would suffice against the champions
Who would attack the cursed words there writ.
What has become of it I do not know,
Or what the end will be; but it behooves
Its champions to secure more strong defense.
" So now we wait for antichrist to come,
And all together hold to him; for those
Who do not so will surely lose their lives.
By the deceit in which we cloak ourselves,
We will incite the people against them
And bring them to destruction by the sword
Or other means; since they'll not follow us
According to what's written in the book,
The words of which have this significance:
" John can display no strength while Peter rules."
This is the bark of sense which hides the pith
Of meaning, which I'll now expound to you.
By Peter's meant the clergy secular
And Pope, who keep the law of Jesus Christ,
Against all foes maintaining it as guards.
By John are meant the friars, who say no law
But their Eternal Gospel should be kept,
Which by the Holy Ghost has been sent down
To guide all men upon the heavenly path.
The powers of John they teach to be the grace
By which they boast the sinners to convert
And make them turn to God. Within this book
Are many other deviltries ordained
And authorized against the law of Rome,
Upholding antichrist, as I there read.
They soon will give commands to kill the folk
Who hold to Peter, but they'll never have
The force to beat down Peter's law, I swear
(In spite of all their murder and assault),
So that enough shall not remain alive
Who will maintain it ever, till at last
All shall accept it, and that law shall fall
Which they pretend is signified by John.
I'll tell you little more — the story's long —
If that book had prevailed, I would have been
More secure, though I still have some friends
Who'd gladly see me placed in high estate.
" My lord and father, Fraud, is emperor —
My mother empress — of the entire world.
Spite of the Holy Ghost our lineage reigns
In every powerful kingdom. It is right
That we should rule who all the world seduce
And know so well how to deceive mankind
That none perceive our guile, or if they do
They dare not let the truth be known. Such men
As fear my brethren more than they fear God
Risk wrath divine; they're not good champions,
Surely, who fear such feigning, dodge the risk
Which might from making accusation come.
God will refuse to hear such men, in truth;
He'll turn away His face and punish them.
Howe'er it goes with such, we do not care,
Since men esteem us, think we are so good
That howsoe'er censorious we be
No man reproves us. Whom should they exalt
But us, who ever pray in all men's sight,
Whatever we may do behind their backs?
" What greater folly's known than to extol
And love the chevaliers and noblemen
Who look so elegant in well-made clothes?
If they're such men as they appear — as clean
As is their dress — and if their words and deeds
Accord — is it not cause for shame and grief?
Curse them, if they will not be hypocrites!
Most certainly, such folk we do not love;
But Beguins with their faces delicate
And pale shaded by wide brimmed hats,
Who mantles wear of gray, bedaubed with dung,
Great boots like quail-traps, and bewrinkled hose.
Are these within whose hands a prince should place
His lands in war or peace; to let such misrule
If to great honor he aspires to come?
Though they be other than they seem, they thus
Secure all worldly grace; and therefore I
Hasten to join with them in tricks and fraud.
I will not therefore say men should despise
A humble cloak that does not cover pride.
No one should hate the poor man for the dress
He wears; but God cares not two straws for those
Who say they've left the world, yet still enjoy
All kinds of earthly glory and delights.
Who could excuse such Beguin? Hypocrites
Who join the orders — say they've left the world —
And then seek worldly ease — grow fat on it —
Are like the dog who is so gluttonous
That to his vomit he returns. But I
Would not dare lie to you unless I felt
That you perceived it not, for you would have
The lie within your fist; though certainly
I'd not abandon falseness as a sin
If I could quite outwit and baffle you.
Therefore you'd better be upon your guard. "
The God of Love smiled at this strange discourse,
And all the barons laughed, amazed, and cried:
" Behold a servant whom a man may trust! "
Said Love, " False Seeming, since you've been advanced
To such great power within my court that you
Are there the King of Ribalds, tell me, now,
Will you uphold for me my covenants? "
" Yes, sir; I swear to you and pledge my oath
That never had your ancestors or sire
A slave more loyal than I'll be to you. "
" How can that be? Your nature would forbid! "
" Best take your chance of that; if pledge you ask,
You'll never be assured though I should give
A hostage, testimonial, or proof
I call yourself to witness that no man
Can pluck a wolf out of his hide unless
He flay him first, no matter how he beat
And pummel him. Think you because I wear
A simple robe I'd not deceive and trick?
Many great evils 'neath that I've performed.
Never, by God, shall I my heart restrain;
For why should I my evil deeds renounce
Because I have a coy and simple face?
Forced Abstinence, my very dearest friend,
Has need of my protection; she had been
Hard used and almost dead were't not for me.
Let us — both her and me — pursue our course. "
" So be it; I'll believe you without pledge, "
Said Love. And then the rascal knelt to him
And thanked him, showing treason in his face.
Though white without, he was entirely black within.