"By this gaude have I wonne, yeer by yeer, An hundred mark sith I was Pardoner. I stonde lyk a clerk in my pulpet,
And whan the lewed 1 peple is doun yset,
I preche so as ye han herd bifoore,
And telle an hundred false japes moore;
Thanne peyne I me to strecche forth the nekke,
And est and west up-on the peple I bekke,
As dooth a dowve, sittynge on a berne; 9471
Myne handes and my tonge goon so yerne,2
That it is joye to se my bisynesse.
Of avarice and of swich cursednesse
Is al my prechyng, for to make hem free
To
geven hir pens, and namely un-to me;
For myn entente is nat but for to wynne,
And no thyng for correccioun of synne.
I rekke nevere whan that they been beryed,
Though that hir soules 'goon a blakeberyed;"
For certes many a predicacioun
Comth ofte tyme of yvel entencioun ;
Som for plesaunce of folk and flaterye,
To been avaunced by ypocrisye ;
And som for veyne glorie, and som for hate, For whan I dar noon oother weyes debate, Thanne wol I stynge hym with my tonge
In prechyng, so that he shal nat asterte
To been defamed falsly, if that he
1 Lay, ignorant. 2 Briskly. 8 Especially. 4 Where it may be
For construction, cf. ll. 10,396, 16,356. 5 Escape
"THOUGH MY-SELF BE GILTY."
Hath trespased to my bretheren or to me;
For though I telle noght his propre name, 9491
Men shal wel knowe that it is the same,
By signes, and by othere circumstances.
Thus quyte I folk that doon us displesances;
Thus spitte I out my venym under hewe
Of hoolynesse, to semen hooly and trewe.
But, shortly, myn entente I wol devyse,
I preche of no thyng but for coveityse;
Therfore my theme is yet and evere was,
Radix malorum est Cupiditas. (12,360 T.)
Thus kan I preche agayn that same vice 9501
Which that I use, and that is avarice;
But though my-self be gilty in that synne
Yet kan I maken oother folk to twynne 2
From avarice, and soore to repente ;
But that is nat my principal entente,
I preche no thyng but for coveitise.
Of this mateere it oghte ynogh suffise.
"Thanne telle I hem ensamples many oon
Of olde stories longe tyme agoon,
For lewed peple loven tales olde,
Swiche thynges kan they wel reporte and
What! trowe ye the whiles I may preche,
And wynne gold and silver for I teche,
That I wol lyve in poverte wilfully?
Nay, nay, I thoghte it nevere, trewely,
For I wol preche and begge in sondry landes ;
1 Requite, pay. 2 Separate.
I wol nat do no labour with myne handes,
Ne make baskettes 1 and lyve therby,
By cause I wol nat beggen ydelly.
I wol noon of the Apostles countrefete,
I wol have moneie, wolle, chese and whete,
Al were it geven of the povereste page,
Or of the povereste wydwe in a village,
Al sholde hir children sterve2 for famyne.
Nay, I wol drynke licour of the vyne,
And have a joly wenche in every toun ;
But herkneth, lordynges, in conclusioun.
'Youre likyng is that I shal telle a tale. Now have I dronke a draughte of corny ale, By God, I hope I shal yow telle a thyng 9531 That shal by resoun been at youre likyng; For though my-self be a ful vicious man, A moral tale yet I yow telle kan,
Which I am wont to preche for to wynne. Now hoold youre pees, my tale I wol bigynne.'
Heere bigynneth The Pardoners Tale.
In Flaundres whilom was a compaignye Of yonge folk, that haunteden folye,
As riot, hasard, stywes and tavernes,
Where as with harpes, lutes and gyternes,"
1 As Egyptian monks once did. 2 Die. 8 Three stories similar to that of the Pardoner were reprinted by the Chaucer Society in 1875: Christ and his Disciples, from the Cento Novelle Antiche; The Hermit, Death, and the Robbers, from another edition of the same; and The Treasure in the Tiber, from Morlinus. quented. 5 Guitars.
They daunce and pleyen at dees,1 bothe day
And eten also, and drynken over hir myght,
Thurgh which they doon the devel sacrifise
With-inne that develes temple, in cursed wise,
By superfluytee abhomynable. (12,405 T.)
Hir othes been so grete and so dampnable
That it is grisly 2 for to heere hem swere;
Oure blissed Lordes body 3 they to-tere;
Hem thoughte that Jewes rente hym noght ynough,
And ech of hem at otheres synne lough; 955° And right anon thanne comen tombesteres
Fetys and smale, and yonge frutesteres,
Syngeres with harpes, baudes, wafereres,7-
Whiche been the verray develes officeres,
To kyndle and blowe the fyr of lecherye
That is annexed un-to glotonye.
The Hooly Writ take I to my witnesse
That luxurie is in wyn and dronkenesse.
Lo, how that dronken Looth unkyndely
Lay by hise doghtres two unwityngly ;
9560
So dronke he was he nyste what he wroghte.
Herodes, who so wel the stories soghte, --
Whan he of wyn was repleet at his feeste,
Right at his owene table, he gaf his heeste 10
To sleen the Baptist John, ful giltelees.
3 For such oaths, cf. 11.
Women tumblers.
1 Dice. 2 Frightful. 9725, 9728, and 18,835. Women selling fruit. • Knew not. 10 Command.
6047, 9362, 9388, 5 Nice, graceful. 8 Unnaturally.
Seneca seith a good word, doutelees;1
He seith he kan no difference fynde
Bitwix a man that is out of his mynde
And a man which that is dronkelewe,
But that woodnesse, fallen in a shrewe,
Persevereth lenger than dooth dronkenesse.
O glotonye, ful of cursednesse;
O cause first of oure confusioun ;
O original of oure dampnacioun ;
Til Crist hadde boght us with his blood agayn! Lo, how deere, shortly for to sayn,
Aboght was thilke cursed vileynye;
Corrupt was al this world for glotonye!
Adam oure fader, and his wyf also,
Fro Paradys to labour and to wo
Were dryven for that vice, it is no drede,3-
For whil that Adam fasted, as I rede,*
He was in Paradys, and whan that he
Eet of the fruyt deffended," on the tree,
Anon he was out cast to wo and peyne.
O glotonye, on thee wel oghte us pleyne!
O, wiste a man how manye maladyes
Folwen of excesse and of glotonyes,
He wolde been the moore mesurable
Of his diete, sittynge at his table !
Allas! the shorte throte, the tendre mouth, Maketh that est and west, and north and south,
In erthe, in eir, in water, man to swynke
1 In faith. 2 Atoned for. 8 Without doubt. 4 In Hieronymus contra Fovinianum (St. Jerome). Forbidden. 6 Work.
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