Piers Plowman Read online

       Preaching to people to make a fat profit,

   60  Construing the Gospel to suit themselves,

       Giving it meanings to go with their greed

       And clad in unclerical clothes that matched

       The money they made from their merchandise.

       The strangest signs have been seen ever since

   65  They’ve chosen to be chaplains: their charity is dead

       And the vilest misfortune on earth will befall us

       If the friars and the Church do not finish their feud.

       A pardoner was preaching as if ordained priest,

       Brandishing a bull with a bishop’s seals7

   70  And saying he could safely bestow absolution

       For falsely breaking both fasts and vows.

       The unlearned believed him and liked what he said,

       And came on their knees to kiss the false claim.

       He bamboozled and blinded and baffled them with it,

   75  Reaping with his rigmarole their brooches and rings,

       Garnering gold from the gullible to feed

       An unholy humbug who hungered for pleasure.

       If the bishop were blessed with both his ears,

       He’d not send his seal to deceive people so.

   80  Though he had not appointed the pardoner to preach,

       The priest and the pardoner were splitting the proceeds

       That ought to have helped the hungry and poor.

       Parish priests and parsons were complaining to bishops

       That their parishes were poor since the time of the Plague

   85  And begging for license to live up in London

       And sing the psalms for the sweet sound of money.

       And abundant bishops and bachelors and masters

       And doctors of divinity, who should feed poor folk

       And should preach and confess and pray for their people,

   90  And are tonsured in token of these tasks under Christ,

       Already were living in London—in Lent!—

       Some serving the King and counting his cash

       In exchequer and chancery, checking the takings

       From the sale of strays, court sessions and wardships;

   95  And some were enlisted by lords and ladies

       To sit as their stewards and settle disputes,

       Saying Matins and Mass and most other rites

       With such insincerity that when they decease,

       Christ and his court may keep the gates closed.

  100  I perceived how power had been passed to Peter

       To bind and unbind, as the Bible recounts.8

       As our Lord had wished, Peter lovingly left it

       To four vital virtues, the finest of all,

       The cardinal hinges on which heaven’s gates hang,

  105  To enclose the kingdom of Christ, to stay shut

       Or to open and offer the bliss of heaven.

       I will not comment on the cardinals at court

       Who appropriate the name and the power of Peter,

       Improperly appointing the Pope of Rome.

  110  His election requires both learning and love:

       I could but I cannot say more on the case.9

       A king then came, accompanied by knights,

       And crowned by assent of the commons besides.

       Native Wit named some people who were knowing

  115  To counsel the King and to safeguard the commons.

       And the King and his company of counselors and knights

       Decreed that folk should provide them with food,

       So Native Wit showed them what skills to establish.

       They appointed plowmen for the profit of all,

  120  To till and to toil as honesty dictates,

       And the King, Native Wit and the commons as well

       Made laws that were fit for all levels of folk.

       But beside them a hundred silk-hooded men hovered,

       Barristers-at-law who were busy debating,

  125  Pressing for payment to plead in court,

       Never opening their lips for the love of our Lord.

       You could sooner measure the mist on the Malverns

       Than persuade them to speak unless paid in silver.

       Barons and burgesses and bondsmen too

  130  I saw in the assembly, as soon you shall hear,

       Bakers and brewers and butchers by the dozen,

       Weavers of wool and weavers of linen,

       Tailors and tinkers and toll-collectors,

       Masons and miners and many more trades;

  135  And common laborers, of all characters and kinds,

       Such as ditchers and diggers who don’t do a stroke

       And spend all day simpering, “Save you, Dame Emma!”

       And cooks and their corner-boys crying “Hot pies!

       Good geese and pork, come and get it, it’s good!”

  140  And tavern-keepers too who were touting their wares,

       “Come whet your palate with white and red wine,

        A Rochelle with your roast, a Gascon or Rhine.”10

       And suddenly a madman, a scrawny scarecrow,

       Knelt to the king and quaintly declared,

  145  “Christ keep you, sire King, and protect your kingdom.

       May you lead your land so that justice will love you

       And heaven reward you for wielding power well!”

       Then high in the air an angel of heaven

       Bowed down to say a sentence or so

  150  On behalf of the artless who have no Latin

       To speak for themselves but must suffer and serve:

       “Sum Rex, sum Princeps—I am King, I am Prince,

       Though Christus now is called by that name.

       O Princes, be pious in justitia and just,

  155  For justitia principis is pietas in practice.

       And sow the seed that you seek to reap,

       For justice stripped bare rebounds in judgment;

       Pietas sown is pietas received!”11

       A boastful blatherer who was bursting with words

  160  Echoed the angel on high as follows:

       “Though a king is rex because rex means ruler,

       Sine justitia the title’s not true.”

       So everyone started to spout Latin sayings—

       Everyone who could—to the King and his council:

  165  “The precepta regis are our principles of practice.”

       A ragtag rabble of rats then ran out,

       A thousand or more, with mice among them,

       And they gathered together for the common good,

       For a cat kept coming when he fancied from court

  170  To leap on them lazily and seize which he liked,

      �
�Pushing them about in pitiless play.

       “We’re so scared,” one said, “that we scarcely dare look,

       For if we complain we are painfully punished.

       He catches us, scratches us, clutches and claws us,

  175  Won’t leave us alone till our lives are past bearing.

       We must find a feasible means of defense,

       And then we can live easy lives like lords.”

       A rat of some standing, a skillful speaker,

       Proposed a plan that he thought was perfect.

  180  “I’ve seen men,” he said, “in the city of London,

       Wearing carefully crafted collars and chains

       And wandering at will off the leash over warrens

       And wastes and wild land, I believe, as well.

       By Christ, if a bell were clipped to their collars,

  185  Then folk could fly when they found they were close!

       I reason therefore,” said the ruminant rat,

       “That we buy a brass bell, or better, bright silver,

       And clip it to a collar to keep us from harm,

       And collar the cat to proclaim when he’s coming,

  190  When he’s resting or riding or running about.

       We can sneak a brief squint if he’s feeling skittish

       And stay in his sight as long as it’s safe,

       But should he be angry, we’ll skip to one side.”

       The rabble of rats agreed this was right,

  195  But as soon as the bell was strung on safely,

       No rat in the rabble throughout the whole realm

       Would clasp the collar around the said cat,

       Not for all the treasure to be had in England.

       Thus the plan was a failure and they felt like fools,

  200  Having squandered their time in senseless scheming.

       A mouse who seemed more sensible than some

       Strode forth sternly and stood before them all,

       Berating as follows the rabble of rats:

       “If we killed the cat, another would come

  205  To catch us and ours, wherever we hid.

       So I counsel the commons to forget the cat,

       And not be so bold as to bother him with bells.

       When he’s carving his venison or catching poor coneys

       He leaves us alone, and our losses are less

  210  Than the endless horrors we’d have if we crossed him;

       We’d be rid of a tyrant, but have turmoil and trouble.

       As my father kept saying, these seven years since,

       ‘If the cat is a kitten, the court is a mess,’

       For no wretch can then rest for the rats in the night.

  215  If you read Holy Writ you’ll realize it’s true:

           Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child.12

       If the cat from the court could not claw us at will

       We mice would lay waste to many men’s malt

       And you rats would ransack and ruin men’s clothes:

       If you rats ran the roost, your rule would be wretched

  220  And it’s certain there’d be,” the mouse said, “much sorrow.

       So my counsel is to grieve neither cat nor kitten

       By carrying on about the collar I declined.

       And had I proposed it, I’d hold my peace!

       So let us allow him to do as he likes,

  225  To catch what he can, whether collared or free.

       My word to the wise is: Keep watch on your own!”

       These sights I saw, and seven times more.

       But by dear God in heaven I dare not write down

       What my rat dream may signify—solve that yourselves!

  1Friars were sometimes known as “hermits,” and Langland’s poor opinion of them is a recurrent theme of the poem. Skeat believes that the preceding line means “like a shepherd,” not a sheep.

  2A toft is a small hill.

  3Source not known. Saint Paul’s reproof may refer to Ephesians v 3–4: “Let it not so much as be named among you … obscenity, or foolish talking, or scurrility.”

  4Palmers carried palm leaves supposedly brought back from the Holy Land. Saint James is the shrine of that saint in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where he is said to have been martyred in ad 44.

  5The Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham, Norfolk, was built in the eleventh century as a replica of the house in Nazareth where the Annunciation occurred.

  6A lummock is a clumsy, stupid person.

  7A pardoner was licensed to sell written indulgences, guaranteeing forgiveness for sins. A bull is an edict to which a leaden seal or bull is attached.

  8Matthew xvi 19.

  9A bitterly disputed papal election took place in 1378.

  10In the original, lines 123–142 are placed after the madman, the angel and the Parliament of Rats.

  11Throughout the text, the words in italics were originally in Latin. Lines 152–158, 161–162 and 165 illustrate the difficulty facing those with little education.

  12Ecclesiastes x 16. The fable of the rats was cited in a widely quoted sermon by Bishop Brinton of Rochester in 1376. Edward III was infirm and his son, the renowned “Black Prince,” had just died, leaving his grandson, the future Richard II—the kitten—under the tutelage of his uncle, John of Gaunt—the cat. The rats and mice may refer to members of parliament.

  Step I

  In which I dream of a lady, Holy Church, explaining that the tower is the home of Truth, who is God, and that the dungeon is the dwelling of the devil, who fled from heaven with other wicked angels. When I ask how to acquire Truth, she is surprised at my simplicity and tells me that our deliverance lies in love.

       What the mountain means, and the murky dale,

       And the field full of folk, I shall now reveal.

       A lovely lady dressed in linen

       Came from the castle and graciously called me

    5  And said, “Are you sleeping? Do you see the people

       Who are briskly going about their business?

       For most men and women who wander this world

       Hold that heaven is the here and now

       And seek success in the realm they can see.”

   10  Though her face was fair, I felt afraid.

       “Good madam,” I said, “what may it all mean?”

       “In the tower on the toft,” she said, “lives Truth,

       Who wishes you to follow the way of his word;

       He’s the father of faith, he formed you all,

   15  Your faces, your skin and your five good senses

       With which to worship him while you’re on earth,

       To which end he ordained that the earth should offer

       Both wool and linen and what else you want

       To live in a modest and moderate manner.

   20  Of his grace he gave you three good things in common

       To meet all your needs, and I’ll name them to you

       One by one; repeat them if you will.

       The first is clothing, to keep you from cold,

      �
�The second is food, to succor and sustain you,

   25  And the third is drink, though don’t drink till you’re drunk

       Or the worse for wear when you ought to be working.

       Remember that Lot so liked his liquor

       That he did with his daughters most devious things,

       Drinking such draughts to the devil’s delight

   30  That lust waylaid him and he lay with them both,

       And blamed what he did on indulgence in drink:

           Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.1

       He was quite overwhelmed by women and wine

       And in his excess sired sons that proved surly.

       So do not indulge in delectable drink:

   35  Caution’s the cup when you crave for more.

       What serves your soul may not satisfy your belly,

       But your belly may beg what is bad for your soul.

       Don’t trust your body for it’s taught by a tempter:

       The world is wicked and will want to betray you,

   40  And the devil and the flesh will join forces to defeat you;

       Your soul understands it and says it in your heart,

       And I warn you too, to be wary and aware.”

       “Thank you,” I said, “I see what you’re saying.

       But tell me, Madam, the money that men

   45  Amass on earth—who owns it, whose is it?”

       “Go to the Gospel,” she said, “and ask God,

       For when people proffered a penny in the Temple,

       Wondering whether they should worship Caesar,

       God asked what sort of inscription they saw

   50  And whose was the image that was on the coin.

       ‘Caesar’s,’ they said, ‘we each can see him.’

       ‘Then render to Caesar,’ God said, ‘what is Caesar’s,

       And to God what is God’s, if you want to do good.’2