"And er this fortune falle, Fynde men shul the worste, By sixe sonnes and a shipe, And half a shef of arwes, And the myddel of a moone, Shal make the Jewes to torne, { 63} And Sarzynes for that sighte Shul synge _Gloria in excelsis, etc._ For Makometh and Mede Mys-happe shul that tyme, 2030 For _melius est bonum nomen quam divitiæ multæ._" =
Al so wroth as the wynd Weex Mede in a while, "I kan no Latyn," quod she, "Clerkes wite the sothe; Se what Salomon seith In Sapience bokes, That thei that gyven giftes The victorie wynneth, 2040 And moost worshipe hadde therwith As holy writ telleth: _Honorem adquiret qui dat munera, etc._ =
"Leve wel, lady," quod Conscience, "That thi Latyn be trewe; Ac thow art lik a lady That radde a lesson ones, Was _omnia probate_, And that plesed hire herte; 2050 For that lyne was no lenger At the leves ende. Hadde she loked that oother half, And the leef torned, She sholde have founden fele wordes Folwynge therafter, _Quod bonum est tenete_; Truthe that text made. And so ferde ye, madame, Ye kouthe na-moore fynde, 2060 { 64} Tho ye loked on Sapience Sittynge in youre studie. This text that ye han told Were good for lordes; Ac yow fayled a konnynge clerk That kouthe the leef han torned. And if ye seche Sapience eft, Fynde shul ye that folweth, A ful teneful text To hem that taketh mede; 2070 And that is _animam autem aufert accipientium, etc._, = And that is the tail of the text; Of that that she shewed, That theigh we wynne worshipe, And with mede have victorie, The soule that the sonde taketh By so muche is bounde." 2078
"Cesseth," seith the kyng, 2079 "I suffre yow no lenger; Ye shul saughtne for sothe, And serve me bothe. Kis hire," quod the kyng, "Conscience, I hote."
"Nay, by Crist!" quod Conscience, "Congeye me er for evere, But Reson rede me therto, Rather wol I deye."
"And I comaunde thee," quod the kyng, To Conscience thanne, 2090 "Rape thee to ryde, And Reson thow fecche; Comaunde hym that he come My counseil to here, For he shal rule my reaume And rede me the beste, And acounte with thee, Conscience, So me Crist helpe! How thow lernest the peple, The lered and the lewed." 2100
"I am fayn of that foreward," Seide the freke thanne, { 66} And ryt right to Reson, And rouneth in his ere, And seide as the kyng bad, And sithen took his leve.