¶ It is a ful trie tree quod he trewli to telle

Merci is the more ther-of · the mydel stokke is rycthe / r[u]the

The leues ben lele wordes the lawe of holy chirche

The blosmes ben buxom speche · and benigne lokyng

Paciens hatte the pure tree ˜ and pouere simple of herte

And so thorugh god and good men groweth the fruyte charite

¶ I walde trauaille quod I this tree to se twenty hudreth / hu[n]dreth myle

And to haue my fille of þat fruyt · forsake al other saulee

Lord quod I if any wight · wite whider out it growes

¶ It groweth in a gardyn quod he · þat god made hym-selue

Amyddes mannes bodye · the more is of that stokke

herte hatte þe herber ˜ þa it Inne growes

And liberum arbitrium · hase the londe to ferme

vndir piers the plowman · to piken it and weden it

¶ Piers þe plowman quod I tho · and al for pure Ioie

That I herde nempne his nam · anon I swowned after

And lay longe in a loue derne · and at þe laste me thought

That pieres the plowman · al the place me shewed

And bad me to toten on þe tree ˜ on toppe and on rote

With thre piles was it vndir-piȝt · I parceyued it sone

¶ Piers quod I I pray the why stonde this pikes here

For windes wiltow wite quod he · to witen it fram fallyng

Cum ceciderit iustus non collidetur quia dominus supponit manum suam

And in blowyng tyme abite þe flours · bot if thise floures helpe

The worlde is a wykked wynde · to hym þat willen treuthe

Coueitis comes of þat wynde ˜ and crepes among the leues

And so frete neiȝ þe fruyt · thurȝ many faire sightes

That with þe first pile I pulle hym down þat is potencia dei patris

¶ The flessh is a felle wynde · and and / and in flouryng tyme

Thurȝ libyng and lustes ˜ so loude he gynnes blowe

That it norisshes nyce sightes ˜ and som tyme wordes

And wikked werkes þer-of · wormes of synne

And forbetes þe blossoms · riȝt to þe bare leues

Than sete I to þe secounde pile sapiencia dei patris

That is the passioun · and the power of oure prince Ihesus

Thurȝ prayers and penaunces · and goddes passioun in mynde

I saue it til I se it ripen · and som-del yfruyted

¶ And than fondes the fynde · my fruyt to destroye

With alle the wiles þat he kan · and wagged þe rote

And castes vp to þe crope · vnkynde neighbores

Bakbiters breke chestes · brawlers and chiders

And layes a ledder ther-to · of lesynges ar þe ronges

And fecche a-way my flours · som-tyme by-fore bothe myn eighen

And liberum arbitrium lacches hym som tyme

That is lieutenant to loken it wel · bileue of my selue

videatis qui peccat in spiritum sanctum numquam remittetur & cetera hoc est

¶ And whan the fende and the flessh · forthwith þe worlde

Manasse behynde me · my fruyt for to fecche

Than liberum arbitrium · takes þe first plante

And palleþ a-doun the pouk · purelich thurȝ grace

And helpe of þe holy gost ˜ and thus haue I þe maistrie

Now faire falle yow Piers quod I so faire ye discryue

The power of thise postles · and hir propire myghte

And I haue thoughtes a threve · of this thre piles

That oon Ihesus a Iustice sone ˜ moost Iouke in hir Chambre

Til plenitudo temporis fully comen were

That piers fruyt fruyt floured · and fel to be ripe

And þan schul Ihesus iuste ther-fore ˜ by Iuggement of armes

Whether shuld fonde þe fruyt · the fynde or hym-selue

¶ The maide myldelich tho the messager graunted

And saide hendeliche to hym · lo me his hande-maiden

For to wirke is wille · with-outen anny synne

Ecce ancilla domini fiat michi & cetera

¶ And in the wombe of that wench · was he fourty wookes

Til he wex a faunt thurgh hir flessh · and of fightyng kouthe

To haue foughte withe the fend · er ful tyme come

And piers the plowman · parceyued plener tyme

And lered hym alechecraft / a lechecraft · his lif for to saue

That though he were wounded · with enemy to warisshe hymselue

And dide hym assay his surgerie · on hem þat seke were

Til he was parfit practisour · if any peril felle

And sought out of the sike and synful bothe

And salued sike and synful · both blynde and croked

And comune wommen conuerted · and to good torned

Non est sanis opus medicus set in & cetera

¶ Bothe mesels and dome · and in the menysoun blody

Of he heled swilke · he nowth helde for no maistrie

Saue than he leched lazar · þat had ylay in graue

Quatriduanus · quelt · quik dide hym walke

And as he made the maistrie · mestus cepit esse

And wepte water with hise eighen ˜ ther seen it many

And som þat the sighte seyen · sayed þat tyme

That he was leche of lif · and lord of heigh heuene

Iewes iangled ther ayeins · and Iugged lawes

And sayed he wrouȝt with wichecraft · & with þe deueles myghte

Demonium habes & cetera

Than ar ye cherles quod ich · and youre children bothe

And sathan youre saueour · youre-self now ye witnessen

¶ For I haue saued youre-self sayes crist · and youre sones after

youre bodies youre bestes · and blynde men holpen

And fedde yow with fisshes · and fyne loues

And lefte baskettz ful of broken brede · bere away who-so wolde

And myssaied the Iewes manliche · and manaced hem to bete

And knokked on hem · with a corde · and caste adoun hir stalles

And in chirche chaffareden · or changeden any moneye

And saied it in sight of hem alle · so that alle herden

I shal ouer-torne þis temple · and a-doun thraweT

And make it as muche other more in alle manere poyntes

As euere it was and as wide · wherfore I hote yowe

Of prayers and of parfitnesse · the place þat ye callen

Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur & cetera.

¶ Enuye and yuel · wille was In the Iewes

Thay casten and contreueden · to kylle him whan thay myght

Ech day after other · thair tyme thay wacced

Til bifel on a friday · a litil bifore the paske

The thoresday bifore · ther he made his maunde

Sittyng at þe soper · he sayde this wordes

I am salde thorugh oon of yow · he shal the tyme rewe

That euere he his saueour salde · for siluer or elles

¶ Iudas Iangled ther agayens ˜ and Ihesus hym tolde

It was hym-self sothily · and saide · tu dicis

Than went forth that wikked man ˜ and with Iewes mete

And tolde hym a taken how to with Ihesus

And which tokne to this day to muche is I-vsed

That is kissyng and faire countenaunce · and vnkynde wille

And was with Iudas · tho he Ihesus bitraied

Aue rabi quod þat ribalde · and riȝt to hym he yede

And kist hym to be caught ther-by · and kulled of the Iewes

¶ Thanne Ihesus to Iudas and to þe Iewes saide

Falsenesse I fynde in thy faire speche

And gile in thy gladde chere ˜ and galle is in thy laughynge

Thow schalt be Mirour to many men to deceyue

And the wors and thy wikkednesse · shal worth vp-on thy-selue

Necesse est vt veniat scandala ve homini illi per quem & cetera

Though I by treson be taken · at youre owne wille

Suffyres myn apostyles in pees · and in pees gange

On a thoresday in Mirkenesse · thus was he taken

Thurgh Iudas and Iewes · Ihesus was his name

That on the friday folowyng · for mankynde sake

Iusted in Ierusalem · a Ioie to vs alle

On a cros vp-on caluarie · crist took the bataille

Ayeins deth and the deuel · distroied hir bother myghtes

deied and deth fordide · and day of nyght made

¶ And I awaked þer-with · and wiped myn eighen

And after piers plowman pried and stared

Estward and westward · and waited after faste

And yede forth as an ydiot · in contree to aspie

After piers the plowman · many a place I soughte

And than mette I with a man · a mydlenten sonday

As hore as any hawe-thorne · and abraham he highte

I frain hym first · fram whennes he come

And of whennes he were · and whider þat he thoughte

¶ I am faith quod þis freek · it falles nouȝt to lye

And of abrahame hous · and herald of armes

I seek after a man that I seigh ones

A ful bolde bacheler I knawe hym by his blasen

What beres þat barne quod I tho tho · so blisse the bitide

¶ Thre leodes on oo lithe noon lenger than other

Of oon mychel and oon myȝt · and mageste in mesure and lenghte

That oon doos al doos · and ech doos by his oone

¶ The first has myȝt and mageste · maker of alle thyngis

Pater is his name · a persone by hym-selue

The seconde is of þat sire · sted-fastenesse filius

Wardeyn of þat wit hath · was euer with-oute gynnyng

¶ The thridde has the haly goost · a persone by hym-selue

The light of hal þat lif has · a lande and on watre

Confortour of creatures · of hym comes alle blisse

So ther bilongeth for a lord · þat lordchip laymes

Miȝt and mene · to knowe his owne miȝte

Of hym and of his seruant · and what þey suffyre bothe

So go þat gynnyng had neuer · but þo hym goode thouȝte

Sent forth his sone ˜ as for seruant þat tyme

To occupien hym here · til issue were spronge

That is children of charite · and haly chirche þe moder

Patriarkes and prophetes · and apostles were the children

And crist and cristendome · and cristne holy chirche

In menyng þat man · moost on o god bileue

And ther hym liked and loued · in th{e}ree persones hym schewed

And that it may be so and soth manhode it schewes

Wedlok and widwehode · with virginite ynempned

In toknyng of þe trinite was taken oute of a man

Adam oure aller fader · Eue was of hym-selue

And the issue þat he hadde · it was of hem bothe

And either is otheres Ioie in thre sondry persones

And in heuene and here · on singulere name

And thus is mankynde or manhode · of matrimoigneT

¶ Might is matrimoigne · þat multiplies the erthe

And bitoknes trewli · telle it if I dorste

He þat first fourmed al · the fader of heuene

¶ The sone is if I dorste saye ˜ resemblaunt to widowe

Deus meus deus meus vt quid dereliquisti me

That is creatour wex creature · to knawe what was bothe

As widowe with-oute wedloke · was neuere yet I seye

Na more miȝte gode be mane · but if he moder hadde

So widdowe with wedloke · may nouȝt wel stande

Ne matrimoigne with-oute moilliere · is nouȝt muche to preise

Maledictus homo qui non reliquet semen in Israel

¶ Thus in thre persones · is parfitlich manhode

That is a man and his make · and moilliere children

And is nat but genderd of a generacion · bifore Ihesu crist in heuene

So is the fader forth with þe sone · and free wille of bothe

Spiritus procedens a patre & filio

Which is the holy goost of alle · and alle is bot oo god

Thus in a somer I hym seigh as I satte in my porche

I raas vp and reuerenced hym ˜ and right faire hym grette

Thre men to my sight · I made wel at ese

Wesshe hir feet and wiped hem · and afterward thay eten

Calues flessh and cake bredde · and knew what I thouȝt

Ful trewe toknes bitwene vs · is to telle whan me likes

First he fonded me · if I loued better

Hym or Isaac myn heir · the which he hiȝt me kylle

He wist my wille by hym · he wol me it alowe

I am ful siker in soule ther-of · and my sone bothe

I circumcised my sone · sythen for his sake

My-selfe and my meyne ; and alle þat male were

Bledden blode for þat lordes loue · and hope to blisse þe tyme

Myn affiaunce and my faith · is ferme in his bileue

For hym-self bihiȝte to me · and to myn issue bothe

Lond and lordschip · and lif with-outen ende

To me and to myn issue · more yet he me graunted

More for oure mysdedes · as many tyme as we axen

Quam olim abrahe promisisti & semini eius

¶ And sith he sent me to saye I shold do sacrifice

And doon hym worship with breed · and with wyn bothe

And called me stot of his faith ˜ his folke for to saue

And defende hym fra þe fende folk þat on me leueden

Thus haue I ben his heraude here and in helle

And conforted many careful · þat after his comyng waiten

And thus I seke hym he saide · for I herde sayn late

Of a barne þat baptized hym Iohan Baptist was his name

That to patriarkes and prophetes and other pepile in derknes

Saide that he seiȝ hir · þat shul saue vs alle

Ecce agnus dei & cetera

I hadde wondir of hise wordes · and of his wid clothes

For in his bosome he bare a thyng · that he blissed euere

And I loked on his lappe · a lazare ay ther-InneT

¶ What awaitestow quod he · and what waldestow haue

¶ I walde wit quod I tho ˜ what is in youre lappe

¶ Lo quod he and lete me se · lorde mercye I saiede

This is a present of muche pris · what prince shal it haue

¶ It is a preciouse present quod he · and the pouke it has atached

And me ther-with quod that man · May no wedde us quyte

Ne no barne ben our bourgh · ne brynge vs fram his daunger

Out of the poukes ponfold · ne no maunprise may vs fecche

Til he com þat I carpe of · crist is his name

That shal deliuere vs somday · out of the deueles power

And better wedde for vs legge · than we ben alle worthy

That is lif for lif · or lygge thus euere

Lollyng in my lappe · til swich a lord vs fecche

¶ Allas I saied þat synne so longe shal lette

The miȝt of goddes mercy þat miȝt vs alle amende

I wepte for his wordes · with þat saugh I another

Rapelich renne forth · the riȝt way he wente

I affrayned hym first · fram whennes he come

And what he hiȝte and whider he walde · and wightliche he tolde