Now faire fall you quod I then / for your faire shewing

For Haukyns loue the Actif man / euer I shall you loue

But yet I am in doubt what charitie is to mene

It is a full trie tre quod he / trulie to telle

Mercie is the grounde therof / the myddill stocke is ruthe

The leaues be true wordes / the lawe of holie churche

The blossommes be buxome speche / and benigne goodnesse

Pacience hight the pure tre / And pure simple of hart

And so through god and good men / groweth the fruyt charitie

I wold trauaile quod I this tre to se / twentie hundred myle

And for to haue my fyllLX of þat frute / forsake all other salue

Lord quod I if anyman / any man knowe / where awaie it groweth

Yt groweth in a gardeyn quod he / that god made himself

Amyddes mannes bodie / the grounde is of that stocke

Hart hight the Herber / that it groweth in

And liberum arbitrium / hath the lond to ferme

Vnder piers the plowman / to pike it and to wede it

Piers the plowman quod I then / and all for pure ioye

That I herde his name named / anone I sowned after

And Lay long in a loue dreme / and at last me thought

That piers the plowman / all the place me shewed

And bad me lokeT on the tre / on toppe and roote

With thre pyles was it vnderpight / I perceiued it sone

Piers quod I I praye the / why stande thise piles here

For wyndes wilt þou wite quod he / to kepe it {from} from falling

And in blowing tyme shake of þe flowers / onlesse thise piles help

The world is a wicked wynde / to them þat loue truthe

Couetise commeth of þat wynde / and crepe among the leues

And forfretteth nygh the fruyt / through many fayr sightes

Then with the first pile / I pull him doune / þat is Potencia dei patris

The flesh is a fell wynde / and in flouring tyme

Through liking and lustes / so lowd he begynneth to blowe

That it norisheth nyce sightes / and sometyme wordes

And wicked workes therof / wormes of synne

And forbyteth the blossomes / euen to the bare leues

Then set I to the second pyle / Sapientia dei patris

That is the passion and poure / of our prynce IhuIesu

Through prayers and penaunce / and goddes passion in mynde

I saue it till I se it ripeLX / and somedele fruted

And then fondeth the feende / my fruyt to distroye

With all the wyles þat he can / and waggeth the roote

And casteth vp to the toppe / vnkynde neighboures

Backbyters breake the cheste / brawlers and chyders

And leyth a ladder therto / of lyes are the staues

And feche awaie my floures / sometyme before myn eyes

But liberum arbitrium / letteth him sometyme

That is leuetenaunt to kepe it well / by leue of my-self

But when the feende and the fleshe / forthwith the worlde

Threaten behynde me / my fruyt awaie to feche

Then liberum arbitrium / cacheth the fyrst plant

And pulleth doune the pouke / purelie through grace

And helpe of the holy ghost / & thus haue I the maistrie

Now faire fall you Piers quod I / so fair ye discryue

The poure of thise postes / and their proper mightes

But I haue many thoughtes / of thise iij / thre pyles /

In what wood they grewe / in what grounde also

For they are all Alike long / non lasse then other

And to my mynde as me thinke / on one grounde they grewe

And of one greatnesse / and grene of greyne they seme

That is true quod piers / so it maye befall

I shall telle shortly / what this tre hight

The grounde there it growethe / goodnes it hight

And I haue tolde the what hight the tre / the Trinitie it meneth

And egrely he lokid on me / and therfor I spared

To Aske him any more therof / and bad him full faire

To discribe me the fruyt / that so fair hangeth

Here benethe quod he then / if I had nede

Matrimony I may take / A moiste fruyt withall

Then contynence is nere the toppe / as Calewaie Bastard

Then beareth the toppe kynde fruyt / and clennest of all

Maydenhede Aungelles pere / and rathest wilbe / will be rype

And swete without swelling / soure is it neuer

I prayed Piers to pull doune / an Appull if he wolde

And suffre me to assaie / what savour it had

And Piers kest to the toppe / and than began it to crie

And wagged widowhode / and it wept after

And when it moued Matrimony / it made a foule noyse

I had ruthe when Piers rogged / it crakedLX so rufullie

For euer as they droppid doune / the deuill was redy

And gatherid them all togithers / both great and small

Adam and Abraham / and ysaye the prophete

Sampson and Samuell / and S . Iohan the baptist

And bare them forthe boldely / no body him letted

And made his hoorde of holy men / in limbo inferni

There is derknesse and drede / and the deuell maister

And Piers for pure tene / of that Apple he laughte

he smet after him / hit if it might

Filius by the fathers will / And freenesse of Spiritus sancti

To go robbe that ragman / & take the frute from hym

And spake Spiritus sanctus / in Gabriels mouthe

To A maide that hight Marie / A meke thing withall

That one Iesus a Iustice son / must slepe in hir wombe

Till plenitudo temporis / fully come were

That Piers fruyte floured / and began to be ripe

And then shulde Ihs / Iesus iust therfor / by iudgement of armes

Which shuld haueT the frute / the feend or he

The maid myldely then / the messenger grauntid

And said hendlie to him / Lo me his hande mayd

For to worke his wille / without any synne /

And in the wombe of that wenche / was he fourty wekes

Till he wext a faunt through hir sleshe / [f]leshe / and of fyghting coulde

To haue fought with the feende / ere full tyme come

And Piers the plowman perceyued / plenare tyme

And lerned him lechecrafte / his lyfe for to saue

That though he were wounded with his enemy / to helpe himself

And did him assay his surgerie / on them that were diseased

Till he was perfite practisour / if any perill felle

And sought out the sike / and synfull bothe

And salued them / bothe blynde and croked

And commone women conuerted / and to good turned

Non est sanis opus medic'P sed male habentibusT /

Bothe lepers and dumbe men / and in the bloodie flux

Oft he heled such / and held it for no maistrie

Saue when he leched Lazar / þat was laid in graue

Quatriduanus quelt / quicke he made him walke

But as he made the maistrie / Mestus cepit esse /

And wept water with his eyes / there se it many

Some that se þat sight / said that tyme

That he was leche of lyfe / and lorde of high heauen

Iewes {.}iangled theragainst / and iuged lawes

And said he wrough by wichecrafte / & with the deuylles myght

Demonium habes /

Than Are ye chorles quod I / and your childerne bothe

And Sat{ e}han your Saueour / your-self nowe ye witnesse

For I haue saued you said Christ / and your sonnes after

Your bodies your beastes / and blynde men holpen

And fed you with ij / two fishes / and with fyue looues

And left baskettes full of broke meat / beare away who wold

And missaid the iewes manlie / and thretned them to beate

And knocked on them with a corde / and cast doune their stalles

That in church chaffred / or chaunged any money

And said it in sight of them all / so that all herde

I shall ouertorne this temple / and doune it throwe

And in thre dayes after / reedifye the same

And make it asmuche / as muche or more / in all manere poyntes

As euer it was and as wide / and therfor I commande you

Of prayers and of perfitenes / this place that ye call

Enuye and euillwill / was in the Iewes

The / The[y] kest and countered / to kyll him when they myght

Euery day after other / their tyme they awaited

Tyll it befelle on a friday / a litill before the pasche

The thursdaie thereT he made / his maundye

Sitting at the supper / he said these wordes

I am sold by one of you / he shall the tyme rue

That euer he his Sauiour solde / for Syluer or elles

Iudas iangled therat / But Iesus him told

It was himself sothely / and said tu dicis

Then went forth that wicked man / and with the Iewes mett

And told them a token / Howe to knowe IhusIesus

The which token to this day / ouermuch is vsed

That is kissing and fair countynaunce / and vnkynde will

And so was with Iudas then / that IhusIesus betraied

Aue rabby quod that ribaude / and streight to him he yede

And kissed him to be caught therby / and killed of the Iewes

Than IhusIesus to Iudas / and to the Iewes said

Falsnesse I fynde / in thy fair speche

And gyle in thy chere / and gall is in thy laughing

Thou shalt be myrrour / to many men to deceyue

But the worst of thy wickednesse / shalbe / shall be vpon thy-self

Though I by treson be take / at your oune will

Suffre myn Apostles / in peace for to passe

On A thursdaie in the night / thus was he take

Through Iudas and Iewes / IhusIesus was his name

That on the Friday folowing / for mankyndes sake

Iusted in Iherusalem / A ioye to vs all

On the crosse vpon Caluarie / Christ toke the bataile

Against deathe and the deuill / & distroied bothe therT mightes

He died and deathe fordidde / and daye of night made

And awaked therwith / and wiped myn eyen

And after Piers the plowman / pried and stared

Eastward and westwarde / I waited after faste

And went forth as an ydiot / in the countrie to espie

After Piers the plowman / many A place I sought

And then met I with a man / on mydlent sondayeT

As hore as an hawthorne / and Abraham he hight

I freyned him fyrst / from whence he came

And of whence he was / and whether that he thought

I am feythe quod that freke / it falleth not to lye

And of Abrahams house / an heraude of armes

I seke after a man / that I se ones

A full bolde bacheler / I knewe him by his armes

What beareth that man quod I then / so blisse the betyde

Thre leodes in one lith / non lengar then other

Of one much and might / {and} in measure and length

That one dothe all do / and eche dothe by himself

The first hathe might and maiestie / makere of all thinges

Pater is his propre name / a persone by Himself

{S}TheP seconde of that sire / is sothefastnesse Filius

Wardeyn of that wit hathe / was euer without begynnyng

The thirde hight the holie goost / A persone by himself

The light of all that lyfe hathe / on londe and on water

Conforter of creatures / of him commeth all blisse

So thre belongeth to a lorde / that lordship claymeth

Myght and a meane / to knowe his might

Of him and of his seruaunt / and what they suffre bothe

So god þat begynning had neuer / but when he good thought

Sent forth his son / as a seruaunte that tyme

To occupie him here / till issue were sprong

That is childerne of charitie / and holie church the mother

Patriarches and prophetes / and apostles were the childern

And Christe and xpcristendome / and xpcristen holie churche

In menyng that man muste / in one god beleue

And there he liked & loued / in one persone him shewed

And that it may be so and sothe / manhode it sheweth

Wedloke and widohode / with virginitie named

In tokenyng of the Trinitie / was out of man taken

Adam oure first father / Eue was of hym

And the issue that they had / was of them bothe

And either is others ioye / in thre sondry persones

And in heauen and in erthe / one syngular name

And thus is mankynde / of matrimony sprong

And betokeneth the Trinitie / and true beleue

Might is matrimony / that multiplieth the erthe

And betokeneth truly / telle if I durste

Hym that fyrst fo{.}rmed all / the father of heauen

The son if I durst say / resembleth well the widowe

That is Creatour became creature / to knowe them bothe

As widowe without wedlocke / was neuer yet sene

Nomore / No more might god be man / but if he mother hadd

So widowe without wedloke / maynot / may not well stand

Nor matrimony sine muliereT / is not muche to preyse

Thus in thre persones / is perfitely manhode

That is man and his make / and then his childern

And is not but gendre of generacion / before IhuIesu Christ in heauen

So is the father with the son / and fre will of themT bothe

Spiritus procedens a patre et filio & c /

Which is the holy ghost {/}of all / and all is but one god

Thus in A somer I him se / as I sat in my porche

I rose vp and reuerenced him / and faire him grete

Thre men to my sight / I made well at ease

Washed ther fete and wiped them / and after they ete

Calues flesh and cakebrede / and knewe what I thought

Full true tokens betwene vs be / to tell when we like

Fyrst he asked me / whether I loued better

Hym or ysaac myn {e}heyre / which he bad me kyll

He knewe my will by him / he will me it allowe

I am full sure in soule therof / and my son bothe

I circumcised my son / sithen for his sake

My-self and my menye / and all that male were

Bled bloude for that lordes sake / and hope to blisse the tyme

Myn affiance and feithe / is firme in this beleue

For himself behight to me / and to myn issue bothe

Lond and lordeship / and lyfe without ende

To me and myn issue / more yet he graunted

Mercy for our misdedes / as many tymes as we aske

Quam olim Abrahe promisisti et semini eius /

And sithens he set me to saie / I shuld do sacrifice

And do him worship with bread / and with wyne bothe

And callid fote of his feithe / his folke forto / for to saue

And defend them from the feende / that with me beleued

Thus haue I bene his heraulde / here and in helle

And conforted many a carefull / that after his commyng waited

And thus I seke him I / [he] said / for I herde {him}say late

Of A barne that baptyzed him / Iohan was his name

That to patriarches and prophetes / and to other in derknesse

Seid that he se here / that shuld saue vs all

Ecce agnus dei qui tollit peccata mundi /

I had wonder of his wordes / and of his wide clothes

For in his bosome he bare a thing / that he blissed euer

And I lokid in his lappe / A lazar lay therin

Among patriarches and prophetes / pleyeng togithers

What awaitest thou quod he / and what woldest þou haue

I wold wite quod I then / what is in your lappe /

Lo quod he and lete me se / Lord mercie I said

This is a present of much price / what prince shall it haue

It is a preciouse present quod he / But the feend hathe it atached

And me also quod that man / ther may noman / no man me quyte

Nor yet be our borrowe / nor bring vs from his daunger

out of the deuils pinfold / no mainprise may vs fech

Till he come that I carpe of / Christ is his name

That shall deliuer vs some daie / out of the deuyls poure

And better wed for vs lay / than all we be worthie

That is lyfe for lyfe / orelles / or elles ly thus euer

Lolling in my lappe / till suche a lorde vs feche

Allas I said / that synne so long shall lett

The might of goddes mercie / that might vs well amend

I wept for his wordes / with that I sawe another

Hastely renne forthe / the right waie he went

I Asked him fyrst / from whence he come

And what he hight / & whether he wold / and shortly he told