And though that I, unworthy sone' of Eve,
Be synful, yet accepte my bileve.
And for that faith is deth withouten werkis,
So for to werken give me witt and space,
That I be quit fro thennes that most derk is;
O thou, that art so fair and ful of grace,
myn advocat in that hihe place,
Ther as withouten ende is songe Osanne,
Thou Cristes moder, doughter deere of Anne.
And of thi light my soule in prisoun light,
That troubled is by the contagioun
Of my body, and also by the wight
Of everich lust and fals affeccioun;
O heven of refuyt, o salvacioun
Of hem that ben in sorwe and in destresse,
Now help, for to my werk I wil me dresse.
Yet pray I you that reden that I write,
Forgeve me, that I doo no diligence
This ilke story subtilly to endite.
For bothe have I the wordes and sentence
Of him, that at the seintes reverence
The story wroot, and folwen hir legende,
And pray yow that ye wol my
First wol I yow the name of seint Cecilie
Expoune, as men may in hir story se;
It is to say on Englisch, hevenes lilie,
For
pure chastenesse of virginite;
Or for sche witnesse hadde of honeste
1 The Nun is here made to call herself a son of Eve, an oversight which indicates that this tale was originally intended for a separate piece. [Chaucer himself mentions the Lyf of Seint Cecile' as a separate work in the prologue to his Legende of Goode Women. See vol. iii. p. 333.-W. W.S.] 2 James ii. 17. 3 Haven of refuge. 4 Jacobus a Voragine. See Introd. 5 Prefixed to each of the treatises in the Legenda Aurea is an explanation of the name of the festival or of the Saint, in the manner of the Jewish cabala. In this process of torturing one poor word ten thousand ways,' Cecilia is first supposed to be derived from Cali lilia, the lily of heaven, next from Caci via, a teacher of the blind, and then from Cœlum and Aaos the people, as being the heaven of the people of God.
And grene of conscience, and of good fame
The soote savour, lilie was her name.
Or Cecile is to say, the way of blynde,
For sche ensample was by way of techyng;
Or elles Cecily, as I writen fynde,
Is joyned by a maner conjoynynge
Of heven and lya, and here in figurynge
The heven is sette for thought of holynesse,
And lya, for hir lastyng besynesse.
Cecili may eek be seyd in this manere,
Wantyng of blyndnes, for hir grete light
Of sapience, and of thilke thewes cleere.
Or elles lo, this maydenes name bright
Of heven and leos comes, for which by right
Men might hir wel the heven of peple calle,
Ensample of goode and wise werkes alle.
For leos peple in Englissh is to say;
And right as men may in the heven see
The sonne and moone, and sterres every way,
Right so men gostly in this mayden free
Seen of faith the magnanimite,
And eek the clernes hool of sapience,
And sondry werkes, bright of excellence.
And right so as these philosofres wryte,
That heven is swyft and round, and eek brennynge,
Right so was faire Cecily the whyte
Ful swyft and besy ever in good werkynge,
And round and hool in good perseverynge,
And brennyng ever in charite ful bright;
Now have I yow declared what sche hight.
This mayden bright Cecilie, as hir lyf saith,
Was comen of Romayns and of noble kynde,
And from hir cradel fostred in the faith
Of Crist, and bar his Gospel in hir mynde;
Sche never cessed, as I writen fynde,
Of hire prayer, and God to love and drede,
Byseching him to kepe hir maydenhede.'
1 See vol. i. p. 207, note 2.
And whan this mayde schuld unto a man
Y-wedded be, that was ful yong of age,
Which that i-cleped was Valirian,
And day was comen of hir mariage,
Sche ful devout and humble in hir currage,
Under hir robe of gold, that sat ful faire,
Hadde next hir fleissh i-clad hir in an heire.
And whil the organs made melodie,
To God alloon in herte thus sang sche;
'O Lord, my soule and eek my body gye
Unwemmed, lest that I confounded be.'
And for his love that deyd upon a tre,
Every secound or thridde day sche faste,
Ay biddyng in hire orisouns ful faste.
The nyght cam, and to bedde most sche goon
With hir housbond, as oft is the manere,
And prively to him sche sayde anoon;
'O swete and wel biloved spouse deere,
Ther is a counseil, and ye wold it heere,
Which that right fayn I wold unto you saye;
So that ye swere ye schul it not bywraye.'
Valirian gan fast unto hir swere,
That for no caas ne thing that mighte be,
He scholde never mo bywreye hire;
And thanne at erst thus to him sayde sche;
'I have an aungel which that loveth me,
That with gret love, wher so I wake or slepe,
Is redy ay my body for to kepe;
And if that he may felen, out of drede,'
That ye me touche or love in vilonye,
He right anoon wil sle you with the dede,
And in youre youthe thus schulde ye dye.
And if that ye in clene love me gye,
He wol yow love as me, for your clennesse,
And schewe to you his joye and his brightnesse.'
1 In Harl. MS. this line is omitted, and the next begins, If ye me touche.
Valirian, corrected as God wolde,
'If I schal truste the,
Let me that aungel se, and him biholde;
And if that it a verray aungel be,
Than wol I doon as thou hast prayed me;
And if thou love another man, forsothe
Right with this swerd than wol I slee you
Cecilie answerd anoon right in this wise;
"If that yow list, the aungel schul ye see,
So that ye trowe on Crist, and you baptise;
Goth forth to Via Apia,' quod sche,
'That fro this toun ne stant but myles thre,
And to the pore1 folkes that ther duelle
Saith hem right thus, as that I schal you
'Tell hem, I Cecilie yow unto hem sent,
To schewen yow the good Urban the olde,
For secre needes, and for good entente;
And whan that ye seint Urban' han byholde,
Tel him the wordes which that I to yow tolde;
And whan that he hath purged3 you fro synne,
Than schul ye se that aungel er ye twynne.'
Valirian is to the place y-goon,
And right as him was taught by his lernynge,
He fond this holy old Urban anoon
Among the seyntes buriels lotynge ;*
And he anoon withoute taryinge
Did his message, and whan that he it tolde,
Urban for joye his handes gan upholde.
The teres from his eyghen let he falle;
'Almyghty Lord, O Jhesu Crist,' quod he,
'Sower of chaste counseil, herde of us alle,
1 The Christian religion was first, in almost all instances, received by the poor and unlearned, a fact foretold, but furnishing much subject of vituperation to its adversaries.
4 Louting is from the Anglo-Saxon lutan or lutian, to lie hid. historical accuracy of representing Urban as lying hid in the catacombs or 'seyntes sepulchres,' gives an air of authenticity to these acts
The fruyt of thilke seed of chastite
That thou hast sowe in Cecilie, tak to the;
Loo, like a busy bee withouten gyle
The serveth ay thin owne thral Cecile.
'For thilke spouse, that sche took right now
Ful lyk a fers lyoun, sche sendeth here`
As meek as ever was eny lamb to yow.'
And with that word anoon ther gan appere
An old man, clad in white clothes clere,
That had a book with lettres of gold in honde,
And gan to-forn Valirian to stonde.
Valirian, as deed, fyl doun for drede,
Whan he him say; and he him up hente tho,
And on his book right thus he gan to rede;
'On Lord, o feith, oon God withouten mo,
On Cristendom, and oon fader of alle also,
Aboven alle, and over alle every where
This wordes al with golde writen were."
Whan this was red, than seide this olde man, 'Levest thou this thing or no? say ye or naye.' 'I leve al this thing,' quod Valirian,
'For sother thing than this, I dare wel saye,
Under the heven no wight thenken maye.'
Tho vanysched the old man, he nyste where,
And pope Urban him cristened right there."
Valirian goth home, and fint Cecilie
Withinne his chambre with an aungel stonde.
This aungel had of roses and of lilie
1 This description of the first lesson taught to the catechumen bears the stamp of the bold and simple dogmatic teaching which the primitive church opposed to the subtle cavils of the enlightened heathen. It is taken from Ephes. iv., where the ev Bánтiσμa is translated on (i. e. one), Cristendom.'
2 Harl. MS., through an inadvertence easily accounted for by the repetition of the rhyme, omits the seven lines beginning with this line.
3 The practice of at once baptizing the catechumen on his assenting to the true faith, as in this instance, appears from Scripture to have been the most ancient.-Acts viii. 36; xvi. 33.
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