Part 4

In ‘Troylus and Cryseyde’ we find the following long passage taken from Boethius, book v. prose 2, 3.

Book iv. st. 134, vol. iv. p. 339.

(1) Syn God seth every thynge, out of doutaunce, And hem disponeth, thorugh his ordinaunce, In hire merites sothely for to be, As they shul comen by predesteyné

136

(2) For som men seyn if God seth al byforne, Ne God may not deseyved ben pardé! Than moot it fallen, theigh men hadde it sworne, That purveyaunce hath seyn befor to be, Wherfor I seye, that, from eterne, if he Hathe wiste byforn our thought ek as oure dede, We have no fre choys, as thise clerkes rede.

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(3) For other thoughte, nor other dede also, Myghte nevere ben, but swich as purveyaunce, Which may nat ben deceyved nevere moo, Hath feled byforne, withouten ignoraunce; For if ther myghte ben a variaunce, To wrythen out fro Goddes purveyinge, Ther nere no prescience of thynge comynge;

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(4) But it were rather an opinyon Uncertein, and no stedfast forseynge; And certes that were an abusyon That God shold han no parfit clere wetynge, More than we men, that han douteous wenynge, But swich an erroure upon God to gesse Were fals, and foule, and wikked corsednesse.

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(5) They seyn right thus, that thynge is nat to come, For that the prescience hath seyne byfore That it shal come; but they seyn that therfore That it shal come, therfor the purveyaunce Woot it bifore, withouten ignorance.

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(6) And in this manere this necessité Retourneth in his part contrarye agayn; For nedfully byhoveth it not to be, That thilke thynges fallen in certeyn That ben purveyed; but nedly, as they seyne, Bihoveth it that thynges, which that falle, That thei in certein ben purveied alle.

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(7) I mene as though I labourede me in this, To enqueren which thynge cause of whiche thynge be;

(8) As, whether that the prescience of God is The certein cause of the necessité Of thynges that to comen ben, pardé! Or, if necessité of thynge comynge Be cause certein of the purveyinge.

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(9) But now nenforce I me nat in shewynge How the ordre of causes stant; but wel woot I That it bihoveth that the bifallynge Of thynges, wiste bifor certeinly, Be necessarie, al seme it nat therby That prescience put fallynge necessaire To thynge to come, al falle it foule or faire.

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(10) For, if ther sit a man yonde on a see, Than by necessité bihoveth it, That certes thyn opinioun soth be, That wenest or conjectest that he sit; And, further over, now ayeinwarde yit, Lo right so is it on the part contrarie, As thus,--nowe herkene, for I wol nat tarie:--

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(11) I sey, that if the opinion of the Be soth for that he sit, than seye I this, That he moot sitten by necessité; And thus necessité in either is, For in hym nede of sittynge is, ywis, And in the, nede of soth; and thus forsoth Ther mot necessité ben in yow bothe.

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(12) But thow maist seyne, the man sit nat therfore, That thyn opinioun of his sittynge sothe is; But rather, for the man sat there byfore, Therfor is thyn opinioun soth, ywys; And I seye, though the cause of soth of this Cometh of his sittynge, yet necessité Is interchaunged both in hym and the.

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(13) Thus in the same wyse, out of doutaunce, I may wel maken, as it semeth me, My resonynge of Goddes purveiaunce, And of the thynges that to comen be; . . .

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(14) For although that for thynge shal come, ywys, Therfor it is purveyed certeynly, Nat that it cometh for it purveied is; Yet, natheles, bihoveth it nedfully, That thynge to come be purveied trewly; Or elles thynges that purveied be. That they bitiden by necessité.