The Merchant's Tale
Folio 158v
2 of 29 folios
Al hadde ȝe seye a þing wiþ boþe ȝour eyȝen
Ȝit schullen we so visagen it hardyly
1030
And weepe and swere and chide subtyly
Þat ȝe schuln ben as lewed as here gees
What rekkeþ me of ȝour auctoritees
I wot wel þis Iewe þis Salamon
Fand of vs wōmen fooles many oon
1035
But þough þat he ne fond no good wōman
Þer haþ I founde many anoþer man
Wōmen ful trewe ful good ful vertuous
Witnesse on hem þat dwellen in cristes hous
Wiþ martirdom þey prouyd ħ constance
1040
Þe Romayne Iestes maken remembance
Of many a verray trewe wijf also
But sire ne beþ nouȝt wroþ al be it so
Þouȝ þat he seyde he fond no good wōman
I pray ȝou take þe sentence of þe man
1045
He mente þus þat in souerayne bounte
Nis non but god but neyþer he ne sche
Ey for verray god þat nys but oon
What make ȝe so moche of Salamon
What þougħ he made a temple goddes hous
1050
What þougħ he were riche and glorious
So made he a temple of false godis
Who mighte do a þing þat more forbode is
Parde as fayr as he his name in plastre
He was a lecchour and an ydolastr
1055
And in his eelde he verry god forsook
And if þat god ne hadde as seiþ þe book
Y spared him for his fadres sake he scholde
Haue lost his regne sonner þan he wolde
I sette nouȝt of aƚƚ þe vylenye
1060
Þat ȝe of wōmen wite a bottirflye
I am a wōman needes moot I speke
Oþer elles swelle til myn herte breke
For siþenes he seyde þat we ben Iangeleresses