Sir Gawain, Melibee, Patience: Medieval Texts
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
After the siege and the assault at Troy had ended,
And the city broken down and burned to brands and ashes,
The man, the traitor, who trammels of treason there wrought,
Was tried for his treachery, the foulest on earth.
It was Aeneas the noble and his high kin
Who later conquered other provinces and became lords
Of well-nigh all the wealth in the Western Isles:
Forth rich Romulus came to Rome quickly,
With great magnificence, he built up that city first,
And names it with his own name, as it now has;
Ticius to Tuscany and founds settlements,
Langobard lifts up homes in Lombardy;
And far away across the English Channel, Felix Brutus,
On many broad banks, he settles Britain happily:
Where war and wreck and wonder
From time to time have worked within,
And often both bliss and disaster
Have succeeded one another ever since.
And when this Britain was built by this rich prince,
Bold warriors were bred therein, of battle beloved,
In many a troubled time, turmoil that wrought.
The Tale of Melibee (Melibeus)
A young man called Melibeus, mighty and rich, begot upon his wife, who was called Prudence, a daughter who was called Sophie.
Upon a day, it happened that he, for his pleasure, went into the fields to amuse himself.
His wife and also his daughter he had left within his house, the doors of which were tightly shut. Three of his old foes had spied on him and set ladders to the walls of his house, and by the windows, they entered, and beat his wife, and wounded his daughter with five mortal wounds in five different places, that is to say, in her feet, in her hands, in her ears, in her nose, and in her mouth, and left her for dead, and went away.
When Melibeus returned to his house and saw all this mischief, he, like a madman, tearing his clothes, began to weep and cry.
Prudence, his wife, insofar as she dared, besought him to stop his weeping,
but nevertheless, he began to cry, and the longer he wept, the more he wept.
Patience
Patience is a noble point, though it displeases often.
When heavy hearts are hurt by scorn or otherwise,
Sufferance may assuage them and temper the flame,
For she quells each evil and quenches malice;
For him who could suffer sorrow, good fortune would follow,
And he who for resistance may not endure, the more often he is grieved.
Then it is better to abide the blows betimes
Than to smart from my pang forever, though it seems ill to me.
I heard on a holiday at a high mass
How Matthew said that his Master taught his followers.
Eight fortunes he promised them, and each a gift,
Individually, for its merit, in a different way:
- Happy those who have poverty in their heart,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven to hold forever; - Happy also are those who practice meekness,
For they will rule this world and have all their will; - Happy also are those who weep for their sins,
For they will obtain comfort in many regions; - Happy also are those who hunger after right,
For they will freely be fully refreshed by all goodness; - Happy also are those who have pity in heart,
For mercy in all manners will become their reward; - Happy also are those who are clean of heart,
For they will see their Savior enthroned with their eyes; - Happy also are those who hold their peace.