## The Sayings of the Four Philosophers

### Publication Statement:

This file is part of the facsimile-edition of the Auchinleck Manuscript was co-edited by Professor David Burnley and Dr Alison Wiggins. The HTML versions of the resource are freely available at http://www.nls.uk/auchinleck/

### Notes:

This manuscript file was originally supplied as philos.html and the header file was located in heads/philos_head.html both of which were converted to TEI XML by Dr James Cummings of the Oxford Text Archive. The notes below were taken from the header file and each HTML paragraph placed in a separate note.

Scribe 2

English-French macaronic verse. 98 lines.

One other manuscript:
St John's Cambridge MS 112.

Edition:
R. H. Robbins, Historical Poems of the XIVth and XVth Centuries (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959): 140-143.

Other editions and studies:
G. Holmstedt, Speculum Christiani, EETS OS 182 (London: Oxford University Press, 1933): 185-187; 331.
T. Vätke, 'Lied auf den Bruch der Magna Charta durch Edward II', Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Spachen und Litteraturen, 72 (1884): 467-469.
S. J. H. Herrtage, The Early English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum, EETS ES 33 (London: Trübner, 1879; reprinted 1962): 498-499.
R. P. Wülcker, Altenglisches Lesebuch (Halle: Niemeyer, 1874-80).
A. J. Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, Chaucer Society, Second Series, 4 (London: Trübner, 1869): 449.
T. Wright, The Political Songs of England, Camden Society, 6 (London: Nichols, 1839). Re-issued by P. R. Coss (ed. and intro.), Thomas Wright's Political Songs of England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
D. Laing, Owain Miles (Edinburgh: Privately printed, 1837).

Index 1857.

### Source:

The Auchinleck Manuscript (NLS Adv MS 19.2.1) is one of the National Library of Scotland’s greatest treasures. Produced in London in the 1330s, it provides a unique insight into the English language and literature that Chaucer and his generation grew up with and were influenced by. It acquired its name from its first known owner, Lord Auchinleck, who discovered the manuscript in 1740 and donated it to the precursor of the National Library in 1744.

### The Sayings of the Four Philosophers

L’en puet fere & defere, [f.105ra] [Image]
ceo fait-il trop souent;
It nis nouþer wel ne faire,
Þerfore Engelond is shent.
Nostre prince de Engletere, [5]
per le consail de sa gent,
At Westminster after þe feire
maden a gret parlement. [ parlement: ment is superscript.]
La chartre fet de cyre –
ieo l’enteink & bien le crey – [10]
It was holde to neih þe fire
And is molten al awey.
Ore ne say mes que dire,
tout i va a tripolay,
Hundred, chapitle, court & shire,[15]
Al hit goþ a deuel wey.
Des plu sages de la tere,
ore escoteȝ vn sarmoun,
Of .iiij. wise men, þat þer were,
Whi Engelond is brouht adoun. [20] [ adoun is below the line.]
¶ Þe ferste seide ‘I vnderstonde
Ne may no king wel ben in londe,
Vnder God almihte,
But he kunne himself rede
Hou he shal in londe lede [25] [ he is superscript. þou: o is superscript.]
Eueri man wid rihte.
¶ For miht is riht,
Liht is niht
And fiht is fliht
¶ For miht is riht, þe lond is laweles;[30]
For niht is liht, þe lond is lore-les;
For fiht is fliht, þe lond is nameles.’
Þat oþer seide a word ful god:
‘Whoso roweþ aȝein þe flod,
Off sorwe he shal drinke;[35]
Also hit fareþ bi þe vnsele,
A man shal haue litel hele,
Þeragein to swinke.
¶ Nu on is two, [ two: w is superscript.]
Wel is wo, [40] [ Wel: MS reads anoþer.]
And frend is fo.
For on is two, þat lond is streinþeles; [ two: w is superscript, with caret.]
For wel is wo, þe lond is reuþeles;
For frend is fo, þe lond is loueles.’
¶ Þat þridde seide ‘it is no wonder[45]
Off þise eyres þat goþ vnder
Whan þeih comen to londe,
Proude & stoute, & ginneþ ȝelpe,
Ac of þing þat sholde helpe
Haue þeih noht on honde.[50]
Nu lust haueþ leue,
Þef is reue,
And pride haþe sleue.
For lust haþ leue, þe lond is þeweles;
For þef is reue, þe lond is penyles; [f.105rb] [Image] [55]
For pride haþe sleue, þe lond is almusles.’
Þe ferþe seide þat ‘he is wod
Þat dwelleþ to muchel in þe flod,
For gold or for auhte.
For gold or siluer or any wele,[60]
Hunger or þurst, hete or chele,
Al shal gon to nohte.
Nu wille is red,
Wit is qued,
And god is ded.[65]
For wille is red, þe lond is wrecful;
For wit is qued, þe lond is wrongful;
For god is ded, þe lond is sinful.’
Wid wordes as we han pleid,
Sum wisdom we han seid,[70]
Off olde men and ȝunge;
Off many a þing þat is in londe,
Whoso coude it vnderstonde
So haue I told wid tunge.
¶ Riche & pore, bonde & fre,[75]
Þat loue is god, ȝe mai se;
Loue clepeþ vch man broþer,
For if þat he to blame be,
Forȝif hit him par charite,
Alþeih he do oþer.[80]
¶ Loue we God, & he us alle,
Þat was born in an oxe stalle,
And for us don on rode.
His swete herte-blod he let
ffor us, & us faire het[85]
Þat we sholde be gode.
¶ Be we nu gode & stedefast,
So þat we muwen, at þe last,
Hauen heuene-blisse.
To God almihti I preie,[90]
Lat us neuere in sinne deie,
Þat ioye for to misse.
¶ Ac leue us alle so don here
& leue in loue & god manere,
Þe deuel for to shende,[95]
Þat we moten alle ifere
Sen him þat us bouhte dere,
In ioye widoute ende.
Amen.