Falsehood’s reply: poverty for a time

Pollard pp. 15.2–16.31

Falsehood15.2–15.5

15mendacium. Nimis patenter reseras conversacionem, quam increpas prelatorum; sed audi partem alteram in responsionibus et repplicacionibus, et tunc potes magis evidenter procedere.

Falsehood. Too openly you lay bare the manner of life of the prelates, which you rebuke; but hear the other side in answers and rejoinders, and then you can proceed more clearly.

Falsehood15.6–15.18

15Concedo quidem tibi quod Christus vixit et docuit vitam pauperem sed noluit ipsam esse perpetuam, cum dicat in apostolo allegato quod Christus sic egenus factus est ut illis inopia vos divites essetis. Superbia autem et cupiditas sacerdotum legis veteris qui Christum occiderant requirebant Christum sic vivere et docere. Sed postquam repressa sunt ista peccata dignitas sacerdotum exigit quod clerus ad priorem gloriam revertatur; in cujus signum predia quibus dotatur ecclesia vocantur patrimonium crucifixi. Christus enim virtute passionis sue et meriti adquisivit sue ecclesie omnia ista dominia, et, si, justicia posset procedere, ampliora; et cum ista sentencia concordant concessiones dominorum temporalium et vite papales patule atque leges.

I grant you indeed that Christ lived and taught a poor life, but he did not will it to be perpetual, since he says, in the apostle already cited, that Christ was made needy in such a way "that through his poverty you might be rich".¹ And the pride and greed of the priests of the old law, who had killed Christ, required Christ to live and teach so. But after these sins were repressed, the dignity of priests demands that the clergy return to its former glory; in token of which the estates with which the church is endowed are called "the patrimony of the crucified".² For Christ, by virtue of his passion and merit, acquired for his church all these lordships, and, if justice could take its course, greater ones; and with this teaching agree the grants of the temporal lords and the manifest lives and laws of the popes.³

Truth15.19–16.31

15veritas. Video quod fraudulenter misceas quedam vera cum falsis. Concipis quidem veritatem fidei quod Christus tam in vita quam doctrina docuit pauperiem observari. Sed quod consequenter addis, hanc Christi sentenciam durare ad tempus modicum et postea clerum suum redire ad seculum amplius quam vixerunt legis veteris sacerdotes, infideliter garrulas et contrarie racioni. Si enim Christus tam diu et 16tam dure reprobavit hoc peccatum in sacerdotibus legis veteris, quomodo sacerdotem legis gracie nove movet redire ad dictam avariciam sicut canis redit ad vomitum? Jam enim plus ditantur et gloriantur in seculo clerici et precipui sacerdotes quam ditabantur vel gloriabantur in seculo scribe pharisei vel principes sacerdotum. Ideo, cum tanta sit racio perpetuacionis hujus legis Christi ut patet de statu innocencie et statu glorie, patet quod ista lex Christi debet precipue in novissimis temporibus observari; tunc enim diabolus plus temptat homines ad avariciam. Ideo est magis necessarium in clero, qui debet esse speculum populi, apponere medicinam. Que ergo racio, cum hodie tantum dominatur cupiditas quare Christi pauperies tantum deprimitur et antichristi rabies tantum extollitur? Numquid racio concordat quod hec lex Christi in racione exemplari eterna sit per trecentos annos tantummodo observata et lex antichristiana contraria in temporibus tam periculosis sit perpetuata. Idem enim est sic dicere et extollere diabolum supra Christum, ac si infidelis annueret quod lex Christi tam necessaria et salubris durabit ad horam sub colore divini beneplaciti, sed lex antichristi plena veneno atque mortifera duret perpetuo ut excitet homines ad peccandum. Sed quis Christianus talem blasfemam responsiunculam tolleraret? Ulterius novit catholicus quomodo sunt due diviciarum maneries, scilicet divicie temporales et divicie celestes et spirituales. Et prime divicie vix cum virtutibus moderate ducunt ad celestes divicias, que sunt vere, de quibus loquitur apostolus Christi supra. Ideo haberes conscienciam super ista loquela heretica, quam innuis super fide scripture apostoli. Oportet enim per penalitatem et pauperiem hic in via mereri celestes divicias et beatitudinem in patria.

Truth. I see that you craftily mix certain true things with false. You do indeed grasp the truth of faith, that Christ, as much in life as in doctrine, taught that poverty was to be observed. But what you add next, that this judgement of Christ lasts for a short time, and that afterwards his clergy returns to the world more fully than the priests of the old law lived [in it], you prattle in unbelief and contrary to reason. For if Christ so long and 16so harshly reproved this sin in the priests of the old law, how does he move a priest of the new law of grace to return to the said avarice, as a dog returns to its vomit?⁴ For clerics, and the leading priests, are now more enriched and glorified in the world than the scribes, Pharisees or chief priests were enriched or glorified in the world. Therefore, since the reason for the perpetuation of this law of Christ is so great, as is clear from the state of innocence and the state of glory, it is clear that this law of Christ ought to be observed especially in the last times; for then the devil tempts men more to avarice. Therefore it is more necessary to apply the medicine in the clergy, which ought to be the mirror of the people. What reason is there, then, since greed so lords it today, why Christ’s poverty is so much put down and Antichrist’s rage so much exalted? Does reason agree that this law of Christ, eternal in its exemplar reason, should have been observed for three hundred years only, and the contrary antichristian law be perpetuated in times so perilous?⁵ For to say this is the same as to exalt the devil above Christ, as if an unbeliever were to grant that the law of Christ, so necessary and wholesome, will last for a time, under colour of the divine good pleasure, but that the law of Antichrist, full of poison and deadly, should last for ever, to stir men up to sin.⁶ But what Christian would tolerate such a blasphemous little answer? Further, the catholic knows that there are two kinds of riches, namely temporal riches, and heavenly and spiritual riches. And the first riches, even held with the virtues in moderation, scarcely lead to the heavenly riches, which are the true ones, of which Christ’s apostle speaks above.⁷ Therefore you ought to be troubled in conscience over this heretical talk, which you hint at on the faith of the apostle’s scripture. For it is by hardship and poverty here on the way that one must merit heavenly riches, and blessedness in the homeland.

Notes

1 2 Cor. 8:9, cited in the previous chapter. The Vulgate reads propter vos egenus factus est … ut illius inopia vos divites essetis ("he became poor for your sakes: that through his poverty you might be rich"). Pollard prints illis inopia, which does not construe, and the apparatus records no variant; we translate illius, the Vulgate’s word (our emendation). B, B¹, C read nos … essemus, "that we might be rich". Cum dicat has no expressed subject: Christ speaking in the apostle is the likelier reading, Paul himself the alternative.
2 Patrimonium crucifixi: "the patrimony of the crucified", a current name for the goods of the church, on which the clergy were held to live as stewards of the poor. At 15.12 a later hand in the margin of B, and C, read patrimonii for (or beside) priorem: "to the glory of the patrimony".
3 Et, si, justicia posset procedere, ampliora: "and greater ones, if justice could take its course", i.e. by right the church should have more. B¹, C read ut sic for et si, B, B¹, C in sciencia for justicia, and B, C ampliori; none gives a clearer sense, and the print is kept. Vite papales patule atque leges: we take papales with both nouns and patule ("open, manifest") with vite: "the manifest lives and laws of the popes".
4 Quomodo sacerdotem … movet: we take Christ as subject: how can the Christ who condemned this avarice move a priest of the new law back to it? B, B¹, C read sacerdotes … moveret, with the same construal. The dog is proverbial: Prov. 26:11 (sicut canis qui revertitur ad vomitum suum) and 2 Pet. 2:22 (canis reversus ad suum vomitum); Wyclif’s sicut canis redit ad vomitum follows neither exactly.
5 In racione exemplari eterna: "eternal in its exemplar reason", eternal as the idea of it in the divine mind. The "three hundred years" run from Christ to the endowment of the church under Constantine and Pope Sylvester, which Wyclif elsewhere treats as the entry of the poison into the church.
6 At 16.18 B, B¹, C read fidelis: "as if a believer were to grant". Plena veneno atque mortifera echoes Jas. 3:8, of the tongue: plena veneno mortifero, "full of deadly poison". Ad horam: "for a time", as in the Vulgate’s ad horam (e.g. John 5:35).
7 Vix cum virtutibus moderate ducunt: we take moderate as the adverb, "held in moderation" together with the virtues; the alternative joins it to ducunt: "scarcely lead, and then only moderately". Supra: 2 Cor. 8:9 again, where Falsehood read "that you might be rich" as licensing later endowment; Truth answers that the riches Paul promises are the heavenly ones. At 16.24 B, C read sunt enim for scilicet.

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 15: CAPITULUM VIII. (editor footnote 1 on heading)
Pollard’s footnote 1 on the heading (15): Jam hinc ea glossemata easque lectiones quae mihi ad vera verba auctoris restituenda inutilia videantur, omittam: "From here on I shall omit those glosses and readings which seem to me useless for restoring the author’s true words." From this chapter the apparatus is selective.
Side-notes corrected against plates n46 (on disk) and n47 (fetched from archive.org this session). The draft’s 15.15–15.16 fragments are one note beginning at 15.14; the draft’s 16.15 line joined two notes, the second beginning at 16.17.
Plate check, 15.8 illis inopia: the plate prints illis; no variant in the apparatus. Translated as illius (n. 1).
Apparatus consulted: 15.8 sit for sic, B; est om. B, B¹, C; nos for vos, B, B¹, C; 15.9 essemus, B, B¹, C; 15.12 patrimonii (n. 2); 15.15 ut for et, B (later hand), B¹, C; sic for si, B, B¹, C; 15.16 in sciencia, possit, ampliori (n. 3); 15.22 Christi om. B, B¹, C; 15.23 per for ad, B, B¹, C; mod. temp. inverted, B, B¹, C; 15.25 et contra Christum added after racioni, B; 16.2 sacerdotes, nove om., moveret, B, B¹, C (n. 4); 16.3 dictam om. B, B¹, C; 16.4 clerici om. B, B¹, C; 16.6 et pharisei, B, B¹; racio sit inverted, B, B¹, C; 16.18 fidelis (n. 6); 16.24 due om. B, B¹, C; sunt enim for scilicet, B, C; sed enim later hand, B; sunt corrected from scilicet, B.