By word and by miracle he Goddes fone, Whan he was in this world, declared here That ther is other lif ther men may wone. To whom anfwerd Tiburce; O fuster dere! Ne faideft thou right now in this manere,

15800

Ther n'as but o God Lord in fothfastnesse,

And now of three how mayft thou bere witneffe?

That fhal I tell, quod fhe, or that I go.

15805

Of Criftes fonde, and of his peines teche,

With Valerian to Pope Urban he went,

That thanked God, and with glad herte and light He cristened him, and made him in that place 15820 Parfite in his lerning, and Goddes knight:

And after this Tiburce gat fwiche grace

That every day he saw in time and space
The angel of God, and every maner bone
That he God axed it was sped ful fone.
Volume V.

E

15825

It were ful hard by ordre for to fain
How many wonders Jefus for hem wrought:
But at the laft, to tellen fhort and plain,

The fergeaunts of the toun of Rome hem fought,
And hem before Almache the Prefect brought, 15830
Which hem appofed, and knew all hir entent,
And to the image of Jupiter hem fent.

And faid; Who fo wol nought do facrifice
Swap of his hed; this is my fentence here.

Anon thife martyrs that I

you

devife

On Maximus, that was an officere

Of the Prefectes, and his Corniculere,

Hem hent, and whan he forth the feintes lad

Himself he wept for pitee that he had.

15835

Whan Maximus had herd the feintes lore 15840
He gate him of the turmentoures leve,
And lad hem to his hous withouten more;
And with hir preching or that it were eve
They gonnen fro the turmentours to reve,
And fro Maxime, and fro his folk eche on,
The falfe faith, to trowe in God alone.

Cecilie came, whan it was waxen night,
With preeftes, that hem criftened all yfere;
And afterward whan day was waxen light
Cecilie hem faid with a ful stedfast chere,
Now, Criftes owen knightes leve and dere,
Caste all away the werkes of derken effe,
And armeth
you
in armes of brightneffe.

15845

15850

Ye han forfoth ydon a gret bataille;

conferved;

Your cours is don; your faith hath you
Goth to the croune of lif that may not faille; 15856
The rightful juge, which that ye han ferved,
Shal yeve it you, as ye han it deferved.

And whan this thing was faid as I devise
Men ledde hem forth to don the facrifice.

15860

But whan they weren to the place ybrought,
To tellen shortly the conclufioun,
They n'olde encense ne facrifice right nought,
But on hir knees they fetten hem adoun,
With humble herte and fad devotioun,
And loften bothe hir hedes in the place:

15865

Hir foules wenten to the King of grace.

This Maximus, that faw this thing betide,

With pitous teres told it anon right

That he hir foules faw to heven glide

15870

With angels, ful of clereneffe and of light,

And with his word converted many a wight,

For which Almachius did him to-bete

With whip of led til he his lif gan lete.

v. 15855. Your cours is don] So all the mff. In ed. Urr. don is changed to run; and I believe no modern poet would have joined any other verb with cours, especially after he had used ydon in the preceding line; but I am not clear that Chaucer attended to fuch niceties.- -In the latter part of this line the beft mfl. read-Your faith ban ye conferved-and I know not by what negligence I omitted to follow them.

Cecile him toke and buried him anon

15875

By Tiburce and Valerian foftely,

Within hir burying place, under the ston;
And after this Almachius haftily

Bad his miniftres fetchen openly

Cecile, fo that the might in his presence

Don facrifice, and Jupiter encense.

But they, converted at hire wife lore,

15880

Wepten ful fore, and yaven ful credence

Unto hire word, and crieden more and more
Crift, Goddes fone, withouten difference,

15885

Is veray God, this is all our fentence,

That hath fo good a servant him to ferve:

Thus with o vois we trowen though we sterve.

Almachius, that herd of this doing,

Bad fetchen Cecile, that he might hire fee: 15890 And alderfirft, lo, this was his axing;

What maner woman arte thou? quod he.

I am a gentilwoman borne, quod she.
I axe thee, quod he, though it thee greve,
Of thy religion and of thy beleve.

Why than began your question folily,
Quod fhe, that woldeft two answers conclude
In o demand? Ye axen lewedly.

Almache answerd to that fimilitude,

15895

Of whennes cometh thin answering fo rude? 15900 Of whennes? (quod fhe, whan that she was freined) Of confcience, and of good faith unfeined.

Almachius faid; Ne takeft thou non hede
Of my power? And she him anfwerd this;
Your might (quod fhe) ful litel is to drede,
For every mortal mannes power n'is
But like a bladder ful of wind ywis,
For with a nedles point whan it is blow
May all the boft of it be laid ful low.

15905

Ful wrongfully begonneft thou, (quod he) 15910
And yet in wrong is al thy perfeverance:
Woft thou not how our mighty princes free
Have thus commanded and made ordinance
That every Criften wight fhal han penance
But if that he his Criftendome withfeye,
And gon al quite if he wel it reneye?

Your princes erren, as your nobley doth,
Quod tho Cecile, and with a wood fentence
Ye make us gilty, and it is not foth;
For ye, that knowen wel our innocence,
For as moche as we don ay reverence

To Crift, and for we bere a Criften name,
Ye put on us a crime and eke a blame.

But we, that knowen thilke name fo
For vertuous, we may it not withfaye.
Almache answered; Chefe on of thise two,
Do facrifice, or Criftendom reneye,

That thou mow now efcapen by that wey.
At which this holy blisful fayre maid
Gan for to laughe, and to the juge faid;

15915

15920

15925

15930