He saih him-self þat harde stour,
Whon godes armus weore rent aroun.
Þe Cros is a cold Creatour,
Line 495
And euere ȝit haþ ben def and dom.
Þeiȝ þis tale beo florisshed with faire flour,
I preue hit on Apocrafum,
ffor witnesse was neuer foundet
Line 499
Þat neuere cristes cros spak;
Oure ladi leide on him no lak;
Bot to pulte þe deuel abak,
We speke hou crist was woundet.
Line 503
(40)
IN ffleschly wede, God gan [MS. gam] him hede, Of Mylde May,
Was bore to blede, As Cristes Crede Soþly wol say;
On a stokly stede He Rod, we Rede, In Red Array;
ffrom deueles drede, Þat Duyk vs lede, At domes-day, [These 4 lines are written as 4 stanzas, aab, in the MS. See st. 1.]
Whon peple schal parte and pace
Line 508
To heuene halle, or to helle woode,
Cristes cros and cristes blode,
And Marie preiers þat ben ful goode,
Grant vs þe lyf of grace! Amen!
Line 512
Explicit disputacio inter Mariam
Et Crucem, secundum Apocrafum.
Et Crucem, secundum Apocrafum.
LIII. Susannah, or Seemly Susan.
[28 alliterative Stanzas of thirteen: abab abab, cdddc, the last adding a couplet aa.]
(1)
Þer was in Babiloine a bern, in þat borw riche, [folio 317:1]
Þat was a Ieuȝ ientil, & Ioachin he hiht;
He was so lele in his lawe, þer liued non him liche;
Of alle riche arayes, þat renke [MS. þat renke arayes (Gollancz)] he was riht;
Line 4
His Innes & his orchardus were with a dep dich,
Halles & herbergages, heiȝ vppon heiht.
To seche þoru þat cite, þer nas non sich,
Of erbus, and of erberi, so auenauntliche I-diht
Line 8
