Here begynnethe the boke calledde Iohn bochas descriuinge the falle of princis princessis [and] other nobles tra[n]slated i[n]to englissh by Iohn ludgate mo[n]ke of the monastery of seint edmu[n]des Bury ...

Prologus

To reyse a toure so high so large and longe

For to this day touchynge the great might Of this toure which babell men yit call Men fro ferre may haue therof a sight It surmountith other tours all Of which werke thus it is bifall Of serpentes and many a great dragon It is no we callyd cheef habitacion

That noman dare as they it se For wickyd eyre and for corruption By a great space and in a grete cuntre Aproche nor nere that merueylous dungeon So venemous was that mansion And so orrible that noman dare approche Lyke to a mountayn byldyd on a roche

And as men say that hadde therto repeyre This toure atteynith vnto the sterres clere And transendeth the region of the eyre The stones and the syment were made of such mater And the ioynynge so stedfaste and entier Though fyre and water both dyd it asseyle But lytyll or nought their power shulde avayle

It was made so mighty to endure So well assuryd by disposicion That in this worlde no lyuynge creature Sawe neuer none lyke in comparison Whoos rerynge vp was cheif occasion And the riches of the masonrie Were thrugh Nembrothe of pryde and surquedie

Demyd proudly as in his auice He transcendyd all other in noblesse Thought himself moste mighty and wy••e Felowe to god as by lyknesse But god that can all worldely pride oppresse And make princes eclypsen in their glorie Suche as trust in thynges transitorie

The same lorde of his eternall might This toure which Nembroth lyste to edifye He made with thondre and levyn light Therof to fall a full great partye The boistous wyndes and the rage skye And goddes power on that other syde Bygan thus abate a perrell of his pryde

And in discente and fallynge of the stonys Of the werkmen full many a man was dede And oppressyd their backe broken and bones The masonrye with their blode was rede Yit proud Nembrothe that of this werke was hede With all thies sygnes his lorde he lyst nat knowe For which his pompe was after brought ful lowe

But in his errour procedith furth of newe Thought he wolde gete him self aname Of melancoly can chaunge loke and hewe And beganne also to tempte and atame For to encreas and magnify his fame A newe toure to edifye ayen Lyke as god had ben blynde and nothynge seen

He wolde haue raught vp to the sterrys seuyn By thassent of them that can him first counseyle Robbyd god and from him raught the he••yn But who presumith the lorde aboue tassayle It were no reason that he shulde auayle Prynces may well ayenst him cry loude But his powere may elipse with no cloude

For in the myddes of his grete emprises This proude Nembroth makynge his masons For to cumpas and cast their deuises Geometries in their diuisions But god that hath his aspeccious Seynge thententis of euery erthly man As he that is moste mighty and best can

Ayenst their malice make resistence Their worldly power their dominacion Of his vengeable and moste magnificence He can chastyce and ouir whelme downe The pryde of princes in euery region By ensaumple of Nembrothe as ye shal here Whose pompe raught aboue the sterres clere

For whanne his werkmen stode at a avantage And moost were besy to his intencion And byfore that tyme spake all one langage All sodenly by transmutacion There was of tonges made a diuision That in their wyrkynge as they can obreyde No man wist what that other saide

And it is lykly accordynge with reason So as chaunge was made of their langages So of their hertys was made diuision Bothe of their wyll and of their corages And in ascendynge of their worchynge stages