2796 hat—H. haue
2800 the—H. þo
2806 perdurablely—H. perdurably
2807 destroied—H. destrued
2811 thilke (1)—H. ilke
2818 heued or elles—H. hede or els
2820 hyen—H. hyen) to
moste—H. must
TRUTH INTUITIVE.
[QUISQUIS PROFUNDA MENTE.]
WHo so that sekith He who seeks truth with deep research and is unwilling to go wrong, should collect his slumbering thoughts, and turn the inner light upon the soul itself. sotħ by a deep thoght And
coueyteth nat to ben deseyuyd by no mys-weyes //
lat hym rollen and trenden with Inne hym self / the Lyht
of his inward syhte // And lat hym gadere ayein enclynynge [2836]
in to a compas the longe moeuynges of hys
thowhtes / The knowledge that he seeks without he will find treasured up in the recesses of the mind. And lat hym techen his corage that he hath
enclosed and hyd / in his tresors / al þat he compaseth or
sekith fro with owte // The light of Truth will disperse Error’s dark clouds, and shine forth brighter than the sun. And thanne thilke thing that the [2840]
blake cloude of errour whilom hadde y-couered / shal
lyhten more clerly thanne phebus hym self ne shyneth //
[Chaucer’s gloss.] Glosa // who so wole seken the dep[e] grounde / of soth
in his thowht / and wol nat be deceyuyd by false proposiciouns / [2844]
that goon amys fro the trouthe // lat hym wel
examine / and rolle with inne hym self the nature and
the propretes of the thing // and lat hym yit eft sones
examine and rollen his thowhtes by good deliberacioun [2848]
or that he deme // and lat hym techen his sowle that it
hat by naturel pryncyplis kyndeliche y-hyd with in
it self alle the trowthe the whiche he ymagynith to ben
in thinges with owte // And thanne alle the dyrknesse of [2852]
his mysknowynge shal seen more euydently to [þe]
syhte of his vndyrstondynge thanne the sonne ne semyth
to [þe] syhte with owte forth / For when the body enclosed the soul and cast oblivion o’er its powers it did wholly exterminate the heaven-born light. For certes the body
bryngynge the weyhte of foryetynge / ne hath nat chasyd [2856]
owt of yowre thowhte al the clernesse of yowre knowyng //
The germs of truth were latent within, and were fanned into action by the gentle breath of learning. For certeynly the seed of sooth haldith and clyueth
with in yowre corage / and it is a-waked and excited by
the wynde and by the blastes of doctryne // Were not truth implanted in the heart, how could man distinguish right from wrong? For where [2860]
for elles demen ye of yowre owne wyl the ryhtes whan
ye ben axed // but yif so were þat the noryssynges of
resoun ne lyuede .I.-plowngyd in the depthe of yowre
herte // this [is] to seyn how sholden men demen þe [2864]
sooth of any thing þat weere axed / yif ther neere a
Roote of sothfastnesse þat weere yplowngyd and hyd in
the nature[l] pryncyplis / the whiche sothfastnesse
lyued with in the depnesse of the thowght // So, if what Plato taught is true, ‘to learn is no other than to remember what had been before forgotten.’ and yif [2868]
so be þat the Muse and the doctryne of plato syngyth
sooth // al þat euery whyht lerneth / he ne doth no
thing elles thanne but recordeth as men recordyn thinges
þat ben foryetyn. [2872]