For this e-text, it is shown in its original layout as described by the editor (above). Footnote numbering reflects the printed text.
| LatinText (in left column). | French Text (in right column). | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, ro] In terra cum terra sit fraude perquisita, Terra terre vermibus sic putressittrita, Terra terram deseret, erit et finita, 4 Terra tunc a terrens[3] mox erit oblita. | 1 | [MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 1, ro] Quant terre auera en[9] terre large terre gayne, & terre serra en terre a la mort liuere, Puis ert tere en tere de vermyne mange, 4 Dounc vendra tere en tere & toust ert oblie. | |
| 2 | Terra per superbiam terram cum ascendit, Terra tunc cupidine terram comprehendit, Terra morti proximans terram dat et vendit, 8 Ad terram viuencium terra manustendit. | 2 | Quant tere sour terre de orgoyl descline, & tere ils[10] [vers] tere par coueitise encline, Dounc tere ils[10] [vers]tere se treit a Ruyne, 8 & tere a haute tere requeit medicine. | |
| 3 | Terra terram speculans non iustificari, Et ad terre terminum terraminclinari. Terra terre seruiens vult[4] refrigerari, 12 Et terra terribilis in terra locari. | 3 | Quant tere ne peot de terre la maluestesourueyndre, Par force deit tere de terre temptaciounsesteyndre, Encontre la fiele tere sa tere deit refreyndre, 12 Quant tere leue en tere face sa tere moyndre. | |
| 4 | In terra quid possidet terra nisi penas Quando terra respicit terram liteplenas, Et terram deficere tanquam terretenas, 16 Sic terra putredinis intrat[5] terre venas? | 4 | Quey ad tere de tere forque dolour & peygne Quant tere veyt en terre soun enemi demeygne, & tere coust en tere a la mort certeyne[11], 16 & tere pase en tere par frelete humeyne? | |
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 1, vo] | ||||
| 5 | Terra non considerat terram firmamente, Atque terra labitur in terramrepente, Terram suo sanguine terra redimente, 20 Terram potens eruit de terra dolente. | 5 | O tu cheytiue tere de tere, remembrez Vous estes pris de tere & tere deuendrez, Pensez[12]coment en tere & par tere pecchez, 20 & tere fiust en tere tant fortment[13]rechatez. | |
| 6 | Terra quando respicit terramterminare, Terra terram debuit sese castigare, Terra terram valeat vt humiliare, 24 Terra terram faciat flere ieiunare[19]. | 6 | Quant tere veyt que tere se treit a la mort, & tere nad en tere forque poure confort, Quant tere moert[25] en tere ni ad nul resort, 24 Merueille est que tere de tere nad retort. | |
| 7 | De terra resurgere terra debet vere[19], Et quod terra meruit terra[19] possidere[19], Hic dum terra vixerit terra[19] valet[19] flere[19], 28 | 7 | Quant tere[26] deit de tere leuersodeynement, Tere vendra en tere pur oyer jugement, Dounc auera tere en tere dolour & turment, 28 Si tere neit fet en tere bon amendement. | |
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, vo] | ||||
| 8 | Aduersus terrigenas quando[19] terra stabit, Et terram interrogans terra[19] tunc[19] culpabit[19], Terra finem cap[ia]t terram[19] . . . gabit[20], 32 | 8 | Angeles vendrount en tere la tere resusciter, & dirrount a la tere de tere couent leuer, Deuant le Roy de tere en tere deuez aller[27], 32 Que[28] soffri en tere pur tere dolour amer. | |
| 9 | In terra qui mortuus & in terra natus Ffuit[22], terram protegat sic &terre[23] gratus, Vt in terra quilibet de terra formatus, 36 Terre ponat terminum terre comendatus. | 9 | Jesu, que pur la tere en tere fiust ne, Soyt eydaunt[29] a la tere que tere soit sauue, & nos meyne[30] de tere ou tere est benure, 36 Kar si sumes en tere par tere turmente[31]. | |
| 10 | In terra cum Angeli terramsuscitabunt, In terra terribiles tube resonabunt, De terra terrigene corpora leuabunt, 40 Et ad terre judicem terre tunc clamabunt. | 10 | Dolour est en tere par tere & par mer, Ffaus est tere en tere & tere desir auer, Pluis ne voil en tere ore[32] de tere chaunter. 40 Dieu deynt tere en tere de viuauns habiter. Amen. | |
| 11 | O tu terre domine! terre miserere, Et terra respiciens terenos tuere, In terra deficimus, terra sumus vere, 44 Nos in terra glorie terram fac videre. | |||
| English Text (in left column,below Latin) | (in right column, below French) | |||
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 3, ro] | ||||
| 1 | Whanne eorthe hath eorthe wiþ wrong igete, And eorthe in eorthe biginneþ to alete, And eorthe in eorthe wiþ wormes is afrete, 4 Thanne eorthe is on eorthe sone forȝete. | 6 | Whan eorthe iseoþ eorthe to endinge drawe, & eorthe on eorthe wiþ deþ is islawe, & eorthe on eorthe wiþ wormes in ignawe, 24 Þanne eorthe may eorthe him seluen iknawe. | |
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 3, vo] | ||||
| 2 | Wanne eorthe ouer eorthe þorw prude styeþ, And eorthe toward eorthe þorw coueytise wryeþ, & eorthe into eorthe toward þe deþ hyeþ, 8 Þanne eorthe aȝeyn eorthe toward heuene crieþ.[6] | 7 | Wan eorthe ssal of eorthe netfulliche aryse, & eorthe on eorthe ihere þilke assise Þer eorthe ne may eorthe noþer[24] lere ne wise, 28 Þanne eorthe sal on eorthe grimliche agrise. | |
| 3 | Whan eorthe juynt eorthe so luþer[7] to awelden, & eorthe on þat eorthe allewey[8] bi helden, & eorthe on eorthe sone bigynneþ for to elden, 12 | 8 | Þanne eorthe sal to eorthe holden gret cheste, & eorthe asken eorthe were is hiere byheste Þat eorthe byhet eorthe allewey to leste, 32 Wanne eorthe turneþ to eorthe toward Helle feste. | |
| 4 | What haueþ eorthe on eorthe bote pouȝt[15] and[15] wo, Whan eorthe iseoþ[16] eorthe his dedliche fo, & eorthe into eorthe so sone gynneþ guo, 16 & eorthe iworthe to eorthe alle we sullen so? | 9 | Houre Louerd þat on eorthe for eorthe was iboren, On eorthe of eorthe wiþ wounden to-toren, Wyte eorthe from eorthe þat ne be furloren, 36 & bringe eorthe to þat eorthe þer beþ hisicoren. | |
| 5 | Alas why naþ eorthe[17] in eorthe is þouȝt, Hou eorthe is on eorthe wiþ synnes of-souȝt, & eorthe was in eorthe so mychfulliche ibouȝt, 20 Þat eorthe þorw eorthe ne foelle[18] tonouȝt? | Amen. | ||
It will be seen that the Latin and French versions do not correspond exactly with the English text, the French in particular being a mere paraphrase of it, but this was, no doubt, largely due to the exigencies of the rime. The French text has ten stanzas as against nine in the English poem, and the Latin has eleven, the additional stanzas being an expansion of the theme after the manner of Anglo-Latin poems of the kind. It is evident both from the variant attempts at expansion of the text in the Latin and French, and from the greater freshness and more skilful use of the play on the word erthe of the English text, that the latter is the original, and this supports the view already expressed (Introd. p. xxxiii) as to the relation of the English and Latin versions in MS. Harl. 913. It is improbable, at least, that the Erthe upon Erthe poems should all be derived from two Latin poems, the differences between which are too great to admit of a common original, but which were both translated into English verse, and became, in course of time, modified and popularized. On the other hand, the fact that one fourteenth-century poem of the kind had been supplied with a Latin rendering might easily account for an attempt at Latin and French translations in the case of a second, and there seems to be reason for believing that the author of the latter text was acquainted with the poem in MS. Harl. 913. As has been already noted in the Introduction (p. xxxii), the first line of the English version corresponds in idea with that of the text in MS. Harl. 913:
Whan erþ haþ erþ iwanne wiþ wow.
and in actual wording with that of the Song on the Times:
When erthe hath erthe i-gette.
Otherwise no verbal connexion can be traced with any of the texts of Erthe upon Erthe, though the phrase eorthe on eorthe recurs four times, and there is, of necessity, some similarity of treatment and idea. Thus the remainder of verse 1 contains a reference to the destruction by worms, mentioned in MS. Harl. 913, v. 2, and in the Cambridge text, vv. 7 and 13, as well as to the proverb that the dead are soon forgotten, cf. MS. Harl. 913, v. 4 (Introd. p. xxxi); verse 5 exhorts man to think of death, as does v. 6 of the B Version; and the poem ends with a prayer, as do MSS. Harl. 4486, Lambeth, Laud, Titus, and Rawl. P., as well as Rawl. C., and the Cambridge text. But the wording, and, in the two latter cases, the treatment, is different, and the general similarity is less than might he expected from the triteness of the theme. Both the A and the B Version lay stress on the contrast between man’s present earthly glory and his future mingling with the dust, whereas the text in the Appendix dwells on the inevitableness of death, the pains of death, and the future judgement (only mentioned here and in MS. Harl. 913). The poem appears to represent an individual treatment of the subject, suggested perhaps by the text in MS. Harl. 913, with its Latin rendering, and possibly also influenced by the Song on the Times in the same MS. It may be regarded as being ultimately based, like MS. Harl. 913, on the short stanzas current at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and as furnishing additional evidence of the early popularity of the theme, a popularity which gave rise at first to individual poems like this and MS. Harl. 913, and later to the repetition and expansion of one common type as in the B Version. But, unlike MS. Harl. 913, this text stands apart from the more popular types of the poem, and has no connexion with either the B Version or the Cambridge text. It must therefore have been written before the short normal type of the B Version became current, and probably before it took shape as a poem of several stanzas, that is before 1400. The want of close connexion between it and the more usual types of the poem given above, makes the omission of it from the text the less to be regretted, since it represents a side-issue rather than a link in the development of the poem as here treated.
[1.] Exr. K. R. Parl. Proceedings, Bdle. 1 (Old No. 645/21).
[2.] Joseph Hunter, the antiquary (1783-1861), Sub-Commissioner of the Public Records 1833, Assistant-Keeper of the Records 1838.
[3.] MS. aterrens as one word.