Краткое содержание поэмы Уильяма Ленгленда "Видение о Петре Пахаре". Текст приводится по изданиям: 1) William Langland. Piers Plowman. Translated with notes by Terence Tiller. Wordsworth, 1999. 2) William Langland. Piers the Ploughman. Translated into modern English with an Introduction by J.F. Goodridge. Penguin Books, 1987. 1) Prologue The poet sees, in a dream, the whole maze of activity that constitutes 'Middle Earth' — a plain lying between Heaven and Hell (lines 13-16). Corruption is everywhere, nowhere more flagrantly than in the Church: all men's standards — including, we detect, his own — are materialistic rather than spiritual. Already, however, we meet honest ploughmen, since one of them is not only the 'hero' of the poem but is also to be an instrument of human salvation. 2) Prologue THE PLAIN FULL OF PEOPLE THE STORY. The poet takes to the roads, and sets out to roam the world in search of marvels. One day he falls asleep, and dreams of the plain of this world, set between the Tower of Truth and the Dungeon of Falsehood. On this plain be sees a motley crowd of people, most of them seeking worldly gain, among whom the greedy, unscrupulous churchmen are the most conspicuous. He also sees a king set up to maintain law, and, in the fable of the rats and mice who tried to bell the cat, witnesses the failure of the Commons to hold their lawless master in check. Then once more he surveys the throng of people, moving about in a great hubbub of noise. THE ALLEGORY. The dreamer is as yet spiritually unsanctified and his judgements are based on temporal standards. The world as he sees it is anarchic: men of every profession are bent on gain, regardless of Tower and Dungeon. The authority of both church and State has become arbitrary, since their Law is no longer tempered by love and mercy. Langland’s picture of the setting up of the State dwindles to the comedy of the rats and mice, which parodies the proceedings of the House of Commons in his day and shows politics as a scramble of self-interest. The cat goes unchecked, and though countless lawyers plead at the bar, the world remains lawless. 1) Passus 1 Passus 1 constitutes a moralising commentary on what Langland has described in the Prologue. We are given, as it were, the spiritual aspects of, and background to, what has so far been observed temporally and materialistically. By association, rather than by argument, Lady Holy Church draws us towards the basic theme of the poem: the identity of Truth and Love, and their personification in Christ as the incarnation of God. Langland is quick to ask the question upon which the whole epic hangs — 'How shall I save my soul?' He receives, but does not yet recognise, the same answer as crowns his entire long quest. 2) Book I THE TEACHING OF HOLY CHURCH THE STORY. Langland dreams that the Lady Holy Church comes to explain his vision. Truth, who dwells in the Tower, she says, is God, who gave us worldly goods only as a means of life; but the Devil, who dwells in the Dungeon, uses them to deceive us. On finding out who she is, the dreamer asks her how he may save his soul. 'By seeking Truth she replies, and then describes how the Father of Lies fell from Heaven. Being questioned further, she explains that Truth is the same as love, dwelling in the heart. Without it, faith and moral virtue are cold and useless. THE ALLEGORY. The perfect heavenly Church, the daughter of God, who first received the dreamer as a child at the font, now comes to interpret his vision, correct his attitude and explain the proper use of physical things. Once he has recognized her, he recalls the baptismal grace he has lost and asks the question from which the rest of the poem's action springs: 'How may I save my soul?' Her answer — a simple statement of the fundamentals of the Christian faith — is that he must seek Truth through the love that is already implanted in his heart, and practise the virtues that all men know by instinct. But be still persists in his inquiry into the ways of the world. 1) Passus 2 Having been instructed in the recognition of Truth, the Dreamer must now learn how to recognise Falsehood (personified in the Devil). Holy Church shows him (on the ill-omened left side, which in this case is the North — the Devil's quarter) several examples of personified evil. Gradually, these begin to act out their allotted parts. 2) Book II THE MARRIAGE OF LADY FEE THE STORY. The dreamer asks Holy Church how he may recognise Falsehood, and she shows him a vision of Lady Fee, Falsehood's daughter, at whose illicit wedding to Fraud, the poet sees all Falsehood's followers. The proceedings are stopped by Theology, and Fee, with her whole train, sets out for Westminster to put the case before the royal judges. But being forewarned of the king's intention to arrest them, they scatter, and Fee alone is taken by his officers. THE ALLEGORY. Holy Church shows the dreamer her opposite ('Meed'), the woman who has usurped her place in Church and State. She represents the power of the purse, and 'we begin to see the specific charge in the general indictment against the world of the Prologue is venality — all is for sale, and this is ratified by law, which also, and principally, is for sale' (John Lawlor, Piers Plowman, An essay in Criticism. Arnold, 1962). Her marriage to Fraud, a conspiracy supported by all the public officials, lay and clerical, in the kingdom, signifies the wedding of payment or reward to bribery and corruption. Its chief supporters, Sir Civil-Law and Father Simony, stand for civil and ecclesiastical law respectively, and they control English society. Theology's objection to the marriage introduces the great case of Lady Fee, which is to be heard in the King's Court, and concerns the proper use of payment or reward. All her other followers go into hiding to await the result. 1) Passus 3 Meed is brought for trial before the King at Westminster. She is treated at first as an innocent victim of unscrupulous people; but very soon the venal frequenters of the Court are 'making up' to her. In this Passus, the attack upon Meed by Conscience is a counterbalance to her defence in Passus 2 by Theology. It constitutes the Dreamer’s ideally spiritual — as distinct from piously practical — advance. 2) Book III LADY FEE AT WESTMINSTER THE STORY. Lady Fee is well received at Court, and the Judges and Counsellors seek her favour with promises of help. The king decides to pardon her, provided she will marry his knight Conscience, and to this she consents. But Conscience himself will not hear of it, and violently denounces her before the king. He defeats Fee's arguments and prophesies the coming of a Messianic kingdom of truth and peace, where Fee shall be no more. THE ALLEGORY. The king is surrounded by courtiers, priests and judges who seek Fee's favours, and in her dealings with them she is shown up as the perverter of justice. The conflict between her and Conscience provides a deeper analysis of the relation between human and divine reward: Conscience sets human standards of payment for service against the millenial ideal of a kingdom governed by divine law — where Law itself will be the servant of Love. 'There begins to rise, above the dead level of this middle-earth, where the mesurable is the truth to be contended for, the cliff-like outline of perfection' (Lawlor, op. cit.). 1) Passus 4 Meed's trial, or rather examination, is suspended while Conscience rides away to bring Reason back to Court. Meanwhile, there has begun a case that is to end in the overthrow of Meed and most of her adherents. The king pledges himself to reform the State, and to use Conscience, Reason and Obedience to that end — and also for the reformation of society per se. Note that all moral advances are still those of practical good behaviour, and imply no real spiritual change. 2) Book IV THE DOWNFALL OF LADY FEE THE STORY. As Conscience still refuses to be reconciled with Fee, the king resolves henceforth to act on Reason's advice, and sends Conscience to fetch him. On their return to Court, there arises a test case; for Crime, a purveyor, is accused of oppressing the people, and Worldly Wisdom and Fee are intriguing for his release. But Reason pleads eloquently against them, and finally gains the support of the king and the majority of the Court. So Fee and her lawyers are defeated, and the king vows to follow Reason and Conscience in everything. THE ALLEGORY. The petition of Peace against Crime ('Wrong') provides a test case for the rule of Reason and Law, in which Fee exerts all her powers to corrupt the witnesses and the plaintiff himself. Crime (one of the king's purveyors) represents brutal injustice sheltering under the pretence of service to the crown. The sanctity of law is finally upheld, and Fee and all her followers are disgraced. The king is now obliged to accept Reason and Conscience as his counsellors; but to carry out the rule of Law requires the support of the whole realm. So Reason must preach to the people and bring them to confession. The reform of the State depends on the reform of society. 1) Passus 5 This Passus marks the beginning of the true quest, Reason's sermon moving everyone to repentance; the poet puns on his name, Will, to show that human resolve is beginning to reform. The goal is now spiritual as well as practical. The Seven Deadly Sins, personified, confess and repent and are shriven. Christ's aid must be enlisted before Truth can be found and redemption achieved; and meanwhile, who can guide the world along the right path? Not the false palmer (lines 523ff. — the corrupt Church), but the true pilgrim — Piers. At this stage, he personifies natural and instinctive goodness (as described by Holy Church in Passus 1). Further, as a ploughman, he represents honest and productive toil, which Langland repeatedly maintains to be the root and bedrock of sincere practical Christianity. Piers Ploughman's description of the Way to Truth is an allegory of spiritual progress, and leads to an allegorical description of the human soul itself. 2) Book V THE CONFESSION OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS AND THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH THE STORY. The dreamer awakes, only to fall asleep again almost at once. Then he dreams of Reason preaching in the Plain to the whole realm and rousing all the people to confess their sins. Each of the Seven Deadly Sins makes a confession to Repentance, who then prays to Christ to forgive them all. The people afterwards set out as pilgrims in search of Truth, but they are still ignorant and soon lose their way. Then Piers the Ploughman suddenly speaks up from among the crowd, and claims that he is the servant of Truth and can direct them to His mansion. They listen patiently to his directions, but when they learn how difficult the way is, some desert him and return home. THE ALLEGORY. Reason's sermon turns attention from human law to the absolute demands of God and their direct application to everyday life. The dreamer himself is now moved to repent and we hear his name, Will (i.e. the human will seeking its proper course), for the first time. The 'jollies and knaveries of the world the poet knows' are now 'subsumed under the great traditional heads' (Lawlor, op. cit.). These are the vices that destroy society, and are so firmly rooted in human nature that they lead to a blindness that is almost incurable. Robert the Robber's direct appeal to Christ to pay his debt points to the impossibility of man's making restitution for himself; and Repentance, taking up this theme in his prayer, sketches out the theme of redemption which is to be enacted in Book XVIII. The narrative reaches a joyful climax as the people set out in search of Truth, but they still need a guide. The palmer who has never heard of St Truth represents the outward trappings of a church that has forgotten how to guide its pilgrims. He is contrasted with Piers, the good ploughman who knows Truth by that 'natural knowledge' which Holy Church pointed to in the dreamer. He explains the way of the commandments in precise and simple terms and tries to encourage the people by reminding them of their natural kinship with the heavenly virtues. 1) Passus 6 As we have seen, Langland believed honest labour to be an essential part of practical Christianity. Those people who agree to follow Piers, in search of Truth, must work in his field until the harvest is complete. Piers's 'half acre' of course represents all Middle Earth; and, while both work and harvest are literally meant, they are also emblematic of spiritual cultivation. Human nature being what it is, the whole project quickly comes to a standstill. 2) Book VI PIERS SETS THE WORLD TO WORK THE STORY. Piers offers to go with the pilgrims himself, on condition that they first help him to sow his field. They agree to do so, and after setting them all to work, Piers makes his will in preparation for the pilgrimage. The work in the field goes well until Piers finds some of the men shirking. He tries to make them work, but they defy him, and he is forced to call up Hunger to punish them. Hunger chastises them soundly, they all return to work eagerly, and at last produce enough food to put Hunger to sleep. Then the men relapse into idleness. THE ALLEGORY. ‘IT was not the principle of spiritual life which came first; natural life came first' (I Cor. xv. 46). In Langland's day, the first need was to stave off famine, enforce the Statutes of Labourers and do away with the injustice of waste and idleness that followed the Black Death. The ploughman (provider of society, and symbol of the Christian community) tries to enforce conformity to the law among all classes of society, and is driven to invoke the principle of ‘work or want’. But in this he fails: though the knight cooperates, the labourers will not follow suit, and they return to their original anarchy. 1) Passus 7 Piers's project having broken down, all thoughts of a literal pilgrimage, even within the terms of allegory, have been abandoned (except, in later Passus, for Langland individually; and even that is emblematic). The precept now is to be: Cultivate your own fields; save your soul at home, by honest labour, humble devoutness and practical charity. This will prove more effective than all the indulgences and false pardons that you may purchase: there is a true pardon, summed-up m the words 'Do well'.This Passus ends the first part of the epic, but with hints of what is to come — namely, Langland's quest (within himself) for the meaning of 'Do-Well', personified, and his companions Do-Better and Do-Best. The later significance of Piers is also foreshadowed: already he is offering himself as a mediator for the salvation of others. 2) Book VII PIERS THE PLOUGHMAN'S PARDON THE STORY. Truth, who is likened here to a Pope granting men a Bull of Indulgence, sends Piers a Pardon for his sins. And all Piers' helpers, that is, those who work honestly in any calling, are to have a share in it. After explaining how much pardon various callings are to have, the poet tells of a priest who asks Piers to let him read it, and who finds that it is not a pardon at all, but only a clause from the Athanasian Creed stating that those who do well will go to Heaven, and those who do evil, to hell. Then Piers tears the Pardon up in anger, and vows to give up farming and begin a life of prayer and penance. There follows an argument between Piers and the priest, the noise of which awakes the dreamer. Since then, he says, he has often pulled over the meaning of the dream, and has reached the conclusion that to do well is more important for salvation than to gain indulgences. So the Vision of Piers the Ploughman ends, and we are prepared for the search for Do-well. THE ALLEGORY. Truth's message to Piers means that the pilgrimage may now be abandoned, since men can gain their pardon by honest work and cooperation. This ruling is applied in detail to all the different orders of society. But when the pardon itself is read, it proves not to be an indulgence, but merely the familiar law expressed in the words of the Athanasian creed. Realising that this cannot save all the people, and that the reform of society has in effect failed, Piers — like Moses on his return from Mt Sinai — destroys the pardon and takes upon himself the burden of a new and bigger law: by a life of voluntary poverty and prayer, he will gain for others the pardon which they cannot gain by their own efforts. 1) Passus 8 This Passus describes the Dreamer's hesitant beginning in his quest for Do-Well, Do-Better and Do-Best. Passus 7 was the start of a transition from temporal to spiritual concerns (hints of which had been given in earlier Passus). But, misled by his encounters with the two Friars, and with Thought, the poet still continues for several Passus (a) to believe that Do-Well, Do-Better and Do-Best are separate modes of life (only towards the end does he see that, like the Trinity itself, they are triune); (b) to look for them in the worldly and practical kind of Life that he has explored in the Prologue and the first seven Passus, rather than looking for them in spiritual development. He must learn that they are not constituted by actions, merely, but by an attitude of mind that must necessarily bring about good actions.Langland sees quite easily through the Friars' facile and superficial complacency. But Thought is harder to reject, since he represents the limit of the Dreamer's present ability. Only Reason, says Thought, can teach Langland how to apply his moral principles. 2) PART TWO William's Vision of Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do-Best Book VIII THE PROLOGUE: THOUGHT THE STORY. The poet wanders about in search of Do-well, and, after asking many people where Do-well lives, he questions two Friars, who answer that he lives with them. When Will disputes this, they reply with a parable intended to show that venial sin is unavoidable. So the poet leaves them to continue his search elsewhere, and, falling asleep in a wood, dreams that he meets one Thought, who is almost his own double. When the dreamer asks him about Do-well, he provides an answer that is correct in theory, but not enough to tell him what they are like in practice. So Thought advises him to ask Intelligence, and, after further wanderings, they meet and question him. THE ALLEGORY. The friars' plausible allegorizing is not to Will's taste, so he passes on in dreamy detachment till he falls asleep again and meets his double, Thought. 'Thought represents those ideas concerning the way to achieve Truth of which Will is at the moment capable. ... (He) describes Dowel, Dobet and Dobest in terms of externals, with no suggestion of the necessary preparation of the will for good action through faith and grace' (R. & H., op. cit. [J.R. Robertson and Bernard F. Huppe, Piers Plownam and Scriptural Tradition. Princeton UP, 1951]). So Will turns to Intelligence ('Wit') to see if be can show Do-well in action. 1) Passus 9 Reason's answer to Will's question begins as an allegory of the human body — for it is in the healthy interaction of the natural human faculties (bodily and mental) that Reason claims Do-Well is to be found. Most of the evil in the world, he says, arises from the misuse of one or more of these faculties: Do-Well is rational obedience to God's laws; and whatever is contrary to Nature and Good Sense, is criminal. Do-Well is therefore basically spiritual in origin, though physical in its effects. 2) Book IX INTELLIGENCE THE STORY. Intelligence explains to Will that Do-well is the guardian of a castle called the Flesh, which God, or Nature, has created, and in which He has placed the Soul under the rule of Good Sense. He then reproaches those who abuse this gift of Sense, adding that the Church should protect those people who lack it. After a digression about the duty of giving to the poor, he returns to the subject of the Flesh, and lectures the dreamer on the use and abuse of Marriage. He concludes by giving two definitions of Do-well, Do-better, and Do-best. THE ALLEGORY. Intelligence is a self-sufficient faculty, who tries to find Do-well in the natural man — a harmonious working together of physical and mental faculties. Man has been given the gift of Sense ('Inwit'), and those who lack this should be protected by the church. Since he sets too high a value on the purely natural powers, Intelligence blames most of the world's misery on the misuse of the flesh and men's failure to obey the laws of marriage — which in turn gives rise to unnatural offspring. But he knows that 'Do-well is a function of the soul, not merely an external compliance with the Law' (R. & H., op. cit.). 1) Passus 10 Reason's speech displeases his wife, Dame Study. She believes Langland to be a sensual hypocrite merely toying with amateur theology, rather than genuinely seeking Do-Well. She attacks all quibbling arguments and fine distinctions unless they are undertaken by serious, expert and devout scholars. When Langland protests his own earnestness, she relents and sends him off to her kinsfolk Clerisy (or Learning) and his wife Scripture (which means not merely the Old and New Testaments, but all sacred or devout writings). Together, this couple imply all knowledge proper for a Christian to possess. It should be noted that Langland has gained virtually nothing from Reason and Study, but still clings to his intellectual preconceptions. Even from Clerisy and Scripture he gains little more save to be driven into the opposite camp and to regard faith alone (without intellect or learning) as Do-Well. 2) Book X STUDY AND LEARNING THE STORY. Lady Study, the wife of Intelligence, reproaches her husband for condescending to teach the dreamer, whom she classes among those who do not care for intellectual pursuits, except to talk flippant theology over dinner. She inveighs against such men so strongly that the dreamer is compelled to beg her pardon on his knees. She is at once pacified, and directs him to the house of her cousins, Learning and Scripture. He hurries there, is well received, and straight away is lectured by Learning about Do-well, etc. Learning then attacks the hypocrisy of the learned, especially those in Religious Orders, until the poet interrupts, and they discuss whether good works are necessary for salvation. Finally the dreamer delivers a long harangue to his teachers, in which he comes to the conclusion that learning is merely a hindrance to salvation, since men are predestined for Heaven or hell. THE ALLEGORY. Will's purely intellectual search comes to grief in this Book. Bent chiefly on castigating their enemies, he and his guides are at cross purposes and over-reach themselves. Though she recommends the simple Christian virtues, Study (who assumes that Will is a worldly hypocrite) bitterly attacks the hypocrisy of those who combine gluttonous living with shallow theological speculation. Though Will outwardly submits, he ignores her ascetic teaching and continues pursuing his fine intellectual distinctions. So he hears from Learning a prophetic denunciation of the hypocrisy of learned men in Religious houses, which leads him to suppose that the only corrective lies in the use of force. Scripture's answer drives him to an opposite extreme -that of recklessly abandoning everything to simple faith, since learning (and with it, the church and priesthood) has proved useless. 1) Passus 11 Langland has in effect rejected secular power, learning and reason, and even good works, as fallible if not fallacious means to Do-Well. For this, he is rebuked by Scripture. Now thoroughly discouraged, he abandons his quest for many years — which he spends in idle and lascivious pleasure. He is pulled up sharply, however: first by fear, then by Loyalty (which in this context means general uprightness and honest living, and adherence to the basic tenets of the Church). Now he is made to see that all that he has rejected may be valid, but only if inspired and infused by love — by caritas, or Christian charity and loving-kindness. Also, he must stop questioning everything for a reason. This he cannot yet do, until brought by Imagination into a broader view both of the world and of the inner self (the process only begins in this Passus, and belongs chiefly to the next). 2) Book XI FORTUNE, GOOD FAITH AND NATURE THE STORY. The dreamer, rebuked by Scripture for his presumption, falls into a deeper dream, in which he meets the goddess Fortune and follows her for forty-five years. Then he reaches Old Age, and Fortune and the Friars desert him. While he is reproaching the Friars about this, he suddenly sees Good Faith, and before long Scripture reappears as well. She preaches a sermon which makes the dreamer fear for his own salvation, but he is reassured by Trajan, the pagan Emperor who is said to have been released from hell. Then Good Faith teaches him the way of salvation, through the love and poverty of Christ, but the dreamer continues to argue till he meets Nature, and is shown all the wonders of creation; yet this only leads him to turn against Reason, at whose hands he suffers further reproach. So he wakes from his deeper sleep in shame and confusion, to find one called Imagination standing by him, whom he decides to follow. THE ALLEGORY. In the A-text, the dreamer is here abandoned by his guides and left to learn through experience. In the В version, he now falls into spiritual oblivion, and only returns to the search in old age through a dispute with the friars about the burial rights of his body. In terror for his own salvation, he is now willing to listen to new teachings that pass beyond the level of intellectual debate. His teachers are Scripture, Good Faith ('Lewte', which implies loyalty to the original teaching of Holy Church) and the Emperor Trajan, a living example of one rescued from hell through obedience to the natural law of love. They speak in praise of poverty, kindness of heart and charity, revealing Christ as the friend of sinners. Yet Will still disputes; he turns to the world of Nature to find further confirmation, and reaches the despairing conclusion that God cares for all His creatures except mankind. He is rescued by a new gift, Imagination, the power of recollecting past experience and interpreting the lessons of life. 1) Passus 12 Imagination is to set Will's muddled and extremist thoughts in order; he sorts out, for the poet, the tangled strands of various theories, relates them to each other, and leads the dreamer towards acceptances — towards something like Keats's 'Negative Capability', the ability to remain in uncertainty. 2) Book XII IMAGINATION THE STORY. Imagination reminds the poet how he has wasted his life, and he, after trying to excuse himself, asks what Do-well, Do-better, and Do-best are. In his answer, Imagination corrects the dreamer's previous errors and answers some of the questions he had asked long before. He decries riches, shows the dreamer the proper value of Learning and Wisdom, discusses the way of salvation, and assures him that even the heathen may sometimes get to Heaven. THE ALLEGORY. Imagination is another self, who has known Will throughout the search — 'The dreamer comes face to face with his own experience, long known but not attended to' (Lawlor, op. cit.). Will's captious theologizing is summarily disposed of, and Imagination gives him a balanced view of all those problems that have previously perplexed him — the proper place of Learning and the priesthood in the scheme of salvation, the truth concerning predestination, and the necessity of trusting in God's grace and mercy. The dreamer is now almost cured of intellectual pride, and ready for the great turning-point of Book XIII. 1) Passus 13 In this Passus, the Dreamer's quest moves even farther from literal towards spiritual concepts of 'doing'. The pilgrim called Patience reaffirms that to love is to 'Do Best'; and in token of this, the name of Piers Ploughman is heard again: he is now the embodiment of the caritas that may save mankind, and of the unpretentious life of the devout poor. In addition to this, the Dreamer himself learns patience and humility. To emphasise the importance of this achievement (and, indeed, of the Passus itself), Langland reintroduces the Seven Deadly Sins by way of Haukyn, the man of Active Life. Haukyn symbolises all worldly, superficial, venal thought and activity — and therefore all the sins that arise from these. He does this very neatly by way of his own inveighing against both laymen and clergy. Gradually, Conscience and Patience begin the cleansing of his coat — the reformation of his sins; his penitence, and his redemption. 2) Book XIII PATIENCE AND HAUKYN THE ACTIVE MAN THE STORY. The dreamer awakes almost frantic with bewilderment, warns about pulling over his dream and at last falls asleep again. Now he dreams that Conscience invites him to dinner with Scripture, Learning, and a great divine; but while he, with Patience, eats at a side table on meagre rations, the great divine gorges himself on dainties. After dinner the divine briefly answers the dreamer's question about Do-well, etc., but since the dreamer treats him rudely, Conscience as the host turns to Learning and Patience to ask them their opinion. Learning declines to commit himself, but Patience answers with a riddle, saying he possesses a powerful charm that contains Do-well. Conscience is moved by Patience's words, and, despite the protests of the others, goes forth with him as a pilgrim. Before long, Conscience and Patience meet one Haukyn the Active Man, who proudly describes his activities as a baker. But when they point out that his clothes are smeared with sin, he confesses fully how he has soiled his coat of baptism with all Seven Deadly Sins. THE ALLEGORY. In this Book Will gives up his striving for intellectual certainty and sets out on the final pilgrimage of the spiritual life. Conscience and Patience, who are able to restrain his impatience when faced with the arch-hypocrite at the High Table, are not self-projections, but God-given graces. For the first time since the search began, Piers is heard of again — as an advocate of the infinite power of love. The crux of the discussion is Patience's riddle, with its hint of a new power (that of perfect charity) symbolized by an Agnus Dei. Conscience believes in Patience at once, and leaving Learning behind, all three set out on the same road of patient poverty that Piers took at the beginning. Through their meeting with Haukyn, the Deadly Sin (now subsumed under the category of worldly pride) and the Plain of People are suddenly recalled, the new lessons of humility are applied to the man-of-the-world and the solitary pilgrimage again comes to embrace all mankind. 1) Passus 14 The active and sinful life of the world, as allegorised in Haukyn, begins to give way. In its place come the spiritual values — and techniques — taught by Patience. These are: patience itself, humility, contrition, happy poverty and, above all, faith and love (caritas). 2) Book XIV PATIENCE TEACHES HAUKYN THE MEANING OF POVERTY THE STORY. Conscience tells Haukyn how to clean his suit of baptism with Contrition, and Patience offers him spiritual food. But Haukyn, chary of their advice, asks certain questions, and in answer Patience teaches him a great deal about the virtue of poverty and its advantages over wealth. Then Haukyn, still not fully satisfied, asks for the real meaning of poverty. He is answered in a Latin quotation which has to be explained to him phrase by phrase — each one enlarging on the graces that spring from poverty. Then at last Haukyn is moved to repentance, and the poet awakes. THE ALLEGORY. Haukyn, the Active Life of the world, confronts Patience, the first essential stage in the spiritual life and the living proof of the practicability of self-denial. Patience's uncompromising teaching reverses, one by one, all Haukyn’s values, dissolving his worldly attitudes and driving home the lessons of contrition and poverty. As Imagination had answered Will's theoretical problems, Patience now gives definitive answers to the practical problems of the spiritual life. The questions raised in Part I concerning food, clothing and wealth are finally answered, and worldliness gives way to a complete trust in God. 1) Passus 15 Almost stealthily, as it were, the true concept of Do-Well has been arrived at; and this long Passus is a kind of prologue to Do-Better. Though the Dreamer is rebuked for insatiably wanting to know, he is taught that knowledge and learning are perfectly good in themselves provided that they operate together with charity (which again, as nearly always in this poem, means caritas — though 'charity' in the more usual sense is of course one practical expression of loving-kindness, and is often implied by Langland). And charity can truly operate only through Piers Ploughman — who is now explicitly identified as Christ (line 206). The perspective of the poem, and of the Dreamer, broadens to take in — for the Church and for all mankind — a vision of this loving-kindness working hand-in-hand with learning, wisdom, contented poverty and the virtues already learnt. The personal and purely temporal are being more and more transcended: we are now concerned with the possibility of universal salvation, by means of Charity; and the Dreamer is almost ready for the vision (in the next Passus) of Piers tending the Tree of Charity. 2) Book XV THE PROLOGUE TO DO-BETTER: ANIMA'S DISCOURSE ON CHARITY THE STORY. The poet is almost beside himself, but mercifully be falls asleep again, to meet with a ghostly creature, Anima, who has many names. Over-eager to learn from him, he is rebuked for his vain thirsting after knowledge. This leads Anima to preach against proud clerics, and show the great evils that spring from a corrupt priesthood. When he mentions charity the dreamer breaks in to ask him what this virtue is. There follows a discourse on charity, in which Anima says that only Piers, who is Christ, can make it visible. He also praises the asceticism of the Desert Fathers, lamenting the decay of learning, and impresses on the dreamer the responsibilities of the priesthood, especially towards the heathen. THE ALLEGORY. This, as Lawlor shows, is a book in which true identities ('the reality behind varying names') are revealed. In Anima, the higher spiritual gifts are at last combined with the intellectual faculties. So, in his comprehensive discourse on the theme of universal charity (of which Piers-Christ is now identified as the exemplar), positives and negatives are linked in a single vision, and Will is made to understand that it lies in the nature of the church to bring forth evil fruits as well as good. This discourse is the Prologue to Do-better; therefore, in its survey of the church, it emphasises the high responsibility of the priesthood, with its apostolic ideal of perfect love linked with poverty — whose end must be the salvation of all men, pagan and Christian alike. Will's personal perplexities, and with them the local problems of England, are now left behind, and the power of love is seen to be all-embracing. 1) Passus 16 We now re-encounter Piers, in his new role — that of Christ Himself (though somewhat ambiguously) — as Keeper of the Tree of Charity. This Tree represents many things, all of them under constant threat from the Devil. It is the growth of goodness and holiness in this world from the Jewish patriarchs onwards; it is the growth of the Church with all the saints (and other holy folk) borne by it as fruit; it is the growth of goodness — Do-Well, Do-Better and Do-Best — in the soul of Man (which is imperfect, however, until crowned with the 'theological' virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity). Personifications of these we shall soon encounter, after this vision of how Charity grows in the world. All three of the main emblematic themes of the Tree combine in the life of Christ, of which Langland now has a vision. Just before Passiontide, he meets Faith (in the person of Abraham), and is confirmed in his belief in the Trinity. 2) Book XVI THE TREE OF CHARITY AND THE DREAMER'S MEETING WITH FAITHTHE STORY. The dreamer is told that Charity is a precious tree, growing under Piers' direction in the garden of man's body. On hearing the name of Piers, he faints with joy, and falls into a deeper dream in which Piers himself shows him the tree and explains it to him. At the dreamer's request, Piers knocks down some of the fruit, and as it falls the Devil snatches it up and carries it away. Piers pursues the Devil, and the dream dissolves into a vision of the life of Christ, from the Annunciation to His victory over the Devil on the Cross. Then the dreamer awakes from his deeper dream, and sets out eagerly to look for Piers. He soon meets with Abraham, or Faith, who is searching for Christ, and who explains to him the doctrine of the Trinity. But as the dreamer is staring in wonder at the souls of the patriarchs playing in Abraham's bosom, he notices another man running in the same direction as himself, and turns to question him. THE ALLEGORY. After completing his survey of Charity's work in the world, Anima turns Will's attention to the ultimate source of its growth, both in history and in the human heart. So, in a deeper swoon of mystical vision, the dreamer at last rediscovers his guide, Piers. The complex symbol of the Jesse-tree represents the church bearing its fruit of holy lives, Israel awaiting the birth of Christ, and also the life of grace in the human soul, waiting for the gifts of faith, hope and charity. So the vision of Piers and the tree gives way to one of the birth and manhood of the Saviour-prince who is to do battle with death. Awaking after this foretaste, Will must now gain Faith and Hope before be can share in the mystery of Redemption. The time is Lent, and as the revelation of Passiontide and Easter is close at hand, the allegory moves on with swiftness and surety. Through his meeting with the herald, Abraham (‘Father of Faith’), Will gains the first necessary gift, faith in the Trinity. This is explained to him in language that is fraught with images of generation, since it is from the threefold nature of God that the imminent rebirth of mankind must spring. 1) Passus 17 Faith has been established; we await Hope and Charity. Hope appears in the person of Moses: though the recorder of the Old Law, he nevertheless foreshadows the New Law of caritas. In Langland's opening line of this Passus, Hope calls himself 'a spye' — a scout or explorer — in search of Christ the Combatant. The Dreamer's last intellectual (and moral and emotional) difficulties begin to crumble with the appearance and doctrine of Charity — here personified in the Good Samaritan, himself treated as an emblem of Piers/Christ. Charity, of course, preaches the doctrine of that Love which proceeds from God and should imbue all mankind. And he practises it, while Faith and Hope remain inactive (lines 52-78). 2) Book XVII THE DREAMER MEETS WITH HOPE AND CHARITY THE STORY. The second man whom the dreamer meets is Hope, or Moses, carrying the Tables of the Law; and he also is seeking for Christ. While the dreamer is hesitating whether to believe in Abraham or Moses, they are overtaken by a Samaritan riding a mule, and at the same moment, they all notice a wounded man lying by the roadside. Faith and Hope hurry by on the other side, but the Samaritan stops to help him and takes him to an inn. Then as the Samaritan spurs on towards Jerusalem, the dreamer catches him up and offers himself as his servant. He tells the dreamer the meaning of the events on the road, explains Faith's doctrine of the Trinity more clearly and says that he must believe in both Faith and Hope. Then the dreamer awakes. THE ALLEGORY. Hope, coming swiftly on Faith's heels, is carrying the Law of love, since 'What is commanded in the Old Law is promise and hope in the New' (R. & H., op. cit.). Will’s natural difficulty in reconciling faith and works — which recalls the earlier problem of Piers' Pardon — is now answered by the appearance of Charity, the Master whom he has so long sought, in the person of the Good Samaritan or Christ, The Samaritan shows, in action and in word, how the Law (which Faith and Hope cannot carry out) is to he fulfilled. His flowing, measured language, with its homely images of hand, light and warmth, applies the doctrine of the Trinity directly to life's problems; love and mercy spring straight from the heart of the godhead, and the only unforgivable sin is the unkindness which quenches this love. 1) Passus 18 This Passus gives us Will's vision of the Passion and the Harrowing of Hell. The Samaritan, Piers Ploughman and Jesus fuse into one personage, who will ‘joust in Piers's blazon' (line 22 — i.e. in human flesh and nature) and overthrow the powers of Hell: cf. preceding Passus, note 5 [This ‘jousting’ is Christ’s Passion, represented as a tournament in which He overcomes the Devil, Hell and Death]. The doctrine of atonement and redemption is expounded; Christ justifies His release of the Righteous from Hell; and the reconciliation of Mercy, Truth, Peace and Righteousness (= Justice) reflects the reconciliation of conflicts within Will himself. The redemption of all mankind is hinted at, and Christ's absolute victory on the Day of Judgment is foretold. The Dreamer wakes, finds it is (for himself, personally, an important piece of symbolism!) Easter Day; and he calls his family to worship. Though he has more practical lessons to learn, he has come spiritually almost as far as he ever will. 2) Book XVIII THE PASSION AND HARROWING OF HELL THE STORY. After further wanderings, the poet falls asleep again and dreams of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, His Passion and death. Fleeing from these sights in awe, he comes to the borders of hell, where the four daughters of God, Righteousness, Truth, Mercy, and Peace are debating the meaning of a strange light which has appeared near hell gate. This proves to be Christ himself, who breaks his way into hell to proclaim to Lucifer the justice of the redemption, binding him in chains and bringing out of hell all the souls of the righteous. Then the four daughters of God are reconciled, and dance and sing for joy; and the poet, awakened by the bells of Easter morning, calls his wife and children to come to Mass and adore the Cross. THE ALLEGORY. The poem reaches its climax in this symbolic drama which reveals to Will the final truth of his search — that the Law, which has proved a stumbling-block, is to be perfectly fulfilled by One who will joust in Piers' arms, that is to say, share man's nature. The vision gives a speaking picture, first, of the liturgy of Good Friday and the Easter Vigil (especially through the imagery of light and darkness, and the Lumen Christi standing before hell gates); second, of the doctrine of the Atonement. The dispute between the four Virtues is part of the eternal debate between justice and mercy — irreconcilables that are reconciled by the crucifixion. Christ's passionate speech of self-justification to Lucifer asserts the justice, as well as the triumph, of mercy, and hints that it may ultimately have no limits. In breaking into the prison of hell, Christ also breaks into the darkness of man’s soul to rescue it from the bondage of sin. So when Will wakes up on Easter morning, he is prepared at last to receive Holy Communion. 1) Passus 19 Christ having risen, the foundation of Holy Church can begin; and this is the subject of Will's next vision. Piers Ploughman now changes from Christ Himself (at the opening of the Passus), to Christ's Vicar on Earth — St Peter and his papal successors — under the image of a faithful ploughman and sower of seeds in God's field. But already the corruption of the Church, and the coming of Antichrist, are casting their shadows before. In some ways we are moving back to earlier Passus, even to the maze of the Prologue itself (though the return of the Seven Deadly Sins, and the full war against them and Antichrist, belongs to Passus 20). It is already apparent, however, that Do-Best will see active engagement in that war. Piers vanishes; and the Church — and Will — are left in conscious imperfection, to defend themselves as best they may. 2) Book XIX THE FOUNDING OF HOLY CHURCH THE STORY. The poet falls asleep in the middle of Mass, and dreams that be sees Christ, carrying His Cross, coming in before the people. Conscience, who is by his side, explains this vision by relating the main events of Christ's life under the forms of knight, king, and conqueror. After the Resurrection, Christ gives to Piers (who now represents St Peter) and the apostles the power of bishops, so that they may lead the life of Do-best. The dreamer then sees the Holy Ghost descending upon them, distributing gifts to all the Christians, and equipping Piers as His Ploughman, to plough the field of the world. Antichrist then prepares to attack, and Conscience directs all the Christians to build a fortress, Unity or Holy Church. When this is done and the Church seems secure, Conscience offers them the Eucharist as a reward, but some refuse to prepare for it by paying back what they have taken from others, and the dreamer learns through the mouth of an 'ignorant vicar' how unprepared the Christians are. THE ALLEGORY. In a single sweep, this book takes in the setting up by Christ the Conqueror of his earthly kingdom, its growth, renewal and final corruption and decline — which brings us back to the world as described in the Prologue. Do-best means a return to the world, to take part in the struggle against Antichrist. First, in the contemplative vision that begins in the middle of Mass, Christ's life is retold in terms of kingship and conquest — the language of Paschaltide — and Will sees the application of the fruits of his victory to the world. Then, after the setting up of Christian society under Piers, Christ's vicar on earth, Piers himself and Grace soon disappear, and Pride again attacks the church, bringing intellectual confusion. Her defensive efforts towards renewal are undermined by men's evasion of the one condition attached to the new Law, 'Pay back that which you owe'. Will has now seen in detail the source of the church's, and his own, original corruption. 1) Passus 20 At last all the agents of Antichrist march forth against the Church. Conscience calls upon Nature (here, God) for help, and great afflictions are sent to turn men back to righteousness. Though many sins are resisted, many return; and the Church and its flock are at last undone by folly, hypocrisy, greed and the complacency that Conscience has shown earlier. The end of the epic is inconclusive: Conscience, and Will himself, have still to search the world anew for Piers Ploughman and redemption. 2) Book XX THE COMING OF ANTICHRIST THE STORY. Will continues his wanderings, hungry and miserable, until be meets Need, who rebukes him for being so faint-hearted and praises the virtue of poverty. Then he falls asleep again and dreams of the coming of Antichrist. Conscience summons his few loyal supporters to defend the castle of Unity, and Nature helps him by sending Old Age, Death, and the Plague against his enemies. But as soon as the Plague ceases, men return to lives of recklessness and pleasure. Then Old Age attacks the dreamer himself, who takes refuge in Unity. The battle against the forces of Antichrist continues, until Conscience makes the mistake of letting a Friar into the castle to hear confessions, and the Friar makes penance so easy that the people lose all fear of sin and fall into a stupor. Then Conscience, unable any longer to resist Antichrist without help, sets out on a final pilgrimage in search of Piers, and the dreamer awakes. THE ALLEGORY. Free from all illusions, the dreamer can now describe the battle with Antichrist (i.e. the church versus the world) in terms of a swift and sometimes farcical comedy. Having resisted Lust, Pride and Despair with some success, the Castle is betrayed by timid complacency. Forgetting that the debt of contrition and penance must still be paid, it lets in the unctuous friar and we are back in the world of venality. So Conscience must go out again to search for Piers, so that the church may be rebuilt from its foundations.