Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/283

If so thou wilt, my heart is fain
Thy good esteem and lore to gain;
Talk on if so thou wilt, and I
Will stand to hear thee silently.7370
Ready am I to suffer all
That may be; so thou dost not fall
From bad to worse, I care not how
Thou treat’st me, I my neck will bow.
Reason defends herself It seems as if thou’dst draw me on
To talk as fool or simpleton:
That is but vain, for thine own good
I speak to thee with hardihood:
Thine enemy forsooth were I
If I should stoop me angrily7380
To check thy folly. Vengeance is
An evil weapon, but, ywis,
Slander is worse. Some fitter way
Than that I’d surely find to pay
My vengeance were I thereto driven;
And if it happed that you had given
By word or deed offence to me,
’Twould be more fit that secretly
I gave reproof without disgrace
Or shame to thee; and if in face7390
Of kind and friendly counsel thou
Laughed me to scorn, ’twere then, I trow,
Better before some magistrate,
Whate’er the grievance were, to state
It calmly, and redress amain,
Receive or other vengeance gain
Unblameful. No desire to scold
My neighbours have I, or to hold