The Faerie Queene · Book V · Canto 5 2 (2/2)

“Therefore I will throw downe these mountaines hie,

And make them levell with the lowly plaine;

These towring rocks, which reach unto the skie,

I will thrust downe into the deepest maine,

And, as they were, them equalize againe.

Tyrants, that make men subject to their law,

I will suppresse, that they no more may raine;

And Lordings curbe that commons over-aw,

And all the wealth of rich men to the poore will draw.”

“Of things unseene how canst thou deeme aright,”

Then answered the righteous Artegall,

“Sith thou misdeem’st so much of things in sight?

What though the sea with waves continuall

Doe eate the earth, it is no more at all;

Ne is the earth the lesse, or loseth ought,

For whatsoever from one place doth fall

Is with the tide unto another brought:

For there is nothing lost, that may be found if sought.

“Likewise the earth is not augmented more

By all that dying into it doe fade;

For of the earth they formed were of yore:

How ever gay their blossome or their blade

Doe flourish now, they into dust shall vade.

What wrong then is it, if that when they die

They turne to that whereof they first were made?

All in the powre of their great Maker lie:

All creatures must obey the voice of the Most Hie.

“They live, they die, like as he doth ordaine,

Ne ever any asketh reason why.

The hils doe not the lowly dales disdaine,

The dales doe not the lofty hils envy.

He maketh Kings to sit in soverainty;

He maketh subjects to their powre obay;

He pulleth downe, he setteth up on hy;

He gives to this, from that he takes away,

For all we have is his: what he list doe, he may.

“What ever thing is done by him is donne,

Ne any may his mighty will withstand;

Ne any may his soveraine power shonne,

Ne loose that he hath bound with stedfast band.

In vaine therefore doest thou now take in hand

To call to count, or weigh his workes anew,

Whose counsels depth thou canst not understand;

Sith of things subject to thy daily vew

Thou doest not know the causes, nor their courses dew.

“For take thy ballaunce, if thou be so wise,

And weigh the winde that under heaven doth blow;

Or weigh the light that in the East doth rise;

Or weigh the thought that from mans mind doth flow

But if the weight of these thou canst not show,

Weigh but one word which from thy lips doth fall:

For how canst thou those greater secrets know,

That doest not know the least thing of them all?

Ill can he rule the great that cannot reach the small.”

Therewith the Gyant much abashed sayd,

That he of little things made reckoning light;

Yet the least word that ever could be layd

Within his ballaunce he could way aright.

“Which is” (sayd he) “more heavy then in weight,

The right or wrong, the false or else the trew?”

He answered that he would try it streight;

So he the words into his ballaunce threw,

But streight the winged words out of his ballaunce flew.

Wroth wcxt he then, and sayd that words were light,

Ne would within his ballaunce well abide:

But he could justly weigh the wrong or right.

“Well then,” sayd Artegall, “let it be tride:

First in one ballance set the true aside.”

He did so first, and then the false he layd

In th’other scale; but still it downe did slide,

And by no meane could in the weight be stayd;

For by no meanes the false will with the truth be wayd.

“Now take the right likewise,” sayd Artegale,

“And counterpeise the same with so much wrong.”

So first the right he put into one scale,

And then the Gyant strove with puissance strong

To fill the other scale with so much wrong;

But all the wrongs that he therein could lay

Might not it peise; yet did he labour long,

And swat, and chauf d, and proved every way:

Yet all the wrongs could not a litle right downe way.

Which when he saw he greatly grew in rage,

And almost would his balances have broken;

But Artegall him fairely gan asswage,

And said, “Be not upon thy balance wroken,

For they doe nought but right or wrong betoken;

But in the mind the doome of right must bee:

And so likewise of words, the which be spoken,

The eare must be the ballance, to decree

And judge, whether with truth or falshood they agree.

“But set the truth and set the right aside,

For they with wrong or falshood will not fare,

And put two wrongs together to be tnde,

Or else two falses, of each equall share,

And then together doe them both compare;

For truth is one, and right is ever one.”

So did he; and then plaine it did appeare,

Whether of them the greater were attone;

But right sate in the middest of the beame alone.

But he the fight from thence did thrust away,

For it was not the right which he did seeke,

But rather strove extremities to way,

Th’one to diminish, th’other for to eeke;

For of the meane he greatly did misleeke.

Whom when so lewdly minded Talus found,

Approching nigh unto him, cheeke by cheeke,

He shouldered him from off the higher ground,

And, down the rock him throwing, in the sea him dround.

Like as a ship, whom cruell tempest drives

Upon a rocke with horrible dismay,

Her shattered ribs in thousand peeces rives,

And spoyling all her geares and goodly ray

Does make her selfe misfortunes piteous pray.

So downe the cliffe the wretched Gyant tumbled;

His battred ballances in peeces lay,

His timbered bones all broken rudely rumbled:

So was the high-aspyring with huge ruine humbled.

That when the people, which had there about

Long wayted, saw his sudden desolation,

They gan to gather in tumultuous rout,

And mutining to stirre up civill faction

For certaine losse of so great expectation:

For well they hoped to have got great good,

And wondrous riches by his innovation.

Therefore resolving to revenge his blood

They rose in armes, and all in battell order stood.

Which lawlesse multitude him comming too

In warlike wise when Artegall did vew,

He much was troubled, ne wist what to doo:

For loth he was his noble hands t’embrew

In the base blood of such a rascall crew;

And otherwise, if that he should retire,

He fear’d least they with shame would him pursew;

Therefore he Talus to them sent t’inquire

The cause of their array, and truce for to desire.

But soone as they him nigh approching spide,

They gan with all their weapons him assay,

And rudely stroke at him on every side;

Yet nought they could him hurt, ne ought dismay:

But when at them he with his flaile gan lay,

He like a swarme of flyes them overthrew;

Ne any of them durst come in his way,

But here and there before his presence flew,

And hid themselves in holes and bushes from his vew.

As when a Faulcon hath with nimble flight

Flowne at a flush of Ducks foreby the brooke,

The trembling foule dismayd with dreadfull sight

Of death, the which them almost overtooke,

Doe hide themselves from her astonying looke

Amongst the flags and covert round about.

When Talus saw they all the field forsooke,

And none appeared of all that raskall rout,

To Artegall he turn’d and went with him throughout.