Verbum abbreviatum associates the psalm’s phrases with Conscience’s three steps: “‘Dele iniquitatem meam,’ per cordis contritionem; ‘Amplius lava me,’ per peccati confessionem …. ‘Munda me,’ per operis satisfactionem” (Ed. Boutry 2012a:648) (“Blot out my iniquity,” by contrition of heart; “Wash me yet more,” by confession of sin…. “Cleanse me,” by satisfaction of deed). Raymond of Pennaforte says that contrition “mundat animam a reatu,” washes the soul of guilt (1976:809). (Satisfaction, or performance of the penance imposed by the priest in confession, is understood to include absolution or “shriving,” which Actif mentions here in line 9, since the priest utters the words of absolution and gives the penance in the same breath, as it were; see OED, s.v. shrift, n. 2. Or perhaps it is understood rather to be included in confession: L in fact seems to treat “confess” and “be shriven,” and “confession” and “shrift,” as virtually synonymous. Compare, for example C.6.338, “Confessen hem and cryen hym mercy” to C.6.356, “sitte and be shryue and synege no more.” Theologians in fact disagreed over whether contrition or absolution was the essence of the sacrament; see the discussion in Tentler 1977:18–27.)
Psalm 14, “Domine, quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo,” of immense importance to L’s whole conception of Dowel, is also relevant because of the phrase from verse 2, “Qui ingreditur sine macula” (He that walketh without blemish); see above, 190–16.157 (B.13.221–14.335)n.
As for the tradition of treating this washing via the further metaphor of washing clothing, see this typical remark by Peter of Celle (PL 202.1093), “Quis ascendet ad Deum, ut facies eius illuminetur? Nimirum qui non inquinavit vestimenta sua, vel qui saltem lavit ea in sanguine Agni, vera confessione et integra cordis contritione?” (Who will ascend to God, that his face may be made to shine? Surely he who has not stained his clothing, or at least he who has washed it in the blood of the Lamb by true confession and pure contrition of heart?), and see B.13.271–14.28n.
B.14.3a Vxorem duxi & ideo non possum venire: Luke 14:20, from the parable of the great supper. Quoted by Actyf again when he reappears in the C text to beg to be excused from Piers’s pilgrimage, C.7.299–304a. See 190–16.157 (B.13.221–14.335) note above.
B.14.5 in lente and out of lente boþe: Though repentance is the subject, lente here, in view of the reference to sickness in the next line, probably means not the Church season but late winter and spring, when the days are lengthening and colds and flu abound. Cf. the opening sentence of the Canterbury Tales.
B.14.7–8 forto me looþ were/To agulte: To the point that I was loath to offend.
B.14.11 Al for coueitise of my cristendom in clennesse to kepen it: All out of the desire to keep my (coat of) baptism clean. For the neutral sense “strong desire or craving” of coueitise, see MED, s.v. coveitise, n., 3. and cf. 4.114, 16.224 (B.15.62).
B.14.13 siʒte: either by lechery (see B.13.343 and Fasciculus morum, ed. Wenzel 1989:648–55) or by avarice (see Couetyse-of-yes, 12.3–12, B.11.46–60); see also the relation of sight to pride, B.13.278.
B.14.14 werk … word … wille: Cf. the Confiteor, said at Mass: “Quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, et opere” (because I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed). This is the form of the Roman rite; see PL 217.768; Sarum has locutione for verbo (ed. Dickinson, 1861–83:580). But the division is commonplace in discussions of both sin and virtue; see above, B.13.140n.
B.14.16–22 And I shal kenne þee … vnkynde werkes: See 16.25–35n below and B.14.1–35n above.
B.14.21a Satisfaccio: The usual phrase is operis satisfaccio (as at C.16.31), “satisfaction of deed,” i.e., the performance of good works (the opposite of vnkynde werkes B.14.22; Chaucer’s Parson says that satisfaction is penitence for angering Christ by “wikked synful werkynge” [I111]). Dobest has been defined similarly at B.9.205–6. The suppression of the word “operis” in this Three-Do’s passage is odd, since “do” is a kind of translation of it.
B.14.23–28 Shal neuere myx … Actiua vita: The KD-B emendations myx (filth) for “myst” 23 and Haukyn wil for “Haukyns wif” offer a deft solution to the main difficulties addressed in Alford 1974.
Patience offers Actyf the food Fiat voluntas tua, and explains its value (C.15.232–71, B.14.29–97)
232–71a “Pees!” quod pacience … peticionem tuam (B.14.29–72 “And I shal purueie þee paast,” quod Pacience … if cristes wordes ben trewe): In C Patience responds to Actyf’s somewhat confused and self-regarding monologue, in B he seconds Conscience’s promise of the reforms that the three Do’s will bring him, by offering him the food fiat voluntas tua. The scriptural basis of this passage is John 4:31–34, the exchange between Jesus and his disciples after the Samaritan woman he has spoken with at the well, promising “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (4:14), has gone to summon her townsmen: “In the mean time the disciples prayed him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But he said to them, ‘I have meat to eat which you know not of.’ The disciples therefore said one to another, ‘Hath any man brought him to eat?’ Jesus saith to them, ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work.’” Patience plays the role of Jesus, Actyf the role of the baffled disciples. The only difference is that instead of saying, “My food is to do the will of God,” Patience says, “Your food is to do the will of God.” See further below, 247–49n.
235 Hit am y … fram hunger saue; B.14.29–30 And I shal purueie þee paast … best be for þe soule: In both versions, Patience speaks with pointed reference to Actyf’s function as a waferer, and appropriates his language (in B, “paast” 13.250, in C, “y fynde … y fynde,” 215–16), though the point is a little sharper in B. C: I am the one who gives everyone their food; B: And I shall give you dough and flour that does not need a plow. As Gillespie says (1994:107), Actyf and Patience “are mirror images of each other,” Actyf with his wafers and Patience with his bag of victuals. As patience is the obverse of action, I would add.
237–44a (B.14.38–46a) lo! here lyflode ynow … Non in solo pane viuit homo &c: A somewhat sloppy utterance by Patience. The general statement at the start, that all species have something to live on, is undermined immediately by the next line, since wherefore is not synonymous with the other two words in the line in either version. He then proceeds to examples, element by element, but the next line (the next two in B), tells us only where the creatures listed live, not what they live on. That is corrected in C for the cricket, and the last few creatures mentioned in both versions are at last given the proper preposition, just in time to get the point across, and surprise us with what men get to live on. But a witty aspect of the speech lies in the appearance of beléue (belief, OE geleafa) at the beginning and end of both versions, punning silently on “býleue” (sustenance, OE beleofa), the expected word that never comes.
237 (B.14.38) yf oure beleue be trewe: Explained by the Latin cited at the end of the sentence.
238–39 (B.14.39–40) lente neuere was lyf … wherwith to lyuene: Cf. Gen 1:29–30: “And God said, ‘Behold! I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind to be your meat and to all beasts of the earth and to every fowl of the air and to all that move upon the earth and wherein there is life that they may have to feed upon.’” Patience keeps verse 30 but has a new food for Adam. Or see Ps 103:27, “Omnia a te expectant ut des illis escam in tempore” (All
