“THE deed that they did, your deceit contrived it.
You got them by guile, against all reason.
For from my palace, from Paradise, impersonating an adder
You fetched them — that which I loved.
“So do not believe, Lucifer, that against the law I fetch them,
But by right and by reason I ransom here my subjects:
‘I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.’*
You fetched what was mine from my place, against all reason:
Falsely and feloniously; good faith taught me
To recover them by ransom,* and by no other reason,
So that what you got by guile is won again through Grace.
You, Lucifer, in the likeness of a treacherous adder
Got by guile those that God loved;
And I, who am Lord of heaven, in the likeness of a servant*
have requited your guile with Grace, pitted guile against guile!
And as Adam and all have died through a tree,*
Adam and all through a tree shall return to life;*
And guile is beguiled, and fallen into his own guile:
‘And he is fallen into the ditch which he made.’”*
From ‘The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman’ Volume II (1887), by William Langland (?1330-?1400), edited by Thomas Wright. This passage comes from Passus XVIII. Translation adapted from ‘Piers Ploughman: the Vision of a Peoples’ Christ (1912) by Arthur Burrell; ‘William Langland: Piers Ploughman (selections) at Harvard University.
* See Matthew 5:17.
* Ransom is implied by the Biblical concept of ‘redemption’ (buying back). See Hosea 13:14, Mark 10:45 and 1 Timothy 2:6. The idea of a ‘ransom’ has been widely mocked since the Reformation, but the Church Fathers of East and West (including St Athanasius, St Gregory Nazianzen, St Leo the Great and St John Damascene) all spoke of it. They did however stress, as Langland does, that the devil had absolutely no rights in the matter — he was a kidnapper who lost his victims and never got his price.
* See Philippians 2:11-15.
* That is, through tasting of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Church Fathers stress that the tree was not bad, but Adam was not yet ready for it.
* That is, through the wooden cross on which Christ was crucified. See Brightest Beacon.
* See Psalm 7:15.