Noblesse gist au coeur du vertueux
Illustrement conduisant sa fortune,
Comme la nef fend la mer importune,
Ou comme un roc les ventz impetuneux.
Le vertueux comme arbre fructueux,
Apporte fruit en saison opportune,
Si que le mal, qui les bons importune,
Glisse leger au devant de ses yeux.
Voire et la peur qui le coeur vil estonne,
Y arrivant pour ravir sa personne,
On voit couler comme la cire au feu.
N'estce pas la selon noblesse vivre?
N'estce pas la tel homme qu'il faut suivre
Et se lier à luy d'immortel noeu?


Nobility abides in the heart of the virtuous man
Illustriously guiding his fortune,
As the ship splits the importunate sea,
Or as a roc the impetuous winds.
The virtuous man, like a bountiful tree,
Bears fruit in the proper season,
So that evil, which troubles the good,
Slips away before his eyes.
And even fear that cows the base heart,
Striving to carry him away,
Is seen to run like wax in the fire.
Is not this to live by nobility?
Is not this such a man that one must follow
And tie oneself to him with an immortal knot?

-- Guillaume Costeley, 1570

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Last modified by Eowyn, 21 October, AS XXXXIIII (2009 C.E.).