Thomas Lodge - Broadview Press Publisher's Blog

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rankled venom of his ambition began more freely
to break forth, so that what before time he
coloured 1 under conscience, now at last he manifested
with audacious confidence. The mighty in
court that maligned him, he overmastered by his
attendants, swashing out 2 in open streets upon
every light occasion. For himself, he thought no
man sufficient to suppress him, nor of sufficiency
to brave him, for at a beck, cobblers, tinkers,
tailors, and all sorts of the hare-brained multitude
attended him, fought for him, supported him, and
made him lord of their factions; where-through,
the better sorts neither were lords of themselves,
neither commanders of their own livelihoods.
From some he extorted wealth by corrupt witnesses,
sparing no means to enrich his followers,
by racking and wresting the King’s authority. And
no sooner did he hear that the King had given
order to his Council to censure his bad
demeanours, but gathering to himself a huge multitude,
he openly used this discourse unto them,
beginning his exhortation with this place of
Scripture:
Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus salvatoris. 3
Which is as much to say, as, “You shall draw
waters with joy out of the fountains of our
Saviour.”
“For,” quoth he, “my worthy and faithful
friends, who have more courage than coin, and
ability in arms than possibilities of wealth, I am
the saviour of you that are poor, and the sovereign
of such as are penniless. You that have assayed the
hard hand the rich shall be succoured by the happy
hand of the righteous. Now, therefore, draw your
happy fountains of counsel out of my words, and
turn the troubles you have to assured triumphs,
1 coloured disguised, concealed [under the show of].
2 swashing out lashing out; blustering or swaggering about with their
weapons.
3 Isaiah 12:3 (Latin Vulgate). The translation is more strictly: “With
joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
T HOMAS L ODGE
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for the days of your visitation is at hand. I shall
depart waters from waters; 4 I mean, the proud
from the poor, the merciless from the merciful,
the good from the evil, and the light from the
darkness. I will oppose myself against all dangers
to prevent your damage, 5 and lose my life, but you
shall have living. Be confident therefore and bold,
for such as have courage are seldom conquered.
Let the greatest upbraid, they shall not bite. We
have weapons to withstand as well as words to
persuade; we are as courageous as our enemies are
crafty. Stick therefore unto me, who will strive for
you. Let me be suppressed, you are subdued; let
me flourish, you are fortunate. But if sinister
chance threaten, why, Alea iacta est: 6 una salus victis
nullam sperare salutem.” 7
Thus daily and hourly animated he the illminded
sort; and although the King did oftentimes
summon him, and by letters dissuaded him
from his ill demeanour, yet was he enforced to use
violence, or otherwise that stripe which at first
seemed to be but a fillip would at last have grown
unto a fistula. 8 For which cause, Hubert, then
bishop of Canterbury, soundly resolving in his
thoughts that forbearance would be the means of
further mischief, by the advice of others of the
4 I shall depart waters from waters See Exodus 14:15-29. William presents
himself as a latter-day Moses, referring to Moses’ parting of the
Red Sea to allow the fleeing Israelites to escape slaughter by the army
of the Egyptian Pharaoh; like the ancient prophet and chosen one of
God, William will lead his people (the poor of London) into a Promised
Land, ensuring the destruction of their oppressors (by implication
the rich, the nobility, and the King).
5 damage injury, harm.
6 Latin, “The die has been cast.” According to the Roman historian
Suetonius, these were the words of Julius Caesar before he led his
army across the River Rubicon and into Italy; it was forbidden for a
Roman general to lead troops into Italy, and thus Caesar’s actions
thrust Rome into a crisis. The phrase has come to refer to any action
that is irrevocable.
7 Latin, “The one safety for the vanquished is to have no hope of
safety” (Virgil, Aeneid, 2.354). Aeneas uses these words to encourage
the Trojans to fight with all they have when Troy is taken and he
believes they are all doomed.
8 or otherwise … fistula A stripe is a mark left by a lash with a whip;
a weal. Such a wound might seem at first trivial or minor (a fillip), but
without proper attention it might develop into a serious, suppurating
ulcer (a fistula).