How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line). We used the line numbering found on Librarius's online edition.
Quote #1
And though men dradded nevere for to dye,
Yet seen men wel by resoun, doutelees,
That ydelnesse is roten slogardye.
(15 - 17)
The narrator's point here is that even people who don't fear the most inevitable thing in life – death – can see through their reason that idleness is just no good. This passage foreshadows moments in the tale itself in which characters portray other truths of Christianity as self-evident to a person's judgment through reason.
Quote #2
'And thow Valerian, for thow so soone
Assentedest to good conseil also,
Sey what thee list, and thou shalt han thy boone.'
(232 - 234)
Valerian's good judgment in believing in the truths of Christianity is rewarded here by the angel, who promises to grant him any gift that he asks for. This good judgment is called assenting to "good conseil." "Conseil," another word for advice, was a traditional offering of wives to husbands. In portraying what is in fact the aggressive proselytizing of Cecilia as just "good conseil," the tale normalizes what some might consider unbecoming of the female sex.
Quote #3
'Whoso that troweth, nat this, a beest he is,'
Quod tho Tiburce, 'if that I shal nat lye.'
And she gan kisse his brest, that herde this,
And was ful glad he koude trouthe espye.
(288 - 291)
Here Tiburtius assesses the truths of Christianity and judges them to be self-evident, so much so that the person who does not believe in them must be lacking reason. His judgement is here referred to as "espy"-ing, or seeing, the truth.
Quote #4
'Ye han for sothe ydoon a greet bataille,
Youre cours is doon, youre feith han ye conserved,
Gooth to the corone of lyf that may nat faille.
The rightful juge which that ye han served
Shal yeve it yow as ye han it deserved.'
(386 - 390)
Another aspect that judgment takes in "The Second Nun's Tale" is in the more formal sense of justice. Although this sense of judgment, used here, may seem at first to be unrelated to the sense in which Tiburtius and Valerian display good judgment in assenting to the truth of Christianity, they are in fact one and the same. In both cases, the judge must use discernment to discover what is right. As Tiburtius and Valerian discover that Christianity is right, so God decides it is right to reward them with eternal life.
Quote #5
'Youre princes erren, as youre nobleye dooth,'
Quod tho Cecile, 'and with a wood sentence
Ye make us gilty, and it is nat sooth,
For ye, that knowen wel oure innocence,
For as much as we doon a reverence
To Crist, and for we bere a cristen name,
Ye putte on us a cryme, and eek a blame.'
(449 - 455)
Here Cecilia accuses Almachius and his princes of suffering an error in judgment in accusing her and the other Christians of a crime. She calls this judgment a "wood," or crazy, sentence. Since another sense of the word "sentence" is "meaning," Cecilia is accusing Almachius of a 'meaningless meaning.' His judgment, she is saying, is completely senseless.
Quote #6
Almache answerde, 'Chees oon of thise two,
Do sacrifise, or cristendom reneye,
That thou mowe now escapen by that weye.'
At which the hooly blisful faire mayde
Gan for to laughe, and to the juge sayde,
'O Juge, confus in thy nycetee,
Woltow that I reneye innocence,
To make me a wikked wight?'
(458 - 465)
Cecilia and the narrator's references to Almachius as a judge here are probably intended to be ironic, for both Cecilia and the narrator consider God the only true judge. Cecilia draws attention to the fact that from her perspective, this judge is asking her to exchange her innocence for criminality. In that sense, he is a confused judge, for judges are supposed to uphold what is right.