And for why?I will tell thee:but first tell me how it fares with men now;may the labouring man become a lord?"He said:"The thing hath been seen that churls have risen from the dortoir of the monastery to the abbot's chair and the bishop's throne;yet not often;and whiles hath a bold sergeant become a wise captain,and they have made him squire and knight;and yet but very seldom.And now I suppose thou wilt tell me that the Church will open her arms wider to this poor people,and that many through her shall rise into lordship.But what availeth that?Nought were it to me if the Abbot of St.Alban's with his golden mitre sitting guarded by his knights and sergeants,or the Prior of Merton with his hawks and his hounds,had once been poor men,if they were now tyrants of poor men;nor would it better the matter if there were ten times as many Houses of Religion in the land as now are,and each with a churl's son for abbot or prior over it."I smiled and said:"Comfort thyself;for in those days shall there be neither abbey nor priory in the land,nor monks nor friars,nor any religious."(He started as I spoke.)"But thou hast told me that hardly in these days may a poor man rise to be a lord:now I tell thee that in the days to come poor men shall be able to become lords and masters and do-nothings;and oft will it be seen that they shall do so;and it shall be even for that cause that their eyes shall be blinded to the robbing of themselves by others,because they shall hope in their souls that they may each live to rob others:and this shall be the very safeguard of all rule and law in those days.""Now am I sorrier than thou hast yet made me,"said he;"for when once this is established,how then can it be changed?
Strong shall be the tyranny of the latter days.And now meseems,if thou sayest sooth,this time of the conquest of the earth shall not bring heaven down to the earth,as erst I deemed it would,but rather that it shall bring hell up on to the earth.
Woe's me,brother,for thy sad and weary foretelling!And yet saidst thou that the men of those days would seek a remedy.
Canst thou yet tell me,brother,what that remedy shall be,lest the sun rise upon me made hopeless by thy tale of what is to be?
And,lo you,soon shall she rise upon the earth."In truth the dawn was widening now,and the colours coming into the pictures on wall and in window;and as well as I could see through the varied glazing of these last (and one window before me had as yet nothing but white glass in it),the ruddy glow,which had but so little a while quite died out in the west,was now beginning to gather in the east--the new day was beginning.I looked at the poppy that I still carried in my hand,and it seemed to me to have withered and dwindled.I felt anxious to speak to my companion and tell him much,and withal Ifelt that I must hasten,or for some reason or other I should be too late;so I spoke at last loud and hurriedly:
"John Ball,be of good cheer;for once more thou knowest,as Iknow,that the Fellowship of Men shall endure,however many tribulations it may have to wear through.Look you,a while ago was the light bright about us;but it was because of the moon,and the night was deep notwithstanding,and when the moonlight waned and died,and there was but a little glimmer in place of the bright light,yet was the world glad because all things knew that the glimmer was of day and not of night.Lo you,an image of the times to betide the hope of the Fellowship of Men.
Yet forsooth,it may well be that this bright day of summer which is now dawning upon us is no image of the beginning of the day that shall be;but rather shall that day-dawn be cold and grey and surly;and yet by its light shall men see things as they verily are,and no longer enchanted by the gleam of the moon and the glamour of the dream-tide.By such grey light shall wise men and valiant souls see the remedy,and deal with it,a real thing that may be touched and handled,and no glory of the heavens to be worshipped from afar off.And what shall it be,as I told thee before,save that men shall be determined to be free;yea,free as thou wouldst have them,when thine hope rises the highest,and thou art thinking not of the king's uncles,and poll-groat bailiffs,and the villeinage of Essex,but of the end of all,when men shall have the fruits of the earth and the fruits of their toil thereon,without money and without price.The time shall come,John Ball,when that dream of thine that this shall one day be,shall be a thing that men shall talk of soberly,and as a thing soon to come about,as even with thee they talk of the villeins becoming tenants paying their lord quit-rent;therefore,hast thou done well to hope it;and,if thou heedest this also,as I suppose thou heedest it little,thy name shall abide by thy hope in those days to come,and thou shalt not be forgotten."I heard his voice come out of the twilight,scarcely seeing him,though now the light was growing fast,as he said:
"Brother,thou givest me heart again;yet since now I wot well that thou art a sending from far-off times and far-off things: