See introduction to d1_AytR_019. Metre: elegiac couplets.
Alia responsio ejusdem (n.d.)
[p73]
Alia responsio ejusdem
Si quae de Iana jactantur, falsa fuerunt;
quis pudor est falsis velle parare fidem?
Si quae de Iana jactantur, vera fuerunt;
quis furor alterius laude nocere sibi?
Semper in opprobrium Galli Lotharinga 1 canetur,
et gemino infamis crimine Gallus erit.
Ignavus, qui sceptra colo debere fateur:
ingratus, non dans debita sceptra colo.
[p73]
Another response from Ayton
If whatever is now proudly said about Joan was false: is it not a shame to want to contrive a truth from falsehoods? If whatever is now proudly said about Joan was true: is it not madness to harm oneself through the praise of another? The girl from Lorraine will always be sung of to the disgrace of Gaul, and Gaul will be infamous for its twin crime. He is ignorant who acknowledges that they owe their kingdom to fate; and ungrateful, while not allowing their kingdom to be indebted to fate.
