Chrétien's Prologue

He little reaps who little sows, and anyone wishing for a worthwhile harvest spreads his seed in such a place that God repays a hundredfold; for on worthless ground good seed will parch and fail.

Chrétien now sows the seed of a romance that he begins, and sows it in so good a place that he is bound to reap reward: his work is for the worthiest man in the empire of Rome – Count philip of flanders, who is of even greater worth than Alexander. Alexander is deemed to have been so good, but I shall prove that the count's worth quite surpasses his; for Alexander had amassed within him all the vices and all the faults of which the count is clean and clear. The count will never listen to base jokes or spiteful words, and hates to hear ill spoken of a man, whoever he may be. The count loves justice and loyalty and holy church, and despises all baseness. And he is more generous than any man known: he gives according to the Gospel, without hypocrisy or guile, for it says: ‘Let not your left hand know the good deeds done by your right’ let the knowing be left to the receiver – and to God, who knows every secret and sees every hidden working of men's innermost beings. And why does the Gospel say ‘hide from your left hand your good deeds’? Because the left, according to the scriptures, signifies the pride that goes with false hypocrisy. And what does the right signify? Charity, which does not boast of its good works but does them covertly, so they're known only to the one whose names are God and Charity. For God is charity; and Saint Paul says – I read it there – that the man who lives in charity according to the scriptures lives in God, and God in him.