ABSTRACT
In the Do Wel section of the Vita, it is the figure of Patience who provides a medium through which Langland traces a similar though more complex spiritual progression, again expressed in terms of a passage from the Old to the New Law. When Conscience in Passus XIII leaves Clergie behind to walk the world with Patience, he is represented as progressing from one form of Christian knowledge to another. Patience is associated with the transition to the New Law. For “parfit” is one of the triad of linked words that by virtue of alliterative association come as the Passus proceeds to attach themselves to the figure of Patience as his defining attributes. Patience is represented as a fervent evangelist of the New Law of love, which he indicates as the source of such Christian knowledge as he possesses. Patience puts to the test, lives out the Christian doctrine learned from Clergie.
