How we cite our quotes: (Line Number)
Quote #4
Noght fer fro thilke paleys honorable
Wheras this markis shoop his marriage,
Ther stood a throp, of site delitable,
In which that povre folk of that village
Hadden hir bestes and hir herbergage.
And of hir labour took hir sustenance
After that the erthe yaf hem habundance. (197-201)
This passage emphasizes the close proximity of poverty and powerlessness to absolute power and wealth. They literally live right next to each other. Here, we see the concerns of the nobility—Walter's nobles' plan for him to marry—contrasted with the poor people's more mundane day-to-day struggle to just survive.
Quote #5
Amonges thise povre folk ther dwelte a man
Which that was holden povrest of hem alle;
But hye God somtyme senden can
His grace into a litel oxes stalle. (204-207)
The statement that God sometimes sends his grace into an ox's stall is an allusion to the Christian Nativity, in which God sent his son to be born in a manger. As the "grace" that has been sent to Janicula is Grisilde, this passage implicitly compares her to the Christ-child.
Quote #6
But for to speke of vertuous beautee,
Than was she oon the faireste under sonne;
For povreliche y-fostred up was she. (211-213)
The suggestion here is that poor people are more likely than others to be virtuous. The lines that follow suggest that this virtue originates with the life of hard labor and austerity they endure out of necessity.