Mede and Mercede: Theological Aspects of the Metaphor of Latin Grammar in Piers Plowman C-Text

The revision of the Meed episode in the C text, especially the grammatical metaphor, conveys theological problems only slightly mentioned in the earlier version. Direct and indirect relations signify good and evil relations between payer and payee, which are in turn a metaphor of the relation between God and man, and between a king and the common people. Meed corresponds to the religious relation; mercede to a secular relation. To gain salvation, mankind must believe in the sacraments and tenets of the faith in direct relation with the Trinity, as well as conform himself to divine law in his indirect relation with God.