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That is more gracious than he,
It shall nought ftonden in his might,
But if he hinder suche a wight.
And that is well nigh over all
This vice is now fo generall.

Envie thilke unhap indrough,
Whan Joab by deceipte flough
Abner, for drede he fhulde be
With king David fuch as was he.
And through envie also it felle

Of thilke fals Achitofelle,

For his counfeil was nought acheved,
But that he figh Cufy beleved
With Abfolon and him forfake,
He henge him selfe upon a stake.
Senec witneffeth openly,

How that envie properly

Is of the court the comun wenche.

And halt taverne for to fchenche

That drink, which maketh the hert brenne,

And doth the wit aboute renne

By every waie to compaffe,
How that he might all other paffe
As he, which through unkindeship
Envieth every felaship.

So that thou might well knowe and se,
There is no vice fuche as he
First toward god abhominable
And to mankinde unprofitable.

Qualiter Joab prin

ceps milicie David invidie caufa Abner fubdole interfecit. Et qualiter eciam Achitofell ob hoc, quod Cufy in confilio Abfolon preferebatur, accenfus invidia laqueo fe fufpendit.

6.

Hic defcribit con

And that by wordes but a fewe
I shall by refon prove and fhewe.

Invidie ftimulus fine caufa ledit abortus,

Nam fine temptante crimine crimen habet.
Non eft huius opus temptare Cupidinis archum,
Dumque faces Veneris Ethnica flamma vorat,
Abfque rubore gene pallor, quas fuscus obumbrat,
Frigida nature cetera membra docent.

Envie if that I fhall descrive,

feffor naturam in- He is nought shaply for to wive

vidie tam in amore

quam aliter fecun- In erth among the women here. dum proprietatem

vicii fub compen- For there is in him no matere,

dio.

Wherof he mighte do plefaunce.
First for his hevy contenaunce
Of that he femeth ever unglad
He is nought able to be hadde
And eke he brenneth fo withinne,
That kinde may no profit winne,
Wherof he fhulde his love plefe.
For thilke blood, which fhuld have efe
To regne among the moifte veines,
Is drie of thilke unkindly peines
Through which envie is fired ay.
And this by refon prove I may,
That toward love envie is nought,
And other wife if it be fought,
Upon what fide as ever it falle
It is the werfte vice of alle,

Which of him felf hath most malice.
For understond that every vice
Some cause hath, wherof it groweth.

But of envie no man knoweth

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Fro whenne he cam, but out of helle.
For thus the wife clerkes telle,
That no spirit but of malice
By way of kinde upon a vice
Is tempted, and by such a way
Envie hath kinde put away
And of malice hath his stering,
Wherof he maketh his bakbiting,
And is him self therof difefed.

So may there be no kinde plefed.
For ay the more that he envieth,
The more ayein him self he plieth.
Thus ftant envie in good efpeire
To ben him felf the divels heire
As he, whiche is his nexte liche
And furtheft from the heven riche.
For there may he never wone.
Forthy my gode dere fone,
If thou wolt finde a fiker way
To love, put envie away.

Min holy fader, refon wolde,
That I this vice efcheue fholde.
But yet to strengthen my corage
If that ye wolde in avauntage
Therof fet a recoverir,
It were to me a great defir,
That I this vice mighte flee.

Now understond, my fone, and see, There is phifique for the feke

And vertues for the vices eke.

Hic ponit confeffor exemplum de virtute

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For they to-gider may nought dwelle.

For as the water of the welle

Of fire abateth the malice,

Right so vertu fordoth the vice.

Ayein envie is charite,

Whiche is the moder of pite,

That maketh a mannes herte tender,
That it may no malice engender

In him, that is inclined therto.
For his corage is tempred fo,

That though he might him self releve,
Yet wolde he nought another greve,
But rather for to do plefaunce
He bereth him felven the grevaunce,
So fain he wolde another efe.

Wherof, my fone, for thin efe

charitatis contra invi- I

diam et narrat de

Now herken a tale, whiche I rede,
And understonde it well I rede.

Among the bokes of latin

finde it writ of Conftantin, Conftantino Elene fi- The worthy emperour of Rome, lio, qui cum imperii Such infortunes to him come, Romani dignitatem

obtinuerat, a morbo Whan he was in his lufty age, lepre infectus, medici

pro fanitate recupe- The lepre caught in his visage

randa ipfum in fan

guine puerorum maf- And fo forth over all aboute,

culorum balneare

propofuerant,fed cum That he ne mighte riden oute.

So left he bothe shield and spere,
As he that might him nought beftere,
And helde him in his chamber close.
Through all the world the fame arose.
The grete clerkes ben affent
And com at his commaundement
To tret upon this lordes hele.
So longe they to-gider dele,
That they upon this medicine
Appointen hem and determine,
That in the maner as it stood

They wolde him bath in childes blood
Withinne feven winter age.

For as they fain, that shulde affuage
The leper and all the violence,
Which that they knewe of accidence
And nought by way of kinde is falle.
And therto they accorden alle
As for finall conclufion
And tolden her opinion

To themperour. And he anone
His counfeil toke, and therupon
With letters and with feales out

They send in every londe about
The yonge children for to feche,
Whose blood, they said, fhulde be leche
For themperours maladie.

There was inough to wepe and crie
Among the moders, whan they herde,
How wofully this cause ferde.

innumera multitudo matrum cum filiis huiufmodi medicine caufa in circuitu palacii affuiffet imperatorque eorum gemitus et clamores percepiffet, charitate motus ingemifcens fic ait: Overe eft ipfe dominus, qui fe facit fervum pietatis. Et his dictis ftatum fuum cunctipotentis medele committens, fui ipfius morbum pocius quam infancium mortem benignius elegit,unde ipfe, qui antea paganus et leprofus extiterat, ex unda baptifmatis renatus utriufque materie tam corporis quam anime divino miraculo confecutus eft falutem.

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