And faid, it was more goodly thing
To make than undone a king
To him, which power had of bothe.
Thus they, that weren bothe wrothe,
Accorden hem to finall pees.
And yet justice nethelees
Was kept and in nothing offended,
Wherof Pompey is yet commended.
There may no king him felf excufe,
But if justice he kepe and use,
Which for to efcheue cruelte
He mote attempre with pite.
Of cruelte the felony
Engendred is of tiranny,
Ayein the whose condition
God is him felf the champion,
Whose strengthe may no man withstonde.
For ever yet it hath fo ftonde,
That god a tiraunt over ladde.
But where pite the reine ladde,
There mighte no fortune laft,
Which was grevous. But ate laft
The god him felf it hath redressed.
Pite is thilke vertue bleffed,
Which never let his maifter falle.
But cruelte though it fo falle,
That it may regne for a throwe,
God woll it shall ben over throwe,
Wherof enfamples ben inough
Of hem, that thilke merel drowe.
Of cruelte I rede thus,
illos, qui tyrannica Whan the tirant Leoncius
tum obtinentes ini- Was to thempire of Rome arrived,
gloriantur, et narrat Fro which he hath with strengthe prived in exemplum, quali
ter Leoncius tyrannus The pietous Juftinian,
non folum a folio im- As he, which was a cruel man, peratorie magestatis
fraudulenter expulfit, His nafe of and his lippes both fed ut ipfe inhabilis He kut, for he wolde him loth
plebis efficiretur, nafo Unto the people and make unable.
fum tyrannice muti- But he, which all is merciable,
qui fuper omnia pius The highe god ordeineth fo, eft, Tiberio fuperve
niente una cum adju- That he within a time alfo,
garie regis, Juftinia Whan he was strongest in his ire, num interfecto Le- Was shoven out of his empire. oncio ad imperium
reftitui mifericorditer Tiberius the power hadde
And Rome after his will he ladde,
And for Leonce in fuche a wife
Ordeineth, that he toke juife
Of nafe and lippes bothe two,
For that he did another fo,
Which more worthy was than he.
Lo, which a fall hath cruelte,
And pite was set up ayein.
For after that the bokes fain,
Terbellis king of Bulgarie
With helpe of his chivalrie
Juftinian hath unprisoned
And to thempire ayein coroned.
In a cronique I finde alfo
tyranni necnon et de Of Siculus, which was eke fo
Hic loquitur ulterius
de crudelitate Siculi
A cruel king like the tempeft,
The whom no pite might arest.
He was the first, as bokes say,
Upon the fee, which found galey
And let hem make for the werre,
As he, which all was out of herre
Fro pite and mifericorde,
For therto couthe he nought accorde.
But whom he mighte flain, he flough,
And therof was he glad inough.
He had of counseil many one,
Among the whiche there was one,
By name which Berillus hight.
And he bethought him, how he might
Unto the tirant do liking.
And of his own ymagining
Let forge and make a bulle of bras,
And on the fide caft there was
A dore, where a man may inne,
Whan he his peine shall beginne
Through fire, which that men put under.
And all this did he for a wonder,
That whan a man for peine cride,
The bull of bras, which gapeth wide,
It shulde feme, as though it were
A bellewing in a mannes ere
And nought the crieng of a man.
But he, which alle fleightes can,
The devil, that lith in helle faft,
Him that it caft hath overcast,
filiario, qui ad tormentum populi quendam taurum eneum tyrannica conjectura fabricari conftituit, in quo tamen ipfe prior proprio crimine illud exigente ufque ad fui interitus expiracionem judicialiter torquebatur.
Nota hic de Dio
nifio tyranno, qui
That for a trespas, which he dede,
He was put in the same stede.
And was him self the first of alle,
Which was into that peine falle,
That he for other men ordeigneth.
There was no man that him compleigneth.
tyranny and cruelte
By this ensample a king may se
Him felfe and eke his counfeil bothe,
How they ben to mankinde lothe
And to the god abhominable.
Enfamples that ben concordable
I finde of other princes mo,
As thou fhalt here of time ago.
The grete tirant Dionife,
mire crudelitatis Which mannes life set of no prise,
feveritate eciam Unto his hors full ofte he yafe
hofpites fuos ad
devorandum equis The men in ftede of corne and chafe. fuis tribuit, cui
Hercules tandem So that the hors of thilke stood fuperveniens vic
tum impium in Devoureden the mannes blood, impietate fua pari Till fortune ate lafte came,
That Hercules him overcame,
Nota hic de confi
mili Lichaontis ty
And he right in the same wise
Of this tirant toke the juise.
As he till other men hath do,
The fame deth he deied also,
That no pite him hath focoured,
Till he was of his hors devoured.
Of Lichaon also I finde,
rannia, qui carnes How he ayein the lawe of kinde
His hoftes flough and into mete
He made her bodies to ben ete
With other men within his hous.
But Jupiter the glorious,
Which was commeved of this thing,
Vengeaunce upon this cruel king
So toke, that he fro mannes forme
Into a wolfe him let transforme.
And thus the cruelte was kid,
Which of long time he hath hid.
A wolfe he was than openly,
The whose nature prively
He had in his condicion.
And unto this conclufion,
That tiranny is to despise,
I finde enfample in fondry wife
And namelich of hem full ofte,
The whom fortune hath set alofte
Upon the werres for to winne.
But how so that the wrong beginne
Of tiranny it may nought lafte,
But fuche as they done ate lafte
To other men, fuche on hem falleth.
For ayein fuche pite calleth
Vengeaunce to the god above.
For who that hath no tendre love
In faving of a mannes life,
He shall be founde fo giltife,
That whan he wolde mercy crave,
In time of nede he shall none have.
hominum hominibus in fuo hofpicio ad vefcendum dedit, cuius formam condicioni fimilem Jupiter coequans ipfum in lupum transformavit,
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