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They chose in this condicion,
That upon here election

Thempire of Rome fholde ftonde.
And thus they left it out of honde
For lacke of grace and it forfoke,
That Alemains upon hem toke.
And to confermen here estate
Of that they founden in debate
They token the poffeffion
After the compoficion

Among hem self and ther upon
They made an emperour anon,
Whos name as the cronique telleth
Was Othes, and fo forth it dwelleth.
Fro thilke daie yet unto this
Thempire of Rome hath ben and is
To thalemains, and in this wife

As

ye

to-fore have herd devise How Daniel the fweven expoundeth Of that ymage, on whom he foundeth The world, which after fholde falle, Come is the last token of alle. Upon the feet of erthe and steel So ftant the world now every dele Departed, which began right tho, Whan Rome was devided fo. And that is for to rewe fore, For alwey fithe more and more The worlde empeireth every day, Wherof the fothe shewe may.

At Rome first if we beginne,

The walle and al the citee withinne

Stant in ruine and in decas,

The feld is where the palais was,

The town is waft, and over that
If we behold thilke estate,
Whiche whilome was of the Romains

Of knighthod and of citizeins
To peise now with that beforne,
The chaf is take for the corne,
And for to fpeke of Romes might
Unnethes ftant ther ought upright
Of worship or of worldes good,
As it before time ftood.
And why the worship is away
If that a man the fothe say,
The cause hath ben devifion,
Which moder of confufion
Is, where the cometh overall
Nought only of the temporall
But of the fpirital also.
The dede proveth it is fo

And hath do many daies er this
Through venim, which that medled is
In holy chirche of erthely thing.
For Crift him self maketh knowleching,
That no man may to-gider serve
God and the world, but if he swerve
Froward that one and ftonde unstable,
And Criftes word may nought be fable.

The thing fo open is at theye,
It nedeth nought to specifie

Or fpeke ought more in this matere.
But in this wife a man may lere

How that the worlde is

gone aboute,
The whiche wel nigh is wered out
After the forme of that figure,
Which Daniel in his fcripture
Expoundeth as to-fore is tolde,
Of bras, of filver and of golde
The worlde is passed and agone,
And nowe upon his olde tone
It stant of brutel erthe and steel,
The whiche accorden never a dele,
So mot it nedes fwerve afide

As thing the which men seen divide.
Thapoftel writ unto us alle

And faith, that upon us is falle
Thend of the world, fo may we knowe
This ymage is nigh overthrowe,
By which this world was fignified,
That whilom was fo magnified
And nowe is olde and feble and vile
Full of mischefe and of peril
And ftant divided eke also
Lich to the feet, that were fo

As I tolde of the statue above.

And thus men feen, through lacke of love
Where as the lond divided is,

It mot algate fare amis.

'D

Hic dicit fecundum apoftolum, quod nos fumus, in quos fines feculi devenerunt.

Hic fcribit, quod

ex divifionis paf

And now to loke on every fide

A man may se the world divide,
The werres ben fo generall
Amonge the Criften overall,

That every man now fecheth wreche,
And yet these clerkes alday preche
And fain, good dede may none be
Whiche stant nought upon charite.
I not how charite may ftonde
Where dedly werre is taken on honde,
But al this wo is caufe of man
The which that wit and reson can,
And that in token and in witnesse
That ilke ymage bare liknesse
Of man and of none other beste.
For firft unto the mannes hefte
Was every creature ordeigned,
But afterward it was reftreigned,
Whan that he fel they fellen eke,
Whan he wax fike they woxen fike,
For as the man hath paffion,
Of fikeneffe in comparison,

So fuffren other creatures.
Lo, first the hevenly figures.

The fonne and mone eclipfen both

fione fingula creati And ben with mannes finne wroth, detrimentum cor- The purest air for finne alofte

ruptibile paciun

tur.

Hath ben and is corrupt ful ofte,

Right now the highe windes blowe
And anon after they ben lowe,

Now cloudy and now clere it is,
So it may proven wel by this,

A mannes finne is for to hate,

Which maketh the welken to debate.
And for to fe the properte

Of every thinge in his degre,
Benethe forth amonges us here

Al ftant a lich in this matere.

The fee nowe ebbeth and nowe it floweth,
The lond now welketh and now it groweth,
Now be the trees with leves grene,
Now they be bare and no thing sene,
Now be there lufty fomer floures,
Now be there ftormy winter fhoures,
Now be the daies, now the nightes,
So ftant there no thing al uprightes,
Nowe it is light, nowe it is derke,
And thus ftant al the worldes werke
After the difpoficion

Of man and his condicion.
Forthy Gregoire in his morall
Saith, that a man in speciall
The laffe worlde is properly,
And that he proveth redily,
For man of foule refonable
Is to an angel resemblable
And lich to beste he hath feling
And lich to tres he hath growing.
The ftones ben and fo is he,
Thus of his propre qualite

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