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And knew the falfehed of the vice,
He said he wolde do justice.
And firft he let the preftes take,

And for they fhulde it nought forsake
He put hem into question.

But they of the suggestion

Ne couthe nought a word refuse,
But for they wold hem felf excuse
The blame upon the duke they laide.
But there ayein the counseil saide,
That they be nought excused so,
For he is one and they be two
And two have more wit than one,
So thilke excufement was none.
And over that was faid hem eke,
That whan men wolden vertue feke
Men shulden it in the preftes finde,
Their ordre is of fo high a kinde,
That they be divisers of the wey.
Forthy if any man forfwey

Through hem, they be nought excufable,

And thus by lawe resonable

Among the wife juges there

The preftes bothe dampned were,

So that the prive trechery

Hid under false ypocrifie
Was thanne all openlich fhewed,
That

many a man hem hath befhrewed. And whan the prestes weren dede,

The temple of thilk horrible dede

They thoughten purge and thilke ymage
Whose cause was the pelrinage
They drowen out and also faste
Fer into Tiber they it cafte,
Where the river it hath defied.
And thus the temple purified
They have of thilke horrible finne,
Which was that time do therinne.
Of this point fuch was the divise.
But of the duke was otherwise,
For he with love was beftad,
His dome was nought so harde lad.
For love put refon awey

vengeaunce

And can nought se the righte wey.
And by this cause he was respited,
So that the deth him was acquited,
But for all that he was exiled
For he his love had so beguiled,
That he shall never come ayeine.
For he that is to trouth unpleine
He
may nought failen of
And eke to take remembraunce
Of that ypocrifie hath wrought.
On other half men fhulde nought
To lightly leve all that they here,
But thanne fhulde a wifeman stere
The ship, whan fuche windes blowe,
For first though they beginne lowe,
At ende they be nought mevable,
But all to-broken mast and cable,

Hic ulterius ponit exemplum de illa

So that the ship with fodain blast
Whan men lefte wene is overcast.
As now full ofte a man may se,
And of old time how it hath be
I finde a great experience,
Wherof to take an evidence
Good is and to beware also

Of the perill er him be woo.

Of hem that ben fo derk withinne

eciam ypocrifia, que At Troie also if we beginne,

inter virum et virum

decipiens periculofif Ypocrifie it hath betraied.

fima confiftit, et nar- For whan the Grekes had all affaied rat, qualiter Greci in

obfidione civitatis And founde that by no bataile

Troie, cum ipfam vi

apprehendere nulla- Ne by no fiege it might availe

tenus potuerunt, fal

anis pacem ut dicunt

laci animo cum Troi- The town to winne through prowesse, pro perpetuo ftatue- This vice feigned of fimpleffe

bant et fuper hoc

quendam equum mi- Through fleight of Calcas and of Crife re groffionis de ere It wan by such a maner wise.

fabricatum ad facrifi

candum in templo An horse of brass they let do forge

Minerve confingen

tes fub tali fancti- Of fuche entaile, of fuche a forge, tatis ypocrifi dictam

civitatem intrarunt That in this world was never man et ipfam cum inha

bitantibus gladio et igne comminuentes

pro perpetuo penitus devastarunt.

That such an other werk began.
The crafty werkeman Epius

It made, and for to telle thus,

The Grekes that thoughten to beguile
The king of Troie in thilke while
With Antenor and with Enee,

That were bothe of the citee
And of the counfeil the wifeft,
The richest and the mightiest,

In prive place fo they trete

With fair behefte and yeftes grete

Of gold, that they hem have engined
To-gider and whan they be covined,
They feignen for to make pees,
And under that yet netheless
They shopen the destruction
Bothe of the king and of the town.
And thus the falfe pees was take
Of hem of Grece and undertake,
And therupon they founde a way,
Where strengthe might nought away,
That fleighte shulde helpe thanne.
And of an inche a large spanne
By colour of the pees they made
And tolden how they were glade
Of that they ftoden in accorde,
And for it shall ben of recorde
Unto the king the Gregois faiden
By way of love and thus they praiden,
As they that wolden his thank deserve,
A facrifice unto Minerve

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The Grekes under the holineffe
Anone with alle befinesse

Here hors of brass let faire dight,
Which was to fene a wonder fight.
For it was trapped of him felve
And had of fmale wheles twelve,
Upon the whiche men inowe
With craft toward the town it drowe
And goth gliftrend ayein the fonne.
Tho was there joie inough begonne,
For Troie in great devocion
Came alfo with proceffion

Ayein this noble facrifice

With great honour, and in this wife
Unto the gates they it broughte,
But of here entre whan they foughte
The gates weren all to fmale.
And therupon was many a tale.
But for the worship of Minerve,
To whom they comen for to serve,
They of the town which understood
That all this thing was done for good
For pees, wherof that they ben glade,
The gates that Neptunus made

A thousand winter ther to-fore
They have anone to-broke and tore,
The stronge walles down they bete,
So that into the large ftrete
This horse with great folempnite
Was brought withinne the cite,

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