The Physician's Tale
Folio 185r
8 of 8 folios
Whan þe Iuge it say as saiþ þe story /
He bad take him and honge him faste /
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But right anoon aƚƚ þe poeple in þraste /
To saue þe knigħt for routhe and for pite /
For knowen was þe fals iniquite /
The poeple anoon hadde suspect in þis þing
By moner of þis clerkes chalengyng
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That it was by thassent of apius
That wiste wel þat he was leccherous
For which vnto þis Apius þay goon
And casten him in pisoun rigħt anoon
Wher as he slougħ himself and Claudius
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That seruaunt was vnto þis Apius
Was demed for to honge vpon a tree
But virgineus of his grete pite
Prayde for him þat he was exiled
And elles certes he had ben bigiled
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The remenaūt were anhanged more and lesse /
That were consented to þis cursednesse /
Her may men se how synne hath his merite
Be war for no man woot how god wol smyte /
In no degre ne in which maner wise
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The worm of conscience wol arise
Of wicked lyf þough it so pryue be
That no man woot of it but god and he
Wher þat he be lewed man or lered
He not how soone þat he may be afered
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Therfore I rede ȝow this counseil take
Forsakith synne / er synne ȝow forsake
¶ Here endeth þe Doctor of phisicx his tale