men / to the persence of Melibee / he seyde hem thise wordes
It standeth thus
quod Melibee / and sooth it is / that ye
840
causelees and wt outen skile & resoū
han doon grete Iniuries & wronges / to me and to my wyf Prudence ~
and to my dogħter also /
for ye han entred in to myn hous by violence
and haue doon swich outrage þt alle men knowen wel þt ye haue
disserued the deeth /
And therfore / wol I knowe and wite of yow /
845
whei-
ther ye wol putte the punyssement / & the chastisynge / & the venge-
ance of this outage / in the wyl of me / and of my wyf Prudence / or
ye wol nat
Thanne / the wiseste of hem thre answerde for hē alle
and seyde
¶ Sire quod he / we knowen wel / þt we been vnworthy / to
comen vn to the Court of so greet a lord and so worthy as ye been ;
For we han so greetly mystaken vs / and han offended and agilt in ~
swicħ a wise / agayn youre heigħ lordshipe /
that trewely / we han dis-
serued the deeth /
850
but yet for the grete goodnesse and debonairetee þt al
the world / witnesseth in your persone /
we submytten vs / to the excel-
lence & benignitee of your gracious lordshipe /
and been redy to obeie
to alle your comandementz /
bisekynge yow / that of your merciable
pitee / ye wol considere oure grete repentaūce & lougħ submyssioū
&
graunten vs foryeuenesse of oure outageous trespas & offense /
855
for wel
we knowe þt your lib~al gace & mercy / strecchen hē ferther in to goodnesse
than doon oure outageouse giltes and trespas in to wikkednesse /
al
be it þt cursedly & dampnablely / we han agilt agayn your heigħ
lordshipe
Thanne Melibee / took hem vp fro the ground ful benig-
nely /
& receyued hir obligacioūs & hir boondes by hir othes vp on
hir plegges & borwes /
and assigned hem a certeyn day / to retourne
vn to his Court.
860
for to accepte & receyue the sentence & Iuggement
þt Melibee wolde comande to be doon on hem by the causes afore-
seyd /
whiche thynges ordeyned
/ . eu
ery man reto
rned to his hous
And
whan þt Dame Prudence saugħ hir tyme / she freyned & axed hir
lord Melibee /
what vengeance / he thoughte / to taken of hise Aduersaries
To which Melibee answerde & seyde ¶ Certes quod he / I thynke &
purpose me fully /
865
to desherite hem / of al þt euere they han / and for
to putte hem / in exil for euere
Certes quod dame Prudence / this were
a crueel sentence and muchel agayn resoū /
for ye been riche ynougħ
and han no nede of oother mennes good /
and ye mygħte ligħtly in ~
this wise gete yow a coueitous name
which is a vicious thyng &
oghte been eschued of euery good man
870
¶ For after the sawe of the ~
word of the Apostle /. Coueitise is roote of alle harmes /
And therfore
it were bettre for yow / to lese so muchel good of youre owene / than ~
for to taken of hir good in this manere /
for bettre it is to lesen with
worshipe / than it is / to wynne wt vileynye & shame /.
And eueri man
ogħte to doon his diligence & his bisynesse / to geten hym a good na-
me /.
And yet shal he nat oonly bisie hym / in kepynge of his good na-
me .
875
but he shal also enforcen hym alwey / to do som thyng / by which he
may renouelle his good name /
for it is writen / þt the olde good loos &
good name of a man / is soone goon and passed / whan it is nat ne-
wed ne renouelled
¶ And as touchynge / þt ye seyn / ye wole exile
your Aduersaries /
that thynketh me / muchel agayn resoū and out of