The Multitext Edition > Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS. Peniarth 392 D
The Tale of Melibeus
Folio 218v
34 of 38 folios
90
thynges þt ben ordeyned / & affermed / by so manye wise
¶ Secound-
ly I seye / þt alle wōmen ben wikke / and noon good of hem alle /
for of a thousand men / seith Salomon / I foond o good man / but
certes of alle wōmen / good wōman foond I neuere
¶ And also certes /
if I gouerned me by thy conseil / it sholde seme / þt I hadde yeue
to thee ouer me the maistrie / and goddes forbode / þt it so were /
For Ihc̃ Syrak seith / that if the wyf haue maistrie / she is
contrarious / to hir housbonde
¶ And Salomon seith / Neuere
in thy lyf / to thy wyf / ne to thy child / ne to thy freend / ne yif
no power ouer thy self / For bettre it were / þt thy children
axen of thy persone thynges þt hem nedeth / than thow see
thy self in the handes of thy children
95
¶ And also / if I wolde
werke by thy conseilyng certes my conseil / moste som tyme be
secree / til it were tyme / þt it moste be knowe / and this ne
may nat be
¶ Whan Dame Prudence ful debonairly & wt
gret pacience hadde herd / al that hir housbonde liked for to
seye ; thanne axed she of hym / licence for to speke / and
seyde in this wise
¶ My lord quod she / as to youre firste
reson / certes it may lightly been answered / for I seye þt it is
no folie to chaunge conseil / whan the thyng is chaunged /
or ellis / whan the thyng semeth oother weys / than it was
biforn
¶ And moore ouer I seye / þt thogh þt ye han sworn
& bihight to parfourne youre emprise / & nathelees ye weyue
to parfourne thilke same emprise by iuste cause ; men shol-
de nat seyn therfore that ye were a lyer / ne forsworn /
for
the book seith / þt the wise man / maketh no lesyng whan
he turneth his corage to the bettre /
100
And al be it so / þt youre
empise be establissed & ordeyned / by gret multitude of folk
yet thar ye nat accomplice thilke same ordinance / but yow
like /
for the trouthe of thynges
& the
profit
ben rather founde
in fewe folk
/ þt ben wise
& ful of reson
/ than by gret multi-
tude of folk
ther eu
ery man crieth
& clatereth what
þt hym
liketh
/ soothly swich multitude
/ is nat honeste
¶ And to the
seconde resoū / wher as ye seyn / þt alle wōmen ben wikke /
saue youre grce / certes ye despise alle wōmen in this wyse /
and he þt al despiseth / al displeseth / as seith the book.
and
Senec seith / that who so wole haue Sapience / shal no man
dispreise / but he shal gladly teche / the science þt he kan / wt
oute persumpcion or pide /
and swiche thynges / as he noght
ne kan / he shal nat ben ashamed to lerne hem & enquere