315
Lo quod Dame Prudence / how ligħtly is euery man enclyned / to his
owene desir / & to his owene plesance
¶ Certes qd she / þe wordes
of the phisiciens / ne shulden nat han ben vnderstonden in that
wise
¶ For certes wykkednesse is nat contarie to wykkednesse /
ne vengeance to vengeance / ne wrong to wrong / but þei ben
semblable
¶ And þerfore a vengeance is nat warisshed / by a noþer
vengeance / ne a wrong by a nother wrong /
but euerycħ of hem /
encrescetħ & aggreggetħ other
320
¶ But certes the wordes of the phi-
siciens / shulden ben vnderstonde in this wyse /
For good & wyk-
kednesse / ben two contaries / And pees & werre / vengeance & suffraū-
ce / discord & acord / & manye othere thynges
But certes wykked-
nesse / shal be warisshed / by goodnesse / discord by a cord / werre by
pees / & so fortħ of othere thynges
¶ And here to acordetħ Seȳt
Poule the Apostle in many places /
he seitħ / ne ȝeldetħ nat harm
for harm / ne wykked speche / for wykked speche /
325
but do wel to hī /
þt dotħ to the harm / & blisse hī / þt seitħ to the harm
¶ And in
manye othere places / he amonestetħ pees & acord
¶ But now
wil I speke to ȝow / of þe coūseil / whicħ þt was ȝeuen to ȝow /
by the men of lawe / & the wise folk /
þ seiden alle by oon acord
as ȝe han herd bifore
That ouer alle thynges / ȝe shuln do ȝour
diligence / to kepe ȝoure persone / & to warnestore ȝoure hous /
330
And
seiden also / þt in this cas / ȝow ougħte for to werke ful auysely /
& witħ gret deliberacoū
¶ And sire as to the first poynt / þat
touchetħ to the kepyng / of ȝoure persone /
ȝe shuln vnderstonde / þt
he þt hatħ werre / shal euere more deuoutly & mekely preyen bi-
forñ alle thynges /
þ Iħūs cist of his mercy / wil han hī / in his
proteccion / & ben his souereyn helpyng at his nede /
for certes in
this world / þere is no wigħt / þt may be coūseilled Corrected from: &ne&ne kept suffice-
antly / wt oute the kepyng / of oure lord iħu cist
335
¶ To this sen-
tence / acordetħ / the prophete Dauid / þt seitħ /
If god ne kepe þe Citee /
in Idel waketħ he / þt kepetħ it
¶ Now sire / than shuln ȝe cō-
mitte the kepyng of ȝoure persone / to ȝoure trewe frendes / þt ben
appreued and I knowe /
& of hē shuln ȝe axen helpe / ȝoure persone
for to kepe / For Catoū seitħ / if þu hast nede of helpe / axe it of
thyne frendes /
For þere Corrected from: isnysisnys noon so good a Phisicien / as thy trewe
frend
340
¶ And after this / thāne shuln ȝe kepe ȝow / fro alle staunge
folk / & fro lyeres / & haue alwey in suspect here compaignye /
For Piers Alfonce seitħ / Ne take no compaignye by the weye
of a straunge man / but if so be / þt þu haue knowe hī of a lenger
tyme /
And if so be / þt he falle in to thy compaignye / perauen-
ture / wt outen thyn assent /
enquere thāne as subtilly as þu
maist / of his cōuersacioū / & of his lyf byfore ¶ and feyne thy
wey / sey þt þu wolt go thider / as þu wolt nat go /