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HIIS IGITUR SI PRO SE, &c. — Prosa 3
"Therfore, yif that Fortune spake with the for hirself in this manere, forsothe thow ne haddest noght what thou myghtest answere. And yif thow hast any thyng wherwith thow mayst rightfully defenden thi compleynte, it behoveth the to schewen it, and I wol yyve the space to tellen it."
"Serteynly," quod I thanne, "thise ben faire thynges and enoynted with hony swetnesse of Rethorik and Musike; and oonly whil thei ben herd thei ben delycious, but to wrecches is a deppere felyng of harm (this is to seyn, that wrecches felen the harmes that thei suffren more grevously than the remedies or the delites of thise wordes mowen gladen or conforten hem). So that, whanne thise thynges stynten for to soune in eris, the sorwe that es inset greveth the thought."
"Right so is it," quod sche. "For thise ne ben yit none remedies of thy maladye, but they ben a maner norisschynges of thi sorwe, yit rebel ayen thi curacioun. For whan that tyme is, I schal moeve and ajuste swiche thynges that percen hemselve depe. But natheles that thow schalt noght wilne to leten thiself a wrecche, hastow foryeten the nowmbre and the maner of thi welefulnesse? I holde me stille how that the sovereyn men of the cite token the in cure and in kepynge, whan thow were orphelyn of fadir and of modir, and were chose in affynite of prynces of the cite; and thow bygonne rather to ben leef and deere than for to been a neyghebour, the whiche thyng is the moste precyous kende of any propinquyte or alliaunce that mai ben. Who is it that ne seide tho that thow neere right weleful, with so gret a nobleye of thi fadres-in-lawe, and with the chastete of thy wyf, and with the oportunyte and noblesse of thyne masculyn children (that is to seyn, thy sones)? And over al this me list to passen of comune thynges, how thow haddest in thy youthe dignytees that weren wernd to oolde men; but it deliteth me to comen now to the synguler uphepynge of thi welefulnesse. Yif any fruyt of mortel thynges mai han any weyghte or pris of welefulnesse, myghtestow evere forgeten, for any charge of harm that myghte byfalle the, remembraunce of thilke day that thow seye thi two sones maked conseileris and iladde togidre fro thyn hous under so greet assemble of senatours and under the blithnesse of peple, and whan thow saye hem set in the court in hir chayeres of dignytes? Thow, rethorien or
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