 | |  |
QUID AUTEM DE CORPORIS. — Prosa 7
"But what schal I seye of delyces of body, of whiche delices the desirynges ben ful of anguyssch, and the fulfillynges of hem ben ful of penance? How grete seknesses and how grete sorwes unsuffrable, ryght as a maner fruyt of wykkidnesse, ben thilke delices wont to bryngen to the bodyes of folk that usen hem! Of whiche delices I not what joie mai ben had of here moevynge, but this woot I wel, that whosoevere wol remembren hym of hise luxures, he schal wel undirstonden that the issues of delices ben sorweful and sorye. And yif thilke delices mowen maken folk blisful, thanne by the same cause moten thise beestis ben clepid blisful, of whiche beestis al the entencioun hasteth to fulfille here bodily jolyte. And the gladnesse of wyf and children were an honest thyng, but it hath ben seyd that it is overmochel ayens kynde that children han ben fownden tormentours to here fadris, I not how manye; of whiche children how bytynge is every condicioun, it nedeth nat to tellen it the that hast er this tyme assayed it, and art yit now angwysshous. In this approve I the sentence of my disciple Euripidis, that seide that he that hath no children is weleful by infortune.
| | |