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HEU QUE MISEROS TRAMITE. — Metrum 8

"Allas! Whiche folie and whiche ignorance mysledeth wandrynge wrecchis fro the path of verray good! Certes ye ne seke no gold in grene trees, ne ye gadere nat precyous stones in the vynes, ne ye ne hiden nat yowre gynnes in heye mountaignes to kacchen fyssche of whiche ye mai maken riche festes. And if yow liketh to hunte to roos, ye ne gon nat to the foordes of the watir that highte Tyrene. And over this, men knowen wel the krikes and the cavernes of the see yhidde in the flodes, and knowen ek whiche watir is moost plentevous of white peerlis, and knowen whiche watir haboundeth moost of reed purpre (that is to seyn, of a maner schellefyssche with whiche men deien purpre), and knowen whiche strondes habounden most of tendre fysches, or of scharpe fyssches that hyghten echynnys. But folk suffren hemselve to ben so blynde, that hem ne reccheth nat to knowe where thilke goodes ben yhud whiche that thei coveyten, but ploungen hem in erthe, and seken there thilke good that surmounteth the hevene


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that bereth the sterris. What preyere mai I make, that be digne to the nyce thoughtes of men? But I preie that thei coveyten rychesses and honours, so that, whanne thei han geten tho false goodes with greet travaile, that therby they mowen knowen the verray goodes.