QUID TANTOS IUVAT. — Metrum 4
"What deliteth yow to exciten so grete moevynges of
hatredes, and to hasten and bysien the fatal disposicioun of your
deth with your propre handes (that is to
seyn, by
batayles or contek)? For yif ye axen the deth, it hasteth
hym of his owene wil, ne deth ne taryeth nat his swifte hors. And
the men that the serpent, and the lyoun, and the tigre, and the
bere, and the boor, seken to sleen with hir teeth, yit thilke
same men seken to sleen eriche of hem oothir with swerd. Lo, for
hir maneres ben diverse and discordaunt, thei moeven unryghtful
oostes and cruel batayles, and wilnen to perise by
entrechaungynge of dartes! But the resoun of cruelte nis nat
inowhe ryghtful. Wiltow thanne yelden a covenable gerdoun to the
dissertes of men? Love ryghtfully good folk, and have pite on
schrewes."
