AN VERO REGNA. — Prosa 5
"But regnes, and familiarites of kynges, mai thei maken
a man to ben myghti? How elles, whan hir blisfulnesse dureth
perpetuely? But certes the olde age of tyme passed, and ek the
present tyme now, is ful of ensaumples how that kynges han
chaungyd into wrecchidnesse out of hir welefulnesse. O, a noble
thyng and a cleer thyng is power, that is nat fownden myghty to
kepe itself! And yif that power of remes be auctour and makere
of blisfulnesse, yif thilke power lakketh on any syde, amenuseth
it nat thilke blisfulnesse and bryngeth in wrecchidnesse? But
yit, al be it so that the remes of mankynde strecchen broode, yit
moot ther nede ben moche folk over whiche that every kyng ne hath
no lordschipe ne comaundement. And certes uppon thilke syde
that power fayleth, whiche that maketh folk blisful, ryght on
that same syde noun-power entreth undirnethe, that maketh hem
wrecches. In this manere thanne moten kynges han more porcioun
of wrecchidnesse than of welefulnesse. A tyraunt, that was kyng
of Sysile, that hadde assayed the peril of his estat, schewede
by simylitude the dredes of remes by gastnesse of a swerd that
heng over the heved of his familyer. What thyng is thanne this
power, that mai nat done awey the bytynges of bysynesse, ne
eschewe the prykkes of drede? And certes yit wolde thei lyven in
sykernesse, but thei may nat, and yit they glorifien hem in hir
power. Holdestow thanne that thilke man be mighty, that thow
seest that he wolde doon that he may nat done? And holdestow
thanne hym a myghti man, that hath envyrowned his sydes with men
of armes or sergeantz, and dredeth more hem that he maketh agast
thanne thei dreden hym, and that is put in the handes of hise
servauntz for he scholde seme myghty? But of familiers or
servantz of kynges, what scholde I telle the any thyng, syn that
I myself have schewyd the that rewmes hemself ben ful of greet
feblesse? The whiche famylieres, certes, the real power of
kynges, in hool estat and in estaat abated, ful ofte throweth
adoun. Nero constreynede Senek, his familyer and his mayster, to
chesen on what deeth he wolde deye. Antonyus comaundede that
knyghtes slowen with here swerdes Papynian (his
famylier) [whiche] that had ben long tyme ful myghty amonges
hem of the court. And yet certes thei wolden bothe han renounced
hir power; of whiche two Senek enforcede hym to yeven to Nero his
richesses, and also to han gon into solitarie exil. But whan the
grete weyghte (that is to seyn, of lordes power or
of fortune) draweth hem that schullen falle, neither of hem
ne myghte don that he wolde. What thyng is thanne thilke powere,
that though men han it, yit thei ben agast; and whanne thow
woldest han it, thou nart nat siker; and yif thou woldest
forleeten it, thow mayst nat eschuen it? But whethir swiche men
ben freendes at nede, as ben [consyled] by fortune and nat be
vertu? Certes swiche folk as weleful fortune maketh frendes,
contraryous fortune maketh hem enemys. And what pestilence is more myghty for
to anoye a wyght than a famylier enemy?
