HINC EGO VIDEO INQUAM. — Prosa 5
"Thus se I wel," quod I, "eyther what blisfulnesse
or elles what unselynesse is establisshid in the dissertes of
gode men and of schrewes. But in this ilke fortune of peple I se
somwhat of good and somwhat of yvel. For no wise man hath nat
levere ben exiled, pore and nedy and nameles, thanne for to
duellen in his cyte, and flouren of rychesses, and be redowtable
by honour and strong of power. For in this wise more clerly and
more witnesfully is the office of wise men ytreted, whanne the
blisfulnesse and the pouste of gouvernours is, as it ware,
ischadde among peples that ben neyghbors and subgitz; syn that
namely prisown, lawe, and thise othere tormentz of laweful peynes
ben rather owed to
felonus citezeins, for the whiche
felonus citezeens tho peynes ben establisschid than for good
folk.
"Thanne I merveile me gretly," quod I, "why that
the thinges ben so mysentrechaunged that tormentz of felonyes
pressen and confounden good folk, and schrewes ravysschen medes of
vertu and
ben in honours and in grete estatz; and I desire eek for to witen
of the what semeth the to be the resoun of this so wrongful a
confusioun; for I wolde wondre wel the lasse, yif I trowede that
alle thise thinges weren medled by fortunows hap. But now hepith
and encreseth myn astonyenge God, governour of thinges, that, so
as God yyveth ofte tymes to gode men godes and myrthes, and to
schrewes yvelis and aspre thinges, and yeveth ayeinward to good
folk hardnesses, and to schrewes he graunteth hem hir wil and
that they desiren — what difference thanne may ther be
bytwixen
that that God doth and the hap of fortune, yif men ne knowe nat
the cause why that it is?"
"Ne it nis no merveile," quod sche, "thowh that
men wenen that ther be somwhat foolisshe and confus, whan the
resoun of the ordre is unknowe. But although that thou ne knowe
nat the cause of so gret a disposicioun, natheles for as moche
as God, the gode governour, atempreth and governeth the world,
ne doute the nat that alle thinges ne ben don aryght.
