Septem Pagine sequntur sapiencie.
Prima de Prudencia.
Thynges passyd remembre & well dyuyde,
Thynges present consider & well gouerne,
For þynges commyng prudently prouyde,
Peyse matyrs or þou deme or dyscerne,
[Lat right in causes holde the lantern,]
Twene frende & foo stond euyn, & be egall,
And for no mede be nat parciall.
Secunda de Iusticia.
Furst in þy mesure loke þer be no lak,
Of þy weyghtes hold iustly þe balaunce,
Be trew in rekenyng, set no som abak,
And in þy worde lat be no variaunce;
Of chere be sad, demure of gouernaunce,
Set folk at rest, & apese all trouble,
Beware of flaterers & of tongys double.
Tercia de Temperancia.
By sapience tempre þou þy corage,
Of hasty ire daunt þe passion;
Dyffer vengeance tyll þy wraþe aswage,
Reuerence þe good for þeyr condicion;
Punyssh pacyently þe transgression
Of men disrewlyd, redressyng errour,
Mercy preferryng or þou do rygour.
Quarta de Discrecione.
Discrecion, modyr & pryncesse,
Of all vertues to gouerne hem & gye,
And elumyneþ with lyght of hygh noblesse
Crownes of kynges, hold vp þeyr regaly,
Conserueþ reames, by prudent polycy,
Causeþ prouinces & euery gret cyte
To contynew in long prosperyte.
Quinta de Racione.
Thys emperesse, verrey celestiall,
Most aungelyk of contenaunce and chere,
To rewle man he be nat bestiall,
God yaue hym reson, hys owne doughter dere,
Princesse of princesses, most souereyn & entere,
To brydell in man þe froward volunte
That he not err by sensualyte.
Sexta de Placencia & Bona Voluntate.
Thys fayre lady, whyche callyd ys Plesaunce,
And eke Good Wyll, her owne doughter dere,
Beseke all folk, aftyr theyr suffysaunce,
With all þeyr hert, to make ryght good chere,
With suche disport as þey fynde[n] here,
And þat hem lyst benygnely aduertyse,
Who þat ys welcom haþe all þat may suffyse.
Septima de Fasetia & Nurturia.
Thys goodly lady callyd Curtesy,
And her sustyr, whos name ys Nurture,
By þeyr offyce longyng to gentry
Lowly requyryd to euery creature,
As ferre as myght & power may endure,
With hoole hert[e], body, wyll, & mynde,
To be content with suche as þey here fynde.
Explicit.
