[Footnote 6: Read _corporis voluptatibus_.]
[Sidenote: [The 7^the p{ro}se.]]
[Sidenote: But what shall I say with respect to sensual pleasures,
the desire of which is full of anxiety, and the enjoyment of them
full of repentance?]
++But what shal I seie of delices of body. of whic[h]e 2176
delices þe desiringes ben ful of anguisse. {and} þe
fulfillinges of he{m} ben ful of penaunce.
[Sidenote: What diseases and intolerable pains (the merited fruits
of vice) are these delights wont to bring upon those who enjoy
them!]
¶ How grete
sekenesse {and} how grete sorwes vnsuffrable ryȝt as a
manere fruit of wickednesse ben þilke delices wont to 2180
bryngen to þe bo[d]ies of folk þat vsen hem.
[Sidenote: I am unable to see what joy is to be found in the
gratification of them.]
¶ Of
whiche delices I not what ioye may ben had of hir
moeuyng.
[Sidenote: The remembrance of criminal indulgence brings with it
bitter remorse.]
¶ But þis woot I wel þat who so euere wil
remembren hym of hys luxuries. he shal wel vndirstonde. 2184
þat þe issues of delices ben sorowful {and} sory.
[Sidenote: If such things make men happy, then may brutes attain
to felicity, since by their instinct they are urged to satisfy
their bodily delights.]
¶ And yif þilke delices mowen make folk blisful. þan
by þe same cause moten þise bestes ben clepid blisful.
¶ Of whiche bestes al þe entenc{i}ou{n} hasteþ to fulfille 2188
hire bodyly iolyte.
[Sidenote: A wife and children do not always bring happiness, for
some have found tormentors in their own offspring.]
and þe gladnesse of wijf [{and}]
children were [an] honest þing. but it haþ ben seid.
þat it is ouer myche aȝeins kynde þat children han ben
fou{n}den tormentours to hir fadres I not how many. 2192
¶ Of whiche children how bitynge is euery condic{i}ou{n}.
It nedeþ nat to tellen it þe þat hast or þis tyme assaied
it. {and} art ȝit now anguysso{us}.
[Sidenote: I approve of this opinion of Euripides, that he who is
childless is happy in his misfortune.]
In þis approue I þe
sentence of my disciple Euridippus. þat seide þat he 2196
þat haþ no children is weleful by i{n}fortune.
[Linenotes:
2173 _is_--nis
2176 _delices_--delites
_body_--bodye
2177 _anguisse_--Angwyssh
2178 _grete_--gret
2179 _sekenesse_--sykenesse
_grete sorwes_--gret soruwes
2180 _fruit_--frut
2182 _had_--MS. hadde, C. had
2183 _wil_--wole
2184 _hys_--hyse
2185 _sorowful_--sorwful
_sory_--sorye
2186 _make_--makyn
2189 [_and_]--from C.
2190 [_an_]--from C.
_haþ_--haþe
_seid_--MS. seide, C. seyd
2191 _myche_--mochel
2192 _many_--manye
2196 _Euridippus_--Eurydyppys; _read_ Euripides
2197 _haþ_--MS. haþe]
[[pg 80]]
[Headnote:
NO HAPPINESS IN EXTERNAL THINGS.]