2623-4. The missing portion is easily supplied. The French text (MS. Reg.
19 C. vii, leaf 136) has:--'Et a ce respont Dame Prudence, Certes, dist
elle, Ie t'octroye que de vengence vient molt de maulx et de biens; mais
vengence n'appartient pas a vn chascun, fors seulement aux iuges et a ceulx
qui ont la iuridicion sur les malfaitteurs.' Here 'mais vengence' should
rather be 'mais faire vengence,' as in MS. Reg. 19 C. xi. leaf 59, back,
and in the printed edition. It is [217] clear that the omission of this
passage is due to the repetition of _trespassours_ at the end of 2622 and
2624.
2627. Lat. text--'nam, ut ait Seneca, Bonis nocet, qui malis parcit.' This
corresponds to--'Bonis necesse est noceat, qui parcit malis';
Pseudo-Seneca, De Moribus, Sent. 114; see Publilius Syrus, ed. Dietrich, p.
90. The Fr. text has:--'Cellui nuit [_al._ nuist] aux bons, qui espargne
les mauvais.' Chaucer's translation is so entirely at fault, that I think
his MS. must have been corrupt; he has taken _nuist aux_ as _maistre_, and
then could make but little of _espargne_, which he makes to mean 'proveth,'
i. e. tests, tries the quality of; perhaps his MS. had turned _espargne_
(or _esparne_) into _esprouve_. MSS. Cp. Pt. Ln. turn it into _reproveth_;
this makes better sense, but contradicts the original still more.
2628. 'Quoniam excessus tunc sunt in formidine, cùm creduntur iudicibus
displicere'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 4.
2629. Lat. text:--'Et alibi dixit, Iudex, qui dubitat ulcisci, multos
improbos facit'; slightly altered from Publ. Syrus, Sent. 526:--'Qui
ulcisci dubitat, inprobos plures facit.'
2630. From Rom. xiii. 4. For _spere_, as in all the copies, Chaucer should
have written _swerd_. The Fr. text has _glaive_; Lat. _gladium_.
2632. _Ye shul retourne or have your recours to the Iuge_; explanatory of
the F. text--'tu recourras au iuge.'
2633. _As the lawe axeth and requyreth_; explanatory of the Fr.
text--'selon droit.' For this use of _axeth_ (= requires), cf. P. Plowman,
C. i. 21, ii. 34.
2635. _Many a strong pas_; Fr. text--'moult de fors pas.' MS. Hl.
has:--'many a strayt passage.'
2638. Not from Seneca, but (as in other places where Seneca is mentioned)
from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 320 (ed. Dietrich):--'Male geritur, quicquid
geritur fortunae fide.'
2640. Again from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 189 (ed. Dietrich):--'Fortuna
uitrea est; tum quum splendet frangitur.'
2642. _Seur_ (E. _sure_) and _siker_ are mere variants of the same word;
the former is O. F. _seur_, from Lat. acc. _sec[=u]rum_; the latter is from
Lat. _séc[)u]rus_, with a different accentuation and a shortening of the
second vowel. We also have a third form, viz. _secure_.
2645. Again from Publ. Syrus, Sent. 173:--'Fortuna nimium quem fouet,
stultum facit.'
2650. From Rom. xii. 19; cf. Deut. xxxii. 35, Ps. xciv. 1.
2653. From Publ. Syrus, Sent. 645:--'Veterem ferendo iniuriam inuites
nouam.'
2655. _Holden over lowe_, esteemed too low, too lightly.
2656. From Publ. Syrus, Sent. 487:--'Patiendo multa [_al._ inulta] eueniunt
[_al._ ueniunt] quae nequeas pati.' _Mowe suffre_, be able to endure. For
_mowe_, Wright wrongly prints _nowe_; MS. Hl. has _mowe_, correctly. [218]
2663. From Caecilii Balbi Sententiae, ed. Friedrich, 1870, no. 162:--'Qui
non corripit peccantem gnatum, peccare imperat.'
2664. 'And the judges and sovereign lords might, each in his own land, so
largely tolerate wicked men and evil-doers,' &c. Lat. text:--'si multa
maleficia patiuntur fieri.'
2667. _Let us now putte_, let us suppose; Fr. text--'posons.' A more usual
phrase is 'putte cas,' put the case; cf. note to 2681.
2668. _As now_, at present; see 2670.
2671. From Seneca, De Ira, ii. 34, § 1:--'Cum pare contendere, anceps est;
cum superiore, furiosum; cum inferiore, sordidum.'
2675. From Prov. xx. 3.
2678. From Publilius Syrus, Sent. 483:--'Potenti irasci sibi periclum est
quaerere.'