And for-thy, yif thou wolt loken and demen sooth with cleer 10 light, and holden the wey with a right path, weyve thou Ioye, dryf fro thee drede, fleme thou hope, ne lat no sorwe aproche; _that is to seyn, lat non of thise four passiouns over-comen thee or blende thee_. For cloudy and derke is thilke thought, and bounde with brydles, where-as thise thinges regnen.' 15
ME. VII. 1. C. Ed. yeten; A. geten. 2. C. A. wynde. 4. C. Ed. whilom; A. somtyme. 5. C. lyk; A. lyke. // C. cleer_e_ dayes and brihte; A. bry[gh]t dayes. // C. withstand; A. withstant. 7. C. hy; A. hey[gh]e. 9. C. fram. 14. C. A. dirke. 15. C. were (_for_ where). // C. reygnen; A. regnen.
After this she stinte a litel; and, after that she hadde gadered by atempre stillenesse myn attencioun, she seide thus: (_As who mighte seyn thus: After thise thinges she stinte a litel; and whan she aperceived by atempre stillenesse that I was ententif to herkene hir, she bigan to speke in this wyse_): 'Yif I,' quod she, 'have 5 understonden and knowen outrely the causes and the habit of thy maladye, thou languissest and art defeted for desyr and talent of thy rather fortune. She, that ilke Fortune only, that is chaunged, as thou feynest, to thee-ward, hath perverted the cleernesse and the estat of thy corage. I understonde the 10 fele-folde colours and deceites of thilke merveilous monstre Fortune, and how she useth ful flateringe familaritee with hem that she enforceth to bigyle; so longe, til that she confounde with unsufferable sorwe hem that she hath left in despeyr unpurveyed. And yif thou remembrest wel the kinde, the maneres, 15 and the desert of thilke Fortune, thou shalt wel knowe that, as in hir, thou never ne haddest ne hast y-lost any fair thing. But, as I trowe, I shal nat gretly travailen to do thee remembren on thise thinges. For thou were wont to hurtelen and despysen hir, with manly wordes, whan she was blaundissinge and present, 20 and pursewedest hir with sentences that were drawen out of myn entree, _that is to seyn, out of myn informacioun_. But no sodein mutacioun ne bitydeth nat with-oute a manere chaunginge of corages; and so is it befallen that thou art a litel departed fro the pees of thy thought. 25