[Sidenote: Love binds nations together, it ties the nuptial knot, and dictates binding laws to friendship.]
this looue halt to gideres poeples Ioygned w{ i}t{ h} an hooly bond / { and} knytteth sacrement of maryages 1696 of chaste looues // And loue enditeth lawes to trewe felawes //
[Sidenote: Men were truly blest if governed by this celestial love!']
O weleful weer{ e} mankynde / yif thilke loue þ{ a}t gouerneth heuene gouerned[e] yowr{ e} corages /
[[pg 63]] [Headnote: BOETHIUS IS COMFORTED BY PHILOSOPHY'S SONG.]
[Sidenote: Philosophy now ended her song.]
++By this she hadde endid hir{ e} song{ e} / whan the swetnesse 1700 of hir{ e} ditee hadde thorw p{ er}ced me þ{ a}t was desirous of herkninge /
[Sidenote: I was so charmed that I kept a listening as if she were still speaking.]
{ and} .I. astoned hadde yit streyhte myn Eres / þ{ a}t is to seyn to herkne the bet / what she wolde seye //
[Sidenote: At last I said, O sovereign comforter of dejected minds, how much hast thou refreshed me with the energy of thy discourse, so that I now think myself almost an equal match for Fortune and able to resist her blows.]
so þ{ a}t a litel her{ e} aft{ er} .I. seyde thus // O thow 1704 þ{ a}t art sou{ er}eyn comfort of Angwissos corages // So thow hast remou{ n}ted { and} norysshed me w{ i}t{ h} the weyhte of thy sentenses { and} w{ i}t{ h} delit of thy syngynge // so þ{ a}t .I. trowe nat now þ{ a}t .I. be vnparygal to the strokes of fortune / as 1708 who seyth. I. dar wel now suffren al the assautes of fortune { and} wel deffende me fro hyr //
[Sidenote: I fear not, therefore, thy remedies, but earnestly desire to hear what they are.]
{ and} tho remedies whyche þ{ a}t thow seydest hir{ e} byforn weren ryht sharpe Nat oonly p{ a}t .I. am nat agrysen of hem now // but .I. desiros 1712 of herynge axe gretely to heeren tho remedyes //
[Sidenote: _P._ When I perceived that, silent and attentive, you received my words, I expected to find such a state of mind in you, or rather, I created in you such an one.]
than seyde she thus // þ{ a}t feelede .I. ful wel q{ uod} she // whan þ{ a}t thow ententyf { and} stylle rauysshedest my wordes // { and} .I. abood til þ{ a}t thow haddest swych habyte 1716 of thy thowght as thow hast now // or elles tyl þ{ a}t .I. my self had[de] maked to the the same habyt / which þ{ a}t is a moore verray thing{ e} //