[6-text p 394]
And to another knyght comanded he
Go lede hym to the deeth / I charge thee
And happed / as they wente by the weye
Toward the place / ther he sholde deye
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The knyght cam / which men wenden had be deed
Thanne thoughte they / it was the beste reed
To lede hem bothe / to the Iuge agayn
They seiden lord / the knyght ne hath nat slayn
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His felawe / heere he standeth hool alyue
Ye shul be deed quod he / so moot I thryue
That is to seyn / bothe oon / and two / and thre
And to the firste knyght right thus spak he
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I dampned thee / thou most algate be deed
And thou also / most nedes lese thyn heed
ffor thou art cause / why thy felawe deyth
And to the thridde knyght right thus he seith
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Thou hast nat doon / that I comanded thee
And thus / he dide doon sleen hem alle thre
Irous Cambises / was eek dronkelewe
And ay delited hym / to been a shrewe
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And so bifel / a lord of his meynee
That loued vertuous moralitee
Seyde on a day / bitwene hem two right thus
¶ A lord is lost if he be vicius
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And dronkenesse / is eek/ a foul record
Of any man / and namely in a lord
Ther is ful many an eye and many an ere
Awaityng on a lord / and he noot where
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ffor goddes loue / drynk moore attemprely
Wyn maketh man / to lesen wrecchedly
His mynde / and hise lymes euerichon
¶ The reuers shaltou se / quod he anon
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And preeue it by thyn owene experience
That wyn / ne dooth to folk no swich offence
Ther is no wyn / bireueth me my myght [folio 89a]
Of hand ne foot/ ne of myne eyen sight
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