The Hengwrt ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

[Nero.]

Al though / that Nero were vicius [/ De Nerone] As any feend / that lyth ful lowe adown Line 3654 Yet he / as telleth vs Swetonius This wide world / hadde in subieccioun Line 3656 Bothe Est and West North / and Septemtrioun Of Rubies / Saphires / and of perles white Were alle hise clothes / browded vp and doun ffor he in gemmes / greetly gan delite Line 3660

¶ Moore delicat moore pompous of array Moore proud / was neuere Emperour than he That ilke clooth / that he hadde weryd o day After that tyme / he nolde it neuere see Line 3664 Nettes of gold threed / hadde he greet plentee To fisshen in Tybre / whan hym liste pleye Hise lustes were al lawe / in his decree ffor ffortune / as his freend / hym wolde obeye Line 3668

¶ He Rome brende / for his delicacie The Senatours / he slow vp-on a day To heere / how þat men wolde wepe & crye And slow his brother / and by his suster lay Line 3672 His moder he made / in pitous array ffor he hire wombe slytte / to biholde Where he conceyued was / so weilaway That he so litel / of his moder tolde Line 3676

[6-text p 271] [6-text p 272] Line 3676

¶ No teere out of hise eyen / for that sighte Ne cam / but seyde / a fair womman was she Greet wonder is / how þat he koude / or myghte Be domesman / of hire dede beautee Line 3680 The wyn to bryngen hym / comanded he And drank anoon / noon oother wo he made Whan myght is ioyned / vn-to crueltee Allas to depe / wol the venym wade Line 3684

[¶] In youthe / a maister hadde this Emperour [folio 94b] To teche hym lettrure / and curteisye ffor of moralitee / he was the flour As in his tyme / but if bookes lye Line 3688 And whil this maister / hadde of hym maistrye He maked hym / so louyng and so souple That longe tyme it was / er tirannye Or any vice / dorste in hym vncouple Line 3692

¶ This Seneca / of which þat I deuyse By cause Nero / hadde of hym swich drede ffor he fro vices / wolde hym ay chastise Discretly / as by word / and nat by dede Line 3696 Sire wolde he seyn / an Emperour moot nede Be vertuous / and hate tirannye ffor which he in a bath / made hym to blede On bothe hise armes / til he moste dye Line 3700

¶ This Nero / hadde eek / of acustumance In youthe / agayns his maister for to rise Which afterward / hym thoughte a greet greuance Ther-fore / he made hym dyen in this wise Line 3704 But nathelees / this Seneca the wise Chees / in a bath / to dye in this manere Rather than han / another tormentrise And thus hath Nero / slayn his maister deere Line 3708

[6-text p 272] [6-text p 273] Line 3708

¶ Now fil it so / that ffortune liste no lenger The hye pride of Nero / to cherice ffor thogh þat he was strong/ yet was she strenger She thoghte thus / by god I am to nyce Line 3712 To sette a man / that is fulfild of vice In heigh degree / and Emperour hym calle By god / out of his sete I wol hym trice Whan he leest weneth / sonnest shal he falle Line 3716

¶ The peple roos / vp on hym / on a nyght ffor his defaute / and whan he it espied Out of his dores / anon he hath hym dight Allone / and there he wende han been allyed Line 3720 He knokked faste / and ay the moore he cryed The faster shette they / the dores alle ffor drede of this / hym thoughte þat he dyed And wente his wey / no lenger dorste he calle Line 3724

¶ The peple cryde / and rombled vp and doun [folio 95a] That with hise erys / herde he / how they seyde Where is this false tirant this Neroun ffor fere almoost out of his wit he breyde Line 3728 And to hise goddes / pitously he preyde ffor socour / but it myghte noght bityde ffor drede of this / hym thoughte þat he deyde And ran in to a gardyn / hym to hyde Line 3732

¶ And in this gardyn / foond he cherles tweye That seten by a fyr / greet and reed And to thise cherlis two / he gan to preye To sleen hym / and to girden of his heed Line 3736 That to his body / whan þat he were deed Were no despit ydoon / for his defame Hym self he slow / he koude no bettre reed Of which / ffortune / lough and hadde a game Line 3740