¶ Radix omnium malorum / est Cupiditas // Ad Thimotheum. 6o..
¶ Here bigynneth the Prologe of the Pardoners tale.
Lordynges quod he / in chirches whan I preche
I peyne me / to han an hauteyn speche
And rynge it out as round as gooth a belle
ffor I kan / al by rote that I telle
Line 332
My theme is alwey oon / and euere was
Radix malorum / est cupiditas
¶ ffirst I pronounce / whennes þat I come
And thanne my bulles / shewe I alle & some
Line 336
Oure lige lordes seel / on my patente
That shewe I first my body to warente
That no man be so boold / ne preest ne clerk
Me to destourbe / of Cristes holy werk
Line 340
And after that thanne telle I forth my tales
Bulles of Popes / and of Cardynales
Of Patriarkes / and Bisshopes I shewe [folio 196a]
And in latyn / I speke a wordes fewe
Line 344
To saffron with / my predicacion
And for to stire hem / to deuocion
¶ Thanne shewe I forth / my longe cristal stones
Yerammed ful / of cloutes and of bones
Line 348
Relikes been they / as wenen they echon
Thanne haue I in a laton / a shulder bon
Which þat was / of an holy Iewes sheepe
Goode men I seye / tak of my wordes keepe
Line 352
If þat this boon be wasshe / in any welle
If cow / or calf or sheepe / or Oxe swelle
That any worm hath ete / or worm ystonge
Taak water of that welle / and wasshe his tonge
Line 356
