Three prose versions of the Secreta Secretorum / edited with an introduction and notes by Robert Steele and a glossary by T. Henderson

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Title

Editor

Steele, Robert Benson, b. 1860

Publication

London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.

1898

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"Three prose versions of the Secreta Secretorum / edited with an introduction and notes by Robert Steele and a glossary by T. Henderson." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/SSecr. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 7, 2025.

Pages

Of worldly desires of a kyng. Cam. 16m.

alexandre, dere sone, desire nought worldly thingis that are passyng and corruptible, but thynke that thou must leve alle and go hens nakid. Caste than thi desiris vnto tho thingis that euer shulle laste, that is, the lijf of the world perdurable, where that euyr is myrthe and ioye without ende. leue þe noughti lyf of bestis that euyr lyve in filthis; trowe not lightly alle that that men wille telle the, ne be nought ouyr hasty in yevyng mercy vnto them that thou hast conquered, and evir thynke afore of thingis that are possible to come. Sett not thi desire to gretly in excesse of metis and drynkis, for it wolle norisshe the in slepe and slouthe, and stere the vnto lecherie, which is most destruccioun to mannys body.