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7.071: Caton kenneth me thus, and the Clerc of the Stories:<br />
7.072: Cui des, videto is Catons techyng;<br />
7.073: And in the Stories he techeth to bistowe thyn almesse:<br />
7.073: Sit elemosina tua in manu tua donec studes cui des.<br />
7.074: Ac Gregory was a good man, and bad us gyven alle<br />
7.075: That asketh for His love that us al leneth:<br />
7.075: Non eligas cui miserearis, ne forte pretereas illum qui meretur<br />
7.075: accipere; quia incertum est pro quo Deo magis placeas.<br />
7.076: For wite ye nevere who is worthi-ac God woot who hath nede.<br />
7.077: In hym that taketh is the trecherie, if any treson walke-<br />
7.078: For he that yeveth, yeldeth, and yarketh hym to reste,<br />
7.079: And he that biddeth, borweth, and bryngeth hymself in dette.<br />
7.080: For beggeres borwen everemo, and hir borgh is God Almyghty-<br />
7.081: To yelden hem that yeveth hem, and yet usure moore:<br />
7.081: Quare non dedisti pecuniam meam ad mensam, ut<br />
7.081: ego ueniens cum usuris exegissem utique illam?<br />
7.082: Forthi biddeth noght, ye beggeres, but if ye have gret nede.<br />
7.083: For whoso hath to buggen hym breed-the Book bereth witnesse-<br />
7.084: He hath ynough that hath breed ynough, though he have noght ellis:<br />
7.084: Satis dives est qui non indiget pane.<br />
7.085: Lat usage be your solas of seintes lyves redyng;<br />
7.086: The Book banneth beggerie, and blameth hem in this manere:<br />
7.086: Iunior fui etenim senui, et non vidi iustum derelictum nec<br />
7.086: semen eius querens panem.<br />
7.087: For [thei] lyve in no love, ne no lawe holde:<br />
7.088: [Thei] ne wedde no womman that [thei] with deele,<br />
7.090: But as wilde bestes with "wehee" worthen uppe and werchen,<br />
7.091: And bryngen forth barnes that bastardes men calleth.<br />
7.092: Or the bak or som soon their breketh in his youthe,<br />
7.093: And goon [and] faiten with hire fauntes for everemoore after.<br />
7.094: Ther is moore mysshapen amonges thise beggeres<br />
7.095: Than of alle [othere] manere men that on this moolde walketh.<br />
7.096: Tho that lyve thus hir lif mowe lothe the tyme<br />
7.097: That evere he was man wroght, whan he shal hennes fare.<br />
7.098: Ac olde men and hore that helplees ben of strengthe,<br />
7.099: And wommen with childe that werche ne mowe,<br />
7.100: Blynde and bedreden and broken hire membres,<br />
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