¶ Of whiche power of good folk men may conclude þat wicked men semen to ben bareyne {and} naked of alle strengþe. [Sidenote: Wherefore do they leave virtue, and follow vice? Is it because they are ignorant of good?] For whi forleten þei v{er}tues {and} folwen vices. nis it nat for þat þei ne knowen nat þe goodes. 3288 [Sidenote: What is more weak and base than the blindness of ignorance? Or do they know the way they ought to follow, but are led astray by lust and covetousness?] ¶ But what þing is more feble {and} more caitif þan is þe [[pg 116]] blyndenesse of ignoraunce. or ellys þei knowen ful wel whiche þinges þat þei auȝten to folwen ¶ but lecherye {and} couetise ouerþroweþ hem mysturned. [Sidenote: And so, indeed, weak-minded men are overpowered by intemperance, for they cannot resist vicious temptations.] ¶ and certis 3292 so doþ distemp{er}aunce to feble men. þat ne mowe{n} nat wrastle aȝeins þe vices [Sidenote: Do they willingly desert Good and turn to Evil? If they do so, they not only cease to be powerful, but even cease to exist.] ¶ Ne knowen þei nat þan wel þat þei foreleten þe good wilfully. {and} turnen hem vilfully to vices. ¶ And in þis wise þei ne forleten nat 3296 oonly to ben myȝty. but þei forleten al outerly in any wise forto ben [Sidenote: For those who neglect the common end of all beings, cease to exist.] ¶ For þei þat forleten þe comune fyn of alle þinges þat ben. þei for-leten also þerwiþ al forto ben. [Sidenote: You may marvel that I assert that the wicked, the majority of the human race, have no existence--but it is, however, most true.] and p{er}auenture it sholde semen to som folk þat 3300 þis were a merueile to seyne þat shrewes whiche þat contienen þe more p{ar}tie of me{n} ne ben nat. ne han no beynge. ¶ but naþeles it is so. {and} þus stant þis þing [Sidenote: That the wicked are bad I do not deny--but I do not admit that they have any real existence.] for þei þat ben shrewes I denye nat þat þei ben shrewes. 3304 but I denye {and} sey[e] symplely and pleynly þat þei [ne] ben nat. ne han no beynge. [Sidenote: You may call a corpse a dead man, but you cannot with propriety call it a man.] for ryȝt as þou myȝtest seyn of þe careyne of a man þat it were a ded man. ¶ but þou ne myȝtest nat symplely callen it a man. 3308 [Sidenote: So the vicious are profligate men, but I cannot confess they absolutely exist.] ¶ So graunt[e] I wel for soþe þat vicious folk ben wicked. but I ne may nat graunten absolutely {and} symplely þat þei ben. [Sidenote: That thing exists that preserves its rank, nature, and constitution, but when it loses these essentials it ceases to be.]