[Sidenote: In fine, the same may be said of all the gifts of Fortune, in which nothing is desirable, nothing of natural good in them, since they are not always allotted to good men, nor make them good to whom they are attached.] ¶ And at þe laste I may conclude þe same þinge of 1452 al þe ȝiftes of fortune in whiche þer nis no þing to ben desired. ne þat haþ in hym self naturel bounte. ¶ as it is ful wel sene. for neyþer þei ne ioygne{n} hem nat alwey to goode men. ne maken hem alwey 1456 goode to who{m} þei be{n} y-ioigned. [Linenotes: 1437 _oute_--owt 1441 _ben_--be 1442 _shrewed[e]_--shrewede 1446 _fals[e]_--false _al_--alle 1447 _whiche_--which 1449 _auȝten_--owhten _rycchesse_--rychesses 1450 _whiche_--swich _auȝt[e]_--owhte 1451 _whiche_--swich _auȝt[e]_--owht 1453 _al_--alle 1454 _haþ_--MS. haþe 1455 _sene_--I-seene] [[pg 55]] [Headnote: NERO’S CRUELTY.] NOUIMUS QUANTOS DEDERAT. [Sidenote: [The sixte Met{ur}.]] [Sidenote: We know what ruin Nero did.] ++WE han wel knowen how many g{r}eet[e] harmes {and} destrucc{i}ou{n}s weren doñ by þe Emp{er}oure Nero. [Sidenote: He burnt Rome, he slew the conscript fathers, murdered his brother, and spilt his mother’s blood.] ¶ He letee brenne þe citee of Rome {and} made slen þe 1460 senato{ur}s. and he cruel somtyme slouȝ hys broþer. {and} he was maked moyst wiþ þe blood of hys modir. þat is to seyn he let sleen {and} slitte{n} þe body of his modir to seen where he was conceiued. [Sidenote: He looked unmoved upon his mother’s corpse, and passed judgment upon her beauty.] {and} he loked[e] on euery 1464 half vpon hir colde dede body. ne no tere ne wette his face. but he was so hard herted þat he myȝt[e] ben domesman or Iuge of hire dede beaute. [Sidenote: Yet this parricide ruled over all lands, illumined by the sun in his diurnal course, and controlled the frozen regions of the pole.] ¶ And ȝitte neuerþeles gouerned[e] þis Nero by Ceptre al þe peoples 1468 þat phebus þe sonne may seen comyng from his outerest arysyng til he hidde his bemes vndir þe wawes. ¶ þat is to seyne. he gouerned[e] alle þe peoples by Ceptre imp{er}ial þat þe so{n}ne goþ aboute from est to west ¶ And 1472 eke þis Nero goueyrende by Ceptre. alle þe peoples þat ben vndir þe colde sterres þat hyȝten þe seuene triones. þis is to seyn he gouerned[e] alle þe poeples þat ben vndir þe p{ar}ties of þe norþe. [Sidenote: He governed, too, the people in the torrid zone.]