Game and Playe of the Chesse: A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474Jacobus, de Cessolis, active 1288-1322
Philosophy
Game and Playe of the Chesse: A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474
Jacobus, de Cessolis, active 1288-1322
Chess -- Early works to 1800
he wold wynne/ whiche ent[=e]deth to wynne the gate/ For he knoweth well
whan he hath wonne the gate/ he may sone doo hys wylle wyth the castell.
And in lyke wyse doth the deuyll wyth euery man and woman For whan he
hathe wonne the gate/ that is to wete the gate of y'e mouth by glotonye
or by other synne He may doo wyth the offices of the body alle his wylle
as y'e haue herd to fore/ And therfore ought euery man ete and drynke
sobrely in suche wyse as he may lyue. And not lyue to ete glotonsly &
for to drynke dronke. y'e see comunly that a grete bole is suffisid wyth
right a lityll pasture/ And that a wode suffiseth to many olefauntes And
hit behoueth a man to be fedde by the erthe or by the see/ neuertheles
it is no grete thynge to fede the bely/ no thynge so grete as is the
desire of many metes Wherof Quyntylian sayth/ That hit happeth ofte
tymes in grete festes & dyners/ that we be fylde wyth the sight of the
noble and lichorous metis and whan we wolde ete we ben saciat and fild/
And therfore hit is sayd in prouerbe/ hit is better to fylle the bely
than the eye/ And lucan sayth that glotonye is the moder of alle vices/
and especiall of lecherye/ and also is destroyer of all goodes And may
not haue suffisance of lityll thynge/ A couetous honger what sekest thou
mete and vitayllis on the lande & in the see/ And thy Ioye is nothynge
ellis but to haue playnteuous disshes & well fylde at thy table lerne
how men may demene his lyf with lityll thynge/ And Cathon sayth in no
wyse obeye to glotonye whiche is frende to lecherye/ And the holy
doctour saynt Augustyn sayth/ the wyn eschausseth the bely that falleth
anone to lecherye/ The bely and the membrers engendreurs ben neyghebours
to lecherye/ And thus the vice of glotonye prouoketh lecherye/ wherof
cometh forgetenes of his mynde and destruction of alle quyk and sharp
reson And is cause of distemþance of his wittes/ what synne is fowler
than this synne and more stynkynge ne more domageous For this synne hath
taken away the vertue of the man/ his prowesse languisshed/ his vertue
is torned to diffame/ the strengthe of body and of corage is torned by
the/ And therfore sayth Basille le grant/ late vs take hede how we serue
the bely & the throte by glotonye lyke as we were dombe bestes/ and we
studye for to be lyke vnto belucs of the see/ to whom nature hath gyuen
to be alleway enclined toward the erthe & ther to loke for to serue
theyr belyes/ And herof saith Boecius de consolacione in his fourth
book/ that a man that lyuyth and doth not the condicions of a man/ may
neuer be in good condicion/ Than muste hit nedes be that he be
transported in nature of a beste or of a belue of the see. How well that
ryght grete men and women full of meruayllous sciences and noble
counceyll in thise dayes in the world ben kept and nourisshid in this
glotonye of wyns and metes/ and ofte tymes ben ouerseen/ how suppose y'e/
is hit not right a perillous thinge that a lord or gouernour of the
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