"For is no vertue bi fer To _spiritus temperantiæ_; Ne _spiritus justitiæ_ Ne _spiritus fortitudinis_. For _spiritus fortitudinis_ Forfeteth ful ofte. He shal do moore than mesure Many tyme and ofte, And bete men over bittre, 13980 And some of hem to litel, And greve men gretter Than good feith it wolde {427} "And _spiritus justitiæ_ Shal juggen, wol he nele he, After the kynges counseil, And the comune like. And _spiritus prudentiæ_ In many a point shal faille Of that he weneth wolde falle, 13990 If his wit ne weere. Wenynge is no wysdom, Ne wys ymaginacion, _Homo proponit, et Deus disponit_, And governeth alle goode vertues; Ac Nede is next hym, For anoon he meketh, And as lowe as a lomb, For lakkyng of that hym nedeth. Wise men forsoke wele, 14000 For thei wolde be nedy, And woneden in wildernesse, And wolde noght he riche. "And God al his grete joye Goostliche he lefte, And cam and took mankynde, And bi-cam nedy. So nedy he was, as seith the book, In manye sondry places, That he seide in his sorwe 14010 On the selve roode, Bothe fox and fowel May fle to hole and crepe, And the fissh hath fyn To flete with to reste, Ther Nede hath y-nome me That I moot nede abide {428} And suffre sorwes ful soure That shal to joye torne, For-thi be noght abasshed 14020 To bide and to be nedy; Sith he that wroghte al the world Was wilfulliche nedy, Ne nevere noon so nedy Ne poverer deide." Whan Nede hath under-nome me thus, Anoon I fil a-slepe; And mette ful merveillously, That in mannes forme Antecrist cam thanne, 14030 And al the crop of Truthe Torned it up-so-doun, And over-tilte the roote; And fals sprynge and sprede, And spede mennes nedes, In ech a contree ther he cam He kutte awey truthe, And gerte gile growe there, As he a Good weere. Freres folwede that fend, 14040 For he gaf hem copes; And religiouse reverenced hym, And rongen hir belles, And al the covent forth cam To welcome that tyraunt, And alle hise as wel as hym, Save oonly fooles. Whiche foolis were wel levere To deye than to lyve {429} Lenger, sith Lenten 14050 Was so rebuked. And as a fals fend, Antecrist Over alle folk regnede, Save that were mylde men and holye, That no meschief dradden, Defyed alle falsnesse And folk that it usede; And what kyng that hem conforted, Knowynge hem any while, They cursed and hir conseil, 14060 Were it clerk or lewed.