But what shal I seye of dignitees and of powers, the whiche
ye men, that neither knowen verray dignitee ne verray power,
areysen hem as heye as the hevene? The whiche dignitees and
powers, yif they comen to any wikked man, they don as grete
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damages and destrucciouns as doth the flaumbe of the mountaigne
Ethna, whan the flaumbe walweth up; ne no deluge ne doth so
cruel harmes. Certes, thee remembreth wel, as I trowe, that
thilke dignitee that men clepen [the imperie of consulers], the
whiche that whylom was biginninge of fredom, youre eldres