2605. From Ovid, Amor. i. 8. 104:—'Impia sub dulci melle uenena latent.'
2606. From Prov. xxv. 16.
2611. The three enemys, i. e. the flesh, the devil and the world. The entrance of these into man through the five senses is the theme of numerous homilies. See especially Sawles Warde, in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, First Series, p. 245; and the Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 263.
2614. Deedly sinnes, the Seven Deadly Sins; see the Persones Tale. Fyve wittes, five senses; cf. P. Plowman, C. ii. 15, xvi. 257.
2615. Wold, willed; pp. of willen. F. text—'a voulu.' See 2190 above; Leg. of Good Women, 1209; Compl. of Venus, 11; P. Plowman, B. xv. 258; Malory's Morte Arthure, bk. xviii. c. 15—'[he] myghte haue slayne vs and he had wold'; and again, in c. 19—'I myght haue ben maryed and I had wolde.' Gower has—'if that he had wold'; Conf. Amantis, ii. 9.
2618. Falle, befall, come to pass; F. text—'advenir.'
2620. Were, would be; F. text—'ce seroit moult grant dommage.'
2623-4. The missing portion is easily supplied. The French text (MS. Reg. 19 C. vii, leaf 136) has:—'Et a ce respont Dame Prudence, Certes, dist elle, Ie t'octroye que de vengence vient molt de maulx et de biens; mais vengence n'appartient pas a vn chascun, fors seulement aux iuges et a ceulx qui ont la iuridicion sur les malfaitteurs.' Here 'mais vengence' should rather be 'mais faire vengence,' as in MS. Reg. 19 C. xi. leaf 59, back, and in the printed edition. It is
clear that the omission of this passage is due to the repetition of trespassours at the end of 2622 and 2624.
2627. Lat. text—'nam, ut ait Seneca, Bonis nocet, qui malis parcit.' This corresponds to—'Bonis necesse est noceat, qui parcit malis'; Pseudo-Seneca, De Moribus, Sent. 114; see Publilius Syrus, ed. Dietrich, p. 90. The Fr. text has:—'Cellui nuit [al. nuist] aux bons, qui espargne les mauvais.' Chaucer's translation is so entirely at fault, that I think his MS. must have been corrupt; he has taken nuist aux as maistre, and then could make but little of espargne, which he makes to mean 'proveth,' i. e. tests, tries the quality of; perhaps his MS. had turned espargne (or esparne) into esprouve. MSS. Cp. Pt. Ln. turn it into reproveth; this makes better sense, but contradicts the original still more.