T[h]enne sayd the Emperours sone, lorde haue ye vnderstande what I haue sayd. Themperoure sayd ryght well. Tho sayd the sone, My mooste honourable ⁊ redoubted fader, all thoughe yt god hathe gyuen ⁊ indued me wt wysdome ⁊ vnderstandyng aboue many other, yt sholde not be in appayrynge of youre honoure ⁊ myght, but more for the preseruacyon of the same. So in lyke wyse ye kynges maieste which was no thynge to ye hynderaunce of his fader, but rather for his worshyp ⁊ proufyte, for as long as they lyued they were honoured in his realme. Than sayd themperoure, My dere sone I wyll all hole resygne to you thempyre too gouerne, for I perceyue well by youre narracōn yt ye haue to me declared, yt it is beste to me ⁊ moost for myn ease yt I leue this besynesse ⁊ labour ⁊ take me to more reste, for I am olde ⁊ feeble. The sone answered his fader, My lorde fader, so shall it not be, but as longe as ye lyue ye shall haue the auctoryte and myght of thempyre to do and commaunde as it apperteyneth vnto an Emperour, but in all besynesses yt are labourouse I wyll alwayes be redy to mynystre ⁊ to serue you accordynge to my dute.
[How Judgement was given upon the Empress and how that
she and her Lover were both put to death.
[Then the Emperor commanded the judges and justices to sit in judgement and to bring again the Empress before them; with the Ladies and also the Ribauld, her best beloved, cloathed in the vesture and habit of a woman, whom he did cause to stand next unto the Empress; then the Emperor's son asked sentence and just judgement upon them, saying,
[My most honourable Lord and father, even as you are Emperour of the World; and that your majesty and power requireth to do true justice unto all your subjects that desire it: so now I demand that you this day do give right sentence and true judgement upon the untruth, falshood and shame which were put and alledged unto me by the Empress; for the which accusations I have been seven times led unto the gallows and have stood in great jeopardy and peril of my life; and also that she hath been to you untrue of her body as you have seen by good proof made before you; and on the which I ask judgement; and therefore command your Justices and Judges to give sentence thereupon, according to Right, Equity and Law.
[As soon as the Empress heard this, she fell flat to the earth before the Emperor and asked mercy and forgiveness for her just offence and misdoing; but it helped nor profited nothing, for the son would have right and desired Judgement. Then spake the Judges and Justices, her own misdeeds condemn her, and the report of her Lemmon by her kept and found; therefore we give sentence against the Empress, that she shall be bound to a horses tail and drawn through all the streets of the city to the place] of execucyon ⁊ there to be brent. ⁊ we iuge also ⁊ gyue sentence ayenste the rybaude yt he shall be quartred ⁊ smyten in peces ⁊ his flesshe caste vnto ye houndes, and byrdes of ye ayre for to deuoure hym, ⁊ this sentence was approbate ⁊ alowed of all people. ¶ Hereafter in shorte tyme deyed ye Emperoure, ⁊ Dyoclesyan his sone gouerned ⁊ ruled thempyre wt grete wysdome, ⁊ helde ⁊ kept his maysters wt hym in grete honoure ⁊ glorye. By whoos counseyll ⁊ wysdom he gouerned the Empyre, yt he excelled all his predecessours in rychesse ⁊ in doynge iustice ⁊ ryght. And his maysters loued hym aboue all other thynges in the worlde. So that many tymes they put themselfe in grete perylle ⁊ ieoperdye of ther lyues for hym. And so they ended theyr dayes in grete joye ⁊ honoure, and cōmended theym to almyghty god.
¶ Thus endeth the treatyse of the seuen sages or wyse maysters of Rome. Enprented in Flete Strete in ye sygne of the sone, by me Wynkyn de worde.
Footnotes
[1] See Antiquary, vol. v. p. 157.
[2] An 'r' has been interpolated with the pen.
[3] Misspelt Ulrgilius in the text.
[4] The last seven words are repeated in the original.
Transcriber's Notes.