To folwen hus kynde.
Caton acordeth herwith:
Nemo sine crimine vivit.
[7347]. Genes. i, 31.
[7363]. Cato, Distich. i, 5.
Si vitam inspicias hominum, si denique mores,
Quum culpent alios, nemo sine crimine vivit.
It may be observed here, that Whitaker, in his note on this passage, has very much misunderstood Tyrwhitt (in Chaucer, Cant. T. 3227), in making him the authority for calling the author of the Disticha de Moribus an obscure French writer. Tyrwhitt says that the mode in which Chaucer spells his name (Caton) seems to show that the French translation was more read than the Latin original. The same observation would apply to the present poem: but I am very doubtful how far it is correct. The Distiches of Cato were translated into English, French, German, &c., and were extremely popular. The author of these Distiches, Dionysius Cato, is supposed to have lived under the Antonines, and has certainly no claim to the title of an obscure French writer.
[7441]-[7642]. Instead of these lines, Whitaker has the following:—
And wissede the ful ofte