Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/151

112 GREGORY'S PASTORAL. Cotton MSS. God habban sceolde ut ðæm folce. Hwæt we genoh georne wieton ðæt se esne þe ærendað his worldhlaforde wifes, ðæt he bið diernegeligres scyldig wið God, & wið his hlaford eallenga forworht, gif he wilnað ðæt hio hiene lufige, & he hiere licige bet ðonne se þe hiene & ðæt feoh ðider sende. Ac ðonne ðæt selflice gegripð ðæt mod ðæs recceres, he wilnað ungemetlice lician, ðonne beræsð he oft on ungemetlice cweminge, & bið hwilum to ungemetlice smeðe, hwilum to ungemetlice reðe. Đonne bið ðæt mod awacod ðæs recceres, ðonne he gesyhð ðæt his hieremen agyltað, & he nyle hie arasian, ðylæs hiera lufu wið hiene aslacige, & he him ðe wirð licige. Ac ðone gedwolan his hieremonna ðe he stieran sceolde he oft to swiðe geðafað, ðonne he ne dear hie ðreagean for ðære oliccunge. Be ðæm wæs swiðe wel gecweden ðurh ðone witgan : Wa ðæm þe willað under ælcne elnbogan lecgean pyle & bolster under ælcne hneccan men mid to gefonne. Se legð pyle under ælces monnes elnbogan, se þe mid liðum oliccungum wile læcnian ða men þe sigað on ðisses middangeardes lufan, oððæt hie afeallað of hiera ryhtwisnesse. Đonne bið se elnboga underled mid pyle & se hnecca mid bolstre, ðonne ðæm synfullan menn bið oftogen ðæt hiene mon stilice arasige. Đonne hiene mon ne cnysð mid nanre reðnesse ne nanre wiðercwednesse, ðonne geðafað him mon on ðære hnescean oliccunge ðæt he hiene swiðe softe rest on his agnum gedwolan. Ac ða recceras be hiera agnes gilpes giernað, ðæm hie geðafiað ðyllic ðe hie ondrædað ðæt him derian mæge æt ðæm gilpe, & him ofteon mæge ðisses eorðlican weorðscipes. Ac ða þe he wenað tæt him nanwuht laðes ne wiðerweardes don ne mæge, ða hie swiðe stiðlice

works which God ought to have from the people. We know well that the servant who obtains a wife for his worldly master is guilty of adultery towards God, and altogether guilty towards his master if he wish her to love him, and himself to please her better than he who sent him and the money thither. When vanity seizes on the mind of the ruler, and he desires to please excessively, he often rushes into ex- cessive flattery, and is sometimes too excessively smooth, sometimes too severe. The mind of the ruler is weakened when he sees that his subjects sin and yet he is unwilling to correct them, lest their love decrease and he be the less popular. But he is often too indul- gent with the errors of his subjects which he ought to correct, since he dare not reprove them on account of the flattery. Of which was