Chaucer's Translation of Boethius's "De Consolatione Philosophiae" · Boethius
NICHIL IGITUR DUBIUM EST.
Or mayst þou ben strenger þan þe bole. Mayst þou ben swifter þan þe tigre. biholde þe spaces {and} þe stablenesse {and} þe swyfte cours of þe heuene. {and} stynte somtyme to wondren on foule þinges. þe whiche heuene certys nis nat raþer for þise þinges to ben wondred vpon. þan for þe resou{n} by whiche it is gouerned. but þe shynynge of þi forme þat is to seien þe beaute of þi body. how swiftly passyng is it {and} how transitorie. ¶ Certis it is more flittynge þan þe mutabilite of floures of þe som{er} sesou{n}. For so as aristotil telleþ þat yif þat men hadden eyen of a beest þat hiȝt lynx. so þat þe lokyng of folk myȝt[e] percen þoruȝ þe þinges þ{a}t wiþstonden it. who so lokid þan in þe entrailes of þe body of alcibiades þat was ful fayr in þe sup{er}fice wiþ oute. it shulde seme ryȝt foule. {and} for þi yif þou semest faire. þi nature ne makiþ nat þat. but þe desceiuau{n}ce of þe fieblesse of þe eyen þat loken. ¶ But p{re}ise þe goodes of þi body as moche as euer þe list. so þat þou know[e] algates þat what so it be. þat is to seyn of þe goodes of þi body whiche þat þ{o}u wondrest vpon may ben destroied or dessolued by þe hete of a feuere of þre dayes. ¶ Of alle whiche forseide þinges I may reduce{n} þis shortly in a so{m}me. ¶ þat þise worldly goodes whiche þat ne mowen nat ȝiuen þat þei byheten. ne ben nat p{er}fit by þe congregac{i}ou{n} of alle goodes. þat þei ne ben nat weyes ne paþes þat bryngen men to blysfulnesse ne maken men to ben blysful.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.