[Sidenote: No
advantage
is to be gained by friendship based on
prosperity instead of virtue.
Chaucer - Boethius
anne ?ilke
power ?at ?ou? men han it ?at ?ei ben agast. ? {and}
whan ?ou woldest han it ?ou nart nat siker. ? And 2108
yif ?ou woldest forleten it ?ou mayst nat eschewen it.
[Sidenote: No
advantage
is to be gained by friendship based on
prosperity instead of virtue.
]
? But whe?ir swiche men ben frendes at nede as ben
conseiled by fortune {and} nat by vertue.
[Sidenote: Adversity will turn this sort of friendship into
enmity. And what greater plague can there be than the enmity of
thy familiar friend?]
Certys swiche
folk as weleful fortune make? frendes. contrarious fortune [[pg 77]]
make? hem enmyse. ? And what pestilence is 2113
more my?ty forto anoye a wi?t ?an a familier enemy.
