[Sidenote: _B._ I would willingly hear your reasons.]
¶ I wolde heren þilke *same resou{ n}s q{ uo}d I 3684
[Sidenote: _P._ Do you deny that every wicked man deserves punishment?]
¶ Deniest þou q{ uo}d she þat alle shrewes ne ben worþi to han to{ ur}ment.
[Sidenote: _P._ I am satisfied that impious men are in many ways miserable.]
but q{ uo}d she I am certeyne by many resou{ n}s þat shrewes ben vnsely.
[Sidenote: _P._ Then those that deserve punishment are miserable.]
þan [ne] dowtest þou nat q{ uo}d she þat 3688 þilke folk þat ben worþi of to{ ur}ment þat þei ne ben wrecches.
[Sidenote: _P._ If you were a judge, upon whom would you inflict punishment? upon the wrong-doer, or upon the injured?]
yif þou were þan q{ uo}d she yset a Iuge or a knower of þinges. wheþer trowest þou þ{ a}t men sholde to{ ur}ment[e] hym þat haþ 3692 don þe wronge. or hym þat haþ suffred þe wronge.
[Sidenote: _B._ I should not hesitate to punish the offender as a satisfaction to the sufferer.]
I ne doute nat q{ uo}d I. þat I nolde don suffissaunt satisfacc{ i}ou{ n} to hym þat had[de] suffred þe wrong by þe sorwe of hym þat had[de] don þe wronge.
[Sidenote: _P._ Then you would deem the injuring person more unhappy than he who had been wronged?]
¶ þan 3696 semeþ it q{ uo}d she þat þe doar of wrong is more wrecche þan he þat haþ suffred þe wrong.
[Sidenote: _P._ From this then, and other reasons of like nature, it seems that vice makes men miserable, and an injury done to any man is the misery of the doer, and not of the sufferer.]
þan q{ uo}d she by þise causes { and} by oþer causes þat ben enforced by þe same roate þat filþe or synne by 3700 þe p{ ro}pre nature of it makeþ men wretches. { and} it sheweþ wel þat þe wrong þat me{ n} don nis nat þe wrecchenesse of hym þat receyueþ þe wrong. but þe wrecchednesse of hym þat doþ þe wronge
[Sidenote: But our advocates think differently--they try to obtain pity for those that have suffered cruelty and oppression;]
¶ but certys 3704 q{ uo}d she þise orato{ ur}s or aduocat[gh] don al þe contrarie for þei enforcen hem to co{ m}moeue þe iuges to han pite of he{ m} þat han suffred { and} resceyued þe þinges þat ben greuous { and} aspre.
[Sidenote: but the juster pity is really due to the oppressors, who ought, therefore, to be led to judgment as the sick are to the physician, not by angry but by merciful and kind accusers, so that, by the physic of chastisement, they may be cured of their vices.]