Thilke ordinaunce moeveth the hevene and the sterres, and atempreth the elements to-gider amonges hem-self, and transformeth hem by entrechaungeable mutacioun; and thilke same ordre neweth ayein alle thinges growinge and fallinge a-doun, by semblable progressiouns of sedes and of sexes, _that is to seyn, 105 male and femele_. And this ilke ordre constreineth the fortunes and the dedes of men by a bond of causes, nat able to ben unbounde; the whiche destinal causes, whan they passen out fro the biginninges of the unmoevable purviaunce, it mot nedes be that they ne be nat mutable. And thus ben the thinges ful wel y-governed, 110 yif that the simplicitee dwellinge in the divyne thoght sheweth forth the ordre of causes, unable to ben y-bowed; and this ordre constreineth by his propre stabletee the moevable thinges, or elles they sholden fleten folily. For which it is, that alle thinges semen to ben confus and trouble to us men, for we ne mowen nat considere 115 thilke ordinaunce; natheles, the propre maner of every thinge, dressinge hem to goode, disponeth hem alle.
For ther nis no-thing don for cause of yvel; ne thilke thing that is don by wikkede folk _nis nat don for yvel_. The whiche shrewes, as I have shewed ful plentivously, seken good, but 120 wikked errour mistorneth hem, ne the ordre cominge fro the poynt of soverein good ne declyneth nat fro his biginninge. But thou mayst seyn, what unreste may ben a worse confusioun than that gode men han somtyme adversitee and somtyme prosperitee, and shrewes also now han thinges that they desiren, and now 125 thinges that they haten? Whether men liven now in swich hoolnesse of thoght, (_as who seyth, ben men now so wyse_), that swiche folk as they demen to ben gode folk or shrewes, that it moste nedes ben that folk ben swiche as they wenen? But in this manere the domes of men discorden, that thilke men that 130 some folk demen worthy of mede, other folk demen hem worthy of torment. But lat us graunte, I pose that som man may wel demen or knowen the gode folk and the badde; may he thanne knowen and seen thilke innereste atempraunce of corages, as it hath ben wont to be seyd of bodies; _as who seyth, may a man speken and 135 determinen of atempraunces in corages, as men were wont to demen or speken of complexiouns and atempraunces of bodies?_ Ne it ne is nat an unlyk miracle, to hem that ne knowen it nat, (_as who seith, but it is lyke a merveil or a miracle to hem that ne knowen it nat_), why that swete thinges ben covenable to some bodies that ben hole, and to 140 some bodies bittere thinges ben covenable; and also, why that some syke folk ben holpen with lighte medicynes, and some folk ben holpen with sharpe medicynes. But natheles, the leche that knoweth the manere and the atempraunce of hele and of maladye, ne merveileth of it no-thing. But what other thing semeth hele 145 of corages but bountee and prowesse? And what other thing semeth maladye _of corages_ but vyces? Who is elles kepere of good or dryver awey of yvel, but god, governour and lecher of thoughtes? The whiche god, whan he hath biholden from the heye tour of his purveaunce, he knoweth what is covenable to 150 every wight, and leneth hem that he wot that is covenable to hem. Lo, her-of comth and her-of is don this noble miracle of the ordre destinal, whan god, that al knoweth, doth swiche thing, of which thing that unknowinge folk ben astoned. But for to constreine, _as who seyth, but for to comprehende and telle_ a fewe thinges of the 155 divyne deepnesse, the whiche that mannes resoun may understonde, thilke man that thou wenest to ben right Iuste and right kepinge of equitee, the contrarie of that semeth to the divyne purveaunce, that al wot. And Lucan, my familer, telleth that "the victorious cause lykede to the goddes, and the cause over-comen 160 lykede to Catoun." Thanne, what-so-ever thou mayst seen that is don in this werld unhoped or unwened, certes, it is the right ordre of thinges; but, as to thy wikkede opinioun, it is a confusioun. But I suppose that som man be so wel y-thewed, that the divyne Iugement and the Iugement of mankinde acorden 165 hem to-gider of him; but he is so unstedefast of corage, that, yif any adversitee come to him, he wol forleten, par-aventure, to continue innocence, by the whiche he ne may nat with-holden fortune. Thanne the wyse dispensacioun of god spareth him, the whiche man adversitee mighte enpeyren; for that god wol nat 170 suffren him to travaile, to whom that travaile nis nat covenable. Another man is parfit in alle vertues, and is an holy man, and negh to god, so that the purviaunce of god wolde demen, that it were a felonye that he were touched with any adversitees; so that he wol nat suffre that swich a man be moeved with any 175 bodily maladye.