The old English versions of the Gesta Romanorum: edited for the first time from manuscripts in the British Museum and University Library, Cambridge, with an introduction and notes / By Sir Frederic Madden. Printed for the Roxburghe Club.
- Date:
- 1838
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The old English versions of the Gesta Romanorum: edited for the first time from manuscripts in the British Museum and University Library, Cambridge, with an introduction and notes / By Sir Frederic Madden. Printed for the Roxburghe Club. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[c- 2.] see the right way toward ioye ; and therfore iffe theise too men wolle come to-geder to the feste of Hevene, the blind, sell, the lewde men, most holde vp the laame men, sell, men of holy chirche, thoro} almesse offryngys, and tendingys; and that other, sell, men of holy chirche, most leede that other the wey by hire connynge, clergy, and labour of techinge ; and thenne shulle bothe come thedir, soil, to the ioye of Hevene, wher they shulle not only have feste, but euer- lasting meede and glorie. Ad quam nos &c. C VII. ] EMPERATOR ADRIANUS. Adrian regnyd Emperour in the cite of Rome, the whiche withe- inne a litille while hadde lost his si3t; and he ordeyned for a lawe, that ther shuld be hongyd a belle in the myddis of the cite, and eche man that hadde eny cause that shuld be shewid, sholde ryng thilke belle, and the iuge sholde come to sitte in his seruice, with oute delay; and if any man runge the belle, and hadde no cause, he shuld be ded. So it happid in a time after this lawe was made, a serpent had made his nest vndir the roope of this belle, and bro3t forthe his briddis there, whenne tyme was by nature. And after alle this, in a hoote day of somer the serpent toke alle his briddis with him, and 3ede in to the feld of sporting; and while she was absent, ther com a toode, and entrid into the nest. And whenne the serpent come a3en, she sawe the toode ocupied hire place; and she fo3t with the toode, but she mi3te [not] haue the victorie, but that the toode contynuely helde hire nest; and for she sawe that the toode my3te not be ouercome, she lappid hire taile aboute the corde of the belle, and so rang the belle, by cause that the toode vnrfjtfully occupyed hire nest. And whanne the iuge was come downe, as lawe was, for to sitte in iuge-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22007118_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
