Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/153

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LẎF OF SAẎNT BALLAM.
15

They that delyte the delytes corporalle/ and ſuffre their ſowles deye for hungre/ ben lyke to a man that fledde tofore an vnycorn that he ſhold not deuoure hym/ and in fleyng/ he fyl in to a grete pytte / and as he fyl he caughte a braunche of a tre with his hande/ and ſette his feet vpon a ſlydyng place / and thenne two myſe that one whyte/ and that other blacke whyche wythoute ceſſyng gnewe the rote of the tree/

And had almoſte gnawen it a ſondre And he ſawe in the bottom of thys pytte an horryble dragon caſtynge fyre and had his mouthe opene and deſyred to deuoure hym / vpon the ſlydyng place on which his feet ſtood/ he ſawe the heedes of foure ſerpentes whyche yſſueden there / and thenne he lefte vp his eyen and ſawe a lytel hony that henge in the bowes of the tre/ & forgat the perylle that he was in / and gaue hym al to the ſwetenes of that lytel hony / the vnycorne is the fygure of deth / which continuelly foloweth man/ and deſyreth to take hym/ The pytte is the world whiche is ful of al wyckedneſſe / the tree is the lyf of euery man / whiche by the two myſe that ben the day and nyght & the houres therof Inceſſantly been waſted and approched to the cuttyng or gnawyng a ſonder/ the place where the iiij ſerpentes

where

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