Vndirtake non harmes folely; It is perell for sowle and body A naked harme and no shelde to take; Off Ayaux may thou example make.
Ayaux was a full prowd knyght of þe Grekis and trostid to mych on hymselfe, but yet he was a goode knyght of his hand. [Sidenote: f. 71.] And for pride and soleynnes he vndyrtooke to doo armes with his arme naked discouered withowte a chelde, and so he was boron through[563] and ouerthrowen dede. Therefore it is seide to the goode knyght that to doo siche armes, thei be neythir profitabill ne worchipfull, but rather thei be named lewde and prowde, and thei be to perlyous. Aristotil seith that many erreth be ignorance and fawte of knowyng and woote not whate it is to do ne to leue, and some fayle be arrogance and pride.
How armes shulde not be vndertake follely is þat þe good sperite shulde not tryst in his owyn fragilite. As Seynt Tawstyn[564] seyth in a sermon, þat non shulde presume in his owyn herte when he pronownceth a worde ne non sulde[565] [trust] in his streynghte when he sufferith tentacion, for, when we speke wysely goode wordes, thei coume of God and not of owre wytte, and when we endure aduersitees stedefastly, it cometh of God and not of oure pacience. To this purpose the apostyl Seynt Powle seith, [“Fiduciam talem habemus per Christum ad Deum, non quod simus sufficientes aliquid cogitare ex nobis quasi ex nobis”].[566]
Antenor exile and chase away, Which purchassed ayens his contrey Bothe treson, falsenes and grete vntrouth; But yif he were yolden it were routh.
Anthenor was a baron of Troie, and when it com at the last to grete Troyenne bateylles, the Grekys that hadde long kepte sege afore the cete they wost not how they myght haue a conclusyon to take the cete, ffor it was of ryght grete streynghte, than by the tysyng[567] of Anthenor. For angre that he hadde to kyng Priaunt, he comforted theyme and seide that thei shulde make a pes with the kyng, and by that mene thei may putte theyme selue into the cete and they shall be youen a wey. Thus thei dede, by the which Troye was betrayed. And because that the treson hereoff was to grete and to evill, it is seide to the good knyght that all sich semblable, where he knoweth theyme, he shulde exile and chasse theyme awey, for sich pepill be gretili to hate. Platon seyth that disseyte is capteyne and gouernowre off shrewes.[568]