naked and wente and putte hym in the middes of the snowe And ouide reherceth that this thynge is the leste that maye helpe and moste greue the louers And therfore saynt Augustyn reherceth in his book de Ciuitate dei that ther was a ryght noble romayne named merculian that wan and toke the noble cyte of siracuse And to fore er he dyde do assaylle hit or befyghte hit/ and er he had do be shedde ony blood/ he wepte and shedde many teeris to fore the cyte And that was for the cause that he doubted that his peple shold defoyle and corrumpe to moche dishonestly the chastyte of the toun And ordeyned vpon payne of deth that no man shold be so hardy to take and defoylle ony woman by force what that euer she were/ After this the craftymen ought to vnderstond for to be trewe/ and to haue trouthe in her mouthes And that theyr dedes folowe theyr wordes For he that sayth one thynge and doth another/ he condempneth hymself by his word Also they ought to see well to that they be of one Acorde in good, by entente, by word, and by dede/ so that they ben not discordant in no caas/ But euery man haue pure veryte and trouth in hym self/ For god hym self is pure verite/ And men say comynly that trouthe seketh none hernes ne corners/ And trouthe is a vertu by the whyche alle drede and fraude is put away/ Men saye truly whan they saye that they knowe/ And they that knowe not trouthe/ ought to knowe hit/ And alleway vse trouthe/ For Saynt Austyn sayth that they that wene to knowe trouthe/ And lyuyth euyll & viciously It is folye yf he knoweth hit not/ And also he sayth in an other place that it is better to suffre peyne for trouthe. Than for to haue a benefete by falsenes or by flaterye. And man that is callyd a beste resonable and doth not his werkes after reson and trouthe/ Is more bestyall than ony beste brute/ And knowe y'e that for to come to the trouthe/ Hit cometh of a raysonable forsight in his mynde/ And lyenge cometh of an outrageous and contrarye thought in his mynde/ For he that lyeth wetyngly/ Knoweth well that hit is agaynst the trouthe that he thynketh/ And herof speketh Saynt Bernard and sayth/ That the mouthe that lyeth destroyeth the sowle/ And yet sayth Saynt Austyn in an other place For to saye ony thynge/ And to doo the contrarye. maketh doctryne suspecious/ And knowe y'e veryly that for to lye is a right perillous thynge to body and sowle For the lye that the auncyent enemye made Eue & adam to beleue hym/ made hem for to be dampned wyth alle theyr lignage to the deth pardurable And made hem to be cast oute of Paradyse terrestre/ For he made them to beleue that god had not forboden them the fruyt. But only be cause they shold not knowe that her maister knewe But how well that the deuyll said thise wordes yet had she double entente to hem bothe For they knewe ann as they had tasted of the fruyt that they were dampned to the deth pardurable/ And god knewe it well to fore But they supposid well to haue knowen many