To this fable may be set [many][249] exposicions, and in leche wise to othir sich fables; and the poietes made them becawse that mennes vndirstondyng shuld be the more scharppe and subtyle to fynde dyueres exposicions. It may be vnderstond also by the dyspreysyng that Pymalion dispreysed the lewdenes of lewde wemen and enamoured hym on a mayden of ryght grete beaute, the which wolde not, or myght not, vnderstond hys petous pleyntes, no more than the ymage of a ston had done; that is to sey, that by thynkkyng on the fayre beautes he was enamoured, but at the last he prayed hir so myche and kepte hym so nere hir that the maydyn louyd hym and at his wille [he] had hir to mariage. And thus the ymage that was hard as stone recouuered lyff by the godesse Venus. So it wolde be seyde that the good knygh shuld not be assottede of sych a made ymage in sych wise that he lyst to folowe[250] the crafte of armes, to the which he is bownde by þe ordere of knyghthode. And to this purpose seyth Abtalin,[251] “It longghit nothyng ffor a prynce to assote hym on nothyng that is to be reproued.” Pymaliones ymage on qwome þe good knygh shuld not be assotted we shall take for the synne of lechery, from þe which þe knyghtly gostly sperit shuld kepe his body. Wherefor Seynt [Sidenote: f. 25.] Jerom saith in a pistill, “O fire of hell,” seith he, “of whom the woode is glotenye, the flambe is pride, the sparkes is foule wordes, the smoke is evil name, the asches is pouerte, and the ende is the turnementes of hell.” To this purpose seyth Seynt Petir the apostel, [“Voluptatem existimantes diei delicias, coinquinationes et maculæ deliciis affluentes, in conviviis suis luxuriantes”].[252] XXIII. Off Dyane remenbre besely For the honeste of thi body; For hir plesyth no vileyns lyffe, Ne non dyshoneste ne stryffe. Dyane, that is the mone, and as þer is no thyng so evile but þat it hath some goode propirte, the mone gyffeth chast condicion; and thei named it after a lady that so was called, the which was full chaste and was euer a vergyn. So it wolde be seyde that honeste of the body is full wele longgyng to a good knygh. And to this purpose Hermes seith, “He may not be off perfyte wite that hathe in hym no chastite.” And for to bryng to mynde the Articles of the Feyth to owre purpose, wythowte the which a good sperit may lytell avayle, ffor Dyane we shall take God of Heuen, the which is withowte onv spotte off onclen love, to whome a thyng foulede with synne may not be agreable. To the knyghly spirite þan it is necessari to beleve opon the Maker of heuen and of erthe, as þe fyrst Article of the Feyth seith, the which Seynte Petir the apostel sete, [“Credo in Deum Patrem Omnipotentem, creatorem cœli et terræ”].[253] XXIV.