Be thou leke to the godesse Ceres, That tooke fro noon but yafe to corne encres; In syche wyse abaundonede shulde be The[254] good knygh, well sette in his degre. Ceres was a lady that fond the craft to erye[255] the londe, for aforne gaineyers swe withowte laboure[256]; and because þat þe londe bare the more plenteously after þat it was erryed, thei seide that she was godesse of cornes, and thei called the londe after hyr name. Wherefor it wold be seide þat, as þe lande[257] is habaundone[d] and a large yefer of all goodes, on the same wyse shuld a good knygh be habaundonede to all personys and [ought] to gyffe his helpe and comfort aftyr hys power. And Arystotyl seyth, “Be a lyberall gyfer and thou shall hau frendys.” Here [for] Ceres, to whom þe good knygh shuld resemble, we [Sidenote: f. 26.] shall take the Sone of God, whom the good spirit sholde folowe, þe which hath yoven so largely to vs of hy goodnes,[258] and in hym shuld be belewede stedeffastly, as the .ii.^o Article seith, the which Seynt Jon sette, [“Et in Ihesum Christum, filium eius unicum, Dominum nostrum”]. XXV. All hye vertues as that he wyll sette, In the, as in Ysis[259] late theyme b[e] schette And all maner graynes fructifie; In sych wyse sholdest þou edyfye.[260] Ysys, poetes seyth, is a goodesse of plantes and gryffes, and she yevyth theyme streynght and growyng to multiply. Therefor it is seide to þe good knyght þat so shulde he fructifie in all vertues and eschew all euyl vicis. And Harmes[261] to this purpose seyth, “O man, yf þou knew þe inconuenyency of vice, that þou woldest be ware þeroff and yf þou knew the rewarde for worthinesse, that[262] þou woldest loue it gretly.” There qwere it is seide þat þe good knygh shulde be leche to Ysys, the whiche is a planter, may we vnderstond the blissyd Concepcion off Jhesu Cryst by þe Holy Gost in the Blyssyd Virgyne Marie, modyr off all grace, of whom the grete bountes may not be ymagenede ne holy seide, þe which worthi Concepcion the good sperit shuld haue holy in hym and kepe this holy Artecle stedefastly, as Seynt James the gretter seith, [“Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria virgine”]. XXVI. To the iugement in no wyse holde the Of Mygdas, the which no thyng wysely Juged; by his counsell sette thou no store, For erys of an asse he hadde thereffore.