The fable seith that .iii. godesses of grete myght, that is to sey, Pallas godes of kunnyng,[446] Juno godes of goode,[447] and Venus godes off love, com before Paris holdyng an apple of golde,[448] the which seide, “Lete this be youen to the fayrest and the myghttyest of vs.” There was grete discord ffor this appyll, for iche of theyme seyde they ought to haue it, and at the last thei tooke Paris for to iuge the cavse. Paris sought delegently the strenghte and the myghte of ich of theyme by the selfe. Than seide Pallas, “I am godes of cheualry and of wysdom, for by me armes is departed to knyghtes and konyng to clerkes, and yf thou wilt yiff me the appyll, tryst veryli that I shall make the to paase[449] all othir in koonyng and in knytehode.” After that Juno, godes of goode, seide, “And by me is departyd the grete lordshippes and also tresowrys off the worlde. If thou wyl gyff me the appyll, I shall make the recher and mygh[t]ier than ony othir.” And than spake Venus wyth full louyng wordes and seide, “I am she that kepyth scoles of loue and off iolines[450] and maketh fooles to be wyse men and wyse men to do foly, and I make ryche men poore and tho þat be exiled riche. There is no myght that may compare wyth my myght. Iff thou wylt yeffve me the appyll, by me thou shalt haue þe love of fayre Helaine of Grece, the which may avayle the more than any maner of ryches.” And thanne Paris gaff his sentence and forsoke bothe knyghthode, wisdom and riches for Venus, to whome he gaff the appyll; for the which after that Troye was dystryd. This is to vnderstonde, because that Paris was not cheuallrous ne reche, he sette be noo thyng, but all his thought was on loue, and therefor yaffe he the appill to Venus. Werefor it is seide to the goode knyght that he shuld not demene hym so. And Pictagoras seith, [Sidenote: f. 55.] “The iuge that iugede not iustyly, diserveth myche evyll.” Be Parys that iuged folely is vnderstonden that the goode sperite shulde be ware how he iuged oþer. Seynt Austyn spekyth thereoff ayens the [Manichees][451] that there be .ii. thynges the whych in especiall we shulde eschewe, fryst to iuge othir persones, for we know not of what corage thynges be done, the which to contempne it is þerfor[452] grete presumcion, for we shuld take theyme to the better partye; secundly for because we be not incerteyne what the[i] shall be that now be goode or now evill. Owre Lord to this purpose seith in þe Gospell, [“Nolite judicare et non judicabimini, in quo enim judicio judicaveritis judicabimini.”][453] LXXIV. In Fortvne, that grete myghty godesse, Trist not to mych, ne in hyre promyse; For in a lytell space she chaungeth, And the hyest ofte ouerthroweth.