III.
And wyth vs strey[n]gth be honesty þe yete.
If that be gretter vertues thou sete,
Thou moste the turne toward Hercules
And behold wele his grete worthines,
In whome there was full myche bounte.
And to thi lenage all thoughe that he
Was contrarie and a grete name hym gate, |f. 9.|
For all that haue thou neuer the more hate
To his vertue, streyngth and nobylnese,
Which opynned the ȝates of worthinese.
Yet, though that thowe wylt folwe hys weye
And also hys worthines, I sey
It nedyth no thyng to the to make
Were[[133]] with theyme of hell ne no stryfe take,
Ne for to were wyth the god Pluto
For ony fauour Proserpyng onto,
The godes dowter called Ceres,
Whome he rauysched on the se of Gres.[[134]]
Ne onto the it is no mystyr[[135]]
That thow be Serebrus,[[136]] the portar
Of helle, besye the hys cheynes to breke,
Ne of theyme of helle to take any wreke,
The which to vntrewe wynnors be;[[137]]
Nor for his felaws as dede he,
Pirotheus and Theseus,[[138]] in fere,
The which that nere hand desceyuyd were
[To] auenture theyme in that valy soo,
W[h]ere many a sowle hath ful mych woo;
For werre inougth in herthe[[139]] þou schalt fynd felle,
Thougth thow goo not to sek yt in helle.
It is no thinge necessarie to the
So to purchase or do armes, parde,
To go and fyghte with serpentes stynggyng,
With boores wylde or beerys rampyng.[[140]]
Wheythir thou ymagen this I wote noghte,
Or ell of wyldenes it commyth in thy thougth
Of worthines for to have a name.
In dystres, yf it be not for the same,
As ffor thy body the ffor to defende,
Yf that sych bestis wylde the offende,
Than diffence, if asailled thou be,
Withowte dowte it is worchip to the;
Yf thow ouercome theym and the saue,
Bothe grete lavde and worchip thou shalt haue.
The vertu of strength is not only to vndyrstonde bodely strength, but the stabilnes and stedefastenes that a goode knygth schulde haue in all hys dedis by deliberaciou of good wytte and strength to resyst ayens contrariousnes that may come onto hym, weythir it be infortunes or tribulacions, where strengh and myghti corage may be vaylable to the exaussyng of worthines. And alyche[[141]] Hercules for to gif exampel of strengh, to the entent that it may be doble availe, that is to seye, in as myche as tocheth to his vertue and anamly in dedes of knygthhode, wherin he was ryghte excellent. And for the hynes of Hector, it is a behouely thynge to gyfe hyme hy[[142]] example. Hercules was a knyghte of Grece of meruelyous strengh and broute to ende many knyghtly worthines. A grete iorneyer he was in the worlde, and, for the grete and meruelyous viagis and thinges of grete strenghe that he made and dede, the poietes, the wyche spak couertly and in maner of fable, seyde that he wente into helle to fygth wyth the prynces off helle and that [he] favth[[143]] wyth serpentes and fiers bestis, by the wyche is to vndirstonden the grete and stronge entreprises.[[144]] * * *