LII.
Beleue the Crow and his true counsell,
And be neuer besy ne trauele
In evil thyngges to be þe berer;
Off thi deme thou mayst be þe suerer.[[330]]
The fable seith that the crowe mette þe ravyn when he browte the tidynges to Phebus of his loue Corinis, þe which hade done |f. 37.| amysse, and she[[331]] requiryd of hym so ferre þat he tolde hyr[[332]] the cawse of this iurneye. But[[333]] she dissalowed hyme because he went not for to gyffe hym example of the same, the which for a lych cas hade ben chassede owte of the pallas howse, where some [time] he was wonte to be gretly avanced. But he wolde not beleue hyr, for þe which harme folowed to hym. Where it is seyde to þe good knyght þat he shulde trost þe crowe; and Platon seith, “Be no iangeler ne to the knyng grete reportur of tydynges.”
How the crowe shulde be beleued, it is seide that the goode speryte shulde vse sych counsell. As Seynt Grigorie seith in his Omelies, þat strenght vailet not when counsel is not, ffor streynght is sone ouerthrowyn, iffe it be not rested opon the gyfte of counsell, and the soule þe whych hath lost in hym the seege of counsell outewarde he is dysparbuled[[334]] in diuerse desires. Therefor the wyse man seyth, [“Si intraverit sapientia cor tuum, consilium custodiet te et prudentia servabit te”].[[335]]