LXI.
Thyne evyll misdede forgete thou noght,
Iff thou to any[[390]] haue so myche wroughte,
For the reward he will wele kepe fro the.
Distroyed was Leomedon, parde.
Leomedon, as I haue seide, was kyng off Troye, and he hadde done grete velany to the barons of Grece[[391]] to voyde them fro his lande[[392]]; the wiche they foryate noght, but Leomedon hathe foryeten it whan the Grekes ron on hym, the wiche ouercome hym, he oncouered and disporveide, so they distroyyd hym. Therefor it is seide to the good knyght that, yf he hathe mysdone to any, that he kepe hym wele, ffor he may be sekyr it shal notte be foryeten, but rather wenged,[[393]] whanne he may haue tyme and place. And to this purpose Hermes seyth, “Be ware that thynne ennemyes com not vpon the, and thou disporveyde.”
That he shuld not forgete the myssedede that he hathe done to anothir may be vndirstondyn þat, when the good sperite felyth hym in synne for fawte of resistence, he shulde thynke that he shuld be ponnysshede, as thei be that be dampnyd, yf he amende hym notte. And therof seith Seynt Gregorie that the dome of God goth nowe fair and softely and a sclowe pas, but in tyme comyng it shall recompence the more greuously the mercy shall tarry of his acte. To this purpose the prophete Joel seith, [“Convertimini ad Dominum Deum vestrum, quia benignus et misericors est,” etc.].[[394]]