LXIV.
Avaunte the not, for grete harme fell therefore[[404]]
To Yragnes,[[405]] the wich myssetook hir sore,
That ayens Pallas hire so avaunted,
For the wyche the goodesse hire enchaunted.
The fable seyth that Yragnes was a gentylwoman full sotyll and kunnyng in schapyng, wevyng and sewyng, but she was too presumtuos of hir connyng and indede she vaunted hire ayens Pallas. For the wyche the godes was greued wyth here that fore that foly vauntyng sche schawneged hyr into an yraigne and than seyde, “Thou vaunted the so myche in wevyng and sewyng that thou shalt euer aftir this weve and spynne werke of no value,” and fro thiens come the yraignes that be yite, the wiche sessyth not of spynnyng and wevyng. It may be so vndirstonden that some persone wanted ayens hir maystres, ffor the wiche in some wyse thei tooke harme. Therefor it is seide to the good knyght that he shuld not vaunt hyme, standyng it is a foule thyng for a knyght to be a vauntoure, for it may abuse to myche the prayse of his bownte. And in the same wyse Platon seyth, “When thou dost a t[h]yng,” seith he,[[406]] “better than anothir, be ware thou avaunte not therof, for yf thou doo thyne avayle is myche the lesse.”
For that a man shuld not vaunte hym, we may sey that the goode sperite shulde be ware of wauntyng, for Seynt Austyn spekith ayens vauntyng in the .xii. boke of the Cete of God, þat vauntyng is not mankyndly praysyng, but is aturnyd to vyse of the sovle, the wich louyth mankyndly praysynges and dispithet the wery wytnes of his propyr consyence. To this purpose the wyse man seythe, [“Quid nobis profuit superbia, aut diuitiarum jactantia?”].[[407]]