LXVI.
If so be thette there assaile the any,
Be ware thou ne thi men ryse not lyghtly
Ayens theyme, that thi town of strenght not slake;
Off the fryst Troye example thou mayst take.
Whenne Hercules wyth mych pepyll com opon the fryst Troye and that kyng Leomedon herd seye of there comyng, than he with all the peple that he myght gete in the cete yode owte and went ayens theyme to the water syde, and there theye assembled wyth full ferse bataile and þe cete was left voyde of peple. Than Thelamen Ayaux, the wich was enbushed wyth a grete oste nere the walles of the cete, enteryd into it, and thus the fryst Troye was takyn. Therefor it is seyde to the goode knyght that he shulde kepe hym, that in siche wyse he be not disseyuyd wyth his |f. 48.| ennemyes. And Hermes seyth, “Kepe the from the peple[[413]] of thyn ennemyes.”
Where it is seyde that a man shuld kepe hym, yf he be assayled, that his cete be not voide, it is to sey that the good spyryte shulde euer kepe hym sesid and filled with vertues. And hereto seyth Seynt Austyn that, lyche as in tyme of werre men of armes shuld not be onsesyde of theyre armes ne owt of theyme nyght ner day, on the same wyse duryng the tyme of this present lyfe he shulde not be dyspoyled of vertues, for he thate the fende fyndeth withowte vertues faryth as he that the aduersari fyndyth withoute armes. Therfor the Gospel seyth, [“Fortis armatus custodit atrium suum”].[[414]]