LXXIV.
In Fortvne, that grete myghty godesse,
Trist not to mych, ne in hyre promyse;
For in a lytell space she chaungeth,
And the hyest ofte ouerthroweth.
Fortune aftyr the spekyng off poyetis may be wele called the grete godes, for by hire we see that wordly thynges be gouernde. And becauce she promysyth to many prosperite inowght—and indede to some she yeffeth it—and in litell space takyth it awaye when it plesyth hire, it is seide to the goode knyght that he shuld not trost in hire promysses ne discomfort hym not in his aduersites. And Socrates seith the cours of fortvne farith as engins.[[454]]
Becavse whi that he seith that he shulde not trost in fortvne, we may vnderstond that the good spirite shuld fle and disprayse wordly delittes. Therefor Boys[[455]] seith in the .iii. booke of Consolacion that the felicite off the Epicuriens shulde be called vnfelicite, for the full and the perfyȝth felicite it is that the which [can] make man sufficiently myghty, reuerende, solempne and ioyeux, the which condicions resiste not to thynges whereopon wordly peple settyth there felycite.[[456]] Thereffor God seyth by the profyte Ysaie, [“Popule meus, qui te beatum dicunt, ipsi te decipiunt”].[[457]]