LXXIX.
Be the see yf thou wylt vndertake
Perlyous viages for to make,
Off Alchion[[468]] beleue the counsell.
Ceys therof the soth may the tell.
Ceys was a kyng, a full good man, and loued wele Alchyon |f. 59.| his wyff. The kyng tooke a deuocion ffor to go a perlyows passage on the see in a tempest, but Alchyon his wyffe, the whiche loued hym ryght hertily, dyde gretyly hir besynes to meve hym fro[[469]] that vyage and with grete teris of wepyng prayde hyme full besyly; but it myght not be remedied by here ne he woold not suffir hir to goo with hym, stondyng that she wolde all gates haue gone with hymme and at the departyng she styrte on to the shepe.[[470]] But Ceys the kyng comfortyd hir and with force made hyre to abyde, for the which she was full anggwyssous and hevy and in ryght grete woo. Neuer the lesse Eolus,[[471]] the god of wyndes, meved theyme soo gretely opon the see that the kyng Ceys within fewe dayes perysshed on the see; ffor the which, whenne Alchyon knew that aventure, she kest hire selfe into the see. The ffabill seith that the godes had pyte þeroff and chawnged the bodyes of the .ii. louers into .ii. birdes, to the intent that there grete loue myght be had in perpetuell mynde. And yette þe same birdes flee opon the see syde, the which be called Alchions and there fedres be whyte; and whan the maryneris see theyme come, þan be they sekyr of a tempest.[[472]] The ryght exposicion hereof may be that in mariage .iio. loueres loued togedir in lich wyse, the which poyetes lykeneth to the .iio. byrdes that hade sich a case and aventure. Therefor it is seide to the goode knyght that he shulde not put hym in no perlyous passage ayens the counsell off his good ffrendis. And Assaron[[473]] seyth that the wyse man enforseth hym to draw hym fro hurtes, and the foole doth his diligence to fynde hurtes.
For to beleue Alchion, it is to vnderstond that the goode speryte by some evil temptacion is empeched with some errowe or dowte in his thowght, in the which he shuld reporte hym to the openyon off the cherche. For Seynt Ambrose seyth in the .ii. booke off Offices that he is fro hym selfe that dispyseth the counsell of the cherche, for Joseph helped kyng Pharaon more profitably with the cownsell off his prudence than though he had yoven hyme eythir gold or syluer; for syluer myȝgh not a purueyde for the famyn of Egypte the space of vii. yere. Therefor it is concluded, “trust counsell and thou shalt not repent the.” To this purpose the wyse man seith in his Proverbes to the persone of holy chirch, [“Custodi legem atque consilium et erit vita animæ tuæ”].[[474]]