XCIX.
Thou shulde no grete reson shewe to þe man
The which as that tyme vndirstond ne can.
Yno, the which the soddyn corne dide sowe,
Noteth it to the well inowgh, I trowe.
Yno was a qwene, the which made sothyn[[584]] corne to be sowen, the which comme not vppe. And therfor it is seide to the goode knyght þat gode resons and weele sette and wyse autorites shulde not be tolde to the pepill of rude vndirstondyng and that cannot vndirstond them, ffor they be lost. And therfor Aristotile seith, “As reyne avaylith notte to corne that is sowen on a stone, no more availleth argumentes to an onwyse man.”
That faire and wise wordis shuld not be tolde to rude and ignorant pepill, the which cannot vnderstond theyme, it is to sey that it is as a thyng loste, and than ignorance is to blame. Seynt Bernard seith in a book of xv. Degrees of Mekenes that fore noght tho ascuse theyme of fragilite or off ignorance,[[585]] standyng that siche as syne most frely be gladly ffreel and ignorant, and many thynges the which shuld be knowen be some tyme vnknowen, outhir be necligence to kune it....[[586]] All sich ignorances hath non excusacion. Therefore the postil Seynt Povle seyth, [“Si quis ignorat, ignorabitur”].[[587]]