XIII.
Of all maner sortes of armure
For to arme the wyth, bothe wele and sure,
Be thi moder inough sygned shall be,[[196]]
Mynerve, the which is not bitter to the.
Mynerve was a lady of grete connyng and fonde the craft to make armure; for afore the pe[p]yl armed theyme but wyth cuirboyle.[[197]] And for the grete wysdom that was in this lady thei called hyr a godes; and because that Hector cowde sette armure welle on werke and that it was hys ryght craft, Othea called hym the sone of Mynerve, notwythstondyng that he was sone to qwen Ecuba of Troye. And in the same wyse all that loueth armes may be named. And to this purpose an auctoure seith that knyghtes youen to armes be soggettes to the same.
Where it is seide that good armurs and strong inewgh shall be delyuered to the good knygh by his modir, wee may vndirstond the vertu of feyth, the whiche is a devyne vertue and is modir to the good spyrite. And that she delyuerith armoures inow, Cassiodir seythe in the Exposicion of the Crede[[198]] that feyth is the lyth[[199]] of the sowle, the yate off paradyse, the wynddowe of lyve, and the gronde of the euerlastyng helthe, for wythowte feythe non may plese God. And to this purpose seyth Seynt Poule in the pystyll, [“Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo”].[[200]]