XVI.
Narcisus[[213]] looke ye resemble not,
Nor into mych pride knyt your knot;
For to ouerwenyng hawteyn knyght
Off many a grace is voide full ryght.
Narcisus [was] a yonge bachelere that ffor his grete beaute seysyd hym in so grete pride[[214]] that he hadde all other in disprayes. And because that he praysed noon but hym selphe, it is seyde that he was so amerous and assottede of hym selfe that he dyede after that he hade beholden hym selfe in the welle. This is to vndirstonde by the ouerwenyng or ouctrecuidez man of hym selfe, wherein he beholdyth hym.[[215]] Therefor it is diffendyth the good knyght to beholde hym selfe in hys good dedes, where throwe he myght be ouerwenyng. And to this purpose seith Socrates, “Sone, be ware thou be not disseyvyd in thi beaute of thi youthe, ffor that is no durable thyng.”
Now lete vs sette an allegorie applyyng to owre purpose to the .vii. dedely synnys. Be Narcisus we shall vndirstond the synne of pride, fro the wyche the goode speryte shulde kepe hym. And Orygene seyth in the Omelees, “Whereof it is that erth and asshes prydeth hyme, or how derre a man rayse hym in arogance, when he thynketh whereof he is comyn and what he shall become, and in how frele a vessel his[[216]] lyff is all naked and in what harlotrees he is plongeden and what onclene maters he sesseth neuer to cast from hys flesch be all the condittes off hys body?” And to this purpose seith Holy Scripture, [“Si ascenderit ad cœlum superbia ejus et caput ejus nubes tetigerit, quasi sterquilinium in fine perdetur”].[[217]]