XXV.
All hye vertues as that he wyll sette,
In the, as in Ysis[[259]] late theyme b[e] schette
And all maner graynes fructifie;
In sych wyse sholdest þou edyfye.[[260]]
Ysys, poetes seyth, is a goodesse of plantes and gryffes, and she yevyth theyme streynght and growyng to multiply. Therefor it is seide to þe good knyght þat so shulde he fructifie in all vertues and eschew all euyl vicis. And Harmes[[261]] to this purpose seyth, “O man, yf þou knew þe inconuenyency of vice, that þou woldest be ware þeroff and yf þou knew the rewarde for worthinesse, that[[262]] þou woldest loue it gretly.”
There qwere it is seide þat þe good knygh shulde be leche to Ysys, the whiche is a planter, may we vnderstond the blissyd Concepcion off Jhesu Cryst by þe Holy Gost in the Blyssyd Virgyne Marie, modyr off all grace, of whom the grete bountes may not be ymagenede ne holy seide, þe which worthi Concepcion the good sperit shuld haue holy in hym and kepe this holy Artecle stedefastly, as Seynt James the gretter seith, [“Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria virgine”].