XXVII.
As trewe felawes of armes doth,
Vnto hell, whedir that sowles gothe,
Thou schuldest go, theyme to socoure serteyne
In nede,[[268]] lich Hercules dyde, as men seyne.
The fable seith that Thesus and Protheus[[269]] went into hell for to rescue Proserpyne þat Pluto rauysshed, and thei hade ben evyle begone hade not Hercules a ben for there felawes; [for thei][[270]] hade not bene socoured hade he ne be, the which dyde so notable dedes of armes that he affrayed all the peple off hell, and he smote in soundir Cereberus the porteris chynnes.[[271]] So it is seyde þat a good knygh shulde not faile his felawe for no maner of perell that myght be; for trewe felaws shuld be evyn as on thyng and all on. And Pitagoras seyth, “Thou shuld kepe the loue of thi freende dylygently.”
By the auctorite that seith he shulde socoure his trwe freendis in armes vnto hell we may vnderstonde the blyssyd sowle of Jhesu Cryste, the which drewe owte the good sowles of holy patriarkes and profhetes þat were in lymbo; and be this example the goode sperite |f. 28.| scholde draw to hym all vertues and beleve the Article that Seynt Phelip seith, [“Descendit ad inferna”].