Ne for to gouerne a reaume nowhere.[[145]]
Prudence seith to the good knyghte that, yf he will be on of the goode mennes rowe, he most haue the vertue of iustice, that is to seye, ryghtwyse iustice. And Aristotle seith he that is a rytewyse iusticer fryst shulde iustifie hym selph, ffor he that iustifies not hym self is not worthi to iustifye anothir. This is to vndirstond that a man shulde correcte his owne defavtes, so þat thei be holy fordone, and than a man so correctid may wele, and schulde, be a corrector of othir men. And to speke morally, ve shall tell a fable to this purpoise vndir the couertvre of poyetis. Minos, as poyetis sey, is a iusticer off helle or a prouoste or a cheife bayle, and afore hym is broughte alle the sowles descendyng into that vaylie; and afftir that they haue disseruede of penance as many degrees as he wille that thei be sette deipe, as ofte he turnyth his tayle abwte hym. And becawse that he is thee iustice ande the punyschment of God, lete vs take owre maner to speke oure speche veryly to that purpose. O trouth there was a kyng in Grece[[146]] called Mynos of mervelious fairnes,[[147]] and in hym was grete rigoure of iustice; and therefor the poietis seyde that aftir his deth he was commytted to be iusticer of helle. And Aristotile seyth, “Justice is a mesure that God hath sette in erthe for to limitte thereby thynges ryghtwysly.”
And even as God is hede of iustice and of all orderes, it is necessarye to the cheualerous sperit that wille come to the victorius blysse for to have this vertue. And Seynt Bernard seith in a sermone[[148]] that iustice is not ellis but to giffe euery man that his is. “Yife than,” seith he, “to .iii. maner of peple that the whiche is theires, that is to say, to thi souereyne, to thi felawe and to thi soget: to thi souereyne reuerence and obeissance of body; to thi falawe thou schulde gyffe counsel and helpe, counsel in teschyng hym where he is ignorant and helpe hym in comfortynge his owyn power[[149]]; to thi soget, thow schuldest gyf hym chastissyng and kepyng hym frome euyl dedes, in chastisyng[[150]] hym forgiffeyng hym that he hath doo amysse.” And thus hereto seyth Salomon in his Proverbis, “Ex[cogitat iustus de domo impii ut detrahat impios a malo.... Gaudium est iusto facere iusticiam”].[[151]]
V.
Also remenbre the of Percyvale,[[152]] |f. 11.|
Whos name is knowen ouer alle
Throwghowte the worlde, both soft and hard,
The swyffte hors Pegasus afterward.
He roode hyme through the eyre flyyng,
And Andromeda in hys goyng