Mydas was a knyght[[263]] that hadde lytell vnderstondyng; and a fable seyth þat Phebus and Pan,[[264]] the god of pastures,[[265]] strove togedir and Phebus seide that the sownde of the harpe is more to prayse than the sownde of the pype or off the flowte. Pan heelde the contrarye and seide þe sownde of the flowte was more to prayse. Thei made Mygdas iuge off that discorde, and affter that thei were both ioyned afore Mygdas, at long leyser he iuged that the sownde of þe flowte was bettyr and more plesaunte than þe sownde of the |f. 27.| harpe. So the fable seith þat Phebus, the which was g[r]evyd [and] hadde dyspyte off his iugement, made hym rude erys leche an asse, in schewyng that he hadde vnderstondyng of an asse, the which hade iuged so folyly. It may be allso that some iuged lewdely ayens a prince or a myghty man, the whiche punychyd hym, makyng hym to bere on hym some syngne off a ffoole, the which is to vnderstond the eres of the asse. Also it is to vnderstond by this fable that a good knyght shuld not hold hym content with a lewde iugement, not grownded on reson, ne hym selfe shuld be no iuge of so fawty a sentence. A philosopher seyth to this purpose that a foole is leche a molle,[[266]] the which heryth and vnderstondyth not. And Dyogenes lykenyth the foole to a ston.
The iugement of Mygdas, the which a good knight shulde not kepe, we may vnderstond Pylate, the which iuged the blyssyd Sone of God to be taken and streyned as a harpe and to be hangged opon the gebet of þe Crosse as a bryboure,[[267]] he the which was pure wyth[out] ony spotte. Also it is to vnderstond þat þe goode speryt shulde be ware how he shulde iuge an innocent, and he shulde beleve the Artycle that Seynt Andrewe seith, [“Passus sub Poncio Pylato, crucifixus, mortuus et sepultus”].
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”].