And of good theryng take largely.[[276]]
Yo was a yong ientilwoman and doughter to knyng Ynacus;[[277]] þe which was rygh konnyng and fond many maners of letteris þat hade not be se afore. Though that some fables sey þat Yo was Jupiteris love and þat sche becam a kowe and after a woman as she was, [this was not so], but, as the poietis hathe hyde trowth vnder couerture of fable, it may be þat Jubiter lovid hire, þat is to vndirstond by the vertues þe which was in here[[278]] she become a kowe, for, as a kowe yevith mylke, the which is swete and norisshyng, she be the letteris that she fonde gaffe norysshyng to |f. 29.| vnderstondyng. And in that she was a comon woman may be vndirstond that here wytte was comon to all, as lettris be comon to all peple. Þerfore it is seide þat þe good knygh shuld full mych love Yo,[[279]] þe which may be vnderstondyn þe letteris and scriptures and stories of good peple, þe which þe good knygh shold hire telle gladely and reede þe example of, þe which may be vailable to hym. To this purpos Hermes seith, “Who so enforceth hyme to gete konyng and goode condicions, he fyndith þat þe which shall plese hym in this worlde and in the tothir.”
Yo, the which is noted for letteris and scriptures, may be vnderstondyn þat þe good sperit shuld delyte hym to reede or to here Holy Writte and not[[280]] þe Scriptures in his mynde, and thereby may he lerne to clyme to hevyn with Jhesu Cryst by good werkys and holy contemplacion and shuld beleve the worethi Article that Seynt Bertylmw seith, [“Ascendit ad cœlos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris Omnipotentis”].
XXX.
Beware in whatte place so that it be
In the noyse of flowtes slepe not ye;
For Mercurius that softe syngeth
With his flowte þe peple enchaunteth.
A ffabill seyth þat, when Jubiter louede fayre Yo, Juno had hym gretly in suspeccion and discendid from heven in a skye[[281]] for to take hire husbonde whit[[282]] the dede. But qwhan Jubiter sawe hir come, he chawnged his love to a cowe; yit for all that Juno was [not] owt of suspeccion, but askyd hym þe cowe of yifte, and Jubiter ayens his lyst grauntyd [it] to hyr, as he þat dryst not ayens say hire for doute of suspeccion. Þan Juno gaffe Argus, þe which hade .c. yen, this cow to kepe, and euer he wchid[[283]] it. But the god Mercurius by þe commaundement of Jubiter toke his flowte, þe which song softly, and blew so longe in Argus eyre þat all his .c. eyne were aslepe. Than he smote of hys hede and toke the cowe.
The exposicion of this fable may be as þat some myghthi man loved a gentilwoman; than his wyf tooke to hire for to make wache on hir husbonde þat he disseyvyd hire not, and þeropon sette grete weches and clere seers, þe which may be noted for Argus eyne. But þe louer by a person malicius and well spekyng dide so miche þat þe kepers concentyd to gyf hym hys love, and thus were thei browght aslepe by Mercurius flowte and hade there hedes smyttyn off. There[fore] it is seyde to þe good knyght þat he shulde not suffre [himself] to be brought on slepe with non swiche flovte as to be robbed of that þe which he shuld kepe. And to this purpos Hermes seith, “Kepe thou fro þo that is gouuernede be malice.”