Thy hert and all abaundon hire to,
Thynkke on Cresseides nwefanggyllnesse,[[503]]
For hire hert hade to meche dobylnesse.
Cresseide [was] a gentilwoman of grete beaute, an[d] she was yit more qwaynte and sotell to drawe pepill to hir.[[504]] Troylus, the yongest of Priantes sones, [the which] was full of grete gentilnesse, of beaute and of worthines, loued hire ryght hertily and she hade youen hym hir loue and promysyd to hym that it shuld neuyr fayle. Calcas, fadir to the gentilwoman, the which knew by science that Troye shuld be distroyid, dide so myche that his doughter was delyuered to hym and browght owte of the cete and ledde to the seege among the Grekes, where hir fadir was. Grete was the sorowe and full petous the[[505]] complayntis of the .iio. louers at the departyng. Neuerthelesse within a while aftir Dyomed, the which was a hye baron and a full worthi knyght, aqweynttyd hym with Cresseide and labowrd so soore to hir that she loued hym and only[[506]] foryate hir trwe loue Troylus. Because that Cresseide was so lyght of corage, it is seide to the gode knyght that, yf he will sette his herte in ony plase, late hym be ware that he be not aqwauyntyd with sich a lady as Cresseide was. And Hermes seith, “Kepe the from evill felachepe, that thou be not on of theyme.”
Cresseide, of whom a man shulde be ware to aqweynt hym, is veyne glori, with the which the good sperite shuld not aqwaynte hym, but fle it onto his power, for it is to lyghte and commyth to sodenly. And Seynt Austyn opon the Sauter seith that he the which hath wele lerned and asayed by experiens to ouergoo degrees of vices, he is coume to the knowlyge that the synne of veyne glory is holy or most specyaly to eschwe of perfyȝte men, ffor emong all othir synnes it is hardest to ouercom. Therefor the apostil Seynt Poule seith, [“Qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur”].[[507]]
LXXXV.
When thou hast kylled Patroclus,
Ware of Achilles, I counsell þe thus,
Yf thou loue me, for thei be all on, |f. 64.|
There goods betweyne theym be comon.