Ayaux was a full prowd knyght of þe Grekis and trostid to mych on hymselfe, but yet he was a goode knyght of his hand [f. 71.] And for pride and soleynnes he vndyrtooke to doo armes with his arme naked discouered withowte a chelde, and so he was boron through 6. [Perciez doultre en oultre, H.] and ouerthrowen dede. Therefore it is seide to the goode knyght that to doo siche armes, thei be neythir profitabill ne worchipfull, but rather thei be named lewde and prowde, and thei be to perlyous. Aristotil seith that many erreth be ignorance and fawte of knowyng and woote not whate it is to do ne to leue, and some fayle be arrogance and pride.

How armes shulde not be vndertake follely is þat þe good sperite shulde not tryst in his owyn fragilite. As Seynt Tawstyn 1. [Sc. Augustine.] seyth in a sermon, þat non shulde presume in his owyn herte when he pronownceth a worde ne non sulde 2. [Susde, MS.; ne nul en sa force ne se doit fyer, H.] [trust] in his streynghte when he sufferith tentacion, for, when we speke wysely goode wordes, thei coume of God and not of owre wytte, and when we endure aduersitees stedefastly, it cometh of God and not of oure pacience. To this purpose the apostyl Seynt Powle seith, ["Fiduciam talem habemus per Christum ad Deum, non quod simus sufficientes aliquid cogitare ex nobis quasi ex nobis"]. 3. [2 Cor. iii. 4, 5; tanquam ex nobis, H.]