The Multitext Edition > Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS. Peniarth 392 D
The Tale of Melibeus
Folio 220v
30 of 38 folios
sikerly
/ þt thurgh yowr
bywreyyng
youre condicio
ū shal ben to
yow moore
profitable
For Ih
c̃ Syrak seith
Neither to thy foo
ne to thy freend
/ discou
ere nat thy secree
/ ne thy folie
/
for they
wol yeue yow audience / & lokyng & supportacioū in thy per-
sence / & scorne thee in thyn absence
175
¶ Another clerk seith / þt
scarsly shaltow fynden any persone / þt may kepe conseil secrely
¶ The book seith / whil þt thow kepest thy conseil in thyn herte /
thow kepest it in thy pison /
And whan thow biwreyest thy
conseil to any wight he holdeth thee in his Snare /
And ther
fore yow is bettre to hide youre conseil in youre herte / than ~
preyen hym / to whom ye haue biwreyed youre conseil / þt he
wol kepen it cloos & stille
¶ For Seneca seith
/ If so be
/ þt thou
ne mayst nat
thyn owene conseil hyde
/ ; how dorstow preyen
any oother wight
. thy conseil secrely to kepe
180
But nathelees /
if thow wene sikerly / þt thy biwreyyng of thy conseil to a
persone / wol maken thy condicion / to stonden in the bettre plyt ~
thanne shaltow telle hym thy conseil / in this wise
¶ First
thow shalt make no semblant wheither thee were leuere / pees
or werre / or this / or that / ne shewe hym nat thy wyl & thyn
entente /
for trust wel þt cōely / thise conseillours ben flaterers /
namely / the conseillours of grete lordes /
for they enforcen hem
alwey / rather to speke plesante wordes / enclynynge to the
lordes lust than wordes þt ben trewe / or profitable /
185
And therfore
men seyn / þt the riche man hath selde good conseil / but if he
haue it of hym self /
And after that thow shalt considere
thy freendes / & thyne enemys /
And as touchynge thy freen-
des / thow shalt considere / whiche of hem þt been moost
feithfuƚƚ / & moost wise / & eldest & moost approued in con-
seillyng
and of hem / shaltow axe thy conseil / as the cas re-
quyreth
¶ I seye
/ þt first ye shul clepe to youre conseyl
/ youre freendes
/ þt ben trewe
190
For Salomon seith / þt right
as the herte of a man / deliteth in sauour þt is soote ; right
so the conseil of trewe freendes / yeueth swetnesse to the soule /
¶ He seith also / ther may no thyng be likned to the trewe freend /
for c
ertes
/ gold ne siluer
ben noght so muche worth
/ as the
goode wyl
/ of a trewe freend
And eek he seith / þt a trewe
freend is a strong defense / who so þt it fyndeth / certes he
fyndeth a gret tresor
¶ Thanne shul
\ye/ eek considere
/ if
þt youre
trewe freendes been discrete
& wise
/ for the book seith
Axe
alwey thy conseil
/ of hem
þt been wise
/