ayes that wyll expose
hymself for the worshippe and honour of his frende/ or for the comyn
wele/ selde or neuer shall he be founden/ Also the knyghtes shold be
large & liberall For whan a knyght hath regarde vnto his singuler
prouffit by his couetyse/ he dispoylleth his peple For whan the
souldyours see that they putte hem in paryll. And theyr mayster wyll not
paye hem theyr wages liberally/ but entendeth to his owne propre gayn
and proussryt/ than whan the Enemyes come they torne sone her backes and
flee oftentymes/ And thus hit happeth by hym that entendeth more to gete
money than victorye that his auaryce is ofte tymes cause of his
confusion Than late euery knyght take heede to be liberall in suche wyse
that he wene not ne suppose that his scarcete be to hym a grete wynnynge
or gayn/ And for thys cause he be the lasse louyd of his peple/ And that
his aduersarye wythdrawe to hym them by large gyuynge/ For oftetyme
bataylle is auaunced more for getynge of siluer. Than by the force and
strengthe of men/ For men see alle daye that suche thynges as may not be
achieuyd by force of nature/ ben goten and achieuyd by force of money/
And for so moche hit behoueth to see well to that whan the tyme of the
bataylle cometh/ that he borowe not ne make no tayllage/ For noman may
be ryche that leuyth his owne/ hopyng to gete and take of other/ Than
all waye all her gayn and wynnynge ought to be comyn amonge them exept
theyr Armes. For in lyke wyse as the victorie is comune/ so shold the
dispoyll and botye be comune vnto them And therfore Dauid that gentyll
knyght in the fyrst book of kynges in the last chapitre made a lawe/
that he that abode behynde by maladye or sekenes in the tentes shold
haue as moche parte of the butyn as he that had be in the bataylle/ And
for the loue of thys lawe he was made afterward kynge of Israell/
Alexander of Macedone cam on a tyme lyke a symple knyght vnto the court
of Porus kynge of Inde for to espye thestate of the kynge and of the
knyghtes of the court/ And the kynge resseyuyd hym ryght worshipfully/
And demanded of hym many thynges of Alexander and of his constance and
strengthe/ nothynge wenynge that he had ben Alexander But antygone one
of his knyghtis and after he had hym to dyner And whan they had feruyd
Alexander in vayssell of gold and siluer with dyuerce metes &c. After
that he had eten suche as plesid hym he voyded the mete and toke the
vayssell and helde hit to hymself and put hit in his bos