t accorde/ And so is the election left/ And otherwhyle
they chese not the beste and most able and conuenyent/ but hym that they
best loue/ or is for them most proffytable/ But whan the kynge is by
lignage and by trewe succession/ he is taught enseygned and nourrishid
in his yongth in alle good & vertuous tacches and maners of hys fader/
And also the prynces of the royame dar not so hardily mene warre agaynst
a kynge hauynge a sone for to regne after hym And so a Quene ought to be
chaste. wyse. of honest peple/ well manerd and not curyous in
nourisshynge of her children/ her wyfedom ought not only tappere in feet
and werkes but also in spekynge that is to wete that she be secrete and
telle not suche thynges as ought to be holden secrete/ Wherfore it is a
comyn prouerbe that women can kepe no counceyle And accordyng therto
Macrobe reherceth in the book of the dremes of Scipio. That ther was a
child of rome that was named papirus that on a tyme went with his fader
whiche was a senatour into the chambre where as they helde their
counceyll And that tyme they spak of suche maters as was comanded and
agreed shold be kept secrete upon payn of their heedes And so departed
And whan he was comen home from the senatoire and fro the counceyll with
his fader/ his moder demanded of hym what was the counceyll and wherof
they spack and had taryed so longe there And the childe answerd to her
and sayd he durst not telle ner saye hit for so moche as hit was
defended upon payn of deth Than was the moder more desirous to knowe
than she was to fore/ And began to flatere hym one tyme And afterward to
menace hym that he shold saye and telle to her what hit was And whan the
childe sawe that he might haue no reste of his moder in no wife He made
her first promise that she shold kepe hit secrete And to telle hit to
none of the world/ And that doon/ he fayned a lesing or a lye and sayd
to her/ that the senatours had in counceyll a grete question and
difference whiche was this/ whether hit were better and more for the
comyn wele of rome/ that a man shold have two wyuys/ or a wyf to haue
two husbondes/ And whan she had understonde this/ he defended her that
she shold telle hit to none other body And after this she wente to her
gossyb and told to her this counceyll secretly/ And she told to an
other/ And thus euery wyf tolde hit to other in secrete And thus hit
happend anone after that alle the wyues of rome cam to the senatorye
where the senatours were