For this have I herd seyd of wyse y-lered,1
"Was never man ne woman yet bigete
That was unapt to suffren loves hete
Celestial, or elles love of kinde;"
For-thy som grace I hope in hir to finde. 980

141. And for to speke of hir in special, Hir beautee to bithinken and hir youthe, It sit 2 hir nought to be celestial

As yet, though that hir liste bothe and couthe;

But trewely, it sete hire wel right nouthe 4 A worthy knight to loven and cheryce, And but she do, I holde it for a vyce.

990

142. Wherfore I am, and wol be, ay redy
To peyne me to do yow this servyse;
For bothe yow to plese thus hope I
Her-afterward; for ye beth bothe wyse,
And conne it counseyl kepe in swich a
wyse,

That no man shal the wyser of it be;
And so we may be gladed alle three.

143. And, by my trouthe, I have right now of thee

A good conceyt in my wit, as I gesse,
And what it is, I wol now that thou see.
I thenke, sith that love, of his goodnesse,
Hath the converted out of wikkednesse, 999
That thou shalt be the beste post, I leve,
Of al his lay, and most his foos to-greve.7

149. Tho lough 14 this Pandare, and anoon answerde,

'And I thy borw? 15 Fy! no wight dooth but so;

I roughte 16 nought though that she stode and herde

1039

How that thou seyst; but fare-wel, I wol go.
A-dieu! be glad! God spede us bothe two!
Yif me this labour and this besinesse,
And of my speed be thyn al that swetnesse.'

150. Tho Troilus gan doun on knees to falle,

And Pandare in his armes hente faste,
And seyde, 'Now, fy on the Grekes alle!
Yet, pardee, God shal helpe us at the laste;
And dredelees, if that my lyf may laste,
And God to-forn,17 lo, som of hem shal
smerte;

And yet me athinketh that this avaunt me asterte ! 18

1050

uncle; cf. Ger. Oheim. 10 foolish fuss. 11 mind your own business. 12 ask a favor of you. 13 tend. 14 laughed. 15 backer, security. 16 should reck. 17 before God. 18 I repent that this boast escaped me.

Al this Pandare in his herte thought, 1070 And caste his werk ful wysly, or he wroughte.

154. But Troilus lay tho no lenger doun,
But up anoon up-on his stede bay,
And in the feld he pleyde tho leoun;
Wo was that Greek that with him mette
that day.

And in the toun his maner tho forth ay
So goodly was, and gat him so in grace,
That ech him lovede that loked on his face.

6

155. For he bicom the frendlyeste wight,
The gentileste, and eek the moste free, 1080
The thriftieste and oon the beste knight,
That in his tyme was, or might be.
Dede were his japes and his crueltee,
His heighe port and his manere est:aunge,
And ech of tho gan for a vertu chaunge.

156. Now lat us stinte of Troilus a stounde,
That fareth lyk a man that hurt is sore,
And is somdel of akinge of his wounde
Y-lissed wel, but heled no del more:
And, as an esy pacient, the lore
Abit of him that gooth aboute his cure;
And thus he dryveth forth his aventure.
Explicit Liber Primus.

1090

PROLOGUE A

The prologe of .ix. goode Wimmen.

A THOUSAND sythes1 have I herd men telle,

That ther is joye in heven, and peyne in helle;

And I acorde wel that hit be so;
But natheles, this wot I wel also,

That ther nis noon that dwelleth in this contree,

That either hath in helle or heven y-be,
Ne
may of hit non other weyes witen,2
But as he hath herd seyd, or founde hit
writen;

For by assay ther may no man hit preve.
But Goddes forbode, but men shulde leve1 10
Wel more thing then men han seen with yë 15
Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lyë
For that he seigh it nat of yore ago.
God wot, a thing is never the lesse so
Thogh every wight he may hit nat y-see.
Bernard the monk ne saugh nat al, parde!

Than mote we to bokes that we finde, Through which that olde thinges been in

minde,

And to the doctrine of these olde wyse,
Yeven credence, in every skilful 7 wyse, 20
And trowen on these olde aproved stories
Of holinesse, of regnes, of victories,
Of love, of hate, of other sundry thinges,
Of whiche I may not maken rehersinges.
And if that olde bokes were a-weye,
Y-loren were of remembraunce the keye.
Wel oghte us than on olde bokes leve,
Ther-as ther is non other assay by preve.9
And, as for me, though that my wit be
lyte,

30

On bokes for to rede I me delyte,
And in myn herte have hem in reverence;
And to hem yeve swich lust and swich cre-
dence,

That ther is wel unethe game noon 10
That from my bokes make me to goon,

1 times. 2 know. God's prohibition - i.e. God forbid ! 4 believe. 5 eye. 6 Bernard of Clairvaux.

7 reasonable. 8 empires. testing by experiment. 10 scarcely any game.

But hit be other up-on the haly-day,
Or elles in the joly tyme of May;
Whan that I here the smale foules singe,
And that the floures ginne for to springe,
Farwel my studie, as lasting that sesoun!
Now have I therto this condicioun 11
That, of alle the floures in the mede,
Than love I most these floures whyte and
rede,

40

Swiche as men callen daysies in our toun.
To hem have I so greet affeccionn,
As I seyde erst, whan comen is the May,
That in my bed ther daweth 12 me no day
That I namn up, and walking in the mede
To seen these floures agein the sonne sprede,
Whan it up-riseth by the morwe shene, 49
The longe day, thus walking in the grene.
And whan the soune ginneth for to weste,
Than closeth hit, and draweth hit to reste,
So sore hit is afered of the night,
Til on the morwe, that hit is dayes light.
This dayesye, of alle floures flour,
Fulfild of vertu and of alle honour,
And ever y-lyke fair and fresh of hewe,
As wel in winter as in somer newe,
Fain wolde I preisen, if I coude aright;
But wo is me, hit lyth nat in my might! 60
For wel I wot, that folk han her-beforu
Of making ropen,18 and lad a-wey the corn;
And I come after, glening here and there,
And am ful glad if I may finde an ere
Of any goodly word that they han left.
And, if hit happe me rehersen eft
That they han in her fresshe songes sayd,
I hope that they wil nat ben evel apayd,14
Sith hit is seid in forthering and honour
Of hem that either serven leef or flour.15
For trusteth wel, I ne have nat undertake
As of the leef, ageyn the flour, to inake; 10
Ne of the flour to make, ageyn the leef,
No more than of the corn ageyn the sheef.
For, as to me, is leefer noon ne lother;
I am with-holde 17 yit with never nother.

70

13 Reaped the poetic field; an allusion to the French "Marguerite " poets. 14 pleased.

15 Apparently poets sided in playful allegory with one or the other. 16 compose poetry. 17 retained.

I not who serveth leef, ne who the flour;
That nis nothing the entent of my labour.
For this werk is al of another tunne,1
Of olde story, er swich stryf was begunne. 8
But wherfor that I spak, to yeve cre-
dence

To bokes olde and doon hem reverence,
Is for men shulde autoritees beleve,
Ther as ther lyth non other assay by preve.
For myn entent is, or I fro yow fare,
The naked text in English to declare
Of many a story, or elles of many a gest,
As autours seyn; leveth hem if yow leste!
Whan passed was almost the month of
May,

90

And I had romed, al the someres day, The grene medew, of which that I yow tolde,

Upon the fresshe daysy to beholde,

And that the soune out of the south gan

A fret of gold she hadde next hir heer,
And up-on that a whyt coroan she beer
With many floures, and I shal nat lye;
For al the world, right as the dayesye
I-coroned is with whyte leves lyte,
Swich were the floures of hir coroun whyte.
For of o perle fyn and oriental
Hir whyte coroun was y-maked al;

For which the whyte coroun, above the grene,

160

Made hir lyk a daysie for to sene,
Considered eek the fret of gold above.
Y-clothed was this mighty god of love
Of silk, y-brouded 10 ful of grene greves;
A garlond on his heed of rose-leves
Steked al with lilie floures newe;
But of his face I can nat seyn the hewe.
For sekirly his face shoon so brighte,
That with the gleem a-stoned was the
sighte;

A furlong-wey I mighte him nat beholde.
But at the laste in hande I saw him holde

Two fyry dartes, as the gledes 1 rede;
And aungellich his wenges gan he sprede.
And al be that men seyn that blind is he,
Al-gate 2 me thoughte he mighte wel y-

see;

For sternely on me he gan biholde,

170

So that his loking doth myn herte colde. And by the hande he held the noble quene, Corouned with whyte, and clothed al in grene.

So womanly, so benigne, and so meke, That in this world, thogh that men wolde seke,

Half hir beautee shulde men nat finde
In creature that formed is by kinde,
Hir name was Alceste the debonayre;
I prey to God that ever falle she fayre! 180
For ne hadde confort been of hir presence,
I had be deed, withouten any defence,
For drede of Loves wordes and his chere,
As, whan tyme is, her-after ye shal here.
Byhind this god of love, up-on this grene,
I saw cominge of ladyës nyntene

In ryal abite, a ful esy pas,

And after hem com of wemen swich a tras 8

That, sin that God Adam made of erthe,
The thredde part of wemen, ne the ferthe,
Ne wende I nat by possibilitee
Hadden ever in this world y-be;

191

quene

Whan that this balade al y-songen was, Upon the softe and swote grene gras, They setten hem ful softely adoun, By ordre alle in compas, alle enveroun. First sat the god of love, and than this With the whyte coroun, clad in grene; And sithen al the remenant by and by,10 230 As they were of degree,11 ful curteisly; Ne nat a word was spoken in the place The mountance of a furlong-wey of space.12 I, lening faste by under a bente,18 Abood, to knowen what this peple mente, As stille as any stoon; til at the laste, The god of love on me his eye caste, And seyde, 'Who resteth ther?' and I answerde

Un-to his axing, whan that I him herde, And seyde, 'Sir, hit am I'; and cam him

And salued him. Quod he, 'What dostow heer

In my presence, and that so boldely? For it were better worthy, trewely, A werm to comen in my sight than thou.' 'And why, sir,' quod I, ‘and hit lyke yow?'

'For thou,' quod he, 'art ther-to nothing able.14

My servaunts been alle wyse and honourable.

Thou art my mortal fo, and me warreyest,16 And of myne olde servaunts thou misseyest, And binderest hem, with thy translacioun, And lettest 16 folk to han devocioun

8 Hypermnestra. 9 Ariadne.

251

10 alongside.

11 according to rank. 12 The amount of time it takes to go a furlong. 13 little hill. 14 suitable. 15 makest war upon. 16 dost hinder.