So whan she saw al utterly,
That he wolde hir of trouthe fayle,
And wende fro hir to Itayle,
She gan to wringe hir hondes two.
"Allas!" quod she, "what me ys wo!
Allas! is every man thus untrewe,
That every yere wolde have a newe,
Yf hit so longe tyme dure?
Or elles three, peraventure?1

As thus of oon he wolde have fame
In magnyfying of hys name;
Another for frendshippe, seyth he;
And yett ther shal the thridde be,
That shal be take for delyte,
Loo, or for synguler profite."

In suche wordes gan to pleyne

Dydo of hir grete peyne,

As me mette redely;

None other auttour alegge I.2

"Allas!" quod she, "my swete herte, Have pitee on my sorwes smerte,

And slee me not! goo noght awey!" "O woful Dido, weleaway!"

Quod she to hir selfe thoo.

"O Eneas! what wol ye doo?

300

310

O, that your love, ne your bonde,

That ye han sworne with your ryght honde,
Ne my crewel deth," quod she,

320

1 A satirical Latin gloss here reads, "Beware, ye innocent women!" 2 Virgil suggests these thoughts of Dido, but the expression of them here is Chaucer's.

"May holde

WIKKE FAME!"

yow stille here with me!

O, haveth of my deth pitee!
Ywys, my dere herte, ye
Knowen ful wel that never yit,
As fer-forth as ever I hadde wytte,
Agylte1 yowe in thoght ne dede.

13

O, have ye men suche godelyhede 2

330

In speche, and never a dele of trouthe?
Allas, that ever hadde routhe

Any woman on any man!

Now see I wel, and telle kan,

We wrechched wymmen konne noon arte;
For certeyne, for the more parte,

Thus we be served everychone.

How sore that ye men konne grone,
Anoon as we have yow receyved,
Certeinly we ben deceyved;

For, though your love laste a sesoun,
Wayte upon the conclusyoun,
And eke how that ye determynen,
And for the more part diffynen.

"O, weleawey that I was borne !
For thorgh yow is my name lorne,
And al youre actes red and songe
Over al thys londe, on every tonge.
O wikke Fame! for ther nys
Nothinge so swifte, lo, as she is.8
O, sothe ys, every thynge ys wyste,

340

350

1 Offended. 2 Goodliness. 8 Lines 348, 349 are imitated from

the Eneid, iv. 174.

Though hit be kevered with the myste.1
Eke, though I myghte dure ever,
That I have do rekever I never,
That I ne shal be seyde, allas,
Y-shamed be thourgh Eneas,
And that I shal thus juged be,
Loo, ryght as she hath done, now she
Wol doo eftesones, hardely."
Thus seyth the peple prevely."
But that is do nis not to done;

For al hir compleynt ne al hir moone,
Certeynly avayleth hir not a stre.R

And when she wiste sothely he
Was forthe unto his shippes agoon,
She into hir chambre wente anoon,
And called on hir suster Anne,*
And gan her to compleyne thanne ;
And seyde, that she cause was,

360

That she first lovede, alas,

And thus counseylled hir thertoo.

370

But what! when this was seyde and doo,

She rofe hir selfe to the herte,

And dyede thorgh the wounde smerte.
But al the maner how she dyede,
And al the wordes that she seyde,
Who-so to knowe hit hath purpos,
Rede Virgile in Eneydos,
Or the Epistile of Ovyde,

1 Cf. Matt. x. 26. 2 Certainly.

3 Straw. 4 Cf. Eneid, iv. 548.

Stabbed. Eneid, end of book iv.; the Heroides, epistle vii.

THE ROUTHE FOR SUCHE UNTROUTHE.

What that she wrote or that she dyde;
And nor hyt were to longe tendyte,
Be God, I wolde hyt here write.

But, weleaway! the harme, the routhe,
That hath betyd for suche untrouthe,
As men may ofte in bokes rede,
And al day se hyt yet in dede,
That for to thynke hyt a tene1 is.
Loo, Demophon, duke of Athenys,2
How he forswore hym ful falsly,
And trayied Phillis wikkidly,
That kynges doghtre was of Trace,
And falsly gan hys terme pace ;*
And when she wiste that he was fals,
She honge hir selfe ryght be the hals,*
For he had doo hir suche untrouthe;
Loo! was not this a woo and routhe?

Eke lo how fals and reccheles

Was to Breseyda Achilles,

And Paris to Enone;

And Jason to Isiphile;

And eft Jason to Medea;

Ercules to Dyanira ;

For he left her for Iole,

That made hym cache his dethe, parde.

How fals eke was he, Theseus;

That, as the story telleth us,

How he betrayed Adriane ;5

15

380

390

400

1 Trouble. 2 The following examples of untrue lovers are taken from the Heroides, epistles ii., iii., v., vi., ix., x., xi.

Neck. 5 Ariadne.

8 Pass.

The devel be hys soules bane !

For had he lawghed, had he loured,
He moste have be devoured,

Yf Adriane ne had ybe.

And, for she had of hym pite,

She made hym fro the dethe escape,
And he made hir a ful fals jape;
For aftir this, withyn a while,
He lefte hir slepynge in an ile,
Deserte allone, ryght in the se,
And stale away, and lete hir be;
And tooke hir suster Phedra thoo
With him, and gan to shippe goo.
And yet he had yswore to here,
On alle that evere he myghte swere,
That so she saved hym hys lyfe,
He wolde have take hir to hys wife,
For she desirede nothing ellis,

In certeyne, as the booke tellis.

But to excusen Eneas

Fullyche of al his trespas,

The booke seyth1 Mercure, sauns fayle,

Bade hym goo into Itayle,

And leve Auffrikes regioun,

And Dido and hir faire toun.

Thoo sawgh I grave how that to Itayle

Daun Eneas is goo for to assayle;

And how the tempest al began,

And how he lost hys sterisman,2

410

420

430

1 Eneid, iv. 252, etc. 2 The helmsman, Palinurus, was deceived by Somnus, and cast into the sea, the stern being broken off, before reaching the rocks of the Sirens. Eneid, v., end.