THE ROUTHE FOR SUCHE UNTROUTHE. What that she wrote or that she dyde; But, weleaway! the harme, the 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, 1 Trouble. 15 380 390 400 8 Pass. The following examples of untre lovers are taken from the Heroides, epistles ii., iii., v., vi, ix., x., xi. Neck. 5 Ariadne. 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, 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 43C 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. Æneid, v., end Which that the stere, or he toke kepe, And also sawgh I how Cybile1 On Virgile or in Claudian,2 8 Or Daunte, that hit telle kan. Tho sawgh I grave al the aryvayle That Eneas had in Itayle ; And with kynge Latyne hys tretee, Was at hymselfe, and eke hys knyghtis, For al hir sleight and hir compas, 1 The Sibyl of Cumæ. 440 450 460 Eneid, vi. 2 Claudius Claudianus wrote, in the fourth century, De Raptu Proserpina. 3 Cf. Inferno. Kg of the Rutulians laughter of Latinus. Eneid, x. 76, 616; xii. 926. 5 Lavinia, For Jupiter tooke of hym cure,1 2 The whiche I prey alwey save us, In this noble temple thus, "A, lorde !" thought I, "that madest us, As I saugh grave in this chirche ; When I oute at the dores came, I faste aboute me behelde. Ne no maner creature, 1 Care. * Ease. • Anywhere. • Plowed. form. 470 480 490 To advise or in THE SECOND BOOK. "O Criste," thought I, "that art in blysse, Fro fantome and illusioun Me save!" and with devocioun Myn eyen to the hevene I caste. Thoo was I war at the laste, 19 500 But, this as soothe as deth certeyne, Hyt was of golde, and shone so bryght, But-if the hevene hadde ywonne So shon the egles fetheres bryghte,' And somewhat dounwarde gan hyt lyghte. SECOND BOOK. Proem. Now herkeneth every maner man, That Englissh understonde kan, 8 So sely an avisyoun, That Isaye ne Cipioun,* 1 Cf. Purgatorio, ix. 19; also Metamorphoses, x. 155. Gany medes was carried off by Jove in the form of an eagle. 2 Lines 504107 are not in the MSS. Happy Cf. Parlement of Foules, 1. 31. |