And in a cave how that she was broghte,
And al the thinge that Tereus hath wroghte,
She wave hyt wel, and wrote the story above,
How she was served for hire suster love.
And to a knave a rynge she yaf anoon,
And prayed hym by signes for to goon

2365

Unto the queene, and beren hire that clothe;
And by sygne swore many an othe,

She shulde hym yeve what she geten myghte.

Thys knave anoon unto the queene hym dyghte, 2370 And toke hit hire, and al the maner tolde.

And whanne that Proigne hath this thing beholde,

No worde she spak for sorwe and eke for rage,
But feyned hire to goon on pilgrymage
To Bachus temple. And in a lytel stounde
Hire dombe suster syttynge hath she founde
Wepynge in the castel hire selfe allone.
Allas, the woo, constreynte, and the mone
That Proigne upon hire dombe suster maketh!
In armes everych of hem other taketh;

2375

2380

And thus I lat hem in hire sorwe dwelle.

The remnaunt ys no charge for to telle,

2363. wave, wove.

2365. knave, servant;-yaf, gave.

2370. dyghte, addressed.

2371. toke, delivered; see note on take, v. 1133.

2375. stounde, while.

2378. constreynte, anguish, torture.

2382. charge, a load, a burden, business of weight; no charge,

of no consequence.

"Here dremes schul not now be told of me;

Ful were here heedes of fumosité,

That causeth drem, of which ther is no charge."-C. T. 10673.

"Of that no charge."-C. T. 12677.

i. e., no matter.

"I passe al that which chargeth not to seie."

Troylus and Cryseyde, lib. 3, st. 119.

i. e., which it matters not to say.

For this is al and somme, thus was she served,
That never harme agilte ne deserved

Unto thys cruelle man, that she of wyste.
Ye may bewar of men yif that yow lyste.
For al be that he wol not for the shame
Doon as Tereus, to lese hys name,

2385

Ne serve yow as a morderere or a knave,

Ful lytel while shul ye trewe hym have.

2390

That wol I seyne, al were he nowe my brother,
But hit so be that he may have another.

EXPLICIT LEGENDA PHILOMENE.

INCIPIT LEGENDA PHILLIS.

B

Y preve, as wel as by auctorite,

That wikked fruite cometh of wikked tree,

2395

That may ye fynde yf that hyt liketh yow.
But for thys ende I speke thys as now,
To telle yow of fals Demophoon.

In love a falser herde I never noon,

But hit were hys fader Theseus;

God for hys grace fro suche oon kepe us!

2400

Thus these wymmen prayen that hit here;
Now to theffect turne I of my matere.

2383. al and somme, the whole thing.

Incipit legenda Phillis: Here beginneth the legend of Phyllis. This legend is taken from Ovid's Heroides, ii., which Chaucer follows, in many places, literally.

2393. by auctorite: "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit."-Matt. vii. 17.

2402. theffect of my matere, the main matter that I have in hand.

Distroyed is of Troye the citee;

This Demophoon come saylyng in the see

Towarde Athenes to hys paleys large.

2405

With hym come many a shippe, and many a barge

Ful of folke, of whiche full many oon

Ys wounded sore, and seke, and woo begoon,

And they han at the sege longe ylayne.

Behynde him come a wynde and eke a rayne,

2410

That shofe so sore, hys sayle myghte not stonde.

Hym were lever than al the world a-londe,

So hunteth hym the tempest to and fro!

So derke hyt was, he kouthe no wher go,
And with a wawe brosten was hys stere.
His shippe was rent so lowe, in suche manere,
That carpenter koude hit not amende.
The see by nyghte as any torche brende
For wode, and posseth hym up and doune ;
Til Neptune hath of hym compassyoune,
And Thetis, Chorus, Triton, and they alle,
And maden him upon a londe to falle,
Wherof that Phillis lady was and queene,
Lycurgus doghter, fayrer on to seene,

2411. shofe, past tense of shove, pushed, drove.

2415

2420

2415. wawe, wave;-brosten, past tense of breste, bursted, broken; -stere, rudder.

2418. brende, past tense of brenne, burned.

2419. for wode, by reason of its fury; see note on for deyntee, v. 206;-posseth, pusheth.

2421. Triton is omitted in MS. Fairfax 16.-Bell.

2424. Lycurgus. Instead of Lycurgus the Fairfax MS. reads Bygurgus, and MS. Arch. Seld. B. 24, Lugurgus.—Bell;—fayrer on to seene, fairer to look on:

"Emelie, that fairer was to seene

Than is the lilie on hire stalkes grene."-C. T. 1037.

"Sche was wel more blisful on to see

Than is the newe perjonette tree."-C. T. 3247.

Chaucer frequently uses the verb see with on, in the sense of to look on, and sometimes without on, in the same sense.

Thanne is the floure ageyn the bryghte sonne.
Unneth ys Demophoon to londe ywonne,
Wayke and eke wery, and his folke forpyned
Of werynesse, and also enfamyned,
And to the dethe he was almoste ydreven,
Hys wyse folke conseyle han hym yeven,
To seken helpe and socour of the queene,
And loken what hys grace myghte bene,
And make in that londe somme chevissaunce,
And kepen hym fro woo and fro myschaunce.

2425

2430

2426. unneth, scarcely; ys to londe ywonne, i. e., has gained or reached land.

2427. wayke, weak ;-forpyned, pined, wasted away; for- is here intensive.

"He was not pale as a for-pyned goost.

A fat swan loved he best of eny roost."-C. T. 205.

"In derknes and orrible and strong prisoun

This seven yeer hath seten Palamon,

Forpyned, what for woo and for destresse."-C. T. 1455.

"For-pynede sherewe! wiltow or neltow,

We wol have oure wille of thi flour and of thi fiesshe,
Fecche whanne us liketh; and maken us murye thermyde,
Maugree thi chekes."-Piers Ploughman, 4107.

"But, through long anguish and selfe-murd'ring thought,
He was so wasted and forpined quight,

That all his substance was consum'd to nought,

And nothing left but like an aery spright."

2428. enfamyned, famished.

2430. yeven, given.

Faerie Queene, 3, 10, 57.

2433. chevissaunce; an agreement for borrowing money. "It appears sometimes to mean gain or booty, and is translated by providencia in Pr. Parv."-Halliwell.

"This marchaund, whan that ended was the faire,

To Seynt Denys he gan for to repeire,

And with his wif he maketh fest and cheere,

And tellith hir that chaffar is so deere,

That needes most he make a chevisaunce,

For he was bounde in a reconisaunce,

To paye twenty thousand scheldes anoon."-C. T. 14740.

For seke he was, and almoste at the dethe;
Unneth myghte he speke, or drawe brethe;
And lyeth in Rhodopeya hym for to reste.

2435

Whanne he may walke, hym thoghte hit was the beste Unto the countree to seken for socoure.

Men knewe hym wele and dide hym honoure;

2440

For at Athenes duke and lorde was he,

As Theseus hys fader hath ybe,
That in hys tyme was grete of renoun,
No man so grete in al hys regioun ;
And lyke hys fader of face and of stature,
And fals of love; hyt come hym of nature,
As dothe the fox Renarde, the foxes sone;
Of kynde he koude hys olde fadres wone
Withoute lore, as kan a drake swymme

2445

Whanne hit ys kaught and caried to the brymme. 2450

"I have lent lordes and ladies my chaffare,

And ben hire brocour after, and bought it myselve;
Eschaunges and chevysaunces with swich chaffare I dele,

And lene folk that lese wole a lippe at every noble."

Piers Ploughman, 2969.

For Spenser's uses of the word, see Shepheards Calender, April, 143, May, 92; Faerie Queene, 2, 9, 8; 3, 7, 45; 3, 11, 24.

2436. unneth, uneasily, with difficulty.

2437. Rhodopeya, Rhodope.

2438. hym thoghte, it seemed to him.

2447. Renarde; "Reynard, which with us is a duplicate for fox, while in the French renard has quite excluded the older volpils, was originally not the name of a kind, but the proper name of the foxhero, the vulpine Ulysses, in that famous beast-epic of the middle ages, Reineke Fuchs; the immense popularity of which we gather from many evidences, from none more clearly than from this. Chanticleer is in like manner the proper name of the cock, and Bruin of the bear in the same poem."- Trench's English Language, Past and Present.

2448. of kynde, by nature, naturally;-koude, past tense of conne, knew ;-wone, custom, usage.

2449. lore, instruction.

2450. brymme, the water's edgc.