Lydgate's Troy Book :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Here lyth Teutran þe kyng, dout[e]les,
Whilom slawe of cruel Achilles,
Þat his septre and þe regalie
Holy ȝaf, whiche no man may denye,
To Thelefus, sone of Hercules,
Whiche in his tombe resteþ now in pes.”
Whan þis parformyd was in euery þing,
And Thelefus was crowned in-to kyng,
And hiȝe and low, al be on assent,
Hadde openly in a parlement
Made feith to hym and y-don homage
Lik to her degrees, as þei wern of age,
And with hool hert, in al þer best entent,
Be othe assurid and be sacrament,
As trew[e] liges reseived hym for kyng,
Þan Achilles, with-oute more tariyng,
Whan al was sette in pes & gouernaunce,
With-oute gruchyng or any variaunce,
To her schippes anoon he made carie
Euery þing þat was necessarie
To þe Grekis, corn, frute, and vitaille,
Flesche or fysche, or what þat myȝt availle
To hosteyng, or helpe hem in her nede—
Doun to þe see al he dide lede,
Fully her vessel for to stuf & lade.
And Thelefus after þis he made
Stille in þe boundis of his regioun
For to abide, for þis conclusioun:
Þat þoruȝ his helpe & his dilligence,
Besynes and discret prouidence,
Ageyn al meschef and al skarscite,
Whan þei nede, he myȝt her socour be—
Al-be þat he, liche as seith Guydo,

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With Achilles ful fayn wolde haue go;
But he abod, sothly for þe beste,
Be bond assured fully and beheste
In euery þing Grekis to releue.
And þan in haste Achilles toke his leue
Of Thelefus, and gan anon to saille,
Alle his schippes stuffid wiþ vitaille,
Toward Grekis, as made is mencioun;
And in schort tyme he at Tenedoun
Aryued is, and taken hath þe grounde
With alle his knyȝtis, boþe heil & sounde.
And aftir þis, to Agamenoun
He made first ful relacioun
Of his expleyt, lik as it was falle,
In þe presence of his lordis alle,
Sitting enviroun many worþi knyȝt.
And first, in Messa, he telleþ of þe fiȝt,
Whan þei entre, & of her wolcommyng;
And ceriously, he tolde eke of þe kyng
Þat Teutran hiȝt, & pleinly also how
Achilles amyd þe felde hym slowe,
And or his deth, how he of hool entent
Fully ordeyned in his testament
Thelefus also to ben his heyr.
Al þis he tolde, & eke of his repeire
Vn-to þe se, and eke of þe vitaille,
And Thelefus, how he wil nat faille
To senden hem al þat may hem plese—
Of whiche þing þe Grekis in gret ese
Were brouȝt of hert, & lyke wonder wel,
Whan Achilles had tolde hem euerydel,
And gretly preise his hiȝe prouidence,
His manhod boþe, & his sapience,
In his oute-beyng þat he bare hym so.
And aftir þis Achilles is go
To his loggyng, a litel þer be-syde,
Where his knyȝtes vp-on hym abyde,

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Myrundones, ful glad of his commyng,
And hym reseyue as longeþ to a kyng,
Where he a-bood & restid hym a while.
But for Guydo declineþ here his stile
From þe Grekis to hem of Troye toun,
I muste also make digressioun,
Of myn auctor þe steppis for to sewe,
Like as it is conuenient & dewe
To my mater, sith he is my guyde,
And for a while Grekis sette a-side,
And reherse how Dares Frigius
In Troye boke declareth vn-to vs,
And ceriously maketh mensioun
Of þe lordis þat cam to Troye toun
To helpe hem manly in her diffence,
Ageyn Grekis to make resistence
With ordinaunce of many diuerce þinges—
Þer cam to hem erlis, dukis, kynges,
As in Dares pleinly is made mynde,
Redeth his boke & þer ȝe may it fynde.