University of Virginia Library

Hyt fell thus by fortune, þe fairest of þe yere
Was past to the point of the pale wintur;
Heruest, with the heite & the high sun,
Was comyn into colde with a course low;
Trees, thurgh tempestes, tynde hade þere leues;
And briddes abatid of hor brem songe;
The wynde of the west wackenet aboue,
Blowyng full bremly o the brode ythes;
The clere aire ouercast with cloudys full thicke,
With mystes full merke mynget with showres;
fflodes were felle thurgh fallyng of Rayne,
And wintur vp wacknet with his wete aire.
The gret nauy of the grekes & the gay kynges,
Were put in a purpos to pas fro the toune.
Sore longit þo lordis hor londys to se,
And dissiret full depely, doutyng no wedur;
Þai counted no course of the cold stormys,
Ne the perellis to passe of the pale windes.
Hit happit hom full hard in a hond qwile,
And mony of þo mighty to misse of hor purpos.
Thus tho lordes in hor longyng laghton þe watur,
Shotton into ship mong shene knightes,
With the tresowre of þe toune, þai token before,
Relikes full Rife, & miche ranke godes.
Clere was the course of the cold flodis,
And the firmament faire as fell for the wintur.
Thai past on the pale se, puld vp hor sailes,
Hadyn bir at þere backe, and the bonke leuyt.
ffoure dayes by-dene, & hor du nyghtis,
ffull soundly þai sailed with seasonable windes.
The fyft day fuersly, fell at the none,
Sodonly the softe winde vnsoberly blew;
A myste & a merkenes myngit to-gedur;
A thoner and a thicke rayne þrublet in the skewes,
With an ugsom noise, noy for to here;
All flasshet in a ffire the firmament ouer;
Was no light but a laite, þat launchit aboue;
Hit skirmyt in the skewes with a skyre low,
Thurgh the claterand clowdes clos to the heuyn,
As the welkyn shuld walt for wodenes of hete.
With blastes full bigge of the breme wyndes,
Walt vp the waghes vpon wan hilles:
Stith was the storme, stird all the shippes,
Hoppit on hegh with heste of the fflodes.
The sea was vnsober, sondrit the nauy;
Walt ouer waghes, & no way held;
Depertid the pepull, pyne to be-hold,
In costes vnkowthe; cut down þere sailes,
Ropis alto rochit, rent vp the hacches;
Topcastell ouerturnyt, takelles were lost.
The night come onone, noye was the more!
All the company cleane of the kyng Telamon,
With þere shippes full shene, & þe shire godis,
Were brent in the bre with the breme lowe
Of the leymonde laite, þat launchit fro heuyn:
And euyn drownet in the depe Dukes & other!

Oelius Aiax, as aunter befelle,
Was stad in the storme with the stith windes,
With his shippes full shene and the shire godes:
Thrifty and þriuaund, thretty and two
There were brent on the buerne with the breme low,
And all the freikes in the flode floterand aboue.
Hym-seluyn in the sea sonkyn belyue,
Swalprit & swam with swyngyng of armys:
Ȝet he launchet to londe, & his lyf hade,
Bare of his body, bret full of water.
In the Slober & the sluche slongyn to londe,
There he lay, if hym list, the long night ouer,
Till the derke was done & the day sprang.
And than wonen of waghes, with wo as þai might,
Þare sum of his sort, þat soght were to lond,
Laited þere lord on the laund syde,
If hit fell (hym) by fortune the flodes to passe.
Þan found þai the freike in the fome lye,
And comford hym kyndly, as þere kyd lord:
With worchip & wordes wan hym to fote,
Bothe failet hym the fode and the fyne clothes.
Thus þere goddes with gremy with þe grekes fore,
Mighty Myner[v]a, of malis full grete,
ffor Telamon, in tene, tid for to pull
Cassandra the cleane out of hir cloise temple.
Thus hit fell hom by fortune of a foule ende,
ffor greuyng þere goddes in hor gret yre.
Oft-sythes men sayn, & sene is of olde,
Þat all a company is cumbrit for a cursed shrewe.
Now of kynges, & knightes, & othir kyd dukes,
Þat past of this perell in pes to þere londes,
I will tell how hom tyde, while I tyme haue;
And how fortune, full fell, forget þere end.