University of Virginia Library

How Kyng Vlixes vnderstode the maleys of Thelamon, and of þe great stryff, and [how] Aiax was slayn.

Vlixes þanne, in his aduertence
Conceived hath þe grete inpacience
Of Thelamoun, and þe grete envie,
Þe fervent rancour & malencolie,
For-bar hym first, be ful gret avis,
As he þat was ful prudent & ful wys,
And þouȝt he wolde make þer-of no Iape,
By no word for haste þat shuld eskape,
Nouþer by noon vnbridled contenaunce
Outward conceived in his dalyaunce,
And abraiding, wiþ a stable face,
“Sirs,” quod he, “so I may haue grace,
Vnder support of ȝoure hiȝe presence,
Þat my tale may haue audience,
I nouþer am in doute nor in drede,
Of equite þat I shal possede
Palladioun duringe my lives day,
Maugre þe myȝt of who[-so] þat seie nay.
For ȝif ȝe list of resoun for to se,
At þe sege leide first to þis cite
I haue my silfe in double wyse aquit,
As wel by knyȝthod, sothly, as by wit,
And þoruȝ my counseil & my besy cure
Ben oft cause of her discounfeture,
Ay dilligent to ȝoure avauntage,
Wrouȝt & compassid [vn-]to her damage,
Þat to þis day, in soth, ne hadde I be,
Þei had floured in her felicite,
In her force contuned and welfare.
And ȝif þat I þe trouþe shal nat spare,
Ȝif it be dempt & loked of resoun,
I was most cause of her confusioun,
Who-so-euere ageyn[e]s it replie!
How ofte went I on embassatrie,
With importable costis & dispense,
Þe trete ay concludinge in sentence
To þe forþering of ȝoure entencioun,
And disencrese & hindringe of þe toun!
And whan I sawe oþer mene noon,
In myn avis and wittis euerychon,
By oure force þe cite for to wynne
While þei hadde þe relik hem with-Inne,
Þer-vp-on so sotilly y wrouȝt,
Þat vn-to ȝow Palladyoun I brouȝt,—
Whiche Thelamoun, þat of malis stryveth,
Of olde hatrede vn-to my gilt ascriveþ
Hooly þis þing þat I haue for ȝow wrouȝt.
But ȝe, þat ben so prudent in ȝoure þouȝt,
Aduerteth wisly and an ende maketh,
And in ȝoure hond þis quarel fully takeþ,
Palladyoun iustly to prouyde,
And al favour late be leide a-side
Sith al þis þing ȝe platly vnderstonde,
And lete vs boþe to ȝoure demynge stonde
By oon assent, how-so þe mater wende—
Lo, here is al—my tale is at an ende.”
Þanne Thelamoun, in Ire ful feruent,
Of [inward] hate made inpacient,
And of envie inwardly amevid,
Vlixes hath [de]spitously reprevid,
Only of malis and of hiȝe disdeyn;
And Vlixes rebukyng him ageyn
Ful bitterly, with-oute abood anoon,—
And so þei tweyne made ful mortal foon
In þe presence of Agamenoun.
But furiously Aiax Thelamoun,
Of malencolie pale & no þing red,
Þratte Vlixes þat he shal be ded
Of his hondis—he shuld it nat eschewe!
And Grekes þo, al rancour to remewe,
Þis quarel putte in arbitracioun
Of Menelay and Agamenoun,
Þat caused after a ful mortal strif:
For, be sentence anoon diffinitif,
Þei putte Vlixes in possessioun
Perpetuelly of Palladyoun,
With hym confermyng to abide stable.
And cause why þei were favourable
To Vlixes, lyche as Guydo writ,
Was for þat he so goodly hath him quit
Vn-to Eleyne at getyng of þe toun,
Beynge in cause of hir saluacioun,
Dispeired and of hir lyf in drede,
Grekis willinge to haue had hir dede.
But þoruȝ his prudent mediacioun,
Maugre þe myȝt of þis Thelamoun,
He hath þe quene fro [þe] deth preservid,
Al-be þat she hadde it wel deseruyd,
As Grekis seide in þeir oppinioun.
And þus diffrauded of Palladyoun,
As ȝe haue herde, was þis worþi knyȝt,
For al his manhod & his grete myȝt;
Wher-þoruȝ þer gan in his hert[e] brede
Passinge envie & ful gret hatrede,
And þouȝt he wolde avengid be som day
Vp-on Vlixes and on Menelay,
And eke also vp-on Agamenoun;
And oute he brak like a wode lyoun,
With his knyȝtes aboute him þat wer stronge,
And seide, pleinly, of þis grete wronge,
For to be ded, he wolde avenged be,
And specially on þis ilke þre.
And þer-with-al, furious and wroth,
Tornynge his bak oute anon he goth,
In herte fret with ful mortal tene,
With many Greke his quarel to sustene,
Þat in herte sore gan disdeyne
Ageyn Vlixes and þe toþer tweyne.
But þei ful war, what-so-euere falle,
Her knyȝtes made aboute hem for to calle,
And with gret stuf, wher þei wake or slepe,
To waite on hem & manly for to kepe
With ful good wache enviroun al þe cloos.
But ful erly or þe sonne aroos,
Þis worþi Aiax in his bed vp-riȝt
I-mordrid was, þe silue same nyȝt,
And al be-bled in þe morwe founde,
On pecis hewe with many mortal wounde,—
Þat for þis þing, cruel and horrible,
To God & man lothsom & odyble,
Ful many Greke þat woful morwe wep
To sen a knyȝt so mordrid in his slep,
Þat þe cri and þe noise ran
Þoruȝ-oute þe hoste anon fro man to man.
And for constreint of þis foule dede,
Eueryche of hem felt his herte blede,
Ful desirous to make an ordinaunce
On þis mordre for to do vengaunce,
Havinge þer-of gret suspecioun
To Menelay and Agamenoun,
But to Vlixes moste in special,
By comoun vois to him arettinge al,—
Þe foule fame he myȝt[e] nat asterte.
But Pirrus moste toke þis þing at herte,
Makynge a vowe, furious and wood,
To be vengid, pleynly, on þe blood
Of Thelamoun, vp-on Vlixes hed,
Hym manascinge þat he shal be ded,
So sore on hym freting was þe sorwe.
But Vlixes erly on a morwe,
For drede of Pirrus taken hath þe se,
And with his shippes fast[e] gan to fle.
But or he went, platly, as I rede,
Palladyoun he toke to Dyomede,
Hauynge in herte a ful gret remors.
And Pirrus þanne taken hath þe cors
Of Thelamoun, for loue in special,
And dide make a flawme funeral,
Large & gret, of colis hoot & rede;
And amyddes þe feruent firy glede,
Ful many Greke stondynge to biholde,
He let hit brenne in-to asshes colde.
And, in þe story after as Is tolde,
He closed hem in an vrne of golde
Ful reuerently, & after hath it shet;
And þer-vp-on he hath þe prent [y-]set
Of his armys, coriously y-graue,
From al meschef þe asshes for to saue,
And sent hem home by gret affeccioun
To be conserued in þe regioun
Where he was kyng while he was a-lyue;
And euery þing was parformed blive,
After þe rytes in þo daies vsid.
And euere in oon Pirrus hath y-mvsid
Vp-on þe mordre traitourly y-wrouȝt,
And caste it shulde be ful dere abouȝt,
Þe pitous deth of þis Thelamoun,
Hauynge ay herte to Agamenoun,
And hadde eke suspect olde Menelay,—
Þat in a-wait eche for oþer lay,
Makynge hem silfe with her knyȝtes strong,
To trien oute who hath riȝt or wrong:
For Pirrus nolde lete it liȝtly goon.
And þus þei wern maked mortal foon,
Þis ilke þre, platly, to þe deth,
Þoruȝ false envie whiche her hertes sleth.
And while þei wern among hem silfe vntrewe,
Strif vp-on strif gan euery day renewe,
And debatis for to mvltiplie,
Til Anthenor gan þis þing espie,
And, by his wisdam, to stinten al disdeyn
Hem recounciled vn-to pes ageyn,
And caused hem to accorde in al,
And after made a feste ful royal,
Beseching hem ful lowly, alle þre,
To graunten hym þer-at for to be,
Of gentilnesse, þat Grekis myȝt echon
Outward conceive þat þei were al oon.
And to þis feste he manly made calle,
As writ Guydo, þe worþi Grekis alle—
Of hiȝe nor lowe was noon excepcioun.
But ȝif I shulde make descripcioun,
How þe lordes and estates sete,
Of sondry coursis, & þe ȝiftes grete
Þat Anthenor ȝaf on euery side,
It were to longe to ȝou for to abide,
Þer was of plente so gret suffisaunce.
And, I finde, þei fil in daliaunce,
Sittinge at mete, to speken of Enee,
Brouȝte In of hate & of enmyte,
And of disdeyn, shortly in sentence,—
Þei putte on him many grete offence,
And specially, in her hasti tene,
Whilom how he conceiled Policene,
And by his sleiȝte made hir be withdraw,
Which was in cause Achilles was slawe—
Shortly concluding, by oon oppinioun,
His final exile oute of Troie toun,
Not-with-stondinge þe graunt & liberte
Ȝoven to hym tabide in þe cyte,
Al-so longe as hym list deuise.
But Grekis han annullid his fraunchise,
Fro þe lowest vp on-to þe meste,
Þat wern present at þis hiȝe feste;
But dout[e]les I can nat wel espie
By whom was wrouȝt þis conspiracie,
In Troie boke I finde can no more,
Saue þat hym silfe witte it Anthenor—
I-liche false boþe in o degre,
As ȝe haue herd, betraisshinge þe cite,
Liche as þei hadde spronge out of o rote!
And whan he knewe þer was noon oþer bote,
Þis Eneas his dome to modifie,
He preied hem of her curtesie,
At þe lest for to graunte him grace
Foure monþes, þat he myȝt haue space
To make his stuf & his apparaille,
And hym silf to purueie of vitaille,—
Eke to graunte hym þat þei wold assent
Þilke shippes þat with Paris went
To Cytheroun, vn-to þat temple olde,
Þat wern in noumbre two & twenti tolde.
And with ful graunt of his peticioun,
He is retourned home to Troye toun,
Triste and heuy to sen & beholde
Þe waste cite with his wallis olde,
And for sorwe felt his herte blede,
With-Inne hym silfe whanne he takeþ hede
And remembrid in his aduertence
Þe false tresoun and þe grete offence
By hym compassid to þe toun a-forn,
And how þat he so sodeinly hath lorn
Þe grace of Grekes, & stood discounsolat,
Þat whilom was of so gret estate,
Now in his herte fully dissepeired,
Þat he vnwarly was so euele appaired
Vn-to Grekis behinden at his bak,
Beinge vngilti and with-outen lak;
And be whom he koude nat wel deme,
Saue be signes, as it dide seme,
Þat Anthenor was most for to wyte,
And caste pleinly þat he wolde hym quyte.