Excerpt
BOOK I. Incipit Liber Primus The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen, 1That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,In lovinge, how his aventures fellenFro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye,My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye. 5Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyteThise woful vers, that wepen as I wryte!To thee clepe I, thou goddesse of torment,Thou cruel Furie, sorwing ever in peyne;Help me, that am the sorwful instrument 10That helpeth lovers, as I can, to pleyne!For wel sit it, the sothe for to seyne,A woful wight to han a drery fere,And, to a sorwful tale, a sory chere.For I, that god of Loves servaunts serve, 15Ne dar to Love, for myn unlyklinesse,Preyen for speed, al sholde I therfor sterve,So fer am I fro his help in derknesse;But nathelees, if this may doon gladnesseTo any lover, and his cause avayle, 20Have he my thank, and myn be this travayle!But ye loveres, that bathen in gladnesse,If any drope of pitee in yow be,Remembreth yow on passed hevinesseThat ye han felt, and on the adversitee 25Of othere folk, and thenketh how that yeHan felt that Love dorste yow displese;Or ye han wonne hym with to greet an ese.And preyeth for hem that ben in the casOf Troilus, as ye may after here, 30That love hem bringe in hevene to solas,And eek for me preyeth to god so dere,That I have might to shewe, in som manere,Swich peyne and wo as Loves folk endure,In Troilus unsely aventure. 35And biddeth eek for hem that been despeyredIn love, that never nil recovered be,And eek for hem that falsly been apeyredThorugh wikked tonges, be it he or she;Thus biddeth god, for his benignitee, 40So graunte hem sone out of this world to pace,That been despeyred out of Loves grace.And biddeth eek for hem that been at ese,That god hem graunte ay good perseveraunce,And sende hem might hir ladies so to plese, 45That it to Love be worship and plesaunce.For so hope I my soule best avaunce,To preye for hem that Loves servaunts be,And wryte hir wo, and live in charitee.And for to have of hem compassioun 50As though I were hir owene brother dere.Now herkeneth with a gode entencioun,For now wol I gon streight to my matere,In whiche ye may the double sorwes hereOf Troilus, in loving of Criseyde, 55And how that she forsook him er she deyde.It is wel wist, how that the Grekes strongeIn armes with a thousand shippes wenteTo Troyewardes, and the citee longeAssegeden neigh ten yeer er they stente, 60And, in diverse wyse and oon entente,The ravisshing to wreken of Eleyne,By Paris doon, they wroughten al hir peyne.Now fil it so, that in the toun ther wasDwellinge a lord of greet auctoritee, 65A gret devyn that cleped was Calkas,That in science so expert was, that heKnew wel that Troye sholde destroyed be,By answere of his god, that highte thus,Daun Phebus or Apollo Delphicus. 70So whan this Calkas knew by calculinge,And eek by answere of this Appollo,That Grekes sholden swich a peple bringe,Thorugh which that Troye moste been for-do,He caste anoon out of the toun to go; 75For wel wiste he, by sort, that Troye sholdeDestroyed ben, ye, wolde who-so nolde....