What sholde I lenger,’ quod he,’ do yow dwelle?’
He rong hem out a proces lyk a belle, 1615
Up-on hir of, that highte Poliphete,
So hëynous, that men mighte on it spete.
And Poliphete they gonnen thus to warien,
‘An-honged be swich oon, were he my brother; 1620
And so he shal, for it ne may not varien.’
What sholde I lenger in this tale tarien?
Pleynly, alle at ones, they hir highten,
To been hir helpe in al that ever they mighten.
Woot ought my lord, my brother, this matere,
I mene, Ector? or woot it Troilus?’
He seyde, ‘ye, but wole ye now me here?
Me thinketh this, sith Troilus is here,
It were good, if that ye wolde assente, 1630
She tolde hir-self him al this, er she wente.
By cause, lo, that she a lady is;
And, by your leve, I wol but right in sterte,
And do-yow wite, and that anoon, y-wis, 1635
If that he slepe, or wole ought here of this.’
And in he lepte, and seyde him in his ere,
‘God have thy soule, y-brought have I thy bere!’
And Pandarus with-oute rekeninge, 1640
Out wente anoon t’ Eleyne and Deiphebus,
And seyde hem, ‘so there be no taryinge,
Ne more pres, he wol wel that ye bringe
Crisëyda, my lady, that is here;
And as he may enduren, he wole here. 1645
And fewe folk may lightly make it warm;
Now loketh ye, (for I wol have no wyte,
To bringe in prees that mighte doon him harm
Or him disesen, for my bettre arm), 1650
Wher it be bet she byde til eft-sones;
Now loketh ye, that knowen what to doon is.
That no wight in ne wente but ye tweye
But it were I, for I can, in a throwe, 1655
Reherce hir cas, unlyk that she can seye;
And after this, she may him ones preye
To ben good lord, in short, and take hir leve;
This may not muchel of his ese him reve.
His ese, which that him thar nought for yow;
Eek other thing, that toucheth not to here,
He wol me telle, I woot it wel right now,
That secret is, and for the tounes prow,’
And they, that no-thing knewe of this entente, 1665
With-oute more, to Troilus in they wente.
Gan him saluwe, and womanly to pleye,
And seyde, ‘ywis, ye moste alweyes aryse!
Now fayre brother, beth al hool, I preye!’
And gan hir arm right over his sholder leye, 1671
And him with al hir wit to recomforte;
As she best coude, she gan him to disporte.
My dere brother Deiphebus, and I, 1675
For love of god, and so doth Pandare eke,
To been good lord and freend, right hertely,
Un-to Criseyde, which that certeinly
Receyveth wrong, as woot wel here Pandare,
That can hir cas wel bet than I declare.’
And al hir cas reherce, and that anoon;
Whan it was seyd, sone after, in a whyle,
Quod Troilus, ‘as sone as I may goon,
I wol right fayn with al my might ben oon, 1685
Have god my trouthe, hir cause to sustene.’
‘Good thrift have ye,’ quod Eleyne the quene.
That she may take hir leve, er that she go?’
‘Or elles god for- bede, tho quod he, 1690
‘If that she vouche sauf for to do so.’
And with that word quod Troilus, ‘ye two,
Deiphebus, and my suster leef and dere,
To yow have I to speke of o matere,
And fond, as hap was, at his beddes heed,
The copie of a tretis and a lettre,
That Ector hadde him sent to axen reed,
If swich a man was worthy to ben deed,
Woot I nought who; but in a grisly wyse
He preyede hem anoon on it avyse. 1701
In ernest greet; so dide Eleyne the quene;
And rominge outward, fast it gan biholde,
Downward a steyre, in-to an herber grene. 1705
This ilke thing they redden hem bi- twene;
And largely, the mountaunce of an houre,
They gonne on it to reden and to poure.
To Pandarus, that gan ful faste prye 1710
That al was wel,
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