Opening the text

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey

General

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Name: Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

P.
Add. thing; _rest_ thinges. 1351. C. Tn. rof. 1352. C. A. right; P. _om.;
rest_ yet (yit). 1353. A. Add. before that; C. F. T. Th. B. byforn or
(byforne er); P. and befor or. 1355. C. A. that; T. Add. doth; _rest om._
1356. C. A[gh]ens; A. A[gh]eynes; Tn. Ayeinste; _rest_ Ayenst. 1357. C. T.
A. Add. make I; _rest_ I make. 1359. C. T. A. P. that; _rest om._ 1360. A.
contrair; P. contrarie; C. T. contrary; _rest_ contrarious. 1363. C. T. A.
P. Add. that; _rest om._ 1366. Tn. P. who; _rest_ who so, _or_ who that.




IV. THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE AND MEDEA.

INCIPIT LEGENDA YSIPHILE ET MEDEE, MARTIRUM.

      PART I. THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE.

  Thou rote of false lovers, duk Iasoun!
  Thou sly devourer and confusioun
  Of gentil-wommen, tender creatures,                                  1370
  Thou madest thy reclaiming and thy lures
  To ladies of thy statly apparaunce,
  And of thy wordes, farced with plesaunce,
  And of thy feyned trouthe and thy manere,
  With thyn obeisaunce and thy humble chere,                           1375
  And with thy counterfeted peyne and wo.
  Ther other falsen oon, thou falsest two!                             (10)
  O! ofte swore thou that thou woldest dye
  For love, whan thou ne feltest maladye
  Save foul delyt, which that thou callest love!                       1380
  If that I live, thy name shal be shove
  In English, that thy sleighte shal be knowe!
  Have at thee, Iasoun! now thyn horn is blowe!
  But certes, hit is bothe routhe and wo
  That love with false loveres werketh so;                             1385
  For they shul have wel better love and chere
  Than he that hath aboght his love ful dere,                          (20)
  Or had in armes many a blody box.
  For ever as tendre a capoun et the fox,
  Thogh he be fals and hath the foul betrayed,                         1390
  As shal the good-man that ther-for hath payed.
  Al have he to the capoun skille and right,
  The false fox wol have his part at night.
  On Iasoun this ensample is wel y-sene
  By Isiphile and Medea the quene.                                     1395
    In Tessalye, as Guido telleth us,
  Ther was a king that highte Pelleus,                                 (30)
  That had a brother, which that highte Eson;
  And, whan for age he mighte unnethes gon,
  He yaf to Pelleus the governing                                      1400
  Of al his regne, and made him lord and king.
  Of which Eson this Iasoun geten was,
  That, in his tyme, in al that lond, ther nas
  Nat swich a famous knight of gentilesse,
  Of freedom, and of strengthe and lustinesse.                         1405
  After his fader deeth, he bar him so
  That ther nas noon that liste been his fo,                           (40)
  But dide him al honour and companye;
  Of which this Pelleus hath greet envye,
  Imagining that Iasoun mighte be                                      1410
  Enhaunsed so, and put in swich degree
  With love of lordes of his regioun,

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey

General

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

P.
Add. thing; _rest_ thinges. 1351. C. Tn. rof. 1352. C. A. right; P. _om.;
rest_ yet (yit). 1353. A. Add. before that; C. F. T. Th. B. byforn or
(byforne er); P. and befor or. 1355. C. A. that; T. Add. doth; _rest om._
1356. C. A[gh]ens; A. A[gh]eynes; Tn. Ayeinste; _rest_ Ayenst. 1357. C. T.
A. Add. make I; _rest_ I make. 1359. C. T. A. P. that; _rest om._ 1360. A.
contrair; P. contrarie; C. T. contrary; _rest_ contrarious. 1363. C. T. A.
P. Add. that; _rest om._ 1366. Tn. P. who; _rest_ who so, _or_ who that.




IV. THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE AND MEDEA.

INCIPIT LEGENDA YSIPHILE ET MEDEE, MARTIRUM.

      PART I. THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE.

  Thou rote of false lovers, duk Iasoun!
  Thou sly devourer and confusioun
  Of gentil-wommen, tender creatures,                                  1370
  Thou madest thy reclaiming and thy lures
  To ladies of thy statly apparaunce,
  And of thy wordes, farced with plesaunce,
  And of thy feyned trouthe and thy manere,
  With thyn obeisaunce and thy humble chere,                           1375
  And with thy counterfeted peyne and wo.
  Ther other falsen oon, thou falsest two!                             (10)
  O! ofte swore thou that thou woldest dye
  For love, whan thou ne feltest maladye
  Save foul delyt, which that thou callest love!                       1380
  If that I live, thy name shal be shove
  In English, that thy sleighte shal be knowe!
  Have at thee, Iasoun! now thyn horn is blowe!
  But certes, hit is bothe routhe and wo
  That love with false loveres werketh so;                             1385
  For they shul have wel better love and chere
  Than he that hath aboght his love ful dere,                          (20)
  Or had in armes many a blody box.
  For ever as tendre a capoun et the fox,
  Thogh he be fals and hath the foul betrayed,                         1390
  As shal the good-man that ther-for hath payed.
  Al have he to the capoun skille and right,
  The false fox wol have his part at night.
  On Iasoun this ensample is wel y-sene
  By Isiphile and Medea the quene.                                     1395
    In Tessalye, as Guido telleth us,
  Ther was a king that highte Pelleus,                                 (30)
  That had a brother, which that highte Eson;
  And, whan for age he mighte unnethes gon,
  He yaf to Pelleus the governing                                      1400
  Of al his regne, and made him lord and king.
  Of which Eson this Iasoun geten was,
  That, in his tyme, in al that lond, ther nas
  Nat swich a famous knight of gentilesse,
  Of freedom, and of strengthe and lustinesse.                         1405
  After his fader deeth, he bar him so
  That ther nas noon that liste been his fo,                           (40)
  But dide him al honour and companye;
  Of which this Pelleus hath greet envye,
  Imagining that Iasoun mighte be                                      1410
  Enhaunsed so, and put in swich degree
  With love of lordes of his regioun,

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

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