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GHOAST.

Then, sweet Reuenge, doo this at my request:

Let me iudge and doome them to vnrest;

Let loose poore Titius from the vultures gripe,

And let Don Ciprian supply his roome;

Place Don Lorenzo on Ixions wheele,

And let the louers endles paines surcease,

Iuno forget olde wrath and graunt him ease;

Hang Balthazar about Chimeras neck,

And let him there bewaile his bloudy loue,

Repining at our ioyes that are aboue;

Let Serberine goe roule the fatall stone

And take from Siciphus his endles mone;

False Pedringano, for his trecherie,

Let him be dragde through boyling Acheron,

And there liue dying still in endles flames,

Blaspheming gods and all their holy names.

REUENGE.

Then haste we downe to meet thy freends and foes;

To place thy freends in ease, the rest in woes.

For heere though death [doth] end their miserie,

Ile there begin their endles tragedie.

Exeunt.

FINIS.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA – Chaucer’s Poem

Geoffrey Chaucer’s long poem Troilus and Criseyde was the main inspiration of Shakespeare’s play. Chaucer’s ‘epic’ poem tells the tragic story of the two lovers set against the backdrop of the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380's. Many scholars regard this poem as Chaucer’s finest work.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)

CONTENTS

BOOK I. Incipit Liber Primus

BOOK II. Incipit Prohemium Secundi Libri.

BOOK III. Incipit prohemium tercii libri.

BOOK IV. Incipit Prohemium Liber Quartus.

BOOK V. Incipit Liber Quintus.

BOOK I. Incipit Liber Primus

The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen, 1

That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,

In lovinge, how his aventures fellen

Fro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye,

My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye. 5

Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyte

Thise 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 10

That 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, 15

Ne 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 gladnesse

To any lover, and his cause avayle, 20

Have 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 hevinesse

That ye han felt, and on the adversitee 25

Of othere folk, and thenketh how that ye

Han felt that Love dorste yow displese;

Or ye han wonne hym with to greet an ese.

And preyeth for hem that ben in the cas

Of Troilus, as ye may after here, 30

That 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. 35

And biddeth eek for hem that been despeyred

In love, that never nil recovered be,

And eek for hem that falsly been apeyred

Thorugh wikked tonges, be it he or she;

Thus biddeth god, for his benignitee, 40

So 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, 45

That 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 50

As 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 here

Of Troilus, in loving of Criseyde, 55

And how that she forsook him er she deyde.

It is wel wist, how that the Grekes stronge

In armes with a thousand shippes wente

To Troyewardes, and the citee longe

Assegeden neigh ten yeer er they stente,