To Colcos comen is this duke Jason,
That is of love devourer and dragon,
As nature appeteth forme alwey,

And from forme to forme it passen may;
Or as a welle that were bottomeles,
Ryghte so kan Jason have no pees,
For to desiren, thurgh his appetite,

To doon with gentil wymmen hys delyte;
This is his luste, and his felicite.
Jason is romed forthe to the cite,
That whylome cleped was Jasonicos,
That was the maister toune of al Colcos,
And hath ytolde the cause of his comynge
Unto Eetes, of that countree kynge;
Praynge him that he most doon his assay
To gete the flese of golde, yf that he may.
Of which the kynge assenteth to hys boone,
And dothe him honour as hyt is doone,
So ferforthe, that his doghtre and his eyre,
Medea, which that was so wise and feyre,
That feyrer saugh ther never man with ye,
He made hire done to Jason companye
Atte mete, and sitte by him in the halle.

Now was Jason a seemely man withalle,
And like a lorde, and had a grete renoun,
And of his loke as rial as lyoun,

1580

1535

1590

1595

1600

And goodly of his speche, and famulere,
And koude of love al crafte and arte plenere

1305

1580. The printed editions read matire, which is, perhaps, better than nature. It would mean that even as the accident of form is inseparable from matter, and as in all its changes it can only pass from form to form. so Jason, whatever might be the circumstances in which he was placed, was still the same, one who loved merely to satisfy his appetite.-Bell.

1586. luste, pleasure.

1596. eyre, heir.

1604. famulere, familiar, easy in manners 1605. koude, past tense of conne, knew.

1589. maister, chief. 1603. rial, royal. and conversation. 1605. plenere, fully.

Withoute boke, with everyche observaunce.
And as fortune hire oughte a foule meschaunce,
She wex enamoured upon this man.

'Jason,' quod she, 'for ought I se or kan,
As of this thinge the whiche ye ben aboute,
Ye, and your selfe ye put in moche doubte;
For who so wol this aventure acheve,
He may nat wele asterten, as I leve,
Withouten dethe, but I his helpe be.
But nathelesse, hit ys my wille,' quod she,
To forthren yow, so that ye shal not dye,
But turne sounde home to youre Tessalye.'

'My ryghte lady,' quod thys Jason, ‘thoo,
That ye han of my dethe or my woo
Any rewarde, and doon me this honour,
I wote wel, that my myghte, ne my labour,
May nat deserve hit in my lyves day;
God thanke yow, ther I ne kan ne may.
Youre man am I, and lowly yow beseche
To ben my helpe, withoute more speche;
But certes for my dethe shal I not spare.'
Thoo gan this Medea to him declare
The peril of this case, fro poynt to poynt
Of hys batayle, and in what disjoynte

1606. everyche, a contraction of every eche.

1610

1615

1620

1625

1607. hire oughte, owed her; a similar expression occurs v. 589 :

"So fil it, as Fortune him oght a shame."

1608. wex, grew.

1611. doubte, danger.

1613. asterten, escape; leve, believe. 1614. but, unless.

1624. man, i. e., liege-man :—

"But my entent and all my busy cure

Is for to write this treatesse, as I can,
Unto my lady, stable, true, and sure,

Faithful and kind, sith first that she began

Me to accept in service as her man."-The Court of Love, v. 40.

1829. disjoynte, difficult situation.

"But synnes that I stonde in this disjoynt,

I wol answer yow schortly to the poyut."-C. T. 14822.

He mote stonde; of whiche no creature
Save oonly she ne myghte hys lyf assure.
And shortely, ryghte to the poynt to goo,
They ben accorded ful betwixt hem two,
That Jason shal hire wedde, as trewe knyghte,
And terme ysette to come soone at nyghte
Unto hire chambre, and make there hys oothe
Upon the goddys, that he for leve ne loothe
Ne shulde hire never falsen, nyghte ne day,
To ben hire husbonde while he lyve may,
As she that from hys dethe hym saved here.
And here upon at nyghte they mete yfere,

1630

1635

1640

And doth his oothe, and goothe with hire to bedde.
And on the morwe upwarde he him spedde,

For she hath taughte him how he shal nat faile

The flese to wynne, and stynten his batayle;
And saved him his lyf and his honour,

1645

And gete a name as a conquerour,

Ryghte thurgh the sleyghte of her enchauntemente.
Now hath Jason the flese, and home ys went

With Medea, and tresoures ful grete woone;

1650

But unwiste of hire fader she is goone

To Tessalye, with duke Jason hire leefe,

That afterwarde hath broghte hire to myschefe.

For as a traytour he ys from hire goo,

And with hire lefte yonge children twoo,

1655

And falsly hath betrayed hire, allas!

1637. leve ne loothe, willingly nor unwillingly.

"For on my portos here I make an oth,

That never in my lif, for lief ne loth

Ne schal I of no counseil you bewray."-C. T. 14543.

1638. falsen, betray, deceive.

1641. yfere, together. This line is omitted in the Fairfax MS.,

given in the Selden. - Bell.

1645. stynten, to cease, cause to cease, put an end to.

1648. sleyghte, contrivance.

1651. unwiste of, unknown to.

1652. leefe, lover.

And ever in love a cheve traytour he was;
And wedded yet the thridde wife anoon,
That was the doughtre of kynge Creoon.

This ys the mede of lovynge and guerdoun,
That Medea receyved of Jasoun

1660

Ryghte for hire trouthe, and for hire kyndenesse,

That loved hym better thanne hire selfe, I gesse;

And lefte hire fadir and hire heritage.

'Why lyked me thy yelow heere to see,

1670

More than the boundes of myn honeste?

Why lyked me thy youthe and thy fairenesse,

And of thy tong the infynyte graciousnesse?
O, haddest thou in thy conquest ded ybe,

Ful mykel untrout he had ther dyed with the!'
Well kan Ovyde hire letter in verse endyte,
Which were as now to longe for to write.

1675

EXPLICIT LEGENDA YSIPHILE ET MEDEE MARTIRUM.

1665. vassalage, valour, courage.

"And glader ought his freend ben of his deth,

Whan with honour is yolden up the breth,
Thanne whan his name appelled is for age;

For al forgeten is his vasselage."-C. T. 3056.

The expression in the text, this is the vassalage, seems to mean, this is the amount of his valour, viz., that there was not found in his

day so false a lover upon earth.

1669. umbrayde, upbraided.

1670. why lyked me, why did it please me.-1670—1675 :—

"Cur mihi plus æquo flavi placuere capilli

Explicit legenda Ysiphile et Medee Martirum: Here endeth the

legend of Hypsipyle and Medea.

INCIPIT LEGENDA LUCRECIE ROME, MARTIRIS.

OW mote I sayne thexilynge of kynges

NOW

Of Rome, for the horrible doynges

Of the last kynge Tarquynyus,

1680

As saythe Ovyd, and Titus Lyvyus.

But for that cause telle I nat thys story,

But for to preysen, and drawen to memory
The verray wif, the verray Lucresse,

That for hire wifhode, and hire stedfastnesse,
Nat oonly that these payens hire commende,
But that cleped ys in oure legende
The grete Austyne, hath grete compassyoun
Of this Lucresse that starf in Rome toun.
And in what wise I wol but shortly trete,
And of this thynge I touche but the grete.

1685

1690

Incipit legenda Lucrecie Rome, Martiris: Here beginneth the legend of Lucretia of Rome, the martyr.

1681. as saythe Ovyd, and Titus Lyvyus: Ovid, Fast. II. 741,

Livy, Hist. I. 57.

1684. verray, true.

"Povert a spectacle is, as thinketh me,

Thurgh which he may his verray frendes se."-C. T. 6786.

1686. payens, pagans.

1688. The grete Austyne: St. Augustin, commenting on this story in the milder and more rational spirit of Christian morality, while he admires the purity of Lucrece, blames her folly in committing the crime of self-murder as a punishment on herself for that of which she was really innocent. 'Si adultera,' he asks, 'cur laudata? Si pudica, cur occisa?' AUG. De Civitat. Dei, c. xix.-Bell.

1689. starf, past tense of sterve, died; see note on sterve, v. 605. 1691. I touche but the grete: i. e., I give only the leading features of the story, avoiding details.