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THE LESING MADE TO NAUPLIUS.

Saidon the same kyng sone after pis ;-
12644 pat Dyamede pe derfe, & doghty Vlixes,
To Palomydon in priuete presit to-gedur:
pai toldyn hym full truly, in hor trayn feble,
pat, doune in the dongyn of a dry pit,
12648 Was a gobet full grete, all of gold, hid,

Of tresoure of the toune, for takyng with fos.
Yf hym-self wold assent þe soume forto gete,
In priuete to part, þat no prise wyst;
12652 Onon, at þe nyght, po nobill,' pai saidyn,

'Wold boune to pe bonke barly hom-seluy",
All pe gold forto gripe, if hym gode likid.
ben þe soueran assentid with a sad will;
12656 Dred no dyssait of his dere kynges.
Past furth to be pit priuely all,

Vne aboue to pe bordur, & bodyn þere all.
ben þai fraynet qwiche freke, pat schuld first

enter :

12660 And Palamydon, pe prise kyng, put hym perto; Cast of his clothis cantly & wele,

And his hose in hast, highit hym doun.

When pe prinse was past to pe pit bothum, 12664 pe buernes on þe bonk bet hym with stonys, And euyn dang hym to deth in pe derk hole, Left hym per lyond, & lurkit to paire tentis.'

Pus told was pe tale, & full tru made,

12668 To be nobill kyng Nawle, of his nayt sone,-
Lappit with a ligher in his laith hate,
bat derit mony dughti, & drepit for ay.
Naule pen onon, for noy of pis tale,

12672 With Othé his othir son, ordant belyue
be grekis for to greue, & to ground bryng,
ffor pe sake of his sone, vppon sum wise.

413

Book XXXII.

The same liars told Nauplius that Diomedes and Ulysses shortly afterwards wiled Palamedes to a pit, wherein, they said, much gold was hid.

That, Palamedes, dreading no guile, offered to go down first.

(fol. 193 b.)

But as soon as
he reached
the bottom,
they beat him

dead with stones;
and stole back to
their tents.

Nauplius and

Eax determine to avenge the death of Palamedes.

Hit was told hym for tru, in tyme of pe wynter, They learn that

12676 pe grekis with hor grym ost were gon to be se,

the Greeks are returning from Troy,

Book XXXII.

and must pass by their coasts.

The king orders fires to be lit at night on the hills along the coast.

The Greeks sailing past by night, see the

fires, and make for land.

Two hundred ships are dashed on the rocks;

the treasures and all on board are lost.

The crash and cry warn the

vessels following; they

(fol. 194 a.) make for the

open sea, and are saved.

Among those

saved were

Agamemnon,

Diomedes, and

Menelaus.

Eax is chagrined by the escape of

Agamemnon and Diomedes: and plans another

mode of revenge.

In sound for to saile, & seche to paire londis, With all pe tresour of troy, & pe toune leuyt: Be any wise in pis world, wend hom behode 12680 By þe cost in pe cuntre per kyng dwellit.

ben þe kyng, thurgh þe kyth, comand his men
ffaire fyris & furse to ferke vppon hillis,
By a side of pe se, pere pai saile most,
12684 On þe mowntans mony in þe myrk nyght.
When pis done was in-dede, as pe duk bad,
þe grete nauy in pe nyght come onon after;
Segh þe fires so faire fast at here honde;
12688 Euyn bounet to pe bonke barges & othir,
fforto rest in pe rode of pe rugh ythis;
Letyn sailes doune slide sleghli & faire,
Rut euyn to be rokkis with a rank will,
12692 per were spandit & spilt in a spase litill,

Two hundreth hede schippis in a hond qwile ;—
All drownet with dole, dukis & othir,

With all pe gold & pe godes, þat þai getyn hade. 12696 pe remnond, þat rode by pe rugh bonkis,

Herd pe rurde & pe ryfte of þe rank schippis,
he frusshe & pe fare of folke þat were drounet,
And held hom on hofe in the hegh sea:

12700 All the skathes thai skepe of po skire hylles.
Among whiche menye, to myn hom by nome,
There was Agamynon the gret, & the good
Dyamede,

Menelay the mighty, & mony other kynges; 12704 Thies passet the perellis of the pale ythes, Houit on the hegh sea, held hom o ferre.

This Othe, I er said, the od sun of Naule,
Dissiret the dethe of the derf kynges,—
12708 Agamynon to grefe, & the gay Dyamede,-
And to hyndur hom in hast, & hit hap might,
And þai past to pere prouyns & no payn pole.

THE DECEIT AND REVENGE OF EAX..

This Othe, with ournyng, ordant belyue 12712 Letturs, by a lede pat he leell trist,

To Agamynon gay wif, gert hym to beire, þat Clunestra was callid, as the clause tellus. To hir he certifiet sothely in his sad lettur, 12716 þat Agamynon had goten to his gay spouse,

Of Priam a prise doghter, prayset full mekull:
Hir he broght in his barge to his burgh hom,
pat faire forto feffe in his fre londes:

12720 And ho mvn douteles be dede, & done fro hir

right.

415

Book XXXII. He informs Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, that her husband had wed a daughter of Priam;

and was bringing

her home to be his queen instead of herself.

He counsels
her to provide
for her own
safety.
Clytemnestra
believes the story,

pan he counseld Clunestra, er þat cas fell To be war of þat wegh, & wait on hir-seluyn. The lady leuit the lettur þat the lede sent, 12724 And ponkit hym proly with ponks in hir hert: and thanks Eax.

She compast by course, in hir clene wit,

How this vilany to venge, & voide of hir harme.

OFF THE DETHE OF AGAMYNON AND HE EXILE OF
DYAMEDE BY DERE WYUYS, FFOR THIS LETTUR.

When this worthy of wothe wan to his Clytemnestra,

reame,

12728 Oute of perell and pyne of the pale ythes,
Clunestra, that clere, come hym agayne,
His worshipfull wife, with a wale chere;
Resayuit hym with Reuerence, as Renke to his

owne,

12732 With a faynond fare vndur fals thoght.
This Clunestra the clere, as the clause tellus,
ffor lacke of hir lord laiked besyde.
While he faryn was to fight in a fer lond,
12736 Sho spilt hade hir spousaile, sparit ho noght:
And lodly in hir law the lady hade synnet.
Engest, with his Japis, hade Justilet hir with,
And getyn in his gamyn on the gay lady,

12740 A doghter þat was dere, in hor derne play.

on Agamemnon's
return, receives
him with great
show of love
and reverence:
(fol. 194 b.)

but she had
been false to him
during his
absence.

She loved a man named Ægisthus, by whom she had a daughter.

Book XXXII.

He is of low degree, yet she

loves him more than Agamem

non.

She arranges with him to murder her

husband while

he sleeps.

Agamemnon is

murdered by

Nawther comyn was pat kyde mon of no kyng

riche,

Ne duke þat was doghty, ne no derfe erle ;
Yet ho heght hym to haue, holé at his wille,
12744 All the Rioll rewme with renttes ynow.
This Clunestra vnclene cast with hir loue,
By assent of hom-selfe, sone at þe night,
The bold kyng in his bed britton to dethe:
12748 All Slepond to Sle with sleght of hom bothe.
And so fell hit by falshode, fer in the night,
When the bold in his bed was broght vppon

slepe,

pan entrid this Engist, euyn as hym list,

Ægisthus, who 12752 And, with a thricche in the throte, throtlet the

afterwards becomes king of Mycense.

Orestes, the son

of Agamemnon,

is sent by Talthybius to

Idomeneus, lest

Clytemnestra should murder him.

(fol. 195 a.)

Eax sends a letter to Egiale, the wife of Diomedes, stating that her husband had

wed a daughter

of Priam.

kyng.

When this Duke was dede, & done unto graue,
Clunestra at kirke couplit onone

This Engest, with Jolite to hir iuste spouse:
12756 Of Mechenas she made hym maistur & syre.
This Agamynon the gret hade a gay sone,
Consayuit of Clunestra, pat cald was Orestics:
He was yong & yepe, of yeris but lyte.

12760 Kyng Taltill hym toke for trist of his lyue,
And send hym full sone to a sure frynd,
Ydimius, for doute lest the derfe qwene

Mortheret hym with malice in the meane tyme.
12764 He was keppit full close, & with cleane hert,
And worshippit on all wise as pere wale son,
Ayre to pere herytage aftur hom-seluyn.

This Othe, I ere said, od son of Naule,

12768 To Egea, afturward egurly send,

The dere wife of Dyamede, dernly a lettur:
Gert the lady beleue on a laithe wise,

He hade puruait a prowde wife of Priames
doghter.

DIOMEDES AND EGIALE.

12772 This Egea, the gest sais, was a iust lady,

417

Book XXXII.

To Polence, the prise kyng, vne a pure doghter, (Polynices, King (Kyng of Argonen cald in cuntres aboute)

And hade a brother full bold, & barly no moo.

12776 ffaire on hir fader syde, as fell hom by chaunse,

All the londes full large of the lefe kyng,

Polence of price, pat was hir pure fadur,

Lefte to po litle, as his leue heires.

of Argos.)

12780 þan partid was prestly the prise Rewme of Argos was left by

Argon,

Polynices to
Ægiale and
Assandrus her

Betwene Assandrus for-sothe, & his suster Egea. brother.
This Egea ajoinet to hir iust spouse,
Dyomede the dughty, with hir due part.
12784 Assandrus, for-sothe, sais me the lettur,
With Dyomed dernly dressit to wend

To the terage of Troy with a tore ost;

And er þai comyn to the company of pe clene

grekes,

12788 There all semblet were sothely at þe same tyme,

hai past by a perty of þe prouyns of Boys,
There Thelafus pat tyme was a tore kyng.

Assandrus and
Diomedes, when

conducting their forces to Troy,

There þai bowet fro pe barge to pe banke syde, go into the 12792 To solas hom a season with sum of hor pepull.

Thelaphus with tene toke hit to hert,

þat þai light on his lond, & no leue hade:
He fore to pat folke with a fell chere,

12796 With a company clene, kyde men of armys.
There faght þai in fere with a felle wille,

And kild of pere knightes to pe cold erthe.
This Assandrus, I said you, with a sad weppyn

12800 Mony dong to the dethe of his derf knightes:

country of King Telephus.

Provoked by this liberty, he attacks them.

A fierce battle ensues, and many fall on both sides.

(fol. 195b.)

slain by
Telephus.

There-at Thelaphus hade tene, & turnet belyue, Assandrus is
Caght to a kene spere, cuttyng before,
Caupit euyn with the knight; kyld hym to

dethe.

12804 þan Dyomede with dole drogh hym vp sone,

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