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| Now torne we ayein to Troilus, | |
| That resteles ful longe abedde lay, | |
| 1585 | And pryvely sente after Pandarus, |
| To him to come in al the haste he may. | |
| He com anoon, nought ones seyde he `nay,' | |
| And Troilus ful sobrely he grette, | |
| And doun upon his beddes syde him sette. |
| 1590 | This Troilus, with al the affeccioun |
| Of frendes love that herte may devyse, | |
| To Pandarus on knowes fil adoun, | |
| And er that he wolde of the place aryse, | |
| He gan him thonken in his beste wyse; | |
| 1595 | An hondred sythe he gan the tyme blesse, |
| That he was born, to bringe him fro distresse. |
| He seyde, `O frend of frendes the alderbeste | |
| That ever was, the sothe for to telle, | |
| Thou hast in hevene ybrought my soule at reste | |
| 1600 | Fro Flegitoun, the fery flood of helle; |
| That, though I mighte a thousand tymes selle, | |
| Upon a day, my lyf in thy servyse, | |
| It mighte nought a mote in that suffyse. |
| `The sonne, which that al the world may see, | |
| 1605 | Saw never yet, my lyf, that dar I leye, |
| So inly fayr and goodly as is she, | |
| Whos I am al, and shal, til that I deye; | |
| And, that I thus am hires, dar I seye, | |
| That thanked be the heighe worthinesse | |
| 1610 | Of love, and eek thy kinde bisinesse. |
| `Thus hastow me no litel thing yyive, | |
| Fo which to thee obliged be for ay | |
| My lyf, and why? For thorugh thyn help I live; | |
| For elles deed hadde I be many a day.' | |
| 1615 | And with that word doun in his bed he lay, |
| And Pandarus ful sobrely him herde | |
| Til al was seyd, and than he thus answerde: |
| `My dere frend, if I have doon for thee | |
| In any cas, God woot, it is me leef; | |
| 1620 | And am as glad as man may of it be, |
| God help me so; but tak now nat a-greef | |
| That I shal seyn, be war of this mescheef, | |
| That, there-as thou now brought art in-to blisse, | |
| That thou thyself ne cause it nought to misse. |
| 1625 | `For of fortunes sharpe adversitee |
| The worst kinde of infortune is this, | |
| A man to have ben in prosperitee, | |
| And it remembren, whan it passed is. | |
| Thou art wys ynough, forthy do nought amis; | |
| 1630 | Be not to rakel, though thou sitte warme, |
| For if thou be, certeyn, it wol thee harme. |
| `Thou art at ese, and holde the wel therinne. | |
| For also seur as reed is every fyr, | |
| As greet a craft is kepe wel as winne; | |
| 1635 | Brydle alwey wel thy speche and thy desyr, |
| For worldly Joye halt not but by a wyr; | |
| That preveth wel, it brest alday so ofte; | |
| For-thy nede is to werke with it softe.' |
| Quod Troilus, `I hope, and God to-forn, | |
| 1640 | My dere frend, that I shal so me bere, |
| That in my gilt ther shal no thing be lorn, | |
| Ne I nil not rakle as for to greven here; | |
| It nedeth not this matere ofte tere; | |
| For wistestow myn herte wel, Pandare, | |
| 1645 | God woot, of this thou woldest litel care.' |
| Tho gan he telle him of his glade night, | |
| And wherof first his herte drede, and how, | |
| And seyde, `Freend, as I am trewe knight, | |
| And by that feyth I shal to God and yow, | |
| 1650 | I hadde it never half so hote as now; |
| And ay the more that desyr me byteth | |
| To love hir best, the more it me delyteth. |
| `I noot myself not wisly what it is; | |
| But now I fele a newe qualitee, | |
| 1655 | Ye, al another than I dide er this.' |
| Pandare answerde, and seyde thus, that he | |
| That ones may in hevene blisse be, | |
| He feleth other weyes, dar I leye, | |
| Than thilke tyme he first herde of it seye. |
| Next: From Troilus and Criseyde, Book III, lines 1660-1694: Troilus, Criseyde and happiness |