Let not this wretched woe thine hearte gnaw;
But, manly, set the world on six and seven,
And, if thou die a martyr, go to heaven.”
Pandarus promises his friend all aid in the enterprise; it is agreed that Cressida shall be carried off, but only with her own consent; and Pandarus sets out for his niece’s house, to arrange an interview. Meantime Cressida has heard the news; and, caring nothing for her father, but everything for Troilus, she burns in love and fear, unable to tell what she shall do.
But, as men see in town, and all about,
That women use1 friendes to visite, 1are accustomed
So to Cresside of women came a rout,1 1troop
For piteous joy, and 1weened her delight,1 1thought to please her1
And with their tales, 1dear enough a mite,1 1not worth a mite1
These women, which that in the city dwell,
They set them down, and said as I shall tell.
Quoth first that one, “I am glad, truely,
Because of you, that shall your father see;”
Another said, “Y-wis, so am not I,
For all too little hath she with us be.”1 1been
Quoth then the third, “I hope, y-wis, that she
Shall bringen us the peace on ev’ry side;
Then, when she goes, Almighty God her guide!”
Those wordes, and those womanishe thinges,
She heard them right as though she thennes1 were, 1thence; in some
For, God it wot, her heart on other thing is; other place
Although the body sat among them there,
Her advertence1 is always elleswhere; 1attention
For Troilus full fast her soule sought;
Withoute word, on him alway she thought.
These women that thus weened her to please,
Aboute naught gan all their tales spend;
Such vanity ne can do her no ease,
As she that all this meane while brenn’d
Of other passion than that they wend;1 1weened, supposed
So that she felt almost her hearte die
For woe, and weary1 of that company. 1weariness
For whiche she no longer might restrain
Her teares, they began so up to well,
That gave signes of her bitter pain,
In which her spirit was, and muste dwell,
Rememb’ring her from heav’n into which hell
She fallen was, since she forwent1 the sight 1lost
Of Troilus; and sorrowfully she sight.1 1sighed
And thilke fooles, sitting her about,
Weened that she had wept and siked1 sore, 1sighed
Because that she should out of that rout1 1company
Depart, and never playe with them more;
And they that hadde knowen her of yore
Saw her so weep, and thought it kindeness,
And each of them wept eke for her distress.
And busily they gonnen1 her comfort 1began
Of thing, God wot, on which she little thought;
And with their tales weened her disport,
And to be glad they her besought;
But such an ease therewith they in her wrought,
Right as a man is eased for to feel,
For ache of head, to claw him on his heel.
But, after all this nice1 vanity, 1silly
They took their leave, and home they wenten all;
Cressida, full of sorrowful pity,
Into her chamber up went out of the hall,
And on her bed she gan for dead to fall,
In purpose never thennes for to rise;
And thus she wrought, as I shall you devise.1 1narrate
She rent her sunny hair, wrung her hands, wept, and bewailed her fate; vowing that, since, “for the cruelty,” she could handle neither sword nor dart, she would abstain from meat and drink until she died. As she lamented, Pandarus entered, making her complain a thousand times more at the thought of all the joy which he had given her with her lover; but he somewhat soothed her by the prospect of Troilus’s visit, and by the counsel to contain her grief when he should come. Then Pandarus went in search of Troilus, whom he found solitary in a temple, as one that had ceased to care for life:
For right thus was his argument alway:
He said he was but lorne,1 well-away! 1lost, ruined
“For all that comes, comes by necessity;
Thus, to be lorn,1 it is my destiny. 1lost, ruined
“For certainly this wot I well,” he said,
“That foresight of the divine purveyance1 1providence
Hath seen alway me to forgo1 Cresseide, 1lose
Since God sees ev’ry thing, 1out of doubtance,1 1without doubt1
And them disposeth, through his ordinance,
In their merites soothly for to be,
As they should come by predestiny.
“But natheless, alas! whom shall I ‘lieve?
For there be greate clerkes1 many one 1scholars
That destiny through argumentes preve, 1prove
And some say that needly1 there is none, 1necessarily
But that free choice is giv’n us ev’ry one;
O well-away! so sly are clerkes old,
That I n’ot1 whose opinion I may hold. 1know not
“For some men say, if God sees all beforn,
Godde may not deceived be, pardie!
Then must it fallen,1 though men had it sworn, 1befall, happen
That purveyance hath seen before to be;
Wherefore I say, that from etern1 if he 1eternity
Hath wist1 before our thought eke as our deed, 1known
We have no free choice, as these clerkes read.1 1maintain
“For other thought, nor other deed also,
Might never be, but such as purveyance,
Which may not be deceived never mo’,
Hath feeled1 before, without ignorance; 1perceived
For if there mighte be a variance,
To writhen out from Godde’s purveying,
There were no prescience of thing coming,
“But it were rather an opinion
Uncertain, and no steadfast foreseeing;
And, certes, that were an abusion,1 1illusion
That God should have no perfect clear weeting,1 1knowledge
More than we men, that have 1doubtous weening;1 1dubious opinion1
But such an error 1upon God to guess,1 1to impute to God1
Were false, and foul, and wicked cursedness.1 1impiety
“Eke this is an opinion of some
That have their top full high and smooth y-shore,
They say right thus, that thing is not to come,
For1 that the prescience hath seen before 1because
That it shall come; but they say, that therefore
That it shall come, therefore the purveyance
Wot it before, withouten ignorance.
“And, in this manner, this necessity
1Returneth in his part contrary again;1 1reacts in the opposite
For needfully behoves it not to be, direction1
That thilke thinges 1fallen in certain,1 1certainly happen1
That be purvey’d; but needly, as they sayn,
Behoveth it that thinges, which that fall,
That they in certain be purveyed all.
“I mean as though I labour’d me in this
To inquire which thing cause of which thing be;
As, whether that the prescience of God is
The certain cause of the necessity
Of thinges that to come be, pardie!
Or if necessity of thing coming
Be cause certain of the purveying.
“But now 1enforce I me not1 in shewing 1I do not lay stress1
How th’order of causes stands; but well wot I,
That it behoveth, that the befalling
Of thinges wiste1 before certainly, 1known
Be necessary, 1all seem it
not1 thereby, 1though it does not appear1
That prescience put falling necessair
To thing to come, all fall it foul or fair.
“For, if there sit a man yond on a see,1 1seat
Then by necessity behoveth it
That certes thine opinion sooth be,
That weenest, or conjectest,1 that he sit; 1conjecturest
And, furtherover, now againward yet,
Lo! right so is it on the part contrary;
As thus, — now hearken, for I will not tarry; —
“I say that if th’opinion of thee
Be sooth, for that he sits, then say I this,
That he must sitte by necessity;
And thus necessity in either is,
For in him need of sitting is, y-wis,
And, in thee, need of sooth; and thus forsooth
There must necessity be in you both.
“But thou may’st say he sits not therefore
That thine opinion of his sitting sooth
But rather, for the man sat there before,
Therefore is thine opinion sooth, y-wis;
And I say, though the cause of sooth of this
Comes of his sitting, yet necessity
Is interchanged both in him and thee.
“Thus in the same wise, out of doubtance,
I may well maken, as it seemeth me,
My reasoning of Godde’s purveyance,
And of the thinges that to come be;
By whiche reason men may well y-see
That thilke1 thinges that in earthe fall,2 1those 2happen
That by necessity they comen all.
“For although that a thing should come, y-wis,
Therefore it is purveyed certainly,
Not that it comes for it purveyed is;
Yet, natheless, behoveth needfully
That thing to come be purvey’d truely;
Or elles thinges that purveyed be,
That they betide1 by necessity. 1happen
“And this sufficeth right enough, certain,
For to destroy our free choice ev’ry deal;
But now is this abusion,1 to sayn 1illusion, self-deception
That falling of the thinges temporel
Is cause of Godde’s prescience eternel;
Now truely that is a false sentence,1 1opinion, judgment
That thing to come should cause his prescience.
“What might I ween, an’1 I had such a thought, 1if
But that God purveys thing that is to come,
For that it is to come, and elles nought?
So might I ween that thinges, all and some,
That 1whilom be befall and overcome,1 1have happened
Be cause of thilke sov’reign purveyance, in times past1
That foreknows all, withouten ignorance.
“And over all this, yet say I more thereto, —
That right as when I wot there is a thing,
Y-wis, that thing must needfully be so;
Eke right so, when I wot a thing coming,
So must it come; and thus the befalling
Of thinges that be wist before the tide,1 1time
They may not be eschew’d1 on any side.” 1avoided
While Troilus was in all this heaviness, disputing with himself in this matter, Pandarus joined him, and told him the result of the interview with Cressida; and at night the lovers met, with what sighs and tears may be imagined. Cressida swooned away, so that Troilus took her for dead; and, having tenderly laid out her limbs, as one preparing a corpse for the bier, he drew his sword to slay himself upon her body. But, as God would, just at that moment she awoke out of her swoon; and by and by the pair began to talk of their prospects. Cressida declared the opinion, supporting it at great length and with many reasons, that there was no cause for half so much woe on either part. Her surrender, decreed by the parliament, could not be resisted; it was quite easy for them soon to meet again; she would bring things about that she should be back in Troy within a week or two; she would take advantage of the constant coming and going while the truce lasted; and the issue would be, that the Trojans would have both her and Antenor; while, to facilitate her return, she had devised a stratagem by which, working on her father’s avarice, she might tempt him to desert from the Greek camp back to the city. “And truly,” says the poet, having fully reported her plausible speech,
And truely, as written well I find,
That all this thing was said 1of good intent,1 1sincerely1
And that her hearte true was and kind
Towardes him, and spake right as she meant,
And that she starf1 for woe nigh when she went, 1died
And was in purpose ever to be true;
Thus write they that of her workes knew.
This Troilus, with heart and ears y-sprad,1 1all open
Heard all this thing devised to and fro,
And verily it seemed that he had
1The selfe wit;1 but yet to let her go 1the same opinion1
His hearte misforgave1 him evermo’; 1misgave
But, finally, he gan his hearte wrest1 1compel
To truste her, and took it for the best.
For which the great fury of his penance1 1suffering
Was quench’d with hope, and therewith them between
Began for joy the amorouse dance;
And as the birdes, when the sun is sheen, 1bright
Delighten in their song, in leaves green,
Right so the wordes that they spake y-fere1 1together
Delighten them, and make their heartes cheer.1 1glad
Yet Troilus was not so well at ease, that he did not earnestly entreat Cressida to observe her promise; for, if she came not into Troy at the set day, he should never have health, honour, or joy; and he feared that the stratagem by which she would try to lure her father back would fail, so that she might be compelled to remain among the Greeks. He would rather have them steal away together, with sufficient treasure to maintain them all their lives; and even if they went in their bare shirt, he had kin and friends elsewhere, who would welcome and honour them.
Cressida, with a sigh, right in this wise
Answer’d; “Y-wis, my deare hearte true,
We may well steal away, as ye devise,
And finde such unthrifty wayes new;
But afterward full sore 1it will us rue;1 1we will regret it1
And help me God so at my moste need
As causeless ye suffer all this dread!
“For thilke1 day that I for cherishing 1that same
Or dread of father, or of other wight,
Or for estate, delight, or for wedding,
Be false to you, my Troilus, my knight,
Saturne’s daughter Juno, through her might,
As wood1 as Athamante do me dwell 1mad
Eternally in Styx the pit of hell!
“And this, on ev’ry god celestial
I swear it you, and eke on each goddess,
On ev’ry nymph, and deity infernal,
On Satyrs and on Faunes more or less,
That 1halfe goddes1 be of wilderness; 1demigods
And Atropos my thread of life to-brest,1 1break utterly
If I be false! now trow1 me if you lest.2 1believe 2please
“And thou Simois, that as an arrow clear
Through Troy ay runnest downward to the sea,
Bear witness of this word that said is here!
That thilke day that I untrue be
To Troilus, mine owen hearte free,
That thou returne backward to thy well,
And I with body and soul sink in hell!”
Even yet Troilus was not wholly content, and urged anew his plan of secret flight; but Cressida turned upon him with the charge that he mistrusted her causelessly, and demanded of him that he should be faithful in her absence, else she must die at her return. Troilus promised faithfulness in far simpler and briefer words than Cressida had used.
“Gran
d mercy, good heart mine, y-wis,” quoth she;
“And blissful Venus let me never sterve,1 1die
Ere I may stand 1of pleasance in degree in a position to reward
To quite him1 that so well can deserve; him well with pleasure1
And while that God my wit will me conserve,
I shall so do; so true I have you found,
That ay honour to me-ward shall rebound.
“For truste well that your estate1 royal, 1rank
Nor vain delight, nor only worthiness
Of you in war or tourney martial,
Nor pomp, array, nobley, nor eke richess,
Ne made me to rue1 on your distress; 1take pity
But moral virtue, grounded upon truth,
That was the cause I first had on you ruth.1 1pity
“Eke gentle heart, and manhood that ye had,
And that ye had, — as me thought, — in despite
Every thing that 1sounded unto1 bad, 1tended unto, accorded with1
As rudeness, and peoplish1 appetite, 1vulgar
And that your reason bridled your delight;
This made, aboven ev’ry creature,
That I was yours, and shall while I may dure.
“And this may length of yeares not fordo,1 1destroy, do away
Nor remuable1 Fortune deface; 1unstable
But Jupiter, that of his might may do
The sorrowful to be glad, so give us grace,
Ere nightes ten to meeten in this place,
So that it may your heart and mine suffice!
And fare now well, for time is that ye rise.”
The lovers took a heart-rending adieu; and Troilus, suffering unimaginable anguish, “withoute more, out of the chamber went.”
THE FIFTH BOOK.
APPROACHE gan the fatal destiny
That Jovis hath in disposition,
And to you angry Parcae,1 Sisters three, 1The Fates
Committeth to do execution;
For which Cressida must out of the town,
And Troilus shall dwelle forth in pine,1 1pain
Till Lachesis his thread no longer twine.1 1twist
The golden-tressed Phoebus, high aloft,
Thries1 had alle, with his beames clear, 1thrice
The snowes molt,1 and Zephyrus as oft 1melted
Y-brought again the tender leaves green,
Since that 1the son of Hecuba the queen1 1Troilus 1
Began to love her first, for whom his sorrow
Was all, that she depart should on the morrow
In the morning, Diomede was ready to escort Cressida to the Greek host; and Troilus, seeing him mount his horse, could with difficulty resist an impulse to slay him — but restrained himself, lest his lady should be also slain in the tumult. When Cressida was ready to go,
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