De receffu Appol
lini ab Antiochia.
Though that thou be of litel wit,
It is no great merveile as yit,
Thin age may it nought fuffife. 5
But loke wel thou nought despise
Thin owne life, for of my grace
Of thritty 'daies full a space
I graunte the, to ben avised.
And thus with leve and time affifed
This
yonge prince forth he wente
And understode wel what it mente.
Within his herte as he was lered,
That for to make him afered,
The kinge his time hath fo delaied,
Wherof he drad and was amaied
Of trefon that he deie fholde,
For he the king his fothe tolde.
And fodeinly the nightes tide,
/7 That more wolde he nought abide,
Al prively his barge he hente
And home ayein to Tire he wente.
And in his owne wit he faide,
For drede if he the king bewraide,
He knew fo wel the kinges herte,
That deth ne fhulde he nought afterte,
The king him wolde fo pursue.
But he that wolde his deth efcheue
And knewe all this to-fore the honde,
Forfake he thought his owne londe,
That there wolde he nought abide.
For wel he knew that on fome fide
This tiraunt of his felonie
By fome manere of trecherie
To greve his body woll nought leve. 465
Forthy withouten taking leve
As privelich as ever he might
He goth him to the fee by night,
Her fhippes that ben with whete laden,
Her takil redy tho they maden
And haleth fail and forth they fare.
But for to telle of the care,
That they of Tire began tho, ✓
Whan that they wift he was ago,
It is a pite for to here.
They loften luft, they loften chere,
They toke upon hem fuch
penaunce,
There was no fong, there was no daunce,
But every merthe and melody
To hem was than a malady,
For unluft of that aventure
There was no man which toke tonfure.
In dolfull clothes they hem clothe.
The bathes and the ftewes bothe
They fhetten in by every wey.
There was no life which lifte pley
Ne take of any joie kepe,
But for her lege lord to wepe,
And every wight faid as he couth :
Helas, the lufty floure of youth,
Our prince, our heved, our governour,
Through whom we ftonden in honour,
De fuga Appollini
per mare a regno fuo.
Appollinum Upon the firste tale pleine
ret, ab Antiocho And torne we therto ayeine.
in Tyrum miffus
ipfo ibidem non
invento Antiochi-
am rediit.
Antiochus the grete fire,
Which full of rancour and of ire
His herte bereth fo as ye herde,
Of that this prince of Tire answerde,
He had a felow bacheler,
Which was his prive counfeiler
And Taliart by name he hight.
The king a strong poison him dight
Within a buift and gold therto,
In alle hafte and bad him go
Straught unto Tire and for no coft
23 Ne fpare, till he hadde loft
The prince, which he wolde spill.
And whan the king hath said his will,
This Taliart in a galey
With all the hafte he toke his wey.
The wind was good, they faileth blive, 515
Till he toke lond upon the rive
Of Tire and forth with all anone
Into the burgh he gan to gone
And toke his inne and bode a throwe.
But for he wolde nought be knowe,
Desguised than he goth him out.
He figh the weping all about
And axeth, what the cause was.
And they him tolde all the cas,
How fodeinly the prince is go. 525
And whan he figh, that it was so
And that his labour was in veine,
Anone he torneth home ayeine,
And to the king whan he cam nigh,
He tolde of that he herde and figh,
How that the prince of Tire is fled.
So was he come ayein unsped.
The king was fory for a while,
But whan he figh, that with no wile
He might acheve his cruelte,
He stint his wrath, and let him be.
But over this now for to telle
Of adventures that befelle
Unto this prince, of which I tolde,
He hath his righte cours forth holde
By stone and nedel, till he cam
To Tharfe, and ther his londe he nam.
A bourgeis riche of golde and fee
Was thilke time in that citee,
Qualiter Appollinus in portu Tharfis applicuit, ubi in hofpicio cuiufdam magni viri nomine Strangulionis hofpitatus eft.
Which cleped was Strangulio, 5 Clear
His wife was Dionife alfo.
This yonge prince, as faith the boke,
With him his herbergage toke.
And it befell that citee fo
Before time and than alfo,
Through ftronge famin, whiche hem lad,
Appollinus, whan that he herde
The mischefe, how the citee ferde,
All frelich of his owne yifte
His whete among hem for to shifte,
The which by ship he hadde brought,
He
yave and toke of hem right nought.
But fithen first this world began,
Was never yet to such a man
More joie made, than they him made.
For they were all of him fo glade,
That they for ever in remembraunce
Made a figure in resemblaunce
Of him and in a comun place
They fet it up, fo that his face
Might every maner man beholde,
So as the citee was beholde,
It was of laton over gilt.
Thus hath he nought his yifte fpilt.
Upon a time with a route
Tharfim veniens This lord to pleie goth him oute
Appollinum de in-
Qualiter Hellicanus civis Tyri
fidiis Antiochi And in his way of Tire he mette
A man, which on his knees him grette,
And Hellican by name he hight,
Which praide his lord to have insight
Upon him self and said him thus,
How that the great Antiochus
Awaiteth, if he might him spille.
That other thought and helde him stille
And thonked him of his warning
And bad him telle no tiding,
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