The xxxviijth Chapitre.
PENOLEPE WAS THE doughter of Ycarus and wyfe vnto the ryght hardy knyghte Vlixes, of chastite and vndefylede wyfely honeste a moste holy example, for euer to remayne. This womanly wyfes chastite was assayde all in vayne for to haue bene broken, but it wolde not be. For when thys yonge, swete damosell, because of hyr beautie and hyr synglar goodnes, was dearely belouyde of hyr father, and that he hade gyuen hyr in maryage to Vlixes, she hauynge by hym oone son called Thelemacus, fortune so wolde that by force he was compellyde with the other Grekes to goo to the seage of Troy, leuynge noo more company with hys wyfe but Laertes, a man of greate age, and Anticlia hys mother, and hys litle towardes sonne. Now the seage ther durynge ten yeres, and at the laste Illion destroyde, ther was noone of the rest of the noble Grekes wyfes that lay as wydowes but for that tyme, saue oonely Penolepe, for Vlixes with tempestes and with wonder chauncys tossyde here and there, so wanderynge aboute the wourlde that noo man knewe where he was nor in what coste. Wherfore, hys cummynge lokede for dayly into hys countrye and not seene, nor of noo mat! it was thoughte no nother but for a truthe he was deade, for sorowe wherof hys myserable mother Anti cl ia honge hyrself. Penolepe then, all thoughe she moste heuyly bewayled hys absence, yet the feare that she had, leste he shulde be deade, greuede hyr muche more, so that after many lamentationes, teares, and callynge in vayne Vlixes hyr husbonde, with a chaste purpose she determyned to lyue with Laertes and hyr litle sonne as a wydowe for euer. But hir beautie and hir ryghte honest facyon and hyr exellente and noble bloode were in suche externe thorow Grece that many noble men bumynge in hyr concupiscence, specially of Ytarchia and Thephalania and of Etholia, thiese wolde neuer suffre hyr to be in quyete but allways steryde hyr to take an other husbonde. And it helpte well to theyr appetytes, the longe taryenge of Vlixes, whiche daily was lokte for and yet not herde of, wherfore it was thoughte of all men that he was deade. And, to thys, it chauncyde that poore Laertes goynge oute vppon a tyme into the countrye, that those that burnede in hyr concupiscence entrede hyr palace and aswell by force as by persuasion mouede hyr to maryage. But the goode Penolepe, ferynge leste that the holy chastite of hyr honeste shulde be broken, seyng that noo ‘nay’ myghte haue place, lyghtnede with the dyuyne helpe, imagynede for a tyme with craft to prolonge their rage. She requyrede that she myghte make an ende, or they wolde enforce hyr, of a certeyne garmente whiche she was weuynge for hir husbonde, and that fynyshede, if he came not, or it were endyd, then she wolde agree to theyr requestes. They easely grauntynge to hyr desyre, thiese worshipfull prouokers were mockyde in this maner, that is, what so euer Penolepe weuyde on the daye, at nyght she defacyde it cleene. But thys wyle perceyuyde, and the poynte cowmen that ther was no more excuse to be founde, by the wyll of God, the twenty yere after Vlixes hade goone frome hys goode wyfe, alone and vnknowne he arryuyd from Phenycuw to Itarchia, and by chaunce cowmynynge with certeyn shepehyrdes, he herde in what state hys wyfe and his realme was. Wherfore, disguysynge hymself lyke a poore man, he cam to Sybot, hys porter, whiche, knowynge hym to be hys lorde and wonders glad of hys returne, he tolde hym all how his wife was handlede with euyll prouocars. Vlixes than, emonge other maters, demaundyd hym of hys son, and Sybot sayde that at that poynte he was returnynge frome Menelaus to cuw to the ayde of hys mother. Vlixes well contorted with those goode newes, it came so to passe that Thelemacus, hauynge greate trust in Sibot, arryuyde at hys house, hys father beynge ther, whiche, anoone knowynge hym to be hys father, made the greatest ioy of the wourlde and breuely concludyde to be reuengyde of the outrage doone to his mother. What shulde I tary lengar? Vlixes, takynge with hym Sibot and hys son with dyuers others, shettynge the palace gates, streight wentt to the chambre where thiese brokers of hys chaste wyfe were eatynge and dryrikynge and makynge good cheere, and with theyr swordes in theyr handes slewe Eurimacus, the sonne of Polybyus, and Anthmeum, Amphion, Crisyppum and Agelaum wyth dyuers others askynge mercy in vayne, and with those, certeyn women that were agreade of the treason, and that doone, takynge hys deare, chaste wyfe in hys armes, declarynge what he was, the ioy that she made therof noo tunge can tell. But ther hathe bene of late emonge the Grekys poetes oone Lycophron, that saythe noone of the Grekys ladyes, theyr husbondes beynge at Troy, but they all brake theyre matrymonye. And emonge all other he sclaundred goode Penolepe, that she shulde do as the reste dyd. But God forbede I shulde beleue it, that so goode and chaste a wyfe, laudyd of so many greate clerkes shulde be of that sorte, the vertue of whome so muche more is it to be commendable, that she allways abode in a constante mynde, all though she were temptyde to the contrary neuer so muche.