Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden maonachi Cestrensis; together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century.

Capitulum vicesimum sextum.

AFTER þe destroyenge [destruction, Cx.] of Troye, Eneas wiþ his fader An|chises and his sone Ascanius wiþ twelue schippes come to Sicil. Þere [and there, Cx.] Anchises deide. And whanne Eneas wolde seille into Itali, tempest drof hym in to Affrica. [Sentence varied in Cx.] Þere he was hugeliche [hugeliche] right wel, Cx.] i-loued of Dido þe queene; but after a schort tyme he lefte Dido and come in to Italy. ℞. Yf it is sooþ þat Trogus and Papy and oþer wise men telleþ, þat Dido bulde Cartage þre score ȝere and twelue to fore þe byldynge of þe citee of Rome, þat was i-bulde þe fourþe ȝere of Achaz, kyng of Iuda, þanne it is sooþ þat Eneas sygȝ [So α.; sawe, Cx.; seiþ, MS. (probably clerical error for seiȝ).] neuere Dido þe quene of Cartage; for Eneas was to forehonde, [was bifore, Cx., who varies the sentence.] and deide þre hondred ȝere and more to fore þe buldynge of Cartage. And þat meneþ Seint Austyn primo libro Confessionum in fine, and seiþ þat wise men denyeþ þat Eneas sey Cartage. [So α. β. γ.; Cartago, MS. and Harl. MS.] Hugutio, capitulo Elissa. Þis Dido heet Elissa, þat is Virago, a manliche womman; for hap þat fel afterward, for sche

slowȝ hir self manliche. Trogus, libro octavo decimo. [So α. and Cx.; octavo, MS., wrongly. See lib. xviii. c. 6.] At þe laste þis Elissa, Pygmalion [Pigmaleon, MS.] his douȝter, whan he [So also α.; she, Cx.; heo, β.; α. γ.] schulde be [haue be, Cx.] compelled of þe peple forto take an housbonde, sche wente in to a greet fuyre þat sche hadde i-made; and so sche slow hir self manliche, and was longe after i-worschipped as a goddes. Martinus. Þan Eneas com in to Itali, and was confedered and i-swore to kyng Euander, þat þoo regnede in seuene hilles. Þese tweyne fauȝte aȝenst Latyn, kyng of Latyns, and aȝenst Turnus, [Tornus, MS., α. (not β., Cx.)] kyng [of Tuscan, kyng] [Added from α. β. and Cx.] Latyn his douȝter hous|bonde. In þat batayle Pallas Euander his sone and Turnus were i-slawe. ℞. Noþeles Trogus, libro quadragesimo tertio, wil mene þat Eneas in his firste comyng fond so grete grace wiþ kyng Latyn, þat he entrede into a partye of þe kyngdom, and wedded Lauyn, [So α. and Cx.; Lamyn, MS., and so below.] kyng Latyn his douȝter, þat was Turnus his spouse; and so boþe Latyn and Eneas i-confedered to gidres toke batayle aȝenst Turnus for þe gileful mariage of Lauyn, and Latyn and Turnus were boþe dede in þat bataile. And Eneas afterward was kyng of eiþer kyngdom of Latyns and of Tuscans, and bulde a citee and cleped þe citee Laui|nium by þe name of his wif, and werred afterward aȝenst þe

kyng of Messene in Tuscan. And in þat bataile Eneas was dede, [slayne, Cx.] and lefte after hym his sone Ascanius, þat he hadde i-gete on [So α. and Cx.; in, MS.] Creusa at Troye. Isidorus, Etymolog. Iulus was Eneas his sone, and heet firste Ascanius by þe name of a ryuer of Frigia þat so hatte, [heet, Cx.] and was afterwarde i-cleped Ilus, by þe name of Ilus kyng of Troye. Hugutio, capitulo Iulus. Afterward, whan þe kyng of Mesens was i-slawe in a singuler batayle of stalworþe men, þanne Ascanius was i-cleped Iulus for his firste spryngynge of berd [þat þo was first i-sene; for þe firste spring of berd] [Added from α. and Cx.] is properliche i-cleped Iulus in Latyn [and is] [Added from α. and Cx.] a name of tweie silables, [þey hit be oþerwhiles i-sette in þre sylables] [Added from α. β. γ.; wanting in Cx.] by cause of metre. ℞. Here take hede þat but þe ȝeres of Eneas his regnynge be acounted wiþ ynn þe ȝeres of kyng Latyn, þe acountynge of þe storie schal faille. For þe storie seiþ þat kyng Latyn reignede two and þritty ȝere; and specialliche while Eneas, whan Troye was i-take, come in to Itali, þe fyue and twenty ȝere of kyng Latyn, as alle stories telleþ. Trogus, libro quadragesimo tertio. Ascanius, Eneas his sone, bygan to regne among þe Latyns; and regnede eiȝte and þritty ȝere, and lefte [specialliche lefte, MS. (not α. β, or Cx.)] þe citee Lauinium, þat his fader Eneas hadde som|tyme i-bulde, and bulde þe citee Alban along vppon þe ryuer

Tibre. Þat cite was hede of þat kyngdom þre hondred ȝere; by þe name of þat citee kynges Latyns were i-cleped kynges Albans, Reges Albani. Eutropius. Þis Ascanius norsched vp ful myldeliche his broþer Siluius Posthumus [Postumus, MS., here and usually (not always) below. A few very slight errors in spelling proper names below have been tacitly cor|rected.] þat was i-bore of his stepdame Lauinia [Lavina, MSS. and Cx.] after his fader deþ, and was i-cleped Posthumus, for he was i-bore after þat his fader was i-buried; and was i-cleped Siluius, for he was i-norsched in a wode. [Sentence varied in Cx.] A woode is siiva in Latyn. By his name þe kynges of Latyns were i-cleped Siluies. Ascanius, whanne he hadde i-regned eiȝte and þritty ȝere, he lefte þe kyngdom to [So Cx.; of, MS.] Siluius Posthumus; for his owne sone Ilus was ȝet of tender age, so seiþ Marianus, libro primo. Of þis Ilus þe mayny [meyne, Cx.] þat is i-cleped Familia Iliorum hadde þat name. Sampson was iuge in Israel twenty ȝere. In his tyme byfel þat þe fables telleth of Vlixes [So Cx.; Flixes, MS., as before.] of Grecia, how he fleigh Scylla and Sirenes. Þerof spekeþ Palephatus [Palefattus, MS.; Polefatus, Harl. MS.] libro primo Incredibilum, and seiþ þat Scylla was a womman þat vsede to robbe hir gestes, and seiþ þat Sirenes were hoores þat bygiled men þat seillede on þe see. Also þat tyme Orestes slow Pyrrhus [Pirus, MS.; Pirrus, Cx., Harl. MS.] of Egipt in Appolyn Delphicus his temple. Also som telleþ þat Homerus was þat

tyme. But to speke of his tyme, olde men discordeþ. For som meneþ [saye, Cx.] þat he was an hondred ȝere, some an hondred ȝere and fourty, some an hondred ȝere and foure score, som two hondred ȝere and fourty after þat Troye was destroyed, and some troweþ þat he was to fore þat Troye was destroyed. [The text of this sentence as in α. β. γ. The numbers are confused in MS.] Hyderto þe book of Iuges, liber Iudicum, acounteþ þre hondred ȝere vnder twelue iuges.