OFF ERCULES.
There was honerable Ercules egur of wille,
Line 288
As poyetes haue pricked of his prise fader:
He was getton of a god on a gret lady,
Þat ajoinet was Iobeter to his iuste nome,
And his moder full mylde Almena was clepid:
Line 292
She was wyffe as I wene to worthy Amphitrio.
This Ercules euermore egur & nobill,
The worde of his werkes thurghe þe worlde sprange:
So mony groundes he for-justede & of ioy broght,
Line 296
That no tung might hom telle þof it tyme hade.
Hit is tolde in his tyme, wo þat trawe lyst,
In his hastines he highyt vnto helle yates,
A þre hedet hounde in his honnd coght,
Line 300
That was keper of the close of þat curset In:
So dang he þat dog with dynt of his wappon,
Þat þe warlag was wete of his wan atter,
And thurgh voidyng of venym with vomettes grete,
Line 304
Mony prouyns and perties were put out of helle.
All þat poites haue pricket of his prise dedis,
I haue no tome for to telle ne tary no lengur.
But þe wonders þat he wroght in þis world here,
Line 308
In yche cuntré ben knowen vnder Criste euyn.
Tow pyllers he pight in a place lowe,
Vppon Gades groundes, þat he gotton hade:
Too whiche pyllers priste as prouyt is before,
Line 312
The mighty Massidon Kyng maister of All,
The Emperour Alexaunder Aunterid to come:
He wan all the world & at his wille aght.
A hiatus occurs here in the MS. of perhaps two or three pages. The extent of the obvious gap at the beginning of Book II. was not suspected, till it was ascertained that the work was a translation from Guido de Colonna. The following extracts, from the Stras|burg edition, 1489, continue the story.
