Lines 1 to 87: the exchange

As Book v begins, the narrating voice speaks again to the Fates (see p. 85; here named as the angry Parcae), telling them that the lovers’ predetermined destiny, governed by Jove and entrusted to the Fates to perform, draws near at hand. Criseyde must soon leave Troy and Troilus must therefore suffer her loss until the Fate Lachesis no longer spins out the thread of his life (Chaucer here gives the task of spinning, usually allocated to Clotho, to Lachesis who usually measures the thread of life). Next, in an addition to Chaucer’s source, we are told that the sun had melted the snows of winter and Zephyrus (a name for the warm westerly wind) had heralded the tender spring leaves three times since Troilus fell in love with Criseyde, for whose imminent departure he now grieves. Three springs have therefore passed since Troilus observed Criseyde in the temple in Book i. We see little evidence in the narrative of such a lengthy romance apart from the summaries of time passing given in iii.435–511 and 1713–15. Chaucer’s addition makes both Troilus’s intense sorrow more plausible and Criseyde’s betrayal more heartless because of the duration of their love.