“And people infernall ben obedient,
“And al mortal folke serven busely,
“Of the goddesse sonne Cythera onely,
“To al tho that to our deite
“Ben subjectes, hertely greting sende we.”
Of John Lydgate’s Historie of Troye, which was finished about the year 1420, this is the beginning: [edit. 1555.]
“O myghty Mars, that with thy sterne lyght
“In armys hast the power and the myght,
“And named arte from easte tyl occident
“The myghty lorde, the god armipotent,