The Knight's Tale
Modern English

1	Once on a time, as old tales tell to us,
2	There was a duke whose name was Theseus:
3	Of Athens he was lord and governor,
4	And in his time was such a conqueror
5	That greater was there not beneath the sun.
6	Full many a rich country had he won;
7	What with his wisdom and his chivalry
8	He gained the realm of Femininity,
9	That was of old time known as Scythia.
10	There wedded he the queen, Hippolyta,
11	And brought her home with him to his country.
12	In glory great and with great pageantry,
13	And, too, her younger sister, Emily.
14	And thus, in victory and with melody,
15	Let I this noble duke to Athens ride
16	With all his armed host marching at his side.
17	And truly, were it not too long to hear,
18	I would have told you fully how, that year,
19	Was gained the realm of Femininity
20	By Theseus and by his chivalry;
21	And all of the great battle that was wrought
22	Where Amazons and the Athenians fought;
23	And how was wooed and won Hippolyta,
24	That fair and hardy queen of Scythia;
25	And of the feast was made at their wedding,
26	And of the tempest at their home-coming;
27	But all of that I must for now forbear.
28	I have, God knows, a large field for my share,
29	And weak the oxen, and the soil is tough.
30	The remnant of the tale is long enough.
31	I will not hinder any, in my turn;
32	Let each man tell his tale, until we learn
33	Which of us all the most deserves to win;
34	So where I stopped, again I'll now begin.
35	This duke of whom I speak, of great renown,
36	When he had drawn almost unto the town,
37	In all well-being and in utmost pride,
38	He grew aware, casting his eyes aside,
39	That right upon the road, as suppliants do,
40	A company of ladies, two by two,
41	Knelt, all in black, before his cavalcade;
42	But such a clamorous cry of woe they made
43	That in the whole world living man had heard
44	No such a lamentation, on my word;
45	Nor would they cease lamenting till at last
46	They'd clutched his bridle reins and held them fast.
47	What folk are you that at my home-coming
48	Disturb my triumph with this dolorous thing?
49	Cried Theseus. Do you so much envy
50	My honour that you thus complain and cry?
51	Or who has wronged you now, or who offended?
52	Come, tell me whether it may be amended;
53	And tell me, why are you clothed thus, in black?
54	The eldest lady of them answered back,
55	After she'd swooned, with cheek so deathly drear
56	That it was pitiful to see and hear,
57	And said: Lord, to whom Fortune has but given
58	Victory, and to conquer where you've striven,
59	Your glory and your honour grieve not us;
60	But we beseech your aid and pity thus.
61	Have mercy on our woe and our distress.
62	Some drop of pity, of your gentleness,
63	Upon us wretched women, oh, let fall!
64	For see, lord, there is no one of us all
65	That has not been a duchess or a queen;
66	Now we are captives, as may well be seen:
67	Thanks be to Fortune and her treacherous wheel,
68	There's none can rest assured of constant weal.
69	And truly, lord, expecting your return,
70	In Pity's temple, where the fires yet burn,
71	We have been waiting through a long fortnight;
72	Now help us, lord, since it is in your might.
73	I, wretched woman, who am weeping thus,
74	Was once the wife of King Capaneus,
75	Who died at Thebes, oh, cursed be the day!
76	And all we that you see in this array,
77	And make this lamentation to be known,
78	All we have lost our husbands at that town
79	During the siege that round about it lay.
80	And now the old Creon, ah welaway!
81	The lord and governor of Thebes city,
82	Full of his wrath and all iniquity,
83	He, in despite and out of tyranny,
84	To do the dead a shame and villainy,
85	Of all our husbands, lying among the slain,
86	Has piled the bodies in a heap, amain,
87	And will not suffer them, nor give consent,
88	To buried be, or burned, nor will relent,
89	But sets his dogs to eat them, out of spite.
90	And on that word, at once, without respite,
91	They all fell prone and cried out piteously:
92	Have on us wretched women some mercy,
93	And let our sorrows sink into your heart!
94	This gentle duke down from his horse did start
95	With heart of pity, when he'd heard them speak.
96	It seemed to him his heart must surely break,
97	Seeing them there so miserable of state,
98	Who had been proud and happy but so late.
99	And in his arms he took them tenderly,
100	Giving them comfort understandingly:
101	And swore his oath, that as he was true knight,
102	He would put forth so thoroughly his might
103	Against the tyrant Creon as to wreak
104	Vengeance so great that all of Greece should speak
105	And say how Creon was by Theseus served,
106	As one that had his death full well deserved.
107	This sworn and done, he no more there abode;
108	His banner he displayed and forth he rode
109	Toward Thebes, and all his host marched on beside;
110	Nor nearer Athens would he walk or ride,
111	Nor take his ease for even half a day,
112	But onward, and in camp that night he lay;
113	And thence he sent Hippolyta the queen
114	And her bright sister Emily, I ween,
115	Unto the town of Athens, there to dwell
116	While he went forth. There is no more to tell.
117	The image of red Mars, with spear and shield,
118	So shone upon his banner's snow-white field
119	It made a billowing glitter up and down;
120	And by the banner borne was his pennon,
121	On which in beaten gold was worked, complete,
122	The Minotaur, which he had slain in Crete.
123	Thus rode this duke, thus rode this conqueror,
124	And in his host of chivalry the flower,
125	Until he came to Thebes and did alight
126	Full in the field where he'd intent to fight.
127	But to be brief in telling of this thing,
128	With Creon, who was Thebes' dread lord and king,
129	He fought and slew him, manfully, like knight,
130	In open war, and put his host to flight;
131	And by assault he took the city then,
132	Levelling wall and rafter with his men;
133	And to the ladies he restored again
134	The bones of their poor husbands who were slain,
135	To do for them the last rites of that day.
136	But it were far too long a tale to say
137	The clamour of great grief and sorrowing
138	Those ladies raised above the bones burning
139	Upon the pyres, and of the great honour
140	That Theseus, the noble conqueror,
141	Paid to the ladies when from him they went;
142	To make the story short is my intent.
143	When, then, this worthy duke, this Theseus
144	Had slain Creon and won Thebes city thus,
145	Still on the field he took that night his rest,
146	And dealt with all the land as he thought best.
147	In searching through the heap of enemy dead,
148	Stripping them of their gear from heel to head,
149	The busy pillagers could pick and choose,
150	After the battle, what they best could use;
151	And so befell that in a heap they found,
152	Pierced through with many a grievous, bloody wound,
153	Two young knights lying together, side by side,
154	Bearing one crest, wrought richly, of their pride,
155	And of those two Arcita was the one,
156	The other knight was known as Palamon.
157	Not fully quick, nor fully dead they were,
158	But by their coats of arms and by their gear
159	The heralds readily could tell, withal,
160	That they were of the Theban blood royal,
161	And that they had been of two sisters born.
162	Out of the heap the spoilers had them torn
163	And carried gently over to the tent
164	Of Theseus; who shortly had them sent
165	To Athens, there in prison cell to lie
166	For ever, without ransom, till they die.
167	And when this worthy duke had all this done,
168	He gathered host and home he rode anon,
169	With laurel crowned again as conqueror;
170	There lived he in all joy and all honour
171	His term of life; what more need words express?
172	And in a tower, in anguish and distress,
173	Palamon and Arcita, day and night,
174	Dwelt whence no gold might help them to take flight.
175	Thus passed by year by year and day by day,
176	Till it fell out, upon a morn in May,
177	That Emily, far fairer to be seen
178	Than is the lily on its stalk of green,
179	And fresher than is May with flowers new
180	(For with the rose's colour strove her hue,
181	I know not which was fairer of the two),
182	Before the dawn, as was her wont to do,
183	She rose and dressed her body for delight;
184	For May will have no sluggards of the night.
185	That season rouses every gentle heart
186	And forces it from winter's sleep to start,
187	Saying: Arise and show thy reverence.
188	So Emily remembered to go thence
189	In honour of the May, and so she rose.
190	Clothed, she was sweeter than any flower that blows;
191	Her yellow hair was braided in one tress
192	Behind her back, a full yard long, I guess.
193	And in the garden, as the sun up-rose,
194	She sauntered back and forth and through each close,
195	Gathering many a flower, white and red,
196	To weave a delicate garland for her head;
197	And like a heavenly angel's was her song.
198	The tower tall, which was so thick and strong,
199	And of the castle was the great donjon,
200	(Wherein the two knights languished in prison,
201	Of whom I told and shall yet tell, withal),
202	Was joined, at base, unto the garden wall
203	Whereunder Emily went dallying.
204	Bright was the sun and clear that morn in spring,
205	And Palamon, the woeful prisoner,
206	As was his wont, by leave of his gaoler,
207	Was up and pacing round that chamber high,
208	From which the noble city filled his eye,
209	And, too, the garden full of branches green,
210	Wherein bright Emily, fair and serene,
211	Went walking and went roving up and down.
212	This sorrowing prisoner, this Palamon,
213	Being in the chamber, pacing to and fro,
214	And to himself complaining of his woe,
215	Cursing his birth, he often cried Alas!
216	And so it was, by chance or other pass,
217	That through a window, closed by many a bar
218	Of iron, strong and square as any spar,
219	He cast his eyes upon Emilia,
220	And thereupon he blenched and cried out Ah!
221	As if he had been smitten to the heart.
222	And at that cry Arcita did up-start,
223	Asking: My cousin, why what ails you now
224	That you've so deathly pallor on your brow?
225	Why did you cry out? Who's offended you?
226	For God's love, show some patience, as I do,
227	With prison, for it may not different be;
228	Fortune has given this adversity.
229	Some evil disposition or aspect
230	Of Saturn did our horoscopes affect
231	To bring us here, though differently 'twere sworn;
232	But so the stars stood when we two were born;
233	We must endure it; that, in brief, is plain.
234	This Palamon replied and said again:
235	Cousin, indeed in this opinion now
236	Your fancy is but vanity, I trow.
237	It's not our prison that caused me to cry.
238	But I was wounded lately through the eye
239	Down to my heart, and that my bane will be.
240	The beauty of the lady that I see
241	There in that garden, pacing to and fro,
242	Is cause of all my crying and my woe.
243	I know not if she's woman or goddess;
244	But Venus she is verily, I guess.
245	And thereupon down on his knees he fell,
246	And said: O Venus, if it be thy will
247	To be transfigured in this garden, thus
248	Before me, sorrowing wretch, oh now help us
249	Out of this prison to be soon escaped.
250	And if it be my destiny is shaped,
251	By fate, to die in durance, in bondage,
252	Have pity, then, upon our lineage
253	That has been brought so low by tyranny.
254	And on that word Arcita looked to see
255	This lady who went roving to and fro.
256	And in that look her beauty struck him so
257	That, if poor Palamon is wounded sore,
258	Arcita is as deeply hurt, and more.
259	And with a sigh he said then, piteously:
260	The virgin beauty slays me suddenly
261	Of her that wanders yonder in that place;
262	And save I have her pity and her grace,
263	That I at least may see her day by day,
264	I am but dead; there is no more to say.
265	This Palamon, when these words he had heard,
266	Pitilessly he watched him, and answered:
267	Do you say this in earnest or in play?
268	Nay, quoth Arcita, earnest, now, I say!
269	God help me, I am in no mood for play!
270	Palamon knit his brows and stood at bay.
271	It will not prove, he said, to your honour
272	After so long a time to turn traitor
273	To me, who am your cousin and your brother,
274	Sworn as we are, and each unto the other,
275	That never, though for death in any pain,
276	Never, indeed, till death shall part us twain,
277	Either of us in love shall hinder other,
278	No, nor in any thing, O my dear brother;
279	But that, instead, you shall so further me
280	As I shall you. All this we did agree.
281	Such was your oath and such was mine also.
282	You dare not now deny it, well I know.
283	Thus you are of my party, beyond doubt.
284	And now you would all falsely go about
285	To love my lady, whom I love and serve,
286	And shall while life my heart's blood may preserve.
287	Nay, false Arcita, it shall not be so.
288	I loved her first, and told you all my woe,
289	As to a brother and to one that swore
290	To further me, as I have said before.
291	For which you are in duty bound, as knight,
292	To help me, if the thing lie in your might,
293	Or else you're false, I say, and downfallen.
294	Then this Arcita proudly spoke again:
295	You shall, he said, be rather false than I;
296	And that you're so, I tell you utterly;
297	For par amour I loved her first, you know.
298	What can you say? You know not, even now,
299	Whether she is a woman or goddess!
300	Yours is a worship as of holiness,
301	While mine is love, as of a mortal maid;
302	Wherefore I told you of it, unafraid,
303	As to my cousin and my brother sworn.
304	Let us assume you loved her first, this morn;
305	Know you not well the ancient writer's saw
306	Of 'Who shall give a lover any law?'
307	Love is a greater law, aye by my pan,
308	Than man has ever given to earthly man.
309	And therefore statute law and such decrees
310	Are broken daily and in all degrees.
311	A man must needs have love, maugre his head.
312	He cannot flee it though he should be dead,
313	And be she maid, or widow, or a wife.
314	And yet it is not likely that, in life,
315	You'll stand within her graces; nor shall I;
316	For you are well aware, aye verily,
317	That you and I are doomed to prison drear
318	Perpetually; we gain no ransom here.
319	We strive but as those dogs did for the bone;
320	They fought all day, and yet their gain was none.
321	Till came a kite while they were still so wroth
322	And bore the bone away between them both.
323	And therefore, at the king's court, O my brother,
324	It's each man for himself and not for other.
325	Love if you like; for I love and aye shall;
326	And certainly, dear brother, that is all.
327	Here in this prison cell must we remain
328	And each endure whatever fate ordain.
329	Great was the strife, and long, betwixt the two,
330	If I had but the time to tell it you,
331	Save in effect. It happened on a day
332	(To tell the tale as briefly as I may),
333	A worthy duke men called Pirithous,
334	Who had been friend unto Duke Theseus
335	Since each had been a little child, a chit,
336	Was come to visit Athens and visit
337	His play-fellow, as he was wont to do,
338	For in this whole world he loved no man so;
339	And Theseus loved him as truly- nay,
340	So well each loved the other, old books say,
341	That when one died (it is but truth I tell),
342	The other went and sought him down in Hell;
343	But of that tale I have no wish to write.
344	Pirithous loved Arcita, too, that knight,
345	Having known him in Thebes full many a year;
346	And finally, at his request and prayer,
347	And that without a coin of ransom paid,
348	Duke Theseus released him out of shade,
349	Freely to go where'er he wished, and to
350	His own devices, as I'll now tell you.
351	The compact was, to set it plainly down,
352	As made between those two of great renown:
353	That if Arcita, any time, were found,
354	Ever in life, by day or night, on ground
355	Of any country of this Theseus,
356	And he were caught, it was concerted thus,
357	That by the sword he straight should lose his head.
358	He had no choice, so taking leave he sped
359	Homeward to Thebes, lest by the sword's sharp edge
360	He forfeit life. His neck was under pledge.
361	How great a sorrow is Arcita's now!
362	How through his heart he feels death's heavy blow,
363	He weeps, he wails, he cries out piteously;
364	He thinks to slay himself all privily.
365	Said he: Alas, the day that I was born!
366	I'm in worse prison, now, and more forlorn;
367	Now am I doomed eternally to dwell
368	No more in Purgatory, but in Hell.
369	Alas, that I have known Pirithous!
370	For else had I remained with Theseus,
371	Fettered within that cell; but even so
372	Then had I been in bliss and not in woe.
373	Only the sight of her that I would serve,
374	Though I might never her dear grace deserve,
375	Would have sufficed, oh well enough for me!
376	O my dear cousin Palamon, said he,
377	Yours is the victory, and that is sure,
378	For there, full happily, you may endure.
379	In prison? Never, but in Paradise!
380	Oh, well has Fortune turned for you the dice,
381	Who have the sight of her, I the absence.
382	For possible it is, in her presence,
383	You being a knight, a worthy and able,
384	That by some chance, since Fortune's changeable.
385	You may to your desire sometime attain.
386	But I, that am in exile and in pain,
387	Stripped of all hope and in so deep despair
388	That there's no earth nor water, fire nor air,
389	Nor any creature made of them there is
390	To help or give me comfort, now, in this-
391	Surely I'll die of sorrow and distress;
392	Farewell, my life, my love, my joyousness!
393	Alas! Why is it men so much complain
394	Of what great God, or Fortune, may ordain,
395	When better is the gift, in any guise,
396	Than men may often for themselves devise?
397	One man desires only that great wealth
398	Which may but cause his death or long ill-health.
399	One who from prison gladly would be free,
400	At home by his own servants slain might be.
401	Infinite evils lie therein, 'tis clear;
402	We know not what it is we pray for here.
403	We fare as he that's drunken as a mouse;
404	A drunk man knows right well he has a house,
405	But he knows not the right way leading thither;
406	And a drunk man is sure to slip and slither.
407	And certainly, in this world so fare we;
408	We furiously pursue felicity,
409	Yet we go often wrong before we die.
410	This may we all admit, and specially I,
411	Who deemed and held, as I were under spell,
412	That if I might escape from prison cell,
413	Then would I find again what might heal,
414	Who now am only exiled from my weal.
415	For since I may not see you, Emily,
416	I am but dead; there is no remedy.
417	And on the other hand, this Palamon,
418	When that he found Arcita truly gone,
419	Such lamentation made he, that the tower
420	Resounded of his crying, hour by hour.
421	The very fetters on his legs were yet
422	Again with all his bitter salt tears wet.
423	Alas! said he, Arcita, cousin mine,
424	With all our strife, God knows, you've won the wine.
425	You're walking, now, in Theban streets, at large,
426	And all my woe you may from mind discharge.
427	You may, too, since you've wisdom and manhood,
428	Assemble all the people of our blood
429	And wage a war so sharp on this city
430	That by some fortune, or by some treaty,
431	You shall yet have that lady to your wife
432	For whom I now must needs lay down my life.
433	For surely 'tis in possibility,
434	Since you are now at large, from prison free,
435	And are a lord, great is your advantage
436	Above my own, who die here in a cage.
437	For I must weep and wail, the while I live,
438	In all the grief that prison cell may give,
439	And now with pain that love gives me, also,
440	Which doubles all my torment and my woe.
441	Therewith the fires of jealousy up-start
442	Within his breast and burn him to the heart
443	So wildly that he seems one, to behold,
444	Like seared box tree, or ashes, dead and cold.
445	Then said he: O you cruel Gods, that sway
446	This world in bondage of your laws, for aye,
447	And write upon the tablets adamant
448	Your counsels and the changeless words you grant,
449	What better view of mankind do you hold
450	Than of the sheep that huddle in the fold?
451	For man must die like any other beast,
452	Or rot in prison, under foul arrest,
453	And suffer sickness and misfortune sad,
454	And still be ofttimes guiltless, too, by gad!
455	What management is in this prescience
456	That, guiltless, yet torments our innocence?
457	And this increases all my pain, as well,
458	That man is bound by law, nor may rebel,
459	For fear of God, but must repress his will,
460	Whereas a beast may all his lust fulfill.
461	And when a beast is dead, he feels no pain;
462	But, after death, man yet must weep amain,
463	Though in this world he had but care and woe:
464	There is no doubt that it is even so.
465	The answer leave I to divines to tell,
466	But well I know this present world is hell.
467	Alas! I see a serpent or a thief,
468	That has brought many a true man unto grief,
469	Going at large, and where he wills may turn,
470	But I must lie in gaol, because Saturn,
471	And Juno too, both envious and mad,
472	Have spilled out well-nigh all the blood we had
473	At Thebes, and desolated her wide walls.
474	And Venus slays me with the bitter galls
475	Of fear of Arcita, and jealousy.
476	Now will I leave this Palamon, for he
477	Is in his prison, where he still must dwell,
478	And of Arcita will I forthwith tell.
479	Summer being passed away and nights grown long,
480	Increased now doubly all the anguish strong
481	Both of the lover and the prisoner.
482	I know not which one was the woefuller.
483	For, to be brief about it, Palamon
484	Is doomed to lie for ever in prison,
485	In chains and fetters till he shall be dead;
486	And exiled (on the forfeit of his head)
487	Arcita must remain abroad, nor see,
488	For evermore, the face of his lady.
489	You lovers, now I ask you this question:
490	Who has the worse, Arcita or Palamon?
491	The one may see his lady day by day,
492	But yet in prison must he dwell for aye.
493	The other, where he wishes, he may go,
494	But never see his lady more, ah no.
495	Now answer as you wish, all you that can.
496	For I will speak right on as I began.
497	Explicit prima pars.
498	Sequitur pars secunda.
499	Now when Arcita unto Thebes was come,
500	He lay and languished all day in his home,
501	Since he his lady nevermore should see,
502	But telling of his sorrow brief I'll be.
503	Had never any man so much torture,
504	No, nor shall have while this world may endure.
505	Bereft he was of sleep and meat and drink,
506	That lean he grew and dry as shaft, I think.
507	His eyes were hollow and ghastly to behold,
508	His face was sallow, all pale and ashen-cold,
509	And solitary kept he and alone,
510	Wailing the whole night long, making his moan.
511	And if he heard a song or instrument,
512	Then he would weep ungoverned and lament;
513	So feeble were his spirits, and so low,
514	And so changed was he, that no man could know
515	Him by his words or voice, whoever heard.
516	And in this change, for all the world he fared
517	As if not troubled by malady of love,
518	But by that humor dark and grim, whereof
519	Springs melancholy madness in the brain,
520	And fantasy unbridled holds its reign.
521	And shortly, all was turned quite upside-down,
522	Both habits and the temper all had known
523	Of him, this woeful lover, Dan Arcite.
524	Why should I all day of his woe indite?
525	When he'd endured all this a year or two,
526	This cruel torment and this pain and woe,
527	At Thebes, in his own country, as I said,
528	Upon a night, while sleeping in his bed,
529	He dreamed of how the winged God Mercury
530	Before him stood and bade him happier be.
531	His sleep-bestowing wand he bore upright;
532	A hat he wore upon his ringlets bright.
533	Arrayed this god was (noted at a leap)
534	As he'd been when to Argus he gave sleep.
535	And thus he spoke: To Athens shall you wend;
536	For all your woe is destined there to end.
537	And on that word Arcita woke and started.
538	Now truly, howsoever sore I'm smarted,
539	Said he, to Athens right now will I fare;
540	Nor for the dread of death will I now spare
541	To see my lady, whom I love and serve;
542	I will not reck of death, with her, nor swerve.
543	And with that word he caught a great mirror,
544	And saw how changed was all his old colour,
545	And saw his visage altered from its kind.
546	And right away it ran into his mind
547	That since his face was now disfigured so,
548	By suffering endured (as well we know),
549	He might, if he should bear him low in town,
550	Live there in Athens evermore, unknown,
551	Seeing his lady well-nigh every day.
552	And right anon he altered his array,
553	Like a poor labourer in mean attire,
554	And all alone, save only for a squire,
555	Who knew his secret heart and all his case,
556	And who was dressed as poorly as he was,
557	To Athens was he gone the nearest way.
558	And to the court he went upon a day,
559	And at the gate he proffered services
560	To drudge and drag, as any one devises.
561	And to be brief herein, and to be plain,
562	He found employment with a chamberlain
563	Was serving in the house of Emily;
564	For he was sharp and very soon could see
565	What every servant did who served her there.
566	Right well could he hew wood and water bear,
567	For he was young and mighty, let me own,
568	And big of muscle, aye and big of bone,
569	To do what any man asked, in a trice.
570	A year or two he was in this service,
571	Page of the chamber of Emily the bright;
572	He said Philostrates would name him right.
573	But half so well beloved a man as he
574	Was never in that court, of his degree;
575	His gentle nature was so clearly shown,
576	That throughout all the court spread his renown.
577	They said it were but kindly courtesy
578	If Theseus should heighten his degree
579	And put him in more honourable service
580	Wherein he might his virtue exercise.
581	And thus, anon, his name was so up-sprung,
582	Both for his deeds and sayings of his tongue,
583	That Theseus had brought him nigh and nigher
584	And of the chamber he had made him squire,
585	And given him gold to maintain dignity.
586	Besides, men brought him, from his own country,
587	From year to year, clandestinely, his rent;
588	But honestly and slyly it was spent,
589	And no man wondered how he came by it.
590	And three years thus he lived, with much profit,
591	And bore him so in peace and so in war
592	There was no man that Theseus loved more.
593	And in such bliss I leave Arcita now,
594	And upon Palamon some words bestow.
595	In darksome, horrible, and strong prison
596	These seven years has now sat Palamon,
597	Wasted by woe and by his long distress.
598	Who has a two-fold evil heaviness
599	But Palamon? whom love yet tortures so
600	That half out of his wits he is for woe;
601	And joined thereto he is a prisoner,
602	Perpetually, not only for a year.
603	And who could rhyme in English, properly,
604	His martyrdom? Forsooth, it is not I;
605	And therefore I pass lightly on my way.
606	It fell out in the seventh year, in May,
607	On the third night (as say the books of old
608	Which have this story much more fully told),
609	Were it by chance or were it destiny
610	(Since, when a thing is destined, it must be),
611	That, shortly after midnight, Palamon,
612	By helping of a friend, broke from prison,
613	And fled the city, fast as he might go;
614	For he had given his guard a drink that so
615	Was mixed of spice and honey and certain wine
616	And Theban opiate and anodyne,
617	That all that night, although a man might shake
618	This gaoler, he slept on, nor could awake.
619	And thus he flees as fast as ever he may.
620	The night was short and it was nearly day,
621	Wherefore he needs must find a place to hide;
622	And to a grove that grew hard by, with stride
623	Of furtive foot, went fearful Palamon.
624	In brief, he'd formed his plan, as he went on,
625	That in the grove he would lie fast all day,
626	And when night came, then would he take his way
627	Toward Thebes, and there find friends, and of them pray
628	Their help on Theseus in war's array;
629	And briefly either he would lose his life,
630	Or else win Emily to be his wife;
631	This is the gist of his intention plain.
632	Now I'll return to Arcita again,
633	Who little knew how near to him was care
634	Till Fortune caught him in her tangling snare.
635	The busy lark, the herald of the day,
636	Salutes now in her song the morning grey;
637	And fiery Phoebus rises up so bright
638	That all the east is laughing with the light,
639	And with his streamers dries, among the greves,
640	The silver droplets hanging on the leaves.
641	And so Arcita, in the court royal
642	With Theseus and his squire principal,
643	Is risen, and looks on the merry day.
644	And now, to do his reverence to May,
645	Calling to mind the point of his desire,
646	He on a courser, leaping high like fire,
647	Is ridden to the fields to muse and play,
648	Out of the court, a mile or two away;
649	And to the grove, whereof I lately told,
650	By accident his way began to hold,
651	To make him there the garland that one weaves
652	Of woodbine leaves and of green hawthorn leaves.
653	And loud he sang within the sunlit sheen:
654	O May, with all thy flowers and all thy green,
655	Welcome be thou, thou fair and freshening May:
656	I hope to pluck some garland green today.
657	And from his courser, with a lusty heart,
658	Into the grove right hastily did start,
659	And on a path he wandered up and down,
660	Near which, and as it chanced, this Palamon
661	Lay in the thicket, where no man might see,
662	For sore afraid of finding death was be.
663	He knew not that Arcita was so near:
664	God knows he would have doubted eye and ear,
665	But it has been a truth these many years
666	That Fields have eyes and every wood has ears.
667	It's well for one to bear himself with poise;
668	For every day unlooked-for chance annoys.
669	And little knew Arcita of his friend,
670	Who was so near and heard him to the end,
671	Where in the bush lie sat now, keeping still.
672	Arcita, having roamed and roved his fill,
673	And having sung his rondel, lustily,
674	Into a study fell he, suddenly,
675	As do these lovers in their strange desires,
676	Now in the trees, now down among the briers,
677	Now up, now down, like bucket in a well.
678	Even as on a Friday, truth to tell,
679	The sun shines now, and now the rain comes fast,
680	Even so can fickle Venus overcast
681	The spirits of her people; as her day,
682	Is changeful, so she changes her array.
683	Seldom is Friday quite like all the week.
684	Arcita, having sung, began to speak,
685	And sat him down, sighing like one forlorn.
686	Alas, said he, the day that I was born!
687	How long, O Juno, of thy cruelty,
688	Wilt thou wage bitter war on Thebes city?
689	Alas! Confounded beyond all reason
690	The blood of Cadmus and of Amphion;
691	Of royal Cadmus, who was the first man
692	To build at Thebes, and first the town began,
693	And first of all the city to be king;
694	Of his lineage am I, and his offspring,
695	By true descent, and of the stock royal:
696	And now I'm such a wretched serving thrall,
697	That he who is my mortal enemy,
698	I serve him as his squire, and all humbly.
699	And even more does Juno give me shame,
700	For I dare not acknowledge my own name;
701	But whereas I was Arcita by right,
702	Now I'm Philostrates, not worth a mite.
703	Alas, thou cruel Mars! Alas, Juno!
704	Thus have your angers all our kin brought low,
705	Save only me, and wretched Palamon,
706	Whom Theseus martyrs yonder in prison.
707	And above all, to slay me utterly,
708	Love has his fiery dart so burningly
709	Struck through my faithful and care-laden heart,
710	My death was patterned ere my swaddling-shirt.
711	You slay me with your two eyes, Emily;
712	You are the cause for which I now must die.
713	For on the whole of all my other care
714	I would not set the value of a tare,
715	So I could do one thing to your pleasance!
716	And with that word he fell down in a trance
717	That lasted long; and then he did up-start.
718	This Palamon, who thought that through his heart
719	He felt a cold and sudden sword blade glide,
720	For rage he shook, no longer would he hide.
721	But after he had heard Arcita's tale,
722	As he were mad, with face gone deathly pale,
723	He started up and sprang out of the thicket,
724	Crying: Arcita, oh you traitor wicked,
725	Now are you caught, that crave my lady so,
726	For whom I suffer all this pain and woe,
727	And are my blood, and know my secrets' store,
728	As I have often told you heretofore,
729	And have befooled the great Duke Thesues,
730	And falsely changed your name and station thus:
731	Either I shall be dead or you shall die.
732	You shall not love my lady Emily,
733	But I will love her, and none other, no;
734	For I am Palamon, your mortal foe.
735	And though I have no weapon in this place,
736	Being but out of prison by God's grace,
737	I say again, that either you shall die
738	Or else forgo your love for Emily.
739	Choose which you will, for you shall not depart.
740	This Arcita, with scornful, angry heart,
741	When he knew him and all the tale had heard,
742	Fierce as a lion, out he pulled a sword,
743	And answered thus: By God that sits above!
744	Were it not you are sick and mad for love,
745	And that you have no weapon in this place,
746	Out of this grove you'd never move a pace,
747	But meet your death right now, and at my hand.
748	For I renounce the bond and its demand
749	Which you assert that I have made with you.
750	What, arrant fool, love's free to choose and do,
751	And I will have her, spite of all your might!
752	But in as much as you're a worthy knight
753	And willing to defend your love, in mail,
754	Hear now this word: tomorrow I'll not fail
755	(Without the cognizance of any wight)
756	To come here armed and harnessed as a knight,
757	And to bring arms for you, too, as you'll see;
758	And choose the better and leave the worse for me.
759	And meat and drink this very night I'll bring,
760	Enough for you, and clothes for your bedding.
761	And if it be that you my lady win
762	And slay me in this wood that now I'm in,
763	Then may you have your lady, for all of me.
764	This Palamon replied: I do agree.
765	And thus they parted till the morrow morn,
766	When each had pledged his honour to return.
767	O Cupido, that know'st not charity!
768	O despot, that no peer will have with thee!
769	Truly, 'tis said, that love, like all lordship,
770	Declines, with little thanks, a partnership.
771	Well learned they that, Arcite and Palamon.
772	Arcita rode into the town anon,
773	And on the morrow, ere the dawn, he bore,
774	Secretly, arms and armour out of store,
775	Enough for each, and proper to maintain
776	A battle in the field between the twain.
777	So on his horse, alone as he was born,
778	He carried out that harness as he'd sworn;
779	And in the grove, at time and place they'd set,
780	Arcita and this Palamon were met.
781	Each of the two changed colour in the face.
782	For as the hunter in the realm of Thrace
783	Stands at the clearing with his ready spear,
784	When hunted is the lion, or the bear,
785	And through the forest hears him rushing fast,
786	Breaking the boughs and leaves, and thinks aghast.
787	Here comes apace my mortal enemy!
788	Now, without fail, he must be slain, or I;
789	For either I must kill him ere he pass,
790	Or he will make of me a dead carcass-
791	So fared these men, in altering their hue,
792	So far as each the strength of other knew.
793	There was no good-day given, no saluting,
794	But without word, rehearsal, or such thing,
795	Each of them helping, so they armed each other
796	As dutifully as he were his own brother;
797	And afterward, with their sharp spears and strong,
798	They thrust each at the other wondrous long.
799	You might have fancied that this Palamon,
800	In battle, was a furious, mad lion,
801	And that Arcita was a tiger quite:
802	Like very boars the two began to smite,
803	Like boars that froth for anger in the wood.
804	Up to the ankles fought they in their blood.
805	And leaving them thus fighting fast and fell,
806	Forthwith of Theseus I now will tell.
807	Great destiny, minister-general,
808	That executes in this world, and for all,
809	The needs that God foresaw ere we were born,
810	So strong it is that, though the world had sworn
811	The contrary of a thing, by yea or nay,
812	Yet sometime it shall fall upon a day,
813	Though not again within a thousand years.
814	For certainly our wishes and our fears,
815	Whether of war or peace, or hate or love,
816	All, all are ruled by that Foresight above.
817	This show I now by mighty Theseus,
818	Who to go hunting is so desirous,
819	And specially of the hart of ten, in May,
820	That, in his bed, there dawns for him no day
821	That he's not clothed and soon prepared to ride
822	With hound and horn and huntsman at his side.
823	For in his hunting has he such delight,
824	That it is all his joy and appetite
825	To be himself the great hart's deadly bane:
826	For after Mars, he serves Diana's reign.
827	Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,
828	When Theseus, compact of joy and bliss,
829	With his Hippolyta, the lovely queen,
830	And fair Emilia, clothed all in green,
831	A-hunting they went riding royally.
832	And to the grove of trees that grew hard by,
833	In which there was a hart, as men had told,
834	Duke Theseus the shortest way did hold.
835	And to the glade he rode on, straight and right,
836	For there the hart was wont to go in flight,
837	And over a brook, and so forth on his way.
838	This duke would have a course at him today,
839	With such hounds as it pleased him to command.
840	And when this duke was come upon that land,
841	Under the slanting sun he looked, anon,
842	And there saw Arcita and Palamon,
843	Who furiously fought, as two boars do;
844	The bright swords went in circles to and fro
845	So terribly, that even their least stroke
846	Seemed powerful enough to fell an oak;
847	But who the two were, nothing did he note.
848	This duke his courser with the sharp spurs smote,
849	And in one bound he was between the two,
850	And lugged his great sword out, and cried out: Ho!
851	No more, I say, on pain of losing head!
852	By mighty Mars, that one shall soon be dead
853	Who smites another stroke that I may see!
854	But tell me now what manner of men ye be
855	That are so hardy as to fight out here
856	Without a judge or other officer,
857	As if you-rode in lists right royally?
858	This Palamon replied, then, hastily,
859	Saying: O Sire, what need for more ado?
860	We have deserved our death at hands of you.
861	Two woeful wretches are we, two captives
862	That are encumbered by our own sad lives;
863	And as you are a righteous lord and judge,
864	Give us not either mercy or refuge,
865	But slay me first, for sacred charity;
866	But slay my fellow here, as well, with me.
867	Or slay him first; for though you learn it late,
868	This is your mortal foe, Arcita- wait!-
869	That from the land was banished, on his head.
870	And for the which he merits to be dead.
871	For this is he who came unto your gate,
872	Calling himself Philostrates- nay, wait!-
873	Thus has he fooled you well this many a year,
874	And you have made him your chief squire, I hear:
875	And this is he that loves fair Emily.
876	For since the day is come when I must die,
877	I make confession plainly and say on,
878	That I am that same woeful Palamon
879	Who has your prison broken, viciously.
880	I am your mortal foe, and it is I
881	Who love so hotly Emily the bright
882	That I'll die gladly here within her sigh!
883	Therefore do I ask death as penalty,
884	But slay my fellow with the same mercy,
885	For both of us deserve but to be slain.
886	This worthy duke presently spoke again,
887	Saying: This judgment needs but a short session:
888	Your own mouth, aye, and by your own confession,
889	Has doomed and damned you, as I shall record.
890	There is no need for torture, on my word.
891	But you shall die, by mighty Mars the red!
892	But then the queen, whose heart for pity bled,
893	Began to weep, and so did Emily
894	And all the ladies in the company.
895	Great pity must it be, so thought they all,
896	That ever such misfortune should befall:
897	For these were gentlemen, of great estate,
898	And for no thing, save love, was their debate.
899	They saw their bloody wounds, so sore and wide,
900	And all cried out- greater and less, they cried:
901	Have mercy, lord, upon us women all!
902	And down upon their bare knees did they fall,
903	And would have kissed his feet there where he stood,
904	Till at the last assuaged was his high mood;
905	For soon will pity flow through gentle heart.
906	And though he first for ire did shake and start,
907	He soon considered, to state the case in brief,
908	What cause they had for fighting, what for grief;
909	And though his anger still their guilt accused,
910	Yet in his reason he held them both excused;
911	In such wise: he thought well that every man
912	Will help himself in love, if he but can,
913	And will himself deliver from prison;
914	And, too, at heart he had compassion on
915	Those women, for they cried and wept as one,
916	And in his gentle heart he thought anon,
917	And softly to himself he said then: Fie
918	Upon a lord that will have no mercy,
919	But acts the lion, both in word and deed,
920	To those repentant and in fear and need,
921	As well as to the proud and pitiless man
922	That still would do the thing that he began!
923	That lord must surely in discretion lack
924	Who, in such case, can no distinction make,
925	But weighs both proud and humble in one scale.
926	And shortly, when his ire was thus grown pale,
927	He looked up to the sky, with eyes alight,
928	And spoke these words, as he would promise plight:
929	The god of love, ah benedicite!
930	How mighty and how great a lord is he!
931	Against his might may stand no obstacles,
932	A true god is he by his miracles;
933	For he can manage, in his own sweet wise,
934	The heart of anyone as he devise.
935	Lo, here, Arcita and this Palamon,
936	That were delivered out of my prison,
937	And might have lived in Thebes right royally,
938	Knowing me for their mortal enemy,
939	And also that their lives lay in my hand;
940	And yet their love has wiled them to this land,
941	Against all sense, and brought them here to die!
942	Look you now, is not that a folly high?
943	Who can be called a fool, except he love?
944	And see, for sake of God who sits above,
945	See how they bleed! Are they not well arrayed?
946	Thus has their lord, the god of love, repaid
947	Their wages and their fees for their service!
948	And yet they are supposed to be full wise
949	Who serve love well, whatever may befall!
950	But this is yet the best jest of them all,
951	That she for whom they have this jollity
952	Can thank them for it quite as much as me;
953	She knows no more of all this fervent fare,
954	By God! than knows a cuckoo or a hare.
955	But all must be essayed, both hot and cold,
956	A man must play the fool, when young or old;
957	I know it of myself from years long gone:
958	For of love's servants I've been numbered one.
959	And therefore, since I know well all love's pain,
960	And know how sorely it can man constrain,
961	As one that has been taken in the net,
962	I will forgive your trespass, and forget,
963	At instance of my sweet queen, kneeling here,
964	Aye, and of Emily, my sister dear.
965	And you shall presently consent to swear
966	That nevermore will you my power dare,
967	Nor wage war on me, either night or day,
968	But will be friends to me in all you may;
969	I do forgive this trespass, full and fair.
970	And then they swore what he demanded there,
971	And, of his might, they of his mercy prayed,
972	And he extended grace, and thus he said:
973	To speak for royalty's inheritress,
974	Although she be a queen or a princess,
975	Each of you both is worthy, I confess,
976	When comes the time to wed: but nonetheless,
977	I speak now of my sister Emily,
978	The cause of all this strife and jealousy-
979	You know yourselves she may not marry two,
980	At once, although you fight or what you do:
981	One of you, then, and be he loath or lief,
982	Must pipe his sorrows in an ivy leaf.
983	That is to say, she cannot have you both,
984	However jealous one may be, or wroth.
985	Therefore I put you both in this decree,
986	That each of you shall learn his destiny
987	As it is cast; and hear, now, in what wise
988	The word of fate shall speak through my device.
989	My will is this, to draw conclusion flat,
990	Without reply, or plea, or caveat
991	(In any case, accept it for the best),
992	That each of you shall follow his own quest,
993	Free of all ransom or of fear from me;
994	And this day, fifty weeks hence, both shall be
995	Here once again, each with a hundred knights,
996	Armed for the lists, who stoutly for your rights
997	Will ready be to battle, to maintain
998	Your claim to love. I promise you, again,
999	Upon my word, and as I am a knight,
1000	That whichsoever of you wins the fight,
1001	That is to say, whichever of you two
1002	May with his hundred, whom I spoke of, do
1003	His foe to death, or out of boundary drive,
1004	Then he shall have Emilia to wive
1005	To whom Fortune gives so fair a grace.
1006	The lists shall be erected in this place.
1007	And God so truly on my soul have ruth
1008	As I shall prove an honest judge, in truth.
1009	You shall no other judgment in me waken
1010	Than that the one shall die or else be taken.
1011	And if you think the sentence is well said,
1012	Speak your opinion, that you're well repaid.
1013	This is the end, and I conclude hereon.
1014	Who looks up lightly now but Palamon?
1015	Who leaps for you but Arcita the knight?
1016	And who could tell, or who could ever write
1017	The jubilation made within that place
1018	Where Theseus has shown so fair a grace?
1019	But down on knee went each one for delight
1020	And thanked him there with all his heart and might,
1021	And specially those Thebans did their part.
1022	And thus, with high hopes, being blithe of heart,
1023	They took their leave; and homeward did they ride
1024	To Thebes that sits within her old walls wide.
1025	Explicit secunda pars.
1026	Sequitur pars tercia.
1027	I think that men would deem it negligence
1028	If I forgot to tell of the expense
1029	Of Theseus, who went so busily
1030	To work upon the lists, right royally;
1031	For such an amphitheatre he made,
1032	Its equal never yet on earth was laid.
1033	The circuit, rising, hemmed a mile about,
1034	Walled all of stone and moated deep without.
1035	Round was the shape as compass ever traces,
1036	And built in tiers, the height of sixty paces,
1037	That those who sat in one tier, or degree,
1038	Should hinder not the folk behind to see.
1039	Eastward there stood a gate of marble white.
1040	And westward such another, opposite.
1041	In brief, no place on earth, and so sublime,
1042	Was ever made in so small space of time;
1043	For in the land there was no craftsman quick
1044	At plane geometry or arithmetic,
1045	No painter and no sculptor of hard stone,
1046	But Theseus pressed meat and wage upon
1047	To build that amphitheatre and devise.
1048	And to observe all rites and sacrifice,
1049	Over the eastern gate, and high above,
1050	For worship of Queen Venus, god of love,
1051	He built an altar and an oratory;
1052	And westward, being mindful of the glory
1053	Of Mars, he straightway builded such another
1054	As cost a deal of gold and many a bother.
1055	And northward, in a turret on the wall,
1056	Of alabaster white and red coral,
1057	An oratory splendid as could be,
1058	In honour of Diana's chastity,
1059	Duke Theseus wrought out in noble wise.
1060	But yet have forgot to advertise
1061	The noble carvings and the portraitures,
1062	The shapes, the countenances, the figures
1063	That all were in these oratories three.
1064	First, in the fane of Venus, one might see,
1065	Wrought on the wall, and piteous to behold,
1066	The broken slumbers and the sighing cold,
1067	The sacred tears and the lamenting dire,
1068	The fiery throbbing of the strong desire,
1069	That all love's servants in this life endure;
1070	The vows that all their promises assure;
1071	Pleasure and hope, desire, foolhardiness,
1072	Beauty, youth, bawdiness, and riches, yes,
1073	Charms, and all force, and lies, and flattery,
1074	Expense, and labour; aye, and Jealousy
1075	That wore of marigolds a great garland
1076	And had a cuckoo sitting on her hand;
1077	Carols and instruments and feasts and dances,
1078	Lust and array, and all the circumstances
1079	Of love that I may reckon or ever shall,
1080	In order they were painted on the wall,
1081	Aye, and more, too, than I have ever known.
1082	For truly, all the Mount of Citheron,
1083	Where Venus has her chief and favoured dwelling,
1084	Was painted on that wall, beyond my telling,
1085	With all the gardens in their loveliness.
1086	Nor was forgot the gate-guard Idleness,
1087	Nor fair Narcissus of the years long gone,
1088	Nor yet the folly of King Solomon,
1089	No, nor the giant strength of Hercules,
1090	Nor Circe's and Medea's sorceries,
1091	Nor Turnus with his hardy, fierce courage,
1092	Nor the rich Croesus, captive in his age.
1093	Thus may be seen that wisdom, nor largess,
1094	Beauty, nor skill, nor strength, nor hardiness,
1095	May with Queen Venus share authority;
1096	For as she wills, so must the whole world be.
1097	Lo, all these folk were so caught in her snare
1098	They cried aloud in sorrow and in care.
1099	Here let suffice examples one or two,
1100	Though I might give a thousand more to you.
1101	The form of Venus, glorious as could be,
1102	Was naked, floating on the open sea,
1103	And from the navel down all covered was
1104	With green waves, bright as ever any glass.
1105	A citole in her small right hand had she,
1106	And on her head, and beautiful to see,
1107	A garland of red roses, sweet smelling,
1108	Above her swirled her white doves, fluttering.
1109	Before her stood her one son, Cupido,
1110	Whose two white wings upon his shoulders grow;
1111	And blind he was, as it is often seen;
1112	A bow he bore, and arrows bright and keen.
1113	Why should I not as well, now, tell you all
1114	The portraiture that was upon the wall
1115	Within the fane of mighty Mars the red?
1116	In length and breadth the whole wall was painted
1117	Like the interior of that grisly place,
1118	The mighty temple of great Mars in Thrace,
1119	In that same cold and frosty region where
1120	Mars to his supreme mansion may repair.
1121	First, on the wall was limned a vast forest
1122	Wherein there dwelt no man nor any beast,
1123	With knotted, gnarled, and leafless trees, so old
1124	The sharpened stumps were dreadful to behold;
1125	Through which there ran a rumbling, even now,
1126	As if a storm were breaking every bough;
1127	And down a hill, beneath a sharp descent,
1128	The temple stood of Mars armipotent,
1129	Wrought all of burnished steel, whereof the gate
1130	Was grim like death to see, and long, and strait.
1131	And therefrom raged a wind that seemed to shake
1132	The very ground, and made the great doors quake.
1133	The northern light in at those same doors shone,
1134	For window in that massive wall was none
1135	Through which a man might any light discern.
1136	The doors were all of adamant eterne,
1137	Rivetted on both sides, and all along,
1138	With toughest iron; and to make it strong,
1139	Each pillar that sustained this temple grim
1140	Was thick as tun, of iron bright and trim.
1141	There saw I first the dark imagining
1142	Of felony, and all the compassing;
1143	And cruel anger, red as burning coal;
1144	Pickpurses, and the dread that eats the soul;
1145	The smiling villain, hiding knife in cloak;
1146	The farm barns burning, and the thick black smoke;
1147	The treachery of murder done in bed;
1148	The open battle, with the wounds that bled;
1149	Contest, with bloody knife and sharp menace;
1150	And loud with creaking was that dismal place.
1151	The slayer of himself, too, saw I there,
1152	His very heart's blood matted in his hair;
1153	The nail that's driven in the skull by night;
1154	The cold plague-corpse, with gaping mouth upright
1155	In middle of the temple sat Mischance,
1156	With gloomy, grimly woeful countenance.
1157	And saw I Madness laughing in his rage;
1158	Armed risings, and outcries, and fierce outrage;
1159	The carrion in the bush, with throat wide carved;
1160	A thousand slain, nor one by plague, nor starved.
1161	The tyrant, with the spoils of violent theft;
1162	The town destroyed, in ruins, nothing left.
1163	And saw I burnt the ships that dance by phares,
1164	The hunter strangled by the fierce wild bears;
1165	The sow chewing the child right in the cradle;
1166	The cook well scalded, spite of his long ladle.
1167	Nothing was lacking of Mars' evil part:
1168	The carter over-driven by his cart,
1169	Under a wheel he lay low in the dust.
1170	There were likewise in Mars' house, as needs must,
1171	The surgeon, and the butcher, and the smith
1172	Who forges sharp swords and great ills therewith.
1173	And over all, depicted in a tower,
1174	Sat Conquest, high in honour and in power,
1175	Yet with a sharp sword hanging o'er his head
1176	But by the tenuous twisting of a thread.
1177	Depicted was the death of Julius,
1178	Of Nero great, and of Antonius;
1179	And though at that same time they were unborn,
1180	There were their deaths depicted to adorn
1181	The menacing of Mars, in likeness sure;
1182	Things were so shown, in all that portraiture,
1183	As are fore-shown among the stars above,
1184	Who shall be slain in war or dead for love.
1185	Suffice one instance from old plenitude,
1186	I could not tell them all, even if I would.
1187	Mars' image stood upon a chariot,
1188	Armed, and so grim that mad he seemed, God wot;
1189	And o'er his head two constellations shone
1190	Of stars that have been named in writings known.
1191	One being Puella, and one Rubeus.
1192	This god of armies was companioned thus:
1193	A wolf there was before him, at his feet,
1194	Red-eyed, and of a dead man he did eat.
1195	A cunning pencil there had limned this story
1196	In reverence of Mars and of his glory.
1197	Now to the temple of Diana chaste,
1198	As briefly as I can, I'll pass in haste,
1199	To lay before you its description well.
1200	In pictures, up and down, the wall could tell
1201	Of hunting and of modest chastity.
1202	There saw I how Callisto fared when she
1203	(Diana being much aggrieved with her)
1204	Was changed from woman into a she-bear,
1205	And after, made into the lone Pole Star;
1206	There was it; I can't tell how such things are.
1207	Her son, too, is a star, as men may see.
1208	There saw I Daphne turned into a tree
1209	(I do not mean Diana, no, but she,
1210	Peneus' daughter, who was called Daphne)
1211	I saw Actaeon made a hart all rude
1212	For punishment of seeing Diana nude;
1213	I saw, too, how his fifty hounds had caught
1214	And him were eating, since they knew him not.
1215	And painted farther on, I saw before
1216	How Atalanta hunted the wild boar;
1217	And Meleager, and many another there,
1218	For which Diana wrought him woe and care.
1219	There saw I many another wondrous tale
1220	From which I will not now draw memory's veil.
1221	This goddess on an antlered hart was set,
1222	With little hounds about her feet, and yet
1223	Beneath her perfect feet there was a moon,
1224	Waxing it was, but it should wane full soon.
1225	In robes of yellowish green her statue was,
1226	She'd bow in hand and arrows in a case.
1227	Her eyes were downcast, looking at the ground.
1228	Where Pluto in his dark realm may be found.
1229	Before her was a woman travailing,
1230	Who was so long in giving birth, poor thing,
1231	That pitifully Lucina did she call,
1232	Praying, Oh help, for thou may'st best of all!
1233	Well could he paint, who had this picture wrought,
1234	With many a florin he'd his colours bought,
1235	But now the lists were done, and Theseus,
1236	Who at so great cost had appointed thus
1237	The temples and the circus, as I tell,
1238	When all was done, he liked it wondrous well.
1239	But hold I will from Theseus, and on
1240	To speak of Arcita and Palamon.
1241	The day of their return is forthcoming,
1242	When each of them a hundred knights must bring
1243	The combat to support, as I have told;
1244	And into Athens, covenant to uphold,
1245	Has each one ridden with his hundred knights,
1246	Well armed for war, at all points, in their mights.
1247	And certainly, 'twas thought by many a man
1248	That never, since the day this world began,
1249	Speaking of good knights hardy of their hands,
1250	Wherever God created seas and lands,
1251	Was, of so few, so noble company.
1252	For every man that loved all chivalry,
1253	And eager was to win surpassing fame,
1254	Had prayed to play a part in that great game;
1255	And all was well with him who chosen was.
1256	For if there came tomorrow such a case,
1257	You know right well that every lusty knight
1258	Who loves the ladies fair and keeps his might,
1259	Be it in England, aye or otherwhere,
1260	Would wish of all things to be present there
1261	To fight for some fair lady. Ben'cite!
1262	'Twould be a pleasant goodly sight to see!
1263	And so it was with those with Palamon.
1264	With him there rode of good knights many a one;
1265	Some would be armoured in a habergeon
1266	And in a breastplate, under light jupon;
1267	And some wore breast-and back-plates thick and large;
1268	And some would have a Prussian shield, or targe;
1269	Some on their very legs were armoured well,
1270	And carried axe, and some a mace of steel.
1271	There is no new thing, now, that is not old.
1272	And so they all were armed, as I have told,
1273	To his own liking and design, each one.
1274	There might you see, riding with Palamon,
1275	Lycurgus' self, the mighty king of Thrace;
1276	Black was his beard and manly was his face.
1277	The eyeballs in the sockets of his head,
1278	They glowed between a yellow and a red.
1279	And like a griffon glared he round about
1280	From under bushy eyebrows thick and stout.
1281	His limbs were large, his muscles hard and strong.
1282	His shoulders broad, his arms both big and long,
1283	And, as the fashion was in his country,
1284	High in a chariot of gold stood he,
1285	With four white bulls in traces, to progress.
1286	Instead of coat-of-arms above harness,
1287	With yellow claws preserved and bright as gold,
1288	He wore a bear-skin, black and very old.
1289	His long combed hair was hanging down his back,
1290	As any raven's feather it was black:
1291	A wreath of gold, arm-thick, of heavy weight,
1292	Was on his head, and set with jewels great,
1293	Of rubies fine and perfect diamonds.
1294	About his car there circled huge white hounds,
1295	Twenty or more, as large as any steer,
1296	To hunt the lion or the antlered deer;
1297	And so they followed him, with muzzles bound,
1298	Wearing gold collars with smooth rings and round.
1299	A hundred lords came riding in his rout,
1300	All armed at point, with hearts both stern and stout
1301	With Arcita, in tales men call to mind,
1302	The great Emetreus, a king of Ind,
1303	Upon a bay steed harnessed all in steel,
1304	Covered with cloth of gold, all diapered well,
1305	Came riding like the god of arms, great Mars.
1306	His coat-of-arms was cloth of the Tartars,
1307	Begemmed with pearls, all white and round and great.
1308	Of beaten gold his saddle, burnished late;
1309	A mantle from his shoulders hung, the thing
1310	Close-set with rubies red, like fire blazing.
1311	His crisp hair all in bright ringlets was run,
1312	Yellow as gold and gleaming as the sun.
1313	His nose was high, his eyes a bright citrine,
1314	His lips were full, his colouring sanguine.
1315	And a few freckles on his face were seen,
1316	None either black or yellow, but the mean;
1317	And like a lion he his glances cast.
1318	Not more than five-and-twenty years he'd past.
1319	His beard was well beginning, now, to spring;
1320	His voice was as a trumpet thundering.
1321	Upon his brows he wore, of laurel green,
1322	A garland, fresh and pleasing to be seen.
1323	Upon his wrist he bore, for his delight,
1324	An eagle tame, as any lily white.
1325	A hundred lords came riding with him there,
1326	All armed, except their heads, in all their gear,
1327	And wealthily appointed in all things.
1328	For, trust me well, that dukes and earls and kings
1329	Were gathered in this noble company
1330	For love and for increase of chivalry.
1331	About this king there ran, on every side,
1332	Many tame lions and leopards in their pride.
1333	And in such wise these mighty lords, in sum,
1334	Were, of a Sunday, to the city come
1335	About the prime, and in the town did light.
1336	This Theseus, this duke, this noble knight,
1337	When he'd conducted them to his city,
1338	And quartered them, according to degree,
1339	He feasted them, and was at so much pains
1340	To give them ease and honour, of his gains,
1341	That men yet hold that never human wit,
1342	Of high or low estate, could better it.
1343	The minstrelsy, the service at the feast,
1344	The great gifts to the highest and the least,
1345	The furnishings of Theseus, rich palace,
1346	Who highest sat or lowest on the dais,
1347	What ladies fairest were or best dandling,
1348	Or which of them could dance the best, or sing,
1349	Or who could speak most feelingly of love,
1350	Or what hawks sat upon the perch above,
1351	Or what great hounds were lying on the floor-
1352	Of all these I will make no mention more;
1353	But tell my tale, for that, I think, is best;
1354	Now comes the point, and listen if you've zest.
1355	That Sunday night, ere day began to spring,
1356	When Palamon the earliest lark heard sing,
1357	Although it lacked two hours of being day,
1358	Yet the lark sang, and Palamon sang a lay.
1359	With pious heart and with a high courage
1360	He rose, to go upon a pilgrimage
1361	Unto the blessed Cytherea's shrine
1362	(I mean Queen Venus, worthy and benign).
1363	And at her hour he then walked forth apace
1364	Out to the lists wherein her temple was,
1365	And down he knelt in manner to revere,
1366	And from a full heart spoke as you shall hear.
1367	Fairest of fair, O lady mine, Venus,
1368	Daughter of Jove and spouse to Vulcanus,
1369	Thou gladdener of the Mount of Citheron,
1370	By that great love thou borest to Adon,
1371	Have pity on my bitter tears that smart
1372	And hear my humble prayer within thy heart.
1373	Alas! I have no words in which to tell
1374	The effect of all the torments of my hell;
1375	My heavy heart its evils can't bewray;
1376	I'm so confused I can find naught to say.
1377	But mercy, lady bright, that knowest well
1378	My heart, and seest all the ills I feel,
1379	Consider and have ruth upon my sore
1380	As truly as I shall, for evermore,
1381	Well as I may, thy one true servant be,
1382	And wage a war henceforth on chastity.
1383	If thou wilt help, thus do I make my vow,
1384	To boast of knightly skill I care not now,
1385	Nor do I ask tomorrow's victory,
1386	Nor any such renown, nor vain glory
1387	Of prize of arms, blown before lord and churl,
1388	But I would have possession of one girl,
1389	Of Emily, and die in thy service;
1390	Find thou the manner how, and in what wise.
1391	For I care not, unless it better be,
1392	Whether I vanquish them or they do me,
1393	So I may have my lady in my arms.
1394	For though Mars is the god of war's alarms,
1395	Thy power is so great in Heaven above,
1396	That, if it be thy will, I'll have my love.
1397	In thy fane will I worship always, so
1398	That on thine altar, where'er I ride or go,
1399	I will lay sacrifice and thy fires feed.
1400	And if thou wilt not so, O lady, cede,
1401	I pray thee, that tomorrow, with a spear,
1402	Arcita bear me through the heart, just here.
1403	For I'll care naught, when I have lost my life,
1404	That Arcita may win her for his wife.
1405	This the effect and end of all my prayer,
1406	Give me my love, thou blissful lady fair.
1407	Now when he'd finished all the orison,
1408	His sacrifice he made, this Palamon,
1409	Right piously, with all the circumstance,
1410	Albeit I tell not now his observance.
1411	But at the last the form of Venus shook
1412	And gave a sign, and thereupon he took
1413	This as acceptance of his prayer that day.
1414	For though the augury showed some delay,
1415	Yet he knew well that granted was his boon;
1416	And with glad heart he got him home right soon.
1417	Three hours unequal after Palamon
1418	To Venus' temple at the lists had gone,
1419	Up rose the sun and up rose Emily,
1420	And to Diana's temple did she hie.
1421	Her maidens led she thither, and with them
1422	They carefully took fire and each emblem,
1423	And incense, robes, and the remainder all
1424	Of things for sacrifice ceremonial.
1425	There was not one thing lacking; I'll but add
1426	The horns of mead, as was a way they had.
1427	In smoking temple, full of draperies fair,
1428	This Emily with young heart debonnaire,
1429	Her body washed in water from a well;
1430	But how she did the rite I dare not tell,
1431	Except it be at large, in general;
1432	And yet it was a thing worth hearing all;
1433	When one's well meaning, there is no transgression;
1434	But it is best to speak at one's discretion.
1435	Her bright hair was unbound, but combed withal;
1436	She wore of green oak leaves a coronal
1437	Upon her lovely head. Then she began
1438	Two fires upon the altar stone to fan,
1439	And did her ceremonies as we're told
1440	In Statius' Thebaid and books as old.
1441	When kindled was the fire, with sober face
1442	Unto Diana spoke she in that place.
1443	O thou chaste goddess of the wildwood green,
1444	By whom all heaven and earth and sea are seen,
1445	Queen of the realm of Pluto, dark and low,
1446	Goddess of maidens, that my heart dost know
1447	For all my years, and knowest what I desire,
1448	Oh, save me from thy vengeance and thine ire
1449	That on Actaeon fell so cruelly.
1450	Chaste goddess, well indeed thou knowest that I
1451	Desire to be a virgin all my life,
1452	Nor ever wish to be man's love or wife.
1453	I am, thou know'st, yet of thy company,
1454	A maid, who loves the hunt and venery,
1455	And to go rambling in the greenwood wild,
1456	And not to be a wife and be with child.
1457	I do not crave the company of man.
1458	Now help me, lady, since thou may'st and can,
1459	By the three beings who are one in thee.
1460	For Palamon, who bears such love to me,
1461	And for Arcita, loving me so sore,
1462	This grace I pray thee, without one thing more,
1463	To send down love and peace between those two,
1464	And turn their hearts away from me: so do
1465	That all their furious love and their desire,
1466	And all their ceaseless torment and their fire
1467	Be quenched or turned into another place;
1468	And if it be thou wilt not show this grace,
1469	Or if my destiny be moulded so
1470	That I must needs have one of these same two,
1471	Then send me him that most desires me.
1472	Behold, O goddess of utter chastity,
1473	The bitter tears that down my two cheeks fall.
1474	Since thou art maid and keeper of us all,
1475	My maidenhead keep thou, and still preserve,
1476	And while I live a maid, thee will I serve.
1477	The fires blazed high upon the altar there,
1478	While Emily was saying thus her prayer,
1479	But suddenly she saw a sight most quaint,
1480	For there, before her eyes, one fire went faint,
1481	Then blazed again; and after that, anon,
1482	The other fire was quenched, and so was gone.
1483	And as it died it made a whistling sound,
1484	As do wet branches burning on the ground,
1485	And from the brands' ends there ran out, anon,
1486	What looked like drops of blood, and many a one;
1487	At which so much aghast was Emily
1488	That she was near dazed, and began to cry,
1489	For she knew naught of what it signified;
1490	But only out of terror thus she cried
1491	And wept, till it was pitiful to hear.
1492	But thereupon Diana did appear,
1493	With bow in hand, like any right huntress,
1494	And said: My daughter, leave this heaviness.
1495	Among the high gods it has been affirmed,
1496	And by eternal written word confirmed,
1497	That you shall be the wife of one of those
1498	Who bear for you so many cares and woes;
1499	But unto which of them may not tell.
1500	I can no longer tarry, so farewell.
1501	The fires that on my altar burn incense
1502	Should tell you everything, ere you go hence,
1503	Of what must come of love in this your case.
1504	And with that word the arrows of the chase
1505	The goddess carried clattered and did ring,
1506	And forth she went in mystic vanishing;
1507	At which this Emily astonished was,
1508	And said she then: Ah, what means this, alas!
1509	I put myself in thy protection here,
1510	Diana, and at thy disposal dear.
1511	And home she wended, then, the nearest way.
1512	This is the purport; there's no more to say.
1513	At the next hour of Mars, and following this,
1514	Arcita to the temple walked, that is
1515	Devoted to fierce Mars, to sacrifice
1516	With all the ceremonies, pagan-wise.
1517	With sobered heart and high devotion, on
1518	This wise, right thus he said his orison.
1519	O mighty god that in the regions cold
1520	Of Thrace art honoured, where thy lordships hold,
1521	And hast in every realm and every land
1522	The reins of battle in thy guiding hand,
1523	And givest fortune as thou dost devise,
1524	Accept of me my pious sacrifice.
1525	If so it be that my youth may deserve,
1526	And that my strength be worthy found to serve
1527	Thy godhead, and be numbered one of thine,
1528	Then pray I thee for ruth on pain that's mine.
1529	For that same pain and even that hot fire
1530	Wherein thou once did'st burn with deep desire,
1531	When thou did'st use the marvelous beauty
1532	Of fair young wanton Venus, fresh and free,
1533	And had'st her in thine arms and at thy will
1534	(Howbeit with thee, once, all the chance fell ill,
1535	And Vulcan caught thee in his net, whenas
1536	He found thee lying with his wife, alas!)-
1537	For that same sorrow that was in thy heart,
1538	Have pity, now, upon my pains that smart.
1539	I'm young, and little skilled, as knowest thou,
1540	With love more hurt and much more broken now
1541	Than ever living creature was, I'm sure;
1542	For she who makes me all this woe endure,
1543	Whether I float or sink cares not at all,
1544	And ere she'll hear with mercy when I call,
1545	I must by prowess win her in this place;
1546	And well I know, too, without help and grace
1547	Of thee, my human strength shall not avail
1548	Then help me, lord, tomorrow not to fail,
1549	For sake of that same fire that once burned thee,
1550	The which consuming fire so now burns me;
1551	And grant, tomorrow, I have victory.
1552	Mine be the toil, and thine the whole glory!
1553	Thy sovereign temple will I honour most
1554	Of any spot, and toil and count no cost
1555	To pleasure thee and in thy craft have grace,
1556	And in thy fane my banner will I place,
1557	And all the weapons of my company;
1558	And evermore, until the day I die,
1559	Eternal fire shalt thou before thee find.
1560	Moreover, to this vow myself I bind:
1561	My beard, my hair that ripples down so long,
1562	That never yet has felt the slightest wrong
1563	Of razor or of shears, to thee I'll give,
1564	And be thy loyal servant while I live.
1565	Now, lord, have pity on my sorrows sore;
1566	Give me the victory. I ask no more.
1567	With ended prayer of Arcita the young,
1568	The rings that on the temple door were hung,
1569	And even the doors themselves, rattled so fast
1570	That this Arcita found himself aghast.
1571	The fires blazed high upon the altar bright,
1572	Until the entire temple shone with light;
1573	And a sweet odour rose up from the ground;
1574	And Arcita whirled then his arm around,
1575	And yet more incense on the fire he cast,
1576	And did still further rites; and at the last
1577	The armour of God Mars began to ring,
1578	And with that sound there came a murmuring,
1579	Low and uncertain, saying: Victory!
1580	For which he gave Mars honour and glory.
1581	And thus in joy and hope, which all might dare,
1582	Arcita to his lodging then did fare,
1583	Fain of the fight as fowl is of the sun.
1584	But thereupon such quarrelling was begun,
1585	From this same granting, in the heaven above,
1586	'Twixt lovely Venus, goddess of all love,
1587	And Mars, the iron god armipotent,
1588	That Jove toiled hard to make a settlement;
1589	Until the sallow Saturn, calm and cold,
1590	Who had so many happenings known of old,
1591	Found from his full experience the art
1592	To satisfy each party and each part.
1593	For true it is, age has great advantage;
1594	Experience and wisdom come with age;
1595	Men may the old out-run, but not out-wit.
1596	Thus Saturn, though it scarcely did befit
1597	His nature so to do, devised a plan
1598	To quiet all the strife, and thus began:
1599	Now my dear daughter Venus, quoth Saturn,
1600	My course, which has so wide a way to turn,
1601	Has power more than any man may know.
1602	Mine is the drowning in sea below;
1603	Mine is the dungeon underneath the moat;
1604	Mine is the hanging and strangling by the throat;
1605	Rebellion, and the base crowd's murmuring,
1606	The groaning and the private poisoning,
1607	And vengeance and amercement- all are mine,
1608	While yet I dwell within the Lion's sign.
1609	Mine is the ruining of all high halls,
1610	And tumbling down of towers and of walls
1611	Upon the miner and the carpenter.
1612	I struck down Samson, that pillar shaker;
1613	And mine are all the maladies so cold,
1614	The treasons dark, the machinations old;
1615	My glance is father of all pestilence.
1616	Now weep no more. I'll see, with diligence,
1617	That Palamon, who is your own true knight,
1618	Shall have his lady, as you hold is right.
1619	Though Mars may help his man, yet none the less
1620	Between you two there must come sometime peace,
1621	And though you be not of one temperament,
1622	Causing each day such violent dissent,
1623	I am your grandsire and obey your will;
1624	Weep then no more, your pleasure I'll fulfill.
1625	Now will I cease to speak of gods above,
1626	Of Mars and Venus, goddess of all love,
1627	And tell you now, as plainly as I can,
1628	The great result, for which I first began.
1629	Explicit tercia pars.
1630	Sequitur pars quarta.
1631	Great was the fete in Athens on that day,
1632	And too, the merry season of the May
1633	Gave everyone such joy and such pleasance
1634	That all that Monday they'd but joust and dance,
1635	Or spend the time in Venus' high service.
1636	But for the reason that they must arise
1637	Betimes, to see the heralded great fight,
1638	All they retired to early rest that night.
1639	And on the morrow, when that day did spring,
1640	Of horse and harness, noise and clattering,
1641	There was enough in hostelries about.
1642	And to the palace rode full many a rout
1643	Of lords, bestriding steeds and on palfreys.
1644	There could you see adjusting of harness,
1645	So curious and so rich, and wrought so well
1646	Of goldsmiths' work, embroidery, and of steel;
1647	The shields, the helmets bright, the gay trappings,
1648	The gold-hewn casques, the coats-of-arms, the rings,
1649	The lords in vestments rich, on their coursers,
1650	Knights with their retinues and also squires;
1651	The rivetting of spears, the helm-buckling,
1652	The strapping of the shields, and. thong-lacing-
1653	In their great need, not one of them was idle;
1654	The frothing steeds, champing the golden bridle,
1655	And the quick smiths, and armourers also,
1656	With file and hammer spurring to and fro;
1657	Yeoman, and peasants with short staves were out,
1658	Crowding as thick as they could move about;
1659	Pipes, trumpets, kettledrums, and clarions,
1660	That in the battle sound such grim summons;
1661	The palace full of people, up and down,
1662	Here three, there ten, debating the renown
1663	And questioning about these Theban knights,
1664	Some put it thus, some said, It's so by rights.
1665	Some held with him who had the great black beard,
1666	Some with the bald-heads, some with the thick haired;
1667	Some said, He looks grim, and he'll fight like hate;
1668	He has an axe of twenty pound in weight.
1669	And thus the hall was full of gossiping
1670	Long after the bright sun began to spring.
1671	The mighty Theseus, from sleep awakened
1672	By songs and all the noise that never slackened,
1673	Kept yet the chamber of this rich palace,
1674	Till the two Theban knights, with equal grace
1675	And honour, were ushered in with flourish fitting.
1676	Duke Theseus was at a window sitting,
1677	Arrayed as he were god upon a throne.
1678	Then pressed the people thitherward full soon,
1679	To see him and to do him reverence,
1680	Aye, and to hear commands of sapience.
1681	A herald on a scaffold cried out Ho!
1682	Till all the people's noise was stilled; and so,
1683	When he observed that all were fallen still,
1684	He then proclaimed the mighty ruler's will.
1685	The duke our lord, full wise and full discreet,
1686	Holds that it were but wanton waste to meet
1687	And fight, these gentle folk, all in the guise
1688	Of mortal battle in this enterprise.
1689	Wherefore, in order that no man may die,
1690	He does his earlier purpose modify.
1691	No man, therefore, on pain of loss of life,
1692	Shall any arrow, pole-axe, or short knife
1693	Send into lists in any wise, or bring;
1694	Nor any shortened sword, for point-thrusting,
1695	Shall a man draw, or bear it by his side.
1696	Nor shall knight against opponent ride,
1697	Save one full course, with any sharp-ground spear;
1698	Unhorsed, a man may thrust with any gear.
1699	And he that's overcome, should this occur,
1700	Shall not be slain, but brought to barrier,
1701	Whereof there shall be one on either side;
1702	Let him be forced to go there and abide.
1703	And if by chance the leader there must go,
1704	Of either side, or slay his equal foe,
1705	No longer, then, shall tourneying endure.
1706	God speed you; go forth now, and lay on sure.
1707	With long sword and with maces fight your fill.
1708	Go now your ways; this is the lord duke's will.
1709	The voices of the people rent the skies,
1710	Such was the uproar of their merry cries:
1711	Now God save such a lord, who is so good
1712	He will not have destruction of men's blood!
1713	Up start the trumpets and make melody.
1714	And to the lists rode forth the company,
1715	In marshalled ranks, throughout the city large,
1716	All hung with cloth of gold, and not with serge.
1717	Full like a lord this noble duke did ride,
1718	With the two Theban knights on either side;
1719	And, following, rode the queen and Emily,
1720	And, after, came another company
1721	Of one and other, each in his degree.
1722	And thus they went throughout the whole city,
1723	And to the lists they came, all in good time.
1724	The day was not yet fully come to prime
1725	When throned was Theseus full rich and high,
1726	And Queen Hippolyta and Emily,
1727	While other ladies sat in tiers about.
1728	Into the seats then pressed the lesser rout.
1729	And westward, through the gate of Mars, right hearty,
1730	Arcita and the hundred of his party
1731	With banner red is entering anon;
1732	And in that self-same moment, Palamon
1733	Is under Venus, eastward in that place,
1734	With banner white, and resolute of face.
1735	In all the world, searching it up and down,
1736	So equal were they all, from heel to crown,
1737	There were no two such bands in any way.
1738	For there was no man wise enough to say
1739	How either had of other advantage
1740	In high repute, or in estate, or age,
1741	So even were they chosen, as I guess.
1742	And in two goodly ranks, they did then dress.
1743	And when the name was called of every one,
1744	That cheating in their number might be none,
1745	Then were the gates closed, and the cry rang loud:
1746	Now do your devoir, all you young knights proud!
1747	The heralds cease their spurring up and down;
1748	Now ring the trumpets as the charge is blown;
1749	And there's no more to say, for east and west
1750	Two hundred spears are firmly laid in rest;
1751	And the sharp spurs are thrust, now, into side.
1752	Now see men who can joust and who can ride!
1753	Now shivered are the shafts on bucklers thick;
1754	One feels through very breast-bone the spear's prick;
1755	Lances are flung full twenty feet in height;
1756	Out flash the swords like silver burnished bright.
1757	Helmets are hewed, the lacings ripped and shred;
1758	Out bursts the blood, gushing in stern streams red.
1759	With mighty maces bones are crushed in joust.
1760	One through the thickest throng begins to thrust.
1761	There strong steeds stumble now, and down goes all.
1762	One rolls beneath their feet as rolls a ball.
1763	One flails about with club, being overthrown,
1764	Another, on a mailed horse, rides him down.
1765	One through the body's hurt, and haled, for aid.
1766	Spite of his struggles, to the barricade,
1767	As compact was, and there he must abide;
1768	Another's captured by the other side.
1769	At times Duke Theseus orders them to rest,
1770	To eat a bite and drink what each likes best.
1771	And many times that day those Thebans two
1772	Met in the fight and wrought each other woe;
1773	Unhorsed each has the other on that day.
1774	No tigress in the vale of Galgophey,
1775	Whose little whelp is stolen in the light,
1776	Is cruel to the hunter as Arcite
1777	For jealousy is cruel to Palamon;
1778	Nor in Belmarie, when the hunt is on
1779	Is there a lion, wild for want of food,
1780	That of his prey desires so much the blood
1781	As Palamon the death of Arcite there.
1782	Their jealous blows fall on their helmets fair;
1783	Out leaps the blood and makes their two sides red.
1784	But sometime comes the end of every deed;
1785	And ere the sun had sunk to rest in gold,
1786	The mighty King Emetreus did hold
1787	This Palamon, as he fought with Arcite,
1788	And made his sword deep in the flesh to bite;
1789	And by the force of twenty men he's made,
1790	Unyielded, to withdraw to barricade.
1791	And, trying hard to rescue Palamon,
1792	The mighty King Lyburgus is borne down;
1793	And King Emetreus, for all his strength,
1794	Is hurled out of the saddle a sword's length,
1795	So hits out Palamon once more, or ere
1796	(But all for naught) he's brought to barrier.
1797	His hardy heart may now avail him naught;
1798	He must abide there now, being fairly caught
1799	By force of arms, as by provision known.
1800	Who sorrows now but woeful Palamon,
1801	Who may no more advance into the fight?
1802	And when Duke Theseus had seen this sight,
1803	Unto the warriors fighting, every one,
1804	He cried out: Hold! No more! For it is done!
1805	Now will I prove true judge, of no party.
1806	Theban Arcita shall have Emily,
1807	Who, by his fortune, has her fairly won.
1808	And now a noise of people is begun
1809	For joy of this, so loud and shrill withal,
1810	It seems as if the very lists will fall.
1811	But now, what can fair Venus do above?
1812	What says she now? What does this queen of love
1813	But weep so fast, for thwarting of her will,
1814	Her tears upon the lists begin to spill.
1815	She said: Now am I shamed and over-flung.
1816	But Saturn said: My daughter, hold your tongue.
1817	Mars has his will, his knight has all his boon,
1818	And, by my head, you shall be eased, and soon.
1819	The trumpeters and other minstrelsy,
1820	The heralds that did loudly yell and cry,
1821	Were at their best for joy of Arcita.
1822	But hear me further while I tell you- ah!-
1823	The miracle that happened there anon.
1824	This fierce Arcita doffs his helmet soon,
1825	And mounted on a horse, to show his face,
1826	He spurs from end to end of that great place,
1827	Looking aloft to gaze on Emily;
1828	And she cast down on him a friendly eye
1829	(For women, generally speaking, go
1830	Wherever Fortune may her favor show)
1831	And she was fair to see, and held his heart.
1832	But from the ground infernal furies start,
1833	From Pluto sent, at instance of Saturn,
1834	Whereat his horse, for fear, began to turn
1835	And leap aside, all suddenly falling there;
1836	And Arcita before he could beware
1837	Was pitched upon the ground, upon his head,
1838	And lay there, moving not, as he were dead,
1839	His chest crushed in upon the saddle-bow.
1840	And black he lay as ever coal, or crow,
1841	So ran the surging blood into his face.
1842	Anon they carried him from out that place,
1843	With heavy hearts, to Theseus' palace.
1844	There was his harness cut away, each lace,
1845	And swiftly was he laid upon a bed,
1846	For he was yet alive and some words said,
1847	Crying and calling after Emily.
1848	Duke Theseus, with all his company,
1849	Is come again to Athens, his city,
1850	With joyous heart and great festivity.
1851	And though sore grieved for this unhappy fall,
1852	He would not cast a blight upon them all.
1853	Men said, too, that Arcita should not die,
1854	But should be healed of all his injury.
1855	And of another thing they were right fain,
1856	Which was, that of them all no one was slain,
1857	Though each was sore, and hurt, and specially one
1858	Who'd got a lance-head thrust through his breastbone.
1859	For other bruises, wounds and broken arms,
1860	Some of them carried salves and some had charms;
1861	And medicines of many herbs, and sage
1862	They drank, to keep their limbs from hemorrhage.
1863	In all of which this duke, as he well can,
1864	Now comforts and now honours every man,
1865	And makes a revelry the livelong night
1866	For all these foreign lords, as was but right.
1867	Nor was there held any discomfiting,
1868	Save from the jousts and from the tourneying.
1869	For truly, there had been no cause for shame,
1870	Since being thrown is fortune of the game;
1871	Nor is it, to be led to barrier,
1872	Unyielded, and by twenty knights' power,
1873	One man alone, surrounded by the foe,
1874	Driven by arms, and dragged out, heel and toe,
1875	And with his courser driven forth with staves
1876	Of men on foot, yeomen and serving knaves-
1877	All this imputes to one no kind of vice,
1878	And no man may bring charge of cowardice.
1879	For which, anon, Duke Theseus bade cry,
1880	To still all rancour and all keen envy,
1881	The worth, as well of one side as the other,
1882	As equal both, and each the other's brother;
1883	And gave them gifts according to degree,
1884	And held a three days' feast, right royally;
1885	And then convoyed these kings upon their road
1886	For one full day, and to them honour showed.
1887	And home went every man on his right way.
1888	There was naught more but Farewell and Good-day.
1889	I'll say no more of war, but turn upon
1890	My tale of Arcita and Palamon.
1891	Swells now Arcita's breast until the sore
1892	Increases near his heart yet more and more.
1893	The clotted blood, in spite of all leech-craft,
1894	Rots in his bulk, and there is must be left,
1895	Since no device of skillful blood-letting,
1896	Nor drink of herbs, can help him in this thing.
1897	The power expulsive, or virtue animal
1898	Called from its use the virtue natural,
1899	Could not the poison void, nor yet expel.
1900	The tubes of both his lungs began to swell,
1901	And every tissue in his breast, and down,
1902	Is foul with poison and all rotten grown.
1903	He gains in neither, in his strife to live,
1904	By vomiting or taking laxative;
1905	All is so broken in that part of him,
1906	Nature Tetains no vigour there, nor vim.
1907	And certainly, where Nature will not work,
1908	It's farewell physic, bear the man to kirk!
1909	The sum of all is, Arcita must die,
1910	And so he sends a word to Emily,
1911	And Palamon, who was his cousin dear;
1912	And then he said to them as you shall hear.
1913	Naught may the woeful spirit in my heart
1914	Declare one point of how my sorrows smart
1915	To you, my lady, whom I love the most;
1916	But I bequeath the service of my ghost
1917	To you above all others, this being sure
1918	Now that my life may here no more endure.
1919	Alas, the woe! Alas, the pain so strong
1920	That I for you have suffered, and so long!
1921	Alas for death! Alas, my Emily!
1922	Alas, the parting of our company!
1923	Alas, my heart's own queen! Alas, my wife!
1924	My soul's dear lady, ender of my life!
1925	What is this world? What asks a man to have?
1926	Now with his love, now in the cold dark grave
1927	Alone, with never any company.
1928	Farewell, my sweet foe! O my Emily!
1929	Oh, take me in your gentle arms, I pray,
1930	For love of God, and hear what I will say.
1931	I have here, with my cousin Palamon,
1932	Had strife and rancour many a day that's gone,
1933	For love of you and for my jealousy.
1934	May Jove so surely guide my soul for me,
1935	To speak about a lover properly,
1936	With all the circumstances, faithfully-
1937	That is to say, truth, honour, and knighthood,
1938	Wisdom, humility and kinship good,
1939	And generous soul and all the lover's art-
1940	So now may Jove have in my soul his part
1941	As in this world, right now, I know of none
1942	So worthy to be loved as Palamon,
1943	Who serves you and will do so all his life.
1944	And if you ever should become a wife,
1945	Forget not Palamon, the noble man.
1946	And with that word his speech to fail began,
1947	For from his feet up to his breast had come
1948	The cold of death, making his body numb.
1949	And furthermore, from his two arms the strength
1950	Was gone out, now, and he was lost, at length.
1951	Only the intellect, and nothing more.
1952	Which dwelt within his heart so sick and sore,
1953	Began to fail now, when the heart felt death,
1954	And his eyes darkened, and he failed of breath.
1955	But on his lady turned he still his eye,
1956	And his last word was, Mercy, Emily!
1957	His spirit changed its house and went away.
1958	As I was never there, I cannot say
1959	Where; so I stop, not being a soothsayer;
1960	Of souls here naught shall I enregister;
1961	Nor do I wish their notions, now, to tell
1962	Who write of them, though they say where they dwell.
1963	Arcita's cold; Mars guides his soul on high;
1964	Now will I speak forthwith of Emily.
1965	Shrieked Emily and howled now Palamon,
1966	Till Theseus his sister took, anon,
1967	And bore her, swooning, from the corpse away.
1968	How shall it help, to dwell the livelong day
1969	In telling how she wept both night and morrow?
1970	For in like cases women have such sorrow,
1971	When their good husband from their side must go,
1972	And, for the greater part, they take on so,
1973	Or else they fall into such malady
1974	That, at the last, and certainly, they die.
1975	Infinite were the sorrows and the tears
1976	Of all old folk and folk of tender years
1977	Throughout the town, at death of this Theban;
1978	For him there wept the child and wept the man;
1979	So great a weeping was not, 'tis certain,
1980	When Hector was brought back, but newly slain,
1981	To Troy. Alas, the sorrow that was there!
1982	Tearing of cheeks and rending out of hair.
1983	Oh why will you be dead, these women cry,
1984	Who had of gold enough, and Emily?
1985	No man might comfort then Duke Theseus,
1986	Excepting his old father, AEgeus,
1987	Who knew this world's mutations, and men's own.
1988	Since he had seen them changing up and down,
1989	Joy after woe, and woe from happiness:
1990	He showed them, by example, the process.
1991	Just as there never died a man, quoth he,
1992	But he had lived on earth in some degree,
1993	Just so there never lived a man, he said,
1994	In all this world, but must be sometime dead.
1995	This world is but a thoroughfare of woe,
1996	And we are pilgrims passing to and fro;
1997	Death is the end of every worldly sore.
1998	And after this, he told them yet much more
1999	To that effect, all wisely to exhort
2000	The people that they should find some comfort.
2001	Duke Theseus now considered and with care
2002	What place of burial he should prepare
2003	For good Arcita, as it best might be,
2004	And one most worthy of his high degree.
2005	And at the last concluded, hereupon,
2006	That where at first Arcita and Palamon
2007	Had fought for love, with no man else between,
2008	There, in that very grove, so sweet and green,
2009	Where he mused on his amorous desires
2010	Complaining of love's hot and flaming fires,
2011	He'd make a pyre and have the funeral
2012	Accomplished there, and worthily in all.
2013	And so he gave command to hack and hew
2014	The ancient oaks, and lay them straight and true
2015	In split lengths that would kindle well and burn.
2016	His officers, with sure swift feet, they turn
2017	And ride away to do his whole intent.
2018	And after this Duke Theseus straightway sent
2019	For a great bier, and had it all o'er-spread
2020	With cloth of gold, the richest that he had.
2021	Arcita clad he, too, in cloth of gold;
2022	White gloves were on his hands where they did fold;
2023	Upon his head a crown of laurel green,
2024	And near his hand a sword both bright and keen.
2025	Then, having bared the dead face on the bier,
2026	The duke so wept, 'twas pitiful to hear.
2027	And, so that folk might see him, one and all,
2028	When it was day he brought them to the hall,
2029	Which echoed of their wailing cries anon.
2030	Then came this woeful Theban, Plamon,
2031	With fluttery beard and matted, ash-strewn hair,
2032	All in black clothes wet with his tears; and there,
2033	Surpassing all in weeping, Emily,
2034	The most affected of the company.
2035	And so that every several rite should be
2036	Noble and rich, and suiting his degree,
2037	Duke Theseus commanded that they bring
2038	Three horses, mailed in steel all glittering,
2039	And covered with Arcita's armour bright.
2040	Upon these stallions, which were large and white,
2041	There rode three men, whereof one bore the shield.
2042	And one the spear he'd known so well to wield;
2043	The third man bore his Turkish bow, nor less
2044	Of burnished gold the quiver than harness;
2045	And forth they slowly rode, with mournful cheer,
2046	Toward that grove, as you shall further hear.
2047	The noblest Greeks did gladly volunteer
2048	To bear upon their shoulders that great bier,
2049	With measured pace and eyes gone red and wet,
2050	Through all the city, by the wide main street,
2051	Which was all spread with black, and, wondrous high,
2052	Covered with this same cloth were houses nigh.
2053	Upon the right hand went old AEgeus,
2054	And on the other side Duke Theseus,
2055	With vessels in their hands, of gold right fine,
2056	All filled with honey, milk, and blood, and wine;
2057	And Palamon with a great company;
2058	And after that came woeful Emily,
2059	With fire in hands, as use was, to ignite
2060	The sacrifice and set the pyre alight.
2061	Great labour and full great apparelling
2062	Went to the service and the fire-making,
2063	For to the skies that green pyre reached its top,
2064	And twenty fathoms did the arms out-crop,
2065	That is to say, the branches went so wide.
2066	Full many a load of straw they did provide.
2067	But how the fire, was made to climb so high;
2068	Or what names all the different trees went by.
2069	As oak, fir, birch, asp, alder, poplar, holm,
2070	Willow, plane, ash, box, chestnut, linden, elm,
2071	Laurel, thorn, maple, beech, yew, dogwood tree,
2072	Or how they were felled, sha'n't be told by me.
2073	Nor how the wood-gods scampered up and down,
2074	Driven from homes that they had called their own,
2075	Wherein they'd lived so long at ease, in peace,
2076	The nymphs, the fauns, the hamadryades;
2077	Nor how the beasts, for fear, and the birds, all
2078	Fled, when that ancient wood began to fall;
2079	Nor how aghast the ground was in the light,
2080	Not being used to seeing the sun so bright;
2081	Nor how the fire was started first with straw,
2082	And then with dry wood, riven thrice by saw,
2083	And then with green wood and with spicery,
2084	And then with cloth of gold and jewellery,
2085	And garlands hanging with full many a flower,
2086	And myrrh, and incense, sweet as rose in bower;
2087	Nor how Arcita lies among all this,
2088	Nor what vast wealth about his body is;
2089	Nor how this Emily, as was their way,
2090	Lighted the sacred funeral fire, that day,
2091	Nor how she swooned when men built up the fire,
2092	Nor what she said, nor what was her desire;
2093	No, nor what gems men on the fire then cast,
2094	When the white flame went high and burned so fast;
2095	Nor how one cast his shield, and one his spear,
2096	And some their vestments, on that burning bier,
2097	With cups of wine, and cups of milk, and blood,
2098	Into that flame, which burned as wild-fire would;
2099	Nor how the Greeks, in one huge wailing rout,
2100	Rode slowly three times all the fire about,
2101	Upon the left hand, with a loud shouting,
2102	And three times more, with weapons clattering,
2103	While thrice the women there raised up a cry;
2104	Nor how was homeward led sad Emily;
2105	Nor how Arcita burned to ashes cold;
2106	Nor aught of how the lichwake they did hold
2107	All that same night, nor how the Greeks did play
2108	The Funeral Games, I will not say,
2109	Who, naked, wrestled best, with oil anointed,
2110	Nor who best bore himself in deeds appointed.
2111	I will not even tell how they were gone
2112	Home, into Athens, when the play was done;
2113	But briefly to the point, now, will I wend
2114	And make of this, my lengthy tale, an end.
2115	With passing in their length of certain years,
2116	All put by was the mourning and the tears
2117	Of Greeks, as by one general assent;
2118	And then it seems there was a parliament
2119	At Athens, upon certain points in case;
2120	Among the which points spoken of there was
2121	The ratifying of alliances
2122	That should hold Thebes from all defiances.
2123	Whereat this noble Theseus, anon,
2124	Invited there the gentle Palamon,
2125	Not telling him what was the cause, and why;
2126	But in his mourning clothes, and sorrowfully,
2127	He came upon that bidding, so say I.
2128	And then Duke Theseus sent for Emily.
2129	When they were seated and was hushed the place,
2130	And Theseus had mused a little space,
2131	Ere any word came from his full wise breast,
2132	His two eyes fixed on whoso pleased him best,
2133	Then with a sad face sighed he deep and still,
2134	And after that began to speak his will.
2135	The Primal Mover and the Cause above,
2136	When first He forged the goodly chain of love,
2137	Great the effect, and high was His intent;
2138	Well knew He why, and what thereof He meant;
2139	For with that goodly chain of love He bound
2140	The fire, the air, the water, and dry ground
2141	In certain bounds, the which they might not flee;
2142	That same First Cause and Mover, then quoth he,
2143	Has stablished in this base world, up and down,
2144	A certain length of days to call their own
2145	For all that are engendered in this place,
2146	Beyond the which not one day may they pace,
2147	Though yet all may that certain time abridge;
2148	Authority there needs none, I allege,
2149	For it is well proved by experience,
2150	Save that I please to clarify my sense.
2151	Then may men by this order well discern
2152	This Mover to be stable and eterne.
2153	Well may man know, unless he be a fool,
2154	That every part derives but from the whole.
2155	For Nature has not taken his being
2156	From any part and portion of a thing,
2157	But from a substance perfect, stable aye,
2158	And so continuing till changed away.
2159	And therefore, of His Wisdom's Providence,
2160	Has He so well established ordinance
2161	That species of all things and all progressions,
2162	If they'd endure, it must be by successions,
2163	Not being themselves eternal, 'tis no lie:
2164	This may you understand and see by eye.
2165	Lo now, the oak, that has long nourishing
2166	Even from the time that it begins to spring,
2167	And has so long a life, as we may see,
2168	Yet at the last all wasted is the tree.
2169	Consider, too, how even the hard stone
2170	Under our feet we tread each day upon
2171	Yet wastes it, as it lies beside the way.
2172	And the broad river will be dry some day.
2173	And great towns wane; we see them vanishing.
2174	Thus may we see the end to everything.
2175	Of man and woman just the same is true:
2176	Needs must, in either season of the two,
2177	That is to say, in youth or else in age,
2178	All men perish, the king as well as page;
2179	Some in their bed, and some in the deep sea,
2180	And some in the wide field- as it may be;
2181	There's naught will help; all go the same way. Aye,
2182	Then may I say that everything must die.
2183	Who causes this but Jupiter the King?
2184	He is the Prince and Cause of everything,
2185	Converting all back to that primal well
2186	From which it was derived, 'tis sooth to tell.
2187	And against this, for every thing alive,
2188	Of any state, avalls it not to strive.
2189	Then is it wisdom, as it seems to me,
2190	To make a virtue of necessity,
2191	And calmly take what we may not eschew,
2192	And specially that which to all is due.
2193	Whoso would balk at aught, he does folly,
2194	And thus rebels against His potency.
2195	And certainly a man has most honour
2196	In dying in his excellence and flower,
2197	When he is certain of his high good name;
2198	For then he gives to friend, and self, no shame.
2199	And gladder ought a friend be of his death
2200	When, in much honour, he yields up his breath,
2201	Than when his name's grown feeble with old age;
2202	For all forgotten, then, is his courage.
2203	Hence it is best for all of noble name
2204	To die when at the summit of their fame.
2205	The contrary of this is wilfulness.
2206	Why do we grumble? Why have heaviness
2207	That good Arcita, chivalry's fair flower,
2208	Is gone, with honour, in his best-lived hour.
2209	Out of the filthy prison of this life?
2210	Why grumble here his cousin and his wife
2211	About his welfare, who loved them so well?
2212	Can he thank them? Nay, God knows, not! Nor tell
2213	How they his soul and their own selves offend,
2214	Though yet they may not their desires amend.
2215	What may I prove by this long argument
2216	Save that we all turn to merriment,
2217	After our grief, and give Jove thanks for grace.
2218	And so, before we go from out this place,
2219	I counsel that we make, of sorrows two
2220	One perfect joy, lasting for aye, for you;
2221	And look you now, where most woe is herein,
2222	There will we first amend it and begin.
2223	Sister, quoth he, you have my full consent,
2224	With the advice of this my Parliament,
2225	That gentle Palamon, your own true knight,
2226	Who serves you well with will and heart and might,
2227	And so has ever, since you knew him first-
2228	That you shall, of your grace, allay his thirst
2229	By taking him for husband and for lord:
2230	Lend me your hand, for this is our accord.
2231	Let now your woman's pity make him glad.
2232	For he is a king's brother's son, by gad;
2233	And though he were a poor knight bachelor,
2234	Since he has served you for so many a year,
2235	And borne for you so great adversity,
2236	This ought to weigh with you, it seems to me,
2237	For mercy ought to dominate mere right.
2238	Then said he thus to Palamon the knight:
2239	I think there needs but little sermoning
2240	To make you give consent, now, to this thing.
2241	Come near, and take your lady by the hand.
2242	Between them, then, was tied that nuptial band,
2243	Which is called matrimony or marriage,
2244	By all the council and the baronage.
2245	And thus, in all bliss and with melody,
2246	Has Palamon now wedded Emily.
2247	And God Who all this universe has wrought,
2248	Send him His love, who has it dearly bought.
2249	For now has Palamon, in all things, wealth,
2250	Living in bliss, in riches, and in health;
2251	And Emily loved him so tenderly,
2252	And he served her so well and faithfully,
2253	That never word once marred their happiness,
2254	No jealousy, nor other such distress.
2255	Thus ends now Palamon and Emily;
2256	And may God save all this fair company! Amen.

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