The nexte hour of Mars following thisArcite to the temple walked isOf fierce Mars, to do his sacrificeWith all the rites of his pagan guise.With piteous* heart and high devotion *piousRight thus to Mars he said his orison“O stronge god, that in the regnes* old *realmsOf Thrace honoured art, and lord y-hold* *heldAnd hast in every regne, and every landOf armes all the bridle in thine hand,And *them fortunest as thee list devise*, *send them fortuneAccept of me my piteous sacrifice. as you please*If so be that my youthe may deserve,And that my might be worthy for to serveThy godhead, that I may be one of thine,Then pray I thee to *rue upon my pine*, *pity my anguish*For thilke* pain, and thilke hote fire, *thatIn which thou whilom burned’st for desireWhenne that thou usedest* the beauty *enjoyedOf faire young Venus, fresh and free,And haddest her in armes at thy will:And though thee ones on a time misfill*, *were unluckyWhen Vulcanus had caught thee in his las*, *net <69>And found thee ligging* by his wife, alas! *lyingFor thilke sorrow that was in thine heart,Have ruth* as well upon my paine’s smart. *pityI am young and unconning*, as thou know’st, *ignorant, simpleAnd, as I trow*, with love offended most *believeThat e’er was any living creature:For she, that doth* me all this woe endure, *causesNe recketh ne’er whether I sink or fleet* *swimAnd well I wot, ere she me mercy hete*, *promise, vouchsafeI must with strengthe win her in the place:And well I wot, withoute help or graceOf thee, ne may my strengthe not avail:Then help me, lord, to-morr’w in my bataille,For thilke fire that whilom burned thee,As well as this fire that now burneth me;And do* that I to-morr’w may have victory. *causeMine be the travail, all thine be the glory.Thy sovereign temple will I most honourOf any place, and alway most labourIn thy pleasance and in thy craftes strong.And in thy temple I will my banner hong*, *hangAnd all the armes of my company,And evermore, until that day I die,Eternal fire I will before thee findAnd eke to this my vow I will me bind:My beard, my hair that hangeth long adown,That never yet hath felt offension* *indignityOf razor nor of shears, I will thee give,And be thy true servant while I live.Now, lord, have ruth upon my sorrows sore,Give me the victory, I ask no more.”The prayer stint* of Arcita the strong, *endedThe ringes on the temple door that hong,And eke the doores, clattered full fast,Of which Arcita somewhat was aghast.The fires burn’d upon the altar bright,That it gan all the temple for to light;A sweete smell anon the ground up gaf*, *gaveAnd Arcita anon his hand up haf*, *liftedAnd more incense into the fire he cast,With other rites more and at the lastThe statue of Mars began his hauberk ring;And with that sound he heard a murmuringFull low and dim, that saide thus, “Victory.”For which he gave to Mars honour and glory.And thus with joy, and hope well to fare,Arcite anon unto his inn doth fare.As fain* as fowl is of the brighte sun. *gladAnd right anon such strife there is begunFor thilke* granting, in the heav’n above, *thatBetwixte Venus the goddess of love,And Mars the sterne god armipotent,That Jupiter was busy it to stent*: *stopTill that the pale Saturnus the cold,<70>That knew so many of adventures old,Found in his old experience such an art,That he full soon hath pleased every part.As sooth is said, eld* hath great advantage, *ageIn eld is bothe wisdom and usage*: *experienceMen may the old out-run, but not out-rede*. *outwitSaturn anon, to stint the strife and drede,Albeit that it is against his kind,* *natureOf all this strife gan a remedy find.“My deare daughter Venus,” quoth Saturn,“My course*, that hath so wide for to turn, *orbit <71>Hath more power than wot any man.Mine is the drowning in the sea so wan;Mine is the prison in the darke cote*, *cellMine the strangling and hanging by the throat,The murmur, and the churlish rebelling,The groyning*, and the privy poisoning. *discontentI do vengeance and plein* correction, *fullI dwell in the sign of the lion.Mine is the ruin of the highe halls,The falling of the towers and the wallsUpon the miner or the carpenter:I slew Samson in shaking the pillar:Mine also be the maladies cold,The darke treasons, and the castes* old: *plotsMy looking is the father of pestilence.Now weep no more, I shall do diligenceThat Palamon, that is thine owen knight,Shall have his lady, as thou hast him hight*. *promisedThough Mars shall help his knight, yet nathelessBetwixte you there must sometime be peace:All be ye not of one complexion,That each day causeth such division,I am thine ayel*, ready at thy will; *grandfather <72>Weep now no more, I shall thy lust* fulfil.” *pleasureNow will I stenten* of the gods above, *cease speakingOf Mars, and of Venus, goddess of love,And telle you as plainly as I canThe great effect, for which that I began.Great was the feast in Athens thilke* day; *thatAnd eke the lusty season of that MayMade every wight to be in such pleasance,That all that Monday jousten they and dance,And spenden it in Venus’ high service.But by the cause that they shoulde riseEarly a-morrow for to see that fight,Unto their reste wente they at night.And on the morrow, when the day gan spring,Of horse and harness* noise and clattering *armourThere was in the hostelries all about:And to the palace rode there many a rout* *train, retinueOf lordes, upon steedes and palfreys.There mayst thou see devising* of harness *decorationSo uncouth* and so rich, and wrought so weel *unkown, rareOf goldsmithry, of brouding*, and of steel; *embroideryThe shieldes bright, the testers*, and trappures** *helmets<73>Gold-hewen helmets, hauberks, coat-armures; **trappingsLordes in parements* on their coursers, *ornamental garb <74>;Knightes of retinue, and eke squiers,Nailing the spears, and helmes buckeling,Gniding* of shieldes, with lainers** lacing; *polishing <75>There as need is, they were nothing idle: **lanyardsThe foamy steeds upon the golden bridleGnawing, and fast the armourers alsoWith file and hammer pricking to and fro;Yeomen on foot, and knaves* many one *servantsWith shorte staves, thick* as they may gon**; *close **walkPipes, trumpets, nakeres*, and clariouns, *drums <76>That in the battle blowe bloody souns;The palace full of people up and down,There three, there ten, holding their questioun*, *conversationDivining* of these Theban knightes two. *conjecturingSome saiden thus, some said it shall he so;Some helden with him with the blacke beard,Some with the bald, some with the thick-hair’d;Some said he looked grim, and woulde fight:He had a sparth* of twenty pound of weight. *double-headed axeThus was the halle full of divining* *conjecturingLong after that the sunne gan up spring.The great Theseus that of his sleep is wakedWith minstrelsy, and noise that was maked,Held yet the chamber of his palace rich,Till that the Theban knightes both y-lich* *alikeHonoured were, and to the palace fet*. *fetchedDuke Theseus is at a window set,Array’d right as he were a god in throne:The people presseth thitherward full soonHim for to see, and do him reverence,And eke to hearken his hest* and his sentence**. *command **speechAn herald on a scaffold made an O, <77>Till the noise of the people was y-do*: *doneAnd when he saw the people of noise all still,Thus shewed he the mighty Duke’s will.“The lord hath of his high discretionConsidered that it were destructionTo gentle blood, to fighten in the guiseOf mortal battle now in this emprise:Wherefore to shape* that they shall not die, *arrange, contriveHe will his firste purpose modify.No man therefore, on pain of loss of life,No manner* shot, nor poleaxe, nor short knife *kind ofInto the lists shall send, or thither bring.Nor short sword for to stick with point bitingNo man shall draw, nor bear it by his side.And no man shall unto his fellow rideBut one course, with a sharp y-grounden spear:*Foin if him list on foot, himself to wear. *He who wishes canAnd he that is at mischief shall be take*, fence on foot to defendAnd not slain, but be brought unto the stake, himself, and he thatThat shall be ordained on either side; is in peril shall be taken*Thither he shall by force, and there abide.And if *so fall* the chiefetain be take *should happen*On either side, or elles slay his make*, *equal, matchNo longer then the tourneying shall last.God speede you; go forth and lay on fast.With long sword and with mace fight your fill.Go now your way; this is the lordes will.The voice of the people touched the heaven,So loude cried they with merry steven*: *soundGod save such a lord that is so good,He willeth no destruction of blood.Up go the trumpets and the melody,And to the listes rode the company*By ordinance*, throughout the city large, *in orderly array*Hanged with cloth of gold, and not with sarge*. *serge <78>Full like a lord this noble Duke gan ride,And these two Thebans upon either side:And after rode the queen and Emily,And after them another companyOf one and other, after their degree.And thus they passed thorough that cityAnd to the listes came they by time:It was not of the day yet fully prime*. *between 6 & 9 a.m.When set was Theseus full rich and high,Hippolyta the queen and Emily,And other ladies in their degrees about,Unto the seates presseth all the rout.And westward, through the gates under Mart,Arcite, and eke the hundred of his part,With banner red, is enter’d right anon;And in the selve* moment Palamon *self-sameIs, under Venus, eastward in the place,With banner white, and hardy cheer* and face *expressionIn all the world, to seeken up and downSo even* without variatioun *equalThere were such companies never tway.For there was none so wise that coulde sayThat any had of other avantageOf worthiness, nor of estate, nor age,So even were they chosen for to guess.And *in two ranges faire they them dress*. *they arranged themselvesWhen that their names read were every one, in two rows*That in their number guile* were there none, *fraudThen were the gates shut, and cried was loud;“Do now your devoir, younge knights proudThe heralds left their pricking* up and down *spurring their horsesNow ring the trumpet loud and clarioun.There is no more to say, but east and westIn go the speares sadly* in the rest; *steadilyIn go the sharpe spurs into the side.There see me who can joust, and who can ride.There shiver shaftes upon shieldes thick;He feeleth through the hearte-spoon<79> the prick.Up spring the speares twenty foot on height;Out go the swordes as the silver bright.The helmes they to-hewen, and to-shred*; *strike in pieces <80>Out burst the blood, with sterne streames red.With mighty maces the bones they to-brest*. *burstHe <81> through the thickest of the throng gan threst*. *thrustThere stumble steedes strong, and down go all.He rolleth under foot as doth a ball.He foineth* on his foe with a trunchoun, *forces himselfAnd he him hurtleth with his horse adown.He through the body hurt is, and *sith take*, *afterwards captured*Maugre his head, and brought unto the stake,As forword* was, right there he must abide. *covenantAnother led is on that other side.And sometime doth* them Theseus to rest, *causedThem to refresh, and drinken if them lest*. *pleasedFull oft a day have thilke Thebans two *theseTogether met and wrought each other woe:Unhorsed hath each other of them tway* *twiceThere is no tiger in the vale of Galaphay, <82>When that her whelp is stole, when it is lite* *littleSo cruel on the hunter, as ArciteFor jealous heart upon this Palamon:Nor in Belmarie <83> there is no fell lion,That hunted is, or for his hunger wood* *madOr for his prey desireth so the blood,As Palamon to slay his foe Arcite.The jealous strokes upon their helmets bite;Out runneth blood on both their sides red,Sometime an end there is of every deedFor ere the sun unto the reste went,The stronge king Emetrius gan hent* *sieze, assailThis Palamon, as he fought with Arcite,And made his sword deep in his flesh to bite,And by the force of twenty is he take,Unyielding, and is drawn unto the stake.And in the rescue of this PalamonThe stronge king Licurgus is borne down:And king Emetrius, for all his strengthIs borne out of his saddle a sword’s length,So hit him Palamon ere he were take:But all for nought; he was brought to the stake:His hardy hearte might him helpe naught,He must abide when that he was caught,By force, and eke by composition*. *the bargainWho sorroweth now but woful PalamonThat must no more go again to fight?And when that Theseus had seen that sightUnto the folk that foughte thus each one,He cried, Ho! no more, for it is done!I will be true judge, and not party.Arcite of Thebes shall have Emily,That by his fortune hath her fairly won.”Anon there is a noise of people gone,For joy of this, so loud and high withal,It seemed that the listes shoulde fall.What can now faire Venus do above?What saith she now? what doth this queen of love?But weepeth so, for wanting of her will,Till that her teares in the listes fill* *fallShe said: “I am ashamed doubteless.”Saturnus saide: “Daughter, hold thy peace.Mars hath his will, his knight hath all his boon,And by mine head thou shalt be eased soon.”The trumpeters with the loud minstrelsy,The heralds, that full loude yell and cry,Be in their joy for weal of Dan* Arcite. *LordBut hearken me, and stinte noise a lite,What a miracle there befell anonThis fierce Arcite hath off his helm y-done,And on a courser for to shew his faceHe *pricketh endelong* the large place, *rides from end to end*Looking upward upon this Emily;And she again him cast a friendly eye(For women, as to speaken *in commune*, *generally*They follow all the favour of fortune),And was all his in cheer*, as his in heart. *countenanceOut of the ground a fire infernal start,From Pluto sent, at request of SaturnFor which his horse for fear began to turn,And leap aside, and founder* as he leap *stumbleAnd ere that Arcite may take any keep*, *careHe pight* him on the pummel** of his head. *pitched **topThat in the place he lay as he were dead.His breast to-bursten with his saddle-bow.As black he lay as any coal or crow,So was the blood y-run into his face.Anon he was y-borne out of the placeWith hearte sore, to Theseus’ palace.Then was he carven* out of his harness. *cutAnd in a bed y-brought full fair and blive* *quicklyFor he was yet in mem’ry and alive,And always crying after Emily.Duke Theseus, with all his company,Is come home to Athens his city,With alle bliss and great solemnity.Albeit that this aventure was fall*, *befallenHe woulde not discomforte* them all *discourageThen said eke, that Arcite should not die,He should be healed of his malady.And of another thing they were as fain*. *gladThat of them alle was there no one slain,All* were they sorely hurt, and namely** one, *although **especiallyThat with a spear was thirled* his breast-bone. *piercedTo other woundes, and to broken arms,Some hadden salves, and some hadden charms:And pharmacies of herbs, and eke save* *sage, Salvia officinalisThey dranken, for they would their lives have.For which this noble Duke, as he well can,Comforteth and honoureth every man,And made revel all the longe night,Unto the strange lordes, as was right.Nor there was holden no discomforting,But as at jousts or at a tourneying;For soothly there was no discomfiture,For falling is not but an aventure*. *chance, accidentNor to be led by force unto a stakeUnyielding, and with twenty knights y-takeOne person all alone, withouten mo’,And harried* forth by armes, foot, and toe, *dragged, hurriedAnd eke his steede driven forth with staves,With footmen, bothe yeomen and eke knaves*, *servantsIt was *aretted him no villainy:* *counted no disgrace to him*There may no man *clepen it cowardy*. *call it cowardice*For which anon Duke Theseus *let cry*, — *caused to be proclaimed*To stenten* alle rancour and envy, — *stopThe gree* as well on one side as the other, *prize, meritAnd either side alike as other’s brother:And gave them giftes after their degree,And held a feaste fully dayes three:And conveyed the kinges worthilyOut of his town a journee* largely *day’s journeyAnd home went every man the righte way,There was no more but “Farewell, Have good day.”Of this bataille I will no more inditeBut speak of Palamon and of Arcite.Swelleth the breast of Arcite and the soreIncreaseth at his hearte more and more.The clotted blood, for any leache-craft* *surgical skillCorrupteth and is *in his bouk y-laft* *left in his body*That neither *veine blood nor ventousing*, *blood-letting or cupping*Nor drink of herbes may be his helping.The virtue expulsive or animal,From thilke virtue called natural,Nor may the venom voide, nor expelThe pipes of his lungs began to swellAnd every lacert* in his breast adown *sinew, muscleIs shent* with venom and corruption. *destroyedHim gaineth* neither, for to get his life, *availethVomit upward, nor downward laxative;All is to-bursten thilke region;Nature hath now no domination.And certainly where nature will not wirch,* *workFarewell physic: go bear the man to chirch.* *churchThis all and some is, Arcite must die.For which he sendeth after Emily,And Palamon, that was his cousin dear,Then said he thus, as ye shall after hear.“Nought may the woful spirit in mine heartDeclare one point of all my sorrows’ smartTo you, my lady, that I love the most:But I bequeath the service of my ghostTo you aboven every creature,Since that my life ne may no longer dure.Alas the woe! alas, the paines strongThat I for you have suffered and so long!Alas the death, alas, mine Emily!Alas departing* of our company! *the severanceAlas, mine hearte’s queen! alas, my wife!Mine hearte’s lady, ender of my life!What is this world? what aske men to have?Now with his love, now in his colde graveAl one, withouten any company.Farewell, my sweet, farewell, mine Emily,And softly take me in your armes tway,For love of God, and hearken what I say.I have here with my cousin PalamonHad strife and rancour many a day agone,For love of you, and for my jealousy.And Jupiter so *wis my soule gie*, *surely guides my soul*To speaken of a servant properly,With alle circumstances truely,That is to say, truth, honour, and knighthead,Wisdom, humbless*, estate, and high kindred, *humilityFreedom, and all that longeth to that art,So Jupiter have of my soul part,As in this world right now I know not one,So worthy to be lov’d as Palamon,That serveth you, and will do all his life.And if that you shall ever be a wife,Forget not Palamon, the gentle man.”And with that word his speech to fail began.For from his feet up to his breast was comeThe cold of death, that had him overnome*. *overcomeAnd yet moreover in his armes twoThe vital strength is lost, and all ago*. *goneOnly the intellect, withoute more,That dwelled in his hearte sick and sore,Gan faile, when the hearte felte death;Dusked* his eyen two, and fail’d his breath. *grew dimBut on his lady yet he cast his eye;His laste word was; “Mercy, Emily!”His spirit changed house, and wente there,As I came never I cannot telle where.<84>Therefore I stent*, I am no divinister**; *refrain **divinerOf soules find I nought in this register.Ne me list not th’ opinions to tellOf them, though that they writen where they dwell;Arcite is cold, there Mars his soule gie.* *guideNow will I speake forth of Emily.Shriek’d Emily, and howled Palamon,And Theseus his sister took anonSwooning, and bare her from the corpse away.What helpeth it to tarry forth the day,To telle how she wept both eve and morrow?For in such cases women have such sorrow,When that their husbands be from them y-go*, *goneThat for the more part they sorrow so,Or elles fall into such malady,That at the laste certainly they die.Infinite be the sorrows and the tearsOf olde folk, and folk of tender years,In all the town, for death of this Theban:For him there weepeth bothe child and man.So great a weeping was there none certain,When Hector was y-brought, all fresh y-slain,To Troy: alas! the pity that was there,Scratching of cheeks, and rending eke of hair.“Why wouldest thou be dead?” these women cry,“And haddest gold enough, and Emily.”No manner man might gladden Theseus,Saving his olde father Egeus,That knew this worlde’s transmutatioun,As he had seen it changen up and down,Joy after woe, and woe after gladness;And shewed him example and likeness.“Right as there died never man,” quoth he,“That he ne liv’d in earth in some degree*, *rank, conditionRight so there lived never man,” he said,“In all this world, that sometime be not died.This world is but a throughfare full of woe,And we be pilgrims, passing to and fro:Death is an end of every worldly sore.”And over all this said he yet much moreTo this effect, full wisely to exhortThe people, that they should them recomfort.Duke Theseus, with all his busy cure*, *care*Casteth about*, where that the sepulture *deliberates*Of good Arcite may best y-maked be,And eke most honourable in his degree.And at the last he took conclusion,That there as first Arcite and PalamonHadde for love the battle them between,That in that selve* grove, sweet and green, *self-sameThere as he had his amorous desires,His complaint, and for love his hote fires,He woulde make a fire*, in which th’ office *funeral pyreOf funeral he might all accomplice;And *let anon command* to hack and hew *immediately gave orders*The oakes old, and lay them *on a rew* *in a row*In culpons*, well arrayed for to brenne**. *logs **burnHis officers with swifte feet they renne* *runAnd ride anon at his commandement.And after this, Duke Theseus hath sentAfter a bier, and it all overspradWith cloth of gold, the richest that he had;And of the same suit he clad Arcite.Upon his handes were his gloves white,Eke on his head a crown of laurel green,And in his hand a sword full bright and keen.He laid him *bare the visage* on the bier, *with face uncovered*Therewith he wept, that pity was to hear.And, for the people shoulde see him all,When it was day he brought them to the hall,That roareth of the crying and the soun’.Then came this woful Theban, Palamon,With sluttery beard, and ruggy ashy hairs,<85>In clothes black, y-dropped all with tears,And (passing over weeping Emily)The ruefullest of all the company.And *inasmuch as* the service should be *in order that*The more noble and rich in its degree,Duke Theseus let forth three steedes bring,That trapped were in steel all glittering.And covered with the arms of Dan Arcite.Upon these steedes, that were great and white,There satte folk, of whom one bare his shield,Another his spear in his handes held;The thirde bare with him his bow Turkeis*, *Turkish.Of brent* gold was the case** and the harness: *burnished **quiverAnd ride forth *a pace* with sorrowful cheer** *at a foot pace*Toward the grove, as ye shall after hear. **expressionThe noblest of the Greekes that there wereUpon their shoulders carried the bier,With slacke pace, and eyen red and wet,Throughout the city, by the master* street, *main <86>That spread was all with black, and wondrous highRight of the same is all the street y-wrie.* *covered <87>Upon the right hand went old Egeus,And on the other side Duke Theseus,With vessels in their hand of gold full fine,All full of honey, milk, and blood, and wine;Eke Palamon, with a great company;And after that came woful Emily,With fire in hand, as was that time the guise*, *customTo do th’ office of funeral service.High labour, and full great appareling* *preparationWas at the service, and the pyre-making,That with its greene top the heaven raught*, *reachedAnd twenty fathom broad its armes straught*: *stretchedThis is to say, the boughes were so broad.Of straw first there was laid many a load.But how the pyre was maked up on height,And eke the names how the trees hight*, *were calledAs oak, fir, birch, asp*, alder, holm, poplere, *aspenWillow, elm, plane, ash, box, chestnut, lind*, laurere, *linden, limeMaple, thorn, beech, hazel, yew, whipul tree,How they were fell’d, shall not be told for me;Nor how the goddes* rannen up and down *the forest deitiesDisinherited of their habitatioun,In which they wonned* had in rest and peace, *dweltNymphes, Faunes, and Hamadryades;Nor how the beastes and the birdes allFledden for feare, when the wood gan fall;Nor how the ground aghast* was of the light, *terrifiedThat was not wont to see the sunne bright;Nor how the fire was couched* first with stre**, *laid **strawAnd then with dry stickes cloven in three,And then with greene wood and spicery*, *spicesAnd then with cloth of gold and with pierrie*, *precious stonesAnd garlands hanging with full many a flower,The myrrh, the incense with so sweet odour;Nor how Arcita lay among all this,Nor what richess about his body is;Nor how that Emily, as was the guise*, *custom*Put in the fire* of funeral service<88>; *appplied the torch*Nor how she swooned when she made the fire,Nor what she spake, nor what was her desire;Nor what jewels men in the fire then castWhen that the fire was great and burned fast;Nor how some cast their shield, and some their spear,And of their vestiments, which that they wear,And cuppes full of wine, and milk, and blood,Into the fire, that burnt as it were wood*; *madNor how the Greekes with a huge rout* *processionThree times riden all the fire about <89>Upon the left hand, with a loud shouting,And thries with their speares clattering;And thries how the ladies gan to cry;Nor how that led was homeward Emily;Nor how Arcite is burnt to ashes cold;Nor how the lyke-wake* was y-hold *wake <90>All thilke* night, nor how the Greekes play *thatThe wake-plays*, ne keep** I not to say: *funeral games **careWho wrestled best naked, with oil anoint,Nor who that bare him best *in no disjoint*. *in any contest*I will not tell eke how they all are goneHome to Athenes when the play is done;But shortly to the point now will I wend*, *comeAnd maken of my longe tale an end.By process and by length of certain yearsAll stinted* is the mourning and the tears *endedOf Greekes, by one general assent.Then seemed me there was a parlementAt Athens, upon certain points and cas*: *casesAmonge the which points y-spoken wasTo have with certain countries alliance,And have of Thebans full obeisance.For which this noble Theseus anonLet* send after the gentle Palamon, *causedUnwist* of him what was the cause and why: *unknownBut in his blacke clothes sorrowfullyHe came at his commandment *on hie*; *in haste*Then sente Theseus for Emily.When they were set*, and hush’d was all the place *seatedAnd Theseus abided* had a space *waitedEre any word came from his wise breast*His eyen set he there as was his lest*, *he cast his eyesAnd with a sad visage he sighed still, wherever he pleased*And after that right thus he said his will.“The firste mover of the cause aboveWhen he first made the faire chain of love,Great was th’ effect, and high was his intent;Well wist he why, and what thereof he meant:For with that faire chain of love he bond* *boundThe fire, the air, the water, and the londIn certain bondes, that they may not flee:<91>That same prince and mover eke,” quoth he,“Hath stablish’d, in this wretched world adown,Certain of dayes and durationTo all that are engender’d in this place,Over the whiche day they may not pace*, *passAll may they yet their dayes well abridge.There needeth no authority to allegeFor it is proved by experience;But that me list declare my sentence*. *opinionThen may men by this order well discern,That thilke* mover stable is and etern. *the sameWell may men know, but that it be a fool,That every part deriveth from its whole.For nature hath not ta’en its beginningOf no *partie nor cantle* of a thing, *part or piece*But of a thing that perfect is and stable,Descending so, till it be corruptable.And therefore of His wise purveyance* *providenceHe hath so well beset* his ordinance,That species of things and progressionsShallen endure by successions,And not etern, withouten any lie:This mayst thou understand and see at eye.Lo th’ oak, that hath so long a nourishingFrom the time that it ’ginneth first to spring,And hath so long a life, as ye may see,Yet at the last y-wasted is the tree.Consider eke, how that the harde stoneUnder our feet, on which we tread and gon*, *walkYet wasteth, as it lieth by the way.The broade river some time waxeth drey*. *dryThe greate townes see we wane and wend*. *go, disappearThen may ye see that all things have an end.Of man and woman see we well also, —That needes in one of the termes two, —That is to say, in youth or else in age,-He must be dead, the king as shall a page;Some in his bed, some in the deepe sea,Some in the large field, as ye may see:There helpeth nought, all go that ilke* way: *sameThen may I say that alle thing must die.What maketh this but Jupiter the king?The which is prince, and cause of alle thing,Converting all unto his proper will,From which it is derived, sooth to tellAnd hereagainst no creature alive,Of no degree, availeth for to strive.Then is it wisdom, as it thinketh me,To make a virtue of necessity,And take it well, that we may not eschew*, *escapeAnd namely what to us all is due.And whoso grudgeth* ought, he doth folly, *murmurs atAnd rebel is to him that all may gie*. *direct, guideAnd certainly a man hath most honourTo dien in his excellence and flower,When he is sicker* of his goode name. *certainThen hath he done his friend, nor him*, no shame *himselfAnd gladder ought his friend be of his death,When with honour is yielded up his breath,Than when his name *appalled is for age*; *decayed by old age*For all forgotten is his vassalage*. *valour, serviceThen is it best, as for a worthy fame,To dien when a man is best of name.The contrary of all this is wilfulness.Why grudge we, why have we heaviness,That good Arcite, of chivalry the flower,Departed is, with duty and honour,Out of this foule prison of this life?Why grudge here his cousin and his wifeOf his welfare, that loved him so well?Can he them thank? nay, God wot, neverdeal*, — *not a jotThat both his soul and eke themselves offend*, *hurtAnd yet they may their lustes* not amend**. *desires **controlWhat may I conclude of this longe serie*, *string of remarksBut after sorrow I rede* us to be merry, *counselAnd thanke Jupiter for all his grace?And ere that we departe from this place,I rede that we make of sorrows twoOne perfect joye lasting evermo’:And look now where most sorrow is herein,There will I first amenden and begin.“Sister,” quoth he, “this is my full assent,With all th’ advice here of my parlement,That gentle Palamon, your owen knight,That serveth you with will, and heart, and might,And ever hath, since first time ye him knew,That ye shall of your grace upon him rue*, *take pityAnd take him for your husband and your lord:Lend me your hand, for this is our accord.*Let see* now of your womanly pity. *make display*He is a kinge’s brother’s son, pardie*. *by GodAnd though he were a poore bachelere,Since he hath served you so many a year,And had for you so great adversity,It muste be considered, *’lieveth me*. *believe me*For gentle mercy *oweth to passen right*.” *ought to be rightlyThen said he thus to Palamon the knight; directed*“I trow there needeth little sermoningTo make you assente to this thing.Come near, and take your lady by the hand.”Betwixte them was made anon the band,That hight matrimony or marriage,By all the counsel of the baronage.And thus with alle bliss and melodyHath Palamon y-wedded Emily.And God, that all this wide world hath wrought,Send him his love, that hath it dearly bought.For now is Palamon in all his weal,Living in bliss, in riches, and in heal*. *healthAnd Emily him loves so tenderly,And he her serveth all so gentilly,That never was there worde them betweenOf jealousy, nor of none other teen*. *cause of angerThus endeth Palamon and EmilyAnd God save all this faire company.Notes to The Knight’s Tale.1. For the plan and principal incidents of the “Knight’s Tale,” Chaucer was indebted to Boccaccio, who had himself borrowed from some prior poet, chronicler, or romancer. Boccaccio speaks of the story as “very ancient;” and, though that may not be proof of its antiquity, it certainly shows that he took it from an earlier writer. The “Tale” is more or less a paraphrase of Boccaccio’s “Theseida;” but in some points the copy has a distinct dramatic superiority over the original. The “Theseida” contained ten thousand lines; Chaucer has condensed it into less than one-fourth of the number. The “Knight’s Tale” is supposed to have been at first composed as a separate work; it is undetermined whether Chaucer took it direct from the Italian of Boccaccio, or from a French translation.2. Highte: was called; from the Anglo-Saxon “hatan”, to bid or call; German, “Heissen”, “heisst”.3. Feminie: The “Royaume des Femmes” — kingdom of the Amazons. Gower, in the “Confessio Amantis,” styles Penthesilea the “Queen of Feminie.”4. Wonnen: Won, conquered; German “gewonnen.”5. Ear: To plough; Latin, “arare.” “I have abundant matter for discourse.” The first, and half of the second, of Boccaccio’s twelve books are disposed of in the few lines foregoing.6. Waimenting: bewailing; German, “wehklagen”7. Starf: died; German, “sterben,” “starb”.8. The Minotaur: The monster, half-man and half-bull, which yearly devoured a tribute of fourteen Athenian youths and maidens, until it was slain by Theseus.9. Pillers: pillagers, strippers; French, “pilleurs.”10. The donjon was originally the central tower or “keep” of feudal castles; it was employed to detain prisoners of importance. Hence the modern meaning of the word dungeon.11. Saturn, in the old astrology, was a most unpropitious star to be born under.12. To die in the pain was a proverbial expression in the French, used as an alternative to enforce a resolution or a promise. Edward III., according to Froissart, declared that he would either succeed in the war against France or die in the pain — “Ou il mourroit en la peine.” It was the fashion in those times to swear oaths of friendship and brotherhood; and hence, though the fashion has long died out, we still speak of “sworn friends.”13. The saying of the old scholar Boethius, in his treatise “De Consolatione Philosophiae”, which Chaucer translated, and from which he has freely borrowed in his poetry. The words are “Quis legem det amantibus? Major lex amor est sibi.” (“Who can give law to lovers? Love is a law unto himself, and greater”)14. “Perithous” and “Theseus” must, for the metre, be pronounced as words of four and three syllables respectively — the vowels at the end not being diphthongated, but enunciated separately, as if the words were printed Pe-ri-tho-us, The-se-us. The same rule applies in such words as “creature” and “conscience,” which are trisyllables.15. Stound: moment, short space of time; from Anglo-Saxon, “stund;” akin to which is German, “Stunde,” an hour.16. Meinie: servants, or menials, &c., dwelling together in a house; from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a crowd. Compare German, “Menge,” multitude.17. The pure fetters: the very fetters. The Greeks used “katharos”, the Romans “purus,” in the same sense.18. In the medieval courts of Love, to which allusion is probably made forty lines before, in the word “parlement,” or “parliament,” questions like that here proposed were seriously discussed.19. Gear: behaviour, fashion, dress; but, by another reading, the word is “gyre,” and means fit, trance — from the Latin, “gyro,” I turn round.20. Before his head in his cell fantastic: in front of his head in his cell of fantasy. “The division of the brain into cells, according to the different sensitive faculties,” says Mr Wright, “is very ancient, and is found depicted in mediaeval manuscripts.” In a manuscript in the Harleian Library, it is stated, “Certum est in prora cerebri esse fantasiam, in medio rationem discretionis, in puppi memoriam” (it is certain that in the front of the brain is imagination, in the middle reason, in the back memory) — a classification not materially differing from that of modern phrenologists.21. Dan: Lord; Latin, “Dominus;” Spanish, “Don.”22. The “caduceus.”23. Argus was employed by Juno to watch Io with his hundred eyes but he was sent to sleep by the flute of Mercury, who then cut off his head.24. Next: nearest; German, “naechste”.25. Clary: hippocras, wine made with spices.26. Warray: make war; French “guerroyer”, to molest; hence, perhaps, “to worry.”27. All day meeten men at unset steven: every day men meet at unexpected time. “To set a steven,” is to fix a time, make an appointment.28. Roundelay: song coming round again to the words with which it opened.29. Now in the crop and now down in the breres: Now in the tree-top, now down in the briars. “Crop and root,” top and bottom, is used to express the perfection or totality of anything.30. Beknow: avow, acknowledge: German, “bekennen.”31. Shapen was my death erst than my shert: My death was decreed before my shirt ws shaped — that is, before any clothes were made for me, before my birth.32. Regne: Queen; French, “Reine;” Venus is meant. The common reading, however, is “regne,” reign or power.33. Launde: plain. Compare modern English, “lawn,” and French, “Landes” — flat, bare marshy tracts in the south of France.34. Mister: manner, kind; German “muster,” sample, model.35. In listes: in the lists, prepared for such single combats between champion and accuser, &c.36. Thilke: that, contracted from “the ilke,” the same.37. Mars the Red: referring to the ruddy colour of the planet, to which was doubtless due the transference to it of the name of the God of War. In his “Republic,” enumerating the seven planets, Cicero speaks of the propitious and beneficent light of Jupiter: “Tum (fulgor) rutilis horribilisque terris, quem Martium dicitis” — “Then the red glow, horrible to the nations, which you say to be that of Mars.” Boccaccio opens the “Theseida” by an invocation to “rubicondo Marte.”38. Last: lace, leash, noose, snare: from Latin, “laceus.”39. “Round was the shape, in manner of compass, Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas” The building was a circle of steps or benches, as in the ancient amphitheatre. Either the building was sixty paces high; or, more probably, there were sixty of the steps or benches.40. Yellow goldes: The sunflower, turnsol, or girasol, which turns with and seems to watch the sun, as a jealous lover his mistress.41. Citheron: The Isle of Venus, Cythera, in the Aegean Sea; now called Cerigo: not, as Chaucer’s form of the word might imply, Mount Cithaeron, in the south-west of Boetia, which was appropriated to other deities than Venus — to Jupiter, to Bacchus, and the Muses.42. It need not be said that Chaucer pays slight heed to chronology in this passage, where the deeds of Turnus, the glory of King Solomon, and the fate of Croesus are made memories of the far past in the time of fabulous Theseus, the Minotaur-slayer.43. Champartie: divided power or possession; an old law-term, signifying the maintenance of a person in a law suit on the condition of receiving part of the property in dispute, if recovered.44. Citole: a kind of dulcimer.45. The picke-purse: The plunderers that followed armies, and gave to war a horror all their own.46. Shepen: stable; Anglo-Saxon, “scypen;” the word “sheppon” still survives in provincial parlance.47. This line, perhaps, refers to the deed of Jael.48. The shippes hoppesteres: The meaning is dubious. We may understand “the dancing ships,” “the ships that hop” on the waves; “steres” being taken as the feminine adjectival termination: or we may, perhaps, read, with one of the manuscripts, “the ships upon the steres” — that is, even as they are being steered, or on the open sea — a more picturesque notion.49. Freting: devouring; the Germans use “Fressen” to mean eating by animals, “essen” by men.50. Julius: i.e. Julius Caesar51. Puella and Rubeus were two figures in geomancy, representing two constellations-the one signifying Mars retrograde, the other Mars direct.52. Calistope: or Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, seduced by Jupiter, turned into a bear by Diana, and placed afterwards, with her son, as the Great Bear among the stars.53. Dane: Daphne, daughter of the river-god Peneus, in Thessaly; she was beloved by Apollo, but to avoid his pursuit, she was, at her own prayer, changed into a laurel-tree.54. As the goddess of Light, or the goddess who brings to light, Diana — as well as Juno — was invoked by women in childbirth: so Horace, Odes iii. 22, says:—“Montium custos nemorumque, Virgo,Quae laborantes utero puellasTer vocata audis adimisque leto,Diva triformis.”(“Virgin custodian of hills and groves, three-formed goddess who hears and saves from death young women who call upon her thrice when in childbirth”)55. Every deal: in every part; “deal” corresponds to the German “Theil” a portion.56. Sikerly: surely; German, “sicher;” Scotch, “sikkar,” certain. When Robert Bruce had escaped from England to assume the Scottish crown, he stabbed Comyn before the altar at Dumfries; and, emerging from the church, was asked by his friend Kirkpatrick if he had slain the traitor. “I doubt it,” said Bruce. “Doubt,” cried Kirkpatrick. “I’ll mak sikkar;” and he rushed into the church, and despatched Comyn with repeated thrusts of his dagger.57. Kemped: combed; the word survives in “unkempt.”58. Alauns: greyhounds, mastiffs; from the Spanish word “Alano,” signifying a mastiff.59. Y-ment: mixed; German, “mengen,” to mix.60. Prime: The time of early prayers, between six and nine in the morning.61. On the dais: see note 32 to the Prologue.62. In her hour: in the hour of the day (two hours before daybreak) which after the astrological system that divided the twenty-four among the seven ruling planets, was under the influence of Venus.63. Adon: Adonis, a beautiful youth beloved of Venus, whose death by the tusk of a boar she deeply mourned.64. The third hour unequal: In the third planetary hour; Palamon had gone forth in the hour of Venus, two hours before daybreak; the hour of Mercury intervened; the third hour was that of Luna, or Diana. “Unequal” refers to the astrological division of day and night, whatever their duration, into twelve parts, which of necessity varied in length with the season.65. Smoking: draping; hence the word “smock;” “smokless,” in Chaucer, means naked.66. Cerrial: of the species of oak which Pliny, in his “Natural History,” calls “cerrus.”67. Stace of Thebes: Statius, the Roman who embodied in the twelve books of his “Thebaid” the ancient legends connected with the war of the seven against Thebes.68. Diana was Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and Hecate in hell; hence the direction of the eyes of her statue to “Pluto’s dark region.” Her statue was set up where three ways met, so that with a different face she looked down each of the three; from which she was called Trivia. See the quotation from Horace, note 54.69. Las: net; the invisible toils in which Hephaestus caught Ares and the faithless Aphrodite, and exposed them to the “inextinguishable laughter” of Olympus.70. Saturnus the cold: Here, as in “Mars the Red” we have the person of the deity endowed with the supposed quality of the planet called after his name.71. The astrologers ascribed great power to Saturn, and predicted “much debate” under his ascendancy; hence it was “against his kind” to compose the heavenly strife.72. Ayel: grandfather; French “Aieul”.73. Testers: Helmets; from the French “teste”, “tete”, head.74. Parements: ornamental garb, French “parer” to deck.75. Gniding: Rubbing, polishing; Anglo-Saxon “gnidan”, to rub.76. Nakeres: Drums, used in the cavalry; Boccaccio’s word is “nachere”.77. Made an O: Ho! Ho! to command attention; like “oyez”, the call for silence in law-courts or before proclamations.78. Sarge: serge, a coarse woollen cloth79. Heart-spoon: The concave part of the breast, where the lower ribs join the cartilago ensiformis.80. To-hewen and to-shred: “to” before a verb implies extraordinary violence in the action denoted.81. He through the thickest of the throng etc.. “He” in this passage refers impersonally to any of the combatants.82. Galaphay: Galapha, in Mauritania.83. Belmarie is supposed to have been a Moorish state in Africa; but “Palmyrie” has been suggested as the correct reading.84. As I came never I cannot telle where: Where it went I cannot tell you, as I was not there. Tyrwhitt thinks that Chaucer is sneering at Boccacio’s pompous account of the passage of Arcite’s soul to heaven. Up to this point, the description of the death-scene is taken literally from the “Theseida.”85. With sluttery beard, and ruggy ashy hairs: With neglected beard, and rough hair strewn with ashes. “Flotery” is the general reading; but “sluttery” seems to be more in keeping with the picture of abandonment to grief.86. Master street: main street; so Froissart speaks of “le souverain carrefour.”87. Y-wrie: covered, hid; Anglo-Saxon, “wrigan,” to veil.88. Emily applied the funeral torch. The “guise” was, among the ancients, for the nearest relative of the deceased to do this, with averted face.89. It was the custom for soldiers to march thrice around the funeral pile of an emperor or general; “on the left hand” is added, in reference to the belief that the left hand was propitious — the Roman augur turning his face southward, and so placing on his left hand the east, whence good omens came. With the Greeks, however, their augurs facing the north, it was just the contrary. The confusion, frequent in classical writers, is complicated here by the fact that Chaucer’s description of the funeral of Arcite is taken from Statius’ “Thebaid” — from a Roman’s account of a Greek solemnity.90. Lyke-wake: watching by the remains of the dead; from Anglo-Saxon, “lice,” a corpse; German, “Leichnam.”91. Chaucer here borrows from Boethius, who says: “Hanc rerum seriem ligat, Terras ac pelagus regens, Et coelo imperitans, amor.” (Love ties these things together: the earth, and the ruling sea, and the imperial heavens)
The nexte hour of Mars following thisArcite to the temple walked isOf fierce Mars, to do his sacrificeWith all the rites of his pagan guise.With piteous* heart and high devotion *piousRight thus to Mars he said his orison“O stronge god, that in the regnes* old *realmsOf Thrace honoured art, and lord y-hold* *heldAnd hast in every regne, and every landOf armes all the bridle in thine hand,And *them fortunest as thee list devise*, *send them fortuneAccept of me my piteous sacrifice. as you please*If so be that my youthe may deserve,And that my might be worthy for to serveThy godhead, that I may be one of thine,Then pray I thee to *rue upon my pine*, *pity my anguish*For thilke* pain, and thilke hote fire, *thatIn which thou whilom burned’st for desireWhenne that thou usedest* the beauty *enjoyedOf faire young Venus, fresh and free,And haddest her in armes at thy will:And though thee ones on a time misfill*, *were unluckyWhen Vulcanus had caught thee in his las*, *net <69>And found thee ligging* by his wife, alas! *lyingFor thilke sorrow that was in thine heart,Have ruth* as well upon my paine’s smart. *pityI am young and unconning*, as thou know’st, *ignorant, simpleAnd, as I trow*, with love offended most *believeThat e’er was any living creature:For she, that doth* me all this woe endure, *causesNe recketh ne’er whether I sink or fleet* *swimAnd well I wot, ere she me mercy hete*, *promise, vouchsafeI must with strengthe win her in the place:And well I wot, withoute help or graceOf thee, ne may my strengthe not avail:Then help me, lord, to-morr’w in my bataille,For thilke fire that whilom burned thee,As well as this fire that now burneth me;And do* that I to-morr’w may have victory. *causeMine be the travail, all thine be the glory.Thy sovereign temple will I most honourOf any place, and alway most labourIn thy pleasance and in thy craftes strong.And in thy temple I will my banner hong*, *hangAnd all the armes of my company,And evermore, until that day I die,Eternal fire I will before thee findAnd eke to this my vow I will me bind:My beard, my hair that hangeth long adown,That never yet hath felt offension* *indignityOf razor nor of shears, I will thee give,And be thy true servant while I live.Now, lord, have ruth upon my sorrows sore,Give me the victory, I ask no more.”
The prayer stint* of Arcita the strong, *endedThe ringes on the temple door that hong,And eke the doores, clattered full fast,Of which Arcita somewhat was aghast.The fires burn’d upon the altar bright,That it gan all the temple for to light;A sweete smell anon the ground up gaf*, *gaveAnd Arcita anon his hand up haf*, *liftedAnd more incense into the fire he cast,With other rites more and at the lastThe statue of Mars began his hauberk ring;And with that sound he heard a murmuringFull low and dim, that saide thus, “Victory.”For which he gave to Mars honour and glory.And thus with joy, and hope well to fare,Arcite anon unto his inn doth fare.As fain* as fowl is of the brighte sun. *glad
And right anon such strife there is begunFor thilke* granting, in the heav’n above, *thatBetwixte Venus the goddess of love,And Mars the sterne god armipotent,That Jupiter was busy it to stent*: *stopTill that the pale Saturnus the cold,<70>That knew so many of adventures old,Found in his old experience such an art,That he full soon hath pleased every part.As sooth is said, eld* hath great advantage, *ageIn eld is bothe wisdom and usage*: *experienceMen may the old out-run, but not out-rede*. *outwitSaturn anon, to stint the strife and drede,Albeit that it is against his kind,* *natureOf all this strife gan a remedy find.“My deare daughter Venus,” quoth Saturn,“My course*, that hath so wide for to turn, *orbit <71>Hath more power than wot any man.Mine is the drowning in the sea so wan;Mine is the prison in the darke cote*, *cellMine the strangling and hanging by the throat,The murmur, and the churlish rebelling,The groyning*, and the privy poisoning. *discontentI do vengeance and plein* correction, *fullI dwell in the sign of the lion.Mine is the ruin of the highe halls,The falling of the towers and the wallsUpon the miner or the carpenter:I slew Samson in shaking the pillar:Mine also be the maladies cold,The darke treasons, and the castes* old: *plotsMy looking is the father of pestilence.Now weep no more, I shall do diligenceThat Palamon, that is thine owen knight,Shall have his lady, as thou hast him hight*. *promisedThough Mars shall help his knight, yet nathelessBetwixte you there must sometime be peace:All be ye not of one complexion,That each day causeth such division,I am thine ayel*, ready at thy will; *grandfather <72>Weep now no more, I shall thy lust* fulfil.” *pleasureNow will I stenten* of the gods above, *cease speakingOf Mars, and of Venus, goddess of love,And telle you as plainly as I canThe great effect, for which that I began.
Great was the feast in Athens thilke* day; *thatAnd eke the lusty season of that MayMade every wight to be in such pleasance,That all that Monday jousten they and dance,And spenden it in Venus’ high service.But by the cause that they shoulde riseEarly a-morrow for to see that fight,Unto their reste wente they at night.And on the morrow, when the day gan spring,Of horse and harness* noise and clattering *armourThere was in the hostelries all about:And to the palace rode there many a rout* *train, retinueOf lordes, upon steedes and palfreys.There mayst thou see devising* of harness *decorationSo uncouth* and so rich, and wrought so weel *unkown, rareOf goldsmithry, of brouding*, and of steel; *embroideryThe shieldes bright, the testers*, and trappures** *helmets<73>Gold-hewen helmets, hauberks, coat-armures; **trappingsLordes in parements* on their coursers, *ornamental garb <74>;Knightes of retinue, and eke squiers,Nailing the spears, and helmes buckeling,Gniding* of shieldes, with lainers** lacing; *polishing <75>There as need is, they were nothing idle: **lanyardsThe foamy steeds upon the golden bridleGnawing, and fast the armourers alsoWith file and hammer pricking to and fro;Yeomen on foot, and knaves* many one *servantsWith shorte staves, thick* as they may gon**; *close **walkPipes, trumpets, nakeres*, and clariouns, *drums <76>That in the battle blowe bloody souns;The palace full of people up and down,There three, there ten, holding their questioun*, *conversationDivining* of these Theban knightes two. *conjecturingSome saiden thus, some said it shall he so;Some helden with him with the blacke beard,Some with the bald, some with the thick-hair’d;Some said he looked grim, and woulde fight:He had a sparth* of twenty pound of weight. *double-headed axeThus was the halle full of divining* *conjecturingLong after that the sunne gan up spring.The great Theseus that of his sleep is wakedWith minstrelsy, and noise that was maked,Held yet the chamber of his palace rich,Till that the Theban knightes both y-lich* *alikeHonoured were, and to the palace fet*. *fetchedDuke Theseus is at a window set,Array’d right as he were a god in throne:The people presseth thitherward full soonHim for to see, and do him reverence,And eke to hearken his hest* and his sentence**. *command **speechAn herald on a scaffold made an O, <77>Till the noise of the people was y-do*: *doneAnd when he saw the people of noise all still,Thus shewed he the mighty Duke’s will.“The lord hath of his high discretionConsidered that it were destructionTo gentle blood, to fighten in the guiseOf mortal battle now in this emprise:Wherefore to shape* that they shall not die, *arrange, contriveHe will his firste purpose modify.No man therefore, on pain of loss of life,No manner* shot, nor poleaxe, nor short knife *kind ofInto the lists shall send, or thither bring.Nor short sword for to stick with point bitingNo man shall draw, nor bear it by his side.And no man shall unto his fellow rideBut one course, with a sharp y-grounden spear:*Foin if him list on foot, himself to wear. *He who wishes canAnd he that is at mischief shall be take*, fence on foot to defendAnd not slain, but be brought unto the stake, himself, and he thatThat shall be ordained on either side; is in peril shall be taken*Thither he shall by force, and there abide.And if *so fall* the chiefetain be take *should happen*On either side, or elles slay his make*, *equal, matchNo longer then the tourneying shall last.God speede you; go forth and lay on fast.With long sword and with mace fight your fill.Go now your way; this is the lordes will.The voice of the people touched the heaven,So loude cried they with merry steven*: *soundGod save such a lord that is so good,He willeth no destruction of blood.
Up go the trumpets and the melody,And to the listes rode the company*By ordinance*, throughout the city large, *in orderly array*Hanged with cloth of gold, and not with sarge*. *serge <78>Full like a lord this noble Duke gan ride,And these two Thebans upon either side:
And after rode the queen and Emily,And after them another companyOf one and other, after their degree.And thus they passed thorough that cityAnd to the listes came they by time:It was not of the day yet fully prime*. *between 6 & 9 a.m.When set was Theseus full rich and high,Hippolyta the queen and Emily,And other ladies in their degrees about,Unto the seates presseth all the rout.And westward, through the gates under Mart,Arcite, and eke the hundred of his part,With banner red, is enter’d right anon;And in the selve* moment Palamon *self-sameIs, under Venus, eastward in the place,With banner white, and hardy cheer* and face *expressionIn all the world, to seeken up and downSo even* without variatioun *equalThere were such companies never tway.For there was none so wise that coulde sayThat any had of other avantageOf worthiness, nor of estate, nor age,So even were they chosen for to guess.And *in two ranges faire they them dress*. *they arranged themselvesWhen that their names read were every one, in two rows*That in their number guile* were there none, *fraudThen were the gates shut, and cried was loud;“Do now your devoir, younge knights proudThe heralds left their pricking* up and down *spurring their horsesNow ring the trumpet loud and clarioun.There is no more to say, but east and westIn go the speares sadly* in the rest; *steadilyIn go the sharpe spurs into the side.There see me who can joust, and who can ride.There shiver shaftes upon shieldes thick;He feeleth through the hearte-spoon<79> the prick.Up spring the speares twenty foot on height;Out go the swordes as the silver bright.The helmes they to-hewen, and to-shred*; *strike in pieces <80>Out burst the blood, with sterne streames red.With mighty maces the bones they to-brest*. *burstHe <81> through the thickest of the throng gan threst*. *thrustThere stumble steedes strong, and down go all.He rolleth under foot as doth a ball.He foineth* on his foe with a trunchoun, *forces himselfAnd he him hurtleth with his horse adown.He through the body hurt is, and *sith take*, *afterwards captured*Maugre his head, and brought unto the stake,As forword* was, right there he must abide. *covenantAnother led is on that other side.And sometime doth* them Theseus to rest, *causedThem to refresh, and drinken if them lest*. *pleasedFull oft a day have thilke Thebans two *theseTogether met and wrought each other woe:Unhorsed hath each other of them tway* *twiceThere is no tiger in the vale of Galaphay, <82>When that her whelp is stole, when it is lite* *littleSo cruel on the hunter, as ArciteFor jealous heart upon this Palamon:Nor in Belmarie <83> there is no fell lion,That hunted is, or for his hunger wood* *madOr for his prey desireth so the blood,As Palamon to slay his foe Arcite.The jealous strokes upon their helmets bite;Out runneth blood on both their sides red,Sometime an end there is of every deedFor ere the sun unto the reste went,The stronge king Emetrius gan hent* *sieze, assailThis Palamon, as he fought with Arcite,And made his sword deep in his flesh to bite,And by the force of twenty is he take,Unyielding, and is drawn unto the stake.And in the rescue of this PalamonThe stronge king Licurgus is borne down:And king Emetrius, for all his strengthIs borne out of his saddle a sword’s length,So hit him Palamon ere he were take:But all for nought; he was brought to the stake:His hardy hearte might him helpe naught,He must abide when that he was caught,By force, and eke by composition*. *the bargainWho sorroweth now but woful PalamonThat must no more go again to fight?And when that Theseus had seen that sightUnto the folk that foughte thus each one,He cried, Ho! no more, for it is done!I will be true judge, and not party.Arcite of Thebes shall have Emily,That by his fortune hath her fairly won.”Anon there is a noise of people gone,For joy of this, so loud and high withal,It seemed that the listes shoulde fall.
What can now faire Venus do above?What saith she now? what doth this queen of love?But weepeth so, for wanting of her will,Till that her teares in the listes fill* *fallShe said: “I am ashamed doubteless.”Saturnus saide: “Daughter, hold thy peace.Mars hath his will, his knight hath all his boon,And by mine head thou shalt be eased soon.”The trumpeters with the loud minstrelsy,The heralds, that full loude yell and cry,Be in their joy for weal of Dan* Arcite. *LordBut hearken me, and stinte noise a lite,What a miracle there befell anonThis fierce Arcite hath off his helm y-done,And on a courser for to shew his faceHe *pricketh endelong* the large place, *rides from end to end*Looking upward upon this Emily;And she again him cast a friendly eye(For women, as to speaken *in commune*, *generally*They follow all the favour of fortune),And was all his in cheer*, as his in heart. *countenanceOut of the ground a fire infernal start,From Pluto sent, at request of SaturnFor which his horse for fear began to turn,And leap aside, and founder* as he leap *stumbleAnd ere that Arcite may take any keep*, *careHe pight* him on the pummel** of his head. *pitched **topThat in the place he lay as he were dead.His breast to-bursten with his saddle-bow.As black he lay as any coal or crow,So was the blood y-run into his face.Anon he was y-borne out of the placeWith hearte sore, to Theseus’ palace.Then was he carven* out of his harness. *cutAnd in a bed y-brought full fair and blive* *quicklyFor he was yet in mem’ry and alive,And always crying after Emily.
Duke Theseus, with all his company,Is come home to Athens his city,With alle bliss and great solemnity.Albeit that this aventure was fall*, *befallenHe woulde not discomforte* them all *discourageThen said eke, that Arcite should not die,He should be healed of his malady.And of another thing they were as fain*. *gladThat of them alle was there no one slain,All* were they sorely hurt, and namely** one, *although **especiallyThat with a spear was thirled* his breast-bone. *piercedTo other woundes, and to broken arms,Some hadden salves, and some hadden charms:And pharmacies of herbs, and eke save* *sage, Salvia officinalisThey dranken, for they would their lives have.For which this noble Duke, as he well can,Comforteth and honoureth every man,And made revel all the longe night,Unto the strange lordes, as was right.Nor there was holden no discomforting,But as at jousts or at a tourneying;For soothly there was no discomfiture,For falling is not but an aventure*. *chance, accidentNor to be led by force unto a stakeUnyielding, and with twenty knights y-takeOne person all alone, withouten mo’,And harried* forth by armes, foot, and toe, *dragged, hurriedAnd eke his steede driven forth with staves,With footmen, bothe yeomen and eke knaves*, *servantsIt was *aretted him no villainy:* *counted no disgrace to him*There may no man *clepen it cowardy*. *call it cowardice*For which anon Duke Theseus *let cry*, — *caused to be proclaimed*To stenten* alle rancour and envy, — *stopThe gree* as well on one side as the other, *prize, meritAnd either side alike as other’s brother:And gave them giftes after their degree,And held a feaste fully dayes three:And conveyed the kinges worthilyOut of his town a journee* largely *day’s journeyAnd home went every man the righte way,There was no more but “Farewell, Have good day.”Of this bataille I will no more inditeBut speak of Palamon and of Arcite.
Swelleth the breast of Arcite and the soreIncreaseth at his hearte more and more.The clotted blood, for any leache-craft* *surgical skillCorrupteth and is *in his bouk y-laft* *left in his body*That neither *veine blood nor ventousing*, *blood-letting or cupping*Nor drink of herbes may be his helping.The virtue expulsive or animal,From thilke virtue called natural,Nor may the venom voide, nor expelThe pipes of his lungs began to swellAnd every lacert* in his breast adown *sinew, muscleIs shent* with venom and corruption. *destroyedHim gaineth* neither, for to get his life, *availethVomit upward, nor downward laxative;All is to-bursten thilke region;Nature hath now no domination.And certainly where nature will not wirch,* *workFarewell physic: go bear the man to chirch.* *churchThis all and some is, Arcite must die.For which he sendeth after Emily,And Palamon, that was his cousin dear,Then said he thus, as ye shall after hear.
“Nought may the woful spirit in mine heartDeclare one point of all my sorrows’ smartTo you, my lady, that I love the most:But I bequeath the service of my ghostTo you aboven every creature,Since that my life ne may no longer dure.Alas the woe! alas, the paines strongThat I for you have suffered and so long!Alas the death, alas, mine Emily!Alas departing* of our company! *the severanceAlas, mine hearte’s queen! alas, my wife!Mine hearte’s lady, ender of my life!What is this world? what aske men to have?Now with his love, now in his colde graveAl one, withouten any company.Farewell, my sweet, farewell, mine Emily,And softly take me in your armes tway,For love of God, and hearken what I say.I have here with my cousin PalamonHad strife and rancour many a day agone,For love of you, and for my jealousy.And Jupiter so *wis my soule gie*, *surely guides my soul*To speaken of a servant properly,With alle circumstances truely,That is to say, truth, honour, and knighthead,Wisdom, humbless*, estate, and high kindred, *humilityFreedom, and all that longeth to that art,So Jupiter have of my soul part,As in this world right now I know not one,So worthy to be lov’d as Palamon,That serveth you, and will do all his life.And if that you shall ever be a wife,Forget not Palamon, the gentle man.”
And with that word his speech to fail began.For from his feet up to his breast was comeThe cold of death, that had him overnome*. *overcomeAnd yet moreover in his armes twoThe vital strength is lost, and all ago*. *goneOnly the intellect, withoute more,That dwelled in his hearte sick and sore,Gan faile, when the hearte felte death;Dusked* his eyen two, and fail’d his breath. *grew dimBut on his lady yet he cast his eye;His laste word was; “Mercy, Emily!”His spirit changed house, and wente there,As I came never I cannot telle where.<84>Therefore I stent*, I am no divinister**; *refrain **divinerOf soules find I nought in this register.Ne me list not th’ opinions to tellOf them, though that they writen where they dwell;Arcite is cold, there Mars his soule gie.* *guideNow will I speake forth of Emily.
Shriek’d Emily, and howled Palamon,And Theseus his sister took anonSwooning, and bare her from the corpse away.What helpeth it to tarry forth the day,To telle how she wept both eve and morrow?For in such cases women have such sorrow,When that their husbands be from them y-go*, *goneThat for the more part they sorrow so,Or elles fall into such malady,That at the laste certainly they die.Infinite be the sorrows and the tearsOf olde folk, and folk of tender years,In all the town, for death of this Theban:For him there weepeth bothe child and man.So great a weeping was there none certain,When Hector was y-brought, all fresh y-slain,To Troy: alas! the pity that was there,Scratching of cheeks, and rending eke of hair.“Why wouldest thou be dead?” these women cry,“And haddest gold enough, and Emily.”No manner man might gladden Theseus,Saving his olde father Egeus,That knew this worlde’s transmutatioun,As he had seen it changen up and down,Joy after woe, and woe after gladness;And shewed him example and likeness.“Right as there died never man,” quoth he,“That he ne liv’d in earth in some degree*, *rank, conditionRight so there lived never man,” he said,“In all this world, that sometime be not died.This world is but a throughfare full of woe,And we be pilgrims, passing to and fro:Death is an end of every worldly sore.”And over all this said he yet much moreTo this effect, full wisely to exhortThe people, that they should them recomfort.Duke Theseus, with all his busy cure*, *care*Casteth about*, where that the sepulture *deliberates*Of good Arcite may best y-maked be,And eke most honourable in his degree.And at the last he took conclusion,That there as first Arcite and PalamonHadde for love the battle them between,That in that selve* grove, sweet and green, *self-sameThere as he had his amorous desires,His complaint, and for love his hote fires,He woulde make a fire*, in which th’ office *funeral pyreOf funeral he might all accomplice;And *let anon command* to hack and hew *immediately gave orders*The oakes old, and lay them *on a rew* *in a row*In culpons*, well arrayed for to brenne**. *logs **burnHis officers with swifte feet they renne* *runAnd ride anon at his commandement.And after this, Duke Theseus hath sentAfter a bier, and it all overspradWith cloth of gold, the richest that he had;And of the same suit he clad Arcite.Upon his handes were his gloves white,Eke on his head a crown of laurel green,And in his hand a sword full bright and keen.He laid him *bare the visage* on the bier, *with face uncovered*Therewith he wept, that pity was to hear.And, for the people shoulde see him all,When it was day he brought them to the hall,That roareth of the crying and the soun’.Then came this woful Theban, Palamon,With sluttery beard, and ruggy ashy hairs,<85>In clothes black, y-dropped all with tears,And (passing over weeping Emily)The ruefullest of all the company.And *inasmuch as* the service should be *in order that*The more noble and rich in its degree,Duke Theseus let forth three steedes bring,That trapped were in steel all glittering.And covered with the arms of Dan Arcite.Upon these steedes, that were great and white,There satte folk, of whom one bare his shield,Another his spear in his handes held;The thirde bare with him his bow Turkeis*, *Turkish.Of brent* gold was the case** and the harness: *burnished **quiverAnd ride forth *a pace* with sorrowful cheer** *at a foot pace*Toward the grove, as ye shall after hear. **expression
The noblest of the Greekes that there wereUpon their shoulders carried the bier,With slacke pace, and eyen red and wet,Throughout the city, by the master* street, *main <86>That spread was all with black, and wondrous highRight of the same is all the street y-wrie.* *covered <87>Upon the right hand went old Egeus,And on the other side Duke Theseus,With vessels in their hand of gold full fine,All full of honey, milk, and blood, and wine;Eke Palamon, with a great company;And after that came woful Emily,With fire in hand, as was that time the guise*, *customTo do th’ office of funeral service.
High labour, and full great appareling* *preparationWas at the service, and the pyre-making,That with its greene top the heaven raught*, *reachedAnd twenty fathom broad its armes straught*: *stretchedThis is to say, the boughes were so broad.Of straw first there was laid many a load.But how the pyre was maked up on height,And eke the names how the trees hight*, *were calledAs oak, fir, birch, asp*, alder, holm, poplere, *aspenWillow, elm, plane, ash, box, chestnut, lind*, laurere, *linden, limeMaple, thorn, beech, hazel, yew, whipul tree,How they were fell’d, shall not be told for me;Nor how the goddes* rannen up and down *the forest deitiesDisinherited of their habitatioun,In which they wonned* had in rest and peace, *dweltNymphes, Faunes, and Hamadryades;Nor how the beastes and the birdes allFledden for feare, when the wood gan fall;Nor how the ground aghast* was of the light, *terrifiedThat was not wont to see the sunne bright;Nor how the fire was couched* first with stre**, *laid **strawAnd then with dry stickes cloven in three,And then with greene wood and spicery*, *spicesAnd then with cloth of gold and with pierrie*, *precious stonesAnd garlands hanging with full many a flower,The myrrh, the incense with so sweet odour;Nor how Arcita lay among all this,Nor what richess about his body is;Nor how that Emily, as was the guise*, *custom*Put in the fire* of funeral service<88>; *appplied the torch*Nor how she swooned when she made the fire,Nor what she spake, nor what was her desire;Nor what jewels men in the fire then castWhen that the fire was great and burned fast;
Nor how some cast their shield, and some their spear,And of their vestiments, which that they wear,And cuppes full of wine, and milk, and blood,Into the fire, that burnt as it were wood*; *madNor how the Greekes with a huge rout* *processionThree times riden all the fire about <89>Upon the left hand, with a loud shouting,And thries with their speares clattering;And thries how the ladies gan to cry;Nor how that led was homeward Emily;Nor how Arcite is burnt to ashes cold;Nor how the lyke-wake* was y-hold *wake <90>All thilke* night, nor how the Greekes play *thatThe wake-plays*, ne keep** I not to say: *funeral games **careWho wrestled best naked, with oil anoint,Nor who that bare him best *in no disjoint*. *in any contest*I will not tell eke how they all are goneHome to Athenes when the play is done;But shortly to the point now will I wend*, *comeAnd maken of my longe tale an end.
By process and by length of certain yearsAll stinted* is the mourning and the tears *endedOf Greekes, by one general assent.Then seemed me there was a parlementAt Athens, upon certain points and cas*: *casesAmonge the which points y-spoken wasTo have with certain countries alliance,And have of Thebans full obeisance.For which this noble Theseus anonLet* send after the gentle Palamon, *causedUnwist* of him what was the cause and why: *unknownBut in his blacke clothes sorrowfullyHe came at his commandment *on hie*; *in haste*Then sente Theseus for Emily.When they were set*, and hush’d was all the place *seatedAnd Theseus abided* had a space *waitedEre any word came from his wise breast*His eyen set he there as was his lest*, *he cast his eyesAnd with a sad visage he sighed still, wherever he pleased*And after that right thus he said his will.“The firste mover of the cause aboveWhen he first made the faire chain of love,Great was th’ effect, and high was his intent;Well wist he why, and what thereof he meant:For with that faire chain of love he bond* *boundThe fire, the air, the water, and the londIn certain bondes, that they may not flee:<91>That same prince and mover eke,” quoth he,“Hath stablish’d, in this wretched world adown,Certain of dayes and durationTo all that are engender’d in this place,Over the whiche day they may not pace*, *passAll may they yet their dayes well abridge.There needeth no authority to allegeFor it is proved by experience;But that me list declare my sentence*. *opinionThen may men by this order well discern,That thilke* mover stable is and etern. *the sameWell may men know, but that it be a fool,That every part deriveth from its whole.For nature hath not ta’en its beginningOf no *partie nor cantle* of a thing, *part or piece*But of a thing that perfect is and stable,Descending so, till it be corruptable.And therefore of His wise purveyance* *providenceHe hath so well beset* his ordinance,That species of things and progressionsShallen endure by successions,And not etern, withouten any lie:This mayst thou understand and see at eye.Lo th’ oak, that hath so long a nourishingFrom the time that it ’ginneth first to spring,And hath so long a life, as ye may see,Yet at the last y-wasted is the tree.Consider eke, how that the harde stoneUnder our feet, on which we tread and gon*, *walkYet wasteth, as it lieth by the way.The broade river some time waxeth drey*. *dryThe greate townes see we wane and wend*. *go, disappearThen may ye see that all things have an end.Of man and woman see we well also, —That needes in one of the termes two, —That is to say, in youth or else in age,-He must be dead, the king as shall a page;Some in his bed, some in the deepe sea,Some in the large field, as ye may see:There helpeth nought, all go that ilke* way: *sameThen may I say that alle thing must die.What maketh this but Jupiter the king?The which is prince, and cause of alle thing,Converting all unto his proper will,From which it is derived, sooth to tellAnd hereagainst no creature alive,Of no degree, availeth for to strive.Then is it wisdom, as it thinketh me,To make a virtue of necessity,And take it well, that we may not eschew*, *escapeAnd namely what to us all is due.And whoso grudgeth* ought, he doth folly, *murmurs atAnd rebel is to him that all may gie*. *direct, guideAnd certainly a man hath most honourTo dien in his excellence and flower,When he is sicker* of his goode name. *certainThen hath he done his friend, nor him*, no shame *himselfAnd gladder ought his friend be of his death,When with honour is yielded up his breath,Than when his name *appalled is for age*; *decayed by old age*For all forgotten is his vassalage*. *valour, serviceThen is it best, as for a worthy fame,To dien when a man is best of name.The contrary of all this is wilfulness.Why grudge we, why have we heaviness,That good Arcite, of chivalry the flower,Departed is, with duty and honour,Out of this foule prison of this life?Why grudge here his cousin and his wifeOf his welfare, that loved him so well?Can he them thank? nay, God wot, neverdeal*, — *not a jotThat both his soul and eke themselves offend*, *hurtAnd yet they may their lustes* not amend**. *desires **controlWhat may I conclude of this longe serie*, *string of remarksBut after sorrow I rede* us to be merry, *counselAnd thanke Jupiter for all his grace?And ere that we departe from this place,I rede that we make of sorrows twoOne perfect joye lasting evermo’:And look now where most sorrow is herein,There will I first amenden and begin.“Sister,” quoth he, “this is my full assent,With all th’ advice here of my parlement,That gentle Palamon, your owen knight,That serveth you with will, and heart, and might,And ever hath, since first time ye him knew,That ye shall of your grace upon him rue*, *take pityAnd take him for your husband and your lord:Lend me your hand, for this is our accord.*Let see* now of your womanly pity. *make display*He is a kinge’s brother’s son, pardie*. *by GodAnd though he were a poore bachelere,Since he hath served you so many a year,And had for you so great adversity,It muste be considered, *’lieveth me*. *believe me*For gentle mercy *oweth to passen right*.” *ought to be rightlyThen said he thus to Palamon the knight; directed*“I trow there needeth little sermoningTo make you assente to this thing.Come near, and take your lady by the hand.”Betwixte them was made anon the band,That hight matrimony or marriage,By all the counsel of the baronage.And thus with alle bliss and melodyHath Palamon y-wedded Emily.And God, that all this wide world hath wrought,Send him his love, that hath it dearly bought.For now is Palamon in all his weal,Living in bliss, in riches, and in heal*. *healthAnd Emily him loves so tenderly,And he her serveth all so gentilly,That never was there worde them betweenOf jealousy, nor of none other teen*. *cause of angerThus endeth Palamon and EmilyAnd God save all this faire company.
Notes to The Knight’s Tale.
1. For the plan and principal incidents of the “Knight’s Tale,” Chaucer was indebted to Boccaccio, who had himself borrowed from some prior poet, chronicler, or romancer. Boccaccio speaks of the story as “very ancient;” and, though that may not be proof of its antiquity, it certainly shows that he took it from an earlier writer. The “Tale” is more or less a paraphrase of Boccaccio’s “Theseida;” but in some points the copy has a distinct dramatic superiority over the original. The “Theseida” contained ten thousand lines; Chaucer has condensed it into less than one-fourth of the number. The “Knight’s Tale” is supposed to have been at first composed as a separate work; it is undetermined whether Chaucer took it direct from the Italian of Boccaccio, or from a French translation.
2. Highte: was called; from the Anglo-Saxon “hatan”, to bid or call; German, “Heissen”, “heisst”.
3. Feminie: The “Royaume des Femmes” — kingdom of the Amazons. Gower, in the “Confessio Amantis,” styles Penthesilea the “Queen of Feminie.”
4. Wonnen: Won, conquered; German “gewonnen.”
5. Ear: To plough; Latin, “arare.” “I have abundant matter for discourse.” The first, and half of the second, of Boccaccio’s twelve books are disposed of in the few lines foregoing.
6. Waimenting: bewailing; German, “wehklagen”
7. Starf: died; German, “sterben,” “starb”.
8. The Minotaur: The monster, half-man and half-bull, which yearly devoured a tribute of fourteen Athenian youths and maidens, until it was slain by Theseus.
9. Pillers: pillagers, strippers; French, “pilleurs.”
10. The donjon was originally the central tower or “keep” of feudal castles; it was employed to detain prisoners of importance. Hence the modern meaning of the word dungeon.
11. Saturn, in the old astrology, was a most unpropitious star to be born under.
12. To die in the pain was a proverbial expression in the French, used as an alternative to enforce a resolution or a promise. Edward III., according to Froissart, declared that he would either succeed in the war against France or die in the pain — “Ou il mourroit en la peine.” It was the fashion in those times to swear oaths of friendship and brotherhood; and hence, though the fashion has long died out, we still speak of “sworn friends.”
13. The saying of the old scholar Boethius, in his treatise “De Consolatione Philosophiae”, which Chaucer translated, and from which he has freely borrowed in his poetry. The words are “Quis legem det amantibus? Major lex amor est sibi.” (“Who can give law to lovers? Love is a law unto himself, and greater”)
14. “Perithous” and “Theseus” must, for the metre, be pronounced as words of four and three syllables respectively — the vowels at the end not being diphthongated, but enunciated separately, as if the words were printed Pe-ri-tho-us, The-se-us. The same rule applies in such words as “creature” and “conscience,” which are trisyllables.
15. Stound: moment, short space of time; from Anglo-Saxon, “stund;” akin to which is German, “Stunde,” an hour.
16. Meinie: servants, or menials, &c., dwelling together in a house; from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a crowd. Compare German, “Menge,” multitude.
17. The pure fetters: the very fetters. The Greeks used “katharos”, the Romans “purus,” in the same sense.
18. In the medieval courts of Love, to which allusion is probably made forty lines before, in the word “parlement,” or “parliament,” questions like that here proposed were seriously discussed.
19. Gear: behaviour, fashion, dress; but, by another reading, the word is “gyre,” and means fit, trance — from the Latin, “gyro,” I turn round.
20. Before his head in his cell fantastic: in front of his head in his cell of fantasy. “The division of the brain into cells, according to the different sensitive faculties,” says Mr Wright, “is very ancient, and is found depicted in mediaeval manuscripts.” In a manuscript in the Harleian Library, it is stated, “Certum est in prora cerebri esse fantasiam, in medio rationem discretionis, in puppi memoriam” (it is certain that in the front of the brain is imagination, in the middle reason, in the back memory) — a classification not materially differing from that of modern phrenologists.
21. Dan: Lord; Latin, “Dominus;” Spanish, “Don.”
22. The “caduceus.”
23. Argus was employed by Juno to watch Io with his hundred eyes but he was sent to sleep by the flute of Mercury, who then cut off his head.
24. Next: nearest; German, “naechste”.
25. Clary: hippocras, wine made with spices.
26. Warray: make war; French “guerroyer”, to molest; hence, perhaps, “to worry.”
27. All day meeten men at unset steven: every day men meet at unexpected time. “To set a steven,” is to fix a time, make an appointment.
28. Roundelay: song coming round again to the words with which it opened.
29. Now in the crop and now down in the breres: Now in the tree-top, now down in the briars. “Crop and root,” top and bottom, is used to express the perfection or totality of anything.
30. Beknow: avow, acknowledge: German, “bekennen.”
31. Shapen was my death erst than my shert: My death was decreed before my shirt ws shaped — that is, before any clothes were made for me, before my birth.
32. Regne: Queen; French, “Reine;” Venus is meant. The common reading, however, is “regne,” reign or power.
33. Launde: plain. Compare modern English, “lawn,” and French, “Landes” — flat, bare marshy tracts in the south of France.
34. Mister: manner, kind; German “muster,” sample, model.
35. In listes: in the lists, prepared for such single combats between champion and accuser, &c.
36. Thilke: that, contracted from “the ilke,” the same.
37. Mars the Red: referring to the ruddy colour of the planet, to which was doubtless due the transference to it of the name of the God of War. In his “Republic,” enumerating the seven planets, Cicero speaks of the propitious and beneficent light of Jupiter: “Tum (fulgor) rutilis horribilisque terris, quem Martium dicitis” — “Then the red glow, horrible to the nations, which you say to be that of Mars.” Boccaccio opens the “Theseida” by an invocation to “rubicondo Marte.”
38. Last: lace, leash, noose, snare: from Latin, “laceus.”
39. “Round was the shape, in manner of compass, Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas” The building was a circle of steps or benches, as in the ancient amphitheatre. Either the building was sixty paces high; or, more probably, there were sixty of the steps or benches.
40. Yellow goldes: The sunflower, turnsol, or girasol, which turns with and seems to watch the sun, as a jealous lover his mistress.
41. Citheron: The Isle of Venus, Cythera, in the Aegean Sea; now called Cerigo: not, as Chaucer’s form of the word might imply, Mount Cithaeron, in the south-west of Boetia, which was appropriated to other deities than Venus — to Jupiter, to Bacchus, and the Muses.
42. It need not be said that Chaucer pays slight heed to chronology in this passage, where the deeds of Turnus, the glory of King Solomon, and the fate of Croesus are made memories of the far past in the time of fabulous Theseus, the Minotaur-slayer.
43. Champartie: divided power or possession; an old law-term, signifying the maintenance of a person in a law suit on the condition of receiving part of the property in dispute, if recovered.
44. Citole: a kind of dulcimer.
45. The picke-purse: The plunderers that followed armies, and gave to war a horror all their own.
46. Shepen: stable; Anglo-Saxon, “scypen;” the word “sheppon” still survives in provincial parlance.
47. This line, perhaps, refers to the deed of Jael.
48. The shippes hoppesteres: The meaning is dubious. We may understand “the dancing ships,” “the ships that hop” on the waves; “steres” being taken as the feminine adjectival termination: or we may, perhaps, read, with one of the manuscripts, “the ships upon the steres” — that is, even as they are being steered, or on the open sea — a more picturesque notion.
49. Freting: devouring; the Germans use “Fressen” to mean eating by animals, “essen” by men.
50. Julius: i.e. Julius Caesar
51. Puella and Rubeus were two figures in geomancy, representing two constellations-the one signifying Mars retrograde, the other Mars direct.
52. Calistope: or Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, seduced by Jupiter, turned into a bear by Diana, and placed afterwards, with her son, as the Great Bear among the stars.
53. Dane: Daphne, daughter of the river-god Peneus, in Thessaly; she was beloved by Apollo, but to avoid his pursuit, she was, at her own prayer, changed into a laurel-tree.
54. As the goddess of Light, or the goddess who brings to light, Diana — as well as Juno — was invoked by women in childbirth: so Horace, Odes iii. 22, says:—
“Montium custos nemorumque, Virgo,Quae laborantes utero puellasTer vocata audis adimisque leto,Diva triformis.”
(“Virgin custodian of hills and groves, three-formed goddess who hears and saves from death young women who call upon her thrice when in childbirth”)
55. Every deal: in every part; “deal” corresponds to the German “Theil” a portion.
56. Sikerly: surely; German, “sicher;” Scotch, “sikkar,” certain. When Robert Bruce had escaped from England to assume the Scottish crown, he stabbed Comyn before the altar at Dumfries; and, emerging from the church, was asked by his friend Kirkpatrick if he had slain the traitor. “I doubt it,” said Bruce. “Doubt,” cried Kirkpatrick. “I’ll mak sikkar;” and he rushed into the church, and despatched Comyn with repeated thrusts of his dagger.
57. Kemped: combed; the word survives in “unkempt.”
58. Alauns: greyhounds, mastiffs; from the Spanish word “Alano,” signifying a mastiff.
59. Y-ment: mixed; German, “mengen,” to mix.
60. Prime: The time of early prayers, between six and nine in the morning.
61. On the dais: see note 32 to the Prologue.
62. In her hour: in the hour of the day (two hours before daybreak) which after the astrological system that divided the twenty-four among the seven ruling planets, was under the influence of Venus.
63. Adon: Adonis, a beautiful youth beloved of Venus, whose death by the tusk of a boar she deeply mourned.
64. The third hour unequal: In the third planetary hour; Palamon had gone forth in the hour of Venus, two hours before daybreak; the hour of Mercury intervened; the third hour was that of Luna, or Diana. “Unequal” refers to the astrological division of day and night, whatever their duration, into twelve parts, which of necessity varied in length with the season.
65. Smoking: draping; hence the word “smock;” “smokless,” in Chaucer, means naked.
66. Cerrial: of the species of oak which Pliny, in his “Natural History,” calls “cerrus.”
67. Stace of Thebes: Statius, the Roman who embodied in the twelve books of his “Thebaid” the ancient legends connected with the war of the seven against Thebes.
68. Diana was Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and Hecate in hell; hence the direction of the eyes of her statue to “Pluto’s dark region.” Her statue was set up where three ways met, so that with a different face she looked down each of the three; from which she was called Trivia. See the quotation from Horace, note 54.
69. Las: net; the invisible toils in which Hephaestus caught Ares and the faithless Aphrodite, and exposed them to the “inextinguishable laughter” of Olympus.
70. Saturnus the cold: Here, as in “Mars the Red” we have the person of the deity endowed with the supposed quality of the planet called after his name.
71. The astrologers ascribed great power to Saturn, and predicted “much debate” under his ascendancy; hence it was “against his kind” to compose the heavenly strife.
72. Ayel: grandfather; French “Aieul”.
73. Testers: Helmets; from the French “teste”, “tete”, head.
74. Parements: ornamental garb, French “parer” to deck.
75. Gniding: Rubbing, polishing; Anglo-Saxon “gnidan”, to rub.
76. Nakeres: Drums, used in the cavalry; Boccaccio’s word is “nachere”.
77. Made an O: Ho! Ho! to command attention; like “oyez”, the call for silence in law-courts or before proclamations.
78. Sarge: serge, a coarse woollen cloth
79. Heart-spoon: The concave part of the breast, where the lower ribs join the cartilago ensiformis.
80. To-hewen and to-shred: “to” before a verb implies extraordinary violence in the action denoted.
81. He through the thickest of the throng etc.. “He” in this passage refers impersonally to any of the combatants.
82. Galaphay: Galapha, in Mauritania.
83. Belmarie is supposed to have been a Moorish state in Africa; but “Palmyrie” has been suggested as the correct reading.
84. As I came never I cannot telle where: Where it went I cannot tell you, as I was not there. Tyrwhitt thinks that Chaucer is sneering at Boccacio’s pompous account of the passage of Arcite’s soul to heaven. Up to this point, the description of the death-scene is taken literally from the “Theseida.”
85. With sluttery beard, and ruggy ashy hairs: With neglected beard, and rough hair strewn with ashes. “Flotery” is the general reading; but “sluttery” seems to be more in keeping with the picture of abandonment to grief.
86. Master street: main street; so Froissart speaks of “le souverain carrefour.”
87. Y-wrie: covered, hid; Anglo-Saxon, “wrigan,” to veil.
88. Emily applied the funeral torch. The “guise” was, among the ancients, for the nearest relative of the deceased to do this, with averted face.
89. It was the custom for soldiers to march thrice around the funeral pile of an emperor or general; “on the left hand” is added, in reference to the belief that the left hand was propitious — the Roman augur turning his face southward, and so placing on his left hand the east, whence good omens came. With the Greeks, however, their augurs facing the north, it was just the contrary. The confusion, frequent in classical writers, is complicated here by the fact that Chaucer’s description of the funeral of Arcite is taken from Statius’ “Thebaid” — from a Roman’s account of a Greek solemnity.
90. Lyke-wake: watching by the remains of the dead; from Anglo-Saxon, “lice,” a corpse; German, “Leichnam.”
91. Chaucer here borrows from Boethius, who says: “Hanc rerum seriem ligat, Terras ac pelagus regens, Et coelo imperitans, amor.” (Love ties these things together: the earth, and the ruling sea, and the imperial heavens)