And leten him in his prifon ftill dwelle,
And of Arcita forth I wol you telle.

The fommer paffeth, and the nightes long
Encrefen double wife the peines ftrong
Both of the lover and of the prisoner;
I n'et which hath the wofuller mistere
For fhortly for to fay, this Palamon
Perpetuelly is damned to prison,

In chaines and in fetters to ben ded;
And Arcite is exiled on his hed
For evermore as out of that contree,
Ne never more he fhal his lady fee.

You lovers axe I now this question,
Who hath the werse, Arcite or Palamon?
That on my fe his lady day by day,
But in prifon mofte he dwellen alway:
That other wher him luft may ride or go,
But fen his lady fhal he never mo.
Now demeth as you lifte, ye that can,
For I wil tell you forth as I began.

When that Arcite to Thebes comen was,
Ful oft a day he fwelt and faid Alas!
For fen his lady fhal he never mo.
And shortly to concluden all his wo,
So mochel forwe hadde never creature
That is or fhal be while the world may dure.
His flepe, his mete, his drinke, is him byraft,
That lene he wex, and drie as is a fhaft.
His eyen holwe, and grifly to behold,
His hewe falwe, and pale as afhen cold,
And folitary he was, and ever alone,
And wailing all the night, making his mone:
And if he herde fong or inftrument,
Than would he wepe, he might not be ftent.
So feble were his fpirites, and fo low,
And changed so, that no man coude know
His fpeche ne his vois, though men it herd.
And in his gere, for all the world he ferd
Nought only like the lovers maladie,
Of Ereos, but rather ylike manie,
Engendred of humours melancolike,
Beforne his hed in his celle fantastike.
And shortly turned was all up fo doun
Both habit and eke difpofitioun
Of him, this woful lover Dan Arcite,
What fhuld I all day of his wo endite?

Whan he endured had a yere or two
This cruel torment, and this peine and wo,
At Thebes, in his contree, as I faid,
Upon a night in flepe as he him laid,
Him thought how that the winged god Mercury
Beforne him stood, and bad him to be mery.
His flepy yerde in hond he bare upright ;
An hat he wered upon his heres bright:
Arraied was this god (as he toke kepe)
As he was whan that Argus toke his flepe,
And faid him thus; To Athenes fhalt thou wende;
Ther is thee fhapen of thy wo an ende.

And with that word Arcite awoke and stert.
Now trewely how fore that ever me fmert.
Quod he, to Athenes right now wol I fare;
Ne for no drede of deth fhall I not fpare
To fe my lady, that I love and ferve;
In hire prefence I rekke not to ferve. -

And with that word he caught a gret mirrour,
And faw that changed was all his colour,
And faw his visage all in another kind:
And right anon it ran him in his mind,
That fith his face was fo disfigured
Of maladie the which he had endured,
He mighte wel, if that he bare him lowe,
Live in Athenes evermore unknowe,
And fen his lady wel nigh day by day.
And right anon he changed his aray,
And clad him as a poure labourer.
And all alone, fave only a fquier,
That knew his privite and all his cas,
Which was disguised pourely as he was,
To Athenes is he gone the nexte way.
And to the court he went upon a day,
And at the gate he proffered his service,
To drugge and draw what fo men wold devife.
And fhortly of this matere for to sayn,
He fell in office with a chamberlain,
The which that dwelling was with Emelie,
For he was wife, and coude fone efpie
Of every fervent which that ferved hire:
Wel coude he hewen wood, and water bere,
For he was yonge and mighty for the nones,
And therto he was ftrong and big of bones
To don that any wight can him devife.

A yere or two he was in this fervice,
Page of the chambre of Emelie the bright,
And Philostrate he fayde that he hight.
But half fo wel beloved a man as he
Ne was ther never in court of his degre.
He was fo gentil of conditioun,

That thurghout all the court was his renoun.
They fayden that it were a charite
That Thefeus wold enhaunse his degre,
And putten him in worshipful fervice,
Ther as he might his vertues exercise.
And thus within a while his name is fpronge
Both of his dedes and of his good tonge,
That Thefeus had taken him so ner
That of his chambre he made him a squier,
And gave him gold to mainteine his degre;
And eke men brought him out of his contre
Fro yere to yere ful prively his rent;
But honestly and fleighly he it spent,
That no man wondred how that he it hadde.
And thre yere in this wife his lif he ladde,
And bare him fo in pees and eke in werre
Ther n'as no man that Thefeus hath derre.
And in this bliffe let I now Arcite,
And speke I wol of Palamon a lite.

In derkeneffe and horrible and strong prifon
This seven yere hath fitten Palamon,
Forpined, what for love and for diftreffe.
Who feleth double forwe and hevineffe
But Palamon? that love diftraineth fo,
That wood out of his wit he goth for wo,
And eke therto he is a prifonere
Perpetuell, not only for a yere.

Who coude time in English proprely
His martirdom? forfoth it am not I,
Therfore I paffe as lightly as I may.
It full that in the feventh yere, in May

The thridde night, (as olde bokes fayn,
That all this ftorie tellen more plain)
Were it by aventure or destinee,
(As when a thing is shapen it shal be)
That fone after the midnight Palamon,
By helping of a frend, brake his prison,
And fleeth the cite fafte as he may go,
For he had yeven drinke his gayler fo,
Of a clarre made of a certain wine,

With narcotikes and opie of Thebes fine, [shake,
That all the night though that men wold him
The gailer flept, he mighte not awake:
And thus he fleeth as fafte as ever he may.

The night was short, and faste by the day,
That nedes coft he moste himselven hide;
And to a grove faste ther befide
With dredful foot than ftalketh Palamon:
For fhortly this was his opinion,
That in that grove he wold him hide all day,
And in the night than wold he take his way
To Thebes ward, his frendes for to preie
On Thefeus to helpen him werreie:
And shortly, eyther he wold lefe his lif
Or winnen Emelie unto his wif.
This is the effect, and his entente plein.
Now wol I turnen to Arcite agein,
That litel wift how neighe was his care,
Till that Fortune had brought him in the fnare.
The befy larke, the meffager of day,
Salewith in hire fong the morwe gray,
And firy Phebus rifeth up fo bright,
That all the orient laugheth of the fight,
And with his ftremes drieth in the greves
The filver dropes hanging on the leves.
And Arcite, that is in the court real
With Thefeus the squier principal,
Is rifen, and loketh on the mery day;
And for to don his obfervance to May,
Remembring on the point of his defire,
He on his courfer, fterting as the fire,
Is ridden to the feldes him to pley,
Out of the court, were it a mile or twey;
And to the grove of which that I you told
By aventure his way he gan to hold,
To maken him a gerlond of the greves,
Were it of woodbind or of hauthorn leves,
And loud he fong agen the fonne shene.

Maye, with all thy flours and thy grene,
Right welcome be thou faire freshe May,
I hope that I fome grene here getten may.
And from his courfer with a lufty herte
Into the grove ful haftily he fterte,
And in a path he romed up and doun,
Ther as by aventure this Palamon
Was in a bufh, that no man might him fe,
For fore afered of his deth was he.
Nothing ne knew he that it was Arcite :
God wot he wold have trowed it ful lite.
But foth is faid, gon fithen are many yeres,
'That feld hath eyen, and the wood hath eres,
It is ful faire a man to bere him even
For al day meten men at unset steven.
Ful litel wote Arcite of his felaw,
That was fo neigh to herken of his saw,

For in the bufh he fitteth now ful still
Whan that Arcite had romed all his fill,
And fongen all the roundel luftily,
Into a studie he fell fodenly,

As don thefe lovers in hir queinte geres,
Now in the crop, and now down in the breres
Now up, now doun, as boket in a well.
Right as the Friday, fothly for to tell,
Now fhineth it, and now it raineth faft;
Right fo can gery Venus overcast
The hertes of hire folk, right as hire day
Is gerfull, right so changeth fhe aray.
Selde is the Friday all the weke ylike.

Whan Arcite hadde yfonge, he gan to fike
And fet him doun withouten any more;
Alas! (quod he) the day that I was bore!
How longe, Juno, thurgh thy crueltee
Wilt thou werreien Thebes the citee?
Alas! ybrought is to confufion

The blood real of Cadme and Amphion:
Of Cadmus, which that was the firfte man
That Thebes built, or firfte the toun began,
And of the citee firfte was crouned king,
Of his linage am I, and his ofspring
By veray line, as of the ftok real;
And now I am so caitif and fo thral,
That he that is my mortal enemy

I serve him as his fquier pourely.
And yet doth Juno me wel more shame,
For I dare not beknowe min owen name,
But ther as I was wont to highte Arcite,
Now highte I Ahiloftrat not worth a mite,
Alas! thou fell Mars, alas! thou Juno,
Thus hath your ire our linage all fordo,
Save only me and wretched Palamon,
That Thefeus martireth in prison.
And over all this, to flen me utterly,
Love hath his firy dart fo brenningly
Yitiked thurgh my trewe careful hert,
That fhapen was my deth erft than my shert.
Ye flen me with your eyen Emelie ;
Ye ben the cause wherfore that I die.
Of all the remenant of min other care
Ne fet I not the mountance of a tare,
So that I coud don ought to your pleance.

And with that word he fell doun in a trance
A longe time, and afterward up sterte.
This Palamon, that thought thurghout his herte ·
He felt a colde fwerd fodenly glide;
For ire he quoke, no lenger wolde he hide:
And whan that he had herd Arcites tale,
As he were wood, with face ded and pale,
He fterte him up out of the bushes thikke
And fayde; Falfe Arcite, falfe traitour wicke,
Now art thou hent, that loveft my lady fo,
For whom that I have all this peine and wo,
And art my blood, and to my confeil fworn,
As I ful oft have told thee herebeforn,
And haft beiaped here Duk Thefeus,
And falfely changed haft thy name thus;
I wol be ded, or elles thou shalt die :
Thou shalt not love my lady Emelie,
But I wol love hire only and no mo,
For I am Palamon thy mortal fo.

And though that I no wepen have in this place,
But out of prifon am aftert by grace,
I drede nought that eyther thou shalt die
Or thou ne halt nat loven Emelie :

Chefe which thou wolt, for thou shalt not afterte.
This Arcite, tho with ful difpitous herte,
Whan he him knew, and had his tale herd,
As fers as a leon pulled out a fwerd,
And fayde thus; By God that fitteth above,
N'ere it that thou art fike and wood for love,
And eke that thou no wepen haft in this place,
Thou fhuldest never out of this grove pace,
That thou ne fhuldeft dien of min hond;
For I defie the furetee and the bond

Which that thou faift that I have made to thee.
What! veray fool, thinke wel that love is free,
And I wol love hire maugre all thy might.
But for thou art a worthy gentil knight,
And wilneft to darraine hire by bataille,
Have here my trouth, to morwe I will not faille,
Withouten weting of any other wight,
That here I wol be founden as a knight,
And bringen harneis right ynough for thee,
And chefe the beste, and leve the werfte for me.
And mete and drinke this night wol I bring
Ynough for thee, and cloathes for thy bedding;
And if fo be that thou my lady win,
And fle me in this wode, ther I am in,
Thou maift wel have thy lady as for me.

This Palamon anfwered, I grant it thee: And thus they ben departed till a morwe. When eche of hem hath laid his faith to borwe. O Cupide! out of alle charitee,

O regne! that wolt no felaw have with thee,
Ful foth is fayde, that love ne lordship
Wol nat his thankes have no felawship.
Wel finden that Arcite and Palamon.

Arcite is ridden anone unto the toun,
And on the morwe, or it were day light,
Ful prively two harneis hath he dight,
Both fuffifant and mete to darreine
The bataille in the field betwix hem tweine;
And on his hors, alone as he was borne,
He carieth all this harneis him beforne;
And the grove, at time and place ysette,
This Arcite and this Palamon ben mette.
Tho changen gan the colour in hir face,
Right as the hunter in the regne of Trace
That ftondeth at a gappe with a spere,
Whan hunted is the lion or the bere,

And hereth him come rushing in the greves,
And breking bothe the boughes and the leves.
And thinketh here cometh my mortal enemy,
Withouten faile he must be ded or 1:
For eyther I mote flain him at the gappe,
Or he mote flen me if that me mishappe.
So ferden they in changing of hir hewe,
As fer as eyther of hem other knewe.
Ther n' as no good day, ne no faluing,
But ftreit withouten wordes reherfing
Everich of hem halpe to armen other
As frendly as he were his owen brother;
And after that with fharpe fperes ftrong
They foineden cche at other wonder long.

Thou mightest wenen that this Palamon
In his fighting were as wood leon,
And as a cruel tigre was Arcite :
As wilde bores gan they togeder fmite,
That frothen white as fome for ire wood;
Up to the ancle foughte they in hir blood;
And in this wife I let hem fighting dwelle,
And forth I wol of Thefeus you telle.
The deftinee, miniftre general,
That executeth in the world over al
The purveiance that God hath sen beforne,
So ftrong it is, that though the world hath (worne
The contrary of a thing by ya or nay,
Yet fomtime it fhall fallen on a day
That falleth nat efte in a thousand yere
For certainly our appetites here,
Be it of werre, or pees, or hate, or love,
All is this ruled by the fight above.
This mene I now by mighty Thefeus,
That for to hunten is fo defirous,
And namely at the grete hart in May,
That in his bed ther daweth him no day
That he n'is clad, and redy for to ride
With hunte and horne, and houndes him befide;
For in his hunting hath he fwiche delite,
That it is all his joye and appetite
To ben himself the grete harts bane;
For after Mars he ferveth now Diane.

Clere was the day, as I have told or this,
And Thefeus, with alle joye and blis,
With his Ipolitia, the fayre quene,
And Emelie, yclothed all in grene,
On hunting ben thy ridden really:
And to the grove, that stood ther fafte by,
In which ther was an hart as men him told,
Duk Thefeus the ftreite way hath hold,
And to the launde he rideth him ful right,
Ther was the hart ywont to have his flight,
And over a brooke, and so forth on his wey.
This duk wol have a cours at him or twey
With houndes, fwiche as him luft to commaunde.
And when this duk was comen to the launde,
Under the fonne he loked, and anon

He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,
That foughten breme, as it were bolles two;
The brighte fwerdes wenten to and fro
So hidously that with the lefte ftroke
It femed that it wolde felle an oke,

But what they weren nothing he ne wote:
This duk his courfer with his fporres fmote,
And at a ftert he was betwix hem two,
And pulled out a fwerd and cried, Ho!
No more, up peine of lefing of your hed;
By mighty Mars he shall anon be ded
That fmiteth any stroke that I may fen!
But telleth me what miftere men ye ben,
That ben fo hardy for to fighten here
Withouten any juge or other officere,
As though it were in liftes really.

This Palamon answered haftily
And faide; Sire, what nedeth wordes mo?
We have the deth deserved bothe two:
Two woful wretches ben we, two caitives,
That ben accombred of our owen lives,

9jch Avikear for weitere pr

Vetem Moni nelle ranght in hisraze,
Armed Complaint, Qatness, and fires Outrage;
ine in the buff, with throte yearven;
A thundur fun, and not of godme yftorven;
The tirant, with the prey by force yraft;
The foun defend d, toe was nothing laft 1
Vore Front the things a hoppeteres,
The honte y denong bad with the wilde beren
The for both the child right in the cradel,
Tlcenter phall d for all he long ladeli
Mought was forte by the intune of Marte
The putt waidha with hisenter
Umber the wheel but how he lay abou

at he law Drone all naked :

is notes have him caught, Fart they knew him naugh was a itel farthermore

usted the wilde bore,

And Moles, and many another mo,
For with Dane wronghte hem care and wo
The Law I many another wonder storie,
The which me like not drawen to memorie.

This goddeffe on an hart ful heye sete,
With imale houndes all about hire fete,
And undernethe hire feet fhe hadde a mone,
Wexing it was, and fhulde wanen fone.
In gaudy grene hire ftatue clothed was,
With bow in hond, and arwes in a cas.
Hire eyen cafte fhe ful low adoun,
Ther Pluto hath his derke regioun.
A woman travailling was hire beforne,
But for hire childe fo longe was unborne
Ful pitoufly Lucina gan fhe call,
And layed; Helpe, for thou mayest befte of a
Wel coude he peinten lifly that it wrought,
With many a florein he the hewes bought.

Now ben thefe lites made, and Thefeus
That at his grote cod arraied thus
The temples and the theatre everidel,
When it was dan him liked wonder wel.
Sue freiwei, zf. Theseus a lite,

** Pulumen anz of Arcite.

the day rachet of hir returning, Phacen sol dhune, at hundred knightes bring * 4. treine, as 7 you told;

A bons la penam för te houd,

set a "hem brought ar hundred knig CRNOG ON THE WEerre at alle rightes.

PINOWEse many a man

**** what tha: the world began,