But how the fyr was makyd up on highte,
And eek the names how the trees highte,
As ook, fyr, birch, asp, aldir, holm, popler,
Wilw, elm, plane, assch, box, chesteyn, lynde, laurer,
Mapul, thorn, beech, hasil, ew, wyppyltre,
How they weren felde, schal nought be told for me;
Ne how the goddes ronnen up and doun
Disheryt of here habitacioun,
In which they whilom woned in rest and pees,
Nymphes, Faunes, and Amadryes;
Ne how the beestes and the briddes alle
Fledden for feere, whan the woode was falle;
Ne how the ground agast was of the light,
That was nought wont to see no sonne bright;
Ne how the fyr was couchid first with stree,
And thanne with drye stykkes cloven in three,
And thanne with grene woode and spicerie,
And thanne with cloth of gold and with perrye,
And gerlandes hangyng with ful many a flour,
The myrre, thensens with al so gret odour;
Ne how Arcyte lay among al this,
Ne what richesse aboute his body is ;
Ne how that Emely, as was the gyse,
Putt in the fyr of funeral servise;
Ne how sche swowned whan sche made the fyre,
2921.—But how the fyr. The description of the funeral, and several other parts of this poem, are taken originally from the Thebaid of Statius, to which Chaucer has already made a direct reference, 1. 2296.
2930. Amadryes. This is the reading of all the MSS. I have consulted. It is of course a corruption of Hamadryades.
Ne what sche spak, ne what was hire desire;
Ne what jewels men in the fyr tho cast,
Whan that the fyr was gret and brente fast;
Ne how sum caste her scheeld, and summe her spere,
And of here vestimentz, which that they were,
And cuppes ful of wyn, and mylk, and blood,
Unto the fyr, that brent as it were wood;
Ne how the Grekes with an huge route
Thre tymes ryden al the fyr aboute
Upon the lefte hond, with an heih schoutyng,
And thries with here speres clateryng;
And thries how the ladyes gan to crye;
Ne how that lad was home-ward Emelye;
Ne how Arcyte is brent to aschen colde;
Ne how the liche-wake was y-holde
Al thilke night, ne how the Grekes pleye
The wake-pleyes, kepe I nat to seye:
Who wrastleth best naked, with oyle enoynt,
Ne who that bar him best in no disjoynt.
I wol not telle eek how they ben goon
Hom til Athenes whan the pley is doon;
But schortly to the poynt now wol I wende,
And maken of my longe tale an ende.
2953.--Grekes. The scribe of the MS. Harl. has by inadvertence (as it is only in this instance), substituted the more legitimate old English form of the word Gregoys. Chaucer, following the Italian and acquainted with the classic writers, uses the form Grekes throughout the Knightes Tale.
2960.-This line is omitted in MS. Harl., by an oversight of the
2964. The description of the funeral, like that of the tournament, presents a curious mixture of classic and medieval ideas, such as is found in other works of the same age.
By proces and by lengthe of certeyn yeres
Al styntyd is the mornyng and the teeres
Of alle Grekys, by oon general assent.
Than semed me ther was a parlement
At Athenes, on a certeyn poynt and cas:
Among the whiche poyntes spoken was
To han with certeyn contrees alliaunce,
And have fully of Thebans obeissance.
For which this noble Theseus anon
Let senden after gentil Palamon,
Unwist of him what was the cause and why:
But in his blake clothes sorwfully
He cam at his comaundement on hye.
Tho sente Theseus for Emelye.
Whan they were sette, and hussht was al the place, And Theseus abyden hadde a space
eny word cam fro his wyse brest,
His eyen set he ther as was his lest,
And with a sad visage he syked stille,
And after that right thus he seide his wille.
"The firste moevere of the cause above,
Whan he first made the fayre cheyne of love,
Gret was theffect, and heigh was his entente;
Wel wist he why, and what therof he mente;
For with that faire cheyne of love he bond
2993.-cheyne of love. This sentiment is taken from Boethius, De Consolat. Phil. lib. ii, met. 8,
Hanc rerum seriem ligat,
Terras ac pelagus regens,
Et cœlo imperitans, amor.
What follows is taken from the same writer, lib. iv, pr. 6.
The fyr, the watir, the eyr, and eek the lond
In certeyn boundes, that they may not flee:
That same prynce and moevere eek,” quod he,
"Hath stabled, in this wrecched world adoun,
Certeyn dayes and duracioun
To alle that er engendrid in this place,
Over the which day they may nat pace,
Al mowe they yit wel here dayes abregge;
Ther needeth non auctorité tallegge;
For it is preved by experience,
But that me lust declare my sentence.
Than may men wel by this ordre discerne,
That thilke moevere stabul is and eterne.
Wel may men knowe, but it be a fool,
That every partye dyryveth from his hool.
For nature hath nat take his bygynnyng
Of no partye ne cantel of a thing,
But of a thing that parfyt is and stable,
Descendyng so, til it be corumpable.
And therfore of his wyse purveaunce
He hath so wel biset his ordenaunce,
That spices of thinges and progressiouns
Schullen endure by successiouns,
And nat eterne be withoute lye:
This maistow understand and se at ye.
"Lo the ook, that hath so long norisschyng
From the Teseide,
Li querci, che anno si lungo nutrimento
E tanta vita quanto noi vedemo,
Anno pur alcun tempo finimento.
Le dure pietre ancor, etc.
Fro tyme that it gynneth first to spring,
And hath so long a lyf, as we may see,
Yet atte laste wasted is the tree.
"Considereth eek, how that the harde stoon
Under oure foot, on which we trede and goon,
Yit wasteth it, as it lith by the weye.
The brode ryver som tyme wexeth dreye.
The grete townes see we wane and wende.
Than may I see that al thing hath an ende.
"Of man and womman se we wel also, That wendeth in oon of this termes two, That is to seyn, in youthe or elles in age,
He moot ben deed, the kyng as schal a page;
Sum in his bed, som in the deepe see,
Som in the large feeld, as men may se.
Ther helpeth naught, al goth thilke weye:
Thanne may I see wel that al thing schal deye.
What maketh this but Jubiter the kyng?
The which is prynce and cause of alle thing,
Convertyng al unto his propre wille,
From which he is dereyned, soth to telle.
And here agayn no creature on lyve
Of no degré avayleth for to stryve.
"Than is it wisdom, as thenketh me,
To maken vertu of necessité,
And take it wel, that we may nat eschewe,
And namely that that to us alle is dewe.
And who so gruccheth aught, he doth folye,
And rebel is to him that al may gye.
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