Geoffrey Chaucer

“ But man in life surcharged with woe before, Not freed when dead, is doomed to suffer more. A serpent shoots his sting at unaware; An ambushed thief forelays a traveller; The man lies murdered, while the thief and snake, One gains the thickets, and one thrids the brake. This let divines decide; but well I know, Just or unjust, I have my share of woe, Through Saturn seated in a luckless place, And Juno's wrath that persecutes my race; Or Mars and Venus in a quartil, move My pangs of jealousy for Arcite's love." Let Palamon oppressed in bondage mourn, While to his exited rival we return. ”

“ So grant my suit, as I enforce my might, In love to be thy champion and thy knight, A servant to thy sex, a slave to thee, A foe professed to barren chastity: Nor ask I fame or honour of the field, Nor choose I more to vanquish than to yield: In my divine Emilia make me blest, Let Fate or partial Chance dispose the rest: Find thou the manner, and the means prepare; Possession, more than conquest, is my care. Mars is the warrior's god; in him it lies On whom he favours to confer the prize; With smiling aspect you serenely move In your fifth orb, and rule the realm of love. ”

“ Of all the royal race remains but one Besides myself, the unhappy Palamon, Whom Theseus holds in bonds and will not free; Without a crime, except his kin to me. Yet these and all the rest I could endure; But love's a malady without a cure: Fierce Love has pierced me with his fiery dart, He fires within, and hisses at my heart. Your eyes, fair Emily, my fate pursue; I suffer for the rest, I die for you. Of such a goddess no time leaves record, Who burned the temple where she was adored: And let it burn, I never will complain, Pleased with my sufferings, if you knew my pain. ”

“ For thee the lion loathes the taste of blood, And roaring hunts his female through the wood; For thee the bulls rebellow through the groves, And tempt the stream, and snuff their absent loves. 'Tis thine, whate'er is pleasant, good, or fair; All nature is thy province, life thy care; Thou madest the world, and dost the world repair. Thou gladder of the mount of Cytheron, Increase of Jove, companion of the Sun, If e'er Adonis touched thy tender heart, Have pity, Goddess, for thou knowest the smart! Alas! I have not words to tell my grief ”

“ Enjoying while we live the present hour, And dying in our excellence and flower. Then round our death-bed every friend should run, And joy us of our conquest early won; While the malicious world, with envious tears, Should grudge our happy end, and wish it theirs. Since then our Arcite is with honour dead, Why should we mourn, that he so soon is freed, Or call untimely what the gods decreed? With grief as just a friend may be deplored, From a foul prison to free air restored. Ought he to thank his kinsman or his wife, Could tears recall him into wretched life? Their sorrow hurts themselves ”

“ Beside the champions, all of high degree, Who knighthood loved, and deeds of chivalry, Thronged to the lists, and envied to behold The names of others, not their own, enrolled. Nor seems it strange; for every noble knight Who loves the fair, and is endued with might, In such a quarrel would be proud to fight. There breathes not scarce a man on British ground (An isle for love and arms of old renowned) But would have sold his life to purchase fame, To Palamon or Arcite sent his name; And had the land selected of the best, Half had come hence, and let the world provide the rest. ”

“ Nor holds this earth a more deserving knight For virtue, valour, and for noble blood, Truth, honour, all that is comprised in good; So help me Heaven, in all the world is none So worthy to be loved as Palamon. He loves you too, with such a holy fire, As will not, cannot, but with life expire: Our vowed affections both have often tried, Nor any love but yours could ours divide. Then, by my love's inviolable band, By my long suffering and my short command, If e'er you plight your vows when I am gone, Have pity on the faithful Palamon. ”

“ O Palamon, my kinsman and my friend, How much more happy fates thy love attend I Thine is the adventure, thine the victory, Well has thy fortune turned the dice for thee: Thou on that angel's face mayest feed thy eyes, In prison, no; but blissful paradise! Thou daily seest that sun of beauty shine, And lovest at least in love's extremest line. I mourn in absence, love's eternal night; And who can tell but since thou hast her sight, And art a comely, young, and valiant knight, Fortune (a various power) may cease to frown, And by some ways unknown thy wishes crown? ”

“ There most, but everywhere thy power is known, The fortune of the fight is all thy own: Terror is thine, and wild amazement, flung From out thy chariot, withers even the strong; And disarray and shameful rout ensue, And force is added to the fainting crew. Acknowledged as thou art, accept my prayer! If aught I have achieved deserve thy care, If to my utmost power with sword and shield I dared the death, unknowing how to yield, And falling in my rank, still kept the field; Then let my arms prevail, by thee sustained, That Emily by conquest may be gained. ”

“ We wretched women sue for that alone, Which of thy goodness is refused to none; Let fall some drops of pity on our grief, If what we beg be just, and we deserve relief; For none of us, who now thy grace implore, But held the rank of sovereign queen before; Till, thanks to giddy Chance, which never bears That mortal bliss should last for length of years, She cast us headlong from our high estate, And here in hope of thy return we wait, And long have waited in the temple nigh, Built to the gracious goddess Clemency. ”

“ But, like a low-hung cloud, it rains so fast, That all at once it falls, and cannot last. The face of things is changed, and Athens now That laughed so late, becomes the scene of woe. Matrons and maids, both sexes, every state, With tears lament the knight's untimely fate. Not greater grief in falling Troy was seen For Hector's death; but Hector was not then. Old men with dust deformed their hoary hair; The women beat their breasts, their cheeks they tear. "Why wouldst thou go," with one consent they cry, When thou hadst gold enough, and Emily?" ”

“ He blinds the wise, gives eye-sight to the blind; And moulds and stamps anew the lover's mind. Behold that Arcite, and this Palamon, Freed from my fetters, and in safety gone, What hindered either in their native soil At ease to reap the harvest of their toil? But Love, their lord, did otherwise ordain, And brought them, in their own despite again, To suffer death deserved; for well they know 'Tis in my power, and I their deadly foe. The proverb holds, that to be wise and love, Is hardly granted to the gods above. ”

“ But Venus with dejected eyes appears. And weeping on the lists distilled her tears; Her will refused, which grieves a woman most, And, in her champion foiled, the cause of Love is lost. Till Saturn said:—"Fair daughter, now be still, "The blustering fool has satisfied his will; His boon is given; his knight has gained the day, But lost the prize; the arrears are yet to pay. Thy hour is come, and mine the care shall be To please thy knight, and set thy promise free." Now while the heralds run the lists around, And Arcite! Arcite! ”

“ PALAMON AND ARCITE; OR, THE KNIGHT'S TALE. FROM CHAUCER.
BOOK I. In days of old there lived, of mighty fame, A valiant Prince, and Theseus was his name; A chief, who more in feats of arms excelled, The rising nor the setting sun beheld. Of Athens he was lord; much land he won, And added foreign countries to his crown. In Scythia with the warrior Queen he strove, Whom first by force he conquered, then by love; He brought in triumph back the beauteous dame, With whom her sister, fair Emilia, came. ”

“ In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play, All proper to the spring and sprightly May: Which every soul inspired with such delight, 'Twas justing all the day, and love at night. Heaven smiled, and gladded was the heart of man; And Venus had the world as when it first began. At length in sleep their bodies they compose, And dreamt the future fight, and early rose. Now scarce the dawning day began to spring, As at a signal given, the streets with clamours ring: At once the crowd arose; confused and high, Even from the heaven was heard a shouting cry, For Mars was early up, and roused the sky. ”

“ The royal judge on his tribunal placed, Who had beheld the fight from first to last, Bade cease the war; pronouncing from on high, Arcite of Thebes had won the beauteous Emily. The sound of trumpets to the voice replied, And round the royal lists the heralds cried, "Arcite of Thebes has won the beauteous bride!" The people rend the skies with vast applause; All own the chief, when Fortune owns the cause. Arcite is owned even by the gods above, And conquering Mars insults the Queen of Love. So laughed he when the rightful Titan failed, And Jove's usurping arms in heaven prevailed. ”

“ Nor ease nor wealth nor life it self regard, For 'tis their maxim, love is love's reward. This is not all; the fair, for whom they strove, Nor knew before, nor could suspect their love, Nor thought, when she beheld the fight from far, Her beauty was the occasion of the war. But sure a general doom on man is past, And all are fools and lovers, first or last: This both by others and my self I know, For I have served their sovereign long ago; Oft have been caught within the winding train Of female snares, and felt the lover's pain, And learned how far the god can human hearts constrain. ”

“ Honours the princely chiefs, rewards the rest, And holds for thrice three days a royal feast. None was disgraced; for falling is no shame, And cowardice alone is loss of fame. The venturous knight is from the saddle thrown, But 'tis the fault of fortune, not his own; If crowds and palms the conquering side adorn, The victor under better stars was born: The brave man seeks not popular applause, Nor, overpowered with arms, deserts his canse; Unshamed, though foiled, he does the best he can: Force is of brutes, but honour is of man. ”

“ And less he knew him for his hated foe, But feared him as a man he did not know. But as it has been said of ancient years, That fields are full of eyes and woods have ears, For this the wise are ever on their guard, For unforeseen, they say, is unprepared. Uncautious Arcite thought himself alone, And less than all suspected Palamon, Who, listening, heard him, while he searched the grove, And loudly sung his roundelay of love: But on the sudden stopped, and silent stood, (As lovers often muse, and change their mood;) ”

“ To thank the gracious gods for what they give, Possess our souls, and, while we live, to live? Ordain we then two sorrows to combine, And in one point the extremes of grief to join; That thence resulting joy may be renewed, As jarring notes in harmony conclude. Then I propose that Palamon shall be In marriage joined with beauteous Emily; For which already I have gained the assent Of my free people in full parliament. Long love to her has borne the faithful knight, And well deserved, had Fortune done him right: 'Tis time to mend her fault, since Emily By Arcite's death from former vows is free ”