Palamon and Arcite

“ As for Palamon, when he saw that Arcite was gone, he made [pg 186] the great tower walls re-echo with his howls of misery. The very fetters on his ankles were wet with his salt tears.
"Alas," he groaned, "Arcite, my cousin, thou hast borne off the prize in this strife of ours! Thou walkest now at liberty in Thebes. Little thou thinkest of me and of my sorrow! Strong thou art, and wise. Doubtless thou art even now gathering together the people of Thebes to invade this land and win the sister of the Duke for thy wife, while I die here in this prison like a caged lion. ”

“ So fierce was it that the men seemed like wild animals in their rage. Palamon sprang at Arcite like a strong lion, and Arcite glanced aside and darted at him again like a cruel tiger. In the midst of this they heard a sound of the galloping of horses that brought the royal hunters to the spot. In a moment the sword of Theseus flashed between the fighters, and his voice thundered out, "Ho! no more, on pain of death. Who are ye who dare to fight here alone, with none to see justice done?" ”

“ Unknowingly she strikes, and kills by chance; Poison is in her eyes, and death in every glance. Oh, I must ask; nor ask alone, but move Her mind to mercy, or must die for love." Thus Arcite: and thus Palamon replies (Eager his tone, and ardent were his eyes,) "Speakest thou in earnest, or in jesting vein?" "Jesting," said Arcite, "suits but ill with pain." "It suits far worse," (said Palamon again, And bent his brows,) "with men who honour weigh, Their faith to break, their friendship to betray; But worst with thee, of noble lineage born, My kinsman, and in arms my brother sworn. ”

“ For each had laid his plighted faith to pawn; Oh Love! thou sternly dost thy power maintain, And wilt not bear a rival in thy reign! Tyrants and thou all fellowship disdain. This was in Arcite proved and Palamon: Both in despair, yet each would love alone. Arcite returned, and, as in honour tied, His foe with bedding and with food supplied; Then, ere the day, two suits of armour sought, Which borne before him on his steed he brought: Both were of shining steel, and wrought so pure As might the strokes of two such arms endure. ”

“ Of all our princely house not one is left save only me and Palamon, whom Theseus slays in prison. Even I, free though I am, am helpless to win Emelia. What am I to her but an humble squire?"
Palamon was so angry when he heard this, that he forgot his own danger. He started out from his hiding-place and faced Arcite.
"False Arcite," he cried, "now art thou caught indeed! Thou hast deceived Duke Theseus and hast falsely changed thy name, hast thou? Then surely I or thou must die. I will suffer no man to love my lady, save myself alone. For I am Palamon, thy mortal foe. ”

“ For Palamon in endless prison mourns, And Arcite forfeits life if he returns; The banished never hopes his love to see, Nor hopes the captive lord his liberty. 'Tis hard to say who suffers greater pains; One sees his love, but cannot break his chains; One free, and all his motions uncontrolled, Beholds whate'er he would but what he would behold. Judge as you please, for I will haste to tell What fortune to the banished knight befel. When Arcite was to Thebes returned again, The loss of her he loved renewed his pain ”

“ But alas for Palamon! just at evening he is overcome, when he would go to the help of the brave Lycurgus, who is unhorsed, and fighting bravely; and Theseus cries out that Arcite has the victory, and Palamon must yield himself conquered.
Then Palamon’s heart sinks like lead in his breast, and by the throne of Jupiter, on high Olympus, Venus wrings her hands, in anguish of his defeat. But who is more proud than Arcite, and whose eyes beam so tenderly as Emelie’s, since, woman-like, her heart is already moved with love for the victorious hero. ”

“ Palamon said it were small honour for Arcite to be false to his cousin and sworn brother, since each had taken an oath not to hinder the other in love; nay, as a knight Arcite was bound to help him in his amour. But Arcite replied that love knows no law; decrees of man are every day broken for love; moreover Palamon and he were prisoners, and were like two dogs fighting for a bone which meantime a kite bears away. Let each continue in his love, for in prison each must endure. ”

“ Now the day of the tourney approached, and Palamon and Arcite returned each with a hundred knights.
"To fighte for a lady, ben'cite! It were a lusty sighte for to see." Palamon brought with him Ligurge king of Thrace, and with Arcite was Emetreas, the king of India, each a giant in might. So on a Sunday they all came to the city.
And in the night, ere dawn, Palamon arose and went to the temple of Venus to pray that he might win Emilia for his wife; and, as it seemed, in answer to his prayer, the statue of Venus shook, and Palamon held it for a sign that the boon he asked was granted. ”

“ They bite, they tear; and while in vain they strive, The swains come armed between, and both to distance drive. At length, as Fate foredoomed, and all things tend By course of time to their appointed end; So when the sun to west was far declined, And both afresh in mortal battle joined, The strong Emetrius came in Arcite's aid, And Palamon with odds was overlaid: For, turning short, he struck with all his might Full on the helmet of the unwary knight. Deep was the wound; he staggered with the blow, And turned him to his unexpected foe ”

“ By the sword thou shalt die."
Homeward to Thebes sped Arcite with a sad heart.
"Woe is me for the day that I was born!" he moaned; "woe is me that ever I knew the friend of Theseus! Had he not known me, I might even now be gazing on the maiden I serve, from the window in the Duke's tower. Ah, Palamon, thou art the victor now! Day by day thou gazest on her, and kind fortune may grant to thee thy freedom and her favor while I am banished for ever! Ah, why do we complain against our fortune? We know that we seek happiness, but know not the road thither! ”

“ For, though unarmed I am, and freed by chance, Am here without my sword or pointed lance, Hope not, base man, unquestioned hence to go, For I am Palamon, thy mortal foe." Arcite, who heard his tale and knew the man, His sword unsheathed, and fiercely thus began: "Now, by the gods who govern heaven above, Wert thou not weak with hunger, mad with love, That word had been thy last; or in this grove This hand should force thee to renounce thy love; The surety which I gave thee I defy: Fool, not to know that love endures no tie, And Jove but laughs at lovers' perjury. ”

“ Then with trumpets and music, Theseus and Hippolyta and Emilia in a noble procession took their places; and from the west gate under the temple of Mars came Arcite with a red banner, and from the east, under the temple of Venus, Palamon with a white banner. And the names of the two companies were recited, the heralds left pricking up and down, the trumpet and clarion sounded, and the just began. Sore was the fight, and many were wounded and by the duke's proclamation removed from the fight; and many a time fought Palamon and Arcite together. But everything must have an end ”

“ 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. ”

“ In one year’s time, at Athens here, we will hold a tourney, at which both Palamon and Arcite, with each a hundred bravest knights, shall enter the lists, and he who comes off conqueror, shal wed the lady. The other must do as he best can. ”

“ The jealousy, which had so long been the madness of both, filling the two kindred, brotherly, once-affectionate bosoms with hate, has, in his, melted away with life, thence melting away; and Arcite, with his last intelligible breath, describes Palamon briefly, point by point, as he knew him when he best loved him. He does not implore Emelie to remain for his sake single. He does not pretend, if she shall marry, to govern her choice; but he simply requests her, if the season shall ever arrive of such a choice, that she will not "forget Palamon." ”

“ Arcite said that in love each man fought for himself; and so they disputed day by day. Now, it so happened that at this time the Duke Perotheus came to visit his old playfellow and friend Theseus, and at his intercession Arcite was liberated, on the condition that on pain of death he should never again be found in the Athenian dominions. Then the two knights grieved in their hearts. 'What matters liberty?' said Arcite,—'I am a banished man! Palamon in his dungeon is happier than I. He can see Emily and be gladdened by her beauty!' 'Woe is me!' said Palamon ”

“ For first my love began ere thine was born; Thou as my council, and my brother sworn, Art bound to assist my eldership of right, Or justly to be deemed a perjured knight." Thus Palamon: but Arcite with disdain In haughty language thus replied again: "Forsworn thyself: the traitor's odious name I first return, and then disprove thy claim. If love be passion, and that passion nurst With strong desires, I loved the lady first. Canst thou pretend desire, whom zeal inflamed To worship, and a power celestial named? Thine was devotion to the blest above, I saw the woman, and desired her love ”

“ The work of Dryden in Palamon and Arcite may seem to us superfluous, for a well-educated man in the nineteenth century is familiar with his Chaucer in the original; but in the sixteenth century our early poets were regarded as little better than barbarians, and their language was quite unintelligible. It was, therefore, a distinct addition to the literature of his age when he rescued from oblivion the Knight's Tale, the first of the Canterbury Tales, and gave it to his world as Palamon and Arcite. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thus all seek happiness; but few can find, For far the greater part of men are blind. This is my case, who thought our utmost good Was in one word of freedom understood: The fatal blessing came: from prison free, I starve abroad, and lose the sight of Emily." Thus Arcite: but if Arcite thus deplore His sufferings, Palamon yet suffers more. For when he knew his rival freed and gone, He swells with wrath; he makes outrageous moan; He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground ”

“ When Palamon heard these words he turned upon him fiercely, and answered, 'Is this said in soberness or in jest?'
'Seriously by my truth,' said Arcite, 'or evil befall me.'
'Then,' replied Palamon, knitting his brows, 'it were no great honour to you to be false, and a traitor to me, your cousin and brother, who have so deeply sworn to each other, that nothing but death should separate us, and dissolve the pledge: that neither in love nor in any event we should cross each other ”

“ 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 ”

“ The lists, with the temples and theatre being finished at a great cost, I will leave speaking of Theseus for a time, and turn to Palamon and Arcite.
The day draws near for their returning, when each should bring his hundred knights to Athens to try the battle, as I have already said. Those who accompanied Palamon were variously appointed according to their several fancies. Some were clad in a light coat of mail, with a short cassock and breastplate: some in two simple plates of armour, and a shield: others well defended their limbs, and were armed with an axe, or mace of steel. ”

“ Good Palamon would miscarry, yet I knew not
Why I did think so. Our reasons are not prophets
When oft our fancies are. They are coming off.
Alas, poor Palamon!
Cornets. Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Pirithous, Arcite as victor, and Attendants.
THESEUS.
Lo, where our sister is in expectation,
Yet quaking and unsettled.—Fairest Emily,
The gods by their divine arbitrament
Have given you this knight; he is a good one
As ever struck at head. Give me your hands.
Receive you her, you him; be plighted with
A love that grows as you decay. ”

“ Ravishd our sides, like age must run to rust,
And decke the Temples of those gods that hate us:
These hands shall never draw’em out like lightning,
To blast whole Armies more.
ARCITE.
No, Palamon,
Those hopes are Prisoners with us; here we are
And here the graces of our youthes must wither
Like a too-timely Spring; here age must finde us,
And, which is heaviest, Palamon, unmarried ”