Was in a bush, that no man might him see,
For sore afeard of his death was he.
Nothing ne knew he that it was Arcite;
God wot he would have trowed it full lite.435
But sooth is said, gone since full many years,436
The field hath eyen, and the wood hath ears.
It is full fair a man to bear him even,437
For all day meeten men at unset steven.438
Full little wot Arcite of his felláw,
That was so nigh to hearken of his saw,439
For in the bush he sitteth now full still.
When that Arcite had roamed all his fill,
And sungen all the roundel440 lustily,
Into a study he fell suddenly,
As do those lovers in their quaintë gears,441
Now in the crop, and now down in the breres,442
Now up, now down, as bucket in a well.
Right as the Friday, soothly for to tell,
Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,
Right so can geary443 Venus overcast
The heartës of her folk, right as her day
Is gearful,444 right so changeth she array.
Seldom is Friday all the weekë like.
When Arcite had y-sung, he gan to sike,445
And sat him down withouten any more:
“Alas!” quoth he, “the day that I was bore!
How longë, Juno, through thy cruelty
Wilt thou warrayen446 Thebes the city?
Alas! y-brought is to confusion
The blood royál of Cadm’ and Amphion:
Of Cadmus, which that was the firstë man,
That Thebes built, or first the town began,
And of the city first was crowned king.
Of his lineáge am I, and his offspring
By very line, as of the stock royál;
And now I am so caitiff and so thrall,447
That he that is my mortal enemy,
I serve him as his squiër poorëly.
And yet doth Juno me well morë shame,
For I dare not beknow448 mine owen name,
But there as I was wont to hight Arcite,
Now hight I Philostrate, not worth a mite.
Alas! thou fell Mars, and alas! Juno,
Thus hath your ire our lineage all fordo’.449
Save only me, and wretched Palamon,
That Theseus martýreth in prisón.
And over all this, to slay me utterly,
Love hath his fiery dart so brenningly450
Y-sticked through my truë careful heart,
That shapen was my death erst than my shert.451
Ye slay me with your eyen, Emily;
Ye be the causë wherefore that I die.
Of all the remnant of mine other care
Ne set I not the mountance of a tare,452
So that I could do aught to your pleasance.”
And with that word he fell down in a trance
A longë time; and afterward upstart
This Palamon, that thought thorough his heart
He felt a cold sword suddenly to glide:
For ire he quoke,453 no longer would he hide.
And when that he had heard Arcite’s tale,
As he were wood,454 with facë dead and pale,
He start him up out of the bushes thick,
And said: “False Arcita, false traitor wick’,455
Now art thou hent,456 that lov’st my lady so,
For whom that I have all this pain and woe,
And art my blood, and to my counsel sworn,
As I full oft have told thee herebeforn,
And hast bejaped457 here Duke Theseus,
And falsely changed hast thy namë thus;
I will be dead, or ellës thou shalt die.
Thou shalt not love my lady Emily,
But I will love her only and no mo’;
For I am Palamon thy mortal foe.
And though I have no weapon in this place,
But out of prison am astart458 by grace,
I dreadë459 not that either thou shalt die,
Or else thou shalt not loven Emily.
Choose which thou wilt, for thou shalt not astart.”
This Arcite then, with full dispiteous460 heart,
When he him knew, and had his talë heard,
As fierce as lion pulled out a swerd,
And saidë thus; “By God that sitt’th above,
N’ere it461 that thou art sick, and wood for love,
And eke that thou no weap’n hast in this place,
Thou should’st never out of this grovë pace,
That thou ne shouldest dien of mine hand.
For I defy the surety and the band,
Which that thou sayest I have made to thee.
What? very fool, think well that love is free;
And I will love her maugré462 all thy might.
But, for thou art a worthy gentle knight,
And wilnest to darraine her by bataille,463
Have here my troth, to-morrow I will not fail,
Without weeting464 of any other wight,
That here I will be founden as a knight,
And bringë harness465 right enough for thee;
And choose the best, and leave the worst for me.
And meat and drinkë this night will I bring
Enough for thee, and clothes for thy beddíng.
And if so be that thou my lady win,
And slay me in this wood that I am in,
Thou may’st well have thy lady as for me.”
This Palamon answér’d, “I grant it thee.”
And thus they be departed till the morrow,
When each of them hath laid his faith to borrow.466
O Cupid, out of allë charity!
O Regne467 that wilt no fellow have with thee!
Full sooth is said, that love nor lordëship
Will not, his thanks,468 have any fellowship.
Well finden that Arcite and Palamon.
Arcite is ridd anon unto the town,
And on the morrow, ere it were daylight,
Full privily two harness hath he dight,469
Both suffisant and meetë to darraine470
The battle in the field betwixt them twain.
And on his horse, alone as he was born,
He carrieth all this harness him beforn;
And in the grove, at time and place y-set,
This Arcite and this Palamon be met.
Then changë gan the colour of their face;
Right as the hunter in the regne471 of Thrace
That standeth at a gappë472 with a spear
When hunted is the lion or the bear,
And heareth him come rushing in the greves,473
And breaking both the boughës and the
