That in such case can no división:500
But weigheth pride and humbless after one.”501
And shortly, when his ire is thus agone,
He gan to look on them with eyen light,502
And spake these samë wordës all on height.503
“The god of love, ah! benedicite,504
How mighty and how great a lord is he!
Against his might there gainë505 none obstácles,
He may be call’d a god for his mirácles.
For he can maken at his owen guise
Of every heart, as that him list devise.
Lo here this Arcite, and this Palamon,
That quietly were out of my prisón,
And might have lived in Thebes royally,
And weet506 I am their mortal enemy,
And that their death li’th in my might also,
And yet hath love, maugré their eyen two,507
Y-brought them hither bothë for to die.
Now look ye, is not this an high folly?
Who may not be a fool, if but he love?
Behold, for Goddë’s sake that sits above,
See how they bleed! be they not well array’d?
Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid
Their wages and their fees for their servíce;
And yet they weenë for to be full wise,
That servë love, for aught that may befall.
But this is yet the bestë game508 of all,
That she, for whom they have this jealousy,
Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.
She wot no more of all this hotë fare,509
By God, than wot a cuckoo or an hare.
But all must be assayed hot or cold;
A man must be a fool, or young or old;
I wot it by myself full yore agone:510
For in my time a servant was I one.
And therefore since I know of lovë’s pain,
And wot how sore it can a man distrain,511
As he that oft hath been caught in his las,512
I you forgivë wholly this trespáss,
At réquest of the queen that kneeleth here,
And eke of Emily, my sister dear.
And ye shall both anon unto me swear,
That never more ye shall my country dere,513
Nor makë war upon me night nor day,
But be my friends in allë that ye may.
I you forgive this trespass every deal.”514
And they him sware his asking515 fair and well,
And him of lordship and of mercy pray’d,
And he them granted grace, and thus he said:
“To speak of royal lineage and richéss,
Though that she were a queen or a princess,
Each of you both is worthy doubtëless
To weddë when time is; but natheless
I speak as for my sister Emily,
For whom ye have this strife and jealousy,
Ye wot yourselves, she may not wed the two
At once, although ye fight for evermo’:
But one of you, all be him loth or lief,516
He must go pipe into an ivy leaf:517
This is to say, she may not have you both,
All be ye never so jealous, nor so wroth.
And therefore I you put in this degree,
That each of you shall have his destiny
As him is shape;518 and hearken in what wise;
Lo hear your end of that I shall devise.
My will is this, for plain conclusión
Withouten any replicatión,519
If that you liketh, take it for the best,
That evereach of you shall go where him lest,520
Freely withoutë ransom or dangér;
And this day fifty weekës, farre ne nerre,521
Evereach of you shall bring an hundred knights,
Armed for listës up at allë rights
All ready to darraine522 her by bataille,
And this behete523 I you withoutë fail
Upon my troth, and as I am a knight,
That whether of you bothë that hath might,
That is to say, that whether he or thou
May with his hundred, as I spake of now,
Slay his contráry, or out of listës drive,
Him shall I given Emily to wive,
To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.
The listës shall I make here in this place.
And God so wisly on my soulë rue,524
As I shall even judgë be and true.
Ye shall none other endë with me maken
Than one of you shallë be dead or taken.
And if you thinketh this is well y-said,
Say your advice,525 and hold yourselves apaid.526
This is your end, and your conclusión.”
Who looketh lightly now but Palamon?
Who springeth up for joyë but Arcite?
Who could it tell, or who could it indite,
The joyë that is maked in the place
When Theseus hath done so fair a grace?
But down on knees went every manner527 wight,
And thanked him with all their heartës’ might,
And namëly528 these Thebans oftë sithe.529
And thus with good hope and with heartë blithe
They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride
To Thebes-ward, with his old wallës wide.
I trow men wouldë deem it negligence,
If I forgot to tellë the dispence530
Of Theseus, that went so busily
To maken up the listës royally,
That such a noble theatre as it was,
I dare well say, in all this world there n’as.531
The circuít a milë was about,
Walled of stone, and ditched all without.
Round was the shape, in manner of compáss,
Full of degrees,532 the height of sixty pas,533
That when a man was set on one degree
He letted534 not his fellow for to see.
Eastward there stood a gate of marble white,
Westward right such another opposite.
And, shortly to concludë, such a place
Was never on earth made in so little space,
For in the land there was no craftës-man,
That geometry or arsmetrikë can,535
Nor pourtrayor,536 nor carver of imáges,
That Theseus ne gave him meat and wages
The theatre to make and to devise.
And for to do his rite and sacrifice
He eastward hath upon the gate above,
In worship of Venus, goddess of love,
Done537 make an altar and an oratory;
And westward, in the mind and in memory
Of Mars, he maked hath right such
