He trembled every limb, and felt a finart,
As if cold fteel had glided through his heart;
No longer ftaid; but, ftarting froin his place,
Difcover'd stood, and fhew'd his hoftile face.
Falfe traitor, Arcite, traitor to thy blood,
Bound by thy facred oath to feek my good,
Now art thou found forfworn for Emily,
And dar' attempt her love for whom I die.
So haft thou cheated Thefeus with a wile,
Against thy vow, returning to beguile
Under a borrow'd name; as falie to me,
So falfe thou art to him who fet thee free:
But ret affur'd that either thou shalt die,
Or else renounce thy claim in Emily:
For though unarm`d I am, and (freed by chance)
Am here without my fword or pointed lance,
Hope not, bale man, unquestion'd hence to go;
For I am Palamon, thy mortal foe.

Arcite, who heard his tale, and knew the man, His fword unfheath'd, 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 laft, or in this grove
This hand thould force thee to renounce thylove,
The furety which I gave thee, I defy:
Fool, not to know that love endures no tie;
And Jove but laughs at lovers' perjury.
Know, I will ferve the fair in thy defpite;
But fince thou art my kinfman and a knight,
Here, have my faith, to-morrow in this grove
Our arms fhall plead the titles of our love:
And Heaven fo help my right, as I alone
Will come, and keep the caufe and quarrel both
unknown,

With arms of proof both for myfelf and thee;
Choose thou the beft, and leave the worst to me.
And, that a better cife thou mayft abide,
Bedding and clothes I will this night provide,
And needful fultenance, that thou mayit be
A conqueft better won, and worthy me.
His promite Palamon accepts; but pray'd
To keep it better than the firft he made.
Thus fair they parted till the morrow's dawn;
For each had laid his plighted faith to pawn.
Oh Love! thou fternly doft thy pow'r maintain,
And wilt not bear a rival in thy reign;
Tyrants and thou all fellowship difdain.
This was in Arcite prov'd, and Palamon ;
Both in defpair, yet each would love alone.
Arcite return'd, and, as in honour tied,
His foe with bedding and with food supplied;
Then, ere the day, two fuits of armour fought,
Which borne before him on his fteed he brought:
Both were of thining feel, and wrought fo pure,
As might the ftrokes of two fuch arms endure.
Now at the time, and in th' appointed place,
The challenger and challeng'd, face to face,
Approach; each other from afar they knew,
And from afar their hatred chang'd their hue.
So ftands the Thracian herdfman with his fpear
Full in the gap, and hopes the hunted bear;
And hears him ruftling in the wood, and fees
His courfe at distance by the bending trees;

And thinks, here comes my mortal enem And either he must fall in fight, or I: This while he thinks, he lifts aloft his da A gen'rous chilnefs feizes ev'ry part; [h The veins pour back the blood, and fortity

Thus pale theymeet, their eyeswith fury None greets, for none the greeting will re But in dumb furlinefs each arm'd with c His foe profeft, as brother of the war: Then both, no moment loft, at once adv Against each other, arin'd with two dand They lafh, they foin, they pafs, they ftrive t Their corflets, and the thinnest parts exp Thus two long hours in equal arms they And wounded, wound; till both were bat And not a foot of ground had either got, [t As if the world depended on the pot. Fell Arcite like an angry tiger far'd, And like a lion Palamon appear'd: Or as two boars whom love to battle draw With rifing briftles, and with frothy jaws, Their adverfe breasts with tusks oblique wound,

With grunts and groans the foreft rings a So fought the knights, and fighting muft Tillfate an umpire fends their diff'renceto The pow'r that minifters to God's decre And executes on earth what Heaven fore Call'd providence, or chance, or fatal fwa Comes with refiftlefs force, and finds or mal Nor kings, nor nations, nor united pow'r, One moment can retard th' appointed ho And fome one day fome wond'rous chan

pears,

Which happen'd not in centuries of year
For fure whate'er we mortals hate, or lov
Or hope, or fear, depends on pow'rs abo
They move our appetites to good or ill,
And by forefight neceffitate the will.
In Theicus this appears, whofe youthful
Was beafts of chace in forefts to destroy
This gentle knight, infpir'd by jolly May
Forfook his eafy couch at early day,
And to the wood and wilds purfued his
Befide him rode Hippolita the queen,
And Emily attir'd in lively green,
With horns, and hounds, and all the tunef
To hunt a royal hart within the covert n
And as he follow'd Mars before, so now
He terves the goddess of the filver bow.
The way that Thefeus took was to the wo
Where the two knights in cruel battle n
The lawn on which they fought, th' app

why in arms together met? pride prefume againft my laws, held, to fight your cause? al grant, no marshal by, nites require, nor judge to try! o, with tearce recover'd breath, 4pke: We both deferve the death, wald die; for look the world around, wretched is not to be found: Ford, encumber'd with the charge, t th imprifon'd foul at large. ta lov'reign judge, decree ta doom of death to him and me; find thy grace, for grace is cruelty. - kill me firit, and cure my woe; th the fword of justice on my foe: firft; for when his name is heard, will receive his due reward. Thebes is he, thy mortal foe, thy grace did liberty bestow; Contracted, that if ever found tight upon th' Athenian ground, uld pay the forfeit; fee return'd knight,his oath and honour fcorn'd. ewho, with a borrow'd name 1 fervice, to thy palace came, Philoftratus; retain'd by thee, ed, and in high degree, the bed of beauteous Emily. vas; from Thebes my birth I own, By the unhappy Palamon.

not like that man, fince no difgrace de to renounce the honour of my

e for what I am : I broke my chain,
I thy pris'ner to remain :
iberty with life is given;
teif the inferior gift of Heaven.
out crime I fed; but farther know,
Arcite am thy mortal foe:

.

death, fince I thy life purfue; d of tnyfelf, death is my due. thou know? I love bright Emily, her fake and in her fight will die : ay rival too; for he no leis

and Ithy righteous doom will blefs, what I lole he never fhall poffefs.

the ftern Athenian prince, Lil'd-In owning your offence, garfelf, and I but keep record Aw, while you pronounce the word ert, the death you have decreed; om, and ratify the deed:

And thus among themselves they foftly faid: What eyes can fuffer this unworthy fight:

The matterthip of heaven in face and mind,
And lovers far beyond their faithlefs kind:
See their wide ftreaming wounds; they neither

came

For pride of empire, nor defire of fame.
Kings fight for kingdoms, madmen for applaufe:
But love for love alone; that crowns the lover's
cause.

1

This thought, which ever bribes the beauteous Such pity wrought in ev'ry lady's mind, [kind, They left their iteeds, and, proftrate on the place, From thefierceking implor'd the offenders'grace.

He paus'd awhile, ftood filent in his mood (For yet his rage was boiling in his blood); But fcon his tender mind th' impreffion felt, (As fofteft metals are not flow to melt, And pity fooneft runs in fofteft minds): Then reafons with himself; and firft he finds His paffion caft a mist before his fenfe, And either made or magnified th' offence. Offence? of what? to whom? who judg'd the caufe?

The pris'ner freed himself by nature's laws: Born free, he fought his right: the man he freed Was perjur'd; but his love excus'd the deed: Thus pond'ring, he look'd under with his eyes, And faw the women's tears, and heard their cries,

Which mov'd compaffion more: he fhook his
And, fottly fighing, to himself he faid: [head,
Curfe on the unpardoning prince, whom tears
can draw

To no remorte, who rules by lions' law;
And deaf to prayers, by no submission bow`d,
Rends all alike, the penitent and proud!
At this with look ferene, he rais'd his head:
Reaton refund her place, and paffion fled:
Then thus aloud he ipoke: The pow'r of love,
In earths, and feas, and air, and heaven above,
Rules, unrefifted, with an awful nod;
By daily miracles declar'd a God:
He blinds the wife, gives eye-fight to the blind;
And moulds and itamps anew the lover's mind.
Behold that Arcite, and this Palamon,
Freed from my tetters, and in fafety gone,
What hinder'd either in their native foil
At eafe to reap the harvest of their toil;
But Love, their lord, did otherwife ordain,
And brought them in their own defpite again,
To fuffer death deferv'd; for wel! they know
'Tis in my pow'r, and I their deadly foe;
The proverb hoids, that to be wife vid iore,
Is hardly granted to the Gods above

See

See how the madmen bleed: behold the gains
With which their master, Love, rewards their
For feven long years, on duty ev'ry day, [pains;
Lo their obedience, and their monarch's pay:
Yet, as in duty bound, they ferve him on;
And, ask the fools, they think it wifely done;
Nor eafe, nor wealth, nor life itself regard,
For 'tis their maxim, love is love's reward.
This is not all; the fair for whom they ftrove
Nor knew before, nor could suspect, their love;
Nor thought, when the beheld the fight from far,
Her beauty was the occafion of the war.
But fure a gen'ral doom on man is past,
And all are fools and lovers firft or last:
This both by others and myself I know,
For I have ferv'd their fov'reign long ago;
Oft have been caught within the winding train
Of female fnares, and felt the lover's pain,
And learn'd how far the God can human hearts
constrain.

To this remembrance, and the pray'rs of thofe
Who for th' offending warriors interpofe,
I give their forfeit lives; on this accord,
To do me homage as their fov'reign lord;
And as my vaffals, to their utmoit might,
Affift my perfon, and affert my right.
Thisfreelyfworn,theknights their grace obtain'd,
Then thus theking his fecret thoughts explain'd:
If wealth, or honour, or a royal race,
Or each, or all, may win a lady's grace,
Then either of you knights may well deferve
A princefs born; and fuch is the you ferve:
For Emily is filter to the crown,

And but too well to both her beauty known:
But fhould you combat till you both were dead,
Two lovers cannot fhare a fingle bed:
As therefore both are equal in degree,
The lot of both be left to destiny.
Now hear the award, and happy may it prove
To her, and him who beft deferves her love!
Depart from hence in peace, and free as air
Search the wide world, and where you pleafe
repair;

But on the day when this returning fun
To the fame point through ev'ry fign has run,
Then each of you his hundred knights fhall bring,
In royal lifts, to fight before the king;
And then the knight whom fate or happy chance
Shall with his friends to victo y advance,
And grace his arms fo far in equal fight
From out the bars to force his oppofite,
Or kill, or make him recreant on the plain,
The prize of valour and of love fhall gain;
The vanquish'd party fhall their claim releafe,
And the long jars conclude in lafting peace.
The charge be mine t'adorn the chofen ground,
The theatre of war, for champions fo renown'd,
And take the patron's place of either knight,
With eyes impartial to behold the fight:
And heaven of me fojudge as I fhall judge aright!
If both are fatisfied with this accord,
Svear by the laws of knighthood on my fword.
Who now but Plamon exults with joy?
And ravith'd Arcite feems to touch the sky;

The whole affembled troop was pleas'd as
Extol th' award, and on their knees the
To blefs the gracious king. The knigh
leave

Departing from the place, his laft comma
On Emily with equal ardour look,
And from her eyes their inspiration took
From thence to Thebes 'oldwalls pursue th
Each to provide his champions for the d

It might be deem'd, on our hiftorian'
Or too much negligence, or want of art
If he forgot the vast magnificence
Of royal Thefeus, and his large expence
He firft inclos'd for lifts a level ground,
The whole circumference a mile around;
The form was circular; and all without
A trench was funk, to moat the place ab
Within an amphitheatre appear'd,
Rais'd in degrees, to fixty paces rear'd:
That, when a man was plac'd in one de
Height was allow'd for him above to fee

Eastward was built a gate of marble w The like adorn'd the western oppofite. A nobler object than this fabric was Rome never faw, nor of fo vaft a space: For, rich with fpoils of many a conquer All arts and artifts Thefeus could comm Who fold for hire, or wrought for better The mafter-painters and the carvers cam So rofe within the compafs of the year An age's work, a glorious theatre. Then o'er its eastern gate was rais'd abo A temple, facred to the queen of love; An altar ftood below: on either lad A prieft with roses crown'd, who held a

The dome of Mars was on the gate op And on the north a turret was inclos'd, Within the wall of alabaster white, And crimson coral for the queen of ni Who takes in fylvan fports her chafte de

Within thefe oratories might you fee Rich carvings, portraitures, and image Where e'ery figure to the life expreis'd The godhead's pow'r to whom it was ad In Venus' temple, on the fides were leer The broken flumbers of enamour'd men Pray'rs that e'en fpoke, and pity feem'd And iffuing fighs that fmok'd along the Complaints, and hot defires, the lover's And fcalding tears that wore a channel whe

fell:

And all around were nuptial bonds, the
Of love's affurance, and a train of lies,
That, made in luft, conclude in perjurie
Beauty, and youth, and wealth, and luxu
And fprightly hope, and fhort-enduring
And forceries to raife th' infernal pow'r
And figils fram'd in planetary hours:
Expence, and after-thought, and idle ca
And doubts of motley hue, and dark de
Sufpicions, and fantastical furmise,
And jealoufy fuffus'd with jaundice in he
Difcolouring all the view'd, in tawny d
Down-icok'd, and with a cuckow on Le

All copied from the heavens, and ruling force
Of the red ftar, in his revolving courie.
The form of Mars high on a chariot flood,
All fheath'd in arms, and grufflylook'd the God:
Two geomantic figures were display'd
Above his head, a warrior and a maid;
One when direct, and one when retrograde.

Tir'd with deformities of death, I hafte
To the third temple of Diana chaste.
A fylvan fcene with various greens was drawn,
Shades on the fides and on the midft a lawn:
The filver Cynthia, with her nymphs around,
Purfued the flying deer, the woods with horns
Califto there ftood manifeft of thame, [refound:
And, turn'd a bear, the northern star became :
Her fon was next, and by peculiar grace
In the cold circle held the fecond place:
The ftag Acteon in the ftream had fpied
The naked huntress, and, for feeing, died :
His hounds, unknowing of his change, pursue
The chace, and their mistaken mafter flew.
Peneian Daphne too was there to fee,
Apollo's love before, and now his tree:
Th'adjoining faneth'aflembled Greeks exprefs'd,
And hunting of the Caledonian beast.
Qenides' valour, and his envied prize;
The fatal pow'r of Atalanta's eyes;
Diana's vengeance on the victor thewn,
The murd refs mother, and confuming fon;
The Volfcian queen extended on the plain;
The treafon punish'd, and the traitor flain.
The rest were various huntings, well defign'd,
And favage beasts destroy'd, of ev'ry kind.
The graceful goddess was array'd in green;
About her feet were little beagles feen,
That watch'd with upward eyes the motions
of their queen.

Her legs were buskin'd, and the left before,
In act to fhoot; a filver bow fhe bore,
And at her back a painted quiver wore.
She trod a waxing moon, that foon would wane,
And, drinking borrow'd light, be fill'd again;
With downcaft eyes, as feeming to furvey
The dark dominions, her alternate fway.
Before her ftood a woman in her throes,
And call'd Lucina's aid, her burden to difclofe.
All these the painter drew with fuch command,
That Nature fnatch'd the pencil from his hand,
Afham'd and angry that his art could feign
And mend the tortures of a mother's pain.
Thefeus beheld the fanes of ev'ry God,
And thought his mighty coft was well beftow'd.
So princes now their poets fhould regard;
But few can write, and fewer can reward.
The theatre thus rais'd, the lifts inclos`d,
And all with vast magnificence dispos'd,
We leave the monarch pleas'd, and hafte to bring
The knights to combat, and their arms to sing.

BOOK III.

THE day approach'd when Fortune should decide

*`b` important enterprise, and give the bride;

For now the rivals round the world had fou
And each his number, well appointed, brou
The nations far and near contend in choice
And fend the flow'r of war by public voice
That after, or before, were never known
Such chiefs, as each an army feem'd alone:
Befide the champions, all of high degree,
Who knighthood lov'd and deeds of chiv...
Throng'd to the lifts, and envied to behol
The names of others, not their own, enri
Nor feems it ftrange; for ev'ry noble knig
Who loves the fair, and is endued with mig
In fuch a quarrel would be proud to fight.
There breathes not scarce a man on British g
(An ifle for love and arms of old renown'd
But would have fold his life to purchase fa
To Palamon or Arcite fent his name:
And had the land felected of the belt, [the
Half had come hence, and let the world pro
A laundred knights with Palamon there ca
Approv'd in fight, and men of mighty nar
Their arms were fev'ral, as their nations w
But furnish'd all alike with fword and spe
Some wore coat-armour imitating cale;
And next their skins were stubborn thirts of
Some wore a breaft-plate and a light jupp
Their horfes cloth'd with rich capariton;
Some for defence would leathern bucklers
Of folded hides, and others thields of pru
One hung a pole-ax at his faddle-bow,
And one a heavy mace to ftun the foe;
One for his legs and knees provided well,
With jambeaux arm'd, and double plates of:
This on his helmet wore a lady's clove,
And that a fleeve embroider'd by his love.
With Palamon, above the reft in place,
Lycurgus came, the furly king of Thrace;
Black was his beard, and manly was his tac
The balls of his broad eyes roll'd in his h
And glar'd betwixt a yellow and a red :
He look'd a lion with a gloomy ftare,
And o'er his eye-brows hung his matted h
Big-bon'd, and large of limbs, with finews it
Broad-fhoulder'd, and his arms were round