Canterbury Tales and Other Poems, Geoffrey Chaucer [good fiction books to read txt] 📗

the day, as I have told ere this, And Theseus, with alle joy and bliss,

With his Hippolyta, the faire queen,

And Emily, y-clothed all in green,

On hunting be they ridden royally.

And to the grove, that stood there faste by, In which there was an hart, as men him told, Duke Theseus the straighte way doth hold, And to the laund* he rideth him full right, *plain <33>

There was the hart y-wont to have his flight, And over a brook, and so forth on his way.

This Duke will have a course at him or tway With houndes, such as him lust* to command. *pleased And when this Duke was come to the laund, Under the sun he looked, and anon

He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,

That foughte breme*, as it were bulles two. *fiercely The brighte swordes wente to and fro

So hideously, that with the leaste stroke It seemed that it woulde fell an oak,

But what they were, nothing yet he wote*. knew This Duke his courser with his spurres smote, And at a start* he was betwixt them two, suddenly

And pulled out a sword and cried, “Ho!

No more, on pain of losing of your head.

By mighty Mars, he shall anon be dead

That smiteth any stroke, that I may see!

But tell to me what mister* men ye be, *manner, kind <34>

That be so hardy for to fighte here

Withoute judge or other officer,

As though it were in listes royally. <35>

This Palamon answered hastily,

And saide: “Sir, what needeth wordes mo’?

We have the death deserved bothe two,

Two woful wretches be we, and caitives, That be accumbered* of our own lives, *burdened And as thou art a rightful lord and judge, So give us neither mercy nor refuge.

And slay me first, for sainte charity, But slay my fellow eke as well as me.

Or slay him first; for, though thou know it lite, little This is thy mortal foe, this is Arcite That from thy land is banisht on his head, For which he hath deserved to be dead.

For this is he that came unto thy gate And saide, that he highte Philostrate.

Thus hath he japed* thee full many year, *deceived And thou hast made of him thy chief esquier; And this is he, that loveth Emily.

For since the day is come that I shall die I make pleinly* my confession, fully, unreservedly That I am thilke woful Palamon, *that same <36>

That hath thy prison broken wickedly.

I am thy mortal foe, and it am I

That so hot loveth Emily the bright,

That I would die here present in her sight.

Therefore I aske death and my jewise*. *judgement But slay my fellow eke in the same wise, For both we have deserved to be slain.”

 

This worthy Duke answer’d anon again,

And said, “This is a short conclusion.

Your own mouth, by your own confession Hath damned you, and I will it record; It needeth not to pain you with the cord; Ye shall be dead, by mighty Mars the Red.<37>

 

The queen anon for very womanhead

Began to weep, and so did Emily,

And all the ladies in the company.

Great pity was it as it thought them all, That ever such a chance should befall, For gentle men they were, of great estate, And nothing but for love was this debate They saw their bloody woundes wide and sore, And cried all at once, both less and more, “Have mercy, Lord, upon us women all.”

And on their bare knees adown they fall And would have kissed his feet there as he stood, Till at the last *aslaked was his mood* his anger was (For pity runneth soon in gentle heart); appeased

And though at first for ire he quoke and start He hath consider’d shortly in a clause The trespass of them both, and eke the cause: And although that his ire their guilt accused Yet in his reason he them both excused; As thus; he thoughte well that every man Will help himself in love if that he can, And eke deliver himself out of prison.

Of women, for they wepten ever-in-one: continually And eke his hearte had compassion

And in his gentle heart he thought anon, And soft unto himself he saide: “Fie

Upon a lord that will have no mercy,

But be a lion both in word and deed,

To them that be in repentance and dread, As well as-to a proud dispiteous* man *unpitying That will maintaine what he first began.

That lord hath little of discretion,

That in such case *can no division*: can make no distinction

But weigheth pride and humbless after one.” alike

And shortly, when his ire is thus agone, He gan to look on them with eyen light, gentle, lenient*

And spake these same wordes all on height. aloud

 

“The god of love, ah! benedicite, bless ye him How mighty and how great a lord is he!

Against his might there gaine* none obstacles, *avail, conquer He may be called a god for his miracles 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 prison,

And might have lived in Thebes royally, And weet* I am their mortal enemy, knew And that their death li’th in my might also, And yet hath love, maugre their eyen two, in spite of their eyes*

Y-brought them hither bothe for to die.

Now look ye, is not this an high folly?

Who may not be a fool, if but he love?

Behold, for Godde’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 service; And yet they weene for to be full wise, That serve love, for aught that may befall.

But this is yet the beste game* of all, *joke That she, for whom they have this jealousy, Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.

She wot no more of all this *hote fare, hot behaviour*

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: long years ago

For in my time a servant was I one.

And therefore since I know of love’s pain, And wot how sore it can a man distrain, distress As he that oft hath been caught in his last, snare <38>

I you forgive wholly this trespass,

At request 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 injure Nor make war upon me night nor day,

But be my friends in alle that ye may.

I you forgive this trespass *every deal*. completely

And they him sware his asking fair and well, what he asked

And him of lordship and of mercy pray’d, And he them granted grace, and thus he said: “To speak of royal lineage and richess, Though that she were a queen or a princess, Each of you both is worthy doubteless

To wedde 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 know At once, although ye fight for evermo: But one of you, all be him loth or lief,* whether or not he wishes

He must go pipe into an ivy leaf: “go whistle”

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; and hearken in what wise as is decreed for him

Lo hear your end of that I shall devise.

My will is this, for plain conclusion

Withouten any replication, reply If that you liketh, take it for the best, That evereach of you shall go where *him lest, he pleases Freely without ransom or danger;

And this day fifty weekes, *farre ne nerre, neither more nor less*

Evereach of you shall bring an hundred knights, Armed for listes up at alle rights

All ready to darraine* her by bataille, contend for And this behete I you withoute fail *promise Upon my troth, and as I am a knight,

That whether of you bothe that hath might, That is to say, that whether he or thou May with his hundred, as I spake of now, Slay his contrary, or out of listes drive, Him shall I given Emily to wive,

To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.

The listes shall I make here in this place.

*And God so wisly on my soule rue, may God as surely have As I shall even judge be and true. mercy on my soul*

Ye shall none other ende with me maken Than one of you shalle be dead or taken.

And if you thinketh this is well y-said, Say your advice*, and hold yourselves apaid**. opinion *satisfied This is your end, and your conclusion.”

Who looketh lightly now but Palamon?

Who springeth up for joye but Arcite?

Who could it tell, or who could it indite, The joye that is maked in the place

When Theseus hath done so fair a grace?

But down on knees went every *manner wight, kind of person*

And thanked him with all their heartes’ might, And namely* these Thebans ofte sithe. *especially oftentimes

And thus with good hope and with hearte blithe They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride To Thebes-ward, with his old walles wide.

 

I trow men woulde deem it negligence,

If I forgot to telle the dispence expenditure Of Theseus, that went so busily

To maken up the listes royally,

That such a noble theatre as it was,

I dare well say, in all this world there n’as*. *was not The circuit a mile was about,

Walled of stone, and ditched all without.

*Round was the shape, in manner of compass, Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas* see note <39>

That when a man was set on one degree

He letted* not his fellow for to see. *hindered Eastward there stood a gate of marble white, Westward right such another opposite.

And, shortly to conclude, such a place Was never on earth made in so little space, For in the land there was no craftes-man, That geometry or arsmetrike* can*, arithmetic **knew Nor pourtrayor*, nor carver of images, *portrait painter 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,

*Done make* an altar and an oratory; caused to be made

And westward, in the mind and in memory Of Mars, he maked hath right such another, That coste largely of gold a fother*. *a great amount And northward, in a turret on the wall, Of alabaster white and red coral

An oratory riche for to see,

In worship of Diane of chastity,

Hath Theseus done work in noble wise.

But yet had I forgotten to devise describe The noble carving, and the portraitures, The shape, the countenance of the figures That weren in there oratories three.

 

First in the temple of Venus may’st thou see