Have pitee on my bitter teres fmert,
And take myn humble praier at thin herte.
Alas! I ne have no langage to tell
The effecte ne the torment of min hell;
Min herte may min harmes not bewrey;
I am fo confufe that I cannot fay:
But mercy, lady bright! that knoweft wele
My thought, and feelt what harmes that I fele:
Confider all this, and rue upon my fore,
As wifly as I fhall for evermore
Emforth my might thy trewe fervant be,
And holden werre alway with chastite;
That make I min avow fo ye'me helpe,
I kepe nought of armes for to yelpe,
Ne axe I nat to-morwe to have victorie,
Ne renoun in this cas, ne vaine glorie
Of pris of armes, blowen up and doun,
But I wold have fully poffeffioun
Of Emelie, and die in hire fervife;
Find thou the manere how, and in what wife.
I rekke not but it may better be
To have victorie of hem or they of me
So that I have my lady in min armes ;
For though fo be that Mars is god of Armes, 2250
And again, [See below, ver. 2240.;]
Io non te chegio in arme aver victoria-
Io cercho fola Emilia, la qual poi
Donarmi, Dea, fe donar la mi voi.
Il modo trova tu, ch'io non ne curo
ch'io fia vinto, e ch'io fia vincitore.
Your vertue is fo grete in heven above,
That if you lifte I fhal wel have my love.
Thy temple wol I worship evermo,
And on thin auter, wher I ride or go,
I wol don facrifice, and fires bete.
And if ye wol not fo, my lady fwete!
Than pray I you to-morwe with a fpere
That Arcita me thurgh the herte bere;
Than rekke I not whan I have loft my lif
Though that Arcita win hire to his wif.
This is the effecte and ende of my praiere,
Yeve me my love thou blisful lady dere!
Whan the orifon was don of Palamon
His facrifice he did, and that anon,
Full pitoufly, with alle circumstances,
All tell I not as now his obfervances.
But at the laft the ftatue of Venus fhoke,
And made a figne wherby that he toke
That his praiere accepted was that day;
For though the figne fhewed a delay,
Yet wift he wel that granted was his bone,
And with glad herte he went him home ful fone.
The thridde houre inequal that Palamon
Began to Venus temple for to gon
.2273. The thridde boure inequal] In the affrological fyftem the day (from sunrise to sunset) and the night (from sunset to funrife) being each divided into twelve hours, it is plain that the hours of the day and night were never equal except juft at the equinoxes. The hours attributed to the planets were of this unequal fort. See Kalendrier de Berg. loc. cit. and our Author's Treatise on the Aftrolabe.
Up rofe the fonne, and up rofe Emelie,
And to the temple of Diane gan hie.
Hire maydens that she thider with hire ladde
Ful redily with hem the fire they hadde,
Th'encenfe, the clothes, and the remenant all,
That to the facrifice longen fball,
The hornes ful of mede, as was the gife;
Ther lakked nought to don hire facrifise.
Smoking the temple, ful of clothes fayre,
This Emelie with herte debonaire
Hire body wesfhe with water of a well,
But how he did hire rite I dare not tell,
But it be any thing in general,
And yet it were a game to heren all;
To him that meneth wel it n'ere no charge;
But it is good a man to ben at large.
Hire bright here kembed was, untressed all;
A coroune of a grene oke cerial
Upon hire hed was fet ful fayre and mete:
Two fires on the auter gan fhe bete,
Whan kindled was the fire, with pitous chere Unto Diane the fpake as ye may here:
O chafte goddeffe of the wodes grene,
To whom both heven, and erthe, and fee, is fene,
Quene of the regne of Pluto derke and lowe, 2301
Goddeffe of maydens, that min herte haft knowe
Ful many a yere, and woft what I defire,
As kepe me fro thy vengeance and thin ire,
That Atteon aboughte cruelly!
Chafte goddeffe! wel woteft thou that I
Defire to ben a mayden all my lif,
Ne never wol I be no love ne wif;
I am (thou wost) yet of thy compagnie,
A mayde, and love hunting and venerie,
And for to walken in the wodes wilde,
And not to ben a wif and be with childe;
Nought wol I knowen compagnie of man;
Now helpe me, Lady, fith ye may and can,
For tho three formes that thou haft in thee:
And Palamon, that hath fwiche love to me,
And eke Arcite, that loveth me fo fore,
This grace I praie thee withouten more,
As fende love and pees betwix hem two,
And fro me torne away hir hertes so,
That all hir hote love and hir defire,
And all hir befy torment and hir fire
Be queinte, or torned in another place.
And if fo be thou wolt not do me grace,
Or if my destinee be shapen fo
That I fhall nedes have on of hem two,
As fende me him that most defireth me.
Beholde, goddeffe of clene Chaftite!
The bitter teres that on my chekes fall :
Sin thou art mayde, and keper of us all,
My maydenhed thou kepe and wel conferve,
And while I live a mayde I wol thee serve.
The fires brenne upon the auter clere
While Emelie was thus in hire praiere,
But fodenly the faw a fighte queinte;
For right anon on of the fires queinte
And quiked again, and after that anon
That other fire was queinte and all agon,
And as it queinte it made a whifteling
As don thefe brondes wet in hir brenning;
And at the brondes ende outran anon
As it were blody dropes many on;
For which fo fore agaft was Emelie,
That she was wel neigh mad, and gan to crie,
For fhe ne wife what it fignified,
But only for the fere thus fhe cried
And wept, that it was pitee for to here.
And therwithall Diane gan appere
With bowe in hond, right as an huntercffe,
And fayde, Doughter, flint thin hevineffe.
Among the goddes highe it is affermed,
And by eterne word written and confermed,
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