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But he ne wot which is the right way thider, 1265
And to a dronken man the way is flider,

And certes in this world fo faren we.
We feken faft after felicite,

But we go wrong ful often trewely.
Thus we may fayen alle, and namely I,
That wende, and had a gret opinion,
That if I might efcapen fro prifon
Than I had ben in joye and parfite hele,
Ther now I am exiled fro my wele.
Sin that I may not seen you Emelie
In'am but ded; ther n'is no remedie.
Upon that other fide Palamon,

1270

1257

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Of all our ftri£, God wot, the frute is thin.
Thou walkeft now in Thebes at thy large,

1285

And of my wo thou yevest litel charge.
Thou maift, fith thou haft wisdom and manhede,
Affemblen all the folk of our kinrede,

. 1281. The pure fetters] The very fetters; fo in the Duck. ver. 583, the pure deth. The Greeks used zabapos in the fame fenfe, (Txwv natapos. Avery 'Timon, Ariftoph. Opv. 1548,] and the Latins purus putus. See Froif. v. ¡¡, c. 104, fur Angioisde courage.

Volume 11.

G

And make a werre fo fharpe on this contree,
That by fom aventure or fom tretee

Thou maist have hire to lady and to wif
For whom that I muft nedes lefe my lif.
For as by way of poflibilitee,

Sith thou art at thy large of prison free,

And art a lord, gret is thin avantage,

1290

1295

More than is min, that fterve here in a cage:
For I may wepe and waile while that I live,
With all the wo that prifon may me yeve,
And eke with peine that love me yeveth also,
That doubleth all my tourment and my wo.
Therwith the fire of jaloufie up fterte
Within his breft, and hent him by the herte
So woodly, that he like was to behold

1300

The box-tree, or the afhen ded and cold.

Than faid he; O cruel Goddes! that governe

1305

This world with binding of your word eterne,

And writen in the table of athamant

Your parlement and your eterne grant,

What is mankind more unto yhold

Than is the fhepe that rouketh in the fold?

1310

For flain is man right as another beeft,
And dwelleth eke in prifon and arrest,
And hath fikneffe and gret adversite,
And often times gilteles parde.

What governance is in this prefcience That gilteles turmenteth innocence?

1315

And yet encrefeth this all my penance,
That man is bounden to his obfervance
For Goddes fake to leten of his will,
Ther as a beeft may all his luft fulfill.
And whan a beeft is ded he hath no peine;

But man after his deth mote wepe and pleine,
Though in this world he have care and wo:
Withouten doute it mave ftonden fo.

The answer of this lete I to divines,
But wel I wote that in this world gret pine is.
Alas! I fee a ferpent or a thefe,

That many a trewe man hath do mefchefe,'
Gon at his large, and wher him lust may turn.
But I mofte ben in prifon thurgh Saturn,
And eke thurgh Juno, jalous and eke wood,
That hath wel neye deftruied all the blood
Of Thebes, with his wafte walles wide."
And Venus fleeth me on that other fide
For jaloufie, and fere of him Arcite.

Now wol I ftent of Palamon a lite,"
And leten him in his prifon ftill dwelle,
And of Arcita forth I wol you telle.

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The fommer paffeth, and the nightes long
Encrefen double wife the peines ftrong
Both of the lover and of the prifoner;
I n'ot which hath the wofuller mistere.
For fhortly for to fay, this Palamon
Perpetuelly is damned to prifon,

1320

1325

1330

1335

1340

In chaines and in fetters to ben ded;
And Arcite is exiled on his hed
For evermore as out of that contree,
Ne never more he shal his lady fee.

1343

You lovers axe I now this queftion,

Who hath the werfe, Arcite of Palamon?

1350

That on may fe his lady day by day,

But in prifon mofte he dwellen alway:

That other wher him luft may ride or go,
But fen his lady shal he never mo.

Now demeth as you lifte, ye that can,

1355

For I wol tell you forth as I began.

Whan that Arcite to Thebes comen was,

Ful oft a day he fwelt and faid Alas!

For fen his lady fhal he never mo.

And fhortly to concluden all his wo,

1360

So mochel forwe hadde never creature

That is or fhal be while the world may dure.

His flepe, his mete, his drinke, is him byraft,

That lene he wex, and drie as is a fhaft.

His eyen holwe, and grifly to behold,

1365

His hewe falwe, and pale as afhen cold,

And folitary he was, and ever alone,

And wailing all the night, making his mone:

V. 1346. exiled on his bed So in Froi. v. i. c. 241. orders were given "que nul fur fa tefte ne s'advancaft d'aller devant." In v. ii. c. 41, he ufes indifferently "fur la tefte" and "fur "peine de la tefte."

And if he herde fong or inftrument,

Than wold he wepe, he mighte not be ftent. 1370
So feble were his spirites, and so low,

And changed fo, that no man coude know
His fpeche ne his vois, though men it herd.
And in his gere, for all the world he ferd
Nought only like the lovers maladie
Of Ereos, but rather ylike manie,
Engendred of humours melancolike,
Beforne his hed in his celle fantastike.
And shortly turned was all up fo doun
Both habit and eke difpofitioun
Of him, this woful lover Dan Arcite,
What shuld I all day of his wo endite?

1375

1380

Whan he endured had a yere or two

At Thebes, in his contree, as I faid,

This cruel torment, and this peine and wo,

Upon a night in flepe as he him laid,

1385

Him thought how that the winged god Mercury
Beforne him ftood, and bad him to be mery.
His flepy yerde in hond he bare upright;
An hat he wered upon his heres bright:
Arraied was this god (as he toke kepe)
As he was whan that Argus toke his flepe,

1390

v. 1378. Beforne his bed in his celle] This is the reading of mf. E. The m. C. i, and HA. read beforn his oven celle--and perhaps their authority ought to have been followed in the text

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