The Canterbury Tales · The Knight’s Tale 277 (4/8)

“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 another,

That costë largëly of gold a fother.538

And northward, in a turret on the wall,

Of alabaster white and red corál

An oratory richë for to see,

In worship of Diane of chastity,

Hath Theseus done539 work in noble wise.

But yet had I forgotten to devise540

The noble carving, and the portraitures,

The shape, the countenance of the figúres

That weren in there oratories three.

First in the temple of Venus may’st thou see

Wrought on the wall, full piteous to behold,

The broken sleepës, and the sikës541 cold,

The sacred tearës, and the waimentings,542

The fiery strokës of the desirings,

That Lovë’s servants in this life endure;

The oathës, that their covenants assure.

Pleasance and Hope, Desire, Foolhardiness,

Beauty and Youth, and Bawdry and Richéss,

Charms and Sorc’ry, Leasings543 and Flattery,

Dispencë, Business, and Jealousy,

That wore of yellow goldës544 a garland,

And had a cuckoo sitting on her hand,

Feasts, instruments, and carolës and dances,

Lust and array, and all the circumstánces

Of Love, which I reckon’d and reckon shall

In order, werë painted on the wall,

And more than I can make of mentión.

For soothly all the mount of Citheron,545

Where Venus hath her principal dwelling,

Was showed on the wall in pourtraying,

With all the garden, and the lustiness.546

Nor was forgot the porter Idleness,

Nor Narcissus the fair of yore agone,547

Nor yet the folly of King Solomon,

Nor yet the greatë strength of Hercules,

Th’ enchantments of Medea and Circés,

Nor of Turnus the hardy fierce couráge,

The richë Croesus caitif in serváge.548

Thus may ye see, that wisdom nor richéss,

Beauty, nor sleight, nor strength, nor hardiness,

Ne may with Venus holdë champartie,549

For as her listë the world may she gie.550

Lo, all these folk so caught were in her las551

Till they for woe full often said, Alas!

Sufficë these ensamples one or two,

Although I could reckon a thousand mo’.

The statue of Venus, glorious to see

Was naked floating in the largë sea,

And from the navel down all cover’d was

With wavës green, and bright as any glass.

A citole552 in her right hand haddë she,

And on her head, full seemly for to see,

A rosë garland fresh, and well smelling,

Above her head her dovës flickering.

Before her stood her sonë Cupido,

Upon his shoulders wingës had he two;

And blind he was, as it is often seen;

A bow he bare, and arrows bright and keen.

Why should I not as well eke tell you all

The portraiture, that was upon the wall

Within the temple of mighty Mars the Red?

All painted was the wall in length and brede553

Like to the estres554 of the grisly place

That hight the great temple of Mars in Thrace,

In thilkë555 cold and frosty región,

There as Mars hath his sovereign mansión.

First on the wall was painted a forést,

In which there dwelled neither man nor beast,

With knotty gnarry556 barren treës old

Of stubbës sharp and hideous to behold;

In which there ran a rumble and a sough,557

As though a storm should bursten every bough:

And downward from an hill under a bent,558

There stood the temple of Mars Armipotent,

Wrought all of burnish’d steel, of which th’ entry

Was long and strait, and ghastly for to see.

And thereout came a rage and such a vise,559

That it made all the gatës for to rise.

The northern light in at the doorë shone,

For window on the wallë was there none

Through which men mighten any light discern.

The doors were all of adamant etern,

Y-clenched overthwart and endëlong560

With iron tough, and, for to make it strong,

Every pillar the temple to sustain

Was tunnë-great,561 of iron bright and sheen.

There saw I first the dark imagining

Of felony, and all the compassing;

The cruel ire, as red as any glede,562

The pickëpurse,563 and eke the palë dread;

The smiler with the knife under the cloak,

The shepen564 burning with the blackë smoke;

The treason of the murd’ring in the bed,

The open war, with woundës all be-bled;

Conteke565 with bloody knife, and sharp menace.

All full of chirking566 was that sorry place.

The slayer of himself eke saw I there,

His heartë-blood had bathed all his hair:

The nail y-driven in the shode567 at night,

The coldë death, with mouth gaping upright.

Amiddës of the temple sat Mischance,

With discomfórt and sorry countenance;

Eke saw I Woodness568 laughing in his rage,

Armed Complaint, Outhees,569 and fierce Outrage;

The carrain570 in the bush, with throat y-corve,571

A thousand slain, and not of qualm y-storve;572

The tyrant, with the prey by force y-reft;

The town destroy’d, that there was nothing left.

Yet saw I brent the shippës hoppësteres,573

The hunter strangled with the wildë bears:

The sow freting574 the child right in the cradle;

The cook scalded, for all his longë ladle.

Nor was forgot, by th’ infortune of Mart575

The carter overridden with his cart;

Under the wheel full low he lay adown.

There were also of Mars’ division,

The armourer, the bowyer,576 and the smith,

That forgeth sharpë swordës on his stith.577

And all above depainted in a tower

Saw I Conquest, sitting in great honoúr,

With thilkë578 sharpë sword over his head

Hanging by a subtle y-twined thread.

Painted the slaughter was of Julius,579

Of cruel Nero, and Antonius:

Although at that time they were yet unborn,

Yet was their death depainted there beforn,

By menacing of Mars, right by figúre,

So was it showed in that portraitúre,

As is depainted in the stars above,

Who shall be slain, or ellës dead for love.

Sufficeth one ensample in stories old,

I may not reckon them all, though I wo’ld.

The statue of Mars upon a cartë580 stood

Armed, and looked grim as he were wood,581

And over his head there shonë two figúres

Of starrës, that be cleped in scriptures,

That one Puella, that other Rubeus.582

This god of armës was arrayed thus:

A wolf there stood before him at his feet

With eyen red, and of a man he eat:

With subtle pencil painted was this story,

In redouting583 of Mars and of his glory.

Now to the temple of Dian the chaste

As shortly as I can I will me haste,

To tellë you all the descriptioun.

Depainted be the wallës up and down

Of hunting and of shamefast chastity.

There saw I how woful Calistope,584

When that Dian aggrieved was with her,

Was turned from a woman till a bear,

And after was she made the lodëstar:585

Thus was it painted, I can say no far;586

Her son is eke a star as men may see.

There saw I Danë587 turn’d into a tree,

I meanë not the goddess Dianë,

But Peneus’ daughter, which that hight Danë.

There saw I Actaeon an hart y-maked,588

For vengeance that he saw Dian all naked:

I saw how that his houndës have him caught,

And freten589 him, for that they knew him not.

Yet painted was, a little farthermore

How Atalanta hunted the wild boar,

And Meleager, and many other mo’,

For which Diana wrought them care and woe.

There saw I many another wondrous story,

The which me list not drawen to memóry.

This goddess on an hart full high was set,590

With smallë houndës all about her feet,

And underneath her feet she had a moon,

Waxing it was, and shouldë wanë soon.

In gaudy green her statue clothed was,

With bow in hand, and arrows in a case.591

Her eyen castë she full low adown,

Where Pluto hath his darkë regioun.

A woman travailing was her beforn,

But, for her child so longë was unborn,

Full piteously Lucina592 gan she call,

And saidë; “Help, for thou may’st best of all.”

Well could he paintë lifelike that it wrought;

With many a florin he the hues had bought.

Now be these listës made, and Theseus,

That at his greatë cost arrayed thus

The temples, and the theatre every deal,593

When it was done, him liked wonder well.

But stint594 I will of Theseus a lite,595

And speak of Palamon and of Arcite.