But I moste be in prisoun thurgh Saturne, And eek thorugh Juno, jalous and eke wood, Now wol I stynte of Palamon a lite, Who hath the worse, Arcite or Palamon? That on may se his lady day by day, But in prisoun he moot dwelle alway. That other may wher him lust ryde or go, Now deemeth as you luste, ye that can, For I wol telle forth as I bigan. 1330 1340 1350 1349.-this question. An implied allusion to the medieval courts of love, in which questions of this kind were seriously discussed. Whan that Arcite to Thebes come was, And schortly to concluden al his wo, That is or schal whil that the world wol dure. His hewe falwe, and pale as asschen colde, And dwellyng all the night, making his moone. And if he herde song or instrument, 1360 Then wolde he wepe, he mighte nought be stent. 1370 So feble were his spirites, and so lowe, And chaunged so, that no man couthe knowe His speche nother his vois, though men it herde. And in his gir, for all the world he ferde Nought oonly lyke the lovers maladye 1378.—in his selle fantastyk. Tyrwhitt reads, Beforne his hed in his celle fantastike. The division of the brain into cells, according to the different sensitive faculties, is very ancient aud is found depicted in medieval manuscripts. It was a rude fore-runner of the science of phrenology. The 'fantastic cell' (fantasia) was in front of the head. In MS. Harl. No. 4025, is a treatise entitled Liber Thesauri Occulti, in which (fol. 5, ro.), we are informed, "Et est in cerebro rationativa, in corde irascibilis vel inspirativa, in epate voluntaria vel concupiscibilis. . Verumptamen certum est in prora cerebri esse fantasiam, in medio rationem discretionis, in puppi memoriam; quarum si aliqua naturali And schortly turned was al up-so-doun Of him, this woful lovere daun Arcite. This cruel torment, and this peyne and woo, Upon a night in sleep as he him leyde, Him thought that how the venged god Mercurie His slepy yerd in hond he bar upright; An hat he wered upon his heres bright. Arrayed was this god (as he took keepe) 1380 1390 As he was whan that Argous took his sleep; And seyde him thus: "To Athenes schalt thou wende; Ther is the schapen of thy wo an ende." And with that word Arcite wook and sterte. To see my lady, that I love and serve; 1400 infirmitate vel percussione desipuerit et maxime memoria, prorsus et sompnia perempta sunt, si ratio vel fantasia vero destructa, sompnia quoquo modo ex memoria remanserunt. Si itaque homo multa per sompnium sæpe viderit et oblitus fuerit ea quæ vidit, scito memorialem partem cerebri ejus tenebrositate et obscuritate detentam esse. Similiter de ratione vel judicio et fantasia præjudicandum est, et infirmitati futuræ præcavendum." 1384.-I retain Tyrwhitt's reading of this line, which in the Harl. MS. runs, In this cruel torment, peyne, and woo. And saugh that chaunged was al his colour, And at the gate he profred his servyse, To drugge and drawe, what so men wolde devyse. He fel in office with a chambirleyn, The which that dwellyng was with Emelye. 1410 1420 1430 But half so wel beloved a man as he, Ne was ther never in court of his degree. That thorughout al the court was his renoun. That Theseus wolde enhaunsen his degree, And speke I wole of Palamon a lyte. In derknes and orrible and strong prisoun 1440 1450 1439.-within. The MS. Harl. reads incorrectly withinne, which is the adverbial form of the preposition. |