This is to seyn, that whethir he or thou
May with his hundred, as I spak of now,
Sle his contrary, or out of lystes dryve,
Him schal I geve Emelye to wyve,
To whom that fortune geveth so fair a grace.
The lyste schal I make in this place,
And God so wisly on my sowle rewe,
As I schal even juge ben and trewe.
Ye schul non othir ende with me make,
That oon of yow schal be deed or take.
And if you thinketh this is wel i-sayde,
Say youre avys, and holdeth yow apayde.
This is youre ende, and youre conclusioun."
Who loketh lightly now but Palamoun?
Who spryngeth up for joye but Arcite?
Who couthe telle, or who couthe endite,
The joye that is made in this place
Whan Theseus hath don so fair a grace?
But down on knees wente every wight,
And thanked him with al here hertes might,
And namely the Thebanes ofte sithe.
And thus with good hope and herte blithe
They taken here leve, and hom-ward they ryde
To Thebes-ward, with olde walles wyde.
I trow men wolde it deme necligence,
If I forgete to telle the dispence
Of Theseus, that goth so busily
I have added ward (which has evidently been omitted by the scribe of the MS. Harl.) from one of the Cambridge MSS.
To maken up the lystes rially.
And such a noble theatre as it was,
I dar wel say that in this world ther nas.
The circuite ther was a myle aboute,
Walled of stoon, and dyched al withoute.
Round was the schap, in maner of compaas,
Ful of degré, the height of sixty paas,
That whan a man was set in o degré
He letted nought his felaw for to se.
Est-ward ther stood a gate of marbul whit,
West-ward such another in opposit.
And schortly to conclude, such a place
Was non in erthe, in so litel space.
In al the lond ther nas no craftys man,
That geometry or arsmetrike can,
Ne portreyour, ne kerver of ymages,
That Theseus ne gaf hem mete and wages
The theatre for to maken and devyse.
And for to don his right and sacrifise,
He est-ward hath upon the gate above,
In worschip of Venus goddes of love,
Don make an auter and an oratory;
And west-ward in the mynde and in memory
Of Mars, he hath i-maked such another,
That coste largely of gold a fother.
And north-ward, in a toret on the walle,
Of alabaster whit and reed coralle
1903. In all this description of the arena, there is a singular modifi cation of the idea of an ancient amphitheatre, by clothing it in the description of a inedieval tournament scene.
An oratory riche for to see,
In worschip of Dyane, goddes of chastité,
Hath Theseus i-wrought in noble wise.
But yit had I forgeten to devyse
The nobil kervyng, and the purtretures,
The schap, the contynaunce of the figures,
That weren in these oratories thre.
Furst in the temple of Venus thou may se
Wrought in the wal, ful pitous to byholde,
The broken slepes, and the sykes colde;
The sacred teeres, and the waymentyng;
The fuyry strokes of the desiryng,
That loves servauntz in thy lyf enduren;
The othes, that by her covenantz assuren.
Plesance and hope, desyr, fool-hardynesse,
Beauté and youthe, baudery and richesse,
Charmes and sorcery, lesynges and flatery,
Dispense, busynes, and jelousy,
That werud of yolo guldes a gerland,
And a cukkow sittyng on hire hand;
Festes, instrumentz, carols, and daunces,
Lust and array, and al the circumstaunces
Of love, which I rekned and reken schal,
Ech by other were peynted on the wal,
And mo than I can make of mencioun.
For sothly al the mount of Setheroun,
1929. sorcery. This reading, supported by several MSS., is certainly superior to Tyrwhitt's force, which perhaps only arose from misreading the abbreviation, forc'e. Sorcery was considered one of the most effective modes of procuring love.
1938. Setheroun. Cytheron.
Ther Venus hath hir principal dwellyng,
Was schewed on the wal here portrayng,
With alle the gardyn, and al the lustynes.
Nought was forgete the porter Ydelnes,
Ne Narcisus the fayr of yore agon,
Ne yet the foly of kyng Salamon,
Ne eek the grete strengthe of Hercules,
Thenchauntementz of Medea and Cerces,
Ne of Turnus the hard fuyry corage,
The riche Cresus caytif in servage.
Thus may we see, that wisdom and riches,
Beauté ne sleight, strengthe ne hardynes,
Ne may with Venus holde champartye,
For as sche luste the world than may sche
Lo, all this folk i-caught were in hire trace,
Til thay for wo ful often sayde allas.
Sufficeth this ensample oon or tuo,
And though I couthe reken a thousend mo.
The statu of Venus glorious for to see
Was naked fletyng in the large see,
And fro the navel doun all covered was
With wawes grene, and bright as eny glas.
A citole in hire right hond hadde sche,
And on hir heed, ful semely on to see,
A rose garland ful swete, and wel smellyng,
And aboven hire heed dowves fleyng.
Biforn hir stood hir sone Cupido,
Upon his schuldres were wynges two;
And blynd he was, as it is often seene;
A bowe he bar and arwes fair and greene.
Why schuld I nought as wel telle you alle
The portraiture, that was upon the walle
Within the temple of mighty Mars the reede?
Al peynted was the wal in length and breede
Like to the estres of the grisly place,
That hight the gret tempul of Mars in Trace,
In that colde and frosty regioun,
Ther as Mars hath his sovereyn mancioun.
First on the wal was peynted a foreste,
In which ther dwelled neyther man ne beste,
With knotty knarry bareyn trees olde
Of stubbes scharpe and hidous to byholde;
In which ther ran a swymbul in a swough,
As it were a storme schuld berst every bough:
And downward on an hil under a bent,
Ther stood the tempul of Marz armypotent,
Wrought al of burned steel, of which thentré
Was long and streyt, and gastly for to see.
And therout cam a rage and suche a prise,
That it maad al the gates for to rise.
The northen light in at the dore schon,
Others read schene, and kene, the
latter of which is perhaps the best.
1977.-"1 shall throw together a few lines of the Teseide, which Chaucer has plainly copied in this description" (Tyrwhitt)——
Ne v'era bestia ancora ne pastore...
Cerri...nodosi, aspri, rigidi, e vetusti...
E le porte eran de eterno adamante
Ferrato d'ogni parte tutte quante.
1981.-a swymbul. This reading of MS. Harl., is supported by other MSS. Tyrwhitt, with some MSS., has a romble and a swough.
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