The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 12. John Dryden

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      I wol be ded, or elles thou shalt die:

      Thou shalt not love my lady Emelie,

      But I wol love hire only and no mo,

      For I am Palamon, thy mortal fo.

      And though that I no wepen have in this place,

      But out of prison am astert by grace,

      I drede nought that eyther thou shalt die,

      Or thou ne shalt nat loven Emelie:

      Chese which thou wilt, for thou shalt not asterte.

      This Arcite tho, with ful dispitous herte,

      Whan he him knew, and had his tale herd,

      As fers as a leon, pulled out a swerd,

      And sayde thus; By God, that sitteth above,

      N'ere it that thou art sicke, and wood for love,

      And eke that thou no wepen hast in this place,

      Thou shuldest never out this grove pace,

      That thou ne shuldest dien of min hond;

      For I defie the suretee and the bond

      Which that thou saist that I have made to thee.

      What! veray fool, thinke wel that love is free

      And I wol love her maugre all thy might:

      But for thou art a worthy gentil knight,

      And wilnest to darraine hire by bataille,

      Have here my trouth, to morwe I will not faille,

      Withouten weting of any other wight,

      That here I wol be founden as a knight,

      And bringen harneis right ynough for thee,

      And chese the beste, and leve the werste for me:

      And mete and drinke this night wol I bring

      Ynough for thee, and cloathes for thy bedding;

      And if so be that thou my lady win,

      And sle me in this wode ther I am in,

      Thou maist well have thy lady as for me.

      This Palamon answered, I grant it thee.

      And thus they ben departed till a morwe,

      When eche of hem hath laid his faith to borwe.

      O Cupide, out of alle charitee!

      O regne, that wolt no felaw have with thee!

      Ful soth is sayde, that love ne lordship

      Wol nat, his thankes, have no felawship.

      Wel finden that Arcite and Palamon.

      Arcite is ridden anone unto the toun,

      And on the morwe or it were day light,

      Ful prively two harneis hath he dight,

      Both suffisant and mete to darreine

      The bataille in the field betwix hem tweine;

      And on his hors, alone as he was borne,

      He carieth all this harneis him beforne;

      And the grove, at time and place ysette,

      That Arcite and this Palamon ben mette.

      Tho changen gan the colour in hir face,

      Right as the hunter in the regne of Trace,

      That stondeth at a gappe, with a spere,

      Whan hunted is the lion or the bere,

      And hereth him come rushing in the greves,

      And breking bothe the boughes and the leves,

      And thinketh, here cometh my mortal enemy,

      Withouten faile he must be ded or I:

      For eyther I mote slain him at the gappe,

      Or he mote slen me, if that me mishappe.

      So ferden they, in changing of hir hewe,

      As fer as eyther of hem other knewe.

      Ther n'as no good day, ne no saluing

      But streit withouten wordes rehersing

      Everich of hem halpe to armen other

      As frendly as he were his owen brother;

      And, after that, with sharpe speres strong

      They foineden eche at other wonder long.

      Thou mightest wenen, that this Palamon

      In his fighting were a wood leon,

      And as a cruel tigre was Arcite:

      As wild bores gan they togeder smite,

      That frothen white as fome for ire wood;

      Up to the ancle fought they in hir blood;

      And in this wise I let hem fighting dwelle,

      As forth I wol of Theseus you telle.

      The Destinee, ministre general,

      That executeth in the world over al

      The purveiance that God hath sen beforne,

      So strong it is, that though the world hath sworne

      The contrary of thing by ya or nay,

      Yet sometime it shall fallen on a day

      That falleth nat efte in a thousand yere:

      For certainly our appetites here,

      Be it of werre, or pees, or hate, or love,

      All is this ruled by the sight above.

      This mene I now by mighty Theseus,

      That for to hunten is so desirous,

      And namely at the gret hart in May,

      That in his bed ther daweth him no day,

      That he n'is clad, and redy for to ride

      With hunte and horne, and houndes him beside:

      For in his hunting hath he swiche delite,

      That it is all his joye and appetite,

      To ben himself the grete harts bane;

      For after Mars he serveth now Diane.

      Clere was the day, as I have told or this,

      And Theseus, with alle joye and blis,

      With his Ipolitia, the fayre quene,

      And Emelie, yclothed all in grene,

      On hunting ben thy ridden really,

      And to the grove, that stood ther faste by,

      In which ther was an hart, as men him told,

      Duk Theseus the streite way hath hold,

      And to the launde he rideth him ful right,

      Ther was the hart ywont to have his flight,

      And over a brooke, and so forth on his wey.

      This duk wol have a cours at him or twey,

      With houndes, swiche as him lust to commaunde.

      And when this duk was comen to the launde,

      Under the sonne he loked, and anon

      He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,

      That foughten breme, as it were bolles two;

      The brighte swerdes wenten to and fro

      So hidously, that with the leste stroke

      It semed that it wold felle an oke:

      But what they weren nothing he ne wote.

      This duk his courser with his sporres smote,

      And at a stert he was betwix hem two,

      And pulled out a swerde, and cried, Ho!

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