Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50)

by Homer

  At request 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 dere1 1injure

  Nor make war upon me night nor day,

  But be my friends in alle that ye may.

  I you forgive this trespass 1every deal1. 1completely1

  And they him sware 1his asking1 fair and well, 1what he asked1

  And him of lordship and of mercy pray’d,

  And he them granted grace, and thus he said:

  “To speak of royal lineage and richess,

  Though that she were a queen or a princess,

  Each of you both is worthy doubteless

  To wedde when time is; but natheless

  I speak as for my sister Emily,

  For whom ye have this strife and jealousy,

  Ye wot1 yourselves, she may not wed the two 1know

  At once, although ye fight for evermo:

  But one of you, 1all be him loth or lief,1 1whether or not he wishes1

  He must 1go pipe into an ivy leaf1: 1”go whistle”1

  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 1him is shape1; and hearken in what wise 1as is decreed for him1

  Lo hear your end of that I shall devise.

  My will is this, for plain conclusion

  Withouten any replication1, 1reply

  If that you liketh, take it for the best,

  That evereach of you shall go where 1him lest1, 1he pleases

  Freely without ransom or danger;

  And this day fifty weekes, 1farre ne nerre1, 1neither more nor less1

  Evereach of you shall bring an hundred knights,

  Armed for listes up at alle rights

  All ready to darraine1 her by bataille, 1contend for

  And this behete1 I you withoute fail 1promise

  Upon my troth, and as I am a knight,

  That whether of you bothe that hath might,

  That is to say, that whether he or thou

  May with his hundred, as I spake of now,

  Slay his contrary, or out of listes drive,

  Him shall I given Emily to wive,

  To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.

  The listes shall I make here in this place.

  1And God so wisly on my soule rue1, 1may God as surely have

  As I shall even judge be and true. mercy on my soul1

  Ye shall none other ende with me maken

  Than one of you shalle be dead or taken.

  And if you thinketh this is well y-said,

  Say your advice1, and hold yourselves apaid2. 1opinion 2satisfied

  This is your end, and your conclusion.”

  Who looketh lightly now but Palamon?

  Who springeth up for joye but Arcite?

  Who could it tell, or who could it indite,

  The joye that is maked in the place

  When Theseus hath done so fair a grace?

  But down on knees went every 1manner wight1, 1kind of person1

  And thanked him with all their heartes’ might,

  And namely1 these Thebans 1ofte sithe1. 1especially 1oftentimes1

  And thus with good hope and with hearte blithe

  They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride

  To Thebes-ward, with his old walles wide.

  I trow men woulde deem it negligence,

  If I forgot to telle the dispence1 1expenditure

  Of Theseus, that went so busily

  To maken up the listes royally,

  That such a noble theatre as it was,

  I dare well say, in all this world there n’as1. 1was not

  The circuit a mile was about,

  Walled of stone, and ditched all without.

  1Round was the shape, in manner of compass,

  Full of degrees, the height of sixty pas1 1see note 1

  That when a man was set on one degree

  He letted1 not his fellow for to see. 1hindered

  Eastward there stood a gate of marble white,

  Westward right such another opposite.

  And, shortly to conclude, such a place

  Was never on earth made in so little space,

  For in the land there was no craftes-man,

  That geometry or arsmetrike1 can2, 1arithmetic 2knew

  Nor pourtrayor1, nor carver of images, 1portrait painter

  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,

  1Done make1 an altar and an oratory; 1caused to be made1

  And westward, in the mind and in memory

  Of Mars, he maked hath right such another,

  That coste largely of gold a fother1. 1a great amount

  And northward, in a turret on the wall,

  Of alabaster white and red coral

  An oratory riche for to see,

  In worship of Diane of chastity,

  Hath Theseus done work in noble wise.

  But yet had I forgotten to devise1 1describe

  The noble carving, and the portraitures,

  The shape, the countenance of the figures

  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 sleepes, and the sikes1 cold, 1sighes

  The sacred teares, and the waimentings1, 1lamentings

  The fiery strokes of the desirings,

  That Love’s servants in this life endure;

  The oathes, that their covenants assure.

  Pleasance and Hope, Desire, Foolhardiness,

  Beauty and Youth, and Bawdry and Richess,

  Charms and Sorc’ry, Leasings1 and Flattery, 1falsehoods

  Dispence, Business, and Jealousy,

  That wore of yellow goldes1 a garland, 1sunflowers

  And had a cuckoo sitting on her hand,

  Feasts, instruments, and caroles and dances,

  Lust and array, and all the circumstances

  Of Love, which I reckon’d and reckon shall

  In order, were painted on the wall,

  And more than I can make of mention.

  For soothly all the mount of Citheron,

  Where Venus hath her principal dwelling,

  Was showed on the wall in pourtraying,

  With all the garden, and the lustiness1. 1pleasantness

  Nor was forgot the porter Idleness,

  Nor Narcissus the fair of 1yore agone1, 1olden times1

  Nor yet the folly of King Solomon,

  Nor yet the greate strength of Hercules,

  Th’ enchantments of Medea and Circes,

  Nor of Turnus the hardy fierce courage,

  The rich Croesus 1caitif in servage.1 1abased into slavery1

  Thus may ye see, that wisdom nor richess,

  Beauty, nor sleight, nor strength, nor hardiness

  Ne may with Venus holde champartie1, 1divided possession

  For as her liste the world may she gie1. 1guide

  Lo, all these folk so caught were in her las1 1snare

  Till they for woe full often said, Alas!

  Suffice these ensamples one or two,

  Although I could reckon a thousand mo’.

  The statue of Venus, glorious to see

  Was naked floating in the large sea,

  And from the navel down all cover’d was

  With waves green, and bright as any glass.

  A citole in her right hand hadde she,

  And on her head, full seemly for to see,

  A rose garland fresh, and well smelling,

  Abov
e her head her doves flickering

  Before her stood her sone Cupido,

  Upon his shoulders winges 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 brede1 1breadth

  Like to the estres1 of the grisly place 1interior chambers

  That hight the great temple of Mars in Thrace,

  In thilke1 cold and frosty region, 1that

  There as Mars hath his sovereign mansion.

  In which there dwelled neither man nor beast,

  With knotty gnarry1 barren trees old 1gnarled

  Of stubbes sharp and hideous to behold;

  In which there ran a rumble and a sough1, 1groaning noise

  As though a storm should bursten every bough:

  And downward from an hill under a bent1 1slope

  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 1a rage and such a vise1, 1such a furious voice1

  That it made all the gates for to rise.

  The northern light in at the doore shone,

  For window on the walle was there none

  Through which men mighten any light discern.

  The doors were all of adamant etern,

  Y-clenched 1overthwart and ende-long1 1crossways and lengthways1

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

  Every pillar the temple to sustain

  Was tunne-great1, of iron bright and sheen. 1thick as a tun (barrel)

  There saw I first the dark imagining

  Of felony, and all the compassing;

  The cruel ire, as red as any glede1, 1live coal

  The picke-purse, and eke the pale dread;

  The smiler with the knife under the cloak,

  The shepen1 burning with the blacke smoke 1stable

  The treason of the murd’ring in the bed,

  The open war, with woundes all be-bled;

  Conteke1 with bloody knife, and sharp menace. 1contention, discord

  All full of chirking1 was that sorry place. 1creaking, jarring noise

  The slayer of himself eke saw I there,

  His hearte-blood had bathed all his hair:

  The nail y-driven in the shode1 at night, 1hair of the head

  The colde death, with mouth gaping upright.

  Amiddes of the temple sat Mischance,

  With discomfort and sorry countenance;

  Eke saw I Woodness1 laughing in his rage, 1Madness

  Armed Complaint, Outhees1, and fierce Outrage; 1Outcry

  The carrain1 in the bush, with throat y-corve2, 1corpse 2slashed

  A thousand slain, and not 1of qualm y-storve1; 1dead of sickness1

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

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

  Yet saw I brent1 the shippes hoppesteres, 1burnt

  The hunter strangled with the wilde bears:

  The sow freting1 the child right in the cradle; 1devouring

  The cook scalded, for all his longe ladle.

  Nor was forgot, 1by th’infortune of Mart1 1through the misfortune

  The carter overridden with his cart; of war1

  Under the wheel full low he lay adown.

  There were also of Mars’ division,

  The armourer, the bowyer1, and the smith, 1maker of bows

  That forgeth sharp swordes on his stith1. 1anvil

  And all above depainted in a tower

  Saw I Conquest, sitting in great honour,

  With thilke1 sharpe sword over his head 1that

  Hanging by a subtle y-twined thread.

  Painted the slaughter was of Julius,

  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 figure,

  So was it showed in that portraiture,

  As is depainted in the stars above,

  Who shall be slain, or elles 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 carte1 stood 1chariot

  Armed, and looked grim as he were wood1, 1mad

  And over his head there shone two figures

  Of starres, that be cleped in scriptures,

  That one Puella, that other Rubeus.

  This god of armes 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 redouting1 of Mars and of his glory. 1reverance, fear

  Now to the temple of Dian the chaste

  As shortly as I can I will me haste,

  To telle you all the descriptioun.

  Depainted be the walles up and down

  Of hunting and of shamefast chastity.

  There saw I how woful Calistope,

  When that Dian aggrieved was with her,

  Was turned from a woman to a bear,

  And after was she made the lodestar1: 1pole star

  Thus was it painted, I can say no far1; 1farther

  Her son is eke a star as men may see.

  There saw I Dane turn’d into a tree,

  I meane not the goddess Diane,

  But Peneus’ daughter, which that hight Dane.

  There saw I Actaeon an hart y-maked1, 1made

  For vengeance that he saw Dian all naked:

  I saw how that his houndes have him caught,

  And freten1 him, for that they knew him not. 1devour

  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 memory.

  This goddess on an hart full high was set1, 1seated

  With smalle houndes all about her feet,

  And underneath her feet she had a moon,

  Waxing it was, and shoulde wane soon.

  In gaudy green her statue clothed was,

  With bow in hand, and arrows in a case1. 1quiver

  Her eyen caste she full low adown,

  Where Pluto hath his darke regioun.

  A woman travailing was her beforn,

  But, for her child so longe was unborn,

  Full piteously Lucina gan she call,

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

  Well could he painte lifelike that it wrought;

  With many a florin he the hues had bought.

  Now be these listes made, and Theseus,

  That at his greate cost arrayed thus

  The temples, and the theatre every deal1, 1part

  When it was done, him liked wonder well.

  But stint1 I will of Theseus a lite2, 1cease speaking 2little

  And speak of Palamon and of Arcite.

  The day approacheth of their returning,

  That evereach an hundred knights should bring,

  The battle to darraine1 as I you told; 1contest

  And to Athens, their covenant to hold,

  Hath ev’reach of them brought an hundred knights,

  Well-armed for the war at alle rights.

  And sickerly1 there trowed2 many a man, 1surely 2believed

  That never, sithen1 that the world began, 1since

  For to speaken of knighthood of their hand,

  As far as God hath maked sea and land,

  Was, of so few, so noble a company.
<
br />   For every wight that loved chivalry,

  And would, 1his thankes, have a passant name1, 1thanks to his own

  Had prayed, that he might be of that game, efforts, have a

  And well was him, that thereto chosen was. surpassing name1

  For if there fell to-morrow such a case,

  Ye knowe well, that every lusty knight,

  That loveth par amour, and hath his might

  Were it in Engleland, or elleswhere,

  They would, their thankes, willen to be there,

  T’ fight for a lady; Benedicite,

  It were a lusty1 sighte for to see. 1pleasing

  And right so fared they with Palamon;

  With him there wente knightes many one.

  Some will be armed in an habergeon,

  And in a breast-plate, and in a gipon1; 1short doublet.

  And some will have 1a pair of plates1 large; 1back and front armour1

  And some will have a Prusse1 shield, or targe; 1Prussian

  Some will be armed on their legges weel;

  Some have an axe, and some a mace of steel.

  There is no newe guise1, but it was old. 1fashion

  Armed they weren, as I have you told,

  Evereach after his opinion.

  There may’st thou see coming with Palamon

  Licurgus himself, the great king of Thrace:

  Black was his beard, and manly was his face.

  The circles of his eyen in his head

  They glowed betwixte yellow and red,

  And like a griffin looked he about,

  With kemped1 haires on his browes stout; 1combed

  His limbs were great, his brawns were hard and strong,

  His shoulders broad, his armes round and long.

  And as the guise1 was in his country, 1fashion

  Full high upon a car of gold stood he,

  With foure white bulles in the trace.

  Instead of coat-armour on his harness,

  With yellow nails, and bright as any gold,

  He had a beare’s skin, coal-black for old1. 1age

  His long hair was y-kempt behind his back,

  As any raven’s feather it shone for black.

  A wreath of gold 1arm-great1, of huge weight, 1thick as a man’s arm1

  Upon his head sate, full of stones bright,

  Of fine rubies and clear diamants.

  About his car there wente white alauns1, 1greyhounds

  Twenty and more, as great as any steer,

  To hunt the lion or the wilde bear,

  And follow’d him, with muzzle fast y-bound,

  Collars of gold, and torettes1 filed round. 1rings

  An hundred lordes had he in his rout1 1retinue

  Armed full well, with heartes stern and stout.

  With Arcita, in stories as men find,