You judge yourself; and I but keep record
In place of law, while you pronounce the word.
Take your defert, the death you have decreed;
I feal your doom, and ratify the deed :
By Mars, the patron of my arms, you die.
He faid; dumb forrow feiz'd the ftanders-by.
The queen, above the reft, by nature good
(The pattern form'd of perfect womanhood)
For tender pity wept: when he began,
Thro' the bright quire th'infectious virtue ran.
All dropt their tears, ev'n the contended maid :
And thus among themfelves they foftly faid:
What eyes can fuffer this unworthy fight!
Two youths of royal blood, renown'd in fight,
The maftership of Heav'n in face and mind,
And lovers, far beyond their faithless kind:
See their wide streaming wounds; they neither

leave

The whole affembl'd troop was pleas'd as well; |
Extol th'award, and on their knees they fell
To blefs the gracious king. The knights with
[ceive:
Departing from the place, his last commands re-
On Emily with equal ardour look,
And from her eyes their infpiration took. [way,
From thence to Thebes' old walls purfue their
Each to provide his champions for the day.

It might be deem'd, on our hiftorian's part,
Or too much negligence or want of art,
If he forgot the vaft magnificence
Of royal Thefeus, and his large expence.
He firft inclos'd for lifts a level ground,
The whole circumference a mile around;
The form was circular; and all without
A trench was funk, to moat the place about.
Within an amphitheatre appear'd,
Rais'd in degrees; to fixty paces rear'd:
That when a man was plac'd in one degree,
Height was allow'd for hin above to fee.

Eaftward was built a gate of marble white;
The like adorn'd the weltern oppofite.
A nobler object than this fabric was
Rome never faw; nor of fo vaft a space:
For, rich with fpoils of many a conquer'd land,
All arts and artifts Thefeus could command;
Who fold for hire, or wrought for better fame;
The mafter-painters and the carvers came.
So 10fe within the compafs of the year
An age's work, a glorious theatre.
Then o'er its caftern gate was rais'd above
A temple, facred to the queen of love;
An altar ftood below: on either hand

}

[wand.
A prieft with rofes crown'd, who held a myrtle
The dome of Mars was on the gate oppos'd,
And on the north a turret was inclos'd,
Within the wall of alabafter white,
And crimson coral for the queen of night,
Who takes in fylvan fports her chatte delight.
Within thefe oratories might you fee
Rich carvings, pourtraitures, and imagery:
Where ev'ry figure to the life exprefs'd
The godhead's pow'r to whom it was addrefs'd.
In Venus' temple, on the fides were feen
The broken flumbers of enamour'd men,
Pray'rs that e'en fpoke, and pity feem'd to call,
And iffuing fighs that finok'd along the wall.
Complaints and hot defires, the lover's hell,
And fcalding tears that wore a channel where
they fell:

And all around where nuptial bonds, the ties
Of love's affurance, and a train of lies,
That, made in luft, conclude in perjuries.
Beauty, and youth, and wealth, and luxury,
And fpritely hope, and fhort enduring joy;
And forceries to raife th'infernal powers;
And figils fram'd in planetary hours:
Expence, and after-thought, and idle care,
And doubts of motley hue and dark despair;
Sufpicions, and fantaftical furmile,

}

And jealoufy fuffus'd, with jaundice in hereyes,
Dilcolouring all the view'd, in tawny dreft:
Down-look'd, and with a cuckow on her fift.

Oppos'd to her, on tother fide advance
The cofily feaft, the carol, and the dance,
Minstrels, and mufic, poetry, and play,
And balls by night, and tournaments by day.
All thefe were painted on the wall, and more;
With acts and inonuments of times before :
And others added by prophetic doom,
And lovers yet unborn, and loves to come:
For there th'Idalian mount and Citheron,
The court of Venus was in colours drawn:
Before the palace-gate, in carelefs drefs,
And loofe array, fat port'refs Idleness:
There, by the fount, Narciffus pin'd alone;
There Samplon was; with wifer Solomon;
And all the mighty names by love undone.
Medea's charms were there, Circean feafts,
With bowls that turn'd enamour'd youths to
beafts.

Here might be feen, that beauty, wealth, and wit,
And prowefs, to the pow'r of love fubmit:
The fpreading fuare for all mankind is laid;
And lovers all betray, and are betray'd.
The Goddefs' felf foine noble hand had wrought;
Smiling the feem'd, and full of pleafing thought
From ocean as the firft began to rife,
And fmooth'd the ruffled feas and clear'd the skies;
She trod the brine all bare below the breaft,
And the green waves but ill conceal'd the reft;
A lute the held; and on her head was feen
A wreath of rofes red, and myrtles green;
Her turtles fann'd the buxom air above,
And, by his mother, ftood an infant Love,
With wings unfledg'd: his eyes were banded
His hands a bow, his back a quiver bore, [o'er;
Supply'd with arrows bright and keen, a deadly

ftore.

But in the dome of mighty Mars, the red
With diff'rent figures all the fides were spread.
This temple, lefs in form with equal grace,
Was imitative of the firft in Thrace:
For that cold region was the lov'd abode,
And fov'reign manfion of the warrior god.
The landfcape was a foreft wide and bare;
Where neither beaft nor human kind repair;
The fowl that fcent afar, the borders fly,
And fhun the bitter blaft, and wheel about the sky.
A cake of fcurf lies baking on the ground,
And prickly ftubs, inftead of trees are found;
Or woods with knots and knares deform'd and
old;

Headlefs the most, and hideous to behold:
A rattling tempeft through the branches went,
That ftrip'd them bare, and one fole way they bent.
Heav'n froze above, fevere the clouds congeal,
And through the chryftal vault appear'd the
ftanding hail;

Such was the face without: a mountain ftood
Threat'ning from high, and overlook'd the wood,
Beneath the lowring brow, and on a bent,
The temple food of Mars armipotent:
The frame of burnish'd fteel, that caft a glare
From far, and feem'd to thaw the freezing air.
A ftrait long entry to the temple led,
Blind with high walls; and horror over head:

Then

Thence iffu'd fuch a blaft and hollow roar,
As threaten'd from the hinge to heave the door;
In thro' that door a northern light there thone;
'Twas all it had; for windows there were none.
The gate was adamant; eternal frame!
Which, hew'd by Mars himtelf, from Indian
quarries came,

The labour of a God; and all along
Tough iron plates were clench'd to make it ftrong.
A tun about was ev'ry pillar there;

A polish'd mirror fhose not half fo clear.
There faw I how the fecret felon wrought,
And treafon lab'ring in the traitor's thought;

}

The form of Mars high on a chariot flood,
All fheath'd in arms, and gruffly look'd the God:
Two geomantic figures were difplay'd
Above his head, a warrior and a maid;
One when direct, and one when retrograde.
Tir'd with deformities of death, I hafte
To the third temple of Diana chatte.
A fylvan fcene with various greens was drawn,
Shades on the fides, and on the midft a lawn:
The filver Cynthia, with her nymphs around,
Purfu'd the flying deer, the woods with ho ns
refound:

Califta there ftood manifeft of fhame,

And midwife Time the ripen'd plot to muider Her fon was next, and by peculiar grace

And, turn'd a bear, the northern star became :

brought.

There the red anger dar'd the pallid fear;
Next food Hypocrify with holy leer;
Soft fmiling, and demurely looking down;
But hid the dagger underneath the gown;
Th'affaffinating wife, the houthold fiend;
And far the blackeft there, the traitor-friend.
On t'other fide there ftood Destruction bare;
Unpunish'd Rapine, and a waste of war.
Conteft, with fharpen'd knives, in cloifters drawn,
And all with blood befpread the holy lawn.
Loud menaces were heard, and foul difgrace,
And bawling infamy, in language bafe;
Till fenfe was loft in found, and filence Alcd
the place.

The flayer of himself yet faw I there;
The gore congeal'd was clotted in his hair:
With eyes half clos'd, and gaping mouth he lay,
And grim, as when he breath'd his fullen foul
In midst of all the dome, Misfortune fat, [away.
And gloomy Difcontent, and fell Debate,
And Madnefs, laughing in his ireful mood;
And arm'd Complamt on theft, and cries of blood.
There was the murder'd corpfe, in covert laid,
And violent death in thousand fhapes difplay'd;
The city to the foldier's rage refign'd:
Succefslefs wars, and poverty behind:
Ships burnt in fight, or forc'd on rocky fhores,
And the rafh hunters ftrangled by the boars :
The new-born babe by nurfes overlaid; [made.
And the cook caught within the raging fire he
All ills of Mars's nature, flame and ficel;
The gafping charioteer, beneath the wheel
Of his own car; the ruin'd houfe that falls
And intercepts her lord betwixt the walls:
The whole divifion that to Mars pertains;
All trades of death that deal in fteel for gains
Were there: the butcher, armourer, and fmith,
Who forges fharpen'd faulchions, or the fcythe.
The fcarlet conqueft on a tow'r was plac'd,
With fhouts and foldiers acclamations grac'd:
A pointed fword hung threat'ning o'er his head,
Suftain'd but by a flender twine of thread.
There faw I Mars's ides, the capitol,
The feer in vain foretelling Cafar's fall;
The last triumvirs, and the wars they move,
And Anthony, who loft the world for love.
Thefe, and a thousand more, the fane adorn;
Their fates were painted ere the men were born;
All copied from the heav'ns, and tuling force
Of the red ftar, in his revolving courfe,

In the cold circle held the fecond place :
The ftag Acteon in the ftream had spy'd
The naked huntrefs, and, for feeing dy'd:
His hounds, unknowing of his change, purfue
The chace, and their mistaken inafter flew.
Peneian Daphne too was there, to fee
Apollo's love before, and now his tree :
Th'adjoining fane th'affembled Greeks expreft,
And hunting of the Caledonian beast.
Oenides' valour, and his envy'd prize;
The fatal pow'r of Atalanta's eyes;
Diana's vengeance on the victor fhown,
The murd refs mother, and confuming fon;
The Volfcian queen extended on the plain;
The treafon punish'd, and the traitor flain.
The reft were various huntings, well defign'd,
And favage beafts deftroy'd of ev'ry kind.
The graceful goddefs was array'd in
About her feet were little beagles feen,
That watch'd with upward eyes the motions
of their queen.

green;

Her legs were bufkin'd, and the left before;
In act to shoot, a filver bow the bore,
And at her back a painted quiver wore.
She trod a waxing moon, that foon would wane,
And drinking borrow'd light, be fill'd again :
With downcaft eyes, as feeming to furvey
The dark dominions her alternate fway.
Before her ftood a woman in her throes,
And call'd Lucina's aid, her burden to difclofe.
All these the painter drew with fuch command,
That Nature fnatch'd the pencil from his hand,
Afham'd and angry that his art could feign,
And mend the tortures of a mother's pain.
Thefeus beheld the fanes of ev'ry God,
And thought his mighty coft was well beftow'd.
So princes now their poets thould regard :
But few can write, and fewer can reward.

The theatre thus rais'd, the lifts enclos'd,
And all with vaft magnificence difpos'd,
We leave the monarch pleas'd, and hafte to bring
The knights to combat, and their arms to fing.

Palamon and Arcite; or, the Knight's Tale.
BOOK III.

THE day approach'd when fortune should

The nations, far and near, contend in choice,
And fend the flow'r of war by public voice;
That after, or before, were never known
Such chiefs, as each an army feem'd alone:
Befides the champions, all of high degree,
Who knighthood lov'd, and deeds of chivalry,
Throng'd to the lifts, and envy'd to behold
The names of others, not their own, enroll'd.
Nor feems it ftrange; for ev'ry noble knight
Who loves the fair, and is endu'd with might,
In fuch a quarrel would be proud to fight.
There breathes not scarce a man on British ground
(An ifle for love and arins of old renown'd)
But would have fold his life to purchase fame,
To Palamon or Arcite fent his name;
And had the land selected of the beft,

Half had come hence, and let the world provide the
reft.

A hundred knights with Palamon there came,
Approv'd in fight, and men of mighty name;
Their arms were fev'ral, as their nations were;
But furnish'd all alike with fword and fpear.
Some wore coat armour, imitating fcale;
And next their skins were stubborn fhirts of mail;
Some wore a breaft plate and a light juppon;
Their horfes cloath'd with rich caparifon;
Some for defence would leathern bucklers use
Of folded hides; and others fhields of pruce;
One hung a pole-ax at his faddle-bow,
And one a heavy mace to fhun the foe;
One for his legs and knees provided well,
With jambeux arm'd, and double plates of fteel:
This on his helmet wore a lady's glove;
And that a fleeve embroider'd by his love.
With Palamon, above the reft in place,
Lycurgus came, the furly king of Thrace:
Black was his beard, and manly was his face;
The balls of his broad eyes roll'd in his head,
And glar'd betwixt a yellow and a red :
Fle look'd a lion with a gloomy ftare,
And o'er his eye-brows hung his matted hair;
Big-bon'd, and large of limbs, with finews ftrong,
Broad fhoulder'd, and his arms were round and
long.

Four milk-white bulls (the Thracian use of old)
Were yok'd to draw his car of burnish'd gold.
Upright he ftood, and bore aloft his fhield,
Confpicuous from afar, and overlook'd the field.
His furcoat was a bear-fkin on his back;
His hair hung long behind, and glossy raven black.
His ample forehead bore a coronet
With fparkling diamonds and with rubies fet:
Ten brace,and more,of greyhounds,inowy fair
And tall as ftags, ran loofe and cours'd around
his chair,
[the bear:
A match for pards in flight, in grappling for
With golden muzzles all their mouths werebound,
And collars of the fame their necks furround.
Thus thro' the fields Lycurgus took his way;
His hundred knights attend in pomp and proud

Not Mars beftrode a steed with greater grace;
His furcoat o'er his arms was cloth of Thrace,
Adorn'd with pearls, all orient, round, and great;
His faddle was of gold, with em'ralds fet.
His fhoulders large a mantle did attire,
With rubies thick, and sparkling as the fire:
His amber-colour'd locks in ringlets run, [fun.
With graceful negligence, and fhone against the
His nofe was aquiline, his eyes were blue,
Ruddy his lips, and fresh and fair his hue:
Some fprinkled freckles on his face were feen,
Whofe dusk fet off the whiteness of the fkin :
His awful prefence did the crowd surprize,
Nor durft the rafh fpectator meet his eyes;
Eyes that confefs'd him born for kingly sway;
So fierce, they flash'd intolerable day.
His age in nature's youthful prime appear'd,
And just began to bloom his yellow beard.
Whene'er he spoke, his voice was heard around,
Loud as a trumpet, with a filver found.

A laurel wreath'd his temples, fresh and green;
And myrtle fprigs, the marks of love,were mix'd
Upon his fift he bore, for his delight, [between.
An eagle well reclaim'd, and lily white.

His hundred knights attend him to the war,
All arm'd for battle; fave their heads were bare.
Words and devices blaz'd on ev'ry shield ;
And pleafing was the terror of the field.
For kings,and dukes, and barons, you might fee,
Like fparkling stars, though diff'rent in degree,
All for th'increase of arms, and love of chivalry.
Before the king tame leopards led the way,
And troops of lions innocently play.

So Bacchus through the conquer'd Indies rode,
And beafts in gambols frifk'd beforethe honeftgod,
In this array the war of either fide
Through Athens pafs'd with military pride.
At prime they enter'd on the Sunday morn;
Rich tapestry fpread the streets, and flow'rs the
pofts adorn.

The town was all a jubilee of feasts;
So Thefeus will'd the honor of his guests;
Himfelf with open arms the king embrac❜d,
Then all the reft in their degrees were grac'd.
No harbinger was needful for a night;
For ev'ry houfe was proud to lodge a knight.

I pafs the royal treat, nor must relate
The gifts beftow'd, nor how the champion fat:
Who firft, or laft, or how the knights addreft
Their vows, or who was fairest at the feast;
Whofe voice, whofe graceful dance did moft fur-
Soft am'rous fighs, and filent love of eyes. [prize:
The rivals call iny Mufe another way,
To fing their vigils for th'enfuing day.
'Twas ebbing darkness, paft the noon of night;
And Phofpher on the confines of the light,
Promis'd the fun, cre day began to fpring;
The tuneful lark already ftretch'd her wing,
And, flick'ring on her nest, made short essays
to fing.

When wakeful Palamon, preventing day,
Took to the royal lifts his early way,

To Venus at her fane, in her own house to pray.
There, falling on his knees before her fhrine,
He thus implor'd with pray'rs her pow'r divine:

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