The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems
At Athens, upon certain points and cas*: *cases
Amonge the which points y-spoken was
To have with certain countries alliance,
And have of Thebans full obeisance.
For which this noble Theseus anon
Let* send after the gentle Palamon, *caused
Unwist* of him what was the cause and why: *unknown
But in his blacke clothes sorrowfully
He came at his commandment *on hie*; *in haste*
Then sente Theseus for Emily.
When they were set*, and hush’d was all the place *seated
And Theseus abided* had a space *waited
Ere any word came from his wise breast
*His eyen set he there as was his lest*, *he cast his eyes
And with a sad visage he sighed still, wherever he pleased*
And after that right thus he said his will.
“The firste mover of the cause above
When he first made the faire chain of love,
Great was th’ effect, and high was his intent;
Well wist he why, and what thereof he meant:
For with that faire chain of love he bond* *bound
The fire, the air, the water, and the lond
In certain bondes, that they may not flee:<91>
That same prince and mover eke,” quoth he,
“Hath stablish’d, in this wretched world adown,
Certain of dayes and duration
To all that are engender’d in this place,
Over the whiche day they may not pace*, *pass
All may they yet their dayes well abridge.
There needeth no authority to allege
For it is proved by experience;
But that me list declare my sentence*. *opinion
Then may men by this order well discern,
That thilke* mover stable is and etern. *the same
Well may men know, but that it be a fool,
That every part deriveth from its whole.
For nature hath not ta’en its beginning
Of no *partie nor cantle* of a thing, *part or piece*
But of a thing that perfect is and stable,
Descending so, till it be corruptable.
And therefore of His wise purveyance* *providence
He hath so well beset* his ordinance,
That species of things and progressions
Shallen endure by successions,
And not etern, withouten any lie:
This mayst thou understand and see at eye.
Lo th’ oak, that hath so long a nourishing
From the time that it ’ginneth first to spring,
And hath so long a life, as ye may see,
Yet at the last y-wasted is the tree.
Consider eke, how that the harde stone
Under our feet, on which we tread and gon*, *walk
Yet wasteth, as it lieth by the way.
The broade river some time waxeth drey*. *dry
The greate townes see we wane and wend*. *go, disappear
Then may ye see that all things have an end.
Of man and woman see we well also, —
That needes in one of the termes two, —
That is to say, in youth or else in age,-
He must be dead, the king as shall a page;
Some in his bed, some in the deepe sea,
Some in the large field, as ye may see:
There helpeth nought, all go that ilke* way: *same
Then may I say that alle thing must die.
What maketh this but Jupiter the king?
The which is prince, and cause of alle thing,
Converting all unto his proper will,
From which it is derived, sooth to tell
And hereagainst no creature alive,
Of no degree, availeth for to strive.
Then is it wisdom, as it thinketh me,
To make a virtue of necessity,
And take it well, that we may not eschew*, *escape
And namely what to us all is due.
And whoso grudgeth* ought, he doth folly, *murmurs at
And rebel is to him that all may gie*. *direct, guide
And certainly a man hath most honour
To dien in his excellence and flower,
When he is sicker* of his goode name. *certain
Then hath he done his friend, nor him*, no shame *himself
And gladder ought his friend be of his death,
When with honour is yielded up his breath,
Than when his name *appalled is for age*; *decayed by old age*
For all forgotten is his vassalage*. *valour, service
Then is it best, as for a worthy fame,
To dien when a man is best of name.
The contrary of all this is wilfulness.
Why grudge we, why have we heaviness,
That good Arcite, of chivalry the flower,
Departed is, with duty and honour,
Out of this foule prison of this life?
Why grudge here his cousin and his wife
Of his welfare, that loved him so well?
Can he them thank? nay, God wot, neverdeal*, — *not a jot
That both his soul and eke themselves offend*, *hurt
And yet they may their lustes* not amend**. *desires **control
What may I conclude of this longe serie*, *string of remarks
But after sorrow I rede* us to be merry, *counsel
And thanke Jupiter for all his grace?
And ere that we departe from this place,
I rede that we make of sorrows two
One perfect joye lasting evermo’:
And look now where most sorrow is herein,
There will I first amenden and begin.
“Sister,” quoth he, “this is my full assent,
With all th’ advice here of my parlement,
That gentle Palamon, your owen knight,
That serveth you with will, and heart, and might,
And ever hath, since first time ye him knew,
That ye shall of your grace upon him rue*, *take pity
And take him for your husband and your lord:
Lend me your hand, for this is our accord.
*Let see* now of your womanly pity. *make display*
He is a kinge’s brother’s son, pardie*. *by God
And though he were a poore bachelere,
Since he hath served you so many a year,
And had for you so great adversity,
It muste be considered, *’lieveth me*. *believe me*
For gentle mercy *oweth to passen right*.” *ought to be rightly
Then said he thus to Palamon the knight; directed*
“I trow there needeth little sermoning
To make you assente to this thing.
Come near, and take your lady by the hand.”
Betwixte them was made anon the band,
That hight matrimony or marriage,
By all the counsel of the baronage.
And thus with alle bliss and melody
Hath Palamon y-wedded Emily.
And God, that all this wide world hath wrought,
Send him his love, that hath it dearly bought.
For now is Palamon in all his weal,
Living in bliss, in riches, and in heal*. *health
And Emily him loves so tenderly,
And he her serveth all so gentilly,
That never was there worde them between
Of jealousy, nor of none other teen*. *cause of anger
Thus endeth Palamon and Emily
And God save all this faire company.
Notes to The Knight’s Tale.
1. For the plan and principal incidents of the “Knight’s Tale,”
Chaucer was indebted to Boccaccio, who had himself borrowed
from some prior poet, chronicler, or romancer. Boccaccio
speaks of the story as “very ancient;” and, though that may not
be proof of its antiquity, it certainly shows that he took it from
an earlier writer. The “Tale” is more or less a paraphrase of
Boccaccio’s “Theseida;” but in some points the copy has a
distinct dramatic superiority over the original. The “Theseida”
contained ten thousand lines; Chaucer has condensed it into less
than one-fourth of the number. The “Knight’s Tale” is supposed
to have been at first composed as a separate work; it is
undetermined whether Chaucer took it direct from the Italian of
Boccaccio, or from a French translation.
2. Highte: was called; from the Anglo-Saxon “hatan”, to bid or
call; German, “Heissen”, “heisst”.
3. Feminie: The “Royaume des Femmes” — kingdom of the
Amazons. Gower, in the “Confessio Amantis,” styles
Penthesilea the “Queen of Feminie.”
4. Wonnen: Won, conquered; German “gewonnen.”
5. Ear: To plough; Latin, “arare.” “I have abundant matter for
discourse.” The first, and half of the second, of Boccaccio’s
twelve books are disposed of in the few lines foregoing.
6. Waimenting: bewailing; German, “wehklagen”
7. Starf: died; German, “sterben,” “starb”.
8. The Minotaur: The monster, half-man and half-bull, which
yearly devoured a tribute of fourteen Athenian youths and
maidens, until it was slain by Theseus.
9. Pillers: pillagers, strippers; French, “pilleurs.”
10. The donjon was originally the central tower or “keep” of
feudal castles; it was employed to detain prisoners of
importance. Hence the modern meaning of the word dungeon.
11. Saturn, in the old astrology, was a most unpropitious star to
be born under.
12. To die in the pain was a proverbial expression in the French,
used as an alternative to enforce a resolution or a promise.
Edward III., according to Froissart, declared that he would
either succeed in the war against France or die in the pain —
“Ou il mourroit en la peine.” It was the fashion in those times to
swear oaths of friendship and brotherhood; and hence, though
the fashion has long died out, we still speak of “sworn friends.”
13. The saying of the old scholar Boethius, in his treatise “De
Consolatione Philosophiae”, which Chaucer translated, and
from which he has freely borrowed in his poetry. The words are
“Quis legem det amantibus?
Major lex amor est sibi.”
(“Who can give law to lovers? Love is a law unto himself, and
greater”)
14. “Perithous” and “Theseus” must, for the metre, be
pronounced as words of four and three syllables respectively —
the vowels at the end not being diphthongated, but enunciated
separately, as if the words were printed Pe-ri-tho-us, The-se-us.
The same rule applies in such words as “creature” and
“conscience,” which are trisyllables.
15. Stound: moment, short space of time; from Anglo-Saxon,
“stund;” akin to which is German, “Stunde,” an hour.
16. Meinie: servants, or menials, &c., dwelling together in a
house; from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a crowd. Compare
German, “Menge,” multitude.
17. The pure fetters: the very fetters. The Greeks used
“katharos”, the Romans “purus,” in the same sense.
18. In the medieval courts of Love, to which allusion is
probably made forty lines before, in the word “parlement,” or
“parliament,” questions like that here proposed were seriously
discussed.
19. Gear: behaviour, fashion, dress; but, by another reading, the
word is “gyre,” and means fit, trance — from the Latin, “gyro,” I
turn round.
20. Before his head in his cell fantastic: in front of his head in
his cell of fantasy. “The division of the brain into cells,
according to the different sensitive faculties,” says Mr Wright,
“is very ancient, and is found depicted in mediaeval
manuscripts.” In a manuscript in the Harleian Library, it is
stated, “Certum est in prora cerebri esse fantasiam, in medio
rationem discretionis, in puppi memoriam” (it is certain that in
the front of the brain is imagination, in the middle reason, in the
back memory) — a classification not materially differing from
that of modern phrenologists.
21. Dan: Lord; Latin, “Dominus;” Spanish, “Don.”
22. The “caduceus.”
23. Argus was employed by Juno to watch Io with his hundred
eyes but he was sent to sleep by the flute of Mercury, who then
cut off his head.
24. Next: nearest; German, “naechste”.
25. Clary: hippocras, wine made with spices.
26. Warray: make war; French “guerroyer”, to molest; hence,
perhaps, “to worry.”
27. All day meeten men at unset steven: every day men meet at
unexpected time. “To set a steven,” is to fix a time, make an
appointment.
28. Roundelay: song coming round again to the words with
which it opened.
29. Now in the crop and now down in the breres: Now in the
tree-top, now down in the briars. “Crop and root,” top and