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[wywm299471]

There is no need for torture, on my word. But you shall die, by mighty Mars the red!" But then the queen, whose heart for pity bled, Began to weep, and so did Emily And all the ladies in the company. The Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales 37Great pity must it be, so thought they all, That ever such misfortune should befall: For these were gentlemen, of great estate, And for no thing, save love, was their debate. They saw their bloody wounds, so sore and wide, And all cried out greater and less, they cried: "Have mercy, lord, upon us women all!" And down upon their bare knees did they fall, And would have kissed his feet there where he stood, Till at the last assuaged was his high mood; For soon will pity flow through gentle heart. And though he first for ire did shake and start, He soon considered, to state the case in brief, What cause they had for fighting, what for grief; And though his anger still their guilt accused, Yet in his reason he held them both excused; In such wise: he thought well that every man Will help himself in love, if he but can, And will himself deliver from prison; And, too, at heart he had compassion on Those women, for they cried and wept as one, And in his gentle heart he thought anon, And softly to himself he said then: "Fie Upon a lord that will have no mercy, But acts the lion, both in word and deed, To those repentant and in fear and need, As well as to the proud and pitiless man That still would do the thing that he began! That lord must surely in discretion lack Who, in such case, can no distinction make, But weighs both proud and humble in one scale." And shortly, when his ire was thus grown pale, He looked up to the sky, with eyes alight, And spoke these words, as he would promise plight: "The god of love, ah benedicite! How mighty and how great a lord is he! Against his might may stand no obstacles, A true god is he by his miracles; For he can manage, in his own sweet wise, The heart of anyone as he devise. Lo, here, Arcita and this Palamon, That were delivered out of my prison, And might have lived in Thebes right royally, Knowing me for their mortal enemy, And also that their lives lay in my hand; And yet their love has wiled them to this land, Against all sense,

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[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] and brought them here to die! Look you now, is not that a folly high? Who can be called a fool, except he love? And see, for sake of God who sits above, See how they bleed! Are they not well arrayed? The Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales 38Thus has their lord, the god of love, repaid Their wages and their fees for their service! And yet they are supposed to be full wise Who serve love well, whatever may befall! But this is yet the best jest of them all, That she for whom they have this jollity Can thank them for it quite as much as me; She knows no more of all this fervent fare, By God! than knows a cuckoo or a hare. But all must be essayed, both hot and cold, A man must play the fool, when young or old; I know it of myself from years long gone: For of love's servants I've been numbered one. And therefore, since I know well all love's pain, And know how sorely it can man constrain, As one that has been taken in the net, I will forgive your trespass, and forget, At instance of my sweet queen, kneeling here, Aye, and of Emily, my sister dear. And you shall presently consent to swear That nevermore will you my power dare, Nor wage war on me, either night or day, But will be friends to me in all you may; I do forgive this trespass, full and fair." And then they swore what he demanded there, And, of his might, they of his mercy prayed, And he extended grace, and thus he said: "To speak for royalty's inheritress, Although she be a queen or a princess, Each of you both is worthy, I confess, When comes the time to wed: but nonetheless, I speak now of my sister Emily, The cause of all this strife and jealousy You know yourselves she may not marry two, At once, although you fight or what you do: One of you, then, and be he loath or lief, Must pipe his sorrows in an ivy leaf. That is to say, she cannot have you both, However jealous one may be, or wroth. Therefore I put you both in this decree, That each of you shall learn his destiny As it is cast; and hear, now, in what wise The word of fate shall speak through my device. "My will is this, to draw conclusion flat, Without reply, or plea, or caveat (In any case, accept it for the best), That each of you shall follow his own quest, Free of all ransom or of fear from me; And this day, fifty weeks hence, both shall be Here once again, each with a hundred knights, Armed for the lists, who stoutly for your rights The Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales 39Will ready be to battle, to maintain Your claim to love. I promise you, again, Upon my word, and as I am a knight, That whichsoever of you wins the fight, That is to say, whichever of you two May with his hundred, whom I spoke of, do His foe to death, or out of boundary drive, Then he shall have Emilia to wive To whom Fortune gives so fair a grace.

[bertram123]

Is it any better, if the student, to avoid this offence, and to liberalize himself, aims to make a mechanical whole of history, or science, or philosophy, by a numerical addition of all the facts that fall within his vision? The world refuses to be analyzed by addition and subtraction. When we are young, we spend much time and pains in filling our notebooks with all definitions of Religion, Love, Poetry, Politics, Art, in the hope that, in the course of a few years, we shall have condensed into our encyclopaedia the net value of all the theories at which the world has yet arrived. But year after year our tables get no completeness, and at last we discover that our curve is a parabola, whose arcs will never meet. Neither by detachment, neither by aggregation, is the integrity of the intellect transmitted to its works, but by a vigilance which brings the intellect in its greatness and best state to operate every moment. It must have the same wholeness which nature has. Although no diligence can rebuild the universe in a model, by the best accumulation or disposition of details, yet does the world reappear in miniature in every event, so that all the laws of nature may be read in the smallest fact.