HKB
Mars honour and glory. And thus with joy, and hope well to fare, Arcite anon unto his inn doth fare. As fain* as fowl is of the brighte sun. *glad
And right anon such strife there is begun For thilke* granting, in the heav’n above, that Betwixte Venus the goddess of love, And Mars the sterne god armipotent, That Jupiter was busy it to stent: stop Till that the pale Saturnus the cold,<70> That knew so many of adventures old, Found in his old experience such an art, That he full soon hath pleased every part. As sooth is said, eld hath great advantage, age In eld is bothe wisdom and usage: experience Men may the old out-run, but not out-rede. outwit Saturn anon, to stint the strife and drede, Albeit that it is against his kind, nature Of all this strife gan a remedy find. “My deare daughter Venus,” quoth Saturn, “My course, that hath so wide for to turn, orbit <71> Hath more power than wot any man. Mine is the drowning in the sea so wan; Mine is the prison in the darke cote, cell Mine the strangling and hanging by the throat, The murmur, and the churlish rebelling, The groyning, and the privy poisoning. discontent I do vengeance and plein correction, full I dwell in the sign of the lion. Mine is the ruin of the highe halls, The falling of the towers and the walls Upon the miner or the carpenter: I slew Samson in shaking the pillar: Mine also be the maladies cold, The darke treasons, and the castes old: plots My looking is the father of pestilence. Now weep no more, I shall do diligence That Palamon, that is thine owen knight, Shall have his lady, as thou hast him hight. promised Though Mars shall help his knight, yet natheless Betwixte you there must sometime be peace: All be ye not of one complexion, That each day causeth such division, I am thine ayel, ready at thy will; grandfather <72> Weep now no more, I shall thy lust fulfil.” pleasure Now will I stenten of the gods above, *cease speaking Of Mars, and of Venus, goddess of love, And telle you as plainly as I can The great effect, for which that I began.