Page:The Canterbury tales of Geoffrey Chaucer.djvu/58

 bate each of them helped straightway for to arm each as friendly as it had been his own brother. And after that, with spears sharp and stout they thrust at each other wondrous long. Thou mightest ween that this Palamon in his fighting was a maddened lion; and as a cruel tiger was Arcite; they smote as wild boars, that froth white foam for mad ire ; up to the ankle they fought in their blood. And in this wise I leave them fighting, and I will tell you forth of Theseus.

Destiny, the general minister, that executeth over all the world the purveyance that God hath foreordained,—so strong it is that, though the world had sworn the contrary of a thing, yea or nay, yet on a time a thing shall befall that falleth not again within a thousand years. For certainly our appetites here, be it of love or hate, or war or peace, all these are ruled by the oversight above. This I mean now of mighty Theseus, who hath such desire to hunt, and chiefly for the great hart in the springtime, that in his bed there dawneth on him no day that he is not clad and ready to ride forth with hunt and horn and hounds. For all his joy and appetite is it to be himself the great hart's death ; for after Mars he serveth now Diane.

Clear was the day, as I told before, and Theseus, with all joy and bliss, and his Ipolita the fair, and Emily clothed all in green, are ridden royally a-hunting, and to the grove hard by, in which was an hart (as men told him), Duke Theseus hath held the straight path, and to the glade rideth, whither the hart was wont to flee, and over a brook and forth on his way; this duke will have a course or two at him with hounds such as he hath chosen. And when he is come to the glade, in the face of the sun he peereth under his hand and anon is ware of Arcite and Palamon, that fight as it were two boars. The bright swords