Page:The Canterbury tales of Geoffrey Chaucer.djvu/62

 so did Emily and all the ladies in the troup. Great pity it was, as seemed to them, that ever such a chance should befall for gentles they were, of great estate, and only for love was the strife; and the ladies saw their bloody wounds wide and sore, and they all cried, great and small: "Have mercy, lord, upon us women!" And on their bare knees down they fell to kiss his feet, till at the last his mood was softened ; for pity cometh soon in gentle heart. And though at first he quaked for ire, he gan to view the trespass of them and eke the cause thereof, and though that his ire declared their guilt, yet his reason excused them both; as thus,—he thought well that every man, if he may, will help himself in love and eke deliver himself from prison; and his heart had pity because of the women, for they wept ever alike; and anon in his gentle heart he thought and softly said: "Fie upon a lord that will have no mercy, but be a lion in word and deed to them that be repentant and meek, as well as to proud, angry men that will stiffly maintain their trespass! That lord hath little discretion that in such cases knoweth no difference, but weigheth pride and humility alike." And, to make few words, when his ire was thus gone, he gan to look up with smiling eyes and spake these words aloud: "Ah, benedicite, the god of love! How great and mighty a lord is he! Against his might availeth no barrier. Well may he be called a god for his miracles, sith he can do with every heart as he will. Lo here! this Palamon and this Arcite were wholly out of my prison and might have lived royally in Thebes, and know that I am their mortal enemy and hold their death within my might; and yet, maugre their two eyne, hath love brought them hither both to die. Look now, is not that an high folly? Who is a fool, but he who is in love? For God's sake that sitteth on high, behold how they bleed! Be