The love of liberty with life is given,

And life itself th' inferior gift of Heaven.
Thus without crime I fled; but farther know,
I with this Arcite am thy mortal foe :

Then give me death, fince I thy life pursue;
For fafeguard of thyfelf, death is my due.
More wouldst thou know? I love bright Emily,
And for her fake and in her fight will die:
But kill my rival too; for he no lefs
Deferves; and I thy righteous doom will bless,
Affur'd that what I lofe, he never fhall poffefs.
To this reply'd the stern Athenian prince,
And fourly fmil'd, In owning your offence,
You judge yourself; and I but keep record
In place of law, while you pronounce the word.
Take your desert, the death you have decreed;
I feal your doom, and ratify the deed:
By Mars, the patron of my arms, you die.
He faid; dumb forrow feiz'd the standers-by.
The queen above the reft, by nature good,
(The pattern form'd of perfect womanhood)
For tender pity wept: when he began,

Through the bright quire th' infectious virtue ran.
All dropt their tears, ev'n the contended maid :
And thus among themfelves they foftly faid:
What eyes can fuffer this unworthy fight!
Two youths of royal blood, renown'd in fight,
The maftership of heaven in face and mind,
And lovers, far beyond their faithlefs kind:

}

See their wide streaming wounds; they neither came For pride of empire, nor defire of fame :

Kings fight for kingdoms, madmen for applause :

But love for love alone; that crowns the lover's cause.
This thought, which ever bribes the beauteous kind,
Such pity wrought in every lady's mind,

They left their fteeds, and proftrate on the place,
From the fierce king, implor'd th' offenders grace.
He paus'd a while, ftood filent in his mood
(For yet his rage was boiling in his blood);
But foon his tender mind th' impreffion felt,
(As fofteft metals are not flow to melt
And pity fooneft runs in foftest minds) :
Then reafons with himself; and first he finds
His paffion caft a mist before his fenfe,

And either made, or magnify'd th' offence.
Offence! of what? to whom? who judg'd the caufe?

The prifoner freed himself by nature's laws :

Born free, he fought his right: the man he freed
Was perjur'd, but his love excus'd the deed :
Thus pondering, he look'd under with his eyes,
And faw the women's tears, and heard their cries;
Which mov'd compaffion more, he fhook his head,
And foftly fighing to himself he said:

Curfe on th' unpardoning prince, whom tears
draw

To no remorse; who rules by lions law ;
And deaf to prayers, by no submission bow'd,
Rends all alike; the penitent, and proud :

can

At this, with look ferene, he rais'd his head
Reafon refum'd her place, and passion fled :
Then thus aloud he spoke: The power of love,
In earth, and feas, and air, and heaven above,
Rules, unrefifted, with an awful nod;

By daily miracles declar'd a God:

He blinds the wife, gives eye-fight to the blind;
And moulds and stamps anew the lover's mind.
Behold that Arcite, and this Palamon,
Freed from my fetters, and in safety gone,
What hinder'd either in their native foil
At eafe to reap the harvest of their toil;
But Love, their lord, did otherwise ordain,
And brought them in their own despite again,
To fuffer death deferv'd; for well they know,
'Tis in my power, and I their deadly foe;
The proverb holds, that to be wife and love,
Is hardly granted to the Gods above.

See how the madınen bleed: behold the gains
With which their master, Love, rewards their pains;
For feven long years, on duty every day,

Lo their obedience, and their monarch's pay :
Yet, as in duty bound, they serve him on;
And, afk the fools, they think it wifely done;
Nor ease, nor wealth, nor life itself regard,
For 'tis their maxim, Love is love's reward.
This is not all; the fair for whom they ftrove
Nor knew before, nor could fufpect their love,
Nor thought, when she beheld the fight from far,
Her beauty was th' occafion of the war.

But

But fure a general doom on man is past,
And all are fools and lovers, first or last:
This both by others and myself I know,
For I have ferv'd their fovereign long ago;
Oft have been caught within the winding train
Of female fnares, and felt the lover's pain,

And learn'd how far the God can human hearts con-
ftrain.

To this remembrance, and the prayers of those
Who for th' offending warriors interpofe,
I give their forfeit lives; on this accord,
To do me homage as their sovereign lord ;
And as my vassals, to their utmost might,
Affift my perfon, and affert my right.

This freely fworn, the knights their grace obtain'd.
Then thus the king his fecret thoughts explain'd;
If wealth, or honour, or a royal race,

Or each, or all, may win a lady's grace,
Then either of you knights may well deserve
A princess born; and fuch is the you serve:
For Emily is fifter to the crown,

And but too well to both her beauty known :
But should you combat till you both were dead,
Two lovers cannot share a single bed :
As therefore both are equal in degree,
The lot of both be left to deftiny.

Now hear th' award, and happy may it prove
To her, and him who best deserves her love!
Depart from hence in peace, and free as air,
Search the wide world, and where you please repair;

}

But

But on the day when this returning fun

To the fame point through every sign has run,
Then each of you his hundred knights shall bring, '
In royal lifts, to fight before the king;

And then the knight, 'whom fate or happy chance
Shall with his friends to victory advance,
And grace his arms fo far in equal fight,
From out the bars to force his oppofite,
Or kill, or make him recreant on the plain,
The prize of valour and of love shall gain ;
The vanquish'd party fhall their claim release,
And the long jars conclude in lafting peace.
The charge be mine t'adorn the chofen ground,
The theatre of war, for champions fo renown'd;
And take the patron's place of either knight,
With eyes impartial to behold the fight;

And heaven of me fo judge as I fhall judge aright.
If both are fatisfied with this accord,

Swear by the laws of knighthood on my fword.
Who now but Palamon exults with joy?
And ravish'd Arcite feems to touch the fky:
The whole affembled troop was pleas'd as well,

Extol th' award, and on their knees they fell
To blefs the gracious king. The knights with leave
Departing from the place, his last commands receive;
On Emily with equal ardour look,

And from her eyes their infpiration took.

From thence to Thebes' old walls purfue their way,
Each to provide his champions for the day.

}