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They owe bloomed May, and the Athenians pay it

To th' heart of ceremony. O, Queen Emilia,

Fresher than May, sweeter

Than her gold buttons on the boughs, or all

Th'enameled knacks o'th' mead or garden -- yea,

We challenge too the bank of any nymph

That makes the stream seem flowers; thou, O jewel

O'th' wood, o'th' world, has likewise blessed a pace ...

With thy sole presence in thy

[~~~ ] rumination

That I, poor man, might eftsoons come between

And chop on some cold thought. Thrice blessed chance

To drop on such a mistress, expectation

Most guiltless on't! Tell me, O Lady Fortune,

Next after Emily my sovereign, how far

I may be proud. She takes strong note of me,

Hath made me near her, and this beauteous morn,

The prim'st of all the year, presents me with ...

A brace of horses -- two such steeds might well

Be by a pair of kings backed, in a field

That their crowns' titles tried. Alas, alas,

Poor cousin Palamon, poor prisoner -- thou

So little dream'st upon my fortune that

Thou think'st thyself the happier thing to be

So near Emilia. Me thou deem'st at Thebes,

And therein wretched, although free. But if

Thou knew'st my mistress breathed on me, and that

I eared her language, lived in her eye -- O, coz, ...

hat passion would enclose thee!

[Enter Palamon as out of a bush with his shackles. He bends his fist at Arcite.]

PALAMON Traitor kinsman,

Thou shouldst perceive my passion if these signs

Of prisonment were off me, and this hand

But owner of a sword. By all oaths in one,

I and the justice of my love would make thee

A confessed traitor. O thou most perfidious

That ever gently looked, the void'st of honor

That e'er bore gentle token, falsest cousin

That ever blood made kin -- call'st thou her thine?

I'll prove it in my shackles, with these hands, ...

Void of appointment, that thou liest and art

A very thief in love, a chaffy lord

Not worth the name of villain. Had I a sword

And these house-clogs away --

ARCITE Dear cousin Palamon --

PALAMON Cozener Arcite, give me language such

As thou has showed me feat.

ARCITE Not finding in

The circuit of my breast any gross stuff

To form me like your blazon holds me to

This gentleness of answer -- 'tis your passion

That thus mistakes, the which, to you being enemy,

Cannot to me be kind. Honor and honesty

I cherish and depend on, howsoe'er

You skip them in me, and with them, fair coz,

I'll maintain my proceedings. Pray be pleased

To show in generous terms your griefs, since that

Your question's with your equal, who professes

To clear his own way with the mind and sword

Of a true gentleman.

PALAMON That thou durst, Arcite!

ARCITE My coz, my coz, you have been well advertised

How much I dare; you've seen me use my sword ...

Against th'advice of fear. Sure, of another

You would not hear me doubted, but your silence

Should break out, though i' th' sanctuary.

PALAMON Sir,

I have seen you move in such a place which well

Might justify your manhood; you were called

A good knight and a bold. But the whole week's not fair

If any day it rain: their valiant temper

Men lose when they incline to treachery,

And then they fight like compelled bears -- would fly

Were they not tied.

ARCITE Kinsman, you might as well ...

Speak this and act it in your glass as to

His ear which now disdains you.

PALAMON Come up to me,

Quit me of these cold gyves, give me a sword,

Though it be rusty, and the charity

Of one meal lend me. Come before me then,

A good sword in thy hand, and do but say

That Emily is thine -- I will forgive

The trespass thou hast done me, yea, my life,

If then thou carry't; and brave souls in shades

That have died manly, which will seek of me ...

Some news from earth, they shall get none but this --

That thou art brave and noble.

ARCITE Be content,

Again betake you to your hawthorn house.

With counsel of the night I will be here

With wholesome viands. These impediments

Will I file off. You shall have garments and

Perfumes to kill the smell o'th' prison. After,

When you shall stretch