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Arrayed was this god (as he took keep*) *notice

As he was when that Argus took his sleep;

And said him thus: "To Athens shalt thou wend*; *go

There is thee shapen* of thy woe an end." *fixed, prepared

And with that word Arcite woke and start.

"Now truely how sore that e'er me smart,"

Quoth he, "to Athens right now will I fare.

Nor for no dread of death shall I not spare

To see my lady that I love and serve;

In her presence *I recke not to sterve.*" *do not care if I die*

And with that word he caught a great mirror,

And saw that changed was all his colour,

And saw his visage all in other kind.

And right anon it ran him ill his mind,

That since his face was so disfigur'd

Of malady the which he had endur'd,

He mighte well, if that he *bare him low,* *lived in lowly fashion*

Live in Athenes evermore unknow,

And see his lady wellnigh day by day.

And right anon he changed his array,

And clad him as a poore labourer.

And all alone, save only a squier,

That knew his privity* and all his cas**, *secrets **fortune

Which was disguised poorly as he was,

To Athens is he gone the nexte* way. *nearest

And to the court he went upon a day,

And at the gate he proffer'd his service,

To drudge and draw, what so men would devise*. *order

And, shortly of this matter for to sayn,

He fell in office with a chamberlain,

The which that dwelling was with Emily.

For he was wise, and coulde soon espy

Of every servant which that served her.

Well could he hewe wood, and water bear,

For he was young and mighty for the nones*, *occasion

And thereto he was strong and big of bones

To do that any wight can him devise.

A year or two he was in this service,

Page of the chamber of Emily the bright;

And Philostrate he saide that he hight.

But half so well belov'd a man as he

Ne was there never in court of his degree.

He was so gentle of conditioun,

That throughout all the court was his renown.

They saide that it were a charity

That Theseus would *enhance his degree*, *elevate him in rank*

And put him in some worshipful service,

There as he might his virtue exercise.

And thus within a while his name sprung

Both of his deedes, and of his good tongue,

That Theseus hath taken him so near,

That of his chamber he hath made him squire,

And gave him gold to maintain his degree;

And eke men brought him out of his country

From year to year full privily his rent.

But honestly and slyly* he it spent, *discreetly, prudently

That no man wonder'd how that he it had.

And three year in this wise his life be lad*, *led

And bare him so in peace and eke in werre*, *war

There was no man that Theseus had so derre*. *dear

And in this blisse leave I now Arcite,

And speak I will of Palamon a lite*. *little

In darkness horrible, and strong prison,

This seven year hath sitten Palamon,

Forpined*, what for love, and for distress. *pined, wasted away

Who feeleth double sorrow and heaviness

But Palamon? that love distraineth* so, *afflicts

That wood* out of his wits he went for woe, *mad

And eke thereto he is a prisonere

Perpetual, not only for a year.

Who coulde rhyme in English properly

His martyrdom? forsooth*, it is not I; *truly

Therefore I pass as lightly as I may.

It fell that in the seventh year, in May

The thirde night (as olde bookes sayn,

That all this story tellen more plain),

Were it by a venture or destiny

(As when a thing is shapen* it shall be), *settled, decreed

That soon after the midnight, Palamon

By helping of a friend brake his prison,

And fled the city fast as he might go,

For he had given drink his gaoler so

Of a clary , made of a certain wine,

With *narcotise and opie* of Thebes fine, *narcotics and opium*

That all the night, though that men would him shake,

The gaoler slept, he mighte not awake:

And thus he fled as fast as ever he may.

The night was short, and *faste by the day *close at hand was

That needes cast he must himself to hide*. the day during which

And to a grove faste there beside he must cast about, or contrive,

With dreadful foot then stalked