The management they left to Chronos' care;
Now turn we to th' effect, and fing the war.
In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play,
All proper to the spring, and spritely May:
Which ev'ry foul inspir'd with such delight,
'Twas jefting all the day, and love at night.
Heav'n fmil'd, and gladded was the heart of man;
And Venus had the world as when it first began.
At length in fleep their bodies they compose,
And dreamt the future fight, and early rose.
Now scarce the dawning day began to spring,
As at a signal giv'n, the streets with clamours ring:
At once the crowd arofe; confus'd and high
Ev'n from the heav'n was heard a shouting cry;
For Mars was early up, and rous'd the sky.
The Gods came downward to behold the wars,
Sharp'ning their fights, and leaning from their stars.
The neighing of the gen'rous horse was heard,
For battle by the busy groom prepar'd:
Rustling of harness, rattling of the shield,
Clatt'ring of armour, furbish'd for the field.
Crowds to the castle mounted up the street,
Batt'ring the pavement with their courser's feet:
The greedy fight might there devour the gold
Of glitt'ring arms, too dazzling to behold:
And polish'd steel that cast the view aside,
And crefted morions, with their plumy pride.
Knights, with a long retinue of their squires,
In gaudy liv'ries march, and quaint attires.
One lac'd the helm, another held the lance:
A third the shining buckler did advance.
'The courser paw'd the ground with restless feet,
And fnorting foam'd, and champ'd the golden bit.
The smiths and armourers on palfreys ride,
Files in their hands and hammers at their side,
And nails for loosen'd spears, and thongs for shields
The yeomen guard the streets, in seemly bands;
And clownscome crowding on, with cudgels in their hands.
The trumpets, next the gate, in order plac'd,
Attend the fign to found the martial blaft:
The palace-yard is fill'd with floating tides,
And the last comers bear the former to the fides.
The throng is in the midst: the common crew
Shut out, the hall admits the better few;
In knots they stand, or in a rank they walk,
Serious in aspect, earnest in their talk:
Factious, and fav'ring this or t' other side,
As their strong fancy or weak reason guide:
Their wagers back their wishes; numbers hold
With the fair freckled king, and beard of gold:
So vig'rous are his eyes, such rays they cast,
So prominent his eagle's beak is plac'd.
But most their looks on the black monarch bend,
His rifing muscles, and his brawn commend;
His double-biting ax, and beamy spear,
Each asking a gigantic force to rear.
All spoke as partial favour mov'd the mind;
And, fafe themselves, at other's cost divin'd.
Wak'd by the cries, th' Athenian chief arose,
The knightly forms of combat to dispose;
And passing through th' obsequious guards, he fate
Confpicuous on a throne, fublime in state;
There, for the two contending knights he fent;
Arm'd cap-a-pee, with rev'rence low they bent;
He smil'd on both, and with superior look
Alike their offer'd adoration took.
The people press on ev'ry fide to fee
Their awful prince, and hear his high decree.
Then figning to their heralds with his hand,
'They gave his orders from their lofty stand.
Silence is thrice enjoin'd; then thus aloud
The king at arms bespeaks the knights and liftningcrowd.
Our fovereign lord has ponder'd in his mind
The means to spare the blood of gentle kind;
And of his grace, and inborn clemency,
He modifies his first severe decree!
The keener edge of battle to rebate,
The troops for honour fighting, not for hate.
He wills, not death should terminate their strife;
And wounds, if wounds ensue, be short of life :
But issues, ere the fight, his dread command,
That flings afar, and poniards hand to hand,
Be banish'd from the field; that none shall dare
With shortned sword to stab in closer war;
But in fair combat fight with manly strength,
Nor push with biting point, but strike at length,
The tourney is allow'd but one career,
Of the tough ash, with the sharp-grinded spear,
But knights unhors'd may rise from off the plain,
And fight on foot their honour to regain;
Nor if at mischief taken, on the ground
Be flain, but pris'ners to the pillar bound,
At either barrier plac'd; nor (captives made,)
Be freed, or arm'd anew the fight invade.
The chief of either fide, bereft of life,
Or yielded to his foe, concludes the strife.
Thus dooms the lord: now valiant knights and young,
Fight each his fill with swords and maces long.
The herald ends: the vaulted firmament
With loud acclaims and vast applause is rent:
Heav'n guard a prince so gracious and so good,
So just, and yet so provident of blood!
This was the gen'ral cry. The trumpets found,
And warlike symphony is heard around.
The marching troops thro' Athens take their way,
The great earl-marshal orders their array.
The fair from high the passing pomp behold;
A rain of flow'rs is from the windows roll'd.
The casements are with golden tissue spread,
And horses hoofs, for earth, on filken tap'stry tread,
The king goes midmost, and the rivals ride
In equal rank, and close his either fide.
Next after these, there rode the royal wife,
With Emily, the cause, and the reward of ftrife.
The following cavalcade, by three and three,
Proceed by titles marshall'd in degree.
Thus thro' the fouthern gate they take their way,
And at the list arriv'd ere prime of day.
There, parting from the king, the chiefs divide,
And wheeling East and West, before their many ride.
Th' Athenian monarch mounts his throne on high,
And after him the queen and Emily:
Next these, the kindred of the crown are grac'd
With nearer seats, and lords by ladies plac'd.
Scarce were they feated, when with clamours loud
In rush'd at once a rude promiscuous crowd:
The guards, and then each other overbear,
And in a moment throng the spacious theatre.
Now chang'd the jarring noise to whispers low,
As winds forsaking seas more softly blow;
When at the western gate, on which the car
Is plac'd aloft, that bears the God of war,
Proud Arcite entring arm'd before his train,
Stops at the barrier, and divides the plain.
Red was his banner, and display'd abroad
The bloody colours of his patron God.
At that felf moment enters Palamon
The gate of Venus, and the rifing-fun;
Wav'd by the wanton winds, his banner flies,
All maiden white, and shares the people's eyes..
From East to West, look all the world around,
Two troops so match'd were never to be found;
Such bodies built for strength, of equal age,
In ftature fiz'd; so proud an equipage:
The nicest eye could no distinction make,
Where lay th' advantage, or what side to take.
Thus rang'd, the herald for the last proclaims
A filence, while they answer'd to their names:
For so the king decreed, to shun the care,
The fraud of musters false, the common bane of war.
The tale was just, and then the gates were clos'd;
And chief to chief, and troop to troop oppos'd.
The heralds last retir'd, and loudly cry'd,
The fortune of the field be fairly try'd.
At this, the challenger with fierce defy His trumpet founds; the challeng'd makes reply: With clangor rings the field, resounds the vaulted sky. Their vizors clos'd, their lances in the reft, Or at the helmet pointed, or the creft; They vanish from the barrier, speed the race, And spurring fee decrease the middle space. A cloud of smoke envelops either hoft, And all at once the combatants are loft: Darkling they join adverse, and shock unseen, Coursers with coursers justling, men with men: As lab'ring in eclipse, a while they stay, Till the next blast of wind restores the day. They look anew: the beauteous form of fight Is chang'd, and war appears a grizly fight. Two troops in fair array one moment show'd, The next, a field with fall'n bodies strow'd: Not half the number in their seats are found; But men and steeds lie grov'ling on the ground. The points of spears are stuck within the shield, The steeds without their riders scour the field. The knights unhors'd, on foot renew the fight; The glitt'ring fauchions cast a gleaming light: Hauberks and helms are hew'd with many a wound Out spins the streaming blood and dies the ground. The mighty maces with such hafte defcend,
They break the bones, and make the folid armour bend.
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