Scene + 

I + 

Athens. Three altars prepared, and inscribed severally to Mars, Venus, and Diana. + 

A flourish. Enter Theseus, Pirithous, Hippolyta, and Attendants. + 

Theseus + 

Now let ’em enter, and before the gods + 

Tender their holy prayers: let the temples + 

Burn bright with sacred fires, and the altars + 

In hallow’d clouds commend their swelling incense + 

To those above us: let no due be wanting: + 

They have a noble work in hand, will honour + 

The very powers that love ’em. + 

Pirithous + 

Sir, they enter. + 

A flourish of cornets. Enter Palamon, Arcite, and their Knights. + 

Theseus + 

You valiant and strong-hearted enemies, + 

You royal germane foes, that this day come + 

To blow that nearness out that flames between ye, + 

Lay by your anger for an hour, and dove-like + 

Before the holy altars of your helpers, + 

The all-fear’d gods, bow down your stubborn bodies: + 

Your hire is more than mortal; so your help be! + 

And, as the gods regard ye, fight with justice: + 

I’ll leave you to your prayers, and betwixt ye + 

I part my wishes. + 

Pirithous + 

Honour crown the worthiest! Exit Theseus and his Train. + 

Palamon + 

The glass is running now that cannot finish + 

Till one of us expire: think you but thus, + 

That, were there aught in me which strove to show + 

Mine enemy in this business, were’t one eye + 

Against another, arm oppress’d by arm, + 

I would destroy th’ offender; coz, I would, + 

Though parcel of myself: then from this gather + 

How I should tender you. + 

Arcite + 

I am in labour + 

To push your name, your ancient love, our kindred, + 

Out of my memory; and i’ the selfsame place + 

To seat something I would confound: so hoist we + 

The sails, that must these vessels port even where + 

The heavenly lymiter pleases. + 

Palamon + 

You speak well. + 

Before I turn, let me embrace thee, cousin: + 

This I shall never do again. + 

Arcite + 

One farewell! + 

Palamon + 

Why, let it be so: farewell, coz! + 

Arcite + 

Farewell, sir! They embrace.⁠—Exeunt Palamon and his Knights. + 

Knights, kinsmen, lovers, yea, my sacrifices, + 

True worshippers of Mars, whose spirit in you + 

Expels the seeds of fear, and th’ apprehension + 

Which still is farther off it, go with me + 

Before the god of our profession: there + 

Require of him the hearts of lions, and + 

The breath of tigers, yea, the fierceness too, + 

Yea, the speed also⁠—to go on, I mean, + 

Else wish we to be snails: you know my prize + 

Must be dragg’d out of blood; force and great feat + 

Must put my garland on, where she sticks + 

The queen of flowers; our intercession, then, + 

Must be to him that makes the camp a cestron + 

Brimm’d with the blood of men; give me your aid, + 

And bend your spirits towards him. They advance to the altar of Mars, and fall on their faces; then kneel. + 

Thou mighty one, that with thy power hast turn’d + 

Green Neptune into purple; whose approach + 

Comets prewarn; whose havoc in vast field + 

Unearth’d skulls proclaim; whose breath blows down + 

The teeming Ceres’ foyzon; who dost pluck + 

With hand armipotent from forth blue clouds + 

The mason’d turrets; that both mak’st and break’st + 

The stony girths of cities; me thy pupil, + 

Young’st follower of thy drum, instruct this day + 

With military skill, that to thy laud + 

I may advance my streamer, and by thee + 

Be styl’d the lord o’ the day;⁠—give me, great Mars, + 

Some token of thy pleasure. Here they fall on their faces as formerly, and there is heard clanging of armour, with a short thunder, as the burst of a battle, whereupon they all rise and bow to the altar. + 

O great corrector of enormous times, + 

Shaker of o’er-rank states, thou grand decider + 

Of dusty and old titles, that heal’st with blood + 

The earth when it is sick, and cur’st the world + 

O’ the pluresie of people; I do take + 

Thy signs auspiciously, and in thy name + 

To my design march boldly.⁠—Let us go. Exeunt. + 

Reenter Palamon and his Knights. + 

Palamon + 

Our stars must glister with new fire, or be + 

To-day extinct; our argument is love, + 

Which if the goddess of it grant, she gives + 

Victory too: then blend your spirits with mine, + 

You, whose free nobleness do make my cause + 

Your personal hazard: to the goddess Venus + 

Commend we our proceeding, and implore + 

Her power unto our party. They advance to the alter of Venus, and fall on their faces; then kneel. + 

Hail, sovereign queen of secrets, who hast power + 

To call the fiercest tyrant from his rage, + 

And weep unto a girl; that hast the might + 

Even with an eye-glance to choke Mars’s drum, + 

And turn th’ alarm to whispers; that canst make + 

A cripple flourish with his crutch, and cure him + 

Before Apollo; that may’st force the king + 

To be his subject’s vassal, and induce + 

Stale gravity to dance; the poul’d bach’lor⁠— + 

Whose youth, like wonton boys through bonfires, + 

Have skipt thy flame⁠—at seventy thou canst catch, + 

And make him, to the scorn of his hoarse throat, + 

Abuse young lays of love: what godlike power + 

Hast thou not power upon? to Phoebus thou + 

Add’st flames, hotter than his; the heavenly fires + 

Did scorch his mortal son, thine him: the huntress + 

All moist and cold, some say, began to throw + 

Her bow away, and sigh: take to thy grace + 

Me, thy vow’d soldier, who do bear thy yoke + 

As ’twere a wreath of roses, yet is heavier + 

Than lead itself, stings more than nettles: I + 

Have never been foul mouth’d against thy law; + 

Ne’er reveal’d secret, for I knew none⁠—would not, + 

Had I kenn’d all that were; I never practis’d + 

Upon man’s wife, nor would the libels read + 

Of liberal wits; I never at great feasts + 

Sought to betray a beauty, but have blush’d + 

At simpering sirs that did; I have been harsh + 

To large confessors, and have hotly ask’d them, + 

If they had mothers? I had one, a woman, + 

And women ’twere they wrong’d: I knew a man + 

Of eighty winters⁠—this I told them⁠—who + 

A lass of fourteen brided; ’twas thy power + 

To put life into dust; the aged cramp + 

Had screw’d his square foot round, + 

The gout had knit his fingers into knots, + 

Torturing convulsions from his globy eyes + 

Had almost drawn their spheres, that what was life + 

In him seem’d torture; this anatomy + 

Had by his young fair fere a boy, and I + 

Believ’d it was his, for she swore it was, + 

And who would not believe her? Brief, I am + 

To those that prate, and have done, no companion; + 

To those that boast, and have not, a defier; + 

To those that would, and cannot, a rejoicer: + 

Yea, him I do not love, that tells close offices + 

The foulest way, nor names concealments in + 

The boldest language; such a one I am, + 

And vow that lover never yet made sigh + 

Truer than I. O, then, most soft sweet goddess, + 

Give me the victory of this question, which + 

Is true love’s merit, and bless me with a sign + 

Of thy great pleasure. Here music is heard, and doves are seen to flutter: they fall again upon their faces, then on their knees. + 

O thou that from eleven to ninety reign’st + 

In mortal bosoms, whose chase is this world, + 

And we in herds thy game, I give thee thanks + 

For this fair token; which being laid unto + 

Mine innocent true heart, arms in assurance + 

My body to this business.⁠—Let us rise, + 

And bow before the goddess: time comes on. They bow, then exeunt. + 

Still music of records. Enter Emilia in white, her hair about her shoulders, and wearing a wheaten wreath; one in white holding up her train, her hair stuck with flowers; one before her carrying a silver hind, in which is conveyed incense and sweet odours, which being set upon the altar of Diana, her Maids standing aloof, she sets fire to it; then they curtsy and kneel. + 

Emilia + 

O sacred, shadowy, cold, and constant queen, + 

Abandoner of revels, mute, contemplative, + 

Sweet, solitary, white as chaste, and pure + 

As wind-fann’d snow, who to thy female knights + 

Allow’st no more blood than will make a blush, + 

Which is their order’s robe; I here, thy priest, + 

Am humbled ’fore thine altar: O, vouchsafe, + 

With that thy rare green eye⁠—which never yet + 

Beheld thing maculate⁠—look on thy virgin; + 

And, sacred silver mistress, lend thine ear⁠— + 

Which nev’r heard scurril term, into whose port + 

Nev’r entered wanton sound⁠—to my petition, + 

Season’d with holy fear. This is my last + 

Of vestal office; I’m bride-habited, + 

But maiden-hearted: a husband I have ’pointed, + 

But do not know him; out of two I should + 

Choose one, and pray for his success; but I + 

Am guiltless of election: of mine eyes + 

Were I to lose one⁠—they are equal precious⁠— + 

I could doom neither; that which perish’d should + 

Go to’t unsentenc’d: therefore, most modest queen, + 

He, of the two pretenders, that best loves me + 

And has the truest title in’t, let him + 

Take off my wheaten garland, or else grant + 

The file and quality I hold I may + 

Continue in thy band. Here the hind vanishes under the altar, and in the place ascends a rose-tree, having one rose upon it. + 

See what our general of ebbs and flows + 

Out from the bowels of her holy altar + 

With sacred act advances; but one rose! + 

If well inspir’d, this battle shall confound + 

Both these brave knights, and I, a virgin flower, + 

Must grow alone, unpluck’d. Here is heard a sudden twang of instruments, and the rose falls from the tree, which vanishes under the altar. + 

The flower is fall’n, the tree descends.⁠—O mistress, + 

Thou here dischargest me; I shall be gather’d, + 

I think so; but I know not thine own will: + 

Unclasp thy mystery.⁠—I hope she’s pleas’d; + 

Her signs were gracious. They curtsy, and exeunt. + 