Page:The Canterbury Tales and Faerie Queene.djvu/173

THE MONK'S TALE.

159

He by his father ooulde not beware,

For proud he was of heart and of array ;

And eke an idolaster was he aye.

His high estate assured ^ him in pride ;

But Fortune cast him down, and there he lay,

And suddenly his regne gan divide.

A feast he made unto his lordes all Upon a time, and made them blithe be, And then his offioSres gan he call ;' " Go, brings forth the vessels," saide he, " Which that my father in his prosperity Out of the temple of Jerusalem reft, And to our highS goddes thanke we Of honour, that our elders * with us left."

His wife, his lordes, and his concubines Aye dranke, while their appetites did last. Out of these noble vessels sundry wines. And on a wall this king his eyen cast. And saw an hand, armless, that wrote full fast ; For fear of which he quaked, and sighed sore. This hand, that Balthasar so sore aghast,^ Wrote Mane, tekel, phares, and no more. . In all that land magician was there none That could expounde what this letter meant. But Daniel expounded it anon, And said, " O King, God to thy father lent Glory and honour, regne, treasure, rent ; * And he was proud, and nothing God he drad ; " And therefore God great wreohe ^ upon him

sent. And him bereft the regne that he had.

" He was cast out of manne's company ; With asses was his habitati6n ; And ate hay, as a beast, in wet and dry, Till that he knew by grace and by reas6u That God of heaven hath domination O'er every regne, and every creature ; And then had God of him compassion, And him restor'd his regne and his figtire.

"Eke thou, that art his son, art proud also. And knowest all these thinges verily; And art rebel to God, and art his foe. Thou drankest of his vessels boldely ; Thy wife eke, and thy wenches, sinfully Drank of the same vessels sundry wines. And heried' false goddes cursedly ;* Therefore to thee y-shapen ' full great pine " is.

"This hand was sent from God, that on the wall Wrote Mane, tekel, phwres, trusts me ; Thy reign is done ; thou weighest naught at all ; Divided is thy regne, and it shall be To MedSs and to Persians giv'n," quoth he. And thilke same night this king was slaw ; ^^ And Darius occupied his degree, Though he thereto had neither right nor law.

Lordings, example hereby may ye take. How that in lordship" is no sickemess ; ^^

3 Siamayed. 6 Vengeance.

1 Gonflrmed. 4 Bevenue. 7 Praised. 9 Decreed. 11 Slain.

3 Forefathers.

5 Dreaded.

8 Impiously. 10 Punishment. 12 Power.

13 Security.

w Chaucer has taken the story of Zenobia from Boc- caccio's work " De Claris MuUeribus." u Npble qualities. 16 Persia.

For when that Fortune will a man forsake. She bears a^ay his regne and his rich6ss. And eke his friendes bothe more and less, For what man that hath friendes through

fortune, Mishap will make them enemies, I guess ; This proverb is full sooth, and full oommline.

Zenobia, of Palmyrie the queen," As write Persians of her noblSss, So worthy was in armes, and so keen. That no wight passed her in hardiness. Nor in line&ge, nor other gentleness." Of the king's blood of Perse i" is she descended ; I say not that she hadde most fairness. But of her shape she might not be amended.

From her childhood I finde that she fled Office of woman, and to woods she went, And many a wilde harte's blood she shed With arrows broad that she against them sent ; She was so swift, that she anon them hent.^' And when that she was older, she would kill Lions, leopS^rds, and beares all to-rent, And in her armes wield them at her will.

She durst the wilde beastes' dennes seek, And runnen in the mountains all the night. And sleep under a bush ; and she could eke Wrestle'by very force and very might With any young man, were he ne'er so wight ; l^ There mighte nothing in her armes stond. She kept her maidenhood from every wight, To no man deigned she for to be bond.

But at the last her friendes have her married To Odenate,!' a prince of that country ; All were it so, that she them longe tarried. And ye shall understands how that he Hadde such fantasies as hadde she ; But natheless, when they were knit in fere,*" They Uv'd in joy, and in felicity. For each of them had other lef e ^ and dear.

Save one thing, that she never would assent. By no way, that he shouldS by her lie But ones, for it was her plain intent To have a child, iiie world to multiply ; And all so soon as that she might espy That she was not vrith childe by that deed. Then would she suffer him do his fantasy Eftsoon,^ and not but ones, out of dread.^

And if she were with child at thilke cast, No more should he playS thilke game Till fully forty dayes were past ; Then would she once suffer him do the same. AU'^ were this Odenatus wild or tame. He got no more of her ; for thus she said. It was to vrives lechery and shame In other case ^ if that men with them play'd.

Two sones by this Odenate had she. The which she kept in virtue and lettrure.'^s But now unto our tale turne we ;

17 Caught. 18 Active, nimble.

19 Odenatus, who, for his servioes to the Eomans, received from Gallienus the title of "Augustus ;" he was assassinated in A.D. 266— not, it was believed, without the connivance of Zenobia, who succeeded him on the throne. 20 Together. '^ Loved.

22 Again. 23 Doubt. 24 Whether.

25 On other terms, in other wise. 2^ Learning.