24 Such is the cruelty of womenkind,

When they have shaken off the shamefast 1 band,
With which wise nature did them strongly bind
T'obey the hests 2 of man's well-ruling hand,
That then all rule and reason they withstand
To purchase a licentious liberty:

But virtuous women wisely understand,

That they were born to base humility,3
Unless the heavens them lift to lawful sovereignty.

25 Thus there long while continued Artegall,
Serving proud Radigund with true subjection :
However it his noble heart did gall

T' obey a woman's tyrrannous direction,
That might have had of life or death election:
But, having chosen, now he might not change.

To add to Artegall's discomfort, his mistress conceived a liking for her noble captive and used every means at her command to gain his affection. Her maid Clarinda also persecuted him with her attentions. However, steadfast in his love for Britomart, the knight withstood both threats and entreaties, and endured in stubborn patience his hard lot.

1 Shamefast, modest.

2 Hests, commands.

3 Base humility, humble subordination.

4 Unless the heavens them, etc. Spenser wisely makes an exception in favor of female sovereigns,

XVI.

Informed by Talus, Artegall's servant, of his master's sad plight, Britomart sets out to deliver her lover. The treachery of Dolon and Britomart's combat with his sons.

I SOME men, I wote, will deem in Artegall
Great weakness, and report of him much ill,
For yielding so himself a wretched thrall
To th' insolent command of women's will;
That all his former praise doth foully spill1:
But he, the man that say or do so dare,
Be well advised that he stand steadfast still;
For never yet was wight so well aware,

But he at first or last was trapped in women's snare.

2 Yet in the straitness 2 of that captive state
This gentle knight himself so well behaved,
That notwithstanding all the subtile bait,
With which those amazons his love still craved,
To his own love his loyalty he saved:
Whose character 5 in th' adamantine mould
Of his true heart so firmly was engraved,
That no new love's impression ever could
Bereave it thence

should.

1 Spill, spoil.

such blot his honour blemish

2 Straitness, narrowness, re

straint.

8 Gentle, high-born, noble.

4 Subtile, sly, artful.

5 Character, image.

6 Th' adamantine mould, the adamantine (or extremely hard) substance.

7 Bereave it, take it away from.

3 Yet his own love, the noble Britomart,
Scarce so conceived in her jealous thought,
What time sad tidings of his baleful smart
In woman's bondage Talus to her brought;
Brought in untimely hour, ere it was sought :
For, after that the utmost date assigned
For his return she waited had for nought,
She gan to cast 1 in her misdoubtful 2 mind

A thousand fears, that love-sick fancies fain 3 to find.

4 Sometime she feared lest some hard mishap Had him misfall'n in his adventurous quest; Sometime lest his false foe did him entrap

4

In traitrous traine, or had unawares opprest ;
But most she did her troubled mind molest,
And secretly afflict with jealous fear,

Lest some new love had him from her possessed;
Yet loath she was, since she no ill did hear,

To think of him so ill; yet could she not forbear.

5 One while she blamed herself; another while
She him condemned as trustless and untrue :
And then, her grief with error to beguile,
She fained to count the time again anew,

As if before she had not counted true :

For hours, but days; for weeks that passèd were, She told but months, to make them seem more few : Yet, when she reck'ned them still drawing near, Each hour did seem a month, and every month a year.

1 Cast, plan.

2 Misdoubtful, apprehensive.

3 Fain, pretend.

4 Traine, snare.

6 But, when as yet she saw him not return,

She thought to send some one to seek him out;
But none she found so fit to serve that turn
As her own self, to ease herself of doubt.
Now she devised, amongst the warlike rout
Of errant knights, to seek her errant knight;
And then again resolved to hunt him out
Amongst loose ladies lappèd in delight :

And then both knights envíed,1 and ladies eke did spite.

7 One day whenas she long had sought for ease
In every place, and every place thought best,
Yet found no place that could her liking please,
She to a window came, that opened west,
Towards which coast her love his way addressed
There looking forth she in her heart did find
Many vain fancies working her unrest;

And sent her wingèd thoughts more swift than wind
To bear unto her love the message of her mind.

8 There as she lookèd long, at last she spied

One coming towards her with hasty speed;
Well weened she then, ere him she plain descried,
That it was one sent from her love indeed :
Who when he nigh approached, she mote aread 2
That it was Talus, Artegall his groom 3:

Whereat her heart was filled with hope and dread;

1 Envied, felt a grudge against,

hated.

2 Mote aread, could perceive.

3 Artegall his groom, i.e. Artegall's servant.

Ne would she stay till he in place could come,

But ran to meet him forth to know his tidings' sum.

9 Even in the door him meeting, she begun :
"And where is he thy lord, and how far hence?
Declare at once: and hath he lost or won?"

The iron man, albe he wanted sense

And sorrow's feeling, yet, with conscience1
Of his ill news, did inly chill and quake,
And stood still mute, as one in great suspense;
As if that by his silence he would make

Her rather read his meaning then himself it spake.2

10 Till she again thus said: "Talus, be bold,

And tell whatever it be, good or bad,

That from thy tongue thy heart's intent doth hold."
To whom he thus at length: "The tidings sad,
That I would hide, will needs, I see, be rad.3
My lord, your love, by hard mishap doth lie

In wretched bondage, wofully bestad." 4

९९

Ay me," quoth she, "what wicked destiny!
And is he vanquished by his tyrant enemy?"

II "Not by that tyrant, his intended foe 5;
But by a tyranness," he then replied,

"That him captivèd hath in hapless woe."

୧୯

Cease, thou bad news-man; badly dost thou hide Thy master's shame,

1 Conscience, consciousness.

2 Then himself it spake, than himself disclose it.

3 Rad, uttered.

4 Bestad, bestead, beset.

5 His intended foe, i.e. Grantorto from whose power he was to release Irena.