While Arcite lives in bliss, the story turns 
Where hopeless Palamon in prison mourns. 
For six long years immured, the captive knight 
Had dragged his chains, and scarcely seen the light: 
Lost liberty and love at once he bore; 
His prison pained him much, his passion more: 
Nor dares he hope his fetters to remove, 
Nor ever wishes to be free from love. 
But when the sixth revolving year was run, 
And May within the Twins received the sun, 
Were it by Chance, or forceful Destiny, 
Which forms in causes first whate'er shall be, 
Assisted by a friend one moonless night, 
This Palamon from prison took his flight: 
A pleasant beverage he prepared before 
Of wine and honey mixed, with added store 
Of opium; to his keeper this he brought, 
Who swallowed unaware the sleepy draught, 
And snored secure till morn, his senses bound 
In slumber, and in long oblivion drowned. 
Short was the night, and careful Palamon 
Sought the next covert ere the rising sun. 
A thick-spread forest near the city lay, 
To this with lengthened strides he took his way, 
(For far he could not fly, and feared the day.)

Safe from pursuit, he meant to shun the light, 
Till the brown shadows of the friendly night 
To Thebes might favour his intended flight. 
When to his country come, his next design 
Was all the Theban race in arms to join, 
And war on Theseus, till he lost his life, 
Or won the beauteous Emily to wife. 
Thus while his thoughts the lingering day beguile, 
To gentle Arcite let us turn our style; 
Who little dreamt how nigh he was to care, 
Till treacherous fortune caught him in the snare. 
The morning-lark, the messenger of day, 
Saluted in her song the morning gray; 
And soon the sun arose with beams so bright, 
That all the horizon laughed to see the joyous sight; 
He with his tepid rays the rose renews, 
And licks the dropping leaves, and dries the dews; 
When Arcite left his bed, resolved to pay 
Observance to the month of merry May, 
Forth on his fiery steed betimes he rode, 
That scarcely prints the turf on which he trod: 
At ease he seemed, and prancing o'er the plains, 
Turned only to the grove his horse's reins, 
The grove I named before, and, lighting there, 
A woodbind garland sought to crown his hair; 
Then turned his face against the rising day, 
And raised his voice to welcome in the May: 
?For thee, sweet month, the groves green liveries wear, 
If not the first, the fairest of the year: 
For thee the Graces lead the dancing hours, 
And Nature's ready pencil paints the flowers: 
When thy short reign is past, the feverish sun 
The sultry tropic fears, and moves more slowly on. 
So may thy tender blossoms fear no blight, 
Nor goats with venomed teeth thy tendrils bite, 
As thou shalt guide my wandering feet to find 
The fragrant greens I seek, my brows to bind.? 
His vows addressed, within the grove he strayed, 
Till Fate or Fortune near the place conveyed 
His steps where secret Palamon was laid. 
Full little thought of him the gentle knight, 
Who flying death had there concealed his flight, 
In brakes and brambles hid, and shunning mortal sight; 
And less he knew him for his hated foe, 
But feared him as a man he did not know. 
But as it has been said of ancient years, 
That fields are full of eyes and woods have ears, 
For this the wise are ever on their guard, 
For unforeseen, they say, is unprepared. 
Uncautious Arcite thought himself alone, 
And less than all suspected Palamon, 
Who, listening, heard him, while he searched the grove, 
And loudly sung his roundelay of love: 
But on the sudden stopped, and silent stood, 
(As lovers often muse, and change their mood 
Now high as heaven, and then as low as hell, 
Now up, now down, as buckets in a well: 
For Venus, like her day, will change her cheer, 
And seldom shall we see a Friday clear. 
Thus Arcite, having sung, with altered hue 
Sunk on the ground, and from his bosom drew 
A desperate sigh, accusing Heaven and Fate, 
And angry Juno's unrelenting hate: 
?Cursed be the day when first I did appear; 
Let it be blotted from the calendar, 
Lest it pollute the month, and poison all the year. 
Still will the jealous Queen pursue our race? 
Cadmus is dead, the Theban city was: 
Yet ceases not her hate; for all who come 
From Cadmus are involved in Cadmus' doom. 
I suffer for my blood: unjust decree, 
That punishes another's crime on me. 
In mean estate I serve my mortal foe, 
The man who caused my country's overthrow. 
This is not all; for Juno, to my shame, 
Has forced me to forsake my former name; 
Arcite I was, Philostratus I am. 
That side of heaven is all my enemy: 
Mars ruined Thebes; his mother ruined me. 
Of all the royal race remains but one