Unless thou forsake these lying tales
And plainly to me the truth make known." 690
Then bade she with band him lead alive,
The guilty one cast (the servants delayed not)
Intó a dry pit, where robbed of joy,
He lingered in sorrows seven nights' time
Within the prison oppressed with hunger, 695
Fastened with fetters, and then gan he call,
Weakened by pains, on the seventh day,
Tired and foodless (his strength was exhausted):
"I you beseech through heaven's God,
That me from these sufferings ye maý release, 700
Humbled by hunger. Of that holy tree
Shall I willingly tell, now longer I may not
For hunger conceal it. This bond is too strong,
Distress too severe, and this misery too hard
In number of days. I may not endure it, 705
Nor longer conceal of the tree of life,
Though with folly before I was thoroughly filled,
And the truth too late I myself have perceived."

[1] Or, 'war,' Gn.; 'further oft,' Gm.


IX.

When she that heard, who men there ordered,
The man's behavior, she quickly commanded 710
That him from confinement and out of his dungeon,
From the narrow abode, they shóuld release.