contagion of a rankling sorrow, cannot be surpassed. Of the same kind is
his farewel to his mistress, after he has gained her hand and lost his
life in the combat:

"Alas the wo! alas the peines stronge,
That I for you have suffered, and so longe!
Alas the deth! alas min Emilie!
Alas departing of our compagnie;
Alas min hertes quene! alas my wif!
Min hertes ladie, ender of my lif!
What is this world? what axen men to have?
Now with his love, now in his colde grave
Alone withouten any compagnie."

The death of Arcite is the more affecting, as it comes after triumph
and victory, after the pomp of sacrifice, the solemnities of prayer, the
celebration of the gorgeous rites of chivalry. The descriptions of the
three temples of Mars, of Venus, and Diana, of the ornaments and
ceremonies used in each, with the reception given to the offerings of
the lovers, have a beauty and grandeur, much of which is lost in
Dryden's version. For instance, such lines as the following are not
rendered with their true feeling.

"Why shulde I not as well eke tell you all
The purtreiture that was upon the wall
Within the temple of mighty Mars the rede--
That highte the gret temple of Mars in Trace
In thilke colde and frosty region,
Ther as Mars hath his sovereine mansion.
First on the wall was peinted a forest,