still more beauty.

Fenice was the maiden named, and not without reason; for just as
the bird Phoenix is fairest above all others and there cannot be
more than one phoenix at a time, so Fenice, I deem, had no peer
for beauty. It was a wonder and a marvel, for never again could
Nature attain to framing her like. Inasmuch as I should say less
than the truth, I will not in words describe arms nor body nor
head nor hands; for if I had a thousand years to live and each
day had doubled my wisdom I should still waste all my time, and
yet never express the truth of it. I know well that if I meddled
with it I should exhaust all my wisdom upon it and should
squander all my pains; for it would be wasted pains. The maiden
has hastened and has come into the palace with head uncovered and
face bare; and the sheen of her beauty sheds greater light in the
palace than four carbuncles would have done. Now Cliges had
doffed his cloak in presence of his uncle, the emperor. The day
was somewhat cloudy but so beauteous were the twain, both the
maid and he, that there shot forth from their beauty a ray with
which the palace glowed again, just as the sun shines bright and
ruddy in the morning.

To describe the beauty of Cliges I will limn you a portrait, the
traits of which shall be very briefly told. He was in the flower
of his youth, for he was about fifteen years old. He was fairer
and more comely than Narcissus' who saw his own reflection in the
fountain beneath the elm, and loved it so much when he saw it
that he died--so folk say--because he could not have it. Much
beauty had he, and little wit, but Cliges had greater store of
both, just as fine gold surpasses copper, and yet more than I can