From those high towers this noble lord issuing, Like radiant Hesper,{37} when his golden hare In th' ocean billows he hath bathed fayre, Descended to the rivers open vewing, With a great train ensuing. Above the rest were goodly to bee seene Two gentle Knights of lovely face and feature, Beseeming well the bower of any queene, With gifts of wit and ornaments of nature, Fit for so goodly stature, That like the Twins of Iove{38} they seem'd in sight, Which decke the bauldricke{39} of the heavens bright; They two forth pacing to the rivers side, Receiv'd those two faire Brides, their loves delight; Which,{40} at th' appointed tyde, Each one did make his Bryde Against their brydale day, which is not long: Sweet Themmes! runne softly, till I end my song. NOTES. This poem was written and published towards the end of the year 1595. The word _prothalamium_ is from Gr. _pro_, for, and _thalamos_, a bride-chamber, and would more properly be applied to a marriage-song than to "a spousall verse." Spenser had already written--earlier in the same year--the "Epithalamium" in honor of his own marriage. The singing of a hymeneal song in connection with the wedding festivities was a very ancient custom among the Greeks. Homer alludes to it in the "Iliad," XVIII, 493: "And two fair populous towns were sculptur'd there; In one were marriage pomp and revelry, And brides, in gay procession, through the streets With blazing torches from their chambers borne, While frequent rose the hymeneal song." See, also, Spenser's "Faerie Queene," I, xii, 38. 1. =Titans.= The word is used for Helios, the son of the Titans, Hyperion and Thea. Observe that the apostrophe, as the sign of the possessive case, is never used by Spenser. =glyster.= Glisten, shine. From A.-S. _glisnian_, glow, or shine with a soft light. "All that glisters is not gold." --_Shakespeare_, _Merchant of Venice_, Act ii, sc. vii. "Know one false step is ne'er retrieved . . . Nor all that glisters gold." --_Gray_, _On a Favourite Cat, etc._ =fayre.= Fairly. An old form of the adverb, sanctioned by very old usage, but not current in Spenser's time. 2. =princes court.= Spenser had had experience of the many bitter disappointments which befall him who seeks the favor of royalty. In "Mother Hubbard's Tale" he complains in this wise: