This Arcita full proudly spake again: “Thou shalt,” quoth he, “be rather* false than I, *sooner And thou art false, I tell thee utterly; For par amour I lov’d her first ere thou. What wilt thou say? *thou wist it not right now* *even now thou Whether she be a woman or goddess. knowest not* Thine is affection of holiness, And mine is love, as to a creature: For which I tolde thee mine aventure As to my cousin, and my brother sworn I pose*, that thou loved’st her beforn: *suppose Wost* thou not well the olde clerke’s saw<13>, *know’st That who shall give a lover any law? Love is a greater lawe, by my pan, Than may be giv’n to any earthly man: Therefore positive law, and such decree, Is broke alway for love in each degree A man must needes love, maugre his head. He may not flee it, though he should be dead, *All be she* maid, or widow, or else wife. *whether she be* And eke it is not likely all thy life To standen in her grace, no more than I For well thou wost thyselfe verily, That thou and I be damned to prison Perpetual, us gaineth no ranson. We strive, as did the houndes for the bone; They fought all day, and yet their part was none. There came a kite, while that they were so wroth, And bare away the bone betwixt them both. And therefore at the kinge’s court, my brother, Each man for himselfe, there is no other. Love if thee list; for I love and aye shall And soothly, leve brother, this is all. Here in this prison musten we endure, And each of us take his Aventure.”