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O primalmoving, cruel Firmament, With thy diurnal pressure, that doth sway And hurl all things from East to Occident, Which otherwise would hold another way, The Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales 97Thy pressure set the heavens in such array, At the beginning of this wild voyage, That cruel Mars hath murdered this marriage. Unfortunate ascendant tortuous, Of which the lord has helpless fall'n, alas, Out of his angle to the darkest house! O Mars! O Atazir in present case! O feeble Moon, unhappy is thy pace! Thou'rt in conjunction where thou'rt not received, And where thou should'st go, thou hast not achieved. Imprudent emperor of Rome, alas! Was no philosopher in all thy town? Is one time like another in such case? Indeed, can there be no election shown, Especially to folk of high renown, And when their dates of birth may all men know? Alas! We are too ignorant or too slow. To ship is brought this fair and woeful maid, Full decorously, with every circumstance. "Now Jesus Christ be with you all," she said; And there's no more, save "Farewell, fair Constance!" She strove to keep a cheerful countenance, And forth I let her sail in this manner, And turn again to matters far from her. The mother of the sultan, well of vices, Has heard the news of her son's full intent, How he will leave the ancient sacrifices; And she at once for her own council sent; And so they came to learn what thing she meant. And when they were assembled, each compeer, She took her seat and spoke as you shall hear. "My lords," said she, "you know well, every man, My son intends to forgo and forget The holy precepts of our Alkoran, Given by God's own prophet, Mahomet. But I will make one vow to great God yet: The life shall rather from my body start Than Islam's laws out of my faithful heart! "What should we get from taking this new creed But thralldom for our bodies and penance? And afterward, be drawn to Hell, indeed, For thus denying our faith's inheritance? But, lords, if you will give your sustenance, And join me for the wisdom I've in store, I swear to save us all for evermore." They swore and they assented, every man, To live by her and die, and by her stand; And each of them, in what best wise he can, Shall gather friends and followers into band; And she shall take the enterprise in hand, The form of which I soon will you apprise, The Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales 98And to them all she spoke, then, in this wise. "We will first feign the Christian faith to take; Cold water will not harm us from the rite; And I will such a feast and revel make As will, I trust, to lull be requisite. For though his wife be christened ever so white, She shall have need to wash away the red, Though a full font of water be there sped." O sultana, root of iniquity! Virago, you Semiramis second! O serpent hid in femininity, Just as the Serpent deep in Hell is bound! O pseudowoman, all that may confound Virtue and innocence, through your malice, Is bred in you, the nest of every vice! O Satan, envious since that same day When thou wert banished from our heritage, Well know'st thou unto woman thine old way! Thou made'st Eve bring us into long bondage. Thou wilt destroy this Christian marriage. Thine instrument ah welaway the while! Make'st thou of woman when thou wilt beguile! Now this sultana whom I blame and harry, Let, secretly, her council go their way. Why should I longer in my story tarry? She rode unto the sultan, on a day, And told him she'd renounce her old faith, yea, Be christened at priests' hands, with all the throng, Repentant she'd been heathen for so long.