LXVI.
“You may divine how grieves the sire, distraught
“With woe, when he the accusation hears:
“As well that what he never could have thought,
“He of his daughter learns with wondering ears,
“As that he knows, if succour be not brought
“By cavalier, that in her cause appears,
“Who may upon Lurcanio prove the lie,
“He cannot choose, but doom the maid to die.
LXVII.
“I do not think our Scottish law to you
“Is yet unknown, which sentences to fire
“The miserable dame, or damsel, who
“Grants other than her wedded lord’s desire.
“She dies, unless a champion, good and true,
“Arm on her side before a month expire;
“And her against the accuser base maintain
“Unmeriting such death, and free from stain.
LXVIII.
“The king has made proclaim by town and tower,
“(For he believes her wronged, his child to free)
“Her he shall have to wife, with ample dower,
“Who saves the royal maid from infamy.
“But each to the other looks, and to this hour
“No champion yet, ’tis said, appears: for he,
“Lurcanio, is esteemed so fierce in fight,
“It seems as he were feared of every knight.
