there. Well may it be said that fields and woods have eyes and ears.
When Arcite had roamed about to his satisfaction, and finished his May-morning carol, he suddenly lapsed into a thoughtful study. These lovers, in their fantastic moods, are ever wavering. One minute they are swaying and dancing on the tip-top spray of ecstasy; the next, grovelling among the thorns and briars: now up, now down, like a bucket in a well. They are like Friday, which seldom resembles the other days in the week—now rain, now shine. So the Goddess of Love overcasts the hearts of her worshippers, and makes them as variable as the complexion of the day devoted to her worship.[1]
When Arcite had sung his song he began thoughtfully to sigh at the remembrance of his native Thebes, warred on by the revengeful Juno. 'Alas!' said he, 'the royal blood of Cadmus and Amphion is confounded and scattered abroad—Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and its first crowned King! and here, I, who
- ↑ Friday was devoted to the worship of the Goddess Venus. The Romans entitled it 'The day of Venus'—'Dies Veneris.'
