LXXXI.
The lovely ladies from their scaffolds throw
Upon the jousters yellow flowers and red;
While these, as loud the brazen trumpets blow,
Make their steeds leap and wheel and proudly tread.
Each, rode he well or ill, his art would show,
And with the goring spur his courser bled.
Hence this good cavalier earns fame and praise,
While others scornful hoots and laughter raise.
LXXXII.
A suit of arms was prize of the assay,
Presented to the king some days before;
Which late a merchant found upon the way
Returning from Armenia; this the more
To grace, a vest, with noblest tissue gay,
The Syrian king subjoined, so powdered o’er
With jewels, gold, and pearls in rich device,
They made the meed a thing of passing price.
LXXXIII.
If the good king had known the panoply,
This he had held above all others dear;
Nor this had given, as full of courtesy,
To be contended for with sword and spear.
’Twere long to tell who so unworthily
Had erst mistreated thus the goodly gear,
That by the way the harness had been strowed,
A prey to whosoever past the road.
