The Knight's Tale
Heere bigynneth the Knyghtes Tale
Heere bigynneth the Knyghtes Tale Whilom, as olde stories tellen us,
Ther was a duc that highte Theseus;
Of Atthenes he was lord and governour,
And in his tyme swich a conquerour,
5 That gretter was ther noon under the sonne.
Ful many a riche contree hadde he wonne,
What with his wysdom and his chivalrie;
He conquered al the regne of Femenye,
That whilom was ycleped Scithia,
10 And weddede the queene Ypolita,
And broghte hir hoom with hym in his contree,
With muchel glorie and greet solempnytee,
And eek hir yonge suster Emelye.
And thus with victorie and with melodye
15 Lete I this noble duc to Atthenes ryde,
And al his hoost, in armes hym bisyde.
And certes, if it nere to long to heere,
I wolde have toold yow fully the manere
How wonnen was the regne of Femenye
20 By Theseus, and by his chivalrye,
And of the grete bataille for the nones
Bitwixen Atthenes and Amazones,
And how asseged was Ypolita
The faire hardy queene of Scithia,
25 And of the feste that was at hir weddynge,
And of the tempest at hir hoom-comynge;
But al the thyng I moot as now forbere,
I have, God woot, a large feeld to ere,
And wayke been the oxen in my plough,
30 The remenant of the tale is long ynough.
I wol nat letten eek noon of this route,
Lat every felawe telle his tale aboute,
And lat se now who shal the soper wynne;-
And ther I lefte, I wol ayeyn bigynne.
35 This duc of whom I make mencioun,
Whan he was come almoost unto the toun,
In al his wele and in his mooste pride,
He was war, as he caste his eye aside,
Where that ther kneled in the hye weye
40 A compaignye of ladyes, tweye and tweye,
Ech after oother, clad in clothes blake;
But swich a cry and swich a wo they make,
That in this world nys creature lyvynge
That herde swich another waymentynge;
45 And of this cry they nolde nevere stenten,
Til they the reynes of his brydel henten.
"What folk been ye, that at myn hom-comynge
Perturben so my feste with criynge?"
Quod Theseus. "Have ye so greet envye
50 Of myn honour, that thus compleyne and crye?
Or who hath yow mysboden or offended?
And telleth me if it may been amended,
And why that ye been clothed thus in blak?"
The eldeste lady of hem alle spak-
55 Whan she hadde swowned with a deedly cheere,
That it was routhe for to seen and heere-
And seyde, "Lord, to whom Fortune hath yiven
Victorie, and as a conqueror to lyven,
Nat greveth us youre glorie and youre honour,
60 But we biseken mercy and socour.
Have mercy on oure wo and oure distresse,
Som drope of pitee thurgh thy gentillesse
Upon us wrecched wommen lat thou falle;
For certes, lord, ther is noon of us alle,
65 That she ne hath been a duchesse or a queene.
Now be we caytyves, as it is wel seene,
Thanked be Fortune, and hir false wheel,
That noon estaat assureth to be weel.
And certes, lord, to abyden youre presence,
70 Heere in the temple of the goddesse Clemence
We han ben waitynge al this fourtenyght;
Now help us, lord, sith it is in thy myght!
I wrecche, which that wepe and waille thus,
Was whilom wyf to kyng Cappaneus,
75 That starf at Thebes -cursed be that day!-
And alle we that been in this array
And maken al this lamentacioun,
We losten alle oure housbondes at that toun,
Whil that the seege theraboute lay.
80 And yet now the olde Creon, weylaway!
That lord is now of Thebes the Citee,
Fulfild of ire and of iniquitee,
He, for despit and for his tirannye,
To do the dede bodyes vileynye,
85 Of alle oure lordes, whiche that been slawe,
Hath alle the bodyes on an heep ydrawe,
And wol nat suffren hem, by noon assent,
Neither to been yburyed nor ybrent,
But maketh houndes ete hem in despit."
90 And with that word, withouten moore respit,
They fillen gruf, and criden pitously,
"Have on us wrecched wommen som mercy
And lat oure sorwe synken in thyn herte."
This gentil duc doun from his courser sterte
95 With herte pitous, whan he herde hem speke;
Hym thoughte that his herte wolde breke,
Whan he saugh hem so pitous and so maat,
That whilom weren of so greet estaat.
And in his armes he hem alle up hente,
100 And hem conforteth in ful good entente,
And swoor his ooth, as he was trewe knyght,
He wolde doon so ferforthly his myght
Upon the tiraunt Creon hem to wreke,
That all the peple of Grece sholde speke
105 How Creon was of Theseus yserved,
As he that hadde his deeth ful wel deserved.
And right anoon, withouten moore abood,
His baner he desplayeth, and forth rood
To Thebes-ward, and al his hoost biside,
110 No neer Atthenes wolde he go ne ride,
Ne take his ese fully half a day,
But onward on his wey that nyght he lay,
And sente anon Ypolita the queene,
And Emelye, hir yonge suster sheene,
115 Unto the toun of Atthenes to dwelle,
And forth he rit; ther is namoore to telle.
The rede statue of Mars, with spere and targe,
So shyneth, in his white baner large,
That alle the feeldes gliteren up and doun,
120 And by his baner gorn is his penoun
Of gold ful riche, in which ther was ybete
The Mynotaur which that he slough in Crete.
Thus rit this duc, thus rit this conquerour,
And in his hoost of chivalrie the flour,
125 Til that he cam to Thebes, and alighte
Faire in a feeld, ther as he thoughte to fighte.
But shortly for to speken of this thyng,
With Creon, which that was of Thebes kyng,
He faught, and slough hym manly as a knyght
130 In pleyn bataille, and putte the folk to flyght;
And by assaut he wan the citee after,
And rente adoun bothe wall, and sparre, and rafter.
And to the ladyes he sestored agayn
The bones of hir freendes that weren slayn,
135 To doon obsequies as was tho the gyse.
But it were al to longe for to devyse
The grete clamour and the waymentynge
That the ladyes made at the brennynge
Of the bodies, and the grete honour
140 That Theseus, the noble conquerour,
Dooth to the ladyes, whan they from hym wente;
But shortly for to telle is myn entente.
Whan that his worthy duc, this Theseus,
Hath Creon slayn, and wonne Thebes thus,
145 Stille in that feeld he took al nyght his reste,
And dide with al the contree as hym leste.
To ransake in the taas of bodyes dede,
Hem for to strepe of harneys and of wede,
The pilours diden bisynesse and cure,
150 After the bataille and disconfiture;
And so bifel, that in the taas they founde
Thurgh-girt with many a grevous blody wounde,
Two yonge knyghtes liggynge by and by,
Bothe in oon armes, wroght ful richely,
155 Of whiche two Arcita highte that oon,
And that oother knyght highte Palamon.
Nat fully quyke, ne fully dede they were,
But by here cote-armures and by hir gere,
The heraudes knewe hem best in special
160 As they that weren of the blood roial
Of Thebes, and of sustren two yborn.
Out of the taas the pilours han hem torn,
And had hem caried softe unto the tente
Of Theseus, and he ful soone hem sente
165 To Atthenes to dwellen in prisoun
Perpetuelly, he nolde no raunsoun.
And whan this worthy duc hath thus ydon,
He took his hoost, and hoom he rit anon,
With laurer crowned, as a conquerour;
170 And ther he lyveth in joye and in honour
Terme of his lyve; what nedeth wordes mo?
And in a tour, in angwissh and in wo,
Dwellen this Palamon and eek Arcite
For evermoore, ther may no gold hem quite.
175 This passeth yeer by yeer, and day by day,
Till it fil ones, in a morwe of May,
That Emelye, that fairer was to sene
Than is the lylie upon his stalke grene,
And fressher than the May with floures newe-
180 For with the rose colour stroof hir hewe,
I noot which was the fairer of hem two-
Er it were day, as was hir wone to do,
She was arisen, and al redy dight-
For May wole have no slogardie a-nyght;
185 The sesoun priketh every gentil herte,
And maketh hym out of his slepe to sterte,
And seith, "Arys and do thyn observaunce."
This maked Emelye have remembraunce
To doon honour to May, and for to ryse.
190 Yclothed was she fressh, for to devyse,
Hir yelow heer was broyded in a tresse,
Bihynde hir bak, a yerde long, I gesse,
And in the gardyn, at the sonne upriste,
She walketh up and doun, and as hir liste
195 She gadereth floures, party white and rede,
To make a subtil gerland for hir hede,
And as an aungel hevenysshly she soong.
The grete tour, that was so thikke and stroong,
Which of the castel was the chief dongeoun,
200 (Ther as the knyghtes weren in prisoun,
Of whiche I tolde yow, and tellen shal)
Was evene joynant to the gardyn wal
Ther as this Emelye hadde hir pleyynge.
Bright was the sonne, and cleer that morwenynge,
205 And Palamoun, this woful prisoner,
As was his wone, by leve of his gayler,
Was risen, and romed in a chambre on heigh,
In which he al the noble citee seigh,
And eek the gardyn, ful of braunches grene,
210 Ther as this fresshe Emelye the shene
Was in hire walk, and romed up and doun.
This sorweful prisoner, this Palamoun,
Goth in the chambre romynge to and fro,
And to hym-self compleynynge of his wo.
215 That he was born, ful ofte he seyde, "allas!"
And so bifel, by aventure or cas,
That thurgh a wyndow, thikke of many a barre
Of iren greet, and square as any sparre,
He cast his eye upon Emelya,
220 And therwithal he bleynte, and cryede "A!"
As though he stongen were unto the herte.
And with that cry Arcite anon up sterte
And seyde, "Cosyn myn, what eyleth thee,
That art so pale and deedly on to see?
225 Why cridestow? who hath thee doon offence?
For Goddess love, taak al in pacience
Oure prisoun, for it may noon oother be;
Fortune hath yeven us this adversitee.
Som wikke aspect or disposicioun
230 Of Saturne, by sum constellacioun
Hath yeven us this, al though we hadde it sworn;
So stood the hevene, whan that we were born.
We moste endure it, this the short and playn."
This Palamon answerde and seyde agayn:
235 "Cosyn, for sothe, of this opinioun
Thow hast a veyn ymaginacioun.
This prison caused me nat for to crye,
But I was hurt right now thurgh-out myn ye
Into myn herte, that wol my bane be.
240 The fairnesse of that lady, that I see
Yond in the gardyn romen to and fro,
Is cause of al my criyng and my wo.
I noot wher she be womman or goddesse,
But Venus is it, soothly as I gesse."
245 And therwithal, on knees doun he fil,
And seyde, "Venus, if it be thy wil,
Yow in this gardyn thus to transfigure
Bifore me, sorweful wrecched creature,
Out of this prisoun helpe that we may scapen!
250 And if so be my destynee be shapen
By eterne word to dyen in prisoun,
Of oure lynage have som compassioun,
That is so lowe ybroght by tirannye."
And with that word Arcite gan espye
255 Wher-as this lady romed to and fro,
And with that sighte hir beautee hurte hym so,
That, if that Palamon was wounded sore,
Arcite is hurt as moche as he, or moore.
And with a sigh he seyde pitously:
260 "The fresshe beautee sleeth me sodeynly
Of hire, that rometh in the yonder place,
And but I have hir mercy and hir grace
That I may seen hir atte leeste weye,
I nam but deed, ther is namoore to seye."
265 This Palamon, whan he tho wordes herde,
Dispitously he looked and answerde,
"Wheither seistow this in ernest or in pley?"
"Nay," quod Arcite, "in ernest by my fey,
God helpe me so, me list ful yvele pleye."
270 This Palamon gan knytte his browes tweye;
"It nere," quod he, "to thee no greet honour
For to be fals, ne for to be traitour
To me, that am thy cosyn and thy brother,
Ysworn ful depe, and ech of us til oother,
275 That nevere for to dyen in the peyne,
Til that the deeth departe shal us tweyne,
Neither of us in love to hyndre other,
Ne in noon oother cas, my leeve brother,
But that thou sholdest trewely forthren me
280 In every cas, as I shal forthren thee, -
This was thyn ooth, and myn also certeyn,
I woot right wel thou darst it nat withseyn.
Thus artow of my conseil, out of doute;
And now thou woldest falsly been aboute
285 To love my lady, whom I love and serve
And evere shal, til that myn herte sterve.
Nay, certes, false Arcite, thow shalt nat so!
I loved hire first, and tolde thee my wo
As to my conseil, and to my brother sworn,
290 To forthre me as I have toold biforn,
For which thou art ybounden as a knyght
To helpen me, if it lay in thy myght,
Or elles artow fals, I dar wel seyn."
This Arcite ful proudly spak ageyn,
295 "Thow shalt," quod he, "be rather fals than I.
But thou art fals, I telle thee outrely,
For paramour I loved hir first er thow.
What, wiltow seyn thou wistest nat yet now
Wheither she be a womman or goddesse?
300 Thyn is affeccioun of hoolynesse,
And myn is love, as to a creature;
For which I tolde thee myn aventure
As to my cosyn and my brother sworn.
I pose, that thow lovedest hir biforn;
305 Wostow nat wel the olde clerkes sawe
That `who shal yeve a lovere any lawe?'
Love is a gretter lawe, by my pan,
Than may be yeve of any erthely man.
And therfore positif lawe and swich decree
310 Is broken al day for love in ech degree.
A man moot nedes love, maugree his heed,
He may nat fleen it, thogh he sholde be deed,
Al be she mayde, or wydwe, or elles wyf.
And eek it is nat likly, al thy lyf,
315 To stonden in hir grace, namoore shal I,
For wel thou woost thyselven, verraily,
That thou and I be dampned to prisoun
Perpetuelly, us gayneth no raunsoun.
We stryven as dide the houndes for the boon,
320 They foughte al day, and yet hir part was noon.
Ther cam a kyte, whil they weren so wrothe,
And baar awey the boon bitwixe hem bothe.
And therfore at the kynges court, my brother,
Ech man for hymself, ther is noon oother.
325 Love if thee list, for I love, and ay shal;
And soothly, leeve brother, this is al.
Heere in this prisoun moote we endure,
And everich of us take his aventure."
Greet was the strif and long bitwix hem tweye,
330 If that I hadde leyser for to seye.
But to th'effect; it happed on a day,
To telle it yow as shortly as I may,
A worthy duc, that highte Perotheus,
That felawe was unto duc Theseus
335 Syn thilke day that they were children lite,
Was come to Atthenes his felawe to visite,
And for to pleye as he was wont to do-
For in this world he loved no man so,
And he loved hym als tendrely agayn.
340 So wel they lovede, as olde bookes sayn,
That whan that oon was deed, soothly to telle,
His felawe wente and soughte hym doun in helle.
But of that storie list me nat to write;
Duc Perotheus loved wel Arcite,
345 And hadde hym knowe at Thebes yeer by yere,
And finally, at requeste and preyere
Of Perotheus, withouten any raunsoun,
Duc Theseus hym leet out of prisoun
Frely to goon, wher that hym liste overal,
350 In swich a gyse as I you tellen shal.
This was the forward, pleynly for t'endite,
Bitwixen Theseus and hym Arcite,
That if so were that Arcite were yfounde
Evere in his lif, by day or nyght or stounde,
355 In any contree of this Theseus,
And he were caught, it was acorded thus,
That with a swerd he sholde lese his heed;
Ther nas noon oother remedie ne reed,
But taketh his leve and homward he him spedde;
360 Lat hym be war! His nekke lith to wedde!
How greet a sorwe suffreth now Arcite!
The deeth he feeleth thurgh his herte smyte,
He wepeth, wayleth, crieth pitously,
To sleen hymself he waiteth prively.
365 He seyde, "Allas, that day that he was born!
Now is my prisoun worse than biforn;
Now is me shape eternally to dwelle
Nat in purgatorie, but in helle.
Allas, that evere knew I Perotheus!
370 For elles hadde I dwelled with Theseus,
Yfetered in his prisoun evermo;
Thanne hadde I been in blisse, and nat in wo.
Oonly the sighte of hire whom that I serve,
Though that I nevere hir grace may deserve,
375 Wolde han suffised right ynough for me.
O deere cosyn Palamon," quod he,
"Thyn is the victorie of this aventure.
Ful blisfully in prison maistow dure.-
In prisoun? certes, nay, but in paradys!
380 Wel hath Fortune yturned thee the dys,
That hast the sighte of hir, and I th'absence;
For possible is, syn thou hast hir presence,
And art a knyght, a worthy and an able,
That by som cas, syn Fortune is chaungeable,
385 Thow maist to thy desir som tyme atteyne.
But I, that am exiled and bareyne
Of alle grace, and in so greet dispeir
That ther nys erthe, water, fir, ne eir,
Ne creature, that of hem maked is,
390 That may me helpe or doon confort in this,
Wel oughte I sterve in wanhope and distresse,
Farwel, my lif, my lust, and my gladnesse!
Allas, why pleynen folk so in commune
On purveiaunce of God or of Fortune,
395 That yeveth hem ful ofte in many a gyse
Wel bettre than they kan hemself devyse?
Som man desireth for to han richesse,
That cause is of his mordre of greet siknesse.
And som man wolde out of his prisoun fayn,
400 That in his hous is of his meynee slayn.
Infinite harmes been in this mateere,
We witen nat what thing we preyen heere.
We faren as he that dronke is as a mous;
A dronke man woot wel he hath an hous,
405 But he noot which the righte wey is thider,
And to a dronke man the wey is slider.
And certes, in this world so faren we;
We seken faste after felicitee,
But we goon wrong ful often trewely.
410 Thus may we seyen alle, and namely I,
That wende and hadde a greet opinioun
That if I myghte escapen from prisoun,
Thanne hadde I been in joye and perfit heele,
Ther now I am exiled fro my wele.
415 Syn that I may nat seen you, Emelye,
I nam but deed, ther nys no remedye."
Upon that oother syde, Palamon,
Whan that he wiste Arcite was agon,
Swich sorwe he maketh that the grete tour
420 Resouneth of his youlyng and clamour.
The pure fettres on his shynes grete
Weren of his bittre salte teeres wete.
"Allas," quod he, "Arcite, cosyn myn!
Of al oure strif, God woot, the fruyt is thyn.
425 Thow walkest now in Thebes at thy large,
And of my wo thow yevest litel charge.
Thou mayst, syn thou hast wysdom and manhede,
Assemblen alle the folk of oure kynrede,
And make a werre so sharp on this citee,
430 That by som aventure, or som tretee,
Thow mayst have hir to lady and to wyf,
For whom that I moste nedes lese my lyf.
For as by wey of possibilitee,
Sith thou art at thy large, of prisoun free,
435 And art a lord, greet is thyn avauntage
Moore than is myn, that sterve here in a cage.
For I moot wepe and wayle, whil I lyve,
With al the wo that prison may me yeve,
And eek with peyne that love me yeveth also,
440 That doubleth al my torment and my wo."
Therwith the fyr of jalousie up-sterte
Withinne his brest, and hente him by the herte
So woodly, that he lyk was to biholde
The boxtree, or the asshen dede and colde.
445 Thanne seyde he, "O cruel Goddes, that governe
This world with byndyng of youre word eterne,
And writen in the table of atthamaunt
Youre parlement and youre eterne graunt,
What is mankynde moore unto you holde
450 Than is the sheep that rouketh in the folde?
For slayn is man right as another beest,
And dwelleth eek in prison and arreest,
And hath siknesse, and greet adversitee,
And ofte tymes giltelees, pardee.
455 What governance is in this prescience
That giltelees tormenteth innocence?
And yet encresseth this al my penaunce,
That man is bounden to his observaunce,
For Goddes sake, to letten of his wille,
460 Ther as a beest may al his lust fulfille.
And whan a beest is deed, he hath no peyne,
But man after his deeth moot wepe and pleyne,
Though in this world he have care and wo.
Withouten doute it may stonden so.
465 The answere of this lete I to dyvynys,
But well I woot, that in this world greet pyne ys.
Allas, I se a serpent or a theef,
That many a trewe man hath doon mescheef,
Goon at his large, and where hym list may turne!
470 But I moot been in prisoun thurgh Saturne,
And eek thurgh Juno, jalous and eek wood,
That hath destroyed wel ny al the blood
Of Thebes with hise waste walles wyde.
And Venus sleeth me on that oother syde
475 For jalousie and fere of hym Arcite."
Now wol I stynte of Palamon a lite,
And lete hym in his prisoun stille dwelle,
And of Arcita forth I wol yow telle.
The somer passeth, and the nyghtes longe
480 Encressen double wise the peynes stronge
Bothe of the lovere and the prisoner;
I noot which hath the wofuller mester.
For shortly for to seyn, this Palamoun
Perpetuelly is dampned to prisoun
485 In cheynes and in fettres to been deed,
And Arcite is exiled upon his heed
For evere mo as out of that contree,
Ne nevere mo he shal his lady see.
Yow loveres axe I now this questioun,
490 Who hath the worse, Arcite or Palamoun?
That oon may seen his lady day by day,
But in prison he moot dwelle alway;
That oother wher hym list may ride or go,
But seen his lady shal he nevere mo.
495 Now demeth as yow liste ye that kan,
For I wol telle forth, as I bigan.
The Book of the Duchess by Geoffrey Chaucer
By this heaven, I wonder greatly how I live, for I can scarcesleep at all, day or night; I have so many an idle fantasy only for lack of sleep, that, by my troth, I heed naught, how it comesor goes, and naught is either sweet or bitter to me. All is alike--joyor sorrow, whatsoever it be, for I have no feeling, but am, asit were, a thing stunned, ever in point to fall down; for sorry fantasies are ever wholly in my mind. And ye well know it were against nature to live in this wise; for nature would not suffer any earthly creature to abide long time without sleep, and tobe in sorrow; and I cannot sleep, night or morn. And thus melancholyand dread of dying, and default of sleep and heaviness, have soslain my spirit of life, that I have lost all lustiness. Such fantasies be in my head that I wot never what is best to do.
But men might ask me why I cannot sleep, and what is ailingme. Nevertheless who asks this, in truth, wastes his asking. Myselfcannot tell why it is thus ; but in sooth, I trow, I hold it tobe a sickness that I have suffered these eight year, and yet myremedy is never the nigher. For there is but one physician thatcan heal me. But that is past Pass we over until another time;what will not be, must needs be left ; it were good to hold toour first matter.
So when I saw I could not sleep the other night, I sat up tilllate upon my bed, and bade one reach me a book, a romance, andhe gave it me to read and pass the night away; for me thoughtit better sport than to play at either backgammon or chess. Andin this book were written fables, which clerks and other poetsin old days had put into rhyme, to read and to remember as longas men loved the law of nature. This book spake only of such mattersas the lives of ancient queens and kings, and many other little histories. Amongst all this I found a tale that methought wasmarvelous.
This was the tale : There was a king who was named Ceyx, andhe had a wife, the best that could live; and this queen was calledAlcyone. It so befell ere long that this king would fare across the sea. To tell it shortly, when he was thus at sea, such a tempestarose that it broke the ship's mast and made it fall, and madea breach in their ship and drowned every man, so that, as thebook tells, never was found board or man or aught beside. Eventhus the king Ceyx met his death.
Now to speak of his wife: This lady who was left at home marveledthat the king came not back, for he had been gone for long. Anonher heart began to grieve bitterly; and because evermore it seemedto her that it was not well that he so tarried, she longed soafter her husband that it were a piteous thing, certes, to tellthe heartfelt sorrow of this noble queen, alas !, for she lovedhim best of all. Anon she sent north and south to seek him, butthey found naught.
'Alas!' quoth she, 'Alas that ever I was born! And is my lordand my love dead? Certes, I make a vow here to my god that I willnever eat bread unless I can learn tidings of my lord!' Such wasthe sorrow of this lady that in very sooth I who have writ thisbook had such pity and ruth to read of her woe, that, by my troth,I fared the worse all the morrow after, to think of her pains.
So when she could learn no tidings that any man could findher lord, she swooned full oft and said, 'Alas!' For sorrow shewas wellnigh mad, and knew no counsel but one; anon she set herdown on her knees and so wept that it was pitiful to hear.
'Ah mercy, sweet dear lady!' quoth she to her goddess, Juno.'Help me out of this distress, and give me grace to see my lordsoon, or to know where he is or how he fares or in what state,and I shall do sacrifice to thee, and with good will become whollythine, body, heart, and all. And except thou wilt do this, sweetlady, send me grace to sleep and to dream in my sleep some faithful dream, through which I shall know of a surety whether my lordbe alive or no.'
And with that word she hung down her head and fell into a swoon,as cold as stone. Her women caught her up straightway, and unclad her and carried her to bed. And she, worn out witfl weeping and watching, was weary; and thus, ere she knew it, the dead sleep fell upon her, from Juno, who had heard her prayer and caused her quickly to sleep. For as she prayed, so it was done in fact.For Juno anon called her messenger to do her errand; and whenhe was come near, she commanded him thus:
'Haste thee,' quoth Juno, 'to Morpheus, - thou knowest him well, the god of sleep. Now understand well and heed! Say thuson my behalf, that he go quickly into the great sea ; - and bid him by any means to take up the body of Ceyx the king, which lies full pale and all bloodless. Bid him creep into the body and cause it to go to Alcyone the queen, where she lies alone, and tell her in brief how it was verily drowned the other day. And letthe body speak even as it was wont to speak whilst it was alive.Go now quickly, and hie thee!'
This messenger took leave, and went his way and never stopped till he came to the dark valley that stands between two cliffs,where never yet grew corn or grass or tree, or anything that servedfor aught, nor beast or man or aught else; save that there werea few springs came running down from the cliffs, and made a dead,sleepy sound, and ran down past a cave that was digged wondrous deep under a rock amid the valley. There lay these gods and slept,Morpheus and Eclympasteyre, who was heir to the god of sleep,who slept and did none other toil. This cave was as dark everywhere about as the pit of hell. They had good leisure to snore in rivalry,- who were the soundest sleeper! Some hung chin on breast and slept standing upright, their heads hidden; and some lay a-bedand slept the long days through.
This messenger came flying swiftly and cried, 'O ho! Awake,and that anon!' It was in vain; none heard him. 'Awake !' quothhe. 'Who is it lies there?' And he blew his horn right in theirears, and cried wondrous loud, 'Awake!'
This god of sleep opened one eye and asked, 'Who calls there?'
'It is I,' quoth this messenger. 'Juno bade thou shouldst go.'- and he told him what he was to do, as I have told you before;it needs not rehearse it again. And when he had spoken, he wenthis way.
Anon this god of sleep started out of his slumber, and went and did as he had been bidden; he took up the drowned body straightway,and bore it forth to the wife, queen Alcyone, where she lay, alittle before dawn. And it stood even at the foot of her bed,and called her by her very name, and said, 'My sweet wife, awake!Let be your sorrowful course, for in your sorrow lies no profit.For certes, sweet, I am dead; thou shalt never more see me alive.But, good sweet heart, look thou bury my body, what time thoumayst find it beside the sea. And farewell, sweet, my world'sjoy ! I pray God relieve thy sorrow; our happiness lasts too shortwhile here on earth!' At that she opened her eyes and saw naught.'Alas!' quoth she for sorrow, and died before the fourth morn.But what more she said in that delirium I may not tell you now,it were too long delay. I will tell you of my first matter, forwhich I have told this thing of queen Alcyone and Ceyx.
For thus much I dare well say, I should have been dead and all buried, even for default of sleep, if I had not read and notedthis tale. And I will tell you wherefore; because for weal orwoe I could not sleep ere I had read this tale of this drownedCeyx the king and of the gods of sleep. When I had well read thistale and looked all through it, a wonder it seemed to me if it were true; for I had never heard tell before of any gods thatcould cause men to sleep or wake. For I never knew any god hutone. And jesting I said anon, -and yet I list full little to makemirth, - 'Rather than die thus through default of sleep, I wouldgive to that Morpheus, or his goddess, dame Juno, or any wight else, I reck not who, to make me sleep and have some repose, -I will give him the very best gift that ever he looked for inhis life. And here into his keeping, now straightway, if he willgrant me a little sleep, I will give him a feather-bed of the down of pure white doves, right well enveloped in fine black satinfrom overseas and striped with gold, and eke many a pillow, with every pillow-case of cloth of Rennes, to sleep on softly; he neednot turn and turn. And I will give him all that behooves to achamber; and with pure gold I will have all his halls painted,and covered with many a fold of tapestry of one pattern. Thishe should have (knew I where his cave is), if he could make mesleep forthwith, as the goddess did Alcyone. And thus may thisgod Morpheus win from me greater pay than ever he won. And Juno,who is his goddess, I shall so require that I trow she shall hold herself content.
Scarce had I said that word, even thus as I have told it you,when suddenly, but how I knew riot3 such a lust to sleep seizedme anon that I fell asleep right over my book, and even therewithI dreamed a dream so rarely sweet, so wonderful, 1 trow neveryet had man the wit to tell the interpretation thereof; no, verily,not Joseph of Egypt, he who so interpreted the dream of king Pharaoh,no more than could the least one of us; nor scarce Macrobius,he that writ all the vision that king Scipio dreamed, that nobleman, Africanus - such marvels befell then - I trow could justlyinterpret my visions. Lo thus it was, this was my dream.
Methought thus: it was May, and about dawn where I lay in mybed all naked, in my dream I looked forth, for I was awakened by a great crowd of small birds which had startled me out of sleep through the sound and sweetness of their song; and I dreamed they sat all the while upon the roof of my chamber outside all aboutupon the tiles, and they sang in tune, each in his own wise, themost solemn service that ever man heard, I trow; for some of them sang low, some high, and all in accord. To tell shortly and inbrief, never was heard so sweet a voice, unless it had been from some heavenly thing, so merry a harmony, so sweet strains, thatcertes I would not have failed to hear them for all the town ofTunis; for my whole chamber rang through the harmony of theirsinging. For nowhere was ever heard instrument or melody yet halfso sweet, or of half so meet accord. For there was none of them that only feigned to sing, but each of them strove to find outmerry, cunning tones, and they spared not their throats.
And, sooth to say, my chamber was full well covered with paintings,and all the windows were well glazed with glass full clear, andnot a hole broken, that it was a great delight to behold. Allthe story of Troy was wrought in the glazing-of Hector and KingPriam, of Achilles and Laomedon, of Jason and Medea, of Parisand Helen and Lavinia. And all the walls were painted in finecolors with all the Romance of the Rose, both text and gloss.My windows were all shut, and through the glass the sun shoneupon my bed with bright beams and many glad, golden rays; andthe welkin eke was full beauteous) and the air blue, bright andclear, and right mild it was in sooth, neither cold nor hot. Andin all the welkin was not a cloud.
And as I lay thus, methought I heard a hunter blow his hornwondrous high and clear, to try it and learn whether it were clearor hoarse in tone. I heard men, horses, hounds and other creaturesgoing to and fro; and all men spake of hunting, how they wouldhave mightily slain the hart, and how far the hart at length hadplunged into the thicket,- I know not what it was. Straight-waywhen I heard that, how they would go a-hunting, I was right gladand anon was up, and went forth from my chamber, and took my horse,and never stopped till I came to the field outside. There I overtooka great rout of hunters and foresters, with many relays of houndsand dogs in leashes, and they hied them quick to the forest, andI with them. So at the last I asked one that led a dog in a leash,'Tell me, fellow, who shall hunt here?' quoth I. And he answered,'Sir) the emperor Octavian; and he is hard by here.' 'In God'sname, well met,' quoth I, 'go we fast!' and began to ride on.When we came to the forest-side, every man did anon as it behoovesto do in hunting. Anon the master of the hunt, hot-foot, blewthree notes on a great horn, at the uncoupling of his hounds.In a little the hart was lighted on, hallooed, and headed backlong time; at last this hart fetched a compass and stole awayfrom all the hounds by a secret course. The hounds had all outrunthe scent, and were at fault; upon that the hunter at last blewa recall wondrous loud.
I was gone walking away from my tree, and as I went there cameby and fawned upon me as stood a whelp that had followed the chasebut was untrained. It came and crept up to me as humbly as ifit had known me, held down its head and laid back its ears, andlaid its hair down all smooth. I would have caught it, and anonit fled and was gone from me. I followed it, and it went forth down by a flowery green path right thick with grass, soft andsweet with many flowers, fair under the foot, and little used,it seemed. For both Flora and Zephyr, they two that make flowersto spring, I trow had fixed their dwelling there; for it was,to behold it, as if the earth should strive to be gayer than thesky, to have seven times more flowers than the welkin has stars.It had forgotten the woes of winter and the poverty which he hadmade it suffer with his cold moms; all was forgotten, as men couldsee. For all the wood was waxed green; the sweetness of dew hadmade it grow.
There needs not ask whether the place stood thick with trees,so full of leaves) with many a green spray. And each tree stoodby itself full ten or twelve feet from the others. So great trees,of such huge strength, and forty or fifty fathoms high, and cleanwithout bough or stick up to the tops, broad and eke so thick- they were not an inch asunder - that everywhere below therewas shadow; and many a hart and hind was both before me and atmy back. The wood was full of fawns, young horned deer, bucks)does, and many a roe, and many squirrels that sat full high inthe trees, and ate, and made festival in their manner. In brief,it was so full of beasts that though Argus, the noble computer,set to reckoning on his abacus, and reckoned with his ten figures- by which figures all mankind, if they be skillful, may reckonand count and tell the number of everything, - yet he would failto reckon exactly the wonders that I dreamed in my dream.
But forth the beasts roamed down the wood wondrous fast; andat last I was ware of a man in black who sat and leaned againsta huge oak. 'Lord!' I thought, 'Who may that be? What ails him,to sit here?' Forthwith I approached, and found sitting up straighta wondrous fine-looking knight, -- by his bearing methought so,- of good height and young, four-and-twenty years of age; therewas but little hair in his beard, and he was clothed all in black.I walked softly up behind him, and stood there as still as anything,so that truly he saw me not, because he hung his head down. Andwith a deathlike sorrowful voice he rhymed to himself ten or twelveverses of a complaint, the most piteous, the most rueful, thatever I heard; for, by my troth, it was a great marvel that naturecould suffer any living being to have such sorrow and not die.Full piteous, pale and bloodless, he recited a lay, a kind ofa song, but without note or tune; and this was it, for I can wellrehearse it. It began right thus:
'I am with sorrows overrun,
Happiness get I never none,
Now that I see my lady bright,
That I have loved with all my might,
Hath died and is forever gone.
'Alas, O death, what aileth thee
That thou wouldst not have taken me,
When that thou tookst my lady dear;
That was so fair, so fresh, so free,
So good that every man may see
For all goodness she had no peer?'
When he had made his lament thus, his sorrowful heart beganto grow very faint and his spirits dead. For very fear the bloodfled down to his heart, to warm it - for well it felt that the heart was sore afflicted, - eke to learn why so horridly it shookits disposition, and to gladden it. For it is the principal member of the body, and that caused all his hue to change and wax green and pale, because no blood was seen in any limb of his.
Thereat anon, when I saw how ill he fared there, I went and stood right at his feet and greeted him; but he spake not, butreasoned with his own thought and in his mind earnestly debated whether and why his life should hold out-his sorrows were so painful,and lay so cold on his heart. So his sorrow and heavy thoughtsuffered him not to hear me; for he had well-nigh lost his mind,though Pan, whom men call the god of nature, were never so wroth against him for his melancholy. But at last, in truth, he became aware of me, how I was there before him and doffed my hood, and greeted him as best I knew how. Gently and softly he said, 'Iprithee be not wroth; truly I heard you not, sir, nor saw younot.'
'Ah, good sir,' quoth I, 'no matter. I am right sorry if Ihave at all disturbed you out of your thought. Forgive me if Ihave trespassed.'
'Yea, the amends are light to make,' quoth he, 'for none areneeded; there is none offense in word or deed.'
Lo how goodly this knight spake, as if it had been anotherthan he that I had troubled. He was neither over-forward nor over-distant.And I saw that, and began to consider him, and found him veryready to talk, right marvelous discreet and reasonable, as methought,for all his woe. Anon I began to devise talk with him, to lookwhether I could in any wise know more of his mind. 'Sir,' quothI, 'this sport is over, I trow this hart is gone; these hunterscan find him nowhere.'
'I care not therefor,' quoth he, 'my mind is never a whit onthat.'
'By our Lord,' quoth I, 'I well believe you; even so me-thinksby your cheer. But, sir, will you hear one thing? Me-thinks Isee you in great sorrow, but certes, sir, if you will at all discoveryour woe to me, I would amend it if I have the power, so may Godhelp me! You can prove it by trial, for, by my troth, I will useall my power to make you whole. And tell me of your bitter sorrows;peradventure it may ease your heart, which seems full sick inyour breast.'
With that he glanced at me aside, as who should say, 'Nay,that can never be.' 'Gramercy, good friend, I thank you,' quothhe, 'that you have such a desire, but it can never the more bedone. No man can gladden my sorrow, which causes my fresh lookto droop and fade, and has so ruined mine understanding that woeis me that I was ever born! Nothing can make my sorrows pass;not the Remedium of Ovid, nor Orpheus god of melody, nor Dedaluswith cunning devices; nor can physician heal me, not Hippocratesor Galen. Woe is me that I live a day! But whosoever would makeassay of himself, whether his heart can have pity of any sorrow,let him see me. I wretch, whom death has made naked of all blissthat was ever, who am become most miserable of all men, who hatemy days and my nights! My life, my pleasures, are loathsome tome, for all welfare and I are at odds. Death itself is my enemy;though I would die, it will not so. For when I follow, it fliesfrom me; I would have it, it will not have me. This is my curelesstorment, ever dying, and never dead; so that Sisyphus lying inhell knows no more sorrow. And, by my troth, whosoever knew allmy bitter sorrows, if he had not compassion for them, must havea fiendish heart. For whoso sees me first in the morn, may sayhe has met with sorrow, for I am sorrow, and sorrow is I.
'Alas! I will tell thee why; my song is turned into lamentation,and all my laughter to weeping, my glad thoughts to heaviness,mine ease and eke my rest into travail; my weal is woe, my goodis evil; and evermore my sport is turned into ugly pain and mydelight into mourning; my health is turned into sickness, allmy security into dread ; all my light is become darkness, my witis folly, my day is night, my love is hate, my sleep is waking,my mirth and eating are fasting, mine aspect is foolishness andis all confounded wheresoever I am; my peace is turned into contentionand war. Alas how could I fare worse? My boldness is turned intoabasement, for false Fortune has played a game of chess with me,alack the day! The traitress false and guileful, who promiseseverything and performs nothing, she walks upright, yet she walkslame; she looks foully and askew, yet shows fair looks; the cruelgracious one, who scorns many a creature ! An image she is, falselyportrayed ; for she will quickly swerve aside. She is the monster'shead, covered; as filth strewn over with flowers. Her greatestglory and flower of honor is to lie; for that is her nature. Withoutfaith, law or restraint, she is false; and ever laughing withone eye and weeping with the other. That which is set aloft, sheputs all down. I liken her to the scorpion, a false, flatteringbeast; for with his head he makes cheer, but amid all his flatteryhe will sting and envenom with his tail, and so will she. Sheis the envious charity that is ever false, and seems goodly ;so she turns her false wheel about, now to one side the hall,now at the other, for it is never steadfast. Full many a man hasshe thus blinded. She is a delusion of enchantment, which seemsthe same and is not-, the false thief!'
'What has she done, trow you? By our Lord, I will tell you.She played at chess with me; with her divers false moves she stoleupon me and took my queen. And when I saw my queen gone, alas!I could play no longer, but said, "Farewell, sweet, in truth,and farewell all that ever there is!" Therewith Fortune said,"Check! " and then "Checkmate!" in the middleof the board, with a roving pawn, alas! She was more skillfulat play than Attalus - so he was named-, who first made the gameof the chess. But would God I had once or twice known and understoodthe problems that the Greek Pythagoras knew thereby I had playedthe better at chess, and the better had guarded my queen. Andyet to what end? Truly I hold that wish not worth a straw. Ithad been never the better for me. For Fortune knows so many afetch that there be but few who can beguile her. And eke for anothercause she is the less to blame; before God) I myself would havedone likewise, had I been in her place; she ought the more tobe excused. For this I say, had I been God and could have hadmy will, when she captured my queen, I should have made the samemove; for, so God save my soul, I dare well swear she took thebest!
'But I have lost my bliss through that move; alas that I wasborn! For evermore, I truly believe, in spite of my will, my pleasureis wholly at an end; but yet what is to be done? By our Lord,it is to die quickly! In spite of all I give not up the thought,but live and die therein. There is no planet in the firmament,or element in the air or earth, that gives me not the gift ofweeping, when I am alone. For when I consider well, and bethinkme how nothing is owing me in mine account with sorrow; and howthere remains no gladness which may gladden me in my distress,and how I have lost content and have no pleasance left; then Imay say, nought remains at all. And when all this falls into mymind, alas! then I am overwhelmed! For what is done is not stillto come. I have more sorrow than Tantalus.'
When I heard him tell this tale so piteously as I have toldyou, scarce could I abide longer, it did my heart so much grief.'Ah, good sir!' quoth I, 'Say not so. Have some pity on that naturewhich makes you a living man! Remember Socrates; for he carednot three straws for aught that Fortune could do.'
'No,' quoth he, 'I cannot do thus.'
'Why so, good sir?' quoth I. 'Perdy! say not so, for in sooth,though you had lost the twelve pieces, if you murdered yourselffor sorrow, you should be condemned in this case as justly asMedea was, who slew her children for Jason (and Phyllis also hangedherself for Demophon, alackaday! because he broke his appointedtime to come to her). Another frenzied lover was Dido, queen ofCarthage, who slew herself because Aeneas was false. Ah! whata fool she was! And Echo died because Narcissus would not loveher; and even so has many another wrought folly. And Samson, whoslew himself by means of a pillar, died because of Dalilah. Butthere is none alive on earth who would make this woe for a queenat chess!'
'Why?' quoth he. 'It is not thus. You know full little whatyou say. I have lost more than you ween.'
'Lo, sir,' quoth I, 'how can that be? Good sir, tell me allwholly in what wise, how, why, and wherefore you have thus lostyour bliss.'
'Blithely,' quoth he, 'come sit down. I tell you upon the conditionthat with all your understanding you give your whole mind to hearkento it. - Yes, sir.' - 'Pledge your faith thereto.' -'Gladly.'- 'Keep to it then.' - 'So may God save me, I shall right blithelyhear you, as well as I can, with all the whole wit I have.'
'In God's name!' quoth he, and began: 'Sir,' quoth he, frommy youth, since first I had any manner of wit or natural understandingto comprehend in my own wit what love was in any wise, withoutfail I have ever been wholly subject to love, and have paid tributewith devoted mind, and by reason of his pleasantness have becomehis vassal with good will and body, heart and all. All this Iput in his service, as to my lord, and did homage, and full devoutlyprayed him that he should so bestow my heart that it were pleasanceto him and worship to my dear lady. And it was long ago that Idid this and knew not why, and many a year before my heart wasfixed anywhere; I trow it came to me of nature. Peradventure Iwas ready for that impressure as a white wall or a tablet; forit is ready to catch and receive all that men will put thereon,whether they will portray or paint, be the works never so curious.And at the time I did so, I was able to have learned and understoodanother art or book-lore, peradventure, as well as love or better.But because love came first into my mind, therefore I forgot itnot. I chose love for my first craft, therefore it remains withme; because I received it when I was so young that evil had notthen turned my mind to be nothing worth through learning too much.For then Youth, my mistress, ruled me in idleness; for it wasmy first youth, and I then knew full little good. All my actswere volatile, and all my thoughts varying; all that I knew thenwas alike good to me. But thus it was.
'On a day it happed that I came into a place where truly Isaw the fairest company of ladies that ever man had seen witheye together in one spot. Shall I call it hap or grace that broughtme there? Nay, but Fortune, who is full prone to lie, the false,perverse traitress! Would God I might call her by a fouler name!For now she makes me full sad; and I will tell why ere long. Amongstall these ladies I saw one, in sooth, that was like none otherin the whole company; for I dare verily swear that as the summer'sshining sun is fairer, clearer, and has more light for all theworld than any planet which is in the sky, - the moon, or theseven stars, so she surpassed them all in beauty, in demeanorand comeliness, in stature, in seemly gladness, so well endowedwith goodliness, -in brief, what more shall I say? By God andHis holy apostles, it was my sweet one, her very self! She hadsuch a steadfast aspect, such a noble port and demeanor! And Love,who had heard my prayer, had cast his eye on me thus soon; anonshe was so fixed in my mind, and so suddenly, that I took no mannerof counsel but from her look and from my heart; because her eyes,I trow, looked in such gladness on my heart that mine own mindonly said it were better to serve her for naught than to standwell with another. And it was true, for I will straightway tellyou why, every whit.
'I saw her so comely on the dance, so sweetly carol and sing,laugh and sport so girlishly, and look so gently, speak so amiablyand well, that certes I trow nevermore was seen so blessed a treasure.Every hair on her head, sooth to say, was not yellow, or red,or brown; methought it was most like gold. And what eyes my ladyhad ! Gentle, good, glad, steadfast, simple, of good size, nottoo wide; and eke her look was not sideloug nor askance, but sosimply direct that it drew and quite took up all that looked uponher. Anon her eyes seemed as if she would have mercy; fools thoughtit; but it was never the more so. It was no feigned thing, buther very own manner of looking, that the goddess, dame Nature,had made them open not too much, and gently close; for were shenever so glad, her gaze was not spread wide in folly; nor wildly,though she were in mirth. But methought her eyes ever said, "ByGod, my wrath is all given over!"
'She had eke such joy in life that dullness was afraid of her.She was not too grave nor too glad; never creature, I trow, hadmore measure in all things. But she hurt many an one with herglance, and that oppressed her heart full little, for she knewnaught of their thoughts; but whether she knew or not, at allevents she cared for them not a straw. He who dwelt at home wasno nearer to get her love than he who was in Ind; the foremostwas alway in the rear. But good folk she loved before all, asa man may love his brother; of which love she was wondrous liberal,in places where reason would have it so.
'And what a visage she had! Alas, mine heart is wondrous wofulthat I cannot describe it! I want both the language and the witto portray it perfectly, and eke my spirits he dull to describeso great a thing; I have no wit sufficient to comprehend her beauty.But thus much I dare say, that she was ruddy,
'Her face was nigh the best feature of all; for certes Naturehad such delight to make that fair, that truly my love was herchief pattern of beauty and chief ensample and type of her work;for however dark it be, evermore methinks I see her. And moreover,though all those that ever lived were now alive, they should nothave discerned one evil sign in all her face; for it was grave,simple and kind.
'And what a goodly soft language had that sweet physician ofmy life ! -.so friendly, so wise, so firmly based upon all reasonand so inclinable to all virtue, that I dare swear by the roodthat never was found such a sweet~sounding fluency of speech,nor truer-tongued, nor less scornful, nor more healing, so thatI durst swear by the mass, though the pope sang it, that neverwas man or woman greatly hurt through her tongue; as for her,all trouble hid from her. Never was less fiattenng than in herwords, so that her simple testimony was found as true as any bondor as the pledge of any man's hand. And she could not chide awhit; that all the world knows full well. And such a fair neckhad that sweet one that no bone or blemish was to be seen thatmisbecame her. It was white, smooth and straight, without hollow;and collar-bone to all seeming had she none. Her throat, as Ican recall, seemed a round tower of ivory, of proper size, nottoo great. 'And good, fair White she was called; that was my lady'svery name. She was both fair and bright, she had not her namewrongly. She had right fair shoulders, and long body and arms,every limb plump and round but not over-large; hands full whiteand pink nails, round breasts, a straight, flat back, and hipsof good breadth. I knew no manner of defect in her, that her limbswere not all in accord, so far as I could know.
'And she could disport herself so well when she would, thatI say she was like to a shining torch, from which every man canhave light in plenty, and it has none the less. In manner andcomeliness even so was it with my dear lady; for any wight, ifhe would and had eyes to behold her, might take joy enough inher bearing. For I dare swear if she had been amongst ten thousand,in the eyes of men that could judge she would have been at theleast a chief glass of fashion of all the company, though theyhad stood on a row. For wheresoever folk made merry and out-watchedthe night, methought the fellowship barer without her, as I sawonce, than a crown without gems. Truly to mine eyes she was thesolitary phoenix of Araby, for there is never but one alive; andnever knew I such an one as she.
'To speak of goodness, truly she had as much gentleness asever had Esther in the Bible, and more, if more could be. Andtherewithal in sooth she had a wit so broad, so wholly inclinedto all virtue, that by the rood all her understanding was withoutmalice and set upon joyous things; in addition, I never yet sawone less hurtful than she in her acts. I say not that she hadno knowledge what evil was; else methinks she had had no ripejudgment.
'And verily, to speak of faithfulness, it had been pity ifshe had not had that ! Thereof she had so full a share, I daresay it, and swear to it well, that Faith himself had chosen toset his principal manor, his abiding-place, in her above all others.Therewith she had the greatest gift of steadfast constancy andunconstrained temperate self-control that I ever yet knew, sowholly long-suffering was she, and so gladly would hear reason;it well followed that she knew how to rule her life, and lovedto do well. This was her disposition, every whit. Therewith sheso well loved right she would do no wrong to any person; yet nowight could do her shame, she loved so well her own fair repute.She would delude no honest wight, nor by half word or look holdhim in suspense, be sure; nor send a man into Wallachia, Prussianor Tartary, Alexandria nor Turkey, and anon bid him strictlyto go bareheaded to the dry sea and come home by the Carrenare;nor say, "Sir, see now that I hear worship of you, ere youcome again. " She gave rein to no such little freaks.
'But to what end tell I my tale? On this very one, as I havesaid, was all my love wholly placed ; for certes, that sweet woman,she was my sufficiency, my pleasure, my life, my fortune, my health,and all my bliss, my worldly welfare and comfort; and I was entirelyhers, every whit.'
'By our Lord,' quoth I, 'I well believe you! In faith yourlove was well bestowed ; I wot not how you might have done better.'
'Better? No wight could have done so well!' quoth he.
'Perdy,' quoth I, ' I trow it, sir.'
'Nay, believe it well.'
'Sir, so I do; I well believe you that you truly thought shewas the best and the very fairest to behold, for whosoever hadlooked with your eyes.'
'With mine? Nay, all that saw her said so, and swore to it.And though they had not, I should still have ]oved best my noblelady, though I had had all the beauty that ever Alcibiades had,and all the strength of Hercules; besides bad all the worthinessof Alexander, and all the wealth that ever was in Babylon or Carthageor Macedonia, or in Rome or Nineve; and eke, as I hope to be saved,had been as hardy as Hector, whom Achilles slew at Troy (and forthat deed Achilles was slain also in a temple ; for the two wereslain, both he and Archilochus, for love of Polyxena, and so saysDares Phrygius); or had I been as wise as Minerva, I should everhave loved her, without doubt, for I must needs. "Needs!" Nay, I speak idly now; not "needs. " I will tellwhy; it was because my heart desired it with its own free will,and eke I was bound to love her as the fairest and best. She wasas good as ever was Penelope of Greece, or Lucrece, the noblewife who was the best of wives - he tells thus, the Roman TitusLivius ; she was as good as they, as I hope for salvation, andhad no equal, though their stories be authentic at least she wasas faithful as Lucrece.
'But wherefore tell I how I first saw my lady? I was rightyoung, sooth to say, and had full great need to learn; when myheart longed to love, it was a great emprise. But as my wit couldbest, after my young, childish understanding, I set it verilyto love her in my best fashion, to do her such honor and serviceas I then could, by my faith, without feigning or sloth; for wondrousfain I was to see her. So much it relieved me that when I sawher first in the morn, I was healed of all my sorrow for the wholeday thereafter, till it were eve ; methought nothing could hurtme, were my sorrows never so bitter. And so she still holds myheart that, by my troth, I would not let niy lady out of my thoughtfor all this world; no, in truth!'
'Now by my troth, sir,' quoth, I, 'methinks you fare as onewho confesses without repentance.
'Repentance!' quoth he; 'Nay! fie! Should I now repent me ofloving? Nay, certes; then I were worse than Achitophel, or Antenor,the traitor who betrayed Troy, as I hope for bliss!-or the falseGanelon, he that procured the betrayal of Roland and Oliver. Nay!Whilst I am alive on earth I shall forget her nevermore.'
'Now, good sir,' quoth I, 'you have told it me already -thereis no need to rehearse it again -, how you first saw her, andwhere; but if you would tell me the manner of your first wordsto her, for that I would beseech you; and how she first knew yourmind, whether you loved her or no; and eke tell me what you havelost, which I have heard you tell of.'
'Yea,' said he, 'you know not what you say. I have lost morethan you ween.'
'What loss is that ? ' quoth I. 'Will she not love you? Isit thus? Or have you done aught amiss, so that she has left you?Is this it? For God's love, tell me all.'
'Before God, so I shall,' quoth he. 'I say even as I have said:all my love was placed on her. And yet long time she knew of itnever a whit, believe me well ; for be right sure, I durst nottell her my mind for all this world, nor would I have angeredher, truly. Knowest thou why? She was ruler of my body; she heldthe heart, and he whose heart is held cannot escape.
'But to keep me from idleness, truly I busied myself in makingsongs, as best I knew how, and oftentimes sang them aloud. AndI made many songs, though I could not make them so well, nor knewall the art, as could Tubal, Lamech's son, who first inventedthe art of song; for as his brother's hammers rang to and froon his anvil, from that he took the first melody; but the Greekssay that Pythagoras was the first inventor of the art Aurora tellsso. But no matter for that, as to the two of them. At all events,thus I put my feeling into songs, to gladden my heart; and lo! this was the first - I know not whether it were the best:
Lord but mine heart it maketh light
When I think on that sweetest wight,
A comely one to see;
And wish to God it might so he
That she would hold me for her knight,
My lady, fair and bright
'Now, I have told you my first song. Upon a day I bethoughtme what woe and sorrow I was suffering for her then, and yet sheknew it not, nor durst I tell her my mind. "Alas ! thoughtI, "I know no remedy, and unless I tell her, I am but a deadman; and if I tell her, verily I am afeared she will be wroth.Alas! what shall I do then?" In this debate I was so woful,methought mine heart would burst in twain. So at last, I bethoughtme in sooth that Nature never formed in a living being so muchbeauty and goodness without kindness. In hope of that, I toldmy story, from necessity, and with sorrow, as if should neverhave done so; maugre my head, I must needs tell her or die. Iwot not well how I began ; I can repeat it but ill. And eke, soGod help me, I trow it was on an unlucky day, as the days of theten plagues of Egypt. For I missed many a word in my tale frompure fear lest my words were misplaced. With sorrowful heart anddeadly wounds, timid and quaking from very fear and shame, andstopping ever and anon in my words for dread, my hue all pale,full often I waxed both pale and red; I bent my face down beforeher, I durst not once look at her, for wit and assurance all werefled. I cried Mercy ! " and no more. It was no sport, itwas bitter pain.
At last when my courage was returned, to relate my words shortly,I besought her with my whole heart to be my sweet lady; and sworeand heartily promised her ever to be steadfast and loyal, andto love her ever afresh and anew, and never to have other lady,and to protect all her honor as best I could; I swore that toher, - "because yours for evermore is all that ever thereis in me, my sweet heart! And never will I be false to you, unlessin a dream - so surely may God help me!"
'And when I had finished my tale, God wot she counted it allnot worth a straw, methought. To tell it briefly as it was, heranswer in truth was this ; I cannot now follow her words well,but this was the substance of her answer; she said " nay,utterly. Alack for the sorrow and woe I suffered then ! TrulyCassandra, who so bewailed the destruction of Ilium and Troy,had never such sorrow as I that day. For very fear I durst sayno more, but stole off. And thus I lived for full many a day,so that truly I had no need any day to seek for sorrow fartherthan my bed's head; I found it at hand every morn, because itwas in no fickleness I loved her.
It so befell, in another year I thought once I would try tomake her know and understand my woe, and she well perceived thatI desired naught but what was good and worshipful, and above allthings to guard her good name and dread any dishonor for her,and that I was full eager to serve her; and it were pity I shoulddie, since truly I desired no evil. So when my lady knew it, shegave me all wholly the noble gift of her favor, always savingher honor, certes, I mean no otherwise. And therewith she gaveme a ring; I trow it was the first gift. But whether my heartwas glad is no need to ask! So God help me, I was straightwayraised as from death to life, of all haps the best, the gladdestand the most peaceful. For truly, that sweet creature, when Iwas in the wrong and she in the right, she would ever forgiveme full graciously and kindly. In all my youth, in all hazard,she took me under her rule.
'Therewith she was alway so true, our joy was ever and alikefresh. Our hearts were so perfect a pair that never for any woewas the one counter to the other. In sooth they both felt alikeone joy and eke one sorrow; they were both alike glad or troubled;verily all was the same to both. And thus we lived many a year,- so well, I cannot tell how well.'
'Sir, ' quoth I, 'where is she now?'
'Now!' he said, and stopped straightway. Then he waxed as deathliketo see as a stone, then said, 'Alas that I was born! That wasthe loss which I before told you I had suffered. Remember howI said before, "You know full little what you say I havelost more than you ween. " God wot,alas, it was she!'
'Alack, sir, and how? What are you saying?'
'She is dead!'
'Nay !'
'Yes, by my troth!'
'Is that your loss! By God, it is a grievous thing!'
And anon at that word the hunters began to range forth; itwas all done, the hart-hunting, for that time.
Upon that, methought, this king rode homeward to a place hardby, but a little distance from us, a long castle with white walls,by Saint John! On a rich hill, as I dreamed; thus it was. Rightthus I dreamed, as I relate it to you, - that there was a bellin the castle, which seemed to strike the twelfth hour.
At that I awoke, and found myself lying in my bed ; and thebook that I had been reading, of Alcyone and king Ceyx and ofthe gods of sleep, I found it even in my hand. Thought I, thisis so rare a dream, that as the days go by I will strive to putit into rhyme as best I can, and that anon. This was my dream;now it is ended.
But men might ask me why I cannot sleep, and what is ailingme. Nevertheless who asks this, in truth, wastes his asking. Myselfcannot tell why it is thus ; but in sooth, I trow, I hold it tobe a sickness that I have suffered these eight year, and yet myremedy is never the nigher. For there is but one physician thatcan heal me. But that is past Pass we over until another time;what will not be, must needs be left ; it were good to hold toour first matter.
So when I saw I could not sleep the other night, I sat up tilllate upon my bed, and bade one reach me a book, a romance, andhe gave it me to read and pass the night away; for me thoughtit better sport than to play at either backgammon or chess. Andin this book were written fables, which clerks and other poetsin old days had put into rhyme, to read and to remember as longas men loved the law of nature. This book spake only of such mattersas the lives of ancient queens and kings, and many other little histories. Amongst all this I found a tale that methought wasmarvelous.
This was the tale : There was a king who was named Ceyx, andhe had a wife, the best that could live; and this queen was calledAlcyone. It so befell ere long that this king would fare across the sea. To tell it shortly, when he was thus at sea, such a tempestarose that it broke the ship's mast and made it fall, and madea breach in their ship and drowned every man, so that, as thebook tells, never was found board or man or aught beside. Eventhus the king Ceyx met his death.
Now to speak of his wife: This lady who was left at home marveledthat the king came not back, for he had been gone for long. Anonher heart began to grieve bitterly; and because evermore it seemedto her that it was not well that he so tarried, she longed soafter her husband that it were a piteous thing, certes, to tellthe heartfelt sorrow of this noble queen, alas !, for she lovedhim best of all. Anon she sent north and south to seek him, butthey found naught.
'Alas!' quoth she, 'Alas that ever I was born! And is my lordand my love dead? Certes, I make a vow here to my god that I willnever eat bread unless I can learn tidings of my lord!' Such wasthe sorrow of this lady that in very sooth I who have writ thisbook had such pity and ruth to read of her woe, that, by my troth,I fared the worse all the morrow after, to think of her pains.
So when she could learn no tidings that any man could findher lord, she swooned full oft and said, 'Alas!' For sorrow shewas wellnigh mad, and knew no counsel but one; anon she set herdown on her knees and so wept that it was pitiful to hear.
'Ah mercy, sweet dear lady!' quoth she to her goddess, Juno.'Help me out of this distress, and give me grace to see my lordsoon, or to know where he is or how he fares or in what state,and I shall do sacrifice to thee, and with good will become whollythine, body, heart, and all. And except thou wilt do this, sweetlady, send me grace to sleep and to dream in my sleep some faithful dream, through which I shall know of a surety whether my lordbe alive or no.'
And with that word she hung down her head and fell into a swoon,as cold as stone. Her women caught her up straightway, and unclad her and carried her to bed. And she, worn out witfl weeping and watching, was weary; and thus, ere she knew it, the dead sleep fell upon her, from Juno, who had heard her prayer and caused her quickly to sleep. For as she prayed, so it was done in fact.For Juno anon called her messenger to do her errand; and whenhe was come near, she commanded him thus:
'Haste thee,' quoth Juno, 'to Morpheus, - thou knowest him well, the god of sleep. Now understand well and heed! Say thuson my behalf, that he go quickly into the great sea ; - and bid him by any means to take up the body of Ceyx the king, which lies full pale and all bloodless. Bid him creep into the body and cause it to go to Alcyone the queen, where she lies alone, and tell her in brief how it was verily drowned the other day. And letthe body speak even as it was wont to speak whilst it was alive.Go now quickly, and hie thee!'
This messenger took leave, and went his way and never stopped till he came to the dark valley that stands between two cliffs,where never yet grew corn or grass or tree, or anything that servedfor aught, nor beast or man or aught else; save that there werea few springs came running down from the cliffs, and made a dead,sleepy sound, and ran down past a cave that was digged wondrous deep under a rock amid the valley. There lay these gods and slept,Morpheus and Eclympasteyre, who was heir to the god of sleep,who slept and did none other toil. This cave was as dark everywhere about as the pit of hell. They had good leisure to snore in rivalry,- who were the soundest sleeper! Some hung chin on breast and slept standing upright, their heads hidden; and some lay a-bedand slept the long days through.
This messenger came flying swiftly and cried, 'O ho! Awake,and that anon!' It was in vain; none heard him. 'Awake !' quothhe. 'Who is it lies there?' And he blew his horn right in theirears, and cried wondrous loud, 'Awake!'
This god of sleep opened one eye and asked, 'Who calls there?'
'It is I,' quoth this messenger. 'Juno bade thou shouldst go.'- and he told him what he was to do, as I have told you before;it needs not rehearse it again. And when he had spoken, he wenthis way.
Anon this god of sleep started out of his slumber, and went and did as he had been bidden; he took up the drowned body straightway,and bore it forth to the wife, queen Alcyone, where she lay, alittle before dawn. And it stood even at the foot of her bed,and called her by her very name, and said, 'My sweet wife, awake!Let be your sorrowful course, for in your sorrow lies no profit.For certes, sweet, I am dead; thou shalt never more see me alive.But, good sweet heart, look thou bury my body, what time thoumayst find it beside the sea. And farewell, sweet, my world'sjoy ! I pray God relieve thy sorrow; our happiness lasts too shortwhile here on earth!' At that she opened her eyes and saw naught.'Alas!' quoth she for sorrow, and died before the fourth morn.But what more she said in that delirium I may not tell you now,it were too long delay. I will tell you of my first matter, forwhich I have told this thing of queen Alcyone and Ceyx.
For thus much I dare well say, I should have been dead and all buried, even for default of sleep, if I had not read and notedthis tale. And I will tell you wherefore; because for weal orwoe I could not sleep ere I had read this tale of this drownedCeyx the king and of the gods of sleep. When I had well read thistale and looked all through it, a wonder it seemed to me if it were true; for I had never heard tell before of any gods thatcould cause men to sleep or wake. For I never knew any god hutone. And jesting I said anon, -and yet I list full little to makemirth, - 'Rather than die thus through default of sleep, I wouldgive to that Morpheus, or his goddess, dame Juno, or any wight else, I reck not who, to make me sleep and have some repose, -I will give him the very best gift that ever he looked for inhis life. And here into his keeping, now straightway, if he willgrant me a little sleep, I will give him a feather-bed of the down of pure white doves, right well enveloped in fine black satinfrom overseas and striped with gold, and eke many a pillow, with every pillow-case of cloth of Rennes, to sleep on softly; he neednot turn and turn. And I will give him all that behooves to achamber; and with pure gold I will have all his halls painted,and covered with many a fold of tapestry of one pattern. Thishe should have (knew I where his cave is), if he could make mesleep forthwith, as the goddess did Alcyone. And thus may thisgod Morpheus win from me greater pay than ever he won. And Juno,who is his goddess, I shall so require that I trow she shall hold herself content.
Scarce had I said that word, even thus as I have told it you,when suddenly, but how I knew riot3 such a lust to sleep seizedme anon that I fell asleep right over my book, and even therewithI dreamed a dream so rarely sweet, so wonderful, 1 trow neveryet had man the wit to tell the interpretation thereof; no, verily,not Joseph of Egypt, he who so interpreted the dream of king Pharaoh,no more than could the least one of us; nor scarce Macrobius,he that writ all the vision that king Scipio dreamed, that nobleman, Africanus - such marvels befell then - I trow could justlyinterpret my visions. Lo thus it was, this was my dream.
Methought thus: it was May, and about dawn where I lay in mybed all naked, in my dream I looked forth, for I was awakened by a great crowd of small birds which had startled me out of sleep through the sound and sweetness of their song; and I dreamed they sat all the while upon the roof of my chamber outside all aboutupon the tiles, and they sang in tune, each in his own wise, themost solemn service that ever man heard, I trow; for some of them sang low, some high, and all in accord. To tell shortly and inbrief, never was heard so sweet a voice, unless it had been from some heavenly thing, so merry a harmony, so sweet strains, thatcertes I would not have failed to hear them for all the town ofTunis; for my whole chamber rang through the harmony of theirsinging. For nowhere was ever heard instrument or melody yet halfso sweet, or of half so meet accord. For there was none of them that only feigned to sing, but each of them strove to find outmerry, cunning tones, and they spared not their throats.
And, sooth to say, my chamber was full well covered with paintings,and all the windows were well glazed with glass full clear, andnot a hole broken, that it was a great delight to behold. Allthe story of Troy was wrought in the glazing-of Hector and KingPriam, of Achilles and Laomedon, of Jason and Medea, of Parisand Helen and Lavinia. And all the walls were painted in finecolors with all the Romance of the Rose, both text and gloss.My windows were all shut, and through the glass the sun shoneupon my bed with bright beams and many glad, golden rays; andthe welkin eke was full beauteous) and the air blue, bright andclear, and right mild it was in sooth, neither cold nor hot. Andin all the welkin was not a cloud.
And as I lay thus, methought I heard a hunter blow his hornwondrous high and clear, to try it and learn whether it were clearor hoarse in tone. I heard men, horses, hounds and other creaturesgoing to and fro; and all men spake of hunting, how they wouldhave mightily slain the hart, and how far the hart at length hadplunged into the thicket,- I know not what it was. Straight-waywhen I heard that, how they would go a-hunting, I was right gladand anon was up, and went forth from my chamber, and took my horse,and never stopped till I came to the field outside. There I overtooka great rout of hunters and foresters, with many relays of houndsand dogs in leashes, and they hied them quick to the forest, andI with them. So at the last I asked one that led a dog in a leash,'Tell me, fellow, who shall hunt here?' quoth I. And he answered,'Sir) the emperor Octavian; and he is hard by here.' 'In God'sname, well met,' quoth I, 'go we fast!' and began to ride on.When we came to the forest-side, every man did anon as it behoovesto do in hunting. Anon the master of the hunt, hot-foot, blewthree notes on a great horn, at the uncoupling of his hounds.In a little the hart was lighted on, hallooed, and headed backlong time; at last this hart fetched a compass and stole awayfrom all the hounds by a secret course. The hounds had all outrunthe scent, and were at fault; upon that the hunter at last blewa recall wondrous loud.
I was gone walking away from my tree, and as I went there cameby and fawned upon me as stood a whelp that had followed the chasebut was untrained. It came and crept up to me as humbly as ifit had known me, held down its head and laid back its ears, andlaid its hair down all smooth. I would have caught it, and anonit fled and was gone from me. I followed it, and it went forth down by a flowery green path right thick with grass, soft andsweet with many flowers, fair under the foot, and little used,it seemed. For both Flora and Zephyr, they two that make flowersto spring, I trow had fixed their dwelling there; for it was,to behold it, as if the earth should strive to be gayer than thesky, to have seven times more flowers than the welkin has stars.It had forgotten the woes of winter and the poverty which he hadmade it suffer with his cold moms; all was forgotten, as men couldsee. For all the wood was waxed green; the sweetness of dew hadmade it grow.
There needs not ask whether the place stood thick with trees,so full of leaves) with many a green spray. And each tree stoodby itself full ten or twelve feet from the others. So great trees,of such huge strength, and forty or fifty fathoms high, and cleanwithout bough or stick up to the tops, broad and eke so thick- they were not an inch asunder - that everywhere below therewas shadow; and many a hart and hind was both before me and atmy back. The wood was full of fawns, young horned deer, bucks)does, and many a roe, and many squirrels that sat full high inthe trees, and ate, and made festival in their manner. In brief,it was so full of beasts that though Argus, the noble computer,set to reckoning on his abacus, and reckoned with his ten figures- by which figures all mankind, if they be skillful, may reckonand count and tell the number of everything, - yet he would failto reckon exactly the wonders that I dreamed in my dream.
But forth the beasts roamed down the wood wondrous fast; andat last I was ware of a man in black who sat and leaned againsta huge oak. 'Lord!' I thought, 'Who may that be? What ails him,to sit here?' Forthwith I approached, and found sitting up straighta wondrous fine-looking knight, -- by his bearing methought so,- of good height and young, four-and-twenty years of age; therewas but little hair in his beard, and he was clothed all in black.I walked softly up behind him, and stood there as still as anything,so that truly he saw me not, because he hung his head down. Andwith a deathlike sorrowful voice he rhymed to himself ten or twelveverses of a complaint, the most piteous, the most rueful, thatever I heard; for, by my troth, it was a great marvel that naturecould suffer any living being to have such sorrow and not die.Full piteous, pale and bloodless, he recited a lay, a kind ofa song, but without note or tune; and this was it, for I can wellrehearse it. It began right thus:
'I am with sorrows overrun,
Happiness get I never none,
Now that I see my lady bright,
That I have loved with all my might,
Hath died and is forever gone.
'Alas, O death, what aileth thee
That thou wouldst not have taken me,
When that thou tookst my lady dear;
That was so fair, so fresh, so free,
So good that every man may see
For all goodness she had no peer?'
When he had made his lament thus, his sorrowful heart beganto grow very faint and his spirits dead. For very fear the bloodfled down to his heart, to warm it - for well it felt that the heart was sore afflicted, - eke to learn why so horridly it shookits disposition, and to gladden it. For it is the principal member of the body, and that caused all his hue to change and wax green and pale, because no blood was seen in any limb of his.
Thereat anon, when I saw how ill he fared there, I went and stood right at his feet and greeted him; but he spake not, butreasoned with his own thought and in his mind earnestly debated whether and why his life should hold out-his sorrows were so painful,and lay so cold on his heart. So his sorrow and heavy thoughtsuffered him not to hear me; for he had well-nigh lost his mind,though Pan, whom men call the god of nature, were never so wroth against him for his melancholy. But at last, in truth, he became aware of me, how I was there before him and doffed my hood, and greeted him as best I knew how. Gently and softly he said, 'Iprithee be not wroth; truly I heard you not, sir, nor saw younot.'
'Ah, good sir,' quoth I, 'no matter. I am right sorry if Ihave at all disturbed you out of your thought. Forgive me if Ihave trespassed.'
'Yea, the amends are light to make,' quoth he, 'for none areneeded; there is none offense in word or deed.'
Lo how goodly this knight spake, as if it had been anotherthan he that I had troubled. He was neither over-forward nor over-distant.And I saw that, and began to consider him, and found him veryready to talk, right marvelous discreet and reasonable, as methought,for all his woe. Anon I began to devise talk with him, to lookwhether I could in any wise know more of his mind. 'Sir,' quothI, 'this sport is over, I trow this hart is gone; these hunterscan find him nowhere.'
'I care not therefor,' quoth he, 'my mind is never a whit onthat.'
'By our Lord,' quoth I, 'I well believe you; even so me-thinksby your cheer. But, sir, will you hear one thing? Me-thinks Isee you in great sorrow, but certes, sir, if you will at all discoveryour woe to me, I would amend it if I have the power, so may Godhelp me! You can prove it by trial, for, by my troth, I will useall my power to make you whole. And tell me of your bitter sorrows;peradventure it may ease your heart, which seems full sick inyour breast.'
With that he glanced at me aside, as who should say, 'Nay,that can never be.' 'Gramercy, good friend, I thank you,' quothhe, 'that you have such a desire, but it can never the more bedone. No man can gladden my sorrow, which causes my fresh lookto droop and fade, and has so ruined mine understanding that woeis me that I was ever born! Nothing can make my sorrows pass;not the Remedium of Ovid, nor Orpheus god of melody, nor Dedaluswith cunning devices; nor can physician heal me, not Hippocratesor Galen. Woe is me that I live a day! But whosoever would makeassay of himself, whether his heart can have pity of any sorrow,let him see me. I wretch, whom death has made naked of all blissthat was ever, who am become most miserable of all men, who hatemy days and my nights! My life, my pleasures, are loathsome tome, for all welfare and I are at odds. Death itself is my enemy;though I would die, it will not so. For when I follow, it fliesfrom me; I would have it, it will not have me. This is my curelesstorment, ever dying, and never dead; so that Sisyphus lying inhell knows no more sorrow. And, by my troth, whosoever knew allmy bitter sorrows, if he had not compassion for them, must havea fiendish heart. For whoso sees me first in the morn, may sayhe has met with sorrow, for I am sorrow, and sorrow is I.
'Alas! I will tell thee why; my song is turned into lamentation,and all my laughter to weeping, my glad thoughts to heaviness,mine ease and eke my rest into travail; my weal is woe, my goodis evil; and evermore my sport is turned into ugly pain and mydelight into mourning; my health is turned into sickness, allmy security into dread ; all my light is become darkness, my witis folly, my day is night, my love is hate, my sleep is waking,my mirth and eating are fasting, mine aspect is foolishness andis all confounded wheresoever I am; my peace is turned into contentionand war. Alas how could I fare worse? My boldness is turned intoabasement, for false Fortune has played a game of chess with me,alack the day! The traitress false and guileful, who promiseseverything and performs nothing, she walks upright, yet she walkslame; she looks foully and askew, yet shows fair looks; the cruelgracious one, who scorns many a creature ! An image she is, falselyportrayed ; for she will quickly swerve aside. She is the monster'shead, covered; as filth strewn over with flowers. Her greatestglory and flower of honor is to lie; for that is her nature. Withoutfaith, law or restraint, she is false; and ever laughing withone eye and weeping with the other. That which is set aloft, sheputs all down. I liken her to the scorpion, a false, flatteringbeast; for with his head he makes cheer, but amid all his flatteryhe will sting and envenom with his tail, and so will she. Sheis the envious charity that is ever false, and seems goodly ;so she turns her false wheel about, now to one side the hall,now at the other, for it is never steadfast. Full many a man hasshe thus blinded. She is a delusion of enchantment, which seemsthe same and is not-, the false thief!'
'What has she done, trow you? By our Lord, I will tell you.She played at chess with me; with her divers false moves she stoleupon me and took my queen. And when I saw my queen gone, alas!I could play no longer, but said, "Farewell, sweet, in truth,and farewell all that ever there is!" Therewith Fortune said,"Check! " and then "Checkmate!" in the middleof the board, with a roving pawn, alas! She was more skillfulat play than Attalus - so he was named-, who first made the gameof the chess. But would God I had once or twice known and understoodthe problems that the Greek Pythagoras knew thereby I had playedthe better at chess, and the better had guarded my queen. Andyet to what end? Truly I hold that wish not worth a straw. Ithad been never the better for me. For Fortune knows so many afetch that there be but few who can beguile her. And eke for anothercause she is the less to blame; before God) I myself would havedone likewise, had I been in her place; she ought the more tobe excused. For this I say, had I been God and could have hadmy will, when she captured my queen, I should have made the samemove; for, so God save my soul, I dare well swear she took thebest!
'But I have lost my bliss through that move; alas that I wasborn! For evermore, I truly believe, in spite of my will, my pleasureis wholly at an end; but yet what is to be done? By our Lord,it is to die quickly! In spite of all I give not up the thought,but live and die therein. There is no planet in the firmament,or element in the air or earth, that gives me not the gift ofweeping, when I am alone. For when I consider well, and bethinkme how nothing is owing me in mine account with sorrow; and howthere remains no gladness which may gladden me in my distress,and how I have lost content and have no pleasance left; then Imay say, nought remains at all. And when all this falls into mymind, alas! then I am overwhelmed! For what is done is not stillto come. I have more sorrow than Tantalus.'
When I heard him tell this tale so piteously as I have toldyou, scarce could I abide longer, it did my heart so much grief.'Ah, good sir!' quoth I, 'Say not so. Have some pity on that naturewhich makes you a living man! Remember Socrates; for he carednot three straws for aught that Fortune could do.'
'No,' quoth he, 'I cannot do thus.'
'Why so, good sir?' quoth I. 'Perdy! say not so, for in sooth,though you had lost the twelve pieces, if you murdered yourselffor sorrow, you should be condemned in this case as justly asMedea was, who slew her children for Jason (and Phyllis also hangedherself for Demophon, alackaday! because he broke his appointedtime to come to her). Another frenzied lover was Dido, queen ofCarthage, who slew herself because Aeneas was false. Ah! whata fool she was! And Echo died because Narcissus would not loveher; and even so has many another wrought folly. And Samson, whoslew himself by means of a pillar, died because of Dalilah. Butthere is none alive on earth who would make this woe for a queenat chess!'
'Why?' quoth he. 'It is not thus. You know full little whatyou say. I have lost more than you ween.'
'Lo, sir,' quoth I, 'how can that be? Good sir, tell me allwholly in what wise, how, why, and wherefore you have thus lostyour bliss.'
'Blithely,' quoth he, 'come sit down. I tell you upon the conditionthat with all your understanding you give your whole mind to hearkento it. - Yes, sir.' - 'Pledge your faith thereto.' -'Gladly.'- 'Keep to it then.' - 'So may God save me, I shall right blithelyhear you, as well as I can, with all the whole wit I have.'
'In God's name!' quoth he, and began: 'Sir,' quoth he, frommy youth, since first I had any manner of wit or natural understandingto comprehend in my own wit what love was in any wise, withoutfail I have ever been wholly subject to love, and have paid tributewith devoted mind, and by reason of his pleasantness have becomehis vassal with good will and body, heart and all. All this Iput in his service, as to my lord, and did homage, and full devoutlyprayed him that he should so bestow my heart that it were pleasanceto him and worship to my dear lady. And it was long ago that Idid this and knew not why, and many a year before my heart wasfixed anywhere; I trow it came to me of nature. Peradventure Iwas ready for that impressure as a white wall or a tablet; forit is ready to catch and receive all that men will put thereon,whether they will portray or paint, be the works never so curious.And at the time I did so, I was able to have learned and understoodanother art or book-lore, peradventure, as well as love or better.But because love came first into my mind, therefore I forgot itnot. I chose love for my first craft, therefore it remains withme; because I received it when I was so young that evil had notthen turned my mind to be nothing worth through learning too much.For then Youth, my mistress, ruled me in idleness; for it wasmy first youth, and I then knew full little good. All my actswere volatile, and all my thoughts varying; all that I knew thenwas alike good to me. But thus it was.
'On a day it happed that I came into a place where truly Isaw the fairest company of ladies that ever man had seen witheye together in one spot. Shall I call it hap or grace that broughtme there? Nay, but Fortune, who is full prone to lie, the false,perverse traitress! Would God I might call her by a fouler name!For now she makes me full sad; and I will tell why ere long. Amongstall these ladies I saw one, in sooth, that was like none otherin the whole company; for I dare verily swear that as the summer'sshining sun is fairer, clearer, and has more light for all theworld than any planet which is in the sky, - the moon, or theseven stars, so she surpassed them all in beauty, in demeanorand comeliness, in stature, in seemly gladness, so well endowedwith goodliness, -in brief, what more shall I say? By God andHis holy apostles, it was my sweet one, her very self! She hadsuch a steadfast aspect, such a noble port and demeanor! And Love,who had heard my prayer, had cast his eye on me thus soon; anonshe was so fixed in my mind, and so suddenly, that I took no mannerof counsel but from her look and from my heart; because her eyes,I trow, looked in such gladness on my heart that mine own mindonly said it were better to serve her for naught than to standwell with another. And it was true, for I will straightway tellyou why, every whit.
'I saw her so comely on the dance, so sweetly carol and sing,laugh and sport so girlishly, and look so gently, speak so amiablyand well, that certes I trow nevermore was seen so blessed a treasure.Every hair on her head, sooth to say, was not yellow, or red,or brown; methought it was most like gold. And what eyes my ladyhad ! Gentle, good, glad, steadfast, simple, of good size, nottoo wide; and eke her look was not sideloug nor askance, but sosimply direct that it drew and quite took up all that looked uponher. Anon her eyes seemed as if she would have mercy; fools thoughtit; but it was never the more so. It was no feigned thing, buther very own manner of looking, that the goddess, dame Nature,had made them open not too much, and gently close; for were shenever so glad, her gaze was not spread wide in folly; nor wildly,though she were in mirth. But methought her eyes ever said, "ByGod, my wrath is all given over!"
'She had eke such joy in life that dullness was afraid of her.She was not too grave nor too glad; never creature, I trow, hadmore measure in all things. But she hurt many an one with herglance, and that oppressed her heart full little, for she knewnaught of their thoughts; but whether she knew or not, at allevents she cared for them not a straw. He who dwelt at home wasno nearer to get her love than he who was in Ind; the foremostwas alway in the rear. But good folk she loved before all, asa man may love his brother; of which love she was wondrous liberal,in places where reason would have it so.
'And what a visage she had! Alas, mine heart is wondrous wofulthat I cannot describe it! I want both the language and the witto portray it perfectly, and eke my spirits he dull to describeso great a thing; I have no wit sufficient to comprehend her beauty.But thus much I dare say, that she was ruddy,
'Her face was nigh the best feature of all; for certes Naturehad such delight to make that fair, that truly my love was herchief pattern of beauty and chief ensample and type of her work;for however dark it be, evermore methinks I see her. And moreover,though all those that ever lived were now alive, they should nothave discerned one evil sign in all her face; for it was grave,simple and kind.
'And what a goodly soft language had that sweet physician ofmy life ! -.so friendly, so wise, so firmly based upon all reasonand so inclinable to all virtue, that I dare swear by the roodthat never was found such a sweet~sounding fluency of speech,nor truer-tongued, nor less scornful, nor more healing, so thatI durst swear by the mass, though the pope sang it, that neverwas man or woman greatly hurt through her tongue; as for her,all trouble hid from her. Never was less fiattenng than in herwords, so that her simple testimony was found as true as any bondor as the pledge of any man's hand. And she could not chide awhit; that all the world knows full well. And such a fair neckhad that sweet one that no bone or blemish was to be seen thatmisbecame her. It was white, smooth and straight, without hollow;and collar-bone to all seeming had she none. Her throat, as Ican recall, seemed a round tower of ivory, of proper size, nottoo great. 'And good, fair White she was called; that was my lady'svery name. She was both fair and bright, she had not her namewrongly. She had right fair shoulders, and long body and arms,every limb plump and round but not over-large; hands full whiteand pink nails, round breasts, a straight, flat back, and hipsof good breadth. I knew no manner of defect in her, that her limbswere not all in accord, so far as I could know.
'And she could disport herself so well when she would, thatI say she was like to a shining torch, from which every man canhave light in plenty, and it has none the less. In manner andcomeliness even so was it with my dear lady; for any wight, ifhe would and had eyes to behold her, might take joy enough inher bearing. For I dare swear if she had been amongst ten thousand,in the eyes of men that could judge she would have been at theleast a chief glass of fashion of all the company, though theyhad stood on a row. For wheresoever folk made merry and out-watchedthe night, methought the fellowship barer without her, as I sawonce, than a crown without gems. Truly to mine eyes she was thesolitary phoenix of Araby, for there is never but one alive; andnever knew I such an one as she.
'To speak of goodness, truly she had as much gentleness asever had Esther in the Bible, and more, if more could be. Andtherewithal in sooth she had a wit so broad, so wholly inclinedto all virtue, that by the rood all her understanding was withoutmalice and set upon joyous things; in addition, I never yet sawone less hurtful than she in her acts. I say not that she hadno knowledge what evil was; else methinks she had had no ripejudgment.
'And verily, to speak of faithfulness, it had been pity ifshe had not had that ! Thereof she had so full a share, I daresay it, and swear to it well, that Faith himself had chosen toset his principal manor, his abiding-place, in her above all others.Therewith she had the greatest gift of steadfast constancy andunconstrained temperate self-control that I ever yet knew, sowholly long-suffering was she, and so gladly would hear reason;it well followed that she knew how to rule her life, and lovedto do well. This was her disposition, every whit. Therewith sheso well loved right she would do no wrong to any person; yet nowight could do her shame, she loved so well her own fair repute.She would delude no honest wight, nor by half word or look holdhim in suspense, be sure; nor send a man into Wallachia, Prussianor Tartary, Alexandria nor Turkey, and anon bid him strictlyto go bareheaded to the dry sea and come home by the Carrenare;nor say, "Sir, see now that I hear worship of you, ere youcome again. " She gave rein to no such little freaks.
'But to what end tell I my tale? On this very one, as I havesaid, was all my love wholly placed ; for certes, that sweet woman,she was my sufficiency, my pleasure, my life, my fortune, my health,and all my bliss, my worldly welfare and comfort; and I was entirelyhers, every whit.'
'By our Lord,' quoth I, 'I well believe you! In faith yourlove was well bestowed ; I wot not how you might have done better.'
'Better? No wight could have done so well!' quoth he.
'Perdy,' quoth I, ' I trow it, sir.'
'Nay, believe it well.'
'Sir, so I do; I well believe you that you truly thought shewas the best and the very fairest to behold, for whosoever hadlooked with your eyes.'
'With mine? Nay, all that saw her said so, and swore to it.And though they had not, I should still have ]oved best my noblelady, though I had had all the beauty that ever Alcibiades had,and all the strength of Hercules; besides bad all the worthinessof Alexander, and all the wealth that ever was in Babylon or Carthageor Macedonia, or in Rome or Nineve; and eke, as I hope to be saved,had been as hardy as Hector, whom Achilles slew at Troy (and forthat deed Achilles was slain also in a temple ; for the two wereslain, both he and Archilochus, for love of Polyxena, and so saysDares Phrygius); or had I been as wise as Minerva, I should everhave loved her, without doubt, for I must needs. "Needs!" Nay, I speak idly now; not "needs. " I will tellwhy; it was because my heart desired it with its own free will,and eke I was bound to love her as the fairest and best. She wasas good as ever was Penelope of Greece, or Lucrece, the noblewife who was the best of wives - he tells thus, the Roman TitusLivius ; she was as good as they, as I hope for salvation, andhad no equal, though their stories be authentic at least she wasas faithful as Lucrece.
'But wherefore tell I how I first saw my lady? I was rightyoung, sooth to say, and had full great need to learn; when myheart longed to love, it was a great emprise. But as my wit couldbest, after my young, childish understanding, I set it verilyto love her in my best fashion, to do her such honor and serviceas I then could, by my faith, without feigning or sloth; for wondrousfain I was to see her. So much it relieved me that when I sawher first in the morn, I was healed of all my sorrow for the wholeday thereafter, till it were eve ; methought nothing could hurtme, were my sorrows never so bitter. And so she still holds myheart that, by my troth, I would not let niy lady out of my thoughtfor all this world; no, in truth!'
'Now by my troth, sir,' quoth, I, 'methinks you fare as onewho confesses without repentance.
'Repentance!' quoth he; 'Nay! fie! Should I now repent me ofloving? Nay, certes; then I were worse than Achitophel, or Antenor,the traitor who betrayed Troy, as I hope for bliss!-or the falseGanelon, he that procured the betrayal of Roland and Oliver. Nay!Whilst I am alive on earth I shall forget her nevermore.'
'Now, good sir,' quoth I, 'you have told it me already -thereis no need to rehearse it again -, how you first saw her, andwhere; but if you would tell me the manner of your first wordsto her, for that I would beseech you; and how she first knew yourmind, whether you loved her or no; and eke tell me what you havelost, which I have heard you tell of.'
'Yea,' said he, 'you know not what you say. I have lost morethan you ween.'
'What loss is that ? ' quoth I. 'Will she not love you? Isit thus? Or have you done aught amiss, so that she has left you?Is this it? For God's love, tell me all.'
'Before God, so I shall,' quoth he. 'I say even as I have said:all my love was placed on her. And yet long time she knew of itnever a whit, believe me well ; for be right sure, I durst nottell her my mind for all this world, nor would I have angeredher, truly. Knowest thou why? She was ruler of my body; she heldthe heart, and he whose heart is held cannot escape.
'But to keep me from idleness, truly I busied myself in makingsongs, as best I knew how, and oftentimes sang them aloud. AndI made many songs, though I could not make them so well, nor knewall the art, as could Tubal, Lamech's son, who first inventedthe art of song; for as his brother's hammers rang to and froon his anvil, from that he took the first melody; but the Greekssay that Pythagoras was the first inventor of the art Aurora tellsso. But no matter for that, as to the two of them. At all events,thus I put my feeling into songs, to gladden my heart; and lo! this was the first - I know not whether it were the best:
Lord but mine heart it maketh light
When I think on that sweetest wight,
A comely one to see;
And wish to God it might so he
That she would hold me for her knight,
My lady, fair and bright
'Now, I have told you my first song. Upon a day I bethoughtme what woe and sorrow I was suffering for her then, and yet sheknew it not, nor durst I tell her my mind. "Alas ! thoughtI, "I know no remedy, and unless I tell her, I am but a deadman; and if I tell her, verily I am afeared she will be wroth.Alas! what shall I do then?" In this debate I was so woful,methought mine heart would burst in twain. So at last, I bethoughtme in sooth that Nature never formed in a living being so muchbeauty and goodness without kindness. In hope of that, I toldmy story, from necessity, and with sorrow, as if should neverhave done so; maugre my head, I must needs tell her or die. Iwot not well how I began ; I can repeat it but ill. And eke, soGod help me, I trow it was on an unlucky day, as the days of theten plagues of Egypt. For I missed many a word in my tale frompure fear lest my words were misplaced. With sorrowful heart anddeadly wounds, timid and quaking from very fear and shame, andstopping ever and anon in my words for dread, my hue all pale,full often I waxed both pale and red; I bent my face down beforeher, I durst not once look at her, for wit and assurance all werefled. I cried Mercy ! " and no more. It was no sport, itwas bitter pain.
At last when my courage was returned, to relate my words shortly,I besought her with my whole heart to be my sweet lady; and sworeand heartily promised her ever to be steadfast and loyal, andto love her ever afresh and anew, and never to have other lady,and to protect all her honor as best I could; I swore that toher, - "because yours for evermore is all that ever thereis in me, my sweet heart! And never will I be false to you, unlessin a dream - so surely may God help me!"
'And when I had finished my tale, God wot she counted it allnot worth a straw, methought. To tell it briefly as it was, heranswer in truth was this ; I cannot now follow her words well,but this was the substance of her answer; she said " nay,utterly. Alack for the sorrow and woe I suffered then ! TrulyCassandra, who so bewailed the destruction of Ilium and Troy,had never such sorrow as I that day. For very fear I durst sayno more, but stole off. And thus I lived for full many a day,so that truly I had no need any day to seek for sorrow fartherthan my bed's head; I found it at hand every morn, because itwas in no fickleness I loved her.
It so befell, in another year I thought once I would try tomake her know and understand my woe, and she well perceived thatI desired naught but what was good and worshipful, and above allthings to guard her good name and dread any dishonor for her,and that I was full eager to serve her; and it were pity I shoulddie, since truly I desired no evil. So when my lady knew it, shegave me all wholly the noble gift of her favor, always savingher honor, certes, I mean no otherwise. And therewith she gaveme a ring; I trow it was the first gift. But whether my heartwas glad is no need to ask! So God help me, I was straightwayraised as from death to life, of all haps the best, the gladdestand the most peaceful. For truly, that sweet creature, when Iwas in the wrong and she in the right, she would ever forgiveme full graciously and kindly. In all my youth, in all hazard,she took me under her rule.
'Therewith she was alway so true, our joy was ever and alikefresh. Our hearts were so perfect a pair that never for any woewas the one counter to the other. In sooth they both felt alikeone joy and eke one sorrow; they were both alike glad or troubled;verily all was the same to both. And thus we lived many a year,- so well, I cannot tell how well.'
'Sir, ' quoth I, 'where is she now?'
'Now!' he said, and stopped straightway. Then he waxed as deathliketo see as a stone, then said, 'Alas that I was born! That wasthe loss which I before told you I had suffered. Remember howI said before, "You know full little what you say I havelost more than you ween. " God wot,alas, it was she!'
'Alack, sir, and how? What are you saying?'
'She is dead!'
'Nay !'
'Yes, by my troth!'
'Is that your loss! By God, it is a grievous thing!'
And anon at that word the hunters began to range forth; itwas all done, the hart-hunting, for that time.
Upon that, methought, this king rode homeward to a place hardby, but a little distance from us, a long castle with white walls,by Saint John! On a rich hill, as I dreamed; thus it was. Rightthus I dreamed, as I relate it to you, - that there was a bellin the castle, which seemed to strike the twelfth hour.
At that I awoke, and found myself lying in my bed ; and thebook that I had been reading, of Alcyone and king Ceyx and ofthe gods of sleep, I found it even in my hand. Thought I, thisis so rare a dream, that as the days go by I will strive to putit into rhyme as best I can, and that anon. This was my dream;now it is ended.
Ayn Rand Predicts Future
Obama Executive Order Paves the Way for Nationalization of Economy
The Obama administration’s move to update an executive order to allow the government to seize control of virtually every aspect of society in both emergency and non-emergency situations lays the groundwork for the future nationalization of the U.S. economy.
Entitled “National Defense Resources Preparedness,” Obama signed the executive order late Friday afternoon. Such timing is normally a deliberate ploy to prevent a controversial issue from being picked up by the news cycle. Recall that Obama signed the highly contentious National Defense Authorization Act on New Year’s Eve.
Under section 201, the EO allows the federal government to take control of;
Sec. 201. Priorities and Allocations Authorities. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071, to require acceptance and priority performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, is delegated to the following agency heads:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
Although the executive order is an update to the almost identical EO 12919, which was signed by Bill Clinton in 1994, in Section 201(b) of the new version, the words “under both emergency and non-emergency conditions” have been added.
In other words, the federal government is claiming the power to seize totalitarian control of the whole economy – nationalization über alles.
The administration’s move to allow an executive order designed for a time of national crisis to be applied in non-emergency peace time represents a significant ratcheting up on the richter scale of martial law, a measurement Infowars has been upgrading since the late 1990′s.
Just because Obama’s predecessor’s like Clinton and Bush did not use this executive order doesn’t mean it’s not anathema to the U.S. constitution. Obama may not use it either, but just as the President has promised to not use the ‘kidnapping’ provisions of the NDAA which his administration pushed for, that does nothing to prevent a future administration from indefinitely detaining American citizens under the law.
America is already under a state of martial law, but many have been conditioned to accept it because the degree to which it has been implemented has not yet reached its maximum. You don’t have to witness a Waco siege every day with tanks and the government killing citizens to be under a state of martial law.
- We already have the executive branch claiming the power to have Americans abducted and imprisoned without trial under the NDAA.
- We already have the executive branch claiming the power to assassinate American citizens with no legal process whatsoever.
- We already have checkpoints manned by TSA goons as well as other militarized forces spreading across America.
- We already have the Pentagon claiming it doesn’t have to even recognize Congress to launch wars and that the only superior body it has to answer to is the United Nations.
- We already have the Department of Defense characterizing protest as “low level terrorism” while the federal government is busy labeling banal activities and behavior as indicative of terrorism.
Those five things alone illustrate beyond any conceivable doubt that America is already under a degree of martial law.
Martial law is primarily used as a tool of the elite to rob the people blind. Once the next big crisis hits, the degree to which America is under martial law will increase once again.
The fact that this new executive order greases the skids for the government to nationalize the entire economy, placing the means of production of virtually everything under the control of the state, is yet another sign that the feds are preparing for America’s descent into Greece-style austerity hell.
Just as Greece and many countries in Europe have been overthrown by unelected technocrats who have seized control of their economies, America is being primed for the same final act of complete usurpation.
The Obama administration’s move to update an executive order to allow the government to seize control of virtually every aspect of society in both emergency and non-emergency situations lays the groundwork for the future nationalization of the U.S. economy.
Entitled “National Defense Resources Preparedness,” Obama signed the executive order late Friday afternoon. Such timing is normally a deliberate ploy to prevent a controversial issue from being picked up by the news cycle. Recall that Obama signed the highly contentious National Defense Authorization Act on New Year’s Eve.
Under section 201, the EO allows the federal government to take control of;
Sec. 201. Priorities and Allocations Authorities. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071, to require acceptance and priority performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, is delegated to the following agency heads:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
Although the executive order is an update to the almost identical EO 12919, which was signed by Bill Clinton in 1994, in Section 201(b) of the new version, the words “under both emergency and non-emergency conditions” have been added.
In other words, the federal government is claiming the power to seize totalitarian control of the whole economy – nationalization über alles.
The administration’s move to allow an executive order designed for a time of national crisis to be applied in non-emergency peace time represents a significant ratcheting up on the richter scale of martial law, a measurement Infowars has been upgrading since the late 1990′s.
Just because Obama’s predecessor’s like Clinton and Bush did not use this executive order doesn’t mean it’s not anathema to the U.S. constitution. Obama may not use it either, but just as the President has promised to not use the ‘kidnapping’ provisions of the NDAA which his administration pushed for, that does nothing to prevent a future administration from indefinitely detaining American citizens under the law.
America is already under a state of martial law, but many have been conditioned to accept it because the degree to which it has been implemented has not yet reached its maximum. You don’t have to witness a Waco siege every day with tanks and the government killing citizens to be under a state of martial law.
- We already have the executive branch claiming the power to have Americans abducted and imprisoned without trial under the NDAA.
- We already have the executive branch claiming the power to assassinate American citizens with no legal process whatsoever.
- We already have checkpoints manned by TSA goons as well as other militarized forces spreading across America.
- We already have the Pentagon claiming it doesn’t have to even recognize Congress to launch wars and that the only superior body it has to answer to is the United Nations.
- We already have the Department of Defense characterizing protest as “low level terrorism” while the federal government is busy labeling banal activities and behavior as indicative of terrorism.
Those five things alone illustrate beyond any conceivable doubt that America is already under a degree of martial law.
Martial law is primarily used as a tool of the elite to rob the people blind. Once the next big crisis hits, the degree to which America is under martial law will increase once again.
The fact that this new executive order greases the skids for the government to nationalize the entire economy, placing the means of production of virtually everything under the control of the state, is yet another sign that the feds are preparing for America’s descent into Greece-style austerity hell.
Just as Greece and many countries in Europe have been overthrown by unelected technocrats who have seized control of their economies, America is being primed for the same final act of complete usurpation.
TSA finds a terrorist!
3-Year-Old Boy In Wheelchair Harassed By TSA
The following video provides airports with yet another fantastic reason to evict TSA screeners and replace them with private security – the clip shows a 3-year-old boy with a broken leg in a wheelchair being harassed by a TSA worker.
The incident occurred at O’Hare Airport in Chicago and was recorded by the father of the 3-year-old boy.
A TSA agent begins conducting a pat down of the boy who is sitting in a wheelchair with a broken leg. The boy is confused at being fondled by a stranger and reaches out to his parents for support but they cannot touch him because they have been ordered to stay clear by the TSA agent.
The boy begins trembling and is clearly upset as the creepy TSA moron begins swabbing his cast, his hands and his wheelchair for explosives.
The TSA goon then asks the father to lift up the boy’s shirt so he can swab his body too, offering to conduct this part of the harassment in a private room.
While the boy is being harassed, an old woman with a cane is also told to stand back and wait for an advanced pat down, with the TSA again proving themselves adept at being able to single out the most likely terrorists – nearly crippled senior citizens and toddlers with broken legs in wheelchairs.
Only after several minutes of this pointless, degrading and shameful treatment is the boy allowed to pass security.
his video represents yet another sterling reason why airports should take advantage of a new law that allows them to opt-out of using TSA agents to provide security screening.
Harassing three-year-old children in wheelchairs on their way to Disneyland is not a proficient method of preventing terrorism. If the terrorists attacked us because they hate our freedom, as we were told after 9/11, then footage like this proves that the terrorists have won.
Meanwhile, yet more TSA agents have been caught engaged in criminal acts.
41-year-old TSA agent Michael Scott Wilson has been indicted on federal porn charges after allegedly being found in possession of a video “depicting a prepubescent female engaged in masturbation and anal sex with an adult male”. These are the same people groping your children.
A TSA screener who worked at Newark International was also busted while still wearing her TSA uniform at a major heroin den near an elementary school. 22-year-old Samirah Saunders is accused of helping to distribute 1,400 packets of heroin.
The following video provides airports with yet another fantastic reason to evict TSA screeners and replace them with private security – the clip shows a 3-year-old boy with a broken leg in a wheelchair being harassed by a TSA worker.
The incident occurred at O’Hare Airport in Chicago and was recorded by the father of the 3-year-old boy.
A TSA agent begins conducting a pat down of the boy who is sitting in a wheelchair with a broken leg. The boy is confused at being fondled by a stranger and reaches out to his parents for support but they cannot touch him because they have been ordered to stay clear by the TSA agent.
The boy begins trembling and is clearly upset as the creepy TSA moron begins swabbing his cast, his hands and his wheelchair for explosives.
The TSA goon then asks the father to lift up the boy’s shirt so he can swab his body too, offering to conduct this part of the harassment in a private room.
While the boy is being harassed, an old woman with a cane is also told to stand back and wait for an advanced pat down, with the TSA again proving themselves adept at being able to single out the most likely terrorists – nearly crippled senior citizens and toddlers with broken legs in wheelchairs.
Only after several minutes of this pointless, degrading and shameful treatment is the boy allowed to pass security.
his video represents yet another sterling reason why airports should take advantage of a new law that allows them to opt-out of using TSA agents to provide security screening.
Harassing three-year-old children in wheelchairs on their way to Disneyland is not a proficient method of preventing terrorism. If the terrorists attacked us because they hate our freedom, as we were told after 9/11, then footage like this proves that the terrorists have won.
Meanwhile, yet more TSA agents have been caught engaged in criminal acts.
41-year-old TSA agent Michael Scott Wilson has been indicted on federal porn charges after allegedly being found in possession of a video “depicting a prepubescent female engaged in masturbation and anal sex with an adult male”. These are the same people groping your children.
A TSA screener who worked at Newark International was also busted while still wearing her TSA uniform at a major heroin den near an elementary school. 22-year-old Samirah Saunders is accused of helping to distribute 1,400 packets of heroin.
Chicago decides they can revoke the first amendment
Officer Ward of 010 Ogden has decided that he knows better than our founding fathers.
from here
(this is while the officers also commit various jaywalking crimes as well)
here is the NBC link while it lasts NBC story
Two NBC journalists were handcuffed and threatened by Chicago police after attempting to report on the murder of a 6-year-old girl yesterday, NBC Chicago reports. Another NBC journalist was also detained by police outside Mt. Sinai Hospital, where the girl had been taken following a fatal shooting during city wide violence over the weekend.
Police were called to the hospital shortly after reporters arrived on the scene. The journalists said they has already moved away from a public sidewalk and across the street at the request of the police.
One police officer was then caught on camera telling other members of the media “Your First Amendment right can be terminated if you’re creating a scene or whatever. Your First Amendment right has got limitations.”
When the reporters asked for clarification on how they were creating a scene, the officer replied, “Your presence is creating a scene.” “This is what we do for a living!” one reporter replied, before another added“You’ve got a lawsuit coming.” “I don’t care about no damn lawsuit!” the officer fired back.
“F*ck a lawsuit. Just ’cause you sue doesn’t mean you’re going to win.” Photographer Donte Williams and WGN Reporter Dan Ponce were then handcuffed and briefly detained by the officer, who threatened them with trespassing charges.
The police say they acted following claims that the reporters had attempted to enter a secure area of the hospital. The two reporters, along with NBC Chicago Reporter Christian Farr deny that they attempted to go inside the hospital.
The two were released without charge. Later appearing on WLS Radio, Dan Ponce said “This is in front of a hospital. The reporters and photographers were standing on the median sidewalk when the officer started yelling at us, telling us to get further away.
We decided to take a stand.” The Chicago Police Department released the following statement on the incident: The Chicago Police Department did not charge anyone with criminal trespass in connection with yesterday’s incident, which involved the unfortunate and senseless loss of a young child.
We removed two individuals from the hospital at the request of hospital security guards, who asserted that the individuals had tried to go past them into secure and private areas of the hospital. The security guards declined to press charges and the individuals were released.
Our members were attempting to protect and respect both the grieving family members of the child, and the memory of the child herself during a very stressful time for all parties involved. As always, we will carefully review the allegations in the event further action is warranted.
from here
(this is while the officers also commit various jaywalking crimes as well)
here is the NBC link while it lasts NBC story
Two NBC journalists were handcuffed and threatened by Chicago police after attempting to report on the murder of a 6-year-old girl yesterday, NBC Chicago reports. Another NBC journalist was also detained by police outside Mt. Sinai Hospital, where the girl had been taken following a fatal shooting during city wide violence over the weekend.
Police were called to the hospital shortly after reporters arrived on the scene. The journalists said they has already moved away from a public sidewalk and across the street at the request of the police.
One police officer was then caught on camera telling other members of the media “Your First Amendment right can be terminated if you’re creating a scene or whatever. Your First Amendment right has got limitations.”
When the reporters asked for clarification on how they were creating a scene, the officer replied, “Your presence is creating a scene.” “This is what we do for a living!” one reporter replied, before another added“You’ve got a lawsuit coming.” “I don’t care about no damn lawsuit!” the officer fired back.
“F*ck a lawsuit. Just ’cause you sue doesn’t mean you’re going to win.” Photographer Donte Williams and WGN Reporter Dan Ponce were then handcuffed and briefly detained by the officer, who threatened them with trespassing charges.
The police say they acted following claims that the reporters had attempted to enter a secure area of the hospital. The two reporters, along with NBC Chicago Reporter Christian Farr deny that they attempted to go inside the hospital.
The two were released without charge. Later appearing on WLS Radio, Dan Ponce said “This is in front of a hospital. The reporters and photographers were standing on the median sidewalk when the officer started yelling at us, telling us to get further away.
We decided to take a stand.” The Chicago Police Department released the following statement on the incident: The Chicago Police Department did not charge anyone with criminal trespass in connection with yesterday’s incident, which involved the unfortunate and senseless loss of a young child.
We removed two individuals from the hospital at the request of hospital security guards, who asserted that the individuals had tried to go past them into secure and private areas of the hospital. The security guards declined to press charges and the individuals were released.
Our members were attempting to protect and respect both the grieving family members of the child, and the memory of the child herself during a very stressful time for all parties involved. As always, we will carefully review the allegations in the event further action is warranted.
Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 16, 2012
Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness
EXECUTIVE ORDER
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
PART I - PURPOSE, POLICY, AND IMPLEMENTATION
Section 101. Purpose. This order delegates authorities and addresses national defense resource policies and programs under the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (the "Act").
Sec. 102. Policy. The United States must have an industrial and technological base capable of meeting national defense requirements and capable of contributing to the technological superiority of its national defense equipment in peacetime and in times of national emergency. The domestic industrial and technological base is the foundation for national defense preparedness. The authorities provided in the Act shall be used to strengthen this base and to ensure it is capable of responding to the national defense needs of the United States.
Sec. 103. General Functions. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) responsible for plans and programs relating to national defense (as defined in section 801(j) of this order), or for resources and services needed to support such plans and programs, shall:
(a) identify requirements for the full spectrum of emergencies, including essential military and civilian demand;
(b) assess on an ongoing basis the capability of the domestic industrial and technological base to satisfy requirements in peacetime and times of national emergency, specifically evaluating the availability of the most critical resource and production sources, including subcontractors and suppliers, materials, skilled labor, and professional and technical personnel;
(c) be prepared, in the event of a potential threat to the security of the United States, to take actions necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability, including services and critical technology, for national defense requirements;
(d) improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the domestic industrial base to support national defense requirements; and
(e) foster cooperation between the defense and commercial sectors for research and development and for acquisition of materials, services, components, and equipment to enhance industrial base efficiency and responsiveness.
Sec. 104. Implementation. (a) The National Security Council and Homeland Security Council, in conjunction with the National Economic Council, shall serve as the integrated policymaking forum for consideration and formulation of national defense resource preparedness policy and shall make recommendations to the President on the use of authorities under the Act.
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall:
(1) advise the President on issues of national defense resource preparedness and on the use of the authorities and functions delegated by this order;
(2) provide for the central coordination of the plans and programs incident to authorities and functions delegated under this order, and provide guidance to agencies assigned functions under this order, developed in consultation with such agencies; and
(3) report to the President periodically concerning all program activities conducted pursuant to this order.
(c) The Defense Production Act Committee, described in section 701 of this order, shall:
(1) in a manner consistent with section 2(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2062(b), advise the President through the Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy on the effective use of the authorities under the Act; and
(2) prepare and coordinate an annual report to the Congress pursuant to section 722(d) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2171(d).
(d) The Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and other agencies, shall:
(1) analyze potential effects of national emergencies on actual production capability, taking into account the entire production system, including shortages of resources, and develop recommended preparedness measures to strengthen capabilities for production increases in national emergencies; and
(2) perform industry analyses to assess capabilities of the industrial base to support the national defense, and develop policy recommendations to improve the international competitiveness of specific domestic industries and their abilities to meet national defense program needs.
PART II - PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS
Sec. 201. Priorities and Allocations Authorities. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071, to require acceptance and priority performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, is delegated to the following agency heads:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including
construction materials.
(b) The Secretary of each agency delegated authority under subsection (a) of this section (resource departments) shall plan for and issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources and establish standards and procedures by which the authority shall be used to promote the national defense, under both emergency and non-emergency conditions. Each Secretary shall authorize the heads of other agencies, as appropriate, to place priority ratings on contracts and orders for materials, services, and facilities needed in support of programs approved under section 202 of this order.
(c) Each resource department shall act, as necessary and appropriate, upon requests for special priorities assistance, as defined by section 801(l) of this order, in a time frame consistent with the urgency of the need at hand. In situations where there are competing program requirements for limited resources, the resource department shall consult with the Secretary who made the required determination under section 202 of this order. Such Secretary shall coordinate with and identify for the resource department which program requirements to prioritize on the basis of operational urgency. In situations involving more than one Secretary making such a required determination under section 202 of this order, the Secretaries shall coordinate with and identify for the resource department which program requirements should receive priority on the basis of operational urgency.
(d) If agreement cannot be reached between two such Secretaries, then the issue shall be referred to the President through the Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.
(e) The Secretary of each resource department, when necessary, shall make the finding required under section 101(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(b). This finding shall be submitted for the President's approval through the Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. Upon such approval, the Secretary of the resource department that made the finding may use the authority of section 101(a) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(a), to control the general distribution of any material (including applicable services) in the civilian market.
Sec. 202. Determinations. Except as provided in section 201(e) of this order, the authority delegated by section 201 of this order may be used only to support programs that have been determined in writing as necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense:
(a) by the Secretary of Defense with respect to military production and construction, military assistance to foreign nations, military use of civil transportation, stockpiles managed by the Department of Defense, space, and directly related activities;
(b) by the Secretary of Energy with respect to energy production and construction, distribution and use, and directly related activities; and
(c) by the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to all other national defense programs, including civil defense and continuity of Government.
Sec. 203. Maximizing Domestic Energy Supplies. The authorities of the President under section 101(c)(1) (2) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(c)(1) (2), are delegated to the Secretary of Commerce, with the exception that the authority to make findings that materials (including equipment), services, and facilities are critical and essential, as described in section 101(c)(2)(A) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(c)(2)(A), is delegated to the Secretary of Energy.
Sec. 204. Chemical and Biological Warfare. The authority of the President conferred by section 104(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2074(b), is delegated to the Secretary of Defense. This authority may not be further delegated by the Secretary.
PART III - EXPANSION OF PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY AND SUPPLY
Sec. 301. Loan Guarantees. (a) To reduce current or projected shortfalls of resources, critical technology items, or materials essential for the national defense, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense, as defined in section 801(h) of this order, is authorized pursuant to section 301 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2091, to guarantee loans by private institutions.
(b) Each guaranteeing agency is designated and authorized to: (1) act as fiscal agent in the making of its own guarantee contracts and in otherwise carrying out the purposes of section 301 of the Act; and (2) contract with any Federal Reserve Bank to assist the agency in serving as fiscal agent.
(c) Terms and conditions of guarantees under this authority shall be determined in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The guaranteeing agency is authorized, following such consultation, to prescribe: (1) either specifically or by maximum limits or otherwise, rates of interest, guarantee and commitment fees, and other charges which may be made in connection with such guarantee contracts; and (2) regulations governing the forms and procedures (which shall be uniform to the extent practicable) to be utilized in connection therewith.
Sec. 302. Loans. To reduce current or projected shortfalls of resources, critical technology items, or materials essential for the national defense, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 302 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2092, to make loans thereunder. Terms and conditions of loans under this authority shall be determined in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of OMB.
Sec. 303. Additional Authorities. (a) To create, maintain, protect, expand, or restore domestic industrial base capabilities essential for the national defense, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093, to make provision for purchases of, or commitments to purchase, an industrial resource or a critical technology item for Government use or resale, and to make provision for the development of production capabilities, and for the increased use of emerging technologies in security program applications, and to enable rapid transition of emerging technologies.
(b) Materials acquired under section 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093, that exceed the needs of the programs under the Act may be transferred to the National Defense Stockpile, if, in the judgment of the Secretary of Defense as the National Defense Stockpile Manager, such transfers are in the public interest.
Sec. 304. Subsidy Payments. To ensure the supply of raw or nonprocessed materials from high cost sources, or to ensure maximum production or supply in any area at stable prices of any materials in light of a temporary increase in transportation cost, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303(c) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(c), to make subsidy payments, after consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of OMB.
Sec. 305. Determinations and Findings. (a) Pursuant to budget authority provided by an appropriations act in advance for credit assistance under section 301 or 302 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2091, 2092, and consistent with the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as amended (FCRA), 2 U.S.C. 661 et seq., the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority to make the determinations set forth in sections 301(a)(2) and 302(b)(2) of the Act, in consultation with the Secretary making the required determination under section 202 of this order; provided, that such determinations shall be made after due consideration of the provisions of OMB Circular A 129 and the credit subsidy score for the relevant loan or loan guarantee as approved by OMB pursuant to FCRA.
(b) Other than any determination by the President under section 303(a)(7)(b) of the Act, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority to make the required determinations, judgments, certifications, findings, and notifications defined under section 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093, in consultation with the Secretary making the required determination under section 202 of this order.
Sec. 306. Strategic and Critical Materials. The Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of the Interior in consultation with the Secretary of Defense as the National Defense Stockpile Manager, are each delegated the authority of the President under section 303(a)(1)(B) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(a)(1)(B), to encourage the exploration, development, and mining of strategic and critical materials and other materials.
Sec. 307. Substitutes. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303(g) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(g), to make provision for the development of substitutes for strategic and critical materials, critical components, critical technology items, and other resources to aid the national defense.
Sec. 308. Government-Owned Equipment. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(e), to:
(a) procure and install additional equipment, facilities, processes, or improvements to plants, factories, and other industrial facilities owned by the Federal Government and to procure and install Government owned equipment in plants, factories, or other industrial facilities owned by private persons;
(b) provide for the modification or expansion of privately owned facilities, including the modification or improvement of production processes, when taking actions under sections 301, 302, or 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2091, 2092, 2093; and
(c) sell or otherwise transfer equipment owned by the Federal Government and installed under section 303(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(e), to the owners of such plants, factories, or other industrial facilities.
Sec. 309. Defense Production Act Fund. The Secretary of Defense is designated the Defense Production Act Fund Manager, in accordance with section 304(f) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2094(f), and shall carry out the duties specified in section 304 of the Act, in consultation with the agency heads having approved, and appropriated funds for, projects under title III of the Act.
Sec. 310. Critical Items. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 107(b)(1) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2077(b)(1), to take appropriate action to ensure that critical components, critical technology items, essential materials, and industrial resources are available from reliable sources when needed to meet defense requirements during peacetime, graduated mobilization, and national emergency. Appropriate action may include restricting contract solicitations to reliable sources, restricting contract solicitations to domestic sources (pursuant to statutory authority), stockpiling critical components, and developing substitutes for critical components or critical technology items.
Sec. 311. Strengthening Domestic Capability. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 107(a) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2077(a), to utilize the authority of title III of the Act or any other provision of law to provide appropriate incentives to develop, maintain, modernize, restore, and expand the productive capacities of domestic sources for critical components, critical technology items, materials, and industrial resources essential for the execution of the national security strategy of the United States.
Sec. 312. Modernization of Equipment. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense, in accordance with section 108(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2078(b), may utilize the authority of title III of the Act to guarantee the purchase or lease of advance manufacturing equipment, and any related services with respect to any such equipment for purposes of the Act. In considering title III projects, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense shall provide a strong preference for proposals submitted by a small business supplier or subcontractor in accordance with section 108(b)(2) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2078(b)(2).
PART IV - VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS AND ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Sec. 401. Delegations. The authority of the President under sections 708(c) and (d) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(c), (d), is delegated to the heads of agencies otherwise delegated authority under this order. The status of the use of such delegations shall be furnished to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Sec. 402. Advisory Committees. The authority of the President under section 708(d) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(d), and delegated in section 401 of this order (relating to establishment of advisory committees) shall be exercised only after consultation with, and in accordance with, guidelines and procedures established by the Administrator of General Services.
Sec. 403. Regulations. The Secretary of Homeland Security, after approval of the Attorney General, and after consultation by the Attorney General with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, shall promulgate rules pursuant to section 708(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(e), incorporating standards and procedures by which voluntary agreements and plans of action may be developed and carried out. Such rules may be adopted by other agencies to fulfill the rulemaking requirement of section 708(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(e).
PART V - EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONNEL
Sec. 501. National Defense Executive Reserve. (a) In accordance with section 710(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(e), there is established in the executive branch a National Defense Executive Reserve (NDER) composed of persons of recognized expertise from various segments of the private sector and from Government (except full time Federal employees) for training for employment in executive positions in the Federal Government in the event of a national defense emergency.
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall issue necessary guidance for the NDER program, including appropriate guidance for establishment, recruitment, training, monitoring, and activation of NDER units and shall be responsible for the overall coordination of the NDER program. The authority of the President under section 710(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(e), to determine periods of national defense emergency is delegated to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
(c) The head of any agency may implement section 501(a) of this order with respect to NDER operations in such agency.
(d) The head of each agency with an NDER unit may exercise the authority under section 703 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2153, to employ civilian personnel when activating all or a part of its NDER unit. The exercise of this authority shall be subject to the provisions of sections 501(e) and (f) of this order and shall not be redelegated.
(e) The head of an agency may activate an NDER unit, in whole or in part, upon the written determination of the Secretary of Homeland Security that an emergency affecting the national defense exists and that the activation of the unit is necessary to carry out the emergency program functions of the agency.
(f) Prior to activating the NDER unit, the head of the agency shall notify, in writing, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism of the impending activation.
Sec. 502. Consultants. The head of each agency otherwise delegated functions under this order is delegated the authority of the President under sections 710(b) and (c) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(b), (c), to employ persons of outstanding experience and ability without compensation and to employ experts, consultants, or organizations. The authority delegated by this section may not be redelegated.
PART VI - LABOR REQUIREMENTS
Sec. 601. Secretary of Labor. (a) The Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other agencies, as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, shall:
(1) collect and maintain data necessary to make a continuing appraisal of the Nation's workforce needs for purposes of national defense;
(2) upon request by the Director of Selective Service, and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, assist the Director of Selective Service in development of policies regulating the induction and deferment of persons for duty in the armed services;
(3) upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order, consult with that agency with respect to: (i) the effect of contemplated actions on labor demand and utilization; (ii) the relation of labor demand to materials and facilities requirements; and (iii) such other matters as will assist in making the exercise of priority and allocations functions consistent with effective utilization and distribution of labor;
(4) upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order: (i) formulate plans, programs, and policies for meeting the labor requirements of actions to be taken for national defense purposes; and (ii) estimate training needs to help address national defense requirements and promote necessary and appropriate training programs; and
(5) develop and implement an effective labor management relations policy to support the activities and programs under this order, with the cooperation of other agencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the National Mediation Board, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
(b) All agencies shall cooperate with the Secretary of Labor, upon request, for the purposes of this section, to the extent permitted by law.
PART VII - DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT COMMITTEE
Sec. 701. The Defense Production Act Committee. (a) The Defense Production Act Committee (Committee) shall be composed of the following members, in accordance with section 722(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2171(b):
(1) The Secretary of State;
(2) The Secretary of the Treasury;
(3) The Secretary of Defense;
(4) The Attorney General;
(5) The Secretary of the Interior;
(6) The Secretary of Agriculture;
(7) The Secretary of Commerce;
(8) The Secretary of Labor;
(9) The Secretary of Health and Human Services;
(10) The Secretary of Transportation;
(11) The Secretary of Energy;
(12) The Secretary of Homeland Security;
(13) The Director of National Intelligence;
(14) The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency;
(15) The Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers;
(16) The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and
(17) The Administrator of General Services.
(b) The Director of OMB and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall be invited to participate in all Committee meetings and activities in an advisory role. The Chairperson, as designated by the President pursuant to section 722 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2171, may invite the heads of other agencies or offices to participate in Committee meetings and activities in an advisory role, as appropriate.
Sec. 702. Offsets. The Secretary of Commerce shall prepare and submit to the Congress the annual report required by section 723 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2172, in consultation with the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, Defense, and Labor, the United States Trade Representative, the Director of National Intelligence, and the heads of other agencies as appropriate. The heads of agencies shall provide the Secretary of Commerce with such information as may be necessary for the effective performance of this function.
PART VIII - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 801. Definitions. In addition to the definitions in section 702 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2152, the following definitions apply throughout this order:
(a) "Civil transportation" includes movement of persons and property by all modes of transportation in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce within the United States, its territories and possessions, and the District of Columbia, and related public storage and warehousing, ports, services, equipment and facilities, such as transportation carrier shop and repair facilities. "Civil transportation" also shall include direction, control, and coordination of civil transportation capacity regardless of ownership. "Civil transportation" shall not include transportation owned or controlled by the Department of Defense, use of petroleum and gas pipelines, and coal slurry pipelines used only to supply energy production facilities directly.
(b) "Energy" means all forms of energy including petroleum, gas (both natural and manufactured), electricity, solid fuels (including all forms of coal, coke, coal chemicals, coal liquification, and coal gasification), solar, wind, other types of renewable energy, atomic energy, and the production, conservation, use, control, and distribution (including pipelines) of all of these forms of energy.
(c) "Farm equipment" means equipment, machinery, and repair parts manufactured for use on farms in connection with the production or preparation for market use of food resources.
(d) "Fertilizer" means any product or combination of products that contain one or more of the elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for use as a plant nutrient.
(e) "Food resources" means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. "Food resources" also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.
(f) "Food resource facilities" means plants, machinery, vehicles (including on farm), and other facilities required for the production, processing, distribution, and storage (including cold storage) of food resources, and for the domestic distribution of farm equipment and fertilizer (excluding transportation thereof).
(g) "Functions" include powers, duties, authority, responsibilities, and discretion.
(h) "Head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense" means the heads of the Departments of State, Justice, the Interior, and Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the General Services Administration, and all other agencies with authority delegated under section 201 of this order.
(i) "Health resources" means drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment required to diagnose, mitigate or prevent the impairment of, improve, treat, cure, or restore the physical or mental health conditions of the population.
(j) "National defense" means programs for military and energy production or construction, military or critical infrastructure assistance to any foreign nation, homeland security, stockpiling, space, and any directly related activity. Such term includes emergency preparedness activities conducted pursuant to title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5195 et seq., and critical infrastructure protection and restoration.
(k) "Offsets" means compensation practices required as a condition of purchase in either government to government or commercial sales of defense articles and/or defense services as defined by the Arms Export Control Act, 22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq., and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 C.F.R. 120.1 130.17.
(l) "Special priorities assistance" means action by resource departments to assist with expediting deliveries, placing rated orders, locating suppliers, resolving production or delivery conflicts between various rated orders, addressing problems that arise in the fulfillment of a rated order or other action authorized by a delegated agency, and determining the validity of rated orders.
(m) "Strategic and critical materials" means materials (including energy) that (1) would be needed to supply the military, industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States during a national emergency, and (2) are not found or produced in the United States in sufficient quantities to meet such need and are vulnerable to the termination or reduction of the availability of the material.
(n) "Water resources" means all usable water, from all sources, within the jurisdiction of the United States, that can be managed, controlled, and allocated to meet emergency requirements, except "water resources" does not include usable water that qualifies as "food resources."
Sec. 802. General. (a) Except as otherwise provided in section 802(c) of this order, the authorities vested in the President by title VII of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2151 et seq., are delegated to the head of each agency in carrying out the delegated authorities under the Act and this order, by the Secretary of Labor in carrying out part VI of this order, and by the Secretary of the Treasury in exercising the functions assigned in Executive Order 11858, as amended.
(b) The authorities that may be exercised and performed pursuant to section 802(a) of this order shall include:
(1) the power to redelegate authorities, and to authorize the successive redelegation of authorities to agencies, officers, and employees of the Government; and
(2) the power of subpoena under section 705 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2155, with respect to (i) authorities delegated in parts II, III, and section 702 of this order, and (ii) the functions assigned to the Secretary of the Treasury in Executive Order 11858, as amended, provided that the subpoena power referenced in subsections (i) and (ii) shall be utilized only after the scope and purpose of the investigation, inspection, or inquiry to which the subpoena relates have been defined either by the appropriate officer identified in section 802(a) of this order or by such other person or persons as the officer shall designate.
(c) Excluded from the authorities delegated by section 802(a) of this order are authorities delegated by parts IV and V of this order, authorities in section 721 and 722 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2170 2171, and the authority with respect to fixing compensation under section 703 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2153.
Sec. 803. Authority. (a) Executive Order 12919 of June 3, 1994, and sections 401(3) (4) of Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988, are revoked. All other previously issued orders, regulations, rulings, certificates, directives, and other actions relating to any function affected by this order shall remain in effect except as they are inconsistent with this order or are subsequently amended or revoked under proper authority. Nothing in this order shall affect the validity or force of anything done under previous delegations or other assignment of authority under the Act.
(b) Nothing in this order shall affect the authorities assigned under Executive Order 11858 of May 7, 1975, as amended, except as provided in section 802 of this order.
(c) Nothing in this order shall affect the authorities assigned under Executive Order 12472 of April 3, 1984, as amended.
Sec. 804. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect functions of the Director of OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 16, 2012.
March 16, 2012
Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness
EXECUTIVE ORDER
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
PART I - PURPOSE, POLICY, AND IMPLEMENTATION
Section 101. Purpose. This order delegates authorities and addresses national defense resource policies and programs under the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (the "Act").
Sec. 102. Policy. The United States must have an industrial and technological base capable of meeting national defense requirements and capable of contributing to the technological superiority of its national defense equipment in peacetime and in times of national emergency. The domestic industrial and technological base is the foundation for national defense preparedness. The authorities provided in the Act shall be used to strengthen this base and to ensure it is capable of responding to the national defense needs of the United States.
Sec. 103. General Functions. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) responsible for plans and programs relating to national defense (as defined in section 801(j) of this order), or for resources and services needed to support such plans and programs, shall:
(a) identify requirements for the full spectrum of emergencies, including essential military and civilian demand;
(b) assess on an ongoing basis the capability of the domestic industrial and technological base to satisfy requirements in peacetime and times of national emergency, specifically evaluating the availability of the most critical resource and production sources, including subcontractors and suppliers, materials, skilled labor, and professional and technical personnel;
(c) be prepared, in the event of a potential threat to the security of the United States, to take actions necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability, including services and critical technology, for national defense requirements;
(d) improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the domestic industrial base to support national defense requirements; and
(e) foster cooperation between the defense and commercial sectors for research and development and for acquisition of materials, services, components, and equipment to enhance industrial base efficiency and responsiveness.
Sec. 104. Implementation. (a) The National Security Council and Homeland Security Council, in conjunction with the National Economic Council, shall serve as the integrated policymaking forum for consideration and formulation of national defense resource preparedness policy and shall make recommendations to the President on the use of authorities under the Act.
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall:
(1) advise the President on issues of national defense resource preparedness and on the use of the authorities and functions delegated by this order;
(2) provide for the central coordination of the plans and programs incident to authorities and functions delegated under this order, and provide guidance to agencies assigned functions under this order, developed in consultation with such agencies; and
(3) report to the President periodically concerning all program activities conducted pursuant to this order.
(c) The Defense Production Act Committee, described in section 701 of this order, shall:
(1) in a manner consistent with section 2(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2062(b), advise the President through the Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy on the effective use of the authorities under the Act; and
(2) prepare and coordinate an annual report to the Congress pursuant to section 722(d) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2171(d).
(d) The Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and other agencies, shall:
(1) analyze potential effects of national emergencies on actual production capability, taking into account the entire production system, including shortages of resources, and develop recommended preparedness measures to strengthen capabilities for production increases in national emergencies; and
(2) perform industry analyses to assess capabilities of the industrial base to support the national defense, and develop policy recommendations to improve the international competitiveness of specific domestic industries and their abilities to meet national defense program needs.
PART II - PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS
Sec. 201. Priorities and Allocations Authorities. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071, to require acceptance and priority performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, is delegated to the following agency heads:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including
construction materials.
(b) The Secretary of each agency delegated authority under subsection (a) of this section (resource departments) shall plan for and issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources and establish standards and procedures by which the authority shall be used to promote the national defense, under both emergency and non-emergency conditions. Each Secretary shall authorize the heads of other agencies, as appropriate, to place priority ratings on contracts and orders for materials, services, and facilities needed in support of programs approved under section 202 of this order.
(c) Each resource department shall act, as necessary and appropriate, upon requests for special priorities assistance, as defined by section 801(l) of this order, in a time frame consistent with the urgency of the need at hand. In situations where there are competing program requirements for limited resources, the resource department shall consult with the Secretary who made the required determination under section 202 of this order. Such Secretary shall coordinate with and identify for the resource department which program requirements to prioritize on the basis of operational urgency. In situations involving more than one Secretary making such a required determination under section 202 of this order, the Secretaries shall coordinate with and identify for the resource department which program requirements should receive priority on the basis of operational urgency.
(d) If agreement cannot be reached between two such Secretaries, then the issue shall be referred to the President through the Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.
(e) The Secretary of each resource department, when necessary, shall make the finding required under section 101(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(b). This finding shall be submitted for the President's approval through the Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. Upon such approval, the Secretary of the resource department that made the finding may use the authority of section 101(a) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(a), to control the general distribution of any material (including applicable services) in the civilian market.
Sec. 202. Determinations. Except as provided in section 201(e) of this order, the authority delegated by section 201 of this order may be used only to support programs that have been determined in writing as necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense:
(a) by the Secretary of Defense with respect to military production and construction, military assistance to foreign nations, military use of civil transportation, stockpiles managed by the Department of Defense, space, and directly related activities;
(b) by the Secretary of Energy with respect to energy production and construction, distribution and use, and directly related activities; and
(c) by the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to all other national defense programs, including civil defense and continuity of Government.
Sec. 203. Maximizing Domestic Energy Supplies. The authorities of the President under section 101(c)(1) (2) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(c)(1) (2), are delegated to the Secretary of Commerce, with the exception that the authority to make findings that materials (including equipment), services, and facilities are critical and essential, as described in section 101(c)(2)(A) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071(c)(2)(A), is delegated to the Secretary of Energy.
Sec. 204. Chemical and Biological Warfare. The authority of the President conferred by section 104(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2074(b), is delegated to the Secretary of Defense. This authority may not be further delegated by the Secretary.
PART III - EXPANSION OF PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY AND SUPPLY
Sec. 301. Loan Guarantees. (a) To reduce current or projected shortfalls of resources, critical technology items, or materials essential for the national defense, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense, as defined in section 801(h) of this order, is authorized pursuant to section 301 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2091, to guarantee loans by private institutions.
(b) Each guaranteeing agency is designated and authorized to: (1) act as fiscal agent in the making of its own guarantee contracts and in otherwise carrying out the purposes of section 301 of the Act; and (2) contract with any Federal Reserve Bank to assist the agency in serving as fiscal agent.
(c) Terms and conditions of guarantees under this authority shall be determined in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The guaranteeing agency is authorized, following such consultation, to prescribe: (1) either specifically or by maximum limits or otherwise, rates of interest, guarantee and commitment fees, and other charges which may be made in connection with such guarantee contracts; and (2) regulations governing the forms and procedures (which shall be uniform to the extent practicable) to be utilized in connection therewith.
Sec. 302. Loans. To reduce current or projected shortfalls of resources, critical technology items, or materials essential for the national defense, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 302 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2092, to make loans thereunder. Terms and conditions of loans under this authority shall be determined in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of OMB.
Sec. 303. Additional Authorities. (a) To create, maintain, protect, expand, or restore domestic industrial base capabilities essential for the national defense, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093, to make provision for purchases of, or commitments to purchase, an industrial resource or a critical technology item for Government use or resale, and to make provision for the development of production capabilities, and for the increased use of emerging technologies in security program applications, and to enable rapid transition of emerging technologies.
(b) Materials acquired under section 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093, that exceed the needs of the programs under the Act may be transferred to the National Defense Stockpile, if, in the judgment of the Secretary of Defense as the National Defense Stockpile Manager, such transfers are in the public interest.
Sec. 304. Subsidy Payments. To ensure the supply of raw or nonprocessed materials from high cost sources, or to ensure maximum production or supply in any area at stable prices of any materials in light of a temporary increase in transportation cost, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303(c) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(c), to make subsidy payments, after consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of OMB.
Sec. 305. Determinations and Findings. (a) Pursuant to budget authority provided by an appropriations act in advance for credit assistance under section 301 or 302 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2091, 2092, and consistent with the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as amended (FCRA), 2 U.S.C. 661 et seq., the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority to make the determinations set forth in sections 301(a)(2) and 302(b)(2) of the Act, in consultation with the Secretary making the required determination under section 202 of this order; provided, that such determinations shall be made after due consideration of the provisions of OMB Circular A 129 and the credit subsidy score for the relevant loan or loan guarantee as approved by OMB pursuant to FCRA.
(b) Other than any determination by the President under section 303(a)(7)(b) of the Act, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority to make the required determinations, judgments, certifications, findings, and notifications defined under section 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093, in consultation with the Secretary making the required determination under section 202 of this order.
Sec. 306. Strategic and Critical Materials. The Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of the Interior in consultation with the Secretary of Defense as the National Defense Stockpile Manager, are each delegated the authority of the President under section 303(a)(1)(B) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(a)(1)(B), to encourage the exploration, development, and mining of strategic and critical materials and other materials.
Sec. 307. Substitutes. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303(g) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(g), to make provision for the development of substitutes for strategic and critical materials, critical components, critical technology items, and other resources to aid the national defense.
Sec. 308. Government-Owned Equipment. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(e), to:
(a) procure and install additional equipment, facilities, processes, or improvements to plants, factories, and other industrial facilities owned by the Federal Government and to procure and install Government owned equipment in plants, factories, or other industrial facilities owned by private persons;
(b) provide for the modification or expansion of privately owned facilities, including the modification or improvement of production processes, when taking actions under sections 301, 302, or 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2091, 2092, 2093; and
(c) sell or otherwise transfer equipment owned by the Federal Government and installed under section 303(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(e), to the owners of such plants, factories, or other industrial facilities.
Sec. 309. Defense Production Act Fund. The Secretary of Defense is designated the Defense Production Act Fund Manager, in accordance with section 304(f) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2094(f), and shall carry out the duties specified in section 304 of the Act, in consultation with the agency heads having approved, and appropriated funds for, projects under title III of the Act.
Sec. 310. Critical Items. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 107(b)(1) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2077(b)(1), to take appropriate action to ensure that critical components, critical technology items, essential materials, and industrial resources are available from reliable sources when needed to meet defense requirements during peacetime, graduated mobilization, and national emergency. Appropriate action may include restricting contract solicitations to reliable sources, restricting contract solicitations to domestic sources (pursuant to statutory authority), stockpiling critical components, and developing substitutes for critical components or critical technology items.
Sec. 311. Strengthening Domestic Capability. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 107(a) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2077(a), to utilize the authority of title III of the Act or any other provision of law to provide appropriate incentives to develop, maintain, modernize, restore, and expand the productive capacities of domestic sources for critical components, critical technology items, materials, and industrial resources essential for the execution of the national security strategy of the United States.
Sec. 312. Modernization of Equipment. The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense, in accordance with section 108(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2078(b), may utilize the authority of title III of the Act to guarantee the purchase or lease of advance manufacturing equipment, and any related services with respect to any such equipment for purposes of the Act. In considering title III projects, the head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense shall provide a strong preference for proposals submitted by a small business supplier or subcontractor in accordance with section 108(b)(2) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2078(b)(2).
PART IV - VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS AND ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Sec. 401. Delegations. The authority of the President under sections 708(c) and (d) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(c), (d), is delegated to the heads of agencies otherwise delegated authority under this order. The status of the use of such delegations shall be furnished to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Sec. 402. Advisory Committees. The authority of the President under section 708(d) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(d), and delegated in section 401 of this order (relating to establishment of advisory committees) shall be exercised only after consultation with, and in accordance with, guidelines and procedures established by the Administrator of General Services.
Sec. 403. Regulations. The Secretary of Homeland Security, after approval of the Attorney General, and after consultation by the Attorney General with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, shall promulgate rules pursuant to section 708(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(e), incorporating standards and procedures by which voluntary agreements and plans of action may be developed and carried out. Such rules may be adopted by other agencies to fulfill the rulemaking requirement of section 708(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2158(e).
PART V - EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONNEL
Sec. 501. National Defense Executive Reserve. (a) In accordance with section 710(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(e), there is established in the executive branch a National Defense Executive Reserve (NDER) composed of persons of recognized expertise from various segments of the private sector and from Government (except full time Federal employees) for training for employment in executive positions in the Federal Government in the event of a national defense emergency.
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall issue necessary guidance for the NDER program, including appropriate guidance for establishment, recruitment, training, monitoring, and activation of NDER units and shall be responsible for the overall coordination of the NDER program. The authority of the President under section 710(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(e), to determine periods of national defense emergency is delegated to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
(c) The head of any agency may implement section 501(a) of this order with respect to NDER operations in such agency.
(d) The head of each agency with an NDER unit may exercise the authority under section 703 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2153, to employ civilian personnel when activating all or a part of its NDER unit. The exercise of this authority shall be subject to the provisions of sections 501(e) and (f) of this order and shall not be redelegated.
(e) The head of an agency may activate an NDER unit, in whole or in part, upon the written determination of the Secretary of Homeland Security that an emergency affecting the national defense exists and that the activation of the unit is necessary to carry out the emergency program functions of the agency.
(f) Prior to activating the NDER unit, the head of the agency shall notify, in writing, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism of the impending activation.
Sec. 502. Consultants. The head of each agency otherwise delegated functions under this order is delegated the authority of the President under sections 710(b) and (c) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(b), (c), to employ persons of outstanding experience and ability without compensation and to employ experts, consultants, or organizations. The authority delegated by this section may not be redelegated.
PART VI - LABOR REQUIREMENTS
Sec. 601. Secretary of Labor. (a) The Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other agencies, as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, shall:
(1) collect and maintain data necessary to make a continuing appraisal of the Nation's workforce needs for purposes of national defense;
(2) upon request by the Director of Selective Service, and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, assist the Director of Selective Service in development of policies regulating the induction and deferment of persons for duty in the armed services;
(3) upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order, consult with that agency with respect to: (i) the effect of contemplated actions on labor demand and utilization; (ii) the relation of labor demand to materials and facilities requirements; and (iii) such other matters as will assist in making the exercise of priority and allocations functions consistent with effective utilization and distribution of labor;
(4) upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order: (i) formulate plans, programs, and policies for meeting the labor requirements of actions to be taken for national defense purposes; and (ii) estimate training needs to help address national defense requirements and promote necessary and appropriate training programs; and
(5) develop and implement an effective labor management relations policy to support the activities and programs under this order, with the cooperation of other agencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the National Mediation Board, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
(b) All agencies shall cooperate with the Secretary of Labor, upon request, for the purposes of this section, to the extent permitted by law.
PART VII - DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT COMMITTEE
Sec. 701. The Defense Production Act Committee. (a) The Defense Production Act Committee (Committee) shall be composed of the following members, in accordance with section 722(b) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2171(b):
(1) The Secretary of State;
(2) The Secretary of the Treasury;
(3) The Secretary of Defense;
(4) The Attorney General;
(5) The Secretary of the Interior;
(6) The Secretary of Agriculture;
(7) The Secretary of Commerce;
(8) The Secretary of Labor;
(9) The Secretary of Health and Human Services;
(10) The Secretary of Transportation;
(11) The Secretary of Energy;
(12) The Secretary of Homeland Security;
(13) The Director of National Intelligence;
(14) The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency;
(15) The Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers;
(16) The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and
(17) The Administrator of General Services.
(b) The Director of OMB and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall be invited to participate in all Committee meetings and activities in an advisory role. The Chairperson, as designated by the President pursuant to section 722 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2171, may invite the heads of other agencies or offices to participate in Committee meetings and activities in an advisory role, as appropriate.
Sec. 702. Offsets. The Secretary of Commerce shall prepare and submit to the Congress the annual report required by section 723 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2172, in consultation with the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, Defense, and Labor, the United States Trade Representative, the Director of National Intelligence, and the heads of other agencies as appropriate. The heads of agencies shall provide the Secretary of Commerce with such information as may be necessary for the effective performance of this function.
PART VIII - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 801. Definitions. In addition to the definitions in section 702 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2152, the following definitions apply throughout this order:
(a) "Civil transportation" includes movement of persons and property by all modes of transportation in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce within the United States, its territories and possessions, and the District of Columbia, and related public storage and warehousing, ports, services, equipment and facilities, such as transportation carrier shop and repair facilities. "Civil transportation" also shall include direction, control, and coordination of civil transportation capacity regardless of ownership. "Civil transportation" shall not include transportation owned or controlled by the Department of Defense, use of petroleum and gas pipelines, and coal slurry pipelines used only to supply energy production facilities directly.
(b) "Energy" means all forms of energy including petroleum, gas (both natural and manufactured), electricity, solid fuels (including all forms of coal, coke, coal chemicals, coal liquification, and coal gasification), solar, wind, other types of renewable energy, atomic energy, and the production, conservation, use, control, and distribution (including pipelines) of all of these forms of energy.
(c) "Farm equipment" means equipment, machinery, and repair parts manufactured for use on farms in connection with the production or preparation for market use of food resources.
(d) "Fertilizer" means any product or combination of products that contain one or more of the elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for use as a plant nutrient.
(e) "Food resources" means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. "Food resources" also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.
(f) "Food resource facilities" means plants, machinery, vehicles (including on farm), and other facilities required for the production, processing, distribution, and storage (including cold storage) of food resources, and for the domestic distribution of farm equipment and fertilizer (excluding transportation thereof).
(g) "Functions" include powers, duties, authority, responsibilities, and discretion.
(h) "Head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense" means the heads of the Departments of State, Justice, the Interior, and Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the General Services Administration, and all other agencies with authority delegated under section 201 of this order.
(i) "Health resources" means drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment required to diagnose, mitigate or prevent the impairment of, improve, treat, cure, or restore the physical or mental health conditions of the population.
(j) "National defense" means programs for military and energy production or construction, military or critical infrastructure assistance to any foreign nation, homeland security, stockpiling, space, and any directly related activity. Such term includes emergency preparedness activities conducted pursuant to title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5195 et seq., and critical infrastructure protection and restoration.
(k) "Offsets" means compensation practices required as a condition of purchase in either government to government or commercial sales of defense articles and/or defense services as defined by the Arms Export Control Act, 22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq., and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 C.F.R. 120.1 130.17.
(l) "Special priorities assistance" means action by resource departments to assist with expediting deliveries, placing rated orders, locating suppliers, resolving production or delivery conflicts between various rated orders, addressing problems that arise in the fulfillment of a rated order or other action authorized by a delegated agency, and determining the validity of rated orders.
(m) "Strategic and critical materials" means materials (including energy) that (1) would be needed to supply the military, industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States during a national emergency, and (2) are not found or produced in the United States in sufficient quantities to meet such need and are vulnerable to the termination or reduction of the availability of the material.
(n) "Water resources" means all usable water, from all sources, within the jurisdiction of the United States, that can be managed, controlled, and allocated to meet emergency requirements, except "water resources" does not include usable water that qualifies as "food resources."
Sec. 802. General. (a) Except as otherwise provided in section 802(c) of this order, the authorities vested in the President by title VII of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2151 et seq., are delegated to the head of each agency in carrying out the delegated authorities under the Act and this order, by the Secretary of Labor in carrying out part VI of this order, and by the Secretary of the Treasury in exercising the functions assigned in Executive Order 11858, as amended.
(b) The authorities that may be exercised and performed pursuant to section 802(a) of this order shall include:
(1) the power to redelegate authorities, and to authorize the successive redelegation of authorities to agencies, officers, and employees of the Government; and
(2) the power of subpoena under section 705 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2155, with respect to (i) authorities delegated in parts II, III, and section 702 of this order, and (ii) the functions assigned to the Secretary of the Treasury in Executive Order 11858, as amended, provided that the subpoena power referenced in subsections (i) and (ii) shall be utilized only after the scope and purpose of the investigation, inspection, or inquiry to which the subpoena relates have been defined either by the appropriate officer identified in section 802(a) of this order or by such other person or persons as the officer shall designate.
(c) Excluded from the authorities delegated by section 802(a) of this order are authorities delegated by parts IV and V of this order, authorities in section 721 and 722 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2170 2171, and the authority with respect to fixing compensation under section 703 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2153.
Sec. 803. Authority. (a) Executive Order 12919 of June 3, 1994, and sections 401(3) (4) of Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988, are revoked. All other previously issued orders, regulations, rulings, certificates, directives, and other actions relating to any function affected by this order shall remain in effect except as they are inconsistent with this order or are subsequently amended or revoked under proper authority. Nothing in this order shall affect the validity or force of anything done under previous delegations or other assignment of authority under the Act.
(b) Nothing in this order shall affect the authorities assigned under Executive Order 11858 of May 7, 1975, as amended, except as provided in section 802 of this order.
(c) Nothing in this order shall affect the authorities assigned under Executive Order 12472 of April 3, 1984, as amended.
Sec. 804. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect functions of the Director of OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 16, 2012.
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