From Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", The Man of Law's Tale, lines 204-217

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From The Man of Law's Tale, lines 190-203:
The predictive power of the stars

From The Canterbury Tales:
The Man of Law's Tale
lines 204-217: The sultan wants Constance

	This Sowdan for his privee conseil sente,
205	And, shortly of this matiere for to pace,
	He hath to hem declared his entente
	And seyde hem, certein, but he myghte have grace
	To han Custance withinne a litel space,
	He nas but deed; and charged hem in hye
210	To shapen for his lyf som remedye.

	This sultan for his privy-council sent,
205	And, but to tell it briefly in this place,
	He did to them declare his whole intent,
	And said that, surely, save he might have grace
	To gain Constance within a little space,
	He was but dead; and charged them, speedily
210	To find out, for his life, some remedy.

Diverse men diverse thynges seyden;

They argumenten, casten up and doun,

Many a subtil resoun forth they leyden,

They speken of magyk and abusioun;

215 But finally, as in conclusioun,

They kan nat seen in that noon avantage,

Ne in noon oother wey, save mariage.

By divers men, then, divers things were said;

They reasoned, and they argued up and down;

Full much with subtle logic there they sped;

They spoke of spells, of treachery in Rome town;

215 But finally, as to an end foreknown,

They were agreed that nothing should gainsay

A marriage, for there was no other way.

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From The Man of Law's Tale, lines 218-245:
The legal difficulties of marriage