No conqueror ever lived that could resemble
Or be compared with him in fame and power;
For all this world with fear of him did tremble;
Of knighthood and of freedom was he flower,
And Fortune gave her honor as his dower.
Save wine and women, nothing could assuage
His lust for arms and toil of battle-hour,
So like a lion did his spirit rage.
How could I praise him then, although I told
Of Darius and a hundred thousand more,
Of kings and dukes, of earls and princes bold
He conquered, and what woe through him they bore?
The world was his, as I have said before,
As far as any man could walk or ride;
To tell or write his knightly strength in war
I could not, though forever more I tried.
~ from the Monk's Tale,
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
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