e repaired to her temple "in hire
hour."

In the third hour afterwards,

"Up rose the sonne, and up rose Emelie
And to the temple of Diane gan hie."

Her prayer also was favourably heard by the deity to whom it was addressed;
the first hour of Monday (the natural day beginning at sunrise) being
subject to Luna or Diana. The orisons of Palamon were offered two hours
earlier, namely, in the twenty-third hour of Sunday, which is similarly
subject to Venus, the twenty-fourth or last hour belonging to Mercury, the
planet intermediate between Venus and the Moon. It is on this account that
Palamon is said to have prayed to Venus in her hour.

Arcite's vows were made later in the day than those of Palamon and Emelie.
We are told that

"The nexte hour of Mars following this,"

(namely after Emelie's return from the temple of Diana)

"Arcite unto the temple walked is
Of fierce Mars."

The first hour of Mars is on Monday, the fourth hour of the day; so that as
the tournament took place in April or May, Arcite went to the temple of
Mars about eight or nine o'clock.

It may be well to explain the word "inequal" in the lines--

"The thridde hour inequal that Palamon
Began to Venus temple for to gon,
Up rose the sonne, and up rose Emelie."

In astrology, the heavens are divided into twelve houses, corresponding to
a division of the ecliptic into twelve equal parts, the first of which is
measured from the point of the ecliptic which is on the horizon and about
to rise above it, at the instant which the astrologer has to consider,
namely, the instant of birth in the case of a nativity, or that in which a
journey or any other enterprise is undertaken.

The hours inequal here spoken of similarly correspond to a division of the
ecliptic into twenty-four parts, so that each house comprehends the
portions of the ecliptic belonging to two of these hours, provided the
division into houses is made at sunrise, when the first hour commences. It
is obvious that these astrological hours will be of unequal length, as
equal portions of the ecliptic subtend unequal angles at the pole of the
equator.

With regard to the time of year at which the tournament takes place, there
seems to be an inconsistency. Palamon escapes from prison on the 3rd of
May, and is discovered by Theseus on the 5th. Theseus fixes "this day fifty
wekes" for the rendezvous at Athens, so that the tournament seems to fall
in April. Chaucer, however, sa