"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,
That nevere, for to dyen in the peyne,
Til that the deeth departe shal us tweyne,
Neither of us in love to hyndre oother,
Ne in noon oother cas, my leeve brother,
But that thou sholdest trewely forthren me
In every cas, as I shal forthren thee –
This was thyn ooth, and myn also, certeyn.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Palamon is not happy that Arcite has declared his love for the same woman, Emily. He claims that he and Arcite are sworn brothers, who took an oath to never hinder one other in love or in any other case. It would be no great honor for his cousin and brother to be false and a traitor, Palamon warns his friend and love rival.