The Firste Moevere of the cause above,
Whan he first made the fair cheyne of love,
Greet was th’effect, and heigh was his entente.
Wel wiste he why, and what thereof he mente,
For with that faire cheyne of love he bond
The fyr, the eyr, the water, and the lond
In certeyn boundes, that they may nat flee.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale. Theseus explains why Emily must marry Palamon. "The First Moevere" is God, who has a plan and controls what may appear to be chance happenings in the world, says Theseus. The "fair cheyne of love" is what binds everything that exists – air, fire, water, earth – held together by divine power in an ordered and organized universe. Everything in its place in the world. Theseus says that Emily and Palamon have been mourning for too long, threatening to disrupt the fair chain of love, and they must marry and be happy to preserve the chain’s balance.