Boethius and Troilus

1591, 2. Lucina, i. e. Diana, or the moon; cf. Kn. Ta. A 2085. 'Before the moon pass out of the sign of Aries beyond that of Leo.' In order to this, the moon would have to pass wholly through Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and Leo, thus traversing a distance represented by about 4 signs, or a third part of the whole zodiac: this would take up about the third part of 28 days, or more than 9 days. This brings us, as Criseyde says, to the 10th day (l. 1595). Such a method of counting is natural enough to those that watch the moon's course; and lovers are generally credited with taking a special interest in that luminary; cf. l. 1608. In the sequel, a good deal turns upon this 'tenth day.' Cf. ll. 1320, 1328, 1685; V. 239, 642, 681, 1103, 1206.

'An eel and woman,

A learned poet says, unless by th' tail

And with thy teeth thou hold, will either fail.'

The Two Noble Kinsmen, A. iii. sc. 5. l. 49.

1667-73. In Boccaccio, a stanza of a similar character is assigned to Troilus, not to Criseyde.

1677. poeplish; Boccaccio (Fil. iv. st. 165) has popolesco, which Rossetti translates by 'low-bred.' Florio's Ital. Dict. has: 'popolesco, popular, of the common people.'

BOOK V.

The following sketch gives a general notion of the relation of this Book to the Filostrato, though Chaucer often amplifies and transposes the material in a way that it would be tedious to particularise more minutely.

7. Lachesis, the Fate that apportions the thread of life; often represented with the spindle, though this is properly the attribute of Clotho alone. Clotho spins, Lachesis apportions, and Atropos cuts, the thread of life. Atropos has been mentioned above; Bk. iv. 1208, 1546. Statius mentions all three in lib. iii. of his Thebaid; Clotho at l. 556, Lachesis (Lachesim putri uacuantem saecula penso) at l. 642, and Atropos at l. 68.

8. For golden tressed, MS. Harl. 3943 has Auricomus tressed (!). Cf. 'Sol auricomus, cingentibus Horis;' Valerius Flaccus, Argonaut. iv. 92.

15-9. Note that ll. 15, 17 rime on -éde, with close e, but ll. 16, 18, 19 rime on -ède, with open e. Cf. Anelida, 299-307.

22-6. Lines 22, 24 rime on -ōre, with long close o; ll. 23, 25, 26 on -ŏre, with (original) short open o.

25. crop, shoot, upper part of a tree. more, root, still in use in Hants; A. S. more, moru; see P. Plowman, B. xvi. 5, C. xviii. 21.

67. A mistranslation. Boccaccio's word is not valle, a valley, but vallo, a rampart. The first foot lacks a syllable.

71. Antenor was the Trojan, captured by the Greeks, who was restored to Troy in exchange for Thoas and Criseyde.

88. sone of Tydeus, i. e. Diomede, often called Tydides; as in Æneid. i. 97, 471, &c.

90. by the reyne hir hente; Rossetti thinks Chaucer misunderstood di colei si piglia (Fil. v. 13), which might mean 'takes hold of her,' but really means 'takes a fancy to her.'

106. coude his good, knew what was good for him, knew what he was about. Bell says—'understood good manners.'

128. helply; we now say 'helpful,' i.e. serviceable. to my might, to the best of my power.

180. See below (l. 530), and Man of Lawes Ta. B 697. We can read either brast (burst), or braste (would burst).

194. mewet, mute; as in the Court of Love, 148. Mewet, muwet, or muet is from the O. F. muët, orig. dissyllabic, and answering to a Low Lat. diminutive type *mutettum. The E. word is now obsolete, being displaced by the simple form mute, borrowed directly from Lat. mutus, which in O. F. became mu. Mute is common in Shakespeare. Lydgate has: 'And also clos and muët as a stone;' Siege of Thebes, pt. iii. § 8. In Merlin, ed. Wheatley, p. 172, we find 'stille and mewet as though thei hadde be dombe.'

212. The -ie in furie is rapidly slurred over. Ixion is accented on the first syllable. Ixion was bound, in hell, to an ever-revolving wheel; Georg. iii. 38; Æn. vi. 601.

304. pálestrál, i.e. games consisting of wrestling-matches and similar contests; from Lat. palaestra; see Verg. Æn. iii. 280, 281; and G. Douglas, ed. Small, vol. iii. p. 52, l. 24. There is a description of such games, held at a funeral, in Statius, Theb. vi., which is imitated by Chaucer in the Knightes Tale; see note to A 2863. Vigile (l. 305) is the same as Chaucer's liche-wake; see note to A 2958.

306. He means that his steed, sword, and helm are to be offered up to Mars, and his shield to Pallas, at his funeral; cf. Kn. Ta. A 2889-2894.

319. Ascaphilo, a transposed form of Ascalaphus, whom Proserpine changed into an owl; Ovid, Met. v. 539. So also Adriane for Ariadne. Bell's note, that the form of Ascaphilo is Italian, and helps to prove that Chaucer here follows Boccaccio is misleading; for Boccaccio does not mention Ascalaphus.

321. Mercury was supposed to convey men's souls to Hades. See l. 1827 below, and note.

379. Lit. 'Well is it, concerning dreams, to these old wives;' i.e. these old women set a value on dreams.

387. Boccaccio has: 'a te stesso perdona,' i.e. spare thyself; Chaucer takes it literally—'forgive thyself.'

403. Sarpedon had been taken prisoner by the Greeks (iv. 52). Neither Boccaccio nor Chaucer explains how he had got back to Troy. See l. 431.

409. iouken, slumber; cf. P. Plowman, C. xix. 126. It was chiefly used as a term in falconry, and applied to hawks. In the Boke of St. Albans, fol. a 6, we are told that it is proper to say that 'your hauke Ioukith, and not slepith.' From O. F. joquier, jouquier; see Godefroy.

451. I read 'piëtous,' as in MS. H., not 'pitous,' for the sake of the metre, as in Bk. iii. 1444; cf. pietee, id. 1033. Perhaps Chaucer was thinking of the Ital. pietoso. We also find the spelling pitevous, for which form there is sufficient authority; see Wyclif, 2 Tim. iii. 12, Titus ii. 12; Rob. of Glouc. ed. Wright, 5884 (footnote); cf. Mod. E. piteous. Chaucer's usual word is pitous, as in Cant. Ta. B 449, 1059, C 298, &c.

469. 'Fortune intended to glaze his hood still better.' To 'glaze one's hood' was to furnish a man with a glass hood, a jocular phrase for to mock or expose to attack; because a glass hood would be no defence at all. Chaucer himself admirably illustrates this saying in a passage which has already occurred above; see Bk. ii. 867.

484. 'Did we come here to fetch light for a fire, and run home again?' A man who borrows a light must hurry back before it goes out.

505. Hasel-wode, hazel-wood; an allusion to a popular saying, expressive of incredulity. See note to l. 1174 below. Not the same proverb as that in Bk. iii. 890.

541. 'O house, formerly called the best of houses.' Bell and Morris place the comma after houses.

601. Referring, probably, to Statius, Theb. i. 12—'Quod saeuae Iunonis opus.' But this refers to the wrath of Juno against Athamas rather than against Thebes.

642. 'Wherefore, if, on the tenth night, I fail (to have) the guiding of thy bright beams for a single hour,' &c.

655. Here Thynne's reading, Lucina, is obviously correct; see Bk. iv. 1591. By the common mistake of writing t for c, it became Lutina, and was then changed into Latona. But Latona was Lucina's mother.

744. Prudence is here represented with three eyes, to behold present, past, and future; but Creseyde had but two eyes, and failed to see what was to come. Cf. 'rerum fato Prudentia maior;' Georg. i. 416.

763. 'I call it felicity when I have what satisfies me;' cf. the parallel passage in Prol. A 338; and Boeth. Bk. iii. Pr. 2. 6-8.

805. In Lydgate's Siege of Troye, we are told that Diomede brought 80 ships with him 'fro Calidonye and Arge;' Bk. ii. ch. 16, in the catalogue of the ships. The English alliterative Romance omits this passage. Arge is the town of Argos, ruled over by Diomede; Homer, Il. ii. 559. Calidoine is Calydon, in Ætolia, of which city Tydeus, father of Diomede, was king; see l. 934, and ll. 1513-5 below.

806. This description seems to be mainly Chaucer's own. It occurs again, much amplified, in Lydgate's Siege of Troy, Bk. ii. ch. 15, where it precedes the description of Priam. Boccaccio says that she had 'lucent eyes and an angelic face' (Fil. i. st. 28), with which cf. l. 816. He also describes her as 'Accorta, savia, onesta, e costumata,' which Rossetti translates by 'Discerning, wise, honourable, and high-bred' (Fil. i. 11); cf. ll. 820, 821.

827. Troilus is described by Guido delle Colonne; see the translations, in the alliterative Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson, l. 3922, and in Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. ii. ch. 16.

836. Troilus was second to Hector in prowess (Bk. ii. 158, 644), but not in courage (Bk. i. 474).

837. durring don, daring to do, courage; where durring is a sb. formed from durren, to dare. So in l. 840, to durre don is 'to dare to do.' It is quite a mistake to regard durring don as a compound word, as is usually done by such as are ignorant of Middle English grammar. Spenser borrowed the phrase, but may have misunderstood it. In the Globe edition of Spenser, derring-doe occurs with a hyphen, in Shep. Kal. Oct. l. 65, but as two words, in F. Q. ii. 4. 42, vi. 5. 37. In F. Q. ii. 7. 10, we find 'in der-doing armes,' which I leave to be explained by the omniscient critic.

892. Manes, the departed spirits or shades of the dead. He means that even these will dread the Greeks. The idea that they are the 'gods of pain' is taken from Vergil, Æn. vi. 743; cf. Statius, Theb. viii. 84. Boccaccio merely has 'tra' morti in inferno'; Fil. vi. st. 16.

897. ambages, ambiguities; adapted from Boccaccio's 'ambage' (Fil. vi. st. 17), which Ch. has to explain.

934. See note above, to l. 805. B. has: 'Di Calidonia e d' Argo;' Fil. vi. st. 24.

937. Tydeus, father of Diomede, is one of the chief heroes in the Thebaid of Statius, which describes the struggle between Eteocles and Polynices (called Polymites in l. 938) for the possession of Thebes. Tydeus and Polynices married sisters, the daughters of Adrastus, king of Argos; hence their alliance. For the death of Tydeus in battle, see the conclusion of Book viii of the Thebaid. See ll. 1480-1501 below.

971. Orcades, the Orkney islands, very remote from Rome; Juvenal, Sat. ii. 161. Inde, India, remote from Rome in the other direction; Vergil, Æn. vi. 794. Here the point of view is transferred from Rome to Troy.

992. 'When I see what I have never seen yet (viz. Troy taken), perhaps I will do what I have never yet done (i. e. think of a second husband).'

1013. This incident is not in Boccaccio; but it occurs in Guido delle Colonne, which Chaucer must therefore have consulted. The alliterative Destruction of Troy duly records the circumstance, ll. 8092-4:—

'A gloue of that gay gate he belyue,

Drogh hit full dernly the damsell fro;

None seond but hir-selfe, that suffert full well.'

1018, 9. Cynthea, i. e. the moon; Bk. iv. 1608. In Bk. iv. l. 1591, Criseyde had promised to return before the moon passed out of the sign Leo. This was now on the point of happening; the moon was leaving Leo, to pass into Virgo.

1020. Signifer, the 'sign-bearer,' the zodiac. 'This forseide hevenish zodiak is cleped the cercle of the signes;' Astrolabe, pt. i. § 21. The zodiac extended, north and south, to the breadth of 6 degrees on both sides of the ecliptic line, thus forming a belt 12 degrees wide. This included numerous bright stars, such as Regulus (α Leonis) and Spica Virginis (α Virginis), here called 'candles.' Chaucer may have found the word Signifer in Claudian, In Rufinum, i. 365.

1039. he wan, he took in battle. Thynne reads she; but he is right. Diomede got possession of Troilus' horse, and sent it to Criseyde; whereupon she said that Diomede might keep it for himself. Note that Chaucer refers us to 'the story' for this incident; by which he means the Historia Troiana of Guido. But Guido only goes as far as to say that Diomed sent Troilus' horse to Criseyde; the rest is Chaucer's addition. See the allit. Destruction of Troy, ll. 8296-8317; and Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. iii. ch. 26, ed. 1557, fol. R 4, back. Cf. Shak. Troilus, v. 5. 1: 'Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse, Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid.' The incidents of the 'broche' and 'pensel' are Chaucer's own; see Bk. iii. 1370-2.

1043. pencel, short for penoncel, a little pennon or banner; here it means that Diomede wore a sleeve of hers as a streamer on his helmet or arm. This was a common custom; cf. Shak. Troil. v. 2. 69, 169. 'Pensell, a lytel baner;' Palsgrave; and see P. Plowm. C. xix. 189.

1044. the stories elles-wher, i.e. in another part of Guido's Historia, viz. in Book xxv; see the allit. Destruct. of Troy, ll. 9942-9959, and Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. iv. ch. 30, ed. 1557, fol. U 4.

1110. 'Nisus' daughter,' i.e. Scylla, changed into the bird ciris, which some explain as a lark; see Leg. Good Wom. 1908, and note; Ovid, Met. viii. 9-151; Vergil, Georg. i. 404-9.

1114. noon, noon, mid-day; the time for dinner (see l. 1129, and Cant. Ta. E 1893). See my note to Piers Plowm. C. ix. 146.

1140, 1. yate, i.e. port-cullis. As nought ne were, as if there were no special reason for it. I.e. I will make them do it, without telling them why.

1162. fare-cart, cart for provisions; cf. our phrase 'to enjoy good fare.' It might mean 'travelling-car,' but that is inapplicable. B. has simply 'carro;' Fil. vii. 8.

1174. 'The happiness which you expect will come out of the wood,' i.e. if it comes at all. A jocular form of expressing unlikelihood. There is evidently a reference to some popular song or saying; compare the Jeu de Robin in Toynbee's Specimens of Old French, p. 224. In the Rom. of the Rose, 7455, we have an allusion to a 'ioly Robin,' who was a gay dancer and a minstrel, and the exact opposite of a Jacobin friar. Shakespeare's clown in Twelfth Night (iv. 2. 78) sings of a 'jolly Robin' whose lady 'loves another.' And Ophelia sang 'bonny sweet Robin is all my joy;' Haml. iv. 5. 187.

1176. Another proverbial saying, ferne yere, last year; see fern, fürn, in Stratmann, and cf. A. S. fyrngēarum frōd, wise with the experience of past years, Phœnix, 219. Last year's snow will not be seen again.

1190. He persuades himself that the moon is to pass well beyond the end of the sign Leo; thus allowing another day.

1222. by potente, with a stick, or staff with a spiked end and crutch-like top; cf. Somp. Ta. D 1776. A potent, in heraldry, is a figure resembling the top of a crutch, consisting of a rectangle laid horizontally above a small square. See Rom. of the Rose, 368.

1368. 'I can only say that, being a receptacle for every sorrow, I was still alive.' cheste, box; like that of Pandora.

1450. Sibille, the Sibyl, the prophetess; not here a proper name, but an epithet of Cassandra. Cf. Æneid. vi. 98.

1464. (Ll. 1457-1512 are not in Boccaccio.) The story of Meleager and the Calydonian boar-hunt is told at length in Ovid, Met. viii. 271, &c.; whence Chaucer doubtless took it; cf. l. 1469 with Met. viii. 282. The 'mayde,' in l. 1473, was Atalanta.

1480. Chaucer seems to be mistaken here. Tydeus, according to one account, was Meleager's brother; and, according to another, his half-brother. He does not tell us to what 'olde bokes' he refers.

Latin Lines: Argument of the 12 books of the Thebaid of Statius. These lines are placed, in the MSS., after l. 1498, interrupting the connection. I therefore insert them after l. 1484, which is certainly their proper place. Ll. 1485-1510 give a loose rendering of them. I subjoin an epitome, in a more intelligible form; but suppress many details not mentioned in Chaucer.

II. Tydeus sets out on an embassy to Eteocles at Thebes, and escapes an ambush by the way (ll. 1485-1491). He spares Mæon, one of his 50 assailants, and sends him to Thebes with the news, whilst he himself returns to Argos instead of proceeding to Thebes (1492-3).

III. Maeon (also called Haemonides, as being the son of Haemon, Bk. iii. l. 42) returns to Thebes, and relates how Tydeus had slain 49 men out of 50. At Argos, Amphiaraus, the augur, had concealed himself, hoping to delay the war against Thebes, which he prophesied would be disastrous; but Capaneus forces him from his retirement, and war is resolved upon (1494).

IV. The seven chiefs set out against Thebes. The army suffers from thirst, but Hypsipyle, a Lemnian princess, appears, and shews them a river (1495).

V. Hypsipyle relates the story of 'the furies of Lemnos,' i. e. of the Lemnian women who killed all the men in the island except Thoas, her father, whom she saved. (See Leg. of Good Women, 1467, and note.) While she is speaking, a snake, sent by Jupiter, kills her infant, named Archemorus. The snake is killed by Capaneus (1497, 8).

VI. Description of the obsequies of Archemorus, and of the funeral games (1499).

VII. Description of the temple of Mars (see Knightes Tale). The allies arrive before Thebes, and the city is attacked. Amphiaraus is swallowed up by an earthquake (1500).

IX. Hippomedon, after great deeds of valour, is drowned in the river. Death of Parthenopaeus (1502, 3).

X. Capaneus is killed by lightning whilst scaling the walls of Thebes (1504, 5).

XII. Creon forbids the burial of the slain invaders. The wives of the six chieftains seek assistance from Theseus, king of Athens (see Knightes Tale). Argia, wife of Polynices, finds and burns her husband's body. Theseus slays Creon, and the Thebans open their gates to him (1509-10).

1485-1491. From the Thebaid, Bk. i (see above). felawe, comrade, brother-in-law. Polymites, Polynices. Ethyocles, Eteocles.

1492-8. From the same, Books ii-v. Hemonides, Haemonides, i. e. Maeon, son of Haemon. asterte, escaped. fifty; but he only slew 49, though attacked by 50. sevene; the seven chieftains, who went to besiege Thebes. holy serpent, the snake sent by Jupiter. welle, (apparently) the stream Langia, which refreshed the army (end of Bk. iv). The furies, the furious women of Lemnos, who killed all the males (but one) in the island.

1499-1505. From the same, Bks. vi-x. Archimoris, Archemorus, infant son of Hypsipyle; honoured by funeral games. Amphiorax, Amphiaraus; see Bk. ii. 105, and note to Anelida, 57. Argeyes, Argives, people of Argos. Ypomedon, Hippomedon; Parthonope, Parthenopaeus; see note to Anelida, 58. Cappaneus, Capaneus; see note to Anelida, 59.

1506-1512. From the same, Bks. xi, xii. Argyve, Argia, wife of Polynices; cf. Bk. iv. l. 762, above. brent, burnt; see Kn. Ta. A 990; but Statius says that the Thebans opened their gates to Theseus, who entered in triumph. I find nothing about any harm done to the city on this occasion.

1523. seestow, seest thou; a general observation, not addressed to Cassandra in particular, but to every one at large.

1548. fyn of the paródie, end of the period. Chaucer, not being a Greek scholar, has somewhat mistaken the form of the word; but, in MS. H., parodie is duly glossed by 'duracion,' shewing the sense intended. It is from the O. F. fem. sb. perióde, or peryóde, of which Littré gives an example in the 14th century: 'Peryode est le temps et la mesure de la duracion d'une chose;' Oresme, Thèse de Meunier. Chaucer, being more familiar with the prefix per- than with the Greek περι-, has dropped the i; and the confusion between per- and par- is extremely common, because both prefixes were denoted, in contracted writing, by the same symbol. We may give up the old attempts at explaining the word otherwise, as we know that the glosses are usually due to the author. 'The end of the period of Hector's life was nigh at hand.'

Troilus: Book V.	Filostrato.
ll. 1-7.	[Teseide, Bk. ix. st. 1.]
8-14.	[Teseide, Bk. ii. st. 1.]
15-91.	[Teseide, Bk. v. st. 1-13.
190-266.	Teseide, Bk."v. 14-21, 24-28.
280-295.	Teseide, Bk."v. 22.
323-336, 351-372.	Teseide, Bk."v. 29-32.
386-686.	Teseide, Bk."v. 33-38, 40-62, 67-71.
687-693.	[Teseide, Bk. vi. 1 (ll. 1-3), 6.
708-777.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 1 (l. 4)-8.
785-798, 820.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 10, 11.
799-805, 817.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 33; Bk. i. 28 (l. 8).
841-1001.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 9, 11-31.
1100-1274.	[Teseide, Bk. vii. 1-33.
1275-1309.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 37, 40-43, 48-50.
1310-1327.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 51, 52.
1335, 1336.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 74 (ll. 7, 8).
1338-1421.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 53-75.
1422-1444.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 76, 105, 77, 76.
1450-1456.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 84, 26.
1513-1521.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 27, 90.
1523-1554.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 100-102, 104, 106.
1555-1589.	[Teseide, Bk. viii. 1-5.
1632-1701.	Teseide, Bk. "iii. 6-15.
1702-1768.	Teseide, Bk. "iii. 21, 17, 19-26.
1800-1806.	Teseide, Bk. "iii. 27.
1807-1827.	[Teseide, Bk. xi. 1-3.]
1828-1841.	Teseide, Bk. "i. 28, 29.
1863-1865.	[Dante, Par. xiv. 28-30.]