xvii. 104, 575), with the sense 'fled in different directions,' or 'fled
away.' Cf. 'the wlcne _to-gað_,' the clouds part asunder; Morris; Spec. of Eng. pt. I. p. 7, l. 169. And again, 'thagh the fourme of brede _to-go_,' though the form of bread disappear; Shoreham's Poems, p. 29.
_That best go mighte_, each in the way he could best go; each made the best of his way to a safe place. 'Sauve qui peut.'
655. 'Suddenly they saw the threescore ships of Cleopatra busily about their yard-masts, and hoising sail to fly'; Sh. Plut. p. 212. Cf. Ant. and Cleop. iii. 10. 10; Vergil, Æn. viii. 707-8. The remark about Cleopatra's 'purple sails' may remind us of Plutarch's description of Cleopatra on the Cydnus, already referred to above (note to l. 583):--'the poop [of her barge] was of gold, _the sails of purple_'; Sh. Plut. p. 174; Ant. and Cleop. ii. 2. 198.
The truth is, however, that (as Bech points out) Chaucer has borrowed this and a few other incidents from L. Annaeus Florus, who wrote an Epitome Rerum Romanarum in the second century. In relating the battle of Actium, he says:--'Prima dux fugae regina, cum aurea puppe _ueloque purpureo_, in altum dedit. Mox secutus Antonius: sed instare uestigiis Caesar. Itaque nec praeparata in Oceanum fuga, nec munita praesidiis utraque Ægypti cornua, Paraetonium atque Pelusium, profuere: prope manu tenebantur. Prior ferrum occupauit Antonius. Regina ad pedes Caesaris prouoluta tentauit oculos ducis: frustra. Nam pulchritudo intra pudicitiam principis fuit. Nec illa de uita, quae offerebatur, sed de parte regni, laborabat. Quod ubi desperauit a principe, seruarique se triumpho uidit, incautiorem nacta custodiam, in Mausoleum se (sepulcra regum sic uocant) recipit: ibi maximos, ut solebat, induta cultus, in differto odoribus solio, iuxta suum se collocauit Antonium: admotisque ad uenas serpentibus, sic morte quasi somno, soluta est.'--Florus, Epit. Rerum Romanarum, lib. iv. c. 11.
662. Chaucer (following Florus) has hastened the catastrophe. Antony stabbed himself at Alexandria, in the following year, B.C. 30. See Sh. Plut. 221; Ant. and Cleop. iv. 14. 102.
672. _Shryne_; for 'solio' in Florus; cf. l. 675. Plutarch says only that Cleopatra 'did sumptuously and royally bury him with her own hands'; Sh. Plut. p. 224. Afterwards, however, she 'crowned the tomb with garlands and sundry nosegays, and marvellous lovingly embraced the same'; Sh. Plut. p. 227. But see the account by Florus, in the note to l. 655.
677. _Dede cors_, dead body; as in l. 876. Chaucer uses _cors_ of the living body, as, e.g. in Sir Thopas, B 2098.
678. Chaucer seems to think that Florus meant, 'in sepulcrum [suum] se recipit ... iuxta Antonium.'
679. Shakespeare follows closely the account in Plutarch, except that he makes mention of _two_ asps, whereas Plutarch mentions but one, called by Sir Thos. North 'an aspick'; Sh. Plut. p. 227. However, Florus uses the plural _serpentibus_. Cf. Cower, C. A., iii. 361.
681. Cf. Cleopatra's lament in Sh. Plut. p. 226; Ant. and Cleop. iv. 15. 59; v. 2. 283.
691. Pronounce _unreprovable_, as _unréprovábl'_.
694. _Sene_, evident. Note that this is an adjective (A.S. _gesýne_), and not the past participle; cf. l. 2655, and note. See also ll. 340, 741, and my note to the Balade against Women Inconstaunt, l. 13.
696. _Naked._ It looks as if Chaucer took _induta_ (note to l. 655) to mean 'not clothed.' Perhaps he read it as _nudata_.
702. _Storial sooth_, historical truth. The old editions actually put the comma after _storial_ instead of after _sooth_; and modern editors have followed them. Surely the editors, in some passages, have never attempted to construe their own texts.
II. THE LEGEND OF THISBE.
Chaucer follows Ovid, Metamorph. iv. 55-166; and frequently very closely. The reader should compare the Latin text throughout. For example, Ovid begins thus:--
'Pyramus et Thisbe, iuuenum pulcherrimus alter, altera, quas Oriens habuit, praelata puellis, contiguas habuere domos, ubi dicitur altam coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.'
In Golding's translation, fol. 43, back, thus:--
'Within the town (of whose huge walles so monstrous high and thicke, The fame is giuen Semiramis for making them of bricke) Dwelt hard together two young folke in houses ioynde so nere, That under all one roofe well nie both twaine conuayed were. The name of him was Pyramus, and Thisbe call'd was she; So faire a man in all the East was none aliue as he. Nor nere a woman, mayde, nor wife in beautie like to her.'
This at once explains the allusion to Semiramis, the celebrated but mythical queen who was said to have surrounded Babylon with walls of fabulous strength, having a deep ditch outside them. See Orosius, as translated by King Alfred, in Sweet's A.S. Reader, fourth ed. pp. 28, 29. Gower tells the same story, and likewise follows Ovid; C. A. i. 324.
718. _Estward_; evidently from Ovid's 'Oriens'; see above.
722. The first foot consists of the single syllable _Mai-_.
725. _Naso_, i.e. Ovid; really named Publius Ouidius Naso.
726. _Réport_; accented on the _e_. _Y-shove_, pushed (into notice); cf. l. 1381.
727. 'Tempore creuit amor'; Met. iv. 60.
730. 'Sed uetuere patres'; id. 61.
735. 'As (to quote the proverb) cover up the glowing coal, and the hotter the fire becomes.' Ovid has--'Quoque magis tegitur, tanto magis aestuat ignis'; 64. _Wry_ is in the imperative mood, singular. Cf. Troilus, ii. 538-9.
741. _Sene_, visible; see note to l. 694. _Dere y-nogh a myte_, even in a slight degree; lit. '(to an extent) dear enough at a mite.' A singular use of the phrase. Cf. 'dere ynogh a leek'; Can. Yem. Ta., G 795; 'not worth a myte'; id., G 633.
742. 'Quid non sentit amor?' Met. iv. 68.
745. 'In a tone as low as if uttering a confession.' A curious medieval touch. Ovid says, 'murmure ... minimo'; 70.
756. 'Inuide, dicebant, paries, quid amantibus obstas?' 73.
763. _Holde_, beholden. 'Nec sumus ingrati'; 76.
773. Chaucer practically transposes the offices of Phoebus and Aurora.
'Postera nocturnos Aurora remouerat ignes, solque pruinosas radiis siccauerat herbas'; 82.
782. _And for_, and because, &c.
783. _For_ stands alone in the first foot. Cf. l. 797.
784. 'Conueniant ad busta Nini, lateantque sub umbra Arboris'; 88. Ll. 786, 787 are explanatory, and added by Chaucer. Ninus, the supposed founder of Nineveh, was the husband of Semiramis. Cf. Shak. Mid. Nt. Dr. v. 1. 139.
786. Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, i. 403) says that the pt. t. of _herien_ is _heried-e_, with final _e_. But the form is right; _héried-e_ is hardly pronounceable, and the final _e_ is naturally dropped when the accent is thrown so far back. The forms of the past tenses of weak verbs are variable; whether they take a final _e_ or not often depends on the form of the stem. See Ten Brink, Chaucer's Sprache, § 194.
797. _Y-wimpled_, covered with a wimple, or cloth covering the neck and fitting close round the face, chiefly worn by nuns. Another medieval touch. Ovid has 'adopertaque uultum'; 94. See note to l. 813.
798-801. These four lines are mainly original, and quite in Chaucer's own manner. Ovid has merely 'fallitque suos.'
803. 'Audacem faciebat amor'; 96.
804. _She gan her dresse_, she settled herself, lit. directed herself. Lat. 'sedit.'
810. _Rist_, riseth; pres. tense, as in l. 887. So _arist_, Man of Law's Tale, B 265.
811. _With dredful foot_; so again in Kn. Ta., A 1479. 'Timido pede fugit in antrum'; 100. See _Dreadful_ in Trench, Select Glossary; and cf. ll. 109, 404 above.
813. 'Dumque fugit, tergo uelamina lapsa reliquit'; 101. 'For fere, and let her wimple falle.'--Gower, Conf. Amant. i. 326.
814-6. These three lines are original. _Sit_, sitteth. _Darketh_, lies close. 'The child than _darked_ in his den'; Will. of Palerne, 17; 'drawe [drew] him into his den, and _darked_ ther stille'; id. 44. And again in the same poem, ll. 1834, 2851.
823-31. Considerably expanded from the Latin:--
'Serius egressus uestigia uidit in alto puluere certa ferae, totoque expalluit ore Pyramus'; 105.
830. _Agroos_, shuddered; and again in l. 2314; and in Troil. ii. 930. The infin. _agryse_ is in the Man of Law's Tale, B 614.
834. 'Una duos, inquit, nox perdet amantes'; 108.
835. This line is Chaucer's own.
842. _What_, whatsoever; 'quicunque ... leones'; 114.
847-9. 'Accipe nunc, inquit, nostri quoque sanguinis haustus'; 118.
851-2.
'Cruor emicat alte non aliter quam quum uitiato fistula plumbo scinditur, et tenues stridente foramine longe eiaculatur aquas, atque ictibus aera rumpit'; 121.
With much good taste, Chaucer omits the next three lines, just as he has omitted to tell us that the trysting-tree was 'a faire high Mulberie with fruite _as white as snow_,' as Golding says. The blood of Pyramus turned this fruit _black_, and so it remains to this day! Gower likewise suppresses the mulberry-tree, but Shakespeare mentions it; see Mid. Nt. Dr. v. 1. 149.
853-61. Admirably expanded out of three lines:--
'Ecce metu nondum posito, ne fallat amantem, illa redit; iuuenemque oculis animoque requirit; quantaque uitarit narrare pericula gestit'; 128.
859. The first syllable of _Bothe_ forms a foot by itself. So also in ll. 863, 901, 911, &c.
862-8.
'Dum dubitat, tremebunda uidet pulsare cruentum membra solum; retroque pedem tulit; oraque buxo pallidiora gerens, exhorruit aequoris instar, quod fremit, exigua quum summum stringitur aura'; 133.
869-82. Fourteen lines where Ovid has eight. Chaucer has greatly improved l. 882, where Ovid makes Thisbe _ask_ Pyramus to lift up his head:--'uultusque attolle iacentes'; 144.
887. This line is original. _Bost_, noise, outcry; such is the original sense of the word now spelt _boast_, which see in the New E. Dict. Cf. 'Now ariseth cry and _boost_'; King Alisaunder, 5290; and see P. Plowman, C. xvii. 89. Whitaker, writing in 1813, remarks that _boost_, in the sense of noise, is 'a provincial word still familiar in the Midland counties.'
894.
'Persequar extinctum; letique miserrima dicar caussa comesque tui'; 151.
905-12. Admirably substituted for Thisbe's address to the mulberry-tree, requesting it to keep its berries always black thenceforth.
913, 14.
'Dixit; et aptato pectus mucrone sub imum incubuit ferro, quod adhuc a caede tepebat'; 162.
916-23. These lines are original. With l. 917 cf. Le Rom. de la Rose, 14345:--'Mes moult est poi de tex amans.'
III. THE LEGEND OF DIDO.
This Legend purports to be taken from Vergil and Ovid; see l. 928. There is very little of it from Ovid, viz. only the last 16 lines, which depend on Ovid's Heroides, vii. 1-8, and ll. 1312-6, which owe something to the same epistle.
The rest is from the Æneid, bks. i-iv, as will be pointed out.
Note that Chaucer had already given the story of Dido at some length in his Hous of Fame, 151-382, which should be compared. He mentions Ovid there also; l. 379.
924. _Mantuan_, born near Mantua. Publius Vergilius [not Virgilius] Maro was born on the 15th Oct., B.C. 70, at Andes, now Pietola, a small village near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul; and died Sept. 22, B.C. 19. It is said that an inscription was placed on his tomb, beginning 'Mantua me genuit.'
926. Cf. 'chi vi fu lucerna?' Dante, Purg. i. 43.
927. _Eneas_, Æneas, hero of the Æneid.
928. The late editions, for some mysterious reason, put a full stop after _Eneid_ and insert _of_ before _Naso_. The sense is--'I will take the general tenour (of the story as I find it) in thine Æneid and in Naso,' i.e. in Ovid; 'and I will versify the chief circumstances.'
Roughly speaking, ll. 930-949 are from the Æneid, bk. ii; ll. 950-957 from bk. iii; ll. 958-1155 from bk. i; and ll. 1156-1351 from bk. iv.
931. 'By the craft of the Greeks, and especially by Sinon.' Sinon allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Trojans, and persuaded them to take in a wooden horse through the walls, which he said had been made as an atonement to Minerva for the Palladium carried away by the Greeks. In the dead of night Sinon let out the armed men concealed within the horse, and thus Troy was taken by a stratagem. See Æn. ii. 57-267; and cf. Ho. Fame, 152-6.
934. The ghost of Hector appeared to Æneas, and advised him to flee; Æn. ii. 268-298.
935. The verb agreeing with _fyr_ is _appered_. 'And there appeared also so mad a fire that it could not be controlled.' See Æn. ii. 311.
936. _Ilioun_, the usual M.E. form of _Ilium_; Æn. i. 68, ii. 241, 325, 625. Ilium is only another name for Troy, but the medieval writers invented the explanation here adopted by Chaucer, viz. that it was the palace of Priam, and the _castle_ of Troy in particular. Perhaps they interpreted the word _domus_ in too narrow a sense in the passage--'O patria, O Divum domus Ilium'; Æn. ii. 241. This use of the word is invariable in Guido delle Colonne, author of the Historia Destructionis Troie, a work which was considered of the highest authority in the middle ages, though it was shamelessly copied from the French Roman de Troie by Benoit de Sainte-Maure. In fact, a long description of Priam's palace, called _Ilion_, is given in the alliterative Troy-book, l. 1629, which is translated from Guido; and in Lydgate's Troy-book, ed. 1555, fol. F 6, back, and R 5, back. See the notes to Book Duch. 1070, Ho. Fame, 158, 1467, 1469, 1477.
939. For the death of Priam, killed by Pyrrhus, see Æn. ii. 531-558. _Fordoon_, slain. _Noght_, nothing; this alludes to Vergil's 'sine nomine corpus'; Æn. ii. 558.
940. Venus appears to her son Æneas; Æn. ii. 591. Cf. Ho. Fame, 162.
942. Cf. 'dextrae se paruus Iülus [Ascanius] Implicuit'; Æn. ii. 724. See note to Ho. Fame, 177.
945. _Lees_, lost; 'erepta Creüsa'; Æn. ii. 738; Ho. Fame, 183.
947. _Felawshippe_, company, companions; 'ingentem comitum numerum'; Æn. ii. 796.
949. _Stounde_, hour, time; usually dissyllabic in M.E.
953. For these adventures, see Æn. bk. iii; which Chaucer passes over. But see Ho. Fame, 198-221.
959. _Libye_, Libya, on the N. coast of Africa; Æn. i. 158. For the seven ships saved, see the same, i. 170.
960, 1. These two lines are in no previous edition, (except my own), being preserved only in MSS. C. and P. But they are obviously genuine and necessary; otherwise, the word _So_ (l. 962) is meaningless.
962. _Al to-shake_, all shaken to pieces, sorely distressed. Cf. l. 820.
964. Æneas and Achates sally forth, Æn. i. 312; Ho. Fame, 226.
971. _Hunteresse_, huntress; i.e. Venus so disguised; id. i. 319. 'As she had been an _hunteresse_'; Ho. Fame, 229.
973. _Cutted_, cut short; 'nuda genu'; id. i. 320. The same expression occurs as 'cutted to the kne' in P. Ploughman's Crede, 296. Compare also l. 434 of the same poem:--
'His wyf walked him with, with a longe gode [goad], In a _cutted_ cote, _cutted_ full hey[gh]e.'
The editions have _knytte_, which is an erroneous spelling either of _knyt_ or of _knytted_; neither of which readings can be right.
978-82. Translated from Æn. i. 321-4.
982. _Y-tukked up_, with robe tucked up; 'Succinctam.' This settles the meaning of _tukked_ in Ch. Prol. 621.
983-93. Shortened from Æn. i. 325-340.
986. 'Phoebus' sister'; Vergil has 'Phoebi soror'; 329.
994-1001. Alluding to Æn. i. 341-410.
997. _Hit nere but_, it would only be; _nere_ = _ne were_.
998. _Al and som_, the whole matter; wholly and in particulars.
1005. _Sitheo_, so in all the copies. Nothing is commoner than a confusion between _c_ and _t_ in old MSS.; hence _Sitheo_ is for _Sichco_, i.e. Sichaeus. Sichaeus (Æn. i. 343) is Vergil's name for Acerbas, a wealthy Tyrian priest, who married Elissa (Vergil's Dido) sister of Pygmalion. Pygmalion murdered Acerbas, hoping to appropriate his treasure; but Elissa fled from Tyre, taking the treasure with her, and founded Carthage. Dante has the form _Sicheo_; Inf. v. 62.
1010. _Fredom_, liberality; the old sense of _free_ being 'liberal.' _Of_ here means 'for'; in l. 1012 it means 'by.'
1016. _Maister-temple_, chief temple; cf. _maistre-strete_, chief street (Kn. Ta., A 2902), and _maistre-tour_, chief tower (Squi. Tale, F 226). It was the temple of Juno; Æn. i. 446.
1022. 'So the book says'; Vergil says that Venus shrouded Æneas and Achates with a cloud (i. 412, 516).
1024. The first syllable of _Hadden_ forms a foot by itself; cf. l. 1030. _Ov'r al_ forms the last foot.
1025. 'Uidet Iliacas ex ordine pugnas'; i. 456.
1028. 'Bellaque iam fama totum uulgata per orbem'; i. 457.
1032. _Kepe_, care; usually with a negative; see Kn. Ta., A 2238, 2960.
1035. See Æn. i. 496, &c. Vergil likens Dido to Diana. In l. 1039 Chaucer uses _god_ in the heathen sense, meaning Jupiter.
1044-6. These lines are original. _Fremd_, strange; A.S. _fremede_. In the Squi. Tale, F 429, it means 'foreign.' 'To frende ne to _fremmed_,' to friend nor to stranger; P. Plowm. B. xv. 137. Misspelt _frenne_ (riming with _glenne_) in Spenser, Shep. Kal. April, 28, with the sense of 'stranger'; unless he means it for _foreign_.
1047-60. Epitomised from Æn. i. 509-612.
1048. _Wende han loren_, he supposed to have lost, he supposed that he had lost.
1050. _For which_, on which account, wherefore.
1059. _Meynee_, attendants, followers, lit. household; O.F. _meisnee_, _mesnee_, _meinee_. Very common in Chaucer. The derived adj. _menial_ is still in use. See l. 1089.
1061-5. From Æn. i. 613, 614. Ll. 1066-1074 are from the same, 588-591.
1075. 'Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco'; id. 630.
1076. The first syllable of _Lyked_ forms a foot by itself. _God do bote_, may God give (us) help! A parenthetical explanation. All former editions (except my own) omit the necessary comma after _as_.
1077-85. Chaucer here gives a general outline of the state of the case, without following Vergil's words.
1086-90. This answers to Æn. i. 615-630.
1091-1102. From Æn. i 631-642.
1099. _His lyve_, in his life, during his life.
1103-27. This passage is, practically, original. Chaucer here tells the story in his own language, and gives it a wholly medieval cast.
1104. The M.E. _swolow_ usually means 'a whirlpool' or 'gulf,' and such is Tyrwhitt's explanation. See the Catholicon Anglicum, p. 373, note 1, for examples. Thus, in Wyclif's Works, ed. Matthew, p. 97, we find--'_Swolwis_ of the see and _helle_, that resceyuen al that thei may and [gh]elden not a[gh]en.' Very rarely, it is used of an open mouth; thus in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, iii. 250, it is said that the whale 'opened his _swol[gh]_' to engulf Jonah. Hence, probably, arose the suggestion in Bell's note, that the reference is to the open mouth of hell, as represented in medieval drawings. Nevertheless, I believe Tyrwhitt is right; though either sense will serve. It is the mod. E. _swallow_, used as a sb. Cf. Dante, Inf. xxxiv. 137-9.
1106. _Parements_, ornaments; probably hangings. Cf. 'chambre of parementz' in Squi. Ta., F 269, and Tyrwhitt's note, quoted in my note to the line. In the Kn. Ta., A 2501, _paramentz_ means 'rich clothes.' See Æn. i. 637-9.
1107. For _ornaments_, which is preserved in MSS. C. and T. only, the other MSS. and all the old editions have the odd reading _pavements_, which is strangely out of place. I think it clear that this arose from a repetition of the word _parements_, which was afterwards turned into _pavements_ by way of desperate emendation. The letters _v_ and _r_ are often somewhat alike, and have been mistaken for one another, as shewn in my paper on 'ghost-words' in the Phil. Soc. Transactions, 1886.
1109. The MSS. (except T.) and the black-letter editions have _he_. Morris's, Bell's, and Corson's editions have _she_, which gives no sense, and will not suit l. 1111. I do not undertake to notice all the vagaries of the various editions, as the readings of the MSS. are so much more satisfactory. In the present case, I suppose that _she_ is a mere misprint in Bell, preserved in the editions that follow him. _Sete_ is short for _seten_, the usual M.E. pp. of _sitten_, to sit; see Kn. Ta., A 1452. It answers to the A.S. pp. _seten_, with short _e_. The _e_ in _mete_ was also short in A.S.; hence the rime is perfect.
1110. Cf. Squi. Ta., F 294--'The spyces and the wyn is come anon.' This refers to the custom of serving wine mixed with spices to the guests before going to rest; see a long note in Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, ed. 1840, i. 178 (on the word _piment_); Weber's note on King Alisaunder, 4178; and Our English Home, p. 85.
1114. The first syllable _Ther_ probably constitutes the first foot of the line. I believe Chaucer accents _courser_ on the former syllable; see Kn. Ta., A 1502, 1704; Squi. Ta., F 195, 310.
1117. _Fretted_, adorned; not 'fraught,' as in Corson's note.
1119. _Shynedè_; trisyllabic; in MS. C. only; rest, _shyned_, _shyneth_, which will not scan. Cf. _lakkedè_, Prol. 756; _knokkeden_, Compl. Mars, 84. Line 2194 has _shinèd_, and l. 1428 has _shoon_. _Shynede_ occurs in _both_ the Wycliffite versions of Luke ii. 9; and is therefore an old form. We still have _shined_ as a pt. t. in Ezek. xliii. 2, Acts ix. 3, xii. 7.
1120. 'Nor gentle high-flying falcon for striking herons.' Chaucer has _gentil faucon_ in his Parl. of Foules, 337. Cotgrave, s.v. _haultain_, has:--'_Faulcon haultain_, a high-flying hawke.' _Heronere_ means 'used for flying at herons'; only the best hawks would serve for this.
1122. _Y-bete_, in the Knight's Ta., A 979, means 'ornamented with beaten gold,' or with gold flattened out by the hammer (F. _or batu_). It might mean 'ornamented by means of the hammer'; but as 'new florins' can hardly be said to be used for decorating cups, it seems best to take _with_ in the sense of 'as well as'; in which case _florins newe y-bete_ means 'florins newly struck.' The allusion to _florins_ is curious; see note to P. Plowman, B. iii. 45. Cf. Æn, i. 640--'Ingens argentum mensis, caelataque in auro Fortia facta patrum.'
1128-35. From Æn. i. 643-656.
1135. _Take_, present, offer, deliver. This sense was once common; see Sec. Non. Ta., G 223; Can. Yem. Ta., G 1030, 1034, 1365; P. Plowman, B. i. 56, iv. 58, &c.
1136-49. Much abridged from Æn. i. 657-722.
1145. 'Let it be as it may; I care little about it.'
1150-55. Chaucer here comes to the end of Æn. bk. i, and passes over the second book with the remark in l. 1153.
1155. _Entendeden_, gave their attention. Corson and Gilman explain it by 'attend,' as if it were the present tense.
1156. Chaucer here passes on to Vergil's fourth book, which he epitomises, and seldom follows quite exactly.
1157. _Sely_, simple, unsuspecting; see l. 1254. See _Silly_ in Trench, Select Glossary.
1161. 'Why I have told the story so far, and must tell the rest.'
1163. The reading _his_ (for _her_) in MS. C. can be justified, and may be right. The A.S. _móna_ was masculine, but the Lat. _luna_ was feminine. Hence arose a confusion, so that the M.E. _mone_ was of either gender. Hence, in Chaucer's Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 34, l. 12, we find--'And _nota_, that yif the mone shewe _himself_ by light of day,' &c.; whereas in the same, pt. ii. § 40, l. 54, we find--'the mone, loke thou rekne wel _hir_ cours houre by houre; for _she_,' &c.
1166. _Brayd_, start, sudden movement. In the Cursor Mundi, 7169, we read of Samson, that--
'Vte of thair handes son he stert And gaue a _braid_ sa fers and fast, That all the bandes of him brast.'
See _Braid_ in the New E. Dictionary.
1170-81. From Vergil's Æn. iv. 9-29.
1174. 'And eke so likely to be a hero.' _Man_ is here used emphatically; cf. 'quam forti pectore et armis'; iv. 11.
1182, 3. Cf. Æn. iv. 31-53; but Chaucer cuts it short.
1187. _Love_ (A.S. _lufu_) is here monosyllabic; cf. Kn. Ta., A 1135. 'Love desires (to have) love; for no one will it desist.' Cf. A.S. _wandian_, to turn aside, blench, fear. And see _wol_, in l. 1191.
1188-1211. From Æn. iv. 129-159.
1191. _An hunting_, on hunting, a-hunting. Here _an_ is another form of the prep. _on_, and _hunting_ is a substantive, like Lat. _uenatio_. See Skeat, Principles of Eng. Etymology, Ser. 1, p. 260.
_Wol_, desires (to go); cf. _wol_ in l. 1187.
1196. _Hoven_, wait in readiness, hover. Cf. 'where that she _hoved_ and abode'; Gower, C. A. iii. 63; and see P. Plowman, B. prol. 210, xviii. 83. It just expresses the notion of slight movement, whilst remaining nearly in the same place. The old editions read _heven_, which gives no sense; for it never means 'mount,' as has been suggested. Cf. Vergil's 'expectant'; iv. 134.
1198. _Paper-whyt_, as white as paper; a curious and rare compound. Printed _paper white_ (as two words!) in former editions.
1200. The 4th sense of _Bar_ in the New E. Dict. is--'An ornamental transverse band on a girdle, saddle, &c.; subsequently, an ornamental boss of any shape.'
1201. _Sit_, sits. _Wrye_, covered; A.S. _wrigen_, pp.
1204. _Startling_, moving suddenly; the frequentative form of _starting_, which Chaucer preferred when repeating this same line in his Kn. Tale, A 1502.
1205. _A litel wyr_, i.e. a small bridle-bit. See l. 1208.
1206. _Phebus_; Vergil's 'Apollo'; iv. 144. _To devyse_, to describe (him).
1209. _Wold_, willed, desired; the pp. of _willen_. This form is very rare, but we again find _hath wold_ in l. 11 of the Compl. of Venus; and _hadde wold_ in P. Plowman, B. xv. 258. Prof. Corson aptly quotes three examples from Malory's Morte Arthur, ed. T. Wright, with the references 'vol. i. c. 33, vol. iii. c. 119, and vol. iii. c. 123.' The first of these answers to bk. ii. c. 8, p. 54 in the 'Globe' edition, where we find--'Then said Merlin to Balin, Thou hast done thyself great hurt, because thou savedst not this lady that slew herself, that might have saved her and thou _wouldest_.' Caxton (ed. 1485) also has _woldest_; but Wright, following the edition of 1634, has _had would_. For the other passages, see bk. xviii. capp. 15 and 19, where Caxton has 'and he _had wold_,' and 'and I _had wolde_.'
1212-31. From Vergil, Æn. iv. 154-170.
1213. _Go bet_, go more quickly, hasten; a term of encouragement. See Pard. Tale, C 667, and the note. _Prik thou_, spur thou, push on; a like term. _Lat goon_, let (the dogs) go.
1230. 'Ille dies primus leti, primusque malorum Causa fuit'; iv. 169. It looks as if Chaucer has translated _leti_ by 'gladnesse,' as if it were _letitiae_. (Bech makes a similar remark.)
1232-41. These lines are original. Cf. Ho. Fame, 253-292.
1242. Here follows, in Vergil, the celebrated description of Fame, which Chaucer had already introduced into his Hous of Fame, 1368-1392; it is therefore here omitted. He passes on to Æn. iv. 195.
1245. _Yarbas_, i.e. Iarbas, son of Ammon; Æn. iv. 196.
1254-84. Original; but see Ho. Fame, 269-292.
1262. _Pilled_, robbed. 'A knight ... sholde deffenden holy chirche, and nat robben it ne _pilen_ it'; Persones Tale, _De Avaritia_, I 767.
1277. _Ther-as_, whereas. _Sterve_, to die.
1287. Perhaps copied by the author of fragment B. of the Romaunt of the Rose. We there find (l. 4838, Glasgow MS.)--'The hoote ernes [ernest?] they al foryeten'; there being nothing answering to it in the French text.
1288. 'And he secretly causes his ships to be prepared'; lit. 'causes (men) to prepare his ships.'
1289. _Shapeth him_, intends, purposes. See Prologue, 772.
1295. 'Me patris Anchisae ... Admonet ... imago'; iv. 351.
1297. _Mercurie_, Mercury; 'interpres Divûm'; iv. 356.
1305. _What womman_, what sort of a woman.
1310. _Seketh halwes_, repairs to saints' shrines; a curious medieval touch. Vergil only mentions the sacrifice; iv. 453. Cf. Prologue, 14, and the note. 'To go _seken halwes_'; C. T. (Wyf of Bathes Prol.), D 657.
1312, 3. 'Si pudet uxoris, non nupta, sed hospita dicar,' &c.; Ovid, Her. vii. 167.
1316. Cf. 'Sed neque fers tecum'; Her. vii. 79.
1317. _Thise lordes_; 'Nomadumque tyranni'; Æn. iv. 320. Also Pygmalion and Iarbas, id. 325, 6.
1324. The former syllable of _Mercy_ forms the first foot in the line; cf. l. 1342. 'Have pitee on my sorwes smerte!' Ho. Fame, 316; which see.
1331. _Lavyne_, Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus; Æn. vii. 359.
1332. _A cloth._ This refers to the Trojan garments left behind by Æneas; 'Iliacas uestes'; iv. 648. The sword is mentioned by Vergil just two lines above; 646.
1338-40. Here the _cloth_ answers to the Lat. _exuuiae_; and _whyl hit leste_ = whilst it pleased. These three lines are a close imitation of Vergil, Æn. iv. 651-3:--
'Dulces exuuiae, dum fata Deusque sinebant; Accipite hanc animam, meque his exsoluite curis; Vixi, et quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi.'
We hence see that, in l. 1339, the right reading is _unbind me of this unreste_, a close translation from the Latin. _Me of_ are run together; see note to Complaint to Pitè, l. 11.
1341. _Withouten_, without any succour from Æneas.
1346. _Her norice_, her nurse, or rather the nurse of Sichæus, named Barce; Æn. iv. 632.
1351. 'She roof hir-selve to the herte'; Ho. Fame, 373.
1352. Here Chaucer, having done with Vergil, takes up Ovid, who is intended by the words _myn autour_.
1354. _A lettre_, i.e. the 7th Epistle in Ovid's Heroides. See l. 1367.
1355-65. From the first 8 lines in the above Epistle.
'Sic, ubi fata uocant, udis abiectus in herbis, ad uada Maeandri concinit albus olor. Nec, quia te nostra sperem prece posse moueri, alloquor. Aduerso mouimus ista deo. Sed merita et famam, corpusque animumque pudicum quum male perdiderim, perdere uerba leue est. Certus es ire tamen, miseramque relinquere Dido; atque îdem uenti uela fidemque ferent.'
IV. (PART I.) THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE.
The chief sources of this fourth Legend are Guido delle Colonne's Historia Troiana, Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. vii, and Heroides, letters vi. and xii. The story of Hypsipyle is also in Statius' Thebaid, bk. v, and in l. 1437 (see note) there is a reference to the Argonauticon of Valerius Flaccus. See further in the Preface; and see the notes to ll. 1396, 1467.
1368-95. This is a Prologue to the Legend, and is original.
1371. _Reclaiming_, enticement, power to subdue; lit. a calling back. Halliwell has: 'To _reclaim_ a hawk, to make her gentle and familiar, to bring her to the wrist by a certain call. It is often used metaphorically, to tame.' Cf. 'since this same wayward girl is so _reclaimed_'; Romeo, iv. 2. 47.
1373. _Of_, by means of. _Farced_, stuffed; as in Prol. to C. T., 233.
1377. 'Where others betray one, thou betrayest two.'
1381. _Shove_, pushed forward, brought into notice; cf. l. 726.
1383. _Have at thee!_ let me attack (or pursue) thee. _Thyn horn is blowe_, the horn is blown that summons all to pursue thee; a metaphor taken from the chase.
1387. _Aboght_, bought; pp. of _abye_, which was corrupted into _abide_; whence 'thou shalt dearly _abide_ it.'
1388. _Box_, blow, buffet; now only used of 'a box on the ear.'
1389. _Et_, eateth; pres. tense. So in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 135, l. 10, and in Ælfric's Grammar, ed. Zupitza, p. 200.
1391. Prof. Lounsbury would read 'the goodë man that ther-for payede,' and remarks that this gives a false rime, because the preterite form _payede_ will not rime with the pp. _betrayed_. He adds--'in order to follow the reading of the one MS. that makes _payed_ a participial form, the adj. _goode_, of the definite declension, has to be shorn of its final _e_ in pronunciation.'--Studies in Chaucer, i. 405. I take _good-man_ to be, practically, one word, as in the A. V., Matt. xx. 11, so that the def. form of the adj. is not really required. And I prefer the reading _hath payed_, though it rests on the authority of one (the best) MS. only. If, however, we adopt the proposed reading, it makes no difference at all to the rime. For the pt. t. of verbs of F. origin, as _payen_, _serven_, is usually _payed_, _served_, the full ending _-ede_ (with both syllables sounded) being extremely rare in Chaucer; cf. note to l. 1119. We even have _shined_, not _shinede_, in l. 2194, in a word of E. origin. Hence there is really no fault to be found, whichever reading be taken; and the cricitism, which is quite superfluous, comes to nothing.
1394, 5. _On_, in the case of. _Y-sene_, evident; as in l. 2655. _By_, with reference to.
1396. The reading _Guido_ (in MSS. C., T., A.) where the other MSS. and the editions have _Ouyde_, is important; especially as it is correct, and gives us a new clue. The Historia Troiana of Guido delle Colonne begins with the story of Jason, and it is evident that Chaucer follows him, at least as far as l. 1461. This can easily be seen by comparing the present passage with the beginning of Book I. of the alliterative Troy-book, ed. Panton and Donaldson, otherwise called the Gest Historiale of the Destruction of Troy, which is closely translated from Guido; or else with Lydgate's Troy-book, bk. i. capp. 1-3. Gower also tells the story of Jason (C. A. ii. 236), and says that the tale 'is in the boke of Troie write.'
1397. _Pelleus_; so spelt in the allit. Troy-book, l. 104; Gower has _Peleus_. Medieval names are strangely confused. The right form is not _Peleus_, but _Pelias_. He was king of Thessaly, half-brother of Æson, and guardian of Jason. The reading _king_ gives him his title in anticipation, but is right. So also, in the allit. Troy-book, l. 103: 'There was a _kyng_ in that coste,' &c.; and Guido has 'rex' here.
1398. _Eson_ (as in Gower); Æson, the aged father of Jason.
1420. _Al made he_, although he made.
1425. _Colcos_, properly Colchis, now Mingrelia; between the Caucasus and the Eastern shore of the Black Sea. In the allit. Troy-book, it is called _Colchos_, l. 152; and so in Gower. It is not really an island, but Chaucer follows the Latin text, which has 'insula'; see note to l. 1590.
1430. _Kept_, guarded; _with_, by. Compare the Troy-book, l. 164:--
'Thus coyntly it kept was, all with clene art, By too oxen, oribull on for to loke, And a derfe dragon, drede to behold.'
1438. _Oëtes_ (as in Guido); properly _Aeëtes_, Ovid, Her. xii. 51. He was king of Colchis, and father of Medea.
1447. 'Then should I be bound to requite thy toil.'
1453. _Argus_, the builder of the ship Argo, in which Jason undertook the voyage. The name is given by Guido (see the E. Troy-book, l. 273), by Valerius Flaccus, in his Argonauticon, lib. i. 314, and in the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius.
1457. As Bech points out, Chaucer here copies the remark in Dares:--'Demonstrare cos qui cum Iasone profecti sunt non uidetur nostrum esse: sed qui uolunt eos cognoscere, Argonautas legant.'--De excidio Troiae historia, ed. Meister, 1873; cap. 1. The reference is to the Argonauticon of Valerius Flaccus, lib. i., where the list of the Argonauts may be found. It also occurs in bk. i. of the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius. It is a dreary catalogue; or, as Chaucer says, a sufficiently long tale. There is a shorter list in Statius, Thebaid, bk. v. All the lists make much of Hercules (see l. 1454).
1459. _Philotetes_ (so spelt by Guido, see the Eng. version, p. 12, ll. 6 and 10, where the passage from Guido is quoted) was the name of the pilot to the expedition. Valerius Flaccus identifies him with Philoctetes, son of Poeas or Pæas; as he introduces him by the name of Poeantius; Argon, i. 391.
1463. _Lemnoun_, Lemnos; it is very common to quote proper names in forms resembling the accusative case. This, as Chaucer says, is not in Guido, but in Ovid; see Ovid's Heroid. vi. 50, 117, 136. At the same time it would be interesting to know _what version_ of Guido Chaucer followed; for it is a very singular fact, that whilst the story of Hypsipyle is neither in the alliterative Eng. version, nor in Lydgate, it _does_ occur, at this point, in a _Spanish_ version, printed at Medina in 1587. There the heading of bk. ii. c. x. is--'Como Iason aporto co_n_ tormenta a la Isla de Lemos, y caso con la infanta Hisifile.'
1467. _Isiphilee_, Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas, and queen of Lemnos; she saved her father when the women of Lemnos killed all the other men in the island, and subsequently entertained Jason. As the letter in Ovid does not give all the circumstances, perhaps Chaucer consulted Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon, lib. ii., and Statius, Thebais, lib. v., or, perhaps, the Fables of Hyginus, cap. xv.; but he makes more of Hercules than do these authorities, and seems to be inventing.
1468. _Thoas doghter the king_, the daughter of king Thoas. This is the usual idiom; see my note to Squi. Tale, F 209.
1469. Cf. Valerius Flaccus, Argon. ii. 311:--
'Ecce procul ualidis Lemnon tendentia remis Arma notant: rapitur subito regina tumultu, Conciliumque uocat: non illis obuia tela Ferre, nec infestos deerat furor improbus ignes, Ni Ueneris saeuas fregisset Mulciber iras.'
In Statius, Theb. v., the Lemnian women receive the Argonauts with hostility at first, and attack them with missiles.
1476. _Socour_; cf. 'succurrere disco'; Verg. Æn. i. 630.
1479. This is a curious error; _him_ should be _her_. As the Lemnian women had just killed every man in the island, the messenger must needs have been a woman. In fact, her name was Iphinoë; Val. Flacc. Argon. ii. 327. The account in Apollonius Rhodius is somewhat fuller; but I find no mention of the _cogge_.
1481. _Cogge_, a cock-boat; from the O. Fr. _coque_, also spelt _cogue_, a kind of vessel, sometimes a ship of war, but also a merchant-vessel, and here a small boat. See _coque_ or _cogue_ in Godefroy's O. Fr. Dict. _Cogge_ occurs in the Morte Arthure, 476, 738; Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, iii. 152; &c. 'Cogboote, cokbote, _scafa_'; Prompt. Parv.
1487. _Broken_, ship-wrecked. 'The ships were _broken_' 1 Kings xxii. 48; cf. Jonah i. 4. _Oght wo begoon_, in any way distressed. Note resemblances to the tale of Dido.
1488. _Lodesmen_, pilots; see note to Ch. Prol. 403. 'Lodesman of a shippe, _pilotte_'; Palsgrave.
1509. Cf. Valerius Flaccus, Arg. ii. 351:--
'Praecipueque ducis casus mirata requirit Hypsipyle; quae fata trahant, quae regis agat uis.'
1514. _Los_; spelt _loos_ in MS. Tn.; for the _o_ is long. It means 'praise' or 'renown,' and occurs six times in Ho. Fame (1620, 1621, 1626, 1722, 1817, 1900). _Los_, with short _o_, means 'loss.'
1515. Read _th'áventúres_, in four syllables.
1528. Prof. Corson cites some parallel passages, viz:--
'And therto he was _hardy_, _wys_, and _riche_'; Squi. Ta., F 19.
'_Hardy_, and _wyse_, and _riche_, and therto _free_'; Ship. Ta., B 1366.
'We alle desyren, if hit mighte be, To have housbondes _hardy_, _wyse_, and _free_, And _secree_'; Non. Pr. Ta., B 4103.
1529. _Three pointes._ The reference is not to l. 1528, which mentions _four_ points, but to ll. 1530-3 following. I.e. the three points are _fredom_, _lustihede_, and being _a greet gentil-man_; or otherwise, liberality, youthful vigour, and high birth. Cf. l. 1405.
1533. Accent _Tessálie_ on the second syllable.
1535. _Shamefast_ (from A.S. _sceamu_) is here trisyllabic. On the corrupt modern spelling _shamefaced_ see Trench, Eng. Past and Present.
1536. _He hadde lever_, he would have it dearer, he would rather.
1538-40. In order to scan l. 1538, the word _almighty_ is necessary, though found in MS. A. only. Or else we must insert _him_, and read--'As wolde God that I hadde him i-yive.' The sense is--'As (I pray) that God would permit that I might have given [him] my blood and flesh, provided that I might still live (to see the result), on the condition that he had anywhere a wife (suitable) to his rank.' _So that_ means 'provided that'; as in '_so that_ ye be not wroth,' C. T., D 2248 (Sompnoures Tale), in the Harleian MS.; and in the following:--
'Sche saide, sire, ich wille help the, _So that_ thou wille spousi me.'--Seven Sages, ed. Weber, 2663.
As to the expression _with the nones_, we may compare it with such expressions as _with-than_, _with-thon-that_, _with-tho-the_, _with-that_, all meaning 'provided that,' and all occurring in the Glossary to Spec. of Eng., Part I. And since _for the nones_ means 'for the occasion' (see Prologue to C. T., 379), so _with the nones_ is 'with the occasion,' and hence 'provided that.' I cannot at all agree with what seems to me the ludicrous emendation in some late editions, which change _nones_ into _bones_, and delete the comma after _live_; 'provided that I might live with the bones.' At any rate, there is _no authority_ for this. The old editions and MSS. all alike read _nones_; and we have the phrase again (pronounced _with th' non-es_), in the Ho. Fame, 2099.
1546. _To come to hous upon_, to become at home with, to become familiar with.
1551. The former syllable in _Yiftes_ forms a foot by itself.
1552. _As wolde god_, as (I wish) that God might will or permit; as in l. 1538.
1558. _Thoriginal_, the original. As this 'tells all the case,' i.e. all Jason's subtlety, he is probably referring to Ovid, Her. Ep. vi. Flaccus says that Hercules induced Jason to quit Lemnos, and proceed on his voyage. Statius mentions Hypsipyle's twin sons, and relates some of her later history.
1564. Chaucer here follows the sixth letter of Ovid's Heroides. Lines 1569-1575 follow four lines of the Latin text, viz. 123-4, and 159-60, which refer to the twins and Medea:--
'Si quaeris, cui sunt similes; cognosceris illis. Fallere non norunt; caetera patris habent.... Quam fratri germana fuit, miseroque parenti filia; tam natis, tam sit acerba uiro.'