ll. 265-6, 274-308. st. 35-37.
316-322. 46.
391-419, 428-455. 43, 54, 47-56.
501-523, 540-1. 55-57, 61.
554-578. 62-64.
584-588. 43.
589-602. 65, 66, 68.
645-665. 82-88, 71-78.
733-5, 746-763. 69, 70.
768-784. 73, 75-78.
937-8, 966-981. 79-81, 89.
995-1010. 90, 91.
1044-1104. 93-98, 100-109.
1125-1232. 109-128.
1305-1351. 128-131.
Other passages are mainly original; as, e.g. ll. 1352-1757 at the end, and
1-264 at the beginning.
1-3. These lines somewhat resemble Dante, Purgat. i. 1-3.
'Per correr miglior acqua alza le vele
Omai la navicella del mio ingegno,
Che lascia dietro a sè mar sì crudele;' &c.
7. _calendes_, the introduction to the beginning; see bk. v. l. 1634. Thus
the 'kalends of January' precede that month, being the period from Dec. 14
to Dec. 31.
8. _Cleo_; so in most copies; H2. has _Clyo_; Clio, the muse of history.
14. _Latin_ seems, in this case, to mean Italian, which was called _Latino
volgare_.
21. 'A blind man cannot judge well of colours;' a proverb.
22. Doubtless from Horace's Ars Poetica, 71-3; probably borrowed at
second-hand.
28. A proverb. In the Proverbs of Hendyng, l. 29, we have: 'Ase fele thede,
ase fele thewes,' i.e. so many peoples, so many customs. See l. 42 below.
Cf. Boethius, Bk. ii. Pr. 7. 49 (p. 47).
36. _went_, for _wendeth_; i.e. goes; pres. tense.
46. 'Yet all is told, or must be told.'
48. _bitit_, for _bitydeth_; i.e. betides, happens.
55. _Bole_, Bull, the sign Taurus. On the third of May, in Chaucer's time,
the sun would be in about the 20th degree of Taurus. The epithet _white_ is
from Ovid, Met. ii. 852.
63. _wente_, sb., a turn; i.e. he tossed about.
64-68. _forshapen_, metamorphosed. Progne was changed into a swallow; Ovid,
Met. vi. 668. Tereus carried off Progne's sister Philomela; see Leg. of
Good Women (Philomela).
74. 'And knew that the moon was in a good plight (position) for him to take
his journey.' That is, the moon's position was propitious; see note to Man
of Lawes Tale, B 312.
77. '_Janus_, god of (the) entry;' see Ovid, Fasti, i. 125.
81. 'And found (that) she and two other ladies were sitting.' _Sete_ (A. S.
_s[=æ]ton_) is the pt. t. pl., not the pp.
84. The celebrated story of the Siege of Thebes, known to Chaucer through
the Thebais of Statius; see bk. v. 1484. And see l. 100.
87. _Ey_, eh! a note of exclamation, of frequent occurrence in the present
poem.
103. _lettres rede_, i.e. the rubric describing the contents of the next
section.
100-105. Oedipus unwittingly slew his father Laius; and the two sons of
Oedipus contended for Thebes. For _Amphiorax_, see note to bk. v. 1500, and
to Anelida, 57.
108. _bokes twelve_; the 12 Books of the Thebais. The death of Amphioraus
is related at the end of Book vii.
110. _barbe_, 'part of a woman's dress, still sometimes worn by nuns,
consisting of a piece of white plaited linen, passed over or under the
chin, and reaching midway to the waist;' New E. Dict. She wore it because
she was a widow; see the quotations in the New E. Dict., esp. 'wearing of
_barbes_ at funerals.' And see _Barbuta_ in Ducange.
112. 'Let us perform some rite in honour of May;' see note to Kn. Ta. A
1500.
117. The right reading is necessarily _sete_, for A. S. _s[=æ]te_, 3 p. s.
pt. t. subj. of _sitten_; 'it would befit.' Cf. _seten_, they sat, 81,
1192.
134. 'And I am your surety,' i.e. you may depend upon me; see bk. i. 1038.
151. _unkouth_, unknown, strange; hence, very; Sc. _unco'_.
154. _wal_, wall, defence; _yerde_, rod, scourge, as in bk. i. 740.
167. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 5684-6:--
'Lucan redit, qui moult fu sages,
C'onques _vertu et grant pooir_
Ne pot nus _ensemble veoir_.'
Cf. Lucan, Phar. i. 92.
236. _Withoute_, excepting sweethearts; or, excepting by way of passionate
love. The latter is the usual sense in Chaucer.
273. 'Therefore I will endeavour to humour her intelligence.'
294. _so well bigoon_, so well bestead, so fortunate. Cf. Parl. Foules,
171.
318. _Which ... his_, whose; cf. _that ... his_, Kn. Ta. A 2710.
328. 'Then you have fished to some purpose;' ironical. To _fish fair_ is to
catch many fish.
329. _What mende ye_, what do you gain, though we both lose?
344. Gems were supposed to have hidden virtues.
387. _fele_, find out, investigate.
391, 2. Cf. Ovid, Art. Amat. ii. 107: 'Ut ameris, amabilis esto.'
393. In the same, 113, we find: 'Forma bonum fragile est,' &c.
396. 'Go and love; for, when old, no one will have you.'
398. 'I am warned too late, when it has past away, quoth Beauty.'
400. The 'king's fool' got the hint from Ovid, Art. Amat. ii. 118: 'Iam
uenient rugae,' &c.
403. _crowes feet_, crow's feet; wrinkles at the corners of the eyes; from
the shape. So in Spenser, Shep. Kal. _December_, 136: 'And by myne eie the
crow his clawe doth write.'
408. _breste a wepe_, burst out a-weeping.
413. _Ret_, for _redeth_, advises; cf. P. Plowman C. iv. 410, and note.
425. _Pallas_; perhaps invoked with reference to the Palladium of Troy; bk.
I. l. 153. Moreover, Pallas was a virgin goddess.
434. 'Of me no consideration need be taken.'
477. 'Except that I will not give him encouragement;' see 1222.
483. 'But when the cause ceases, the disease ceases.'
507. _gon_, gone; 'not very long ago.'
525. _mea culpa_, by my fault; words used in confession: see P. Plowman, B.
v. 77, and note.
527. _Ledest the fyn_, guidest the end; cf. Boeth. Bk. iv. Pr. 6. 149.
537. _biwryen_, used in place of _biwreyen_, to bewray. The same rather
arbitrary form appears in Parl. Foules, 348.
539. 'Because men cover them up,' &c.
586. _were never_, never would be; _were_ is in the subjunctive mood.
611. _Thascry_, for _The ascry_, the alarm. _Ascry_ occurs in Wyclif, Prov.
vii. 6.
615. _latis_, lattice. The reading _yates_, gates, is wrong, as shewn by l.
617.
618. Dardanus, ancestor of Priam. Cf. _Dardanidae_, i. e. Trojans, Verg.
Aen. i. 560, ii. 72, &c. Troy had six gates, according to Guido; the
strongest of these was _Dardanus_; see the allit. Destruction of Troy, ed.
Panton and Donaldson, l. 1557, Lydgate, Siege of Troy, b. ii. c. 11, and
Shakespeare's Prologue to his Troilus.
_ther open is the cheyne_, where the chain is open, or unfastened. Alluding
to the chains sometimes drawn across a street, to block it against
horsemen. The sense is, 'he will come down _this_ street, because the
others are blocked.'
621. _happy_, fortunate. It was a lucky day for him.
627. _a pas_, at a foot-pace; see Prol. A 825, and l. 620 above.
637. _an heven_, a beautiful sight; cf. Sq. Ta. F 558.
639. _tissew_, lace, twisted band; from F. _tistre_, to weave.
642. The shield was covered with horn, sinews or _nerf_, and skin or
_rind_.
651. 'Who has given me a love-potion?'
656. _for pure ashamed_, for being completely ashamed, i.e. for very shame.
A curious idiom.
666. _envýous_, envious person; accented on _y_, as in l. 857.
677. _Ma | de_; two syllables. The first foot is imperfect.
681. The astrological term 'house' has two senses; it sometimes means a
zodiacal sign, as when, e.g. Taurus is called the 'house' or mansion of
Venus; and sometimes it has another sense, as, probably, in the present
passage. See Chaucer's treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 37, on 'the
equations of houses.' In the latter case, the whole celestial sphere was
divided into twelve equal parts, called 'houses,' by great circles passing
through the north and south points of the horizon. The first of these,
reckoning upwards from the eastern horizon, was called the _first_ house,
and the _seventh_ house, being opposite to it, was reckoned downwards from
the western horizon. The _first_ and _seventh_ houses were both considered
very fortunate; and it is here said that Venus was in her seventh house,
i.e. was just below the western horizon at the moment when Criseyde first
saw him. The same planet was also 'well disposed,' i.e. in a favourable
sign of the zodiac; and at the same time was 'pleased (or made propitious)
by favourable aspects' of other planets, i.e. other planets were favourably
situated as regards their angular distances from Venus. Moreover, Venus was
no foe to Troilus in his nativity, i.e. she was also favourably situated at
the moment of his birth.
716. Imitated from Le Rom. de la Rose, 5765-9, q.v.
746. 'I am one (who is) the fairest.' The _-e_ in _fairest-e_ is not
elided; neither is the _-e_ in _wist-e_ in l. 745.
750. I.e. 'I am my own mistress.'
752. _lese_, pasture; 'I stand, unfastened, in a pleasant pasture.' From A.
S. _l[=æ]su_. Cf. Ho. Fame, 1768. It does not mean 'leash,' as usually
said; Chaucer's form of 'leash' is _lees_, as in Cant. Ta. G 19.
754. _chekmat_, check-mate, as in chess; see Book Duch. 659. Bell sees a
pun in it; '_check_ to my _mate_,' i.e. wife; but it remains to be shewn
that the form _mate_ (wife) was known to Chaucer, who spells it _make_
(Cant. Ta. E 2080).
759. I.e. 'I am not a nun,' nor vowed to chastity.
767, 769. _sprat_, for _spredeth_, spreads, pres. t.; _spradde_, pt. t. Cf.
Boethius, Bk. i. Met. 3. 9-12.
777. According to Bell, MS. Harl. 1239 also has _why_, i.e. wherefore, a
reason why, cause.
784. Cf. 'S'il fait folie, si la boive;' Rom. Rose, 12844.
797. 'No one stumbles over it;' for it is too unsubstantial.
802. 'Yet all things seem to them to be harmful, wherein folks please their
friends.'
807. 'Nothing venture, nothing have.'
830. _hertes lust_, heart's pleasure; _to rente_, by way of rent.
831. _no wight_, to no one; dat. case.
861. See Hazlitt's notes on the proverb--'Many talk of Robin Hood, that
never shot in his bow,' &c.
866. 'Who cannot endure sorrow deserves no joy.'
867. 'And therefore let him, who has a glass head, beware of stones cast in
battle.'
882. _let_, short for _ledeth_, leads (Stratmann).
884. The MSS. end the line with _syke_. It has been pointed out that _syke_
is not a perfect rime to _endyte_, _whyte_, but only an assonance. It is
difficult to believe Chaucer guilty of this oversight; and hence I would
suggest, with all submission to the critics, that possibly Chaucer wrote
_syte_. The M. E. _syte_ means to be anxious, and occurs in the Cursor
Mundi, 11675; where Joseph says to Mary:--'Bot I _site_ for an other thing
That we o water has nu wanting,' i.e. but I am anxious about another thing,
that we lack water. The sb. _site_, grief, occurs in the Midland dialect as
well as in Northumbrian; see _site_ in Stratmann. As the word is unusual,
it would naturally be altered by the scribes to the familiar _syke_, to
sigh, with a cognate meaning.
920. 'And loude he song ageyn the sonne shene;' Kn. Ta. A 1509.
959. 'Unless lack of pursuit is the cause (of failure),' &c.; cf. 1075.
964. _hameled_, cut off, docked; cf. P. Pl. Crede, 300.
1001. 'Your ill hap is not owing to me.'
1017. Read _And úpon mé_, where _me_ is emphatic.
1022. When people's ears glow, it is because they are being talked of;
according to folk-lore. See Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Ellis, iii.
171.
1026. 'Sed lateant uires, nec sis in fronte disertus;' Ovid, Art. Am. i.
463.
1027. 'Quascunque adspicies, lacrimae fecere lituras;' Ovid, Heroid. iii.
3.
1033. 'Or always harp one tune.'
1041. 'Humano capiti,' &c.; Horace, Ars Poet. 1-5. _pyk_, a pike (fish), as
in the Balade to Rosemounde, 17.
1062. Accent _Mínervá_ on the first and third syllables.
1075-7. _it made_, was the cause of it. _ley_, lied.
1107. _hoppe_, dance. 'I always dance in the rear.'
1108. _to-laugh_ (H2, _to lagh_, Cm. _to law_), laughed exceedingly. I know
of no other example. A better form is _to-lough_; see l. 1163, and Pard.
Ta. C 476.
1119. _spek-e_, might speak, should say; pt. t. subjunctive.
1123. _sent_, i. e. _sendeth_, sends; the pt. t. is _sent-e_ or _send-e_.
1177-8. _Avysed_, she took notice; pt. tense. So also _fond_, found, which
Bell takes to be a pp.; but the pp. is _founden_. _Coude good_, knew what
was becoming. So, in l. 1197, _Can he_ means 'has he skill.'
1201, 1204. _sowe_, to sew the pieces of parchment together. Tyrwhitt
remarks, s. v. _sowe_; 'It was usual, and indeed necessary, formerly to
_sew_ letters, when they were written upon parchment; but the practice
continued long after the invention of paper.' _plyte_, to fold it up.
1229. 'A cushion, beaten with gold;' cf. Kn. Ta. A 979.
1238. A proverb: 'slight impressions soon fade.'
1249. Tyrwhitt, s. v. _somme_, boggles over this line, but it is quite
right. Bell takes occasion to speak of the 'rugged lines' to be found in
this poem; which is true enough of his own peculiar text. In Beowulf, l.
207, we have _fift[=e]na sum_, one of fifteen, where the cardinal number is
used; and this is the usual idiom. But the ordinal number is used also. In
St. Juliana, p. 79, we read that 'te sea sencte him on his _thrituthe
sum_,' the sea drowned him and 'thirtieth some' of his men, which I
understand to mean 'and twenty-nine of his men,' the master being the
thirtieth; but Mr. Cockayne and Mr. Bradley make it mean 'him and thirty
others.' So again, in Sir Tristrem, 817, we have: 'He busked and made him
yare hi[s] _fiftend som_ of knight,' he made ready for himself his
'fifteenth some' of knights, which I should explain to mean a band of
fifteen knights, _himself included_, or, himself being the fifteenth.
_Some_ in such phrases has a collective force. However, the examples in
Bosworth and Toller's A. S. Dict., s. v. _sum_, shew that this mode of
expression is also sometimes used _exclusively_ of the leader.
1274. _on to pyke_, for her to pick upon, or pick at; i. e. for her to pull
out; see l. 1273. See examples in Halliwell, s. v. _pike_, of 'to _pyke
out_ thornes,' to pick out thorns.
1276. Cf. 'to strike while the iron is hot;' see Melibeus, B 2226.
1289. 'But therein he had much to heave at and to do.'
1291. 'And why? for fear of shame.' Cm. has _for speche_, i. e. for fear of
talk or scandal.
1315. _accesse_, attack, as of fever. See New E. Dict.
1343. _refreyde_, grow cool; cf. Balade to Rosemounde, l. 21.
1349. _after his gestes_, according to his deeds, or adventures.
1390. _forbyse_, to give (thee) instances. Hardly a correct form; it should
rather be _forbysne_, short for _forbysnen_, as the verb is formed from the
sb. _forbysne_, A. S. _foreb[=y]sen_, an example, instance. The word was
obsolescent.
1398. _Deiphebus_ (= _Dé'ph[)e]bús)_ is always trisyllabic.
1410. He means that he would do more for him than for any one, 'except for
him whom he loves most,' i. e. Troilus.
1427. 'With spur and whip,' i. e. with all expedition.
1495. _word and ende_, beginning and end; cf. iii. 702, v. 1669. The right
phrase is _ord and ende_, where _ord_ is 'beginning;' but it would seem
that, by Chaucer's time, _word_ had been corruptly substituted for the
obsolescent _ord_. See Monk. Ta. B 3911, and the note.
1534. _triste_, station for a huntsman to shoot from. See _Tristre_ in
Stratmann.
1554. _renne_, to run, like an excited madman.
1564. 'Bon fait prolixite foïr;' Rom. de la Rose, 18498.
1581. 'Although it does not please her to recommend (a remedy).'
1594. _To mowen_, to have it in her power; A. S. _mugan_.
1650. _for my bettre arm_, not even to save my right arm.
1661. _him thar nought_, 'him needeth not,' he need not do.
1735. An obscure allusion. 'Perhaps it means, in regard for the king and
queen, his parents;' Bell. My own guess is different. I think it quite
possible that Chaucer is referring to the two 'crowns' or garlands, one of
roses and one of lilies, about which so much is said in his early work
entitled the _Lyf of Seint Cecile_, afterwards called the Second Nonnes
Tale (see G 270). Thus Pandarus, with his usual impudence, conjures
Criseyde to pity Troilus by two solemn adjurations, viz. for the sake of
Him who gave us all our souls, and by the virtue of the two heavenly crowns
which an angel once brought _to a chaste couple_. He thus boldly insinuates
that the proposed meeting is of the most innocent character. This I take to
be the whole point of the allusion.
1737. 'Fie on the devil!' I. e. despise detraction.
1738. _com of_, come off; we _now_ say 'come on!' See ll. 1742, 1750.
1751. 'But now (I appeal) to you.'
1752. _cankedort_, a state of suspense, uncertainty, or anxiety; as appears
from the context. The word occurs nowhere else. Only one MS. (H2) has the
spelling _kankerdort_, usually adopted in modern editions; Thynne has
_cankedorte_, but it needs no final _e_. The etymology is unknown nor do we
even know how to divide it. There is a verb _kanka_, to shake, be unsteady,
&c., in Swedish dialects (Rietz), and the Swed. _ort_ is a place, quarter;
if there is any relationship, _kanked-ort_ might mean 'shaky place,' or
ticklish position. Another theory is that _canker_ relates to _canker_, a
cancer, disease, and that _dort_ is related to Lowl. Sc. _dort_, sulkiness.
But this is assuming that the right spelling is _canker-dort_, a theory
which the MSS. do not favour. Neither does the sense of 'ill-humour' seem
very suitable. As I am bound, in this difficult case, to suggest what I
can, I must add that it is also possible to suppose that _cankedort_ is of
French origin, answering to an O. F. _quant que dort_, lit. 'whenever he is
asleep (?),' or 'although he is asleep(?);' and hence (conceivably) meaning
'in a sleepy state.' The phrase _quant que_, also spelt _kan ke_ (and in
many other ways) is illustrated by a column of examples in Godefroy's
Dictionary; but its usual sense is 'as well as,' or 'whatever'; thus _kan
ke poet_ = as well as he can. Or can we make it = _com ki dort_, like one
who sleeps?
BOOK III.
The following scheme gives a general idea of the relationship of this Book
to the original.
CHAUCER: BOOK III. FILOSTRATO: BOOK III.
ll. 1-38. st. 74-79.
239-287. 5-10.
344-441. 11-20.
813-833. [Boethius, II. Pr. 4. 86-120.]
1310-1426. 31-43.
1443-1451. 44.
1471-1492. 44-48.
1513-1555. 50-56.
1588-1624. 56-60.
1625-1629. [Boethius, II. Pr. 4. 4-10.]
1639-1680. 61-65.
1695-1743. 70-73.
1744-1768. [Boethius, II. Met. 8.]
1772-1806. 90-93.
1807-1813. Bk. I, st. 3. 1.
1-38. This is an exceptionally difficult passage, and some of the editions
make great nonsense of it, especially of ll. 15-21. It is, however,
imitated from stanzas 74-79 of the Filostrato, Book III; where the
invocation is put into the mouth of Troilus.
The key to it is that it is an address to _Venus_, both the planet and the
goddess.
2. The planet Venus was considered to be in 'the _third_ heaven.' The
'heavens' or spheres were named, respectively, after the Moon, Mercury,
Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the 'fixed stars;' beyond which was
the Primum Mobile, the earth being in the centre of all, and immoveable.
Sometimes the spheres of the seven planets were reckoned backwards from
Saturn, Venus being then in the _fifth_ heaven; see Lenvoy a Scogan, 9, and
the note.
3. 'O favourite of the Sun, O dear daughter of Jove!' Venus was considered
a fortunate planet. Perhaps it is best to quote the Italian text here:--
'O luce eterna, il cui lieto splendore 585
Fa bello il terzo ciel, dal qual ne piove
Piacer, vaghezza, pietade ed amore;
Del sole amica, e figliuola di Giove,
Benigna donna d'ogni gentil core,
Certa cagion del valor che mi muove 590
A' sospir dolci della mia salute,
Sempre lodata sia la tua virtute.
Il ciel, la terra, lo mare e l'inferno
Ciascuno in sè la tua potenzia sente,
O chiara luce; e s'io il ver discerno, 595
Le piante, i semi, e l'erbe puramente,
Gli uccei, le fiere, i pesci con eterno
Vapor ti senton nel tempo piacente,
E gli uomini e gli dei, nè creatura
Senza di te nel mondo vale o dura. 600
Tu Giove prima agli alti affetti lieto,
Pe' qua' vivono e son tutte le cose,
Movesti, o bella dea; e mansueto
Sovente il rendi all' opere noiose
Di noi mortali; e il meritato fleto 605
In liete feste volgi e dilettose;
E in mille forme già quaggiù il mandasti,
Quand' ora d'una ed or d'altra il pregasti.
11. _vapour_, influence; Ital. _Vapor_ (l. 598).
15. The readings in this stanza are settled by the Ital. text. Thus, in ll.
17, 19, 20, read _him_, not _hem_. _Comeveden_, didst move or instigate;
agreeing with _ye_, for which Mod. E. uses _thou_. 'Thou didst first
instigate Jove to those glad effects (influences), through which all things
live and exist; and didst make him amorous of mortal things; and, at thy
pleasure, didst ever give him, in love, success or trouble; and, in a
thousand forms, didst send him down to (gain) love on earth; and he caught
those whom it pleased you (he should catch).'
In l. 17 we find _Comeveden_ sometimes turned into _Comenden_, or even
_Commodious_! The Italian text has _Movesti_ (l. 603).
22. Venus was supposed to appease the angry planet Mars; see Compl. of
Mars, 36-42.
27. 'According as a man wishes.'
29. 'Tu in unità le case e li cittadi, Li regni, ... Tien.'
31-34.
'Tu sola le nascosi qualitadi
Delle cose conosci, onde 'l costrutto
Vi metti tal, che fai maravigliare
Chi tua potenza non sa riguardare.'
I. e. 'Thou only knowest the hidden qualities of things, whence thou
formest such a construction, that thou makest to marvel any one who knows
not how to estimate thy power.' Chaucer seems to have used _construe_
because suggested by _costrutto_, but he really uses it as answering to
_sa_ (in the fourth line), and omits the words _'l costrutto vi metti tal_
altogether. Hence ll. 33-35 mean: 'when they cannot explain how it may come
to pass that _she_ loves _him_, or why _he_ loves _her_; (so as to shew)
why _this_ fish, and not _that_ one, comes to the weir.'
_Io_ (= _jo_), come to pass. This word is not in the dictionaries, and has
been coolly altered into _go_ (!) in various editions. But it answers to O.
F. _joer_ (F. _jouer_), to play, hence, to play a game, to make a move (as
in a game); here, to come about, come to pass.
35. _were_, weir, pool where fish are caught; see Parl. Foules, 138, and
note.
36. 'You have imposed a law on folks in this universe;' Ital. 'Tu legge, o
dea, poni all' universo.'
44, 45. _Inhelde_, pour in. _Caliope_, Calliope, muse of epic poetry;
similarly invoked by Dante, Purg. i. 9.
87. 'Though he was not pert, nor made difficulties; nor was he too bold,
(as if about) to sing a mass for a fool.' The last expression was probably
proverbial; it seems to mean to speak without hesitation or a feeling of
respect.
115. _to watre wolde_, would turn to water; cf. Squi. Ta. F 496.
120. '_I? what?_' i. e. 'I? what (am I to do)?' In l. 122, Pandarus repeats
her words, mockingly: 'You say I? what? why, of course you should pity
him.'
136-138. 'And I (am) to have comfort, as it pleases you, (being at the same
time) under your correction, (so as to have what is) equal to my offence,
as (for instance) death.' See Cant. Ta. B 1287.
150. 'By the feast of Jupiter, who presides over nativities.' The reason
for the use of _natal_ is not obvious. Cf. 'Scit Genius, natale comes qui
temperat astrum;' Horat. Ep. ii. 2. 187.
188. 'I seem to hear the town-bells ringing for this miracle, though no
hand pulls the ropes.'
193, 194. _and oon, And two_, 'both the one of you and the other.'
198. _bere the belle_, take the former place, take precedence; like the
bell-wether that heads the flock. See the New E. Dict.
228. 'Straight as a line,' i. e. directly, at once.
294. See Manc. Ta. H 333, and note.
299. 'Thou understandest and knowest enough proverbs against the vice of
gossiping, even if men spoke truth as often as they lie.'
308. 'No boaster is to be believed, in the natural course of things.'
328, 329. _drat_, dreadeth. Cf. 'Felix, quem faciunt aliena pericula
cautum.' But Chaucer took it from Le Rom. de la Rose, 8041-2: 'Moult a
benéurée vie Cil qui par autrui se chastie.'
340. 'And a day is appointed for making up the charters' (which will
particularise what she has granted you); metaphorical.
349. _richesse_, abundance; not a happy word, but suggested by the Ital.
text: 'I sospir ch'egli aveva a gran dovizia;' Fil. iii. 11. _Dovizia_
(Lat. _diuitiae_) is precisely 'richesse.' Bell has _rehetyng_, i. e.
comforting (from O. F. _rehaiter_, _reheiter_), which gives no sense; and
explains it by '_reheating_!'
354. _lusty_, lusty person; cf. Cant. Ta. A 165, 208.
377. 'Or durst (do so), or should know (how).'
380. _stokked_, fastened in the stocks; cf. Acts xvi. 24.
404. _Departe it so_, make this distinction.
410. _frape_, company, troop. Marked by Tyrwhitt as not understood. Other
examples occur. 'With hem a god gret _frape_;' Adam Davy, &c., ed.
Furnivall, p. 60, col. 1, text 3, l. 390; and see Allit. Morte Arthure, ed.
Brock, 2163, 2804, 3548. Godefroy gives O. F. _frap_, a multitude, and
_frapaille_, rabble.
445. 'And wished to be seised of that which he lacked.'
497. 'Or to enumerate all the looks and words of one that is in such
uncertainty.'
502. _as seith_; but it does not appear that Boccaccio says anything of the
kind. The same remark applies to l. 575.
510. _Fulfelle_ is a Kentish form, the _e_ answering to A. S. _y_. Similar
forms occur in Gower. See note to Book Duch. 438.
526. Scan: Dréd | elées | it cleer,' &c. The sense is: 'it was clear, in
the direction of the wind, from every magpie and every spoil-sport.' I. e.
no one could detect them; they kept (like hunters) well to leeward, and
there were no magpies or telltale birds to windward, to give an alarm.
529. Scan: In this matér-e, both-e frem'd. _fremed_, strange, wild.
542. _holy_, i. e. sacred to Apollo. From Ovid, Met. i. 566: 'laurea ..
uisa est agitasse cacumen.'
545. 'And therefore let no one hinder him.'
572. The readings all shew various corruptions of _thurfte_, which none of
the scribes understood; see _thurfen_, _tharf_, in Stratmann. This is not
the only place where _thurfte_ has been ousted from the text. Cf. _thar_
(for _tharf_) in the Reves Ta. A 4320, &c. _Yow thurfte have_, you would
need (to) have. _Yow_ is the dat. case, governed by the impers. verb. The
reading _yow durste_ turns _yow_ (an accusative) into an imaginary
nominative; but the nom. form is _ye_, which the scribes did not venture to
substitute.
584. _goosish_, goose-like, silly. This delicious epithet was turned into
_gofysshe_ by Thynne, and modern editions perpetuate the blunder. Tyrwhitt
derived _gofish_ from F. _goffe_, a word which is much later than Chaucer,
and was probably merely adapted from Ital. _goffo_, stupid. The Century
Dict. goes a step further, inserting a second _f_, and producing a form
_goffish_, against all authority. Cf. Parl. Foules, 568, 586.
601. _stewe_, small chamber, closet; cf. G. _Stube_.
602. 'Where he was shut in, as in a coop.'
609. 'There was no dainty to be fetched'; they were all there.
614. _Wade_; this is the hero mentioned in the Merch. Tale, E 1424; see
note.
617-620. Cf. Boethius, Bk. iv. Pr. 6. 60-68.
622. 'Without her leave, at the will of the gods.'
624. _bente_, i. e. curved, crescent; see l. 549. Cf. Boeth. Bk. I. Met. 5.
6, 7.
625. The Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter were all in conjunction in Cancer, which
was the mansion of the moon. We are to understand that this caused the
great rain.
640. _ron_, rained; so also in l. 677. The usual pt. t. is _reinede_, but
we also find _roon_, _ron_, as in P. Plowm. B. xiv. 66 (C. xvi. 270), and
in Trevisa, tr. of Higden, ii. 239. The pt. t. of A. S. _rignan_,
_r[=i]nan_, is usually _r[=i]nde_; but the strong pt. _r[=a]n_ occurs in
the Blickling Glosses.
648. _a game_, in game; _a_ = _an_, _on_; Cm. has _on_.
671. _The wyn anon_, the wine (shall come) at once; alluding to the wine
drunk just before going to bed. See Prol. A 819, 820.
674. 'The _voidè_ being drunk, and the cross-curtain drawn immediately
afterwards.' The best reading is _voyde_ or _voydee_. This seems to be here
used as a name for the 'loving-cup' or 'grace-cup,' which was drunk after
the table had been cleared or _voided_. Properly, it was a slight dessert
of 'spices' and wine; where _spices_ meant sweetmeats, dried fruits, &c.
See Notes and Queries, 2 S. xi. 508. The _traverse_ was a screen or curtain
drawn across the room; cf. Cant. Ta. E 1817; King's Quair, st. 90. See
Additional Note, p. 506.
690. This refers to the attendants. They were no longer allowed to skip
about (run on errands) or to tramp about noisily, but were packed off to
bed, with a malediction on those who stirred about. _Traunceth_, tramps
about, is used of a bull by Gower, C. A. ii. 72. In Beaumont and Fletcher,
Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2, we find--'but, _traunce_ the world over, you
shall never,' &c. For _traunce_, Thynne reads _praunce_, which has a
similar sense. Morris explains _traunce_ here as a sb., which seems
impossible.
695. _The olde daunce_, the old game; see Prol. A 476.
696. _sey_, saw; perhaps read _seye_, subj., might perceive. If so, read
_al_, i. e. every.
702. 'Beginning and end;' see note to bk. II. 1495.
711. I. e. or else upset everything; cf. the phrase, 'all the fat is in the
fire.'
716. Mars and Saturn both had an evil influence.
717. _combust_, quenched, viz. by being too near the sun; see Astrolabe,
pt. ii. § 4. Venus and Mercury, when thus 'combust,' lost their influence.
_let_, hindered.
721. _Adoon_, Adonis; see Ovid, Met. x. 715.
722. _Europe_, Europa; see Leg. of Good Women, 113, and note.
725. _Cipris_, Venus; see Ho. Fame, 518.
726. _Dane_, Daphne; see Kn. Ta. A 2062.
729. _Mercúrie_, Mercury; _Herse_, daughter of Cecrops, beloved by Mercury.
Her sister, Aglauros, had displeased Minerva (_Pallas_); whereupon Minerva
made Aglauros envious of Herse. Mercury turned Aglauros into stone because
she hindered his suit. See Ovid, Met. ii. 708-832.
733. 'Fatal sisters;' i.e. the Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. 'Which
spun my destiny, before any cloth (infant's covering) was made for me.' See
Kn. Ta. A 1566; Leg. G. Wom. 2629.
764. Let sleeping dogs lie; a proverb.
773. 'To hold in hand' is to feed with false hopes, to delude by pretended
love.
775. Lit. 'and make him a hood above a cap.' A _calle_ (caul) was a
close-fitting cap, a skull-cap. To put on a hood over this evidently means
to cover up the eyes, to cajole, to hoodwink.
791, 797. _shal_, owe to. _sholde love_, i.e. are reported to love.
813-836. Founded on Boethius, lib. II. Pr. 4. 'Quàm multis amaritudinibus
humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa est!... Anxia enim res est humanorum
conditio bonorum, et quae uel numquam tota proueniat, uel numquam perpetua
subsistat.... Ad haec, quem caduca ista felicitas uehit, uel scit eam, uel
nescit esse mutabilem. Si nescit, quaenam beata sors esse potest
ignorantiae caecitate? Si scit, metuat necesse est, ne amittat, quod amitti
potest non dubitat; quare continuus timor non sinit esse felicem.... quonam
modo praesens uita facere beatos potest?' See the E. version, ll. 86, 56,
109.
839. 'Why hast thou made Troilus distrust me?'
853, 854. 'Danger is drawn nearer by delay.' We say, 'Delays are
dangerous.' Cf. Havelok, l. 1352. _abodes_, abidings, tarryings.
855. _Néc'_, with elided _e_, forms the first foot. 'Every thing has its
time;' cf. Eccl. iii. 1.
861. _farewel feldefare_, (and people will say) farewell, fieldfare! Cf.
Rom. Rose, 5510. In the Rom. Rose, it refers to false friends, who, when
fortune frowns, say 'Go! farewell fieldfare,' i.e. Begone, we have done
with you. As fieldfares come here in the winter months, people are glad to
see them go, as a sign of approaching summer. In the present case, the
sense appears to be that, when an opportunity is missed, the harm is done;
and people will cry, 'farewell, fieldfare!' by way of derision. We might
paraphrase the line by saying: 'the harm is done, and nobody cares.'
885. _blewe_, blue; the colour of _constancy_.
890. 'Hazle-bushes shake.' This is a truism known to every one, and no news
at all; in like manner, your ring will tell him nothing, and is useless.
901. _feffe him_, enfeoff him, bestow on him. _whyte_, fair.
919. _at pryme face_, at the first glance; _primâ facie_.
931. _At dulcarnon_, at a non-plus, in extreme perplexity. _Dulcarnon_, as
pointed out by Selden, in his Pref. to Drayton's Polyolbion, represents the
Pers. and Arab. _d[=u]'lkarnayn_, lit. two-horned; from Pers. _d[=u]_, two,
and _karn_, horn. It was a common medieval epithet of Alexander the Great,
who was so called because he claimed descent from Jupiter Ammon, whose
image was provided with horns like a ram. Speght rightly says that
_Dulcarnon_ was also a name for the 47th prop. of Euclid, Book I, but gives
a false reason and etymology. The real reason is plain enough, viz. that
the two smaller squares in the diagram stick up like two horns. And, as
this proposition is somewhat difficult for beginners, it here takes the
sense of 'puzzle;' hence Criseyde was _at Dulcarnon_, because she was in
perplexity. Speght refers to Alex. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum; see Wright's
edition, p. 295.
But this is not all. In l. 933, Pandarus explains that Dulcarnon is called
'fleming of wrecches.' There is a slight error here: 'fleming of wrecches,'
i.e. banishment of the miserable, is a translation of _Fuga miserorum_,
which is written opposite this line in MS. Harl. 1239; and further, _Fuga
miserorum_ is a sort of Latin translation of _Eleëfuga_ or _Eleufuga_, from
[Greek: eleos] pity, and [Greek: phygê], flight. The error lies in
confusing _Dulcarnon_, the 47th proposition, with _Eleufuga_, a name for
the 5th proposition; a confusion due to the fact that both propositions
were considered difficult. Roger Bacon, Opus Tertium, cap. 6, says: 'Quinta
propositio geometricae Euclidis dicitur _Elefuga_, id est, _fuga
miserorum_.' Ducange, s. v. _Eleufuga_, quotes from Alanus, Anticlaudiani
lib. iii. cap. 6--'Huius tirones curantis [_read_ cur artis] _Eleufuga_
terret,' &c. The word also occurs in Richard of Bury's Philobiblon, cap.
xiii, somewhat oddly translated by J.B. Inglis in 1832. 'How many scholars
has the Helleflight of Euclid repelled!'
This explanation, partly due to the Rev. W.G. Clark (joint-editor of the
Globe Shakespeare), was first given in the _Athenæum_, Sept. 23, 1871, p.
393, in an article written by myself.
934. _It_, i.e. _Dulcarnon_, or Euclid's proposition. 'It seems hard,
because the wretched pupils will not learn it, owing to their very sloth or
other wilful defects.'
936. _This_ = _this is_; as elsewhere. _fecches_, vetches.
947. Understand _be_; 'where (I hope) good thrift may be.' Cf. 966.
978. _fere_, fire; as in Bk. i. 229. Usually _fyre_.
979. _fond his contenaunce_, lit. found his demeanour, i.e. composed
himself as if to read.
1010. _wivere_, viper; O. F. _wivre_ (F. _givre_), from Lat. _uipera_. The
heraldic _wiver_ or _wyvern_ became a wondrous winged dragon, with two
legs; wholly unlike the original viper. See Thynne's Animadversions, &c.,
ed. Furnivall, p. 41.
1013. 'Alas! that he, either entirely, or a slice of him.'
1021. 'That sufferest undeserved jealousy (to exist).'
1029. _after that_, accordingly; _his_, its.
1035. See note to Bk. ii. 784.
1046. _ordal_, ordeal, trial by ordeal, i.e. by fire or water. See Thynne's
Animadversions, ed. Furnivall, p. 66.
1056. _wreigh_, covered; A. S. _wr[=a]h_; see _wr[=i]hen_ in Stratmann.
1064. _shoures_, assaults. Bell actually substitutes _stouris_, as being
'clearly the true reading.' But editors have no right to reject real words
which they fail to understand. _Shour_ sometimes means a shower of arrows
or darts, an assault, &c.; cf. A.S. _hildesc[=u]r_, a flight of missiles.
In fact, it recurs in this sense in Bk. iv. 47, where Bell again turns it
into _stoure_, against authority.
1067. 'For it seemed to him not like (mere) strokes with a rod ... but he
felt the very cramp of death.'
1106. _al forgeve_, all is forgiven. _stint_, stopped.
1154. _bar him on honde_, assured him.
1177. 'For a crime, there is mercy (to be had).'
1194. _sucre be or soot_, may be like sugar or like soot, i.e. pleasant or
the reverse. We must read _soot_ (not _sote_, sweet, as in Bell) because it
rimes with _moot_. Moreover, soot was once proverbially bitter. 'Bittrore
then the sote' occurs in Altenglische Dichtungen, ed. Boddeker, p. 121; and
in Rutebuef's Vie Sainte Marie l'Egiptianne, ed. Jubinal, 280, we find
'plus amer que suie;' cf. Rom. Rose, 10670: 'amer Plus que n'est suie.'
1215. Cf. 'Bitter pills may have sweet effects;' Hazlitt's Proverbs.
1231. _Bitrent_, for _bitrendeth_, winds round; cf. iv. 870. _wryth_, for
_wrytheth_, writhes.
1235. 'When she hears any shepherd speak.'
1249. 'And often invoked good luck upon her snowy throat.'
1257. _welwilly_, full of good will, propitious.
1258. _Imeneus_, Hymenæus, Hymen; cf. Ovid, Her. xiv. 27.
1261-4. Imitated from Dante, Parad. xxxiii. 14:--
'Che qual vuol grazie, e a te non ricorre,
Sua disianza vuol volar senz' ali.
La tua benignità non pur soccorre,' &c.
1282. 'Mercy prevails over (lit. surpasses) justice.'
1344. 'Or else do I dream it?'
1357. _sooth_, for _sooth is_, i.e. it is true.
1369. Bell takes _scripture_ to mean the mottos or posies on the rings.
Perhaps this is right.
1374. _holt_, holds; 'that holds it in despite.'
1375. 'Of the money, that he can heap up and lay hold of.' For _mokren_,
cf. Chaucer's Boethius, Bk. ii. Pr. 5. 11. _Pens_, pence, is a translation
of Ital. _denari_, money, in the Filostrato, Book iii. st. 38.
1384. _the whyte_, silver coins; _the rede_, gold coins.
1389. _Myda_, Midas; see Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 951.
1391. _Crassus_; wantonly altered to _Cresus_ in Bell's edition, on the
ground that the story is told of Croesus. But Chaucer knew better. M.
Crassus, surnamed Dives (the Rich), was slain in battle against the
Parthians, B. C. 53. Orodes, king of Parthia, caused molten gold to be
poured into the mouth of his dead enemy, saying, 'Sate thyself now with
that metal of which, in life, thou wast so greedy;' Cicero, Att. vi. 1. 14;
Florus, iii. 11. 4.
1407. 'And to counterbalance with joy their former woe'.
1415. The cock is called a common astrologer (i. e. astronomer), because he
announces to all the time of day; cf. Non. Pr. Ta. B 4043; Parl. Foules,
350. Translated from 'vulgaris astrologus;' Alanus.
1417, 9. _Lucifer_, the morning-star, the planet Venus. _Fortuna maior_,
the planet Jupiter. Mars and Saturn were supposed to have an _evil_
influence; the Sun, Mercury, and Moon, had no great influence either way;
whilst Jupiter and Venus had a _good_ influence, and were therefore called,
respectively, _Fortuna maior_ and _Fortuna minor_. See G. Douglas, ed.
Small, ii. 288. The MSS. have _that anoon_, (it happened) that anon; but
this requires us to suppose so awkward an ellipsis that it is better to
read _than_, answering to _whan_.
1428. _Almena_, Alcmena; a note in MS. H. has: 'Almena mater Herculis.'
Alcmena was the mother of Hercules by Jupiter. Jupiter lengthened the night
beyond its usual limit. Plautus has a play on the subject, called
_Amphitruo_, as Jupiter personated Amphitryon.
1437-9. _ther_, wherefore; 'wherefore (I pray that) God, creator of nature,
may bind thee so fast to our hemisphere,' &c. A similar construction occurs
in l. 1456.
1453. _bore_, aperture, chink; 'for every chink lets in one of thy bright
rays.' See New E. Dict.
1462. Engravers of small seals require a good light.
1464. _Tytan_, Titan, frequently used as synonymous with the sun; as in
Ovid, Met. i. 10. Chaucer has confused him with _Tithonus_, the husband of
Aurora, whom he denotes by _dawing_ in l. 1466, and by _morwe_ in l. 1469.
'Iamque, fugatura Tithoni coniuge noctem,
Praeuius Aurorae Lucifer ortus erat.'
Ovid, Heroid. xviii. 111.
1490. Read _wer-e_, in two syllables. _these worldes tweyne_ seems to mean
'two worlds such as this.'
1495. This somewhat resembles Verg. Ecl. i. 60-4.
1502. 'Even if I had to die by torture;' as in Bk. i. 674.
1514. _mo_, others; see note to Cler. Ta. E 1039.
1546. 'Desire burnt him afresh, and pleasure began to arise more than at
first.' Cf. the parallel line in Leg. Good Wom. 1156: 'Of which ther gan to
breden swich a fyr.' Yet Bell rejects this reading as being 'not at all in
Chaucer's manner,' and prefers nonsense.
1577. 'Christ forgave those who crucified him.'
1600. Cf. Æneid. vi. 550:--
'Quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis
Tartareus Phlegethon.'
1625. From Boethius, lib. ii. Pr. 4: 'Sed hoc est, quod recolentem
uehementius coquit. Nam in omni aduersitate fortunae infelicissimum genus
est infortunii, fuisse felicem.' Cf. Dante, Inf. v. 121; Tennyson, Locksley
Hall--'That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.'
1634. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 8301-4; from Ovid, Art. Amat. ii. 13.
1642. _Ne I_, read _N'I_. _rakle_, behave rashly; it is plainly a _verb_,
formed from the adj. _rakel_. Morris inserts _ben_ after _rakel_, to the
ruin of the scansion. Cf. Norweg. _rakla_, to ramble, totter, be unsteady
(Aasen); Swed. dial. _rakkla_, to rove (Rietz); Icel. _reka_, to drive.
1649. _I shal_, I owe; A. S. _ic sceal_.
1687. _comprende_, comprehend; F. _comprendre_. This is clearly the right
form. In the Sq. Ta. F 223, though the MSS. have _comprehende_, it is
obvious that _comprende_ is the real reading.
1703. _Pirous_, i. e. Pyroeis, one of the four horses that drew the chariot
of the sun. The other three were Eöus, Æthon, and Phlegon; see Ovid, Met.
ii. 153.
1705. 'Have taken some short cut, to spite me.'
1732. 'To the extent of a single knot.' It would not be necessary to
explain this, if it were not for Bell's explanation of _knot_ as 'gnat.'
1734. _y-masked_, enmeshed; cf. A. S. _masc_, a mesh.
1744-68. Paraphrased from Boethius, lib. ii. Met. 8; but note that the
lines italicised are transposed, and represent ll. 1744-1750:
'Quòd mundus stabili fide Concordes uariat uices,
Quòd pugnantia semina Foedus perpetuum tenent,
Quòd Phoebus roseum diem Curru prouehit aureo,
Ut quas duxerit Hesperus Phoebe noctibus imperet,
Ut fluctus auidum mare Certo fine coërceat,
Ne terris liceat uagis Latos tendere terminos.
_Hanc rerum seriem ligat, Terras ac pelagus regens,
Et caelo imperitans Amor._ Hic si fraena remiserit,
Quidquid nunc amat inuicem, Bellum continuò geret:
Et quam nunc socia fide Pulcris motibus incitant,
Certent soluere machinam. Hic sancto populos quoque
Iunctos foedere continet: Hic et coniugii sacrum
Castis nectit amoribus: Hic fidis etiam sua
Dictat iura sodalibus. O felix hominum genus,
Si uestros animos Amor Quo caelum regitur, regat!'
1764. _halt to-hepe_, holds together, preserves in concord. Bell and Morris
have the corrupt reading _to kepe_. _To hepe_, to a heap, became the adv.
_to-hepe_, together. It occurs again in Ch. Astrolabe, Part I. § 14, and in
Boethius, Bk. iv. Pr. 6. 182. Cf. 'gaderen tresor _to-hepe_,' Polit. Songs,
ed. Wright, p. 325; 'han brought it _to-hepe_,' P. Ploughman's Crede, l.
727.
1766. 'That Love, by means of his power, would be pleased,' &c.
1779. _In tyme of trewe_, in time of truce; as in Boccaccio, Fil. iii. st.
91. Bell wrongly has _Out of Troy_. Morris alters _trewe_ to _trewes_; but
see Bk. iv. l. 1312.
1805. These are four of the seven deadly sins; see Pers. Tale.
1807. _lady_, i. e. Venus, called _Dionaea_ as being daughter of Dione;
Æneid. iii. 19. Cf. Homer, Il. v. 370.
1809. The nine Muses. Helicon was a long way from Mount Parnassus; but see
notes to Anelida, 15, and Ho. Fame, 521.
1817. 'As it pleases my author to relate.'
BOOK IV.
The following scheme gives some notion of the relationship of the contents
of this book to the Filostrato, but Chaucer constantly expands and adds to
the original, and not unfrequently transposes the order of the text.
TROILUS: BOOK IV. FILOSTRATO.
1-10. Bk. III. st. 94.
29-35. Bk. IV. st. 1.
47-110. " 2-10.
127-166. " 12-16.
211-217. " 17.
218-385. " 22, 23, 26-46.
393-406. " 47, 48.
414-451. " 49, 50.
459-497. " 52, 54, 56-58.
501-787. " 60-89, 92, 93, 88-91.
799-821. " 95, 96.
848-925, 939-946. " 98-109 (l. 1).
1089-1095, 1108-1260. " 109 (l. 4)-127.
1310-1400. " 131-136.
1422-1446. " 137-140.
1464-1542, 1555-1694. " 141-167.
1. In the Proem, ll. 1-3 correspond to Fil. iii. st. 94, ll. 1-3; and ll. 8
and 10 to the same stanza, ll. 4 and 7. The rest is original.
3. Cf. Boethius, lib. ii. Pr. 1: 'Intelligo ... illius [Fortunae] ... cum
his, quos eludere nititur, blandissimam familiaritatem.'
5. _hent and blent_, for _hendeth and blendeth_, catches and blinds.
6, 7. Cf. Boethius, lib. ii. Met. 2: 'Ultroque gemitus, dura quos fecit
[Fortuna], ridet.' Whence, in Le Roman de la Rose, 8076-9, the passage
which Chaucer here imitates; _the mowe_ = F. _la moe_.
22. _Herines_ i. e. Furies; used as the pl. of _Erynis_ or _Erinnys_; see
note to Compl. to Pite, 92. Their names (see l. 24) were Megaera, Alecto,
and Tisiphone. Bell's remark, that Chaucer found these names in Boccaccio,
does not seem to be founded on fact. He more likely found them in Vergil,
who has _Erinnys_, Æn. ii. 336, 573; vii. 447, 570; _Alecto_, id. vii. 324,
341, 405, 415, 445, 476; _Megæra_, id. xii. 846; _Tisiphone_, vi. 571, x.
761. But I suppose that, even in Chaucer's time, MS. note-books existed,
containing such information as the names of the Furies. Chaucer even knew
that some (as Æschylus) considered them to be the daughters of Night.
25. _Quiryne_, Quirinus. Ovid, Fasti, ii. 476, tells us that Quirinus was
Romulus; and just above, ii. 419, that Romulus and Remus were sons of Mars.
29. _Ligginge ... The Grekes_, while the Greeks lay.
32. _Hercules Lyoun_, Hercules' lion, the lion of Hercules; alluding to the
lion's skin which Hercules wore. Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon, lib. i.
263, has 'Herculeo ... leoni;' and Chaucer seems to have read this author,
or at any rate his first book; see Leg. of Good Women, l. 1457, and the
note. However, Chaucer shews his knowledge of the story clearly enough in
his tr. of Boethius, Bk. iv. Met. 7. The reference is, simply, to the sign
Leo. The sun was in this sign during the latter part of July and the former
part of August; but we are further told that he was in the 'breast' of Leo,
and therefore near the very bright star Regulus, called in Arabic
_Kalbalased_, or the Lion's Heart, which was situated almost on the zodiac,
and (at that time) near the 20th degree of the sign. This gives the date as
being the first week in August.
41. _in the berd_, in the beard, i. e. face to face.
47. _shour_, assault, attack; see note to Bk. iii. 1064.
50-4. From Boccaccio. The right names are Antenor, Polydamas, Menestheus or
Mnestheus, Xanthippus, Sarpedon, Polymnestor, Polites, Riphaeus, all
mentioned by Boccaccio, who probably took them from Guido delle Colonne.
But Boccaccio omits 'Phebuseo,' and I do not know who is meant. Several of
these names may be found in the allit. Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and
Donaldson; as Antenor and his son Polydamas, at ll. 3947, 3954; Xanthippus,
king of Phrygia, l. 6107; Sarpedon, prince of Lycia, l. 5448; and in
Lydgate's Siege of Troy, Bk. ii. capp. 16, 20. Polymestor, or Polymnestor,
was king of the Thracian Chersonese, and an ally of the Trojans. Polites
was a son of Priam (Æneid. ii. 526). Mnestheus is repeatedly mentioned in
Vergil (Æn. v. 116, &c.), and is also called Menestheus (id. x. 129); he is
a different person from Menestheus, king of Athens, who fought on the other
side. For Riphaeus, see Verg. Aen. ii. 339. The Ital. forms are Antenorre,
Polidamas, Monesteo, Santippo, Serpedon, Polinestorre, Polite, Rifeo.
Observe that Monostéo, Riphéo, Phebuséo rime together, with an accent on
the penultimate.
62. _thassege_, for _the assege_, the siege; Barbour has _assege_, siege,
in his Bruce, xvii. 270, xx. 8; pl. _assegis_, xx. 12. MS. H. wrongly has
_thessage_. See l. 1480 below.
64. _Calkas_, Calchas; see Bk. i. 66, 71.
79. _This town to shende_, i. e. (it will be best for you) to despoil this
town.
86. _resport_, regard. This strange word is certified by its reappearance
in l. 850, where it rimes to _discomfórt_. It is given in Roquefort, but
only in a technical sense. It was, doubtless, formed from O. F. _esport_,
deportment, demeanour, regard (Godefroy), by prefixing _re-_; and means
'demeanour towards,' or (here) simply 'regard,' as also in l. 850. The
etymology is from Lat. _re-_, _ex_, and _portare_. Cf. F. _rapport_, from
_re-_, _ad_, and _portare_.
96. _in hir sherte_, in her smock only; i.e. without much rich clothing;
'as she was.'
99. 'For because I saw no opportunity.'
112. _as yerne_, as briskly as possible, very soon; so in l. 201.
120-4. Laomedon, father of Priam, founded Troy. Apollo and Poseidon
(Neptune) had been condemned for a while to serve him for wages. But
Laomedon refused them payment, and incurred their displeasure.
133. Antenor had been taken prisoner by the Greeks; see Lydgate, Siege of
Troye, Bk. iii. ch. 24. Lydgate's version is that Antenor was to be
exchanged for Thoas, king of Calydon; and, at the request of Chalcas, it
was arranged that Antenor should be exchanged for both Thoas and Criseyde
(see l. 138); to which Priam consented.
_withoute more_, without further ado; cf. l. 376.
143. _parlement_; here Boccaccio has _parlamento_, i.e. a parley. Chaucer
gives it the English sense.
168. 'The love of you both, where it was before unknown.'
197. From Juvenal, Sat. x. ll. 2-4:--
'pauci dignoscere possunt
Vera bona atque illis multum diuersa, remota
Erroris nebula.'
Cf. Dryden's translation and Dr. Johnson's poem on the Vanity of Human
Wishes.
198, 9. _what is to yerne_, what is desirable. _offence_, disappointment.
203. _mischaunce_; because Antenor contrived the removal from Troy of the
Palladium, on which the safety of the city depended. Cf. Lydgate, Siege of
Troye, Bk. iv. ch. 34; or the account by Caxton, quoted in Specimens of
English from 1394-1579, ed. Skeat, p. 89.
210. _here and howne._ The sense of this phrase is not known; but, judging
by the context, it seems to mean--'thus said every one, such was the common
rumour.' It has been explained as 'thus said _hare_ and _hound_,' i.e.
people of all sorts; but the M. E. form of _hare_ is _hare_ (A. S. _hara_),
and the M. E. form of 'hound' never appears as _howne_, which, by the way,
is evidently dissyllabic. In the absence of further evidence, guesswork is
hardly profitable; but I should like to suggest that the phrase may mean
'gentle and savage.' The M. E. _here_, gentle, occurs in Layamon, 25867;
and in Amis and Amiloun, 16 (Stratmann); from A. S. _h[=e]ore_. _Houne_
answers, phonetically, to an A. S. _H[=u]na_, which may mean a Hun, a
savage; cf. Ger. _Hüne_.
225. From Dante, Inf. iii. 112:--
'Come d'autunno si levan le foglie
L'una appresso dell' altra infin che 'l ramo
Rende alla terra tutte le sue spoglie.'
239. This stanza follows Boccaccio closely; but Boccaccio, in his turn,
here imitates a passage in Dante, Inf. xii. 22:--
'Qual è quel toro che si slaccia in quella
C'ha ricevuto già 'l colpo mortale,
Che gir non sa, ma qua e là saltella.'
251, 2. Almost repeated in the Clerk Ta. E 902, 3; see note to the latter
line, and cf. Gower, Conf. Amant. ii. 14--'Right as a lives creature She
semeth,' &c.
263. In MS. H., _thus_ is glossed by 'sine causa.'
272. Accent _misérie_ on _e_; 'Nella miseria;' Inf. v. 123.
279. _combre-world_, encumbrance of the world, a compound epithet. It is
used by Hoccleve, in his lament for Chaucer, De Regim. Principum, st. 299.
'A _cumber-world_, yet in the world am left;' Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. ii.
25.
286. _gerful_, changeable; see note to Kn. Ta. A 1536.
300. _Edippe_, Oedipus, king of Thebes, who put out his own eyes on finding
that he had slain his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta; Statius,
Theb. i. 46.
302. Rossetti thus translates Fil. iv. st. 34: 'O soul, wretched and
astray, Why fliest thou not out of the most ill-fortuned body that lives? O
soul brought low, part from the body, and follow Chryseis.'
305. _unneste_, glossed in H. by 'go out of thi nest;' correctly.
318. Read _my_, not _the_ or _thy_; Rossetti thus translates Fil. iv. st.
36: 'O my Chryseis, O sweet bliss of the sorrowing soul which calls on
thee! Who will any more give comfort to _my_ pains?'
330. _unholsom_; Boccaccio has _insano_, Fil. iv. st. 38. 'I think it
pretty clear that B. means _insane_ in our ordinary sense for that word;
but Chaucer's _unholsom_ is no doubt founded on B.'s epithet, and is highly
picturesque.'--Rossetti.
356, 7. Nearly repeated in Man of Lawes Ta. B 608, 9. See l. 882.
381. 'As certainly do I wish it were false, as I know it is true.'
392. _propretee_, his own indefeasible possession; see Boethius, Bk. ii.
Pr. 2. 9 (p. 27), 61 (p. 28).
407. Pandarus took his morality from Ovid; cf. Amorum lib. ii. 4. 10-44:
'Centum sunt causae, cur ego semper amem;' &c.
413. _heroner_, a large falcon for herons; _faucon for rivere_, a goshawk
for waterfowl. See note to Sir Thopas, B 1927.
414, 5. From Boccaccio, who does not, however, give the name of the author
of the saying. The remark 'as Zanzis writeth' is Chaucer's own. It is quite
clear that _Zanzis_ in this passage is the same as the _Zanzis_ in the
Physiciens Tale, C 16; and he is no other than Zeuxis the painter. I do not
suppose that Chaucer had any special reason for assigning to him the
saying, but his name was as useful as that of any one else, and the
medieval method of reference is frequently so casual and light-hearted that
there is nothing to wonder at. Besides, we are distinctly told (l. 428)
that Pandarus was speaking _for the nonce_, i.e. quite at random. The real
author is Ovid: 'Successore nouo uincitur omnis amor;' Remed. Amor. 462.
460. _pleyen raket_, play at rackets, knocking the ball forwards and
backwards; alluding to the rebound of the ball after striking the wall.
461. _Netle in, dokke out_ means, as Chaucer says, first one thing and then
another. The words are taken from a charm for curing the sting of a nettle,
repeated whilst the patient rubs in the juice from a dock-leaf. The usual
formula is simply, 'in dock, out nettle,' for which see Brockett's Glossary
of North-Country Words, s. v. _dockon_ (dock); but Chaucer is doubtless
correct. He refers to a fuller form of words, given in Notes and Queries,
1st Ser. iii. 368:--
'Nettle in, dock out--Dock in, nettle out;
Nettle in, dock out--Dock rub nettle out.'
Akermann's Glossary of Wiltshire Words gives a third formula, as follows:--
'Out 'ettle, in dock--Dock shall ha' a new smock;
'Ettle zhan't ha' narrun.'
i.e. nettle shan't have ne'er one. See also N. and Q. 1st Ser. iii. 205,
368; xi. 92; Athenæum, Sept. 12, 1846; Brand, Pop. Antiq. iii. 315.
In the Testament of Love, Bk. i., the present passage is quoted in the
following form: 'Ye wete wel, lady, eke (quod I) that _I haue not playde
racket, nettyl in, docke out_, and with the wethercocke waued;' ed. 1550,
fol. cccv. col. 2. This shews that the text is correct.
462. 'Now ill luck befall her, that may care for thy wo.'
481-3. _gabbestow_, liest thou. Ll. 482, 3 are a reproduction of Pandarus'
own saying, in Bk. iii. 1625-8.
493. Deficient in the first foot; read--'I | that liv'd' | &c.
497. _formely_; Cm. _formaly_; for _formelly_, i.e. formally.
503. From Boethius, Bk. i. Met. 1. 13, 14 (p. 1).
506. Troilus speaks as if dead already. 'Well wot I, whilst I lived in
peace, before thou (death) didst slay me, I would have given (thee) hire;'
i.e. a bribe, not to attack me.
520. _alambyk_, alembic; i.e. a retort, or vessel used in distilling; in
Cant. Ta. G 794, MS. E. has the pl. _alambikes_, and most other MSS. have
_alembikes_. The word was afterwards split up into _a lembick_ or _a
limbeck_; see Macb. i. 7. 67. Chaucer took this from Le Rom. de la Rose,
6406-7:--
'Je vois maintes fois que tu plores
Cum alambic sus alutel.'
556. 'Then think I, this would injure her reputation.'
583. 'But if I had so ardent a love, and had thy rank.'
588. Cf. the phrase 'a nine days' wonder.' Lat. _nouendiale sacrum_; Livy,
i. 31.
600. 'Audentes Fortuna iuuat;' Æneid. x. 284; 'Fortes Fortuna adiuuat';
Terence, Phormio, i. 4. 26.
602. 'Unhardy is unsely;' Reves Ta. A 4210.
603. For _litel_, MS. H. and Thynne have _lite_. It makes no difference,
either to the sense or the scansion.
607. _for ferd_, for fear (H2. _for drede_; Thynne, _for feare_). Properly
_for ferde_, as in Ho. Fame, 950; but often shortened to _for ferd_.
_Ferde_ or _ferd_ is tolerably common as a sb., but some scribes hardly
understood it. Hence MSS. Cl. and H. have _of-fered_, i.e. greatly
frightened.
618. Cf. Kn. Ta. A 1163-8; and the notes.
622. 'Boldly stake the world on casts of the dice.' Cf. Cant. Tales, B 125,
C 653, and the notes.
627. Nearly repeated in Kn. Tale, A 1010.
630. 'The devil help him that cares about it.'
659-61. From Boccaccio, Fil. iv. st. 78; cf. Æneid. iv. 188.
683. 'And expected to please her.' _For pitous Ioye_ represents 'pietosa
allegrezza,' Fil. iv. st. 80.
684. 'Dear enough at a mite;' cf. note to L. G. Wom. 741.
692. _on every syde_; 'd'ogni partito;' Fil. iv. 81. I suppose it means,
literally, 'on every side;' Troy being subject to attacks at various
points.
708-14. Certainly genuine; found also in Fil. iv. 84.
716. Deficient in the first foot.
735. Dr. Furnivall says that MSS. Cl., H., and others have here misplaced a
stanza, meaning that ll. 750-6 should have come next, as shewn by
Boccaccio's text. But only MS. Cm. has such an order, and it is quite
certain that the other MSS. are right. The order in Boccaccio's text
furnishes no real guide, as Chaucer often transposes such order; and it is
odd that only this _one_ instance should have been noted. It is better to
consider the order in MS. Cm. as wrong, and to say that it transposes the
text by placing ll. 750-6 after l. 735, and gives a somewhat different
version of ll. 750-2.
736. _ounded_, waved, wavy; see Ho. Fame, 1386, and note. Cf. 'Tear my
bright hair,' &c.; Shak. Troilus, iv. 2. 112.
750. Cf. note to l. 735. MS. Cm., which inserts this stanza after l. 735,
begins thus:--
'The salte teris from hyre ey[gh]yn tweyn
Out ran, as schour of Aprille ful swythe;
Hyre white brest sche bet, and for the peyne,' &c.
762. This line, giving the name of Criseyde's mother, is not in Boccaccio
(Fil. iv. stt. 89-93). I do not know where Chaucer found the form _Argyve_;
in Statius, Theb. ii. 297, _Argia_ is the name of the wife of Polynices,
and Ch. calls her _Argyve_; see Bk. v. l. 1509 below.
769, 70. _by-word_, proverb: 'plants without a root soon die.'
782. _ordre_, order. She will pass her life in mourning and abstinence, as
if she had entered a religious order.
790. _Elysos_, Elysium. It looks as if Chaucer was thinking of Vergil's
'Elysios ... campos;' Georg. i. 38; for the story of Orpheus and Eurydice
occurs in Georg. iv. 453-527. Cf. Ovid, Met. x. 1-85.
829. _cause causinge_, the primary cause. '_Causa causans_, a primary or
original cause; _causa causata_, a secondary or intermediate cause;' New E.
Dict., s. v. _Causa_.
831. _Wher_, short for _whether_; as in Cant. Ta. B 3119, &c.
836. 'Extrema gaudii luctus occupat;' Prov. xiv. 13. See note to Man of
Lawes Ta. B 421.
842. The first foot is deficient: 'Peyn | e tor | ment,' &c.
843. 'There is no misery that is not within my body.'
850. _resport_, regard; see note to l. 86 above.
865. Compare the similar lines in Kn. Ta. A 1400, 1.
866. _men_, weakened form of _man_, takes a sing. verb.
870. _Bi-trent_, winds round; see note to iii. 1231.
884. _into litel_, within a little, very nearly.
887. _fawe_, gladly; cf. Cant. Ta. D 220.
907. _bane_, destruction; see Kn. Ta. A 1097, 1681.
927. 'Be to him rather a cause of the _flat_ than of the _edge_,' i.e. of
healing rather than of harming. A curious allusion which is fully explained
by reference to the Squieres Tale, F 156-165. See also note to the same, F
238.
947-1085. This passage is not in Boccaccio, but some of it is in Boethius;
see below.
963-1078. A considerable portion of this passage is copied, more or less
closely, from Boethius, lib. v. Pr. 2 and Pr. 3. The correspondences are
all pointed out below. Chaucer's own prose translation should be compared.
For example, the word _wrythen_ (l. 986) appears in that also (Bk. v. Pr.
3. 15).
963-6. 'Quae tamen ille, ab aeterno cuncta prospiciens, prouidentiae cernit
intuitus, et suis quaeque meritis praedestinata disponit;' Boeth. v. Pr. 2
(end).
968. _grete clerkes_; such as Boethius, Saint Augustine, and bishop
Bradwardine; see Non. Pr. Ta. B 4431, 2.
974-80. 'Nam si cuncta prospicit Deus, neque falli ullo modo potest,
euenire necesse est, quod prouidentia futurum esse praeuiderit. Quare si ab
aeterno non facta hominum modo, sed etiam consilia uoluntatesque
praenoscit, nulla erit arbitrii libertas;' Boeth. v. Pr. 3. 981-7
(_continued_): 'neque enim uel factum aliud ullum, uel quaelibet existere
poterit uoluntas, nisi quam nescia falli prouidentia diuina praesenserit.
Nam si res aliorsum, quam prouisae sunt, detorqueri ualent, non iam erit
futuri firma praescientia.' 988-994 (_continued_): 'sed opinio potius
incerta: quod de Deo credere nefas iudico.'
996. I.e. who have received the tonsure.
997-1001. 'Aiunt enim, non ideo quid esse euenturum, quoniam id prouidentia
futurum esse prospexerit: sed è contrario potius, quoniam quid futurum est,
id diuinam prouidentiam latere non posse;' Boeth. v. Pr. 3. 1002-1008
(_continued_): 'eoque modo necessarium hoc in contrariam relabi partem.
Neque enim necesse est contingere, quae prouidentur; sed necesse esse, quae
futura sunt, prouideri.' 1009-1015 (_continued_): 'Quasi uero, quae
cuiusque rei caussa sit, praescientiane futurorum necessitatis, an
futurorum necessitas prouidentiae, laboretur.' 1016-1022 (_continued_): 'At
nos illud demonstrare nitamur, quoquo modo sese habeat ordo caussarum,
necessarium esse euentum praescitarum rerum, etiam si praescientia futuris
rebus eueniendi necessitatem non uideatur inferre.'
(The negative in l. 1016 is remarkable, but Chaucer's prose rendering
presents the same form. Surely he has taken _nitamur_ as if it were
_uitamus_.)
1023-9. (_continued_): 'Etenim si quispiam sedeat, opinionem quae eum
sedere coniectat ueram esse necesse est: atque è conuerso rursus, (1030-6)
si de quopiam uera sit opinio, quoniam sedet, eum sedere necesse est. In
utroque igitur necessitas inest: in hoc quidem sedendi, at uerò in altero
ueritatis.' 1037-1047 (_continued_): 'Sed non idcirco quisque sedet,
quoniam uera est opinio; sed haec potius uera est, quoniam quempiam sedere
praecessit. Ita cùm caussa ueritatis ex altera parte procedat, inest tamen
communis in utraque necessitas. Similia de prouidentia futurisque rebus
ratiocinari patet.' 1051-78 (_continued_): 'Nam etiam si idcirco, quoniam
futura sunt, prouidentur; non uero ideo, quoniam prouidentur eueniunt:
nihilo minus tamen à Deo uel uentura prouideri, uel prouisa euenire necesse
est: quod ad perimendam arbitrii libertatem solùm satis est. Iam uero quam
praeposterum est, ut aeternae praescientiae temporalium rerum euentus
caussa esse dicatur? Quid est autem aliud arbitrari, ideo Deum futura,
quoniam sunt euentura, prouidere, quam putare quae olim acciderunt, caussam
summae illius esse prouidentiae? Ad haec, sicuti cum quid esse scio, id
ipsum esse necesse est: ita cum quid futurum noui, id ipsum futurum necesse
est. Sic fit igitur, ut euentus praescitae rei nequeat euitari.'
1094. _ferd_, fared; not the pp. of _faren_ (l. 1087), but of the weak verb
_feren_ (A. S. _f[=e]ran_). The correct pp. of _faren_ is _faren_. See
Stratmann.
1105. 'A man may offer his neck soon enough when it (i. e. his head) must
come off.'
1136. 'Beyond the nature of tears.'
1139. Myrrha, daughter of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, who was changed into a
myrrh-tree; Ovid, Met. x. 298. The tree wept tears of myrrh; id. x. 500.
1146. _hir-e_ (MS. Cl. _here_), their, is here dissyllabic. _unswelle_,
cease to swell, as in Bk. v. 214.
1147. 'All hoarse, and exhausted with shrieking.' _forshright_ is the pp.
of _forshriken_, to shriek excessively. Bell wrongly has _for shright_; but
_shright_ is not a noun. The Ital. has 'con _rotta_ voce,' with broken
voice; Fil. iv. st. 116.
1153. 'Being always on the point of departing.'
1162. 'Whether it was sad for him.'
1174. Cf. 'And _bisily_ gan,' &c.; Prol. A 301.
1179. _preignant_ (F. _preignant_, _pregnant_, Cotgrave), catching hold of
tightly, hence, forcible; pres. part. of _prendre_, to seize. Quite
distinct from _pregnant_ when representing Lat. _praegnans_.
1181. _woon_, hope, resource. This answers to Early E. _w[=a]n_ (see
Stratmann), and is allied to Icel. _ván_, hope, expectation; cf. Icel.
_væna_, to hope for, to ween. The word is monosyllabic, and the long _o_ is
'open,' as shewn by its riming with _noon_, _goon_, from A. S. _n[=a]n_,
_g[=a]n_. Bell quite fails to explain it, and Morris suggests 'remedy,'
without assigning any reason. It is common in Rob. of Gloucester, with
similar rimes, and does not mean 'custom' or 'habit' or 'manner,' as
suggested in Mr. Wright's Glossary, nor has it any connection with M. E.
_wone_, custom, which was dissyllabic, and had a short vowel in the former
syllable; but it means, as here, 'hope' or 'resource.' For example: 'tho he
ne sey other _won_' = when he saw nothing else to be done; Rob. Glouc. ed.
Hearne, p. 12; ed. Wright, l. 275. 'And flowe in-to hor castles, vor hii
nadde other _won_,' i. e. no other resource; id. p. 19, ed. Hearne, l. 442.
This is one of the rather numerous words in Chaucer that have not been
rightly understood.
1185. _twighte_, plucked; pt. t. of _twicchen_.
1188. 'Where the doom of Minos would assign it a place.' Boccaccio here
uses the word _inferno_ (Fil. iv. 120) to denote the place where Troilus'
soul would dwell; which Rossetti explains to mean simply Hades. Chaucer's
meaning is the same; he is referring to Æneid. vi. 431-3.
1208. Atropos is the Fate who cuts the thread of life; see note to v. 7.
1237. _a forlong wey_, two minutes and a half, to speak exactly; see note
to C. T., A 3637.
1241. Either _slayn_ is here expanded into _slayen_, or the pause after
this word does duty for a syllable, in the scansion.
1242. _ho_, stop, cease; see Kn. Ta. A 1706.
1244. _ther-e_ is here made into a dissyllable.
1245. _morter_, mortar. The Century Dict. quotes from Dugdale's Hist. of
St. Paul's (ed. Ellis), p. 27: 'A _mortar_ was a wide bowl of iron or
metal; it rested upon a stand or branch, and was filled either with fine
oil or wax, which was kept burning by means of a broad wick [at funerals or
on tombs].' It was named from its similarity in shape to the _mortar_ in
which things were pounded. I remember the word in common use; it came to
denote what is now called a _night-light_, and the word _night-light_ seems
to have nearly displaced it. In this modern contrivance, the old 'mortar'
is sometimes represented by a paper casing. The term was frequently
applied, not merely to the saucer which held the grease, but to the light
itself, which sometimes took the shape of a short candle. Cotgrave explains
F. _mortier_ as 'a kind of small chamber-lamp.' Instead of _morter_, MS.
Cm. has _percher_, which meant a kind of wax candle placed upon a branch or
bar called a _perche_ (perch).
1295. 'About that (there) is no question.' Cf. l. 1694.
1374. _wether_, sheep. I. e. it is advisable to give the wolf a limb of a
sheep, in order to save the rest.
1377. _grave_, incise, make an impression upon.
1380. _moble_ (H., H2. _moeble_), movable property; cf. F. _meubles_.
1404. 'Whilst he is making his divination; and I will make him believe.'
Ll. 1401-14 are due to a passage in Guido; see allit. Destruction of Troy,
8101-40.
1406. _amphibologyes_, ambiguities. A more correct form is _amphiboly_,
from Gk. [Greek: amphibolia]; see New E. Dict. The ambiguous character of
the old oracular responses is well known.
1411. 'When he started away from Delphi for fear.' Cf. l. 607.
1422. See note to Book i. 463.
1425. _the selve wit_, the same opinion.
1435. _clere_, clear of woe, free, light. MS. H. has _chere_.
1453. 'The bear has one opinion, and his leader another.'
1456. Repeated in Kn. Ta. A 2449; see note.
1459. 'With eyes like Argus;' i. e. seeing everywhere. Argus had a hundred
eyes; Ovid, Met. i. 625.
1483. _fere_, frighten, terrify; as in Bk. ii. 124.
1505. 'To lose the substance, for the sake of something accidentally
representing it;' as when the dog dropped the piece of meat, in his anxiety
to get the shadow (or reflected image) of it. As to the famous words
_substance_ and _accident_, see note to Pard. Ta. C 539.
1525. _go we_, let us go; also written _gowe_, P. Plowm. B. Pr. 226.
1538-40. Juno caused Athamas, the husband of Ino, to run mad. As Ovid tells
the story, Juno descended into hell, and crossed the Styx, in order to
persuade the fury Tisiphone to haunt Athamas. Hence the mention of the Styx
was readily suggested. See Ovid, Met. iv. 416-561, esp. l. 434. Styx was
not, as Chaucer says, 'the pit of hell,' but a river that flowed through
it.
1544. _Satiry and Fauny_, Satyri and Fauni, Satyrs and Fauns. Chaucer was
probably thinking of Ovid, Met. vi. 392-4, where the _Fauni_, _Satyri_, and
_Nymphae_ are described as 'ruricolae, siluarum numina.' For _halve
goddes_, we now say _demigods_.
1548. _Simois_, a river of Troas; Æneid. i. 100.
1560. _laye_, would lie; subj. The _e_ is elided.
1562. _take_, take place, be made. Thynne has _be take_, but _be_ clogs the
line, and is not in the MSS.
1584. 'Vincit qui patitur;' see Frank. Ta. F 773.
1585. 'He who will have what he wants must give up what he likes.' Such
seems to be the sense intended. _Leef_ means 'dear.' One of Heywood's
proverbs is--'Nought lay down, nought take up;' and very similar to this
is--'Nothing venture, nothing have.' For the second _leef_, MS. H. has
_lyfe_, a reading adopted by Bell and Morris. This takes all point out of
the saying, and does not seem applicable to the case. Ll. 1587 and 1588
repeat the saying in another form, and confirm the reading in the text. Cf.
Boeth. Bk. ii. Pr. 4. 98.
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.
1608. _Cynthia_, i. e. Diana, the moon; Ovid, Met. ii. 465.
1612. 'To lose one opportunity, in order to gain another.'
1620. _pure_, very; as in Kn. Ta. A 1279.
1628. 'Who can hold a thing that tries to get away?'
'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.
1645. 'Res est solliciti plena timoris amor;' Ovid, Her. i. 12.
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.'
1682. _fórtun-è_ is trisyllabic.
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.
TROILUS: BOOK V. FILOSTRATO.
ll. 1-7. [_Teseide_, Bk. ix. st. 1.]
8-14. [_Teseide_, Bk. ii. st. 1.]
15-91. Bk. v. st. 1-13.
190-266. " 14-21, 24-28.
280-295. " 22.
323-336, 351-372. " 29-32.
386-686. " 33-38, 40-62, 67-71.
687-693. Bk. vi. 1 (ll. 1-3), 6.
708-777. " 1 (l. 4)-8.
785-798, 820. Bk. vi. 10, 11.
799-805, 817. " 33; Bk. i. 28 (l. 8).
841-1001. " 9, 11-31.
1100-1274. Bk. vii. 1-33.
1275-1309. " 37, 40-43, 48-50.
1310-1327. " 51, 52.
1335, 1336. " 74 (ll. 7, 8).
1338-1421. " 53-75.
1422-1444. " 76, 105, 77, 76.
1450-1456. " 84, 26.
1513-1521. " 27, 90.
1523-1554. " 100-102, 104, 106.
1555-1589. Bk. viii. 1-5.
1632-1701. " 6-15.
1702-1768. " 21, 17, 19-26.
1800-1806. " 27.
1807-1827. [_Teseide_, Bk. xi. 1-3.]
1828-1841. " 28, 29.
1863-1865. [Dante, _Par._ xiv. 28-30.]
3. _Parcas_, Fates; the accusative case, as usual.
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.
12, 13. _sone of Hecuba_, Troilus; _hir_, Criseyde.
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 _-[=o]re_, with long close _o_; ll. 23, 25, 26
on _-[)o]re_, 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.
53. 'Upon the report of such behaviour of his.'
65. So in Boccaccio: 'Con un falcone in pugno;' Fil. v. st. 10.
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.
89. To know one's creed is very elementary knowledge.
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.'
98. This resembles 'to take care of No. 1.'
101. _make it tough_, raise a difficulty, viz. by disparaging Troilus.
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.
143. _O god of love_, one and the same god of love.
151. _this_, contracted form of _this is_. _enseled_, sealed up.
158. _As paramours_, as by way of love. Cf. l. 332.
180. See below (l. 530), and Man of Lawes Ta. B 697. We can read either
_brast_ (burst), or _braste_ (would burst).
182. _sye_, to sink down; A. S. _s[=i]gan_; see _si[gh]en_ in Stratmann.
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.'
The _-e_ in _mild-e_ is not elided; the A. S. _milde_ is dissyllabic.
208. _Cipryde_, i.e. Cypris, or Venus; see note to Parl. Foules, 277.
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.
249. _as mete_, as (for instance) dream; see l. 251.
283. 'Although he had sworn (to do so) on forfeit of his head.'
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.
332. _paramours_, passionately; an adverb, as usual; cf. l. 158.
345. _By freendes might_, by constraint of their relatives.
350. _hurt_, for _hurteth_, hurts; present tense.
360. On dreams, cf. Non. Pr. Ta. B 4113-4129, 4280-4.
365-8. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 18709-12, q. v.
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.
421. _of fyne force_, by very necessity.
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.
460. _For_, because; as frequently.
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.
478. _her-e_ is dissyllabic; as in Ho. Fame, 980, 1014, 1885, 1912, &c.
479. _congeyen us_, bid us take leave, dismiss us.
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_.
552. As to kissing the door, see note to Rom. Rose, 2676.
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_.
664. _Pheton_, Phaethon; alluding to Ovid, Met. ii. 34, 47, &c.
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.
769. _knotteles_; 'like a thread in which there is no knot.'
784. 'Nothing venture, nothing have.'
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.
852. See the parallel line, Squi. Ta. F 294; cf. Bk. iii. 674.
883. _as who seyth_, so to speak.
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.
911-938. These lines are fairly close to the original.
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.
975. She was a widow; Bk. i. 97. In l. 977, she lies boldly.
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.'
1016. I. e. Venus was seen as 'the evening-star.'
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 ([alpha] Leonis) and Spica Virginis
([alpha] 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.
1051. I cannot find this in Guido.
1062. 'My bell shall be rung;' my story shall be told.
1104. I.e. 'on the morrow of which.'
1107. Cf. 'laurigero ... Phoebo'; Ovid, Art. Am. iii. 389.
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.
1133. _cape_, gape; see Miller's Tale, A 3444, 3841 (footnotes).
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.
1151. Deficient in the first foot; hardly a good line.
1155. 'Think it not tedious to (have to) wait.'
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.
1163-9. Cf. Romeo's speech in Rom. v. 1. 1-11.
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. _fyrng[=e]arum fr[=o]d_, wise with the
experience of past years, Phoenix, 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.
1274. 'Whereas I daily destroy myself by living.'
1313. _rolleth_, revolves; see Pard. Ta. C 838; Somn. Ta. D 2217.
1335. 'And for that which is defaced, ye may blame the tears.'
1354. 'I sigh with sorrowful sighs.' MS. Cm. has _sikis I sike_.
1368. 'I can only say that, being a receptacle for every sorrow, I was
still alive.' _cheste_, box; like that of Pandora.
1372. 'Until I see the contents of your reply.'
1431. 'Bottomless promises;' i. e. that held nothing.
1433. See the parallel line, Kn. Ta. A 1838, and note.
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.
1483. _moder_; his mother Althaea; see Ovid, Met. viii. 445.
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.
BOOK I. Polynices and Tydeus meet, and become allies.
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).
VIII. Tydeus is slain, after a great slaughter of his enemies (1501).
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).
XI. Single combat between Eteocles and Polynices; both are slain (1506-8).
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.
1514. But Tydeus was Meleager's brother; see note to l. 1480.
1518. _leef_, leave it alone. Usually _leve_.
1523. _seestow_, seest thou; a general observation, _not_ addressed to
Cassandra in particular, but to every one at large.
1527. _Alceste_, Alcestis; see Leg. of Good Women, 432.
1528. _but_, except, unless. Yet Bell misunderstands it.
1530. _housbonde_; Admetus, king of Pherae, in Thessaly.
1545. _smitted_, smutted, disgraced; cf. l. 1546.
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 [Greek: peri-], 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.'
Lydgate uses the word in the same sense, having caught it up from the
present passage:--
'When the _paródye_ of this worthy knyght [Hector]
Aproche shall, without[e] wordes mo,
Into the fyelde playnly if he go.'
Siege of Troye, Bk. iii. ch. 27; ed. 1557, fol. R 6.
'And how that he [Ulysses] might[e] not escape
The _párodye_ that was for hym shape;
For Parchas haue his last[e] _terme_ set,' &c.
Id., Bk. v. ch. 38; fol. Dd 3.
Observe that _parodye_ is here equated to _terme_.
1558. From Guido; according to whose account Hector, having taken a
prisoner, was conveying him through the throng, when Achilles thrust him
through with a spear in a cowardly manner, stealing up to him unperceived.
See allit. Dest. of Troy, ll. 8649-8660; Lydgate, Siege of Troy, Bk. iii.
ch. 27, fol. S 2, back; Shak. Troil. v. 6. 27, 8. 1.
1634. _kalendes_, an introduction to the beginning; see note to Bk. ii. 7.
1653. _Lollius_; this incident is in the Filostrato, viii. st. 8; I do not
find it in Guido.
1669. _word and ende_, beginning and end; see note to Monk. Ta. B 3911; and
note to Bk. ii. 1495.
1689. 'To present your new love with.'
1760. See note to Book i. 463.
1764. Here the story practically ends. Beyond this point, the lines taken
from Boccaccio are less than twenty.
1771. _Dares_, i. e. Guido, who professes to follow Dares; see note to Book
Duch. 1070.
1778. I. e. Chaucer was beginning to think of his Legend of Good Women.
1786. Here begins the Envoy (interrupted by ll. 1800-1827). Compare the
last three lines of the Filostrato (ix. 8):--
'Or va'; ch' io prego Apollo che ti presti
Tanto di grazia ch' ascoltata sii,
E con lieta risposa a me t'invii.'
1787. 'Whereas may God send power to him that wrote thee to take part in
composing some "comedy," before he die.'
1789. 'Do not envy any (other) poetry, but be humble.'
1791. Imitated from the concluding lines of the Thebaid, xii. 816:--
'nec tu diuinam Æneida tenta,
Sed longe sequere, et _uestigia semper adora_.'
The sense is--'And kiss their footsteps, wherever you see Vergil, &c. pass
along.' The reading _space_ is ridiculous; and, in l. 1792, the names
_Virgíle_, &c., are accented on the second syllable. _Steppes_ means
'foot-prints,' Lat. _uestigia_; see Leg. Good Women, 2209.
1792. An important line. Chaucer, in this poem, has made use of Statius
(see l. 1485), Ovid (in many places), Vergil (occasionally), and Homer (not
at first hand). Lucan seems to be mentioned only out of respect; but see
note to Bk. ii. 167. He is mentioned again in Boethius, Bk. iv. Pr. 6. 159.
1796. _mismetre_, scan wrongly. This shews that Chaucer was conscious of
his somewhat archaic style, and that there was a danger that some of the
syllables might be dropped.
1797. _red_, read (by a single person), _songe_, read aloud, recited in an
intoned voice.
1802. _thousandes_ is to be taken in the literal sense. On one occasion,
according to Guido, Troilus slew a thousand men at once. See the allit.
Destruction of Troy, 9878; Lydgate, Siege of Troy, fol. U 3, back, l. 7.
1806. So in Guido; see allit. Destr. of Troy, 10302-11; Lydgate, Siege of
Troye, Bk. iv. ch. 31. Cf. l. 1558, and the note.
1807-1827. These three stanzas are from Boccaccio's _Teseide_, xi. 1-3,
where, however, they refer to Arcita:--
'Finito Arcita colei nominando
La qual nel mondo più che altro amava,
L'anima lieve se ne gì volando
Vêr la concavità del cielo ottava:
Degli elementi i conuessi lasciando,
Quivi le stelle erratiche ammirava ...
Suoni ascoltando pieni di dolcezza.
Quindi si volse in giù a rimirare
Le cose abbandonate, e vide il poco
Globo terreno, a cui d'intorno il mare
Girava ...
Ed ogni cosa da nulla stimare
A respetto del ciel; e in fine al loco
Là dove aveva il corpo suo lasciato
Gli occhi fermò alquanto rivoltato.
E fece risa de' pianti dolenti
Della turba lernea; la vanitate
Forte dannando delle umane genti,
Le qua' da tenebrosa cechitate
Mattamente oscurate nelle menti
Seguon del Mondo la falsa beltate:
Lasciando il cielo, quindi se ne gio
Nel loco a cui Mercurio la sortio.'
_holownesse_ translates 'concavità.' For _seventh_, B. has 'ottava,'
eighth. The seventh sphere is that of Saturn, from which he might be
supposed to observe the motion of Saturn and of all the inferior planets.
But surely _eighth_ is more correct; else there is no special sense in
'holownesse.' The eighth sphere is that of the fixed stars; and by taking
up a position on the _inner_ or _concave_ surface of this sphere, he would
see all the planetary spheres revolving within it. (The 'spheres' were
supposed to be concentric shells, like the coats of an onion.) The 'erratic
stars,' or wandering stars, are the seven planets. As to the music of their
spheres, see notes to Parl. Foules, ll. 59 and 61.
1810. _in convers leting_, leaving behind, on the other side. When, for
example, he approached the sphere of Mars, it was _concave_ to him; after
passing beyond it, it appeared _convex_. Some modern editions of the
Teseide read _connessi_ (connected parts), but the right reading is
_conuessi_ (convex surfaces), for which Chaucer substitutes _convers_. See
_converse_ in the New E. Dictionary.
1815. Cf. Parl. Foules, 57. Boccaccio had in mind Cicero's _Somnium
Scipionis_.
1825. _sholden_, and we ought; _we_ is understood.
1827. _sorted_, allotted; Ital. 'sortio.'
1828-1837. Chiefly from Il Filostrato, viii. 28, 29.
1838-1862. These lines are Chaucer's own, and assume a higher strain.
1840. 'This lyf, my sone, is but a chery-feyre.'
Hoccleve, De Regim. Princ. ed. Wright, p. 47.
See four more similar comparisons in Halliwell's Dict., s. v.
_Cherry-fair_.
1856. _moral Gower._ This epithet of Gower has stuck to him ever since; he
moralises somewhat too much.
1857. _Strode._ Concerning this personage, Leland discovered the following
note in an old catalogue of the worthies of Merton College, Oxford:
'Radulphus Strode, nobilis poeta fuit et versificavit librum elegiacum
vocatum Phantasma Radulphi.' In the introduction to his edition of 'Pearl,'
p. l., Mr. Gollancz says: 'This Ralph Strode is identical with the famous
philosopher of that name whose philosophical works hold an important place
in the history of medieval logic. He was also famous in his time as a
controversialist with Wiclif, and from Wiclif MSS., still unprinted, it is
possible to gain some insight into Strode's religious views.' He was,
perhaps, related to the philosopher N. Strode, who is mentioned at the end
of pt. ii. § 40 of the Treatise on the Astrolabe as being the tutor, at
Oxford, of Chaucer's son Lewis.
1863-5. From Dante, Paradiso, xiv. 28-30:--
'Quell' uno e due e tre che sempre vive,
E regna sempre in tre e due e uno,
Non circonscritto, e tutto circonscrive.'
ADDITIONAL NOTE TO BOOK III. 674.
As the curious word _voidee_ has been suppressed in all previous editions,
I add some more examples of it, for some of which I am indebted to Dr.
Murray. It occurs, e.g., in the extremely interesting account of the death
of James I of Scotland.
'Within an owre the Kyng askid the _voidee_, and drank, the travers yn the
chambure edraw [= _y-drawe_, drawn], and every man depairtid and went to
rist': (1400) JN. SHIRLEY, Dethe of James Stewarde, Kyng of Scotys, p. 13,
ed. 1818.
Hence, no doubt, Mr. Rossetti, in his poem of The King's Tragedy, drew the
line:--'Then he called for the _voidee_-cup.'
'A _voidy_ of spices': (1548) Hall's Chron. 14 Hen. VIII.
'A _voidee_ of spices': (1577-87) Holinshed's Chron. vol. iii. p. 849.
In A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Royal Household,
London, 1790, there are several examples of it.
'The Archbishoppe to stand on the Kinges right hand, and the King to make
him a becke when hee shall take _spice and wine_. And when the _voide_ is
donne, then the King to goe into his chamber; and all other estates to goe
into their chambers, or where it shall please them,' &c.: p. 111; in
Articles ordained by King Henry VII.
At p. 113, there are minute directions as to the _voidè_. The chamberlain
and others fetch a towel, the cups, and the spice-plates; the king and the
bishop take 'spice and wine,' and afterwards the lords and people are
served 'largely' with spice and wine also; after which the cups are
removed. At p. 36, we read: 'the bourde _avoyded_ [cleared] when wafyrs
come with ypocras, or with other swete wynes. The King never taketh a
_voyd_ [read _voydè_] of comfites and other spices, but standing.' At p.
121: 'as for the voide on twelfth day at night, the King and Queene ought
to take it in the halle.' At the Coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn, there was
a voidè 'of spice-plates and wine'; English Garner, ed. Arber, ii. 50.
The _voidee_ was, in fact, a sort of dessert. The word _spices_ included
many things besides what it now implies. In the Ordinances above-mentioned,
there is a list of spices, at p. 103. It includes pepper, saffron, ginger,
cloves, maces, cinnamon, nutmegs, dates, prunes, quinces, comfits, raisins,
currants, figs, and even rice. In the North of England, even at the present
day, it includes sweetmeats, gingerbread, cakes, and dried fruits.
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Notes.
[1] Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xxxix. See the whole
chapter.
[2] Philosophy personified; see Book i, Prose 1, l. 3.
[3] See Book ii, Prose 1.
[4] See Book ii, Proses 5, 6.
[5] See Book iii, Prose 9.
[6] See Book iv, Metre 1.
[7] See Book iv, Prose 6.
[8] See Book v.
[9] See the Romaunt of the Rose (in vol. i.), ll. 5659-5666; and the note
to l. 5661. It is also tolerably obvious, that Chaucer selected Metre
5 of Book ii. of Boethius for poetical treatment in his 'Former Age,'
because Jean de Meun had selected for similar treatment the very same
passage; see Rom. de la Rose, ll. 8395-8406.
[10] There is a copy of this in the British Museum, MS. Addit. 10341.
[11] MS. Harl. 44 (Wülker); _not_ MS. Harl. 43, as in Warton, who has
confused this MS. with that next mentioned.
[12] MS. Harl. 43 (Wülker); _not_ MS. Harl. 44, as in Warton.
[13] There is a better copy than either of the above in MS. Royal 18 A.
xiii. The B. M. Catalogue of the Royal MSS., by Casley, erroneously
attributes this translation to Lydgate. And there is yet a fourth
copy, in MS. Sloane 554. The Royal MS. begins, more correctly:--'In
suffisaunce of cunnyng and of wyt.'
[14] MS. i. 53.
[15] MS. B. 5. There is yet another MS. in the library of Trinity College,
Oxford, no. 75; and others in the Bodleian Library (MS. Rawlinson
151), in the Cambridge University Library (Gg. iv. 18), and in the
Phillipps collection (as in note 5 below).
[16] 'The Boke of Comfort, translated into Englesse tonge. Enprented in the
exempt Monastery of Tavestok in Denshyre, by me, Dan Thomas Rychard,
Monke; 1525. 4to.'--Lowndes.
[17] The MS. is now in the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps; no. 1099.
[18] He here implies that Chaucer's translation was by no means the only
one then in existence; a remarkable statement.
[19] MS. inserts _full_, needlessly.
[20] _Perhaps read_ In.
[21] MS. neye.
[22] MS. hy_m_self.
[23] MS. theym self.
[24] _Printed_ feldes _by_ Mr. Stewart.
[25] Observe that this line is due to Chaucer's _gloss_, not to his text.
[26] MS. Thisee (!).
[27] MS. hem self.
[28] _Printed_ thise _by_ Mr. Stewart.
[29] MS. This (giving no sense).
[30] Mr. Stewart _omits_ thus.
[31] MS. parelous (!). This shews that Walton's text can be corrected by
Chaucer's.
[32] Yet we must remember that 'The Former Age' only reproduces a _part_ of
this Metre; and that it also introduces a passage from Jerome, besides
reminiscences of Ovid and of Le Roman de la Rose; as shewn in the
notes.
[33] Mr. Stewart adds another instance, from Bk. iii. met. 5. 5:--
And that the last ile in the see
That hight Tyle, be thral to thee.
I hope this was unintentional, for they are poor verses. It is higher
praise to say that, especially in the Metres, Chaucer's prose often
flows well, with a certain melody of its own. Mr. Stewart also gives
some instances in which he supposes that Chaucer 'actually reproduces
the original Latin metre;' but they are imperfect and unintended.
[34] Mr. Stewart quotes this as: 'a long unagreable dwellynges;' but
'draweth a-long' is a fair translation of 'protrahit.'
[35] 365 is the number of the line; see p. 164 below. I refer to Boethius
by the letter 'B.', meaning the text as printed in the present volume,
giving the _line_ of the text as well as the number of the Prose or
Metre, so that every passage can easily be found.
[36] The prefixed asterisk marks a _doubtful_ or _wrong_ instance.
[37] I omit the comparison of Bk. iii. ll. 8-14 with Boethius; for the
whole stanza is copied from the _Filostrato_, Bk. iii. st. 75. Also,
that of l. 373 with B. iii. met. 9. 1; for l. 373 is copied from the
_Filostrato_, Bk. iii. st. 15.
[38] I omit mention of l. 2839 (compared with B. ii. met. 3. 14); for it is
taken from the _Teseide_, Bk. ix, 10, 11.
[39] The three points are: (1) Avarice is insatiable, l. 2321, which
answers to 'finem quaerendi non inuenit,' quoted as from Seneca, but
really from Palladius; see Albertani Brixiensis Liber Consolationis,
ed. T. Sundby, p. 37: (2) Good and evil are two contraries, l. 2479;
compare the same, p. 96: (3) Fortune the nurse, l. 2635, translated
from 'fortuna usque nunc me fouit'; see the same, p. 89.
[40] I have noted a few inaccuracies, chiefly due to confusion of _c_ and
_t_ (which are written alike), and to abbreviations. At p. 2, l. 13,
for 'p_ro_cede' read 'p_er_cede.' At p. 9, l. 28, for 'basilicis' read
'basilius.' At p. 11, l. 32, read 'auauntede.' At p. 12, l. 10, read
'c_on_uict'; &c. Cf. note to Bk. v. pr. 6. 82.
[41] Here _recte_ is miswritten for _recta_, clearly because the scribe was
still thinking of the latter syllable of the preceding _sponte_. But
observe that Ch. has 'the rightes,' a translation of _recta_. This
proves at once that Chaucer did not use _this particular copy_ as his
original; and of course the peculiar mode in which it is written
precludes such a supposition. But I believe it to be copied from
Chaucer's copy, all the same.
[42] This shews how entirely wrong an editor would be who should change the
forms into _Atrides_ and _Agamemnon_; unless, indeed, he were to give
due notice. For it destroys the evidence. Note also, that _Agamenon_
is the usual M. E. form. It appears as _Agamenoun_ in Troil. iii. 382.
[43] Hence it is easy to see that when Chaucer's glosses agree, as they
sometimes do, with those in Notker's Old High German version or in any
other version, the agreement is due to the fact that both translators
had similar _Latin_ glosses before them.
[44] My text has _thonder-light_, as in the MSS.; but _leyte_ or _leyt_ is
better; see note to the line (p. 422), and see above, p. xlii, l. 8.
[45] There is a later edition by Peiper, said to be the best; but it is out
of print, and I failed to obtain a copy. But I have also collated the
Latin text in the Delphin edition, ed. Valpy, 1823, and the edition by
Renatus Vallinus, 1656; both of these contain useful notes.
[46] Mr. Rossetti has a note, shewing that Prof. Morley's figures are
incorrect. He himself reckons _Troilus_ as containing 8246 lines,
because the number of stanzas in Book V. of Dr. Furnivall's print of
MS. Harl. 3943 is wrongly given as 268 instead of 267.
[47] For a fuller comparison with this poem, see § 21 below; p. lxv.
[48] Lydgate accepts Chaucer's view without question. He says--'And of this
syege wrote eke Lollius'; Siege of Troye, ed. 1555, fol. B 2, back.
[49] Usually called Guido de Colonna, probably because he was supposed to
belong to a famous family named Colonna; but his name seems to have
been taken from the name of a place (see note 1 on p. lvi). My
quotations from Guido are from MS. Mm. 5. 14, in the Cambridge
University Library.
[50] He refers to the story of Troy as existing 'in the Latyn and the
Frenshe'; Siege of Troye, fol. B 1, back; and explains 'the Latyn' as
'Guido.'
[51] In an Italian work entitled 'Testi Inediti di Storia Trojana,' by E.
Gorra, Turin, 1887, a passage is quoted at p. 137, from Book XIII of
Guido, which says that Terranova, on the S. coast of Sicily, was also
called 'columpne Herculis,' and Gorra suggests that this was the place
whence Guido derived his name 'delle Colonne.' At any rate, Guido was
much interested in these 'columns'; see Lydgate, Siege of Troye, fol.
M 4. I think _Tropæus_, from Gk. [Greek: tropaia], may refer to these
_columnæ_; or Guido may have been connected with _Tropea_, on the W.
coast of Calabria, less than fifty miles from Messina, where he was a
judge.
[52] 'Homerus ... fingens multa que non fuerunt, et que fuerunt aliter
transformando'; Prologus. See the E. translation in the Gest
Hystoriale, or alliterative Troy-book, ll. 38-47; Lydgate, Siege of
Troye, fol. B 2.
[53] See allit. Troy-book, ll. 60-79.
[54] See allit. Troy-book, ll. 3922-34; Lydgate, Siege of Troye, fol. F 3,
back.
[55] MS. penatos.
[56] The mention of Escaphilo, i.e. Ascalaphus, in Book V. 319, was perhaps
suggested by the mention of Ascalaphus by Guido (after Dictys, i. 13,
Homer, Il. ii. 512) as being one of the Grecian leaders; see allit.
Troy-book, l. 4067.
[57] I. e. glove; from Gk. [Greek: cheir], hand, and [Greek: thêkê], case.
[58] Put for xenium ([Greek: xenion]), a gift, present.
[59] Cf. 'And save hir browes ioyneden y-fere'; Troil. v. 813.
[60] _Talke_ is not in the Glossary. As _lk_ is a common way of writing
_kk_ (as shewn in my paper on 'Ghost-words' for the Phil. Soc.), the
word is really _takke_, a variant of _take_; and the sense is 'let him
take.'
[61] Lydgate began his Troy-book on Oct. 31, 1412, and finished it in 1420;
see this shewn in my letter to the _Academy_, May 7, 1892.
[62] Hence it was not written by Sir Hugh Eglintoun, if he died either in
1376 or 1381; see Pref. to allit. Troy-book, pp. xvii, xxv.
[63] MS. to disport; _but_ to _is needless_.
[64] MS. I for; I _is needless_.
[65] Two false rimes; _ye_ and _aweye_; _dispyt_ and _bright_ (correctly,
_bright e_).
[66] Not _clene_, as in the St. John's MS. and in the Phillipps MS.; for
Chaucer never rimes _clene_ (with open _e_) with such words as
_grene_, _quene_ (with close _e_); see, on this point, the remarks on
my Rime-Index to Troilus, published for the Chaucer Society. MS. Harl.
2392 likewise has _sheene_, a word in which the long _e_ is of
'variable' quality.
[67] Some guess that it means 'Tres gentil Chaucer.' But this seems to me
very improbable, if not stupid.