111. _Stremes_, beams, rays; for the eyes of Mars emitted streams of fire
(l. 95). Venus is already half past the distance to which Mars's beams
extend. Obscure and fanciful.
113. _Cylenius_, Cyllenius, i. e. Mercury, who was born on Mount Cyllene in
Arcadia; Vergil, Æn. viii. 139. _Tour_, tower; another word for _mansion_.
The tower of Cyllenius, or mansion of Mercury, is the sign Gemini; see note
to l. 29. Venus passes out of Taurus into the next sign Gemini. 'The sign
_Gemini_ is also _domus Murcurii_, so that when Venus fled into "the tour"
of Cyllenius, she simply slipped into the next door to her own house of
_Taurus_, leaving poor Mars behind to halt after her as he best might';
A.E. Brae, in Notes and Queries, 1st Series, iii. 235.
114. _Voide_, solitary; Mars is left behind in Taurus. Besides (according
to l. 116) there was no other planet in Gemini at that time.
117. _But litil myght._ A planet was supposed to exercise its greatest
influence in the sign which was called its _exaltation_; and its least
influence in that which was called its _depression_. The _exaltation_ of
Venus was in Pisces; her _depression_, in Virgo. She was now in Gemini, and
therefore halfway from her exaltation to her depression. So her influence
was slight, and waning.
119. _A cave._ In l. 122 we are told that it stood only two paces within
the gate, viz. of Gemini. The gate or entrance into Gemini is the point
where the sign begins. By _paces_ we must understand _degrees_; for the F.
word _pas_ evidently represents the Lat. _gradus_. Venus had therefore
advanced to a point which stood only two degrees within (or from the
beginning of) the sign. In plain words, she was now in the second degree of
Gemini, and there fell into _a cave_, in which she remained for _a natural
day_, that is (taking her year to be of nearly the same length as the
earth's year) for the term during which she remained within that second
degree. Venus remained in the cave as long as she was in that second degree
of the sign; from the moment of entering it to the moment of leaving it.
A _natural day_ means a period of twenty-four hours, as distinguished from
the _artificial day_, which was the old technical name for the time from
sunrise to sunset. This Chaucer says plainly, in his Treatise on the
Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 7, l. 12--'the _day natural_, that is to seyn 24
houris.'
We thus see that the _cave_ here mentioned is a name for the _second
degree_ of the sign Gemini.
This being so, I have no doubt at all, that _cave_ is here merely a
translation of the Latin technical astrological term _puteus_. In Vincent
of Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, lib. xv. c. 42, I find:--'Et _in signis_
sunt quidam _gradus_, qui dicuntur _putei_; cum fuerit planeta in aliquo
istorum, dicitur esse _in puteo_, vt 6 gradus Arietis, et 11, etc.' There
are certain degrees in the signs called _putei_; and when a planet is in
one of these, it is said to be _in puteo_; such degrees, in Aries, are the
6th, 11th, &c. Here, unfortunately, Vincent's information ceases; he refers
us, however, to Alcabitius.
Alcabitius (usually Alchabitius), who should rather be called Abdel-Aziz,
was an Arabian astrologer who lived towards the middle of the tenth
century. His treatise on judicial astrology was translated into Latin by
Johannes Hispalensis in the thirteenth century. This translation was
printed at Venice, in quarto, in 1481, 1482, and 1502; see Didot, Nouv.
Biograph. Universelle.
I found a copy of the edition of 1482 in the Cambridge University Library,
entitled Libellus ysagogic_us_ abdilazi .i. serui gloriosi dei. q_ui_
d_icitu_r alchabiti_us_ ad magisteriu_m_ iudicior_um_ astror_um_;
i_n_terpretat_us_ a ioa_n_ne hispale_n_si. At sign. a 7, back, I found the
passage quoted above from Vincent, and a _full list_ of the _putei_. The
_putei_ in the sign of Gemini are the degrees numbered 2, 12, 17, 26, 30.
After this striking confirmation of my conjecture, I think no more need be
said.
But I may add, that Chaucer expressly mentions 'Alkabucius' by name, and
refers to him; Treat. on Astrolabe, i. 8. 9. The passage which he there
quotes occurs in the same treatise, sign. a 1, back.
120. _Derk_, dark. I think it is sufficient to suppose that this word is
used, in a purely astrological sense, to mean inauspicious; and the same is
true of l. 122, where Venus remains under this sinister influence as long
as she remained in the ill-omened second degree of Gemini. There is no need
to suppose that the planet's light was really obscured.
129. The Fairfax MS. and some editions have the false reading _sterre_. As
Mars was supposed to complete his orbit (360 degrees) in _two years_ (see
note to l. 69), he would pass over one degree of it in about _two days_.
Hence Mr. Brae's note upon this line, as printed in Furnivall's Trial
Forewords, p. 121:--'The mention of _dayes two_ is so specific that it
cannot but have a special meaning. Wherefore, either _sterre_ is a metonym
for _degree_; or which is more probable, Chaucer's word was originally
_steppe_ (_gradus_), and was miscopied _sterre_ by early scribes.' Here Mr.
Brae was exceedingly near the right solution; we now see that _sterre_ was
miswritten (not for _steppe_, but) for _steyre_, by the mere alteration of
one letter. If the scribe was writing from dictation, the mistake was still
more easily made, since _steyre_ and _sterre_ would sound very nearly
alike, with the old pronunciation. As to _steyre_, it is the exact literal
translation of Lat. _gradus_, which meant a degree or stair. Thus Minsheu's
Dict. has:--'a _Staire_, Lat. _gradus_.' This difficulty, in fact, is
entirely cleared up by accepting the reading of the majority of the MSS.
131. _He foloweth her_, i. e. the motions of Mars and Venus were in the
same direction; neither of them had a 'retrograde' motion, but advanced
along the signs in the direction of the sun's apparent motion.