176. Imitated by Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 8, 9. Chaucer's list of trees was
suggested by a passage in the Teseide, xi. 22-24; but he extended his list
by help of one in the Roman de la Rose, 1338-1368; especially ll. 1363-8,
as follows (see p. 151, above)--
'Et d'_oliviers_ et de _cipres_,
Dont il n'a gaires ici pres;
_Ormes_ y ot branchus et gros,
Et avec ce charmes et fos,
Codres droites, _trembles_ et _chesnes_,
Erables haus, _sapins_ et _fresnes_.'
Here _ormes_ are elms; _charmes_, horn-beams; _fos_, beeches; _codres_,
hasels; _trembles_, aspens; _chesnes_, oaks; _erables_, maples; _sapins_,
firs; _fresnes_, ashes. Hence this list contains seven kinds of trees out
of Chaucer's thirteen. See also the list of 21 trees in Kn. Tale, A 2921.
Spenser has--
'The builder oake, sole king of forrests all.'
This tree-list is, in fact, a great curiosity. It was started by Ovid,
Metam. x. 90; after whom, it appears in Seneca, Oedipus, 532; in Lucan,
Phars. iii. 440; in Statius, Thebaid, vi. 98; and in Claudian, De Raptu
Proserpinae, ii. 107. Statius was followed by Boccaccio, Tes. xi. 22-24;
Rom. de la Rose, 1361; Chaucer (twice); Tasso, Gier. Lib. iii. 73; and
Spenser. Cf. Vergil, Æn. vi. 179.