'Perciò che dopo Anfiarao, Tideo
Stato era ucciso, e 'l buon Ippomedone,
E similmente il bel Partenopeo,
E più Teban, de' qua' non fo menzione,
Dinanzi e dopo al fiero Capaneo,
E dietro a tutti in doloroso agone,
Eteocle e Polinice, ed ispedito
Il solo Adrastro ad Argo era fuggito.'
See also Troilus, v. 1499-1510.
57. _Amphiorax_; so in Troilus, ii. 105, v. 1500; Cant. Tales, 6323 (D
741); and in Lydgate's Siege of Thebes. Amphiaraus is meant; he accompanied
Polynices, and was swallowed up by the earth during the siege of Thebes;
Statius, Thebais, lib. vii. (at the end); Dante, Inf. xx. 34. Tydeus and
Polynices married the two daughters of Adrastus. The heroic acts of Tydeus
are recorded in the Thebaid. See Lydgate, Siege of Thebes; or the extract
from it in my Specimens of English.
58. _Ipomedon_, Hippomedon; one of the seven chiefs who engaged in the war
against Thebes. _Parthonopee_, Parthenopæus, son of Meleager and Atalanta;
another of the seven chiefs. For the account of their deaths, see the
Thebaid, lib. ix.
59. _Campaneus_; spelt _Cappaneus_, _Capaneus_ in Kn. Tale, 74 (A 932);
Troil. v. 1504. Thynne, in his Animadversions on Speght's Chaucer (ed.
Furnivall, p. 43), defends the spelling _Campaneus_ on the ground that it
was the usual medieval spelling; and refers us to Gower and Lydgate. In
Pauli's edition of Gower, i. 108, it is _Capaneus_. Lydgate has
_Campaneus_; Siege of Thebes, pt. iii. near the beginning. Capaneus is the
right Latin form; he was one of the seven chiefs, and was struck with
lightning by Jupiter whilst scaling the walls of Thebes; Statius, Theb.
lib. x (at the end). Cf. Dante, Inf. xiv. 63. As to the form _Campaneus_,
cf. Ital. _Campidoglio_ with Lat. _Capitolium_.
60. 'The Theban wretches, the two brothers;' i. e. Eteocles and Polynices,
who caused the war. Cf. Troil. v. 1507.
61. _Adrastus_, king of Argos, who assisted his son-in-law Polynices, and
survived the war; Theb. lib. xi. 441.
63. 'That no man knew of any remedy for his (own) misery.' _Care_, anxiety,
misery. At this line Chaucer begins upon st. 12 of the second book of the
Teseide, which runs thus:--
'Onde il misero gente era rimaso
Vôto[291] di gente, e pien d'ogni dolore;
Ma a picciol tempo da Creonte invaso
Fu, che di quello si fe' re e signore,
Con tristo augurio, in doloroso caso
Recò insieme il regno suo e l'onore,
Per fiera crudeltà da lui usata,
Mai da null'altro davanti pensata.
Cf. Knightes Tale, 80-4 (A 938).
71. From this point onward, Chaucer's work is, as far as we know at
present, original. He seems to be intending to draw a portrait of a queen
of Armenia who is neglected by her lover, in distinct contrast to Emilia,
sister of the queen of Scythia, who had a pair of lovers devoted to her
service.