This poem consists of _three_ Ballads and an Envoy. Each Ballad contains
three stanzas of eight lines, with the rimes _a b a b b c b c_, and the
rimes of the second and third stanzas are precisely the same as those of
the first. Thus the rime _a_ recurs six times, the rime _b_ twelve times,
and the rime _c_ likewise six times. Moreover, each stanza ends with the
same line, recurring as a refrain. Hence the metrical difficulties are very
great, and afford a convincing proof of Chaucer's skill. The Envoy is of
seven lines, rimed _a b a b b a b_.
The three ballads are called, collectively, Balades de visage sanz
peinture, a title which is correctly given in MS. I., with the unlucky
exception that _visage_ has been turned into _vilage_. This curious blunder
occurs in all the MSS. and old editions, and evidently arose from mistaking
a long _s_ for an _l_. _Vilage_, of course, makes no sense; and we are
enabled to correct it by help of Chaucer's translation of Boethius, bk. ii.
pr. 1; l. 39. 'Right swich was she [Fortune] whan she flatered thee, and
deceived thee with unleveful lykinges of fals welefulnesse. Thou hast now
knowen and ataynt the doutous or double _visage_ of thilke blinde goddesse
_Fortune_. She, that yit _covereth_ hir and _wimpleth_ hir to other folk,
hath shewed hir everydel to thee.' Or the Ballads may refer to the
unmasking of false friends: '_Fortune_ hath departed and uncovered to thee
bothe the _certein visages_ and eek the doutous _visages_ of thy felawes';
id. bk. ii. pr. 8; l. 25. The whole poem is more or less founded on the
descriptions of Fortune in Boethius; and we thus see that the visage meant
is the _face of Fortune_, or else the _face of a supposed friend_, which is
clearly revealed to the man of experience, in the day of adversity, without
any covering or wimpling, and even without any painting or false colouring.
In MS. T. we are told that 'here filoweþe [_followeth_] a balade made by
Chaucier of þe louer and of Dame Fortune.' In MS. A. we are told that 'here
foloweþe nowe a compleynte of þe Pleintyff agenst fortune translated oute
of Frenshe into Englisshe by þat famous Rethorissyen Geffrey Chaucier.'
This hint, that it is translated out of French, can scarcely be right,
unless Shirley (whose note this is) means that it partially resembles
passages in Le Roman de la Rose; for Chaucer's work seems to contain some
reminiscences of that poem as well as of the treatise of Boethius, though
of course Le Roman is indebted to Boethius also.
_Le Pleintif_ is the complainant, the man who brings a charge against
Fortune, or rather, who exclaims against her as false, and defies her
power. The first Ballad, then, consists of this complaint and defiance.
The close connection between this poem and Boethius is shewn by the fact
that (like the preceding poem called The Former Age) it occurs in an
excellent MS. of Chaucer's translation of Boethius, viz. MS. I. (Ii. 3. 21,
in the Cambridge University Library). I may also remark here, that there is
a somewhat similar dialogue between Nobilitas and Fortuna in the
Anticlaudianus of Alanus de Insulis, lib. viii. c. 2; see Anglo-Latin
Satirists, ed. T. Wright, ii. 401.
In Morley's English Writers, ii. 283, is the following description. 'The
argument of the _first_ part [or Ballad] is: I have learnt by adversity to
know who are my true friends; and he can defy Fortune who is master of
himself. The argument of the _next_ part [second Ballad], that Fortune
speaks, is: Man makes his own wretchedness. What may come you know not; you
were born under my rule of change; your anchor holds. Of the _third_ part
of the poem [third Ballad], in which the Poet and Fortune each speak, the
sum of the argument is, that what blind men call fortune is the righteous
will of God. Heaven is firm, this world is mutable. The piece closes with
Fortune's call upon the Princes to relieve this man of his pain, or pray
his best friend "of his noblesse" that he may attain to some better
estate.'
The real foundation of these three Ballads is (1) Boethius, bk. ii. proses
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and met. 1; and (2) a long passage in Le Roman de la
Rose, ll. 4853-4994 (Eng. version, 5403-5584). More particular references
are given below.
1. The beginning somewhat resembles Boethius, bk. ii. met. 1, l, 5;--'She,
cruel Fortune, casteth adoun kinges that whylom weren y-drad; and she,
deceivable, enhaunseth up the humble chere of him that is discomfited.' Cf.
Rom. Rose (E. version), ll. 5479-83.
2. The latter part of this line is badly given in the MSS. The readings
are: F. now pouerte and now riche honour (_much too long_); I. now poeer_e_
and now honour; A. T. nowe poure and nowe honour; H. now poore and now
honour. But the reading _poure_, _poer_, _pore_, i. e. poor, hardly serves,
as a sb. is required. _Pouerte_ seems to be the right word, but this
requires us to omit the former _now_. _Pouerte_ can be pronounced
_povért'_; accented on the second syllable, and with the final _e_ elided.
For this pronunciation, see Prol. to Man of Lawes Tale, Group B, l. 99.
Precisely because this pronunciation was not understood, the scribes did
not know what to do. They inserted _now_ before _pouerte_ (which they
thought was _póverte_); and then, as the line was too long, cut it down to
_poure_, _poore_, to the detriment of the sense. I would therefore rather
read--'As wele or wo, poverte and now honour,' with the pronunciation noted
above.
7. In the Introduction to the Persones Tale (Group I, 248), we find: 'wel
may that man, that no good werke ne dooth, singe thilke newe Frenshe song,
_Iay tout perdu mon temps et mon labour_.' In like manner, in the present
case, this line of 'a new French song' is governed by the verb _singen_ in
l. 6; cf. Sect. XXII. l. 24. The sense is--'the lack of Fortune's favour
shall never (though I die) make me sing--"I have wholly lost my time and my
labour."' In other words, 'I will not own myself defeated.'
9. With this stanza cf. Rom. de la Rose (E. version), 5551-2, 5671-78,
5579-81:--
'For Infortune makith anoon
To knowe thy freendis fro thy foon...
A wys man seide, as we may seen,
Is no man wrecched, but he it wene,...
For he suffrith in pacience...
Richesse riche ne makith nought
Him that on tresour set his thought;
For richesse stont in _suffisaunce_;' &c.
13. _No force of_, it does not matter for; i. e. 'thy rigour is of no
consequence to him who has the mastery over himself.' From Boethius, bk.
ii. pr. 4, l. 98, which Chaucer translates: 'Thanne, yif it so be that thou
art mighty over thy-self, that is to seyn, by tranquillitee of thy sowle,
than hast thou thing in thy power that thou noldest never lesen, ne Fortune
ne may nat beneme it thee.'
17. Socrates is mentioned in Boeth. bk. i. pr. 3, l. 39, but ll. 17-20 are
from Le Rom. de la Rose, ll. 5871-4:--
'A Socrates seras semblables,
Qui tant fu fers et tant estables,
Qu'il n'ert liés en prospérités,
Ne tristes en aversités.'
20. _Chere_, look. _Savour_, pleasantness, attraction; cf. Squi. Tale, F
404. All the MSS. have this reading; Caxton alters it to _favour_.
25. This Second Ballad gives us Fortune's response to the defiance of the
complainant. In Arch. Seld. B. 10, it is headed--'Fortuna ad paupertatem.'
See Boethius, bk. ii. prose 2, where Philosophy says--'Certes, I wolde
_pleten_ with thee a fewe thinges, _usinge the wordes of Fortune_.' Cf.
'nothing is wrecched but whan thou wenest it'; Boeth. ii. pr. 4, l. 79; and
see Rom. Rose (E. version, 5467-5564).
28. 'Who possessest thy (true) self (as being quite) beyond my control.' A
fine sentiment. _Out of_, beyond, independent of.
29. Cf. 'thou hast had grace as he that hath used of foreine goodes; thou
hast no right to pleyne thee'; Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, l. 17.
31. Cf. 'what eek yif my mutabilitee yiveth thee rightful cause of hope to
han yit beter thinges?' id. l. 58.
32. _Thy beste frend_; possibly John of Gaunt, who died in 1399; but see
note to l. 73 below. There is a curious resemblance here to Le Rom. de la
Rose, 8056-60:--
'Et sachies, compains, que sitost
Comme _Fortune_ m'ot ça mis,
_Je perdi trestous mes amis_,
_Fors ung_, ce croi ge vraiement,
Qui m'est remès tant solement.'
34. Cf. 'For-why this like Fortune hath departed and uncovered to thee
bothe the certein visages and eek the doutous visages of thy felawes...
thow hast founden the moste precious kinde of richesses, that is to seyn,
thy verray freendes'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8, l. 25.
Cf. Rom. Rose (E. version), l. 5486, and ll. 5547-50. The French version
has (ll. 4967, &c.):--
'Si lor fait par son mescheoir
Tretout si clerement veoir,
Que lor fait lor amis trover,
Et par experiment prover
Qu'il valent miex que nul avoir
Qu'il poïssent où monde avoir.'
35. Vincent de Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, bk. 19, c. 62, headed De
medicinis ex hyæna, cites the following from Hieronymus, Contra Iouinianum
[lib. ii. Epist. Basileæ, 1524, ii. 74]:--'Hyænæ fel oculorum claritatem
restituit,' the gall of a hyena restores the clearness of one's eyes. So
also Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. xxviii. c. 8. This exactly explains the
allusion. Compare the extract from Boethius already quoted above, at the
top of p. 543.
38. 'Still thine anchor holds.' From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 4, l. 40:--whan
that thyn ancres cleven faste, that neither wolen suffren the counfort of
this tyme present, ne the hope of tyme cominge, to passen ne to faylen.'