_Complaint of Mars and Venus._
I am not aware that the obvious astronomical allegory, which lurks in
Chaucer's "Complaint of Mars and Venus," has been pointed out, or that any
attempt has been made to explain it. In Tyrwhitt's slight notice of that
poem, prefixed to his glossary, there is not the most remote hint that he
perceived its astronomical significance, or that he looked upon it in any
other light than "that it was intended to describe the situation of _some_
two lovers under a veil of mystical allegory."
But, as I understand it, it plainly describes an astronomical conjunction
of the planets Mars and Venus, in the last degree of Taurus, and on the
12th of April.
These three conditions are not likely to concur except at very rare
intervals--it is possible they may have been only theoretical--but it is
also possible that they may have really occurred under Chaucer's
observation; it might therefore well repay the labour bestowed upon it if
some person, possessed of time, patience, and the requisite tables, would
calculate whether any conjunction, conforming in such particulars, did
really take place within the latter half of the fourteenth century: if it
was considered worth while to search out a described conjunction 2500 years
before Christ, in order to test the credibility of Chinese records, it
would surely be not less interesting to confirm the accuracy of Chaucer's
astronomy, of his fondness for which, and of his desire to bring it forward
on all possible occasions, he has given so many proofs in his writings.
The data to be gathered from the little poem in question are unfortunately
neither very numerous nor very definite; but I think the following points
are sufficiently plain.
1st. The entrance of Mars into the sign Taurus (_domus Veneris_), wherein
an assignation has been made between him and Venus:
"That Mars shall enter as fast as he may glide,
In to her _next palais_ to abide,
Walking his course 'till she had him ytake,
And he prayed her to hast her for his sake."
2nd. The nearly double velocity in apparent ecliptic motion of Venus as
compared with Mars:
"Wherefore she spedded as fast in her way
Almost in one day as he did in tway."
3d. The conjunction:
"The great joy that was betwix hem two,
When they be mette, there may no long tell.
There is no more--but into bed they go."
4th. The entrance of the Sun into Taurus, as indicated in the unceremonious
intrusion of Phebus into Venus' chamber; which, as though to confirm its
identity with Taurus,
"Depainted was with white _boles_ grete;"
whereupon Mars complains:
"This twelve dayes of April I endure
Through jelous Phebus this misaventure."
(It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader of Chaucer, that in the
poet's time the Sun would enter Taurus on the 12th of April.)
"Now flieth Venus in to Ciclinius tour,
With void corse, for fear of Phebus light."
These two lines, so obscure at first sight, afford, when properly
understood, the strongest confirmation of the astronomical meaning of the
whole; while, by indicating the conjunction on the last degree of Taurus,
they furnish a most essential element for its identification.
I confess that this "CICLINIUS" gave me a good deal of trouble; but, taking
as a guide the astronomical myth so evident throughout, I came to the
conviction that "Ciclinius" is a corruption, and that Chaucer wrote, or
intended to write, CYLLENIUS--a well-known epithet of _Mercury_, and used
too in an astronomical sense by Virgil, "_ignis coeli Cyllenius_."
Now _the sign Gemini_ is also "_domus Mercurii_;" 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.
6th. Mars is almost stationary:
"He passeth but a sterre in daies two."
There still remain one or two baffling points in the description, one of
which is the line--
"Fro Venus Valanus might this palais see,"
which I am convinced is corrupt: I have formed a guess as to its true
meaning, but it is not as yet fully confirmed.
The other doubtful points are comprised in the following lines, which have
every appearance of significance; and which, I have not the least doubt,
bear as close application as those already explained: but, as yet, I must
acknowledge an inability to understand the allusions. After Venus has
entered Gemini--
"Within the gate she fled into a cave:
Dark was this cave and smoking as the hell;
Nat but two paas within the gate it stood,
_A natural day in darke I let her dwell_."