[Greek: aidein pros murrinên; ethos ên ton mê dunamenon en tois sumposiois
aisai, daphnês klôna ê murrinês labonta pros touton aidein.]
1850. _fer ne ner_, farther nor nearer, neither more nor less. 'After some
little trouble, I have arrived at the conclusion that Chaucer has given us
sufficient _data_ for ascertaining both the days of the month and of the
week of many of the principal events of the "Knightes Tale." The following
scheme will explain many things hitherto unnoticed.
'On Friday, May 4, before 1 A.M., Palamon breaks out of prison. For (l.
1463) it was during the "third night of May, but (l. 1467) a little _after_
midnight." That it was Friday is evident also, from observing that Palamon
hides himself at day's approach, whilst Arcite rises "for to doon his
observance to May, remembring on the _poynt of his desyr_." To do this
best, he would go into the fields at _sunrise_ (l. 1491), during the hour
dedicated to _Venus_, i. e. during the hour after sunrise _on a Friday_. If
however this seem for a moment doubtful, all doubt is removed by the
following lines:--
"Right as the _Friday_, soothly for to telle,
Now it shyneth, now it reyneth faste,
Right so gan gery _Venus_ overcaste
The hertes of hir folk; right as _hir day_
Is gerful, right so chaungeth she array.
Selde is the _Friday_ al the wyke ylyke."
'All this is very little to the point unless we suppose Friday to be the
day. Or, if the reader have _still_ any doubt about this, let him observe
the curious accumulation of evidence which is to follow.
'Palamon and Arcite meet, and a duel is arranged for an early hour on the
_day following_. That is, they meet on Saturday, May 5. But, as Saturday is
presided over by the inauspicious planet Saturn, it is no wonder that they
are both unfortunate enough to have their duel [76] interrupted by Theseus,
and to find themselves threatened with death. Still, at the intercession of
the queen and Emily, a day of assembly for a tournament is fixed for "_this
day fifty wykes_" (l. 1850). Now we must understand "fifty wykes" to be a
poetical expression for _a year_. This is not mere supposition, however,
but a _certainty_; because the appointed day was in the month of _May_,
whereas fifty weeks and no more would land us in _April_. Then "this day
fyfty wekes" means "this day year," viz. on May 5. [In fact, Boccaccio has
'un anno intero'; Tes. v. 98.]
'Now, in the year following (supposed not a leap-year), the 5th of May
would be _Sunday_. But this we are expressly told in l. 2188. It must be
noted, however, that this is not the day of the _tournament_[23], but of
the _muster_ for it, as may be gleaned from ll. 1850-1854 and 2096. The
eleventh hour "inequal" of Sunday night, or the second hour before sunrise
of Monday, is dedicated to _Venus_, as explained by Tyrwhitt (l. 2217); and
therefore Palamon then goes to the temple of Venus. The next hour is
dedicated to Mercury. The third hour, the first after sunrise on Monday, is
dedicated to Luna or Diana, and during this Emily goes to Diana's temple.
The fourth after sunrise is dedicated to Mars, and therefore Arcite then
goes to the temple of Mars. But the rest of the day is spent merely in
jousting and preparations--
"Al that _Monday_ justen they and daunce." (l. 2486.)
The tournament therefore takes place on Tuesday, May 7, on the day of the
week presided over by _Mars_, as was very fitting; and this perhaps helps
to explain Saturn's exclamation in l. 2669, "Mars hath his wille."'--Walter
W. Skeat, in Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, ii. 2, 3; Sept. 12, 1868
(since slightly corrected).
To this was added the observation, that May 5 was on a Saturday in 1386,
and on a Sunday in 1387. Ten Brink (Studien, p. 189) thinks it is of no
value; but the coincidence is curious.
1866. 'Except that one of you shall be either slain or taken prisoner';
i. e. one of you must be fairly conquered.
1884. _listes_, lists. 'The lists for the tilts and tournaments resembled
those, I doubt not, appointed for the ordeal combats, which, according to
the rules established by Thomas, duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II.,
were as follows. The king shall find the field to fight in, and the lists
shall be made and devised by the constable; and it is to be observed, that
the list must be 60 paces long and 40 paces broad, set up in good order,
and the ground within hard, stable, and level, without any great stones or
other impediments; also, that the lists must be made _with one door to the
east, and another to the west_ [see [77] ll. 1893, 4]; and strongly barred
about with good bars 7 feet high or more, so that a horse may not be able
to leap over them.'--Strutt, Sports and Pastimes; bk. iii. c. 1. § 23.
1889. The various parts of this round theatre are subsequently described.
On the North was the turret of Diana, with an oratory; on the East the gate
of Venus, with altar and oratory above; on the West the gate of Mars,
similarly provided.
1890. _Ful of degrees_, full of steps (placed one above another, as in an
amphitheatre). 'But now they have gone a nearer way to the wood, for with
wooden galleries in the church that they have, and _stairy degrees of
seats_ in them, they make as much room to sit and hear, as a new west end
would have done.'--Nash's Red Herring, p. 21. See Shakespeare, Julius
Cæsar, ii. 126, and also 2 Kings xx. 9. Cf. 'While she stey up from _gre_
to _gre_.'--Lives of Saints, Roxb. Club, p. 59. Lines 1187-1894 are more or
less imitated from the Teseide, vii. 108-110.
1910. Coral is a curious material to use for such a purpose; but we find
posts of coral and a palace chiefly formed of coral and metal in Guy of
Warwick, ed. Zupitza, 11399-11401.
1913. _don wroght_, caused (to be) made; observe this idiom. Cf. _don yow
kept_, E. 1098; _han doon fraught_, B. 171; _haf gert saltit_, Bruce,
xviii. 168.
1918-32. See the analysis of this passage in vol. iii. p. 390.
1919. _on the wal_, viz. on the walls _within_ the oratory. The description
is loosely imitated from Boccaccio's Teseide, vii. 55-59. It is remarkable
that there is a much closer imitation of the same passage in Chaucer's
Parl. of Foules, ll. 183-294. Thus at l. 246 of that poem we find:--
'Within the temple, of syghes hote as fyr,
I herde a swogh, that gan aboute renne;
Which syghes were engendred with desyr,
That maden every auter for to brenne
Of newe flaume; and wel aspyed I thenne
That al the cause of sorwes that they drye
Com of the bitter goddesse Ialousye.'
There is yet another description of the temple of Venus in the House of
Fame, 119-139, where we have the very line 'Naked fletinge in a see' (cf.
l. 1956 below), and a mention of the 'rose garlond' (cf. l. 1961), and of
'Hir dowves and daun Cupido' (cf. ll. 1962-3).
1929. _golde_, a marigold; _Calendula_. '_Goolde_, herbe: Solsequium, quia
sequitur solem, elitropium, calendula'; Prompt. Parv. The corn-marigold in
the North is called _goulans_, _guilde_, or _goles_, and in the South,
_golds_ (Way). Gower says that Leucothea was changed
'Into a floure was named _golde_,
Which stant governed of the sonne.'
Conf. Am., ed. Pauli, ii. 356.
[78] Yellow is the colour of jealousy; see _Yellowness_ in Nares. In the
Rom. de la Rose, 22037, Jealousy is described as wearing a 'chapel de
_soussie_,' i. e. a chaplet of marigolds.
1936. _Citheroun_ = Cithaeron, sacred to Venus; as said in the Rom. de la
Rose, 15865, q.v.
1940. In the Romaunt of the Rose, _Idleness_ is the _porter_ of the garden
in which the rose (Beauty) is kept. In the Parl. of Foules, 261, the
porter's name is _Richesse_. Cf. ll. 2, 3 of the Second Nonnes Tale (G. 2,
3).
1941. _of yore agon_, of years gone by. Cf. Ovid, Met. iii. 407.
1953-4. Imitated from Le Roman de la Rose, 16891-2.
1955. The description of Venus here given has some resemblance to that
given in cap. v (De Venere) of Albrici Philosophi De Deorum Imaginibus
Libellus, in an edition of the Mythographi Latini, Amsterdam, 1681, vol.
ii. p. 304. I transcribe as much as is material. 'Pingebatur Venus
pulcherrima puella, nuda, et in mari natans; et in manu sua dextra concham
marinam tenens atque gestans; rosisque candidis et rubris sertum gerebat in
capite ornatum, et columbis circa se volando, comitabatur.... Hinc et
Cupido filius suus alatus et caecus assistebat, qui sagitta et arcu, quos
tenebat, Apollinem sagittabat.' It is clear that Chaucer had consulted some
such description as this; see further in the note to l. 2041.
1958. Cf. 'wawes ... clere as glas'; Boeth. bk. i. met. 7. 4.
1971. _estres_, the inner parts of a building; as also in A. 4295 and Leg.
of Good Women, 1715. 'To spere the _estyrs_ of Rome'; Le Bone Florence,
293; in Ritson, Met. Rom. iii. 13. See also Cursor Mundi, 2252.
'For thow knowest better then I
Al the _estris_ of this house.'
Pardoner and Tapster, 556; pr. with Tale of Beryn (below).
'His sportis [portes?] and his _estris_'; Tale of Beryn, ed. Furnivall,
837. Cf. 'Qu'il set bien de l'ostel les _estres_'; Rom. de la Rose, 12720;
and see Rom. of the Rose, 1448 (vol. i. p. 153).
By mistaking the long _s_ for _f_, this word has been misprinted as
_eftures_ in the following: 'Pleaseth it yow to see the _eftures_ of this
castel?'--Sir Thomas Malory, Mort Arthure, b. xix. c. 7.
1979. _a rumbel and a swough_, a rumbling and a sound of wind.