2568. Cf. King Alisaunder, 189, where we are told that a town was similarly
decked to receive queen Olimpias with honour. See Weber's note.
2600-24. Cf. the Teseide, viii. 5, 7, 14, 12, &c.
2602. 'In go the spears full firmly into the _rest_,'--i. e. the spears
were couched ready for the attack.
'Thai layden here speres in _areeste_,
Togeder thai ronnen as fire of thondere,
That both here launces to-braste;
That they seten, it was grete wonder,
So harde it was that they gan threste;
Tho drowen thai oute here swordes kene,
And smyten togeder by one assente.'
The Sowdone of Babyloyne, l. 1166.
'With spere in thyne _arest_'; Rom. of the Rose, 7561. [90]
2614. _he ... he_ = one ... another. See Historical Outlines of English
Accidence, p. 282. Cf. the parallel passage in the Legend of Good Women,
642-8.
2615. _feet._ Some MSS. read _foot_. Tyrwhitt proposed to read _foo_, foe,
enemy; but see l. 2550.
2624. _wroght ... wo_, done harm to his opponent.
2626. _Galgopheye._ 'This word is variously written _Colaphey_,
_Galgaphey_, _Galapey_. There was a town called _Galapha_ in Mauritania
Tingitana, upon the river Malva (Cellar. Geog. Ant. v. ii. p. 935), which
perhaps may have given name to the vale here meant.'--Tyrwhitt. But
doubtless Chaucer was thinking of the Vale of Gargaphie, where Actæon was
turned into a stag:--
'Vallis erat, piceis et acutâ densa cupressu,
Nomine _Gargaphie_, succinctae sacra Dianae.'
Ovid, Met. iii. 155, 156.
2627. Cf. the Teseide, viii. 26.
2634. _Byte_, cleave, cut; cf. the cognate Lat. verb _findere_. See ll.
2546, 2640.
2646. _swerdes lengthe._ Cf.
'And then he bar me sone bi strenkith
Out of my sadel my speres lenkith.'
Ywaine and Gawin, ll. 421, 2.
2675. _Which a_, what a, how great a.
2676-80. Cf. the Teseide, viii. 131, 124-6.
2683. _al his chere_ may mean 'all his delight, as regarded his heart.' The
Harl. MS. does _not_ insert _in_ before _his chere_, as Wright would have
us believe.
2684. Elles. reads _furie_, as noted; so in the Teseide, ix. 4. This
incident is borrowed from Statius, Theb. vi. 495, where Phoebus sends a
hellish monster to frighten some horses in a chariot-race. And see Vergil,
Æn. xii. 845.
2686-706. Cf. the _Teseide_, ix. 7, 8, 47, 13, 48, 38, 26.
2689. The following is a very remarkable account of a contemporary
occurrence, which took place at the time when a parliament was held at
Cambridge, A. D. 1388, as told by Walsingham, ed. Riley, ii. 177:--
'Tempore Parliamenti, cum Dominus Thomas Tryvet cum Rege sublimis equitaret
ad Regis hospitium, quod fuit apud Bernewelle [Barnwell], dum nimis urget
equum calcaribus, equus cadit, et omnia pene interiora sessoris dirumpit
[cf. l. 2691]; protelavit tamen vitam in crastinum.' The _saddle-bow_ or
_arsoun_ was the 'name given to two curved pieces of wood or metal, one of
which was fixed to the front of the saddle, and another behind, to give the
rider greater security in his seat'; New Eng. Dict. s. v. _Arson_. Violent
collision against the front saddle-bow produced very serious results. Cf.
the Teseide, ix. 8--'E 'l forte arcione gli premette il petto.' [91]
2696. 'Then was he cut out of his armour.' I. e. the laces were cut, to
spare the patient trouble. Cf. Statius, Theb. viii. 637-641.
2698. _in memorie_, conscious.
2710. _That ... his_, i. e. whose. So _which ... his_, in Troil. ii. 318.
2711. 'As a remedy _for_ other wounds,' &c.
2712, 3. _charmes ... save._ 'It may be observed that the salves, charms,
and pharmacies of herbs were the principal remedies of the physician in the
age of Chaucer. _Save_ (_salvia_, the herb sage) was considered one of the
most universally efficiently medieval remedies.'--Wright. Hence the proverb
of the school of Salerno, 'Cur moriatur homo, dum salvia crescit in horto?'
2722. _nis nat but_ = is only. _aventure_, accident.
2725. _O persone_, one person.
2733. _Gree_, preëminence, superiority; lit. rank, or a step; answering to
Lat. _gradus_ (not _gratus_). The phrases _to win the gree_, i. e. to get
the first place, and _to bear the gree_, i. e. to keep the first place, are
still in common use in Scotland. See note to the Allit. Destruction of
Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson, l. 1353, and Jamieson's Dictionary.
2736. _dayes three._ Wright says the period of three days was the usual
duration of a feast among our early forefathers. As far back as the seventh
century, when Wilfred consecrated his church at Ripon, he held 'magnum
convivium trium dierum et noctium, reges cum omni populo
laetificantes.'--Eddius, Vit. S. Wilf. c. 17.
2743. This fine passage is certainly imitated from the account of the death
of Atys in Statius, Theb. viii. 637-651. I quote ll. 642-651, in which Atys
fixes his last gaze upon his bride Ismene; as to ll. 637-641, see note to
l. 2696 above.
'Prima uidet, caramque tremens Iocasta uocabat
Ismenen: namque hoc solum moribunda precatur
Uox generi, solum hoc gelidis iam nomen inerrat
Faucibus: exclamant famulae: tollebat in ora
Uirgo manus; tenuit saeuus pudor; attamen ire
Cogitur (indulget summum hoc Iocasta iacenti),
Ostenditque offertque: quater iam morte sub ipsa
Ad nomen uisus, deiectaque fortiter ora
Sustulit: illam unam neglecto lumine coeli
Adspicit, et uultu non exsatiatur amato.'
2745. 'Also when bloude rotteth in anye member, but it be taken out by
skill or kinde, it tourneth into venime'; Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. iv.
c. 7. _bouk_, paunch; A. S. _b[=u]c_.
2749. 'The vertue Expulsiue is, which expelleth and putteth away that that
is vnconuenient and hurtfull to kinde' [nature]; Batman upon Bartholomè,
lib. iii. c. 8.
'This vertue [given by the soul to the body] hath three parts; one is
called _naturall_, and is in the lyuer: the other is called _vitall_, or
[92] _spiritall_, and hath place in the heart; the third is called
_Animal_, and hath place in the brayn'; id. c. 14.
'The vertue that is called _Naturalis_ moueth the humours in the body of a
beast by the vaines, and hath a principal place in the liuer'; id. c. 12.
2761. _This al and som_, i. e. _this_ (is) _the al and som_, this is the
short and long of it. A common expression; cf. F. 1606; Troil. iv. 1193,
1274. With ll. 2761-2808 compare the Teseide, x. 12, 37, 51, 54, 55, 64,
102-3, 60-3, 111-2.
2800. _overcome._ Tyrwhitt reads _overnome_, overtaken, the pp. of
_overnimen_; but none of the seven best MSS. have this reading.
2810. The _real_ reason why Chaucer could not here describe the passage of
Arcite's soul to heaven is because he had already copied Boccaccio's
description, and had used it with respect to the death of Troilus; see
Troil. v. 1807-27 (stanzas 7, 8, 9 from the end).
2815. _ther Mars_, &c., where I hope that Mars will, &c.; may Mars, &c.
2822. _swich sorwe_, so great sorrow. The line is defective in the third
foot, which consists of a single (accented) syllable.
2827-46. Cf. the Teseide, xi. 8, 7, 9-11, xii. 6.
2853-962. Cf. the Teseide, xi. 13-16, 30, 31, 35, 38, 40, 37, 18, 26-7,
22-5, 21, 27-9, 30, 40-67.
2863-962. The whole of this description should be compared with the funeral
rites at the burial of Archemorus, as described in Statius, Thebaid, bk.
vi; which Chaucer probably consulted, as well as the imitation of the same
in Boccaccio's Teseide. For example, the 'tree-list' in ll. 2921-3 is not a
little remarkable. The first list is in Ovid, Met. x. 90-105; with which
cf. Vergil, Æn. vi. 180; Lucan, Pharsalia, iii. 440-445. Then we find it in
Statius, vi. 98-106. After which, it reappears in Boccaccio, Teseide, xi.
22; in Chaucer, Parl. of Foules, 176; in the present passage; in Tasso,
Gier. Lib. iii. 75; and in Spenser, F.Q. i. 1. 8. There is also a list in
Le Roman de la Rose, 1338-1368. Again, we may just compare ll. 2951-2955
with the following lines in Lewis's translation of Statius:--
'Around the pile an hundred horsemen ride,
With arms reversed, and compass every side;
They faced the left (for so the rites require);
Bent with the dust, the flames no more aspire.
Thrice, thus disposed, they wheel in circles round
The hallow'd corse: their clashing weapons sound.
Four times their arms a crash tremendous yield,
And female shrieks re-echo through the field.'
Moreover, Statius imitates the whole from Vergil, Æn. xi. 185-196. And
Lydgate copies it all from Chaucer in his Sege of Thebes, part 3 (near the
end).
2864. _Funeral he myghte al accomplice_ (Elles.); _Funeral he mighte hem
all complise_ (Corp., Pet.). The line is defective in the first foot. [93]
_Funeral_ is an adjective. Tyrwhitt and Wright insert _Of_ before it,
without authority of any kind; see l. 2942.
2874. _White_ gloves were used as mourning at the funeral of an unmarried
person; see Brand, Pop. Antiq. ed. Ellis, ii. 283.