3285. There is little about Hercules in Boccaccio; but Chaucer's favourite
author, Ovid, has his story in the Metamorphoses, book ix, and Heroides,
epist. 9. Tyrwhitt, however, has shewn that Chaucer more immediately copies
a passage in Boethius, de Cons. Phil. lib. iv. met. 7, which is as
follows:--
'Herculem duri celebrant labores;
Ille Centauros domuit superbos;
Abstulit saeuo spolium leoni;
Fixit et certis uolucres sagittis;
Poma cernenti rapuit draconi,
Aureo laeuam grauior metallo;
Cerberum traxit triplici catena.
Victor immitem posuisse fertur
Pabulum saeuis dominum quadrigis.
Hydra combusto periit ueneno;
Fronte turpatus Achelous amnis
Ora demersit pudibunda ripis.
Strauit Antaeum Libycis arenis,
Cacus Euandri satiauit iras,
Quosque pressurus foret altus orbis
Setiger spumis humeros notauit.
Ultimus caelum labor irreflexo
Sustulit collo, pretiumque rursus
Ultimi caelum meruit laboris.'
But it is still more interesting to see Chaucer's own version of this
passage, which is as follows (ed. Morris, p. 147; cf. vol. ii. p. 125):--
'Hercules is celebrable for his harde trauaile; he dawntede þe proude
Centauris, half hors, half man; and he rafte þe despoylynge fro þe cruel
lyoun; þat is to seyne, he slou[gh] þe lyoun and rafte hym hys skyn. He
smot þe birds þat hy[gh]ten arpijs in þe palude of lyrne wiþ certeyne
arwes. He rauyssede applis fro þe wakyng dragoun, & hys hand was þe more
heuy for þe goldene metal. He drou[gh] Cerberus þe hound of helle by his
treble cheyne; he, ouer-comer, as it is seid, haþ put an vnmeke lorde fodre
to his cruel hors; þis is to sein, þat [232] hercules slou[gh] diomedes and
made his hors to etyn hym. And he, hercules, slou[gh] Idra þe serpent &
brende þe venym; and achelaus þe flode, defoulede in his forhede, dreinte
his shamefast visage in his strondes; þis is to seyn, þat achelaus couþe
transfigure hymself into dyuerse lykenesse, & as he fau[gh]t wiþ ercules,
at þe laste he turnide hym in-to a bole [_bull_]; and hercules brak of oon
of hys hornes, & achelaus for shame hidde hym in hys ryuer. And he,
hercules, caste adoun Antheus þe geaunt in þe strondes of libye; & kacus
apaisede þe wraþþes of euander; þis is to sein, þat hercules slou[gh] þe
monstre kacus & apaisede wiþ þat deeþ þe wraþþe of euander. And þe
bristlede boor markede wiþ scomes [_scums_, _foam_] þe sholdres of
hercules, þe whiche sholdres þe heye cercle of heuene sholde þreste [_was
to rest upon_]. And þe laste of his labours was, þat he sustenede þe heuene
upon his nekke unbowed; & he deseruede eftsones þe heuene, to ben þe pris
of his laste trauayle.'