3917. _Cresus_; king of Lydia, B.C. 560-546, defeated by Cyrus at Sardis.
Cyrus spared his life, and Croesus actually survived his benefactor.
Chaucer, however, brings him to an untimely end. The story of Croesus is in
Boccaccio, De Casibus Virorum, lib. iii. cap. 20. See also Herodotus, lib.
1; Plutarch's life of Solon, &c. But Boccaccio represents Croesus as
surviving his disgraces. Tyrwhitt says that the story seems to have been
taken from the Roman de la Rose, ll. 6312-6571 (ed. Méon); where the
English Romaunt of the Rose is defective. In Chaucer's translation of
Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, see vol. ii. p. 28, we find this sentence:
'Wistest thou not how Cresus, the king of Lydiens, of whiche king Cyrus was
ful sore agast a litel biforn, that this rewliche [_pitiable_] Cresus was
caught of [_by_] Cyrus, and lad to the fyr to ben brent; but that a rayn
descendede doun fro hevene, that rescowede him?' In the House of Fame, bk.
i. ll. 104-6, we have an allusion to the 'avision' [_vision_, dream] of
'Cresus, that was king of Lyde,
That high upon a gebet dyde.'
See also Nonne Pr. Ta. l. 318 (B. 4328). The tragic version of the fate of
Croesus is given by Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, iii. 17; and
I give an extract, as it seems to be the account which is followed in the
Roman de la Rose. It must be premised that Vincent makes Croesus to have
been taken prisoner by Cyrus _three times_.
'Alii historiographi narrant, quod in secunda captione, iussit eum Cyrus
rogo superponi et assari, et subito tanta pluuia facta est, vt eius
immensitate ignis extingueretur, vnde occasionem repperit euadendi. Cumque
postea hoc sibi prospere euenisse gloriaretur, et opum copia nimium se
iactaret, dictum est ei a Solone quodam sapientissimo, non debere quemquam
in diuitiis et prosperitate gloriari. Eadem nocte uidit in somnis quod
Jupiter eum aqua perfunderet, et sol extergeret. Quod cum filiae suae mane
indicasset, illa (vt res se habebat) prudenter absoluit, dicens: quod cruci
esset affigendus et aqua perfundendus et sole siccandus. Quod ita demum
contigit, nam postea a Cyro crucifixus est.' Compare the few following
lines from the Roman de la Rose, with ll. 3917-22, 3934-8, 3941, and l.
3948:-- [247]
'Qui refu roi de toute Lyde;
Puis li mist-l'en où col la bride,
Et fu por ardre au feu livrés,
Quant par pluie fu délivrés,
Qui le grant feu fist tout estraindre:...
Jupiter, ce dist, le lavoit,
Et Phebus la _toaille_ avoit,
Et se penoit de l'essuier....
Bien le dist _Phanie_ sa fille,
Qui tant estoit saige et soutille,...
L'arbre par le gibet vous glose,' &c.
3951. The passage here following is repeated from the Monkes Prologue, and
copied, as has been said, from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2. It is to be
particularly noted that the passage quoted from Boethius in the note to B.
3917 almost immediately precedes the passage quoted in the note to B. 3163.
3956. See note to B. 3972 below.