Chapter XLII: Book V

The following sketch gives a general notion of the relation of this Book to the Filostrato, though Chaucer often amplifies and transposes the material in a way that it would be tedious to particularise more minutely.

TROILUS: BOOK V. FILOSTRATO.

ll. 1-7. [_Teseide_, Bk. ix. st. 1.]
8-14. [_Teseide_, Bk. ii. st. 1.]
15-91. Bk. v. st. 1-13.
190-266. " 14-21, 24-28.
280-295. " 22.
323-336, 351-372. " 29-32.
386-686. " 33-38, 40-62, 67-71.
687-693. Bk. vi. 1 (ll. 1-3), 6.
708-777. " 1 (l. 4)-8.
785-798, 820. Bk. vi. 10, 11.
799-805, 817. " 33; Bk. i. 28 (l. 8).
841-1001. " 9, 11-31.
1100-1274. Bk. vii. 1-33.
1275-1309. " 37, 40-43, 48-50.
1310-1327. " 51, 52.
1335, 1336. " 74 (ll. 7, 8).
1338-1421. " 53-75.
1422-1444. " 76, 105, 77, 76.
1450-1456. " 84, 26.
1513-1521. " 27, 90.
1523-1554. " 100-102, 104, 106.
1555-1589. Bk. viii. 1-5.
1632-1701. " 6-15.
1702-1768. " 21, 17, 19-26.
1800-1806. " 27.
1807-1827. [_Teseide_, Bk. xi. 1-3.]
1828-1841. " 28, 29.
1863-1865. [Dante, _Par._ xiv. 28-30.]

3. _Parcas_, Fates; the accusative case, as usual.

7. _Lachesis_, the Fate that apportions the thread of life; often represented with the spindle, though this is properly the attribute of Clotho alone. Clotho spins, Lachesis apportions, and Atropos cuts, the thread of life. Atropos has been mentioned above; Bk. iv. 1208, 1546. Statius mentions all three in lib. iii. of his Thebaid; Clotho at l. 556, Lachesis (Lachesim putri uacuantem saecula penso) at l. 642, and Atropos at l. 68.

8. For _golden tressed_, MS. Harl. 3943 has _Auricomus tressed_ (!). Cf. 'Sol auricomus, cingentibus Horis;' Valerius Flaccus, Argonaut. iv. 92.

12, 13. _sone of Hecuba_, Troilus; _hir_, Criseyde.

15-9. Note that ll. 15, 17 rime on _-éde_, with close _e_, but ll. 16, 18, 19 rime on _-ède_, with open _e_. Cf. Anelida, 299-307.

22-6. Lines 22, 24 rime on _-[=o]re_, with long close _o_; ll. 23, 25, 26 on _-[)o]re_, with (original) short open _o_.

25. _crop_, shoot, upper part of a tree. _more_, root, still in use in Hants; A. S. _more_, _moru_; see P. Plowman, B. xvi. 5, C. xviii. 21.

53. 'Upon the report of such behaviour of his.'

65. So in Boccaccio: 'Con un falcone in pugno;' Fil. v. st. 10.

67. A mistranslation. Boccaccio's word is not _valle_, a valley, but _vallo_, a rampart. The first foot lacks a syllable.

71. Antenor was the Trojan, captured by the Greeks, who was restored to Troy in exchange for Thoas and Criseyde.

88. _sone of Tydeus_, i. e. Diomede, often called _Tydides_; as in Æneid. i. 97, 471, &c.

89. To know one's creed is very elementary knowledge.

90. _by the reyne hir hente_; Rossetti thinks Chaucer misunderstood _di colei si piglia_ (Fil. v. 13), which might mean 'takes hold of her,' but really means 'takes a fancy to her.'

98. This resembles 'to take care of No. 1.'

101. _make it tough_, raise a difficulty, viz. by disparaging Troilus.

106. _coude his good_, knew what was good for him, knew what he was about. Bell says--'understood good manners.'

128. _helply_; we now say 'helpful,' i.e. serviceable. _to my might_, to the best of my power.

143. _O god of love_, one and the same god of love.

151. _this_, contracted form of _this is_. _enseled_, sealed up.

158. _As paramours_, as by way of love. Cf. l. 332.

180. See below (l. 530), and Man of Lawes Ta. B 697. We can read either _brast_ (burst), or _braste_ (would burst).

182. _sye_, to sink down; A. S. _s[=i]gan_; see _si[gh]en_ in Stratmann.

194. _mewet_, mute; as in the Court of Love, 148. _Mewet_, _muwet_, or _muet_ is from the O. F. _muët_, orig. dissyllabic, and answering to a Low Lat. diminutive type _*mutettum_. The E. word is now obsolete, being displaced by the simple form _mute_, borrowed directly from Lat. _mutus_, which in O. F. became _mu_. _Mute_ is common in Shakespeare. Lydgate has: 'And also clos and _muët_ as a stone;' Siege of Thebes, pt. iii. § 8. In Merlin, ed. Wheatley, p. 172, we find 'stille and _mewet_ as though thei hadde be dombe.'

The _-e_ in _mild-e_ is not elided; the A. S. _milde_ is dissyllabic.

208. _Cipryde_, i.e. Cypris, or Venus; see note to Parl. Foules, 277.

212. The _-ie_ in _furie_ is rapidly slurred over. _Ixion_ is accented on the _first_ syllable. Ixion was bound, in hell, to an ever-revolving wheel; Georg. iii. 38; Æn. vi. 601.

249. _as mete_, as (for instance) dream; see l. 251.

283. 'Although he had sworn (to do so) on forfeit of his head.'

304. _pálestrál_, i.e. games consisting of wrestling-matches and similar contests; from Lat. _palaestra_; see Verg. Æn. iii. 280, 281; and G. Douglas, ed. Small, vol. iii. p. 52, l. 24. There is a description of such games, held at a funeral, in Statius, Theb. vi., which is imitated by Chaucer in the Knightes Tale; see note to A 2863. _Vigile_ (l. 305) is the same as Chaucer's _liche-wake_; see note to A 2958.

306. He means that his steed, sword, and helm are to be offered up to Mars, and his shield to Pallas, at his funeral; cf. Kn. Ta. A 2889-2894.

319. _Ascaphilo_, a transposed form of Ascalaphus, whom Proserpine changed into an owl; Ovid, Met. v. 539. So also _Adriane_ for Ariadne. Bell's note, that the form of _Ascaphilo_ is Italian, and helps to prove that Chaucer here follows Boccaccio is misleading; for Boccaccio does not mention Ascalaphus.

321. Mercury was supposed to convey men's souls to Hades. See l. 1827 below, and note.

332. _paramours_, passionately; an adverb, as usual; cf. l. 158.

345. _By freendes might_, by constraint of their relatives.

350. _hurt_, for _hurteth_, hurts; present tense.

360. On dreams, cf. Non. Pr. Ta. B 4113-4129, 4280-4.

365-8. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 18709-12, q. v.

379. Lit. 'Well is it, concerning dreams, to these old wives;' i.e. these old women set a value on dreams.

387. Boccaccio has: 'a te stesso perdona,' i.e. spare thyself; Chaucer takes it literally--'forgive thyself.'

403. Sarpedon had been taken prisoner by the Greeks (iv. 52). Neither Boccaccio nor Chaucer explains how he had got back to Troy. See l. 431.

409. _iouken_, slumber; cf. P. Plowman, C. xix. 126. It was chiefly used as a term in falconry, and applied to hawks. In the Boke of St. Albans, fol. a 6, we are told that it is proper to say that 'your hauke _Ioukith_, and not slepith.' From O. F. _joquier_, _jouquier_; see Godefroy.

421. _of fyne force_, by very necessity.

451. I read 'piëtous,' as in MS. H., not 'pitous,' for the sake of the metre, as in Bk. iii. 1444; cf. _pietee_, id. 1033. Perhaps Chaucer was thinking of the Ital. _pietoso_. We also find the spelling _pitevous_, for which form there is sufficient authority; see Wyclif, 2 Tim. iii. 12, Titus ii. 12; Rob. of Glouc. ed. Wright, 5884 (footnote); cf. Mod. E. _piteous_. Chaucer's usual word is _pitous_, as in Cant. Ta. B 449, 1059, C 298, &c.

460. _For_, because; as frequently.

469. 'Fortune intended to glaze his hood still better.' To 'glaze one's hood' was to furnish a man with a glass hood, a jocular phrase for to mock or expose to attack; because a glass hood would be no defence at all. Chaucer himself admirably illustrates this saying in a passage which has already occurred above; see Bk. ii. 867.

478. _her-e_ is dissyllabic; as in Ho. Fame, 980, 1014, 1885, 1912, &c.

479. _congeyen us_, bid us take leave, dismiss us.

484. 'Did we come here to fetch light for a fire, and run home again?' A man who borrows a light must hurry back before it goes out.

505. _Hasel-wode_, hazel-wood; an allusion to a popular saying, expressive of incredulity. See note to l. 1174 below. Not the same proverb as that in Bk. iii. 890.

541. 'O house, formerly called the best of houses.' Bell and Morris place the comma after _houses_.

552. As to kissing the door, see note to Rom. Rose, 2676.

601. Referring, probably, to Statius, Theb. i. 12--'Quod saeuae Iunonis opus.' But this refers to the wrath of Juno against Athamas rather than against Thebes.

642. 'Wherefore, if, on the tenth night, I fail (to have) the guiding of thy bright beams for a single hour,' &c.

655. Here Thynne's reading, _Lucina_, is obviously correct; see Bk. iv. 1591. By the common mistake of writing _t_ for _c_, it became Lutina, and was then changed into _Latona_. But Latona was Lucina's _mother_.

664. _Pheton_, Phaethon; alluding to Ovid, Met. ii. 34, 47, &c.

744. Prudence is here represented with _three_ eyes, to behold present, past, and future; but Creseyde had but _two_ eyes, and failed to see what was to come. Cf. 'rerum fato Prudentia maior;' Georg. i. 416.

763. 'I call it felicity when I have what satisfies me;' cf. the parallel passage in Prol. A 338; and Boeth. Bk. iii. Pr. 2. 6-8.

769. _knotteles_; 'like a thread in which there is no knot.'

784. 'Nothing venture, nothing have.'

805. In Lydgate's Siege of Troye, we are told that Diomede brought 80 ships with him 'fro Calidonye and Arge;' Bk. ii. ch. 16, in the catalogue of the ships. The English alliterative Romance omits this passage. _Arge_ is the town of Argos, ruled over by Diomede; Homer, Il. ii. 559. _Calidoine_ is Calydon, in Ætolia, of which city Tydeus, father of Diomede, was king; see l. 934, and ll. 1513-5 below.

806. This description seems to be mainly Chaucer's own. It occurs again, much amplified, in Lydgate's Siege of Troy, Bk. ii. ch. 15, where it precedes the description of Priam. Boccaccio says that she had 'lucent eyes and an angelic face' (Fil. i. st. 28), with which cf. l. 816. He also describes her as 'Accorta, savia, onesta, e costumata,' which Rossetti translates by 'Discerning, wise, honourable, and high-bred' (Fil. i. 11); cf. ll. 820, 821.

827. Troilus is described by Guido delle Colonne; see the translations, in the alliterative Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson, l. 3922, and in Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. ii. ch. 16.

836. Troilus was second to Hector in prowess (Bk. ii. 158, 644), but not in courage (Bk. i. 474).

837. _durring don_, daring to do, courage; where _durring_ is a sb. formed from _durren_, to dare. So in l. 840, _to durre don_ is 'to dare to do.' It is quite a mistake to regard _durring don_ as a compound word, as is usually done by such as are ignorant of Middle English grammar. Spenser borrowed the phrase, but may have misunderstood it. In the Globe edition of Spenser, _derring-doe_ occurs _with a hyphen_, in Shep. Kal. _Oct._ l. 65, but _as two words_, in F. Q. ii. 4. 42, vi. 5. 37. In F. Q. ii. 7. 10, we find 'in _der-doing_ armes,' which I leave to be explained by the omniscient critic.

852. See the parallel line, Squi. Ta. F 294; cf. Bk. iii. 674.

883. _as who seyth_, so to speak.

892. _Manes_, the departed spirits or shades of the dead. He means that even these will dread the Greeks. The idea that they are the 'gods of pain' is taken from Vergil, Æn. vi. 743; cf. Statius, Theb. viii. 84. Boccaccio merely has 'tra' morti in inferno'; Fil. vi. st. 16.

897. _ambages_, ambiguities; adapted from Boccaccio's 'ambage' (Fil. vi. st. 17), which Ch. has to explain.

911-938. These lines are fairly close to the original.

934. See note above, to l. 805. B. has: 'Di Calidonia e d' Argo;' Fil. vi. st. 24.

937. Tydeus, father of Diomede, is one of the chief heroes in the Thebaid of Statius, which describes the struggle between Eteocles and Polynices (called _Polymites_ in l. 938) for the possession of Thebes. Tydeus and Polynices married sisters, the daughters of Adrastus, king of Argos; hence their alliance. For the death of Tydeus in battle, see the conclusion of Book viii of the Thebaid. See ll. 1480-1501 below.

971. _Orcades_, the Orkney islands, very remote from Rome; Juvenal, Sat. ii. 161. _Inde_, India, remote from Rome in the other direction; Vergil, Æn. vi. 794. Here the point of view is transferred from Rome to Troy.

975. She was a widow; Bk. i. 97. In l. 977, she lies boldly.

992. 'When I see what I have never seen yet (viz. Troy taken), perhaps I will do what I have never yet done (i. e. think of a second husband).'

1013. This incident is not in Boccaccio; but it occurs in Guido delle Colonne, which Chaucer must therefore have consulted. The alliterative Destruction of Troy duly records the circumstance, ll. 8092-4:--

'A gloue of that gay gate he belyue,
Drogh hit full dernly the damsell fro;
None seond but hir-selfe, that suffert full well.'

1016. I. e. Venus was seen as 'the evening-star.'

1018, 9. _Cynthea_, i. e. the moon; Bk. iv. 1608. In Bk. iv. l. 1591, Criseyde had promised to return before the moon passed out of the sign Leo. This was now on the point of happening; the moon was leaving Leo, to pass into Virgo.

1020. _Signifer_, the 'sign-bearer,' the zodiac. 'This forseide hevenish zodiak is cleped the cercle of the signes;' Astrolabe, pt. i. § 21. The zodiac extended, north and south, to the breadth of 6 degrees on both sides of the ecliptic line, thus forming a belt 12 degrees wide. This included numerous bright stars, such as Regulus ([alpha] Leonis) and Spica Virginis ([alpha] Virginis), here called 'candles.' Chaucer may have found the word _Signifer_ in Claudian, In Rufinum, i. 365.

1039. _he wan_, he took in battle. Thynne reads _she_; but _he_ is right. Diomede got possession of Troilus' horse, and sent it to Criseyde; whereupon she said that Diomede might keep it for himself. Note that Chaucer refers us to 'the story' for this incident; by which he means the _Historia Troiana_ of Guido. But Guido only goes as far as to say that Diomed sent Troilus' horse to Criseyde; the rest is Chaucer's addition. See the allit. Destruction of Troy, ll. 8296-8317; and Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. iii. ch. 26, ed. 1557, fol. R 4, back. Cf. Shak. Troilus, v. 5. 1: '_Dio._ Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse, Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid.' The incidents of the 'broche' and 'pensel' are Chaucer's own; see Bk. iii. 1370-2.

1043. _pencel_, short for _penoncel_, a little pennon or banner; here it means that Diomede wore a sleeve of hers as a streamer on his helmet or arm. This was a common custom; cf. Shak. Troil. v. 2. 69, 169. '_Pensell_, a lytel baner;' Palsgrave; and see P. Plowm. C. xix. 189.

1044. _the stories elles-wher_, i.e. in another part of Guido's _Historia_, viz. in Book xxv; see the allit. Destruct. of Troy, ll. 9942-9959, and Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. iv. ch. 30, ed. 1557, fol. U 4.

1051. I cannot find this in Guido.

1062. 'My bell shall be rung;' my story shall be told.

1104. I.e. 'on the morrow of which.'

1107. Cf. 'laurigero ... Phoebo'; Ovid, Art. Am. iii. 389.

1110. 'Nisus' daughter,' i.e. Scylla, changed into the bird _ciris_, which some explain as a lark; see Leg. Good Wom. 1908, and note; Ovid, Met. viii. 9-151; Vergil, Georg. i. 404-9.

1114. _noon_, noon, mid-day; the time for dinner (see l. 1129, and Cant. Ta. E 1893). See my note to Piers Plowm. C. ix. 146.

1133. _cape_, gape; see Miller's Tale, A 3444, 3841 (footnotes).

1140, 1. _yate_, i.e. port-cullis. _As nought ne were_, as if there were no special reason for it. I.e. I will make them do it, without telling them why.

1151. Deficient in the first foot; hardly a good line.

1155. 'Think it not tedious to (have to) wait.'

1162. _fare-cart_, cart for provisions; cf. our phrase 'to enjoy good _fare_.' It might mean 'travelling-car,' but that is inapplicable. B. has simply 'carro;' Fil. vii. 8.

1163-9. Cf. Romeo's speech in Rom. v. 1. 1-11.

1174. 'The happiness which you expect will come out of the wood,' i.e. if it comes at all. A jocular form of expressing unlikelihood. There is evidently a reference to some popular song or saying; compare the Jeu de Robin in Toynbee's Specimens of Old French, p. 224. In the Rom. of the Rose, 7455, we have an allusion to a 'ioly Robin,' who was a gay dancer and a minstrel, and the exact opposite of a Jacobin friar. Shakespeare's clown in Twelfth Night (iv. 2. 78) sings of a 'jolly Robin' whose lady 'loves another.' And Ophelia sang 'bonny sweet Robin is all my joy;' Haml. iv. 5. 187.

1176. Another proverbial saying, _ferne yere_, last year; see _fern, fürn_, in Stratmann, and cf. A. S. _fyrng[=e]arum fr[=o]d_, wise with the experience of past years, Phoenix, 219. Last year's snow will not be seen again.

1190. He persuades himself that the moon is to pass well beyond the end of the sign Leo; thus allowing another day.

1222. _by potente_, with a stick, or staff with a spiked end and crutch-like top; cf. Somp. Ta. D 1776. A _potent_, in heraldry, is a figure resembling the top of a crutch, consisting of a rectangle laid horizontally above a small square. See Rom. of the Rose, 368.

1274. 'Whereas I daily destroy myself by living.'

1313. _rolleth_, revolves; see Pard. Ta. C 838; Somn. Ta. D 2217.

1335. 'And for that which is defaced, ye may blame the tears.'

1354. 'I sigh with sorrowful sighs.' MS. Cm. has _sikis I sike_.

1368. 'I can only say that, being a receptacle for every sorrow, I was still alive.' _cheste_, box; like that of Pandora.

1372. 'Until I see the contents of your reply.'

1431. 'Bottomless promises;' i. e. that held nothing.

1433. See the parallel line, Kn. Ta. A 1838, and note.

1450. _Sibille_, the Sibyl, the prophetess; not here a proper name, but an epithet of Cassandra. Cf. Æneid. vi. 98.

1464. (Ll. 1457-1512 are not in Boccaccio.) The story of Meleager and the Calydonian boar-hunt is told at length in Ovid, Met. viii. 271, &c.; whence Chaucer doubtless took it; cf. l. 1469 with Met. viii. 282. The 'mayde,' in l. 1473, was Atalanta.

1480. Chaucer seems to be mistaken here. Tydeus, according to one account, was Meleager's brother; and, according to another, his half-brother. He does not tell us to what 'olde bokes' he refers.

1483. _moder_; his mother Althaea; see Ovid, Met. viii. 445.

LATIN LINES: Argument of the 12 books of the Thebaid of Statius. These lines are placed, in the MSS., after l. 1498, interrupting the connection. I therefore insert them after l. 1484, which is certainly their proper place. Ll. 1485-1510 give a loose rendering of them. I subjoin an epitome, in a more intelligible form; but suppress many details not mentioned in Chaucer.