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