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.