Part 2 / Book 3 — III. THE LEGEND OF DIDO.

This Legend purports to be taken from Vergil and Ovid; see l. 928. There is very little of it from Ovid, viz. only the last 16 lines, which depend on Ovid's Heroides, vii. 1-8, and ll. 1312-6, which owe something to the same epistle.

The rest is from the Æneid, bks. i-iv, as will be pointed out.

Note that Chaucer had already given the story of Dido at some length in his Hous of Fame, 151-382, which should be compared. He mentions Ovid there also; l. 379.

924. Mantuan, born near Mantua. Publius Vergilius [not Virgilius] Maro was born on the 15th Oct., B.C. 70, at Andes, now Pietola, a small village near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul; and died Sept. 22, B.C. 19. It is said that an inscription was placed on his tomb, beginning 'Mantua me genuit.'

926. Cf. 'chi vi fu lucerna?' Dante, Purg. i. 43.

927. Eneas, Æneas, hero of the Æneid.

928. The late editions, for some mysterious reason, put a full stop after Eneid and insert of before Naso. The sense is—'I will take the general tenour (of the story as I find it) in thine Æneid and in Naso,' i.e. in Ovid; 'and I will versify the chief circumstances.'

Roughly speaking, ll. 930-949 are from the Æneid, bk. ii; ll. 950-957 from bk. iii; ll. 958-1155 from bk. i; and ll. 1156-1351 from bk. iv.

931. 'By the craft of the Greeks, and especially by Sinon.' Sinon allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Trojans, and persuaded them to take in a wooden horse through the walls, which he said had been made as an atonement to Minerva for the Palladium carried away by the Greeks. In the dead of night Sinon let out the armed men concealed within the horse, and thus Troy was taken by a stratagem. See Æn. ii. 57-267; and cf. Ho. Fame, 152-6.

934. The ghost of Hector appeared to Æneas, and advised him to flee; Æn. ii. 268-298.

935. The verb agreeing with fyr is appered. 'And there appeared also so mad a fire that it could not be controlled.' See Æn. ii. 311.

936. Ilioun, the usual M.E. form of Ilium; Æn. i. 68, ii. 241, 325, 625. Ilium is only another name for Troy, but the medieval writers invented the explanation here adopted by Chaucer, viz. that it was the palace of Priam, and the castle of Troy in particular. Perhaps they interpreted the word domus in too narrow a sense in the passage—'O patria, O Divum domus Ilium'; Æn. ii. 241. This use of the word is invariable in Guido delle Colonne, author of the Historia Destructionis Troie, a work which was considered of the highest authority in the middle ages, though it was shamelessly copied from the French Roman de Troie by Benoit de Sainte-Maure. In fact, a long description of Priam's palace, called Ilion, is given in the alliterative Troy-book, l. 1629, which is translated from Guido; and in Lydgate's Troy-book, ed. 1555, fol. F 6, back, and R 5, back. See the notes to Book Duch. 1070, Ho. Fame, 158, 1467, 1469, 1477.

939. For the death of Priam, killed by Pyrrhus, see Æn. ii. 531-558. Fordoon, slain. Noght, nothing; this alludes to Vergil's 'sine nomine corpus'; Æn. ii. 558.

940. Venus appears to her son Æneas; Æn. ii. 591. Cf. Ho. Fame, 162.

942. Cf. 'dextrae se paruus Iülus [Ascanius] Implicuit'; Æn. ii. 724. See note to Ho. Fame, 177.

945. Lees, lost; 'erepta Creüsa'; Æn. ii. 738; Ho. Fame, 183.

947. Felawshippe, company, companions; 'ingentem comitum numerum'; Æn. ii. 796.

949. Stounde, hour, time; usually dissyllabic in M.E.

953. For these adventures, see Æn. bk. iii; which Chaucer passes over. But see Ho. Fame, 198-221.

959. Libye, Libya, on the N. coast of Africa; Æn. i. 158. For the seven ships saved, see the same, i. 170.

960, 1. These two lines are in no previous edition, (except my own), being preserved only in MSS. C. and P. But they are obviously genuine and necessary; otherwise, the word So (l. 962) is meaningless.

962. Al to-shake, all shaken to pieces, sorely distressed. Cf. l. 820.

964. Æneas and Achates sally forth, Æn. i. 312; Ho. Fame, 226.

971. Hunteresse, huntress; i.e. Venus so disguised; id. i. 319. 'As she had been an hunteresse'; Ho. Fame, 229.

973. Cutted, cut short; 'nuda genu'; id. i. 320. The same expression occurs as 'cutted to the kne' in P. Ploughman's Crede, 296. Compare also l. 434 of the same poem:—

The editions have knytte, which is an erroneous spelling either of knyt or of knytted; neither of which readings can be right.

978-82. Translated from Æn. i. 321-4.

982. Y-tukked up, with robe tucked up; 'Succinctam.' This settles the meaning of tukked in Ch. Prol. 621.

983-93. Shortened from Æn. i. 325-340.

986. 'Phoebus' sister'; Vergil has 'Phoebi soror'; 329.

994-1001. Alluding to Æn. i. 341-410.

997. Hit nere but, it would only be; nere = ne were.

998. Al and som, the whole matter; wholly and in particulars.

1005. Sitheo, so in all the copies. Nothing is commoner than a confusion between c and t in old MSS.; hence Sitheo is for Sichco, i.e. Sichaeus. Sichaeus (Æn. i. 343) is Vergil's name for Acerbas, a wealthy Tyrian priest, who married Elissa (Vergil's Dido) sister of Pygmalion. Pygmalion murdered Acerbas, hoping to appropriate his treasure; but Elissa fled from Tyre, taking the treasure with her, and founded Carthage. Dante has the form Sicheo; Inf. v. 62.

1010. Fredom, liberality; the old sense of free being 'liberal.' Of here means 'for'; in l. 1012 it means 'by.'

1016. Maister-temple, chief temple; cf. maistre-strete, chief street (Kn. Ta., A 2902), and maistre-tour, chief tower (Squi. Tale, F 226). It was the temple of Juno; Æn. i. 446.

1022. 'So the book says'; Vergil says that Venus shrouded Æneas and Achates with a cloud (i. 412, 516).

1024. The first syllable of Hadden forms a foot by itself; cf. l. 1030. Ov'r al forms the last foot.

1025. 'Uidet Iliacas ex ordine pugnas'; i. 456.

1028. 'Bellaque iam fama totum uulgata per orbem'; i. 457.

1032. Kepe, care; usually with a negative; see Kn. Ta., A 2238, 2960.

1035. See Æn. i. 496, &c. Vergil likens Dido to Diana. In l. 1039 Chaucer uses god in the heathen sense, meaning Jupiter.

1044-6. These lines are original. Fremd, strange; A.S. fremede. In the Squi. Tale, F 429, it means 'foreign.' 'To frende ne to fremmed,' to friend nor to stranger; P. Plowm. B. xv. 137. Misspelt frenne (riming with glenne) in Spenser, Shep. Kal. April, 28, with the sense of 'stranger'; unless he means it for foreign.

1047-60. Epitomised from Æn. i. 509-612.

1048. Wende han loren, he supposed to have lost, he supposed that he had lost.

1050. For which, on which account, wherefore.

1059. Meynee, attendants, followers, lit. household; O.F. meisnee, mesnee, meinee. Very common in Chaucer. The derived adj. menial is still in use. See l. 1089.

1061-5. From Æn. i. 613, 614. Ll. 1066-1074 are from the same, 588-591.

1075. 'Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco'; id. 630.

1076. The first syllable of Lyked forms a foot by itself. God do bote, may God give (us) help! A parenthetical explanation. All former editions (except my own) omit the necessary comma after as.

1077-85. Chaucer here gives a general outline of the state of the case, without following Vergil's words.

1086-90. This answers to Æn. i. 615-630.

1091-1102. From Æn. i 631-642.

1099. His lyve, in his life, during his life.

1103-27. This passage is, practically, original. Chaucer here tells the story in his own language, and gives it a wholly medieval cast.

1104. The M.E. swolow usually means 'a whirlpool' or 'gulf,' and such is Tyrwhitt's explanation. See the Catholicon Anglicum, p. 373, note 1, for examples. Thus, in Wyclif's Works, ed. Matthew, p. 97, we find—'Swolwis of the see and helle, that resceyuen al that thei may and ȝelden not aȝen.' Very rarely, it is used of an open mouth; thus in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, iii. 250, it is said that the whale 'opened his swolȝ' to engulf Jonah. Hence, probably, arose the suggestion in Bell's note, that the reference is to the open mouth of hell, as represented in medieval drawings. Nevertheless, I believe Tyrwhitt is right; though either sense will serve. It is the mod. E. swallow, used as a sb. Cf. Dante, Inf. xxxiv. 137-9.

1106. Parements, ornaments; probably hangings. Cf. 'chambre of parementz' in Squi. Ta., F 269, and Tyrwhitt's note, quoted in my note to the line. In the Kn. Ta., A 2501, paramentz means 'rich clothes.' See Æn. i. 637-9.

1107. For ornaments, which is preserved in MSS. C. and T. only, the other MSS. and all the old editions have the odd reading pavements, which is strangely out of place. I think it clear that this arose from a repetition of the word parements, which was afterwards turned into pavements by way of desperate emendation. The letters v and r are often somewhat alike, and have been mistaken for one another, as shewn in my paper on 'ghost-words' in the Phil. Soc. Transactions, 1886.

1109. The MSS. (except T.) and the black-letter editions have he. Morris's, Bell's, and Corson's editions have she, which gives no sense, and will not suit l. 1111. I do not undertake to notice all the vagaries of the various editions, as the readings of the MSS. are so much more satisfactory. In the present case, I suppose that she is a mere misprint in Bell, preserved in the editions that follow him. Sete is short for seten, the usual M.E. pp. of sitten, to sit; see Kn. Ta., A 1452. It answers to the A.S. pp. seten, with short e. The e in mete was also short in A.S.; hence the rime is perfect.

1110. Cf. Squi. Ta., F 294—'The spyces and the wyn is come anon.' This refers to the custom of serving wine mixed with spices to the guests before going to rest; see a long note in Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, ed. 1840, i. 178 (on the word piment); Weber's note on King Alisaunder, 4178; and Our English Home, p. 85.

1114. The first syllable Ther probably constitutes the first foot of the line. I believe Chaucer accents courser on the former syllable; see Kn. Ta., A 1502, 1704; Squi. Ta., F 195, 310.

1117. Fretted, adorned; not 'fraught,' as in Corson's note.

1119. Shynedè; trisyllabic; in MS. C. only; rest, shyned, shyneth, which will not scan. Cf. lakkedè, Prol. 756; knokkeden, Compl. Mars, 84. Line 2194 has shinèd, and l. 1428 has shoon. Shynede occurs in both the Wycliffite versions of Luke ii. 9; and is therefore an old form. We still have shined as a pt. t. in Ezek. xliii. 2, Acts ix. 3, xii. 7.

1120. 'Nor gentle high-flying falcon for striking herons.' Chaucer has gentil faucon in his Parl. of Foules, 337. Cotgrave, s.v. haultain, has:—'Faulcon haultain, a high-flying hawke.' Heronere means 'used for flying at herons'; only the best hawks would serve for this.

1122. Y-bete, in the Knight's Ta., A 979, means 'ornamented with beaten gold,' or with gold flattened out by the hammer (F. or batu). It might mean 'ornamented by means of the hammer'; but as 'new florins' can hardly be said to be used for decorating cups, it seems best to take with in the sense of 'as well as'; in which case florins newe y-bete means 'florins newly struck.' The allusion to florins is curious; see note to P. Plowman, B. iii. 45. Cf. Æn, i. 640—'Ingens argentum mensis, caelataque in auro Fortia facta patrum.'

1128-35. From Æn. i. 643-656.

1135. Take, present, offer, deliver. This sense was once common; see Sec. Non. Ta., G 223; Can. Yem. Ta., G 1030, 1034, 1365; P. Plowman, B. i. 56, iv. 58, &c.

1136-49. Much abridged from Æn. i. 657-722.

1145. 'Let it be as it may; I care little about it.'

1150-55. Chaucer here comes to the end of Æn. bk. i, and passes over the second book with the remark in l. 1153.

1155. Entendeden, gave their attention. Corson and Gilman explain it by 'attend,' as if it were the present tense.

1156. Chaucer here passes on to Vergil's fourth book, which he epitomises, and seldom follows quite exactly.

1157. Sely, simple, unsuspecting; see l. 1254. See Silly in Trench, Select Glossary.

1161. 'Why I have told the story so far, and must tell the rest.'

1163. The reading his (for her) in MS. C. can be justified, and may be right. The A.S. móna was masculine, but the Lat. luna was feminine. Hence arose a confusion, so that the M.E. mone was of either gender. Hence, in Chaucer's Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 34, l. 12, we find—'And nota, that yif the mone shewe himself by light of day,' &c.; whereas in the same, pt. ii. § 40, l. 54, we find—'the mone, loke thou rekne wel hir cours houre by houre; for she,' &c.

1166. Brayd, start, sudden movement. In the Cursor Mundi, 7169, we read of Samson, that—

See Braid in the New E. Dictionary.

1170-81. From Vergil's Æn. iv. 9-29.

1174. 'And eke so likely to be a hero.' Man is here used emphatically; cf. 'quam forti pectore et armis'; iv. 11.

1182, 3. Cf. Æn. iv. 31-53; but Chaucer cuts it short.

1187. Love (A.S. lufu) is here monosyllabic; cf. Kn. Ta., A 1135. 'Love desires (to have) love; for no one will it desist.' Cf. A.S. wandian, to turn aside, blench, fear. And see wol, in l. 1191.

1188-1211. From Æn. iv. 129-159.

1191. An hunting, on hunting, a-hunting. Here an is another form of the prep. on, and hunting is a substantive, like Lat. uenatio. See Skeat, Principles of Eng. Etymology, Ser. 1, p. 260.

Wol, desires (to go); cf. wol in l. 1187.

1196. Hoven, wait in readiness, hover. Cf. 'where that she hoved and abode'; Gower, C. A. iii. 63; and see P. Plowman, B. prol. 210, xviii. 83. It just expresses the notion of slight movement, whilst remaining nearly in the same place. The old editions read heven, which gives no sense; for it never means 'mount,' as has been suggested. Cf. Vergil's 'expectant'; iv. 134.

1198. Paper-whyt, as white as paper; a curious and rare compound. Printed paper white (as two words!) in former editions.

1200. The 4th sense of Bar in the New E. Dict. is—'An ornamental transverse band on a girdle, saddle, &c.; subsequently, an ornamental boss of any shape.'

1201. Sit, sits. Wrye, covered; A.S. wrigen, pp.

1204. Startling, moving suddenly; the frequentative form of starting, which Chaucer preferred when repeating this same line in his Kn. Tale, A 1502.

1205. A litel wyr, i.e. a small bridle-bit. See l. 1208.

1206. Phebus; Vergil's 'Apollo'; iv. 144. To devyse, to describe (him).

1209. Wold, willed, desired; the pp. of willen. This form is very rare, but we again find hath wold in l. 11 of the Compl. of Venus; and hadde wold in P. Plowman, B. xv. 258. Prof. Corson aptly quotes three examples from Malory's Morte Arthur, ed. T. Wright, with the references 'vol. i. c. 33, vol. iii. c. 119, and vol. iii. c. 123.' The first of these answers to bk. ii. c. 8, p. 54 in the 'Globe' edition, where we find—'Then said Merlin to Balin, Thou hast done thyself great hurt, because thou savedst not this lady that slew herself, that might have saved her and thou wouldest.' Caxton (ed. 1485) also has woldest; but Wright, following the edition of 1634, has had would. For the other passages, see bk. xviii. capp. 15 and 19, where Caxton has 'and he had wold,' and 'and I had wolde.'

1212-31. From Vergil, Æn. iv. 154-170.

1213. Go bet, go more quickly, hasten; a term of encouragement. See Pard. Tale, C 667, and the note. Prik thou, spur thou, push on; a like term. Lat goon, let (the dogs) go.

1230. 'Ille dies primus leti, primusque malorum Causa fuit'; iv. 169. It looks as if Chaucer has translated leti by 'gladnesse,' as if it were letitiae. (Bech makes a similar remark.)

1232-41. These lines are original. Cf. Ho. Fame, 253-292.

1242. Here follows, in Vergil, the celebrated description of Fame, which Chaucer had already introduced into his Hous of Fame, 1368-1392; it is therefore here omitted. He passes on to Æn. iv. 195.

1245. Yarbas, i.e. Iarbas, son of Ammon; Æn. iv. 196.

1254-84. Original; but see Ho. Fame, 269-292.

1262. Pilled, robbed. 'A knight ... sholde deffenden holy chirche, and nat robben it ne pilen it'; Persones Tale, De Avaritia, I 767.

1277. Ther-as, whereas. Sterve, to die.

1287. Perhaps copied by the author of fragment B. of the Romaunt of the Rose. We there find (l. 4838, Glasgow MS.)—'The hoote ernes [ernest?] they al foryeten'; there being nothing answering to it in the French text.

1288. 'And he secretly causes his ships to be prepared'; lit. 'causes (men) to prepare his ships.'

1289. Shapeth him, intends, purposes. See Prologue, 772.

1295. 'Me patris Anchisae ... Admonet ... imago'; iv. 351.

1297. Mercurie, Mercury; 'interpres Divûm'; iv. 356.

1305. What womman, what sort of a woman.

1310. Seketh halwes, repairs to saints' shrines; a curious medieval touch. Vergil only mentions the sacrifice; iv. 453. Cf. Prologue, 14, and the note. 'To go seken halwes'; C. T. (Wyf of Bathes Prol.), D 657.

1312, 3. 'Si pudet uxoris, non nupta, sed hospita dicar,' &c.; Ovid, Her. vii. 167.

1316. Cf. 'Sed neque fers tecum'; Her. vii. 79.

1317. Thise lordes; 'Nomadumque tyranni'; Æn. iv. 320. Also Pygmalion and Iarbas, id. 325, 6.

1324. The former syllable of Mercy forms the first foot in the line; cf. l. 1342. 'Have pitee on my sorwes smerte!' Ho. Fame, 316; which see.

1331. Lavyne, Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus; Æn. vii. 359.

1332. A cloth. This refers to the Trojan garments left behind by Æneas; 'Iliacas uestes'; iv. 648. The sword is mentioned by Vergil just two lines above; 646.

1338-40. Here the cloth answers to the Lat. exuuiae; and whyl hit leste = whilst it pleased. These three lines are a close imitation of Vergil, Æn. iv. 651-3:—

We hence see that, in l. 1339, the right reading is unbind me of this unreste, a close translation from the Latin. Me of are run together; see note to Complaint to Pitè, l. 11.

1341. Withouten, without any succour from Æneas.

1346. Her norice, her nurse, or rather the nurse of Sichæus, named Barce; Æn. iv. 632.

1351. 'She roof hir-selve to the herte'; Ho. Fame, 373.

1352. Here Chaucer, having done with Vergil, takes up Ovid, who is intended by the words myn autour.

1354. A lettre, i.e. the 7th Epistle in Ovid's Heroides. See l. 1367.

1355-65. From the first 8 lines in the above Epistle.