Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Part 2 — Part II. THE LEGEND OF MEDEA.

Reading edition

1580. From this line to l. 1655 Chaucer mainly follows the second book of Guido delle Colonne's Historia Troiana, which he epitomises. See Gower, C. A. ii. 236-258.

1581. 'Who is a devourer of love, and a very dragon'; with reference to the supposed insatiability of dragons.

1582. 'As matter always seeks to have a definite form, and may pass from one form into another.' Mr. Archer Hind refers me to Aristotle, Metaphysica, Λ. vii. 1072 b. 3:—κινεῖ δὲ ὡς ἐρώμενον, κινούμενον δὲ τἆλλα κινεῖ. Bech shews that this is all from Guido, who has: 'Scimus enim mulieris animum semper uirum appetere, sicut appetit materia semper formam.... Sed sicut ad formam de forma procedere materiam notum est, sic mulieris concupiscentia dissoluta procedere de uiro ad uirum ... sine fine, cum sit quaedam profunditas sine fundo,' &c. Hence Lydgate, in his Troy-book, bk. i. c. 5 (fol. C 6, back) has:—

'For as nature by kyndly appetyte Kyndly seketh to sewen after fourme,' &c.

1590. Iaconitos, Iaconites. This is a clear proof that Chaucer follows Guido. At p. 12* of the alliterative Troy-book, ed. Panton and Donaldson, the following passage is quoted from Guido, lib. ii.: 'In insula igitur Colcos erat tunc temporis quaedam ciuitas nomine Iaconites, caput regni pro sua magnitudine constituta.' Further extracts from this Latin text are given by Horstmann, in his edition entitled 'Barbours Legendensammlung,' vol. ii. (Heilbronn, 1882), p. 221; where will also be found a parallel passage in a fifteenth-century poem which has wrongly been ascribed to Barbour. Hence Lydgate, in his Troy-book, bk. i. c. 5 (fol. C 3, back), says of the chief city of Colchos:—'And Iaconites tho it bare the name.'

1594. Read Preyíng; and drop the final e of moste.

1597. Compare the allit. Troy-book, ll. 388-391:—

'The kyng was full curtais, calt on a maiden, Bede his doughter come downe, and his dere heire, To sit by that semely, and solas to make. This mayden full mylde Medea was callid.'

1605. 'And in his mien as royal as a lion.'

1606. Famulere, familiar, affable. See Ch. Prol. 215.

1609. 'And, as Fortune owed her an evil mishap.'

1617. Cf. the Troy-book, l. 544:—

'That causes me with counsell to caste for your helpe, And put you in plite your purpos to wyn, In sound for to saile home, and your sute all.'

1620. Cf. the same, l. 554:—

'Now louely and leell, for your lefe speche I thanke you a thowsande tymes in my thro hert, That ye kythe me suche kyndnes withouten cause why; And here I put me full plainly in your pure wille, To do with me, damsell, as your desyre thynke.'

1631. Disioint, perilous situation, peril. Cf. Kn. Ta., A 2962. 'But sith I see I stonde in this disioint'; Shipman's Tale, B 1601.

1639. Cf. the Troy-book, 942; and 711:—

'Yow swiftly shall sweire vppon swete goddes, This couenaunt to kepe and for no case chaunge.'

'And swiftly he sware on that swete^[70] god, All tho couenaundes to kepe, and for no cause let, Whill hym lastes the lyffe; he laid on his hond.'

1653. Unwist of, unknown to. Cf. Troy-book, 987:—

'Then leuyt thai the lond, and no leue toke, Stale from the styth king stylle by night; With the maiden Medea and myche other goodes, Thai turne into Tessaile with-outen tale more.'

Here Chaucer ceases to follow Guido, except in ll. 1662-6.

1661. Her name was Creusa; cf. Ovid, Met. vii. 391-6; Horace, Epod. v. 64.

1662. Cf. the Troy-book, l. 718:—

'And thou hedis not the harme of that hend lady, Ne tentes not thy trouth that thou tynt has; Soche a maiden to mar that the most louet, That forsec hir fader and hir fre londe.'

1667. Vassalage, prowess; cf. Kn. Ta., A 3054. It is here used ironically. Trench refers us to Lydgate's Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 176:—

'And Catoun seith, is noon so greet encress Of wordly tresour, as for to live in pees, Which among vertues hath the vasselage.'

1670. Lettre, letter; i.e. the 12th letter in Ovid's Heroides; see l. 1678. Lines 1672-7 answer to lines 13, 14, and 19 in Ovid:—

'Cur mihi plus aequo flaui placuere capilli, et decor, et linguae gratia ficta tuae?... Quantum perfidiae tecum, scelerate, perîsset!'

1672. Why lyked me, why did it please me? But, in l. 1674, lyked is a personal verb.