Part 2 — V. THE LEGEND OF LUCRETIA.

Chaucer cites Ovid and Livy, and in l. 1873 again appeals to Livy as the authority. The story is in Livy, bk. i. c. 57-59; and in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 721-852. Chaucer doubtless appeals to Livy as being a professed historian, but the reader will find that, as a matter of fact, he follows mainly the account in Ovid from beginning to end, and sometimes almost word for word. Livy and Ovid were contemporary; the former was born B.C. 59, and died A.D. 17; the latter was born B.C. 43, and died A.D. 18. Gower also tells this story, and likewise follows Ovid and (near the end) Livy; C. A. iii. 251.

1680. Ovid tells the story of Lucretia under the date Feb. 22 (viii Kal. Martii), which was commemorated as 'Fuga Tarquinii Superbi,' and begins his account in the Fasti, ii. 685. Chaucer here borrows from Ovid's first line, viz.:—'Nunc mihi dicenda est regis fuga.'

Ll. 1680-1693 form Chaucer's own Prologue to the story.

1682. The 'last king' of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus, father of the Tarquinius Sextus whom Chaucer calls in l. 1698 'Tarquinius the yonge.' The word And, at the beginning of the line, though absolutely necessary to the sense, is preserved only in MS. Addit. 12524, a bad copy from a good type. It reads:—'And specially off the last king Tarquinius'; but no other MS. retains specially, and of course it makes the line too long.

1684. 'I do not tell the story for the sake of Tarquin's exile.'

1690. 'St. Augustin, commenting on the story in the milder and more rational spirit of Christian morality, while he admires the purity of Lucrece, blames her folly in committing the crime of self-murder as a punishment on herself for that of which she was really innocent. "Si adultera," he asks, "cur laudata? Si pudica, cur occisa?" See August. De Civitate Dei, c. xix.'—Bell.

1694. Here Chaucer begins his close copy of Ovid, Fast. ii. 721:—'Cingitur interea Romanis Ardea signis.' The original should be compared throughout. Ardea, capital of the Rutuli; in Latium.

1696. Wroghte, pt. t. 'The siege (or the besiegers) lay before the city long, and accomplished little'; G. L. Kittredge, Harvard Studies, p. 7.

1698. 'Tarquinius iuuenis'; i.e. Tarquinius Sextus.

1705. Colatyne. Chaucer found the name in Livy (or Augustine). Ovid merely has: 'cui dederat clarum Collatia nomen.' Livy has: 'ubi et Collatinus cenebat Tarquinius, Egerii filius.' Collatinus was the cousin of Sextus, and took his name from Collatia, an ancient town of the Sabines, in the neighbourhood of Rome.

1707. From Ovid: 'Non opus est uerbis, credite rebus, ait.'

1708. From Livy: 'paucis id quidem horis posse sciri, quantum ceteris praestet Lucretia sua.'

1711. 'That pleases me.' Ovid: 'Dicta placent'; l. 736.

1715. Cf. 'And knew the estres bet than dide this John'; C. T., A 4295 (Reves Tale); and see Kn. Ta., A 1971; also, in particular, the Romaunt of the Rose, 1448, where the F. text has l'estre (shewing where Ch. found the word); see vol. i. p. 153.

We may explain estres by 'inner premises' of a house or building. Godefroy's O. Fr. Dict. gives numerous examples. Cotgrave gives the verb estre, to be; whence the sb. estre, a being, substance, state; and then cites: 'les estres d'une maison, the inward conveyances, private windings and turnings within, entries into, issues out of, a house.' The word is very common in Old French, and not uncommon in Middle English. Gower even has the sing. estre in the sense of 'state'; C. A. i. 272. Cf. F. 'il sait tous les êtres de cette maison.'

For all this, the old editions turned the form into efters, and Bell follows them! Moreover, eftures is gravely quoted in Halliwell's Dictionary, with a reference to Sir T. Malory. The passage is:—'Pleaseth it you to see the eftures of this castle?' bk. xix. c. 7 (p. 444 in the Globe edition). Here eftures is a mere misprint (in Caxton's original edition) for estres, due to reading the long s (ſ) as an f. Efters and Eftures are mere 'ghost-words,' the products of ignorance.

1716, 7. 'Tecta petunt; custos in fore nullus erat'; l. 738.

1720. Dischevele, with hair hanging loose. Malice, evil.

1721. 'Ante torum calathi lanaque mollis erat'; l. 742. Of course 'our book' means Ovid; yet Thynne reads 'saith Liui.'

1729. A fine line; but I think Chaucer has wholly misunderstood l. 752 of the original.

1732-9.

1740-3. 'Pone metum, ueni, coniux ait. Illa reuixit.'

1745-55. Six lines in Ovid; ll. 761-6.

1757. 'Iam dederat cantus lucis praenuntius ales'; l. 767.

1759-71. Twelve lines in Ovid; ll. 769-80.

1765. Al to-shake, wholly tossed about; see l. 962.

1771. 'Or a wicked inclination, with malice.' 'The original meaning (as of talento in Italian, talante in Spanish) was will, inclination, from talentum (τάλαντον), balance, scales, and then inclination of balance.'—Trench, Select Glossary, s.v. Talent.

1773. 'Audentes Forsque deusque iuuant.' We say, 'Fortune favours the bold.' Cf. 'Audentes fortuna iuuat'; Verg. Æn. x. 284; 'Audentes deus ipse iuuat'; Ovid, Met. x. 586.

1774. 'Whatever the event may be, my resolve is taken.' Audebimus ultima, dixit'; l. 781.

1775. Girt, girdeth; pr. t. So rit, rideth, in l. 1776.

1780. Halke, corner, hiding-place; as in Sec. Non. Ta. G 311.

1781. Gan he stalke, he moved stealthily; as in Clerk. Ta. E 525. It is remarkable that Shakespeare uses the same word in his Lucrece, l. 365:—'Into the chamber wickedly he stalks.' Prof. Corson notices its use by Gower; see Pauli's edition, vol. i. pp. 72, 187; ii. 256, 346, 347, 353, 360.

1798. 'Parua sub infesto quum iacet agna lupo'; l. 800.

1800-3. Cf. Fast. ii. 801, 2:—

1812-26. These lines are original, and breathe the spirit of chivalry.

1827-36. Eight lines in Ovid; 815, 816; 813, 814; 817-20.

1838-46. This passage is original.

1847-53. Compare Ovid, 829, 830. But Chaucer here follows Livy, who has: 'Dant ordine omnes fidem; consolantur aegram animi, auertendo noxam ab coacta in auctorem delicti; mentem peccare, non corpus; et unde consilium afuerit, culpam abesse.' Cf. Gower, C. A. iii. 261.

1856-60. Two lines in Ovid; 833, 834:—

1861. Chaucer here tells the tale more succinctly. Ll. 1864-5 answer to ll. 849, 850 in Ovid; l. 1866 answers to l. 847 and l. 1869 to l. 852. The rest is, practically, all Chaucer's own.

1871. This canonisation of Lucretia is strikingly medieval. It was evidently suggested by the fact that Ovid gives her story under a particular date, so that she seemed to have her own day, like a saint. Cf. note to l. 1680.

1880. Probably the syllables That in Is- form the first foot of the line. Otherwise, Israel is dissyllabic.

1881. The reference must be to the Syro-phenician woman; Matt. xv. 28; Mark, vii. 29. But it may be feared that Chaucer was really thinking of the centurion; Matt. viii. 10; Luke, vii. 9. Read he ne as he n'.

1883, 4. As of, in the case of. Alday, always; F. toujours. 'Let whoever wishes (it) test them.'