Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Book721. '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. 'Desinit in lacrimas, intentaque fila remittit, in gremium uultum deposuitque suum. Hoc ipsum decuit: lacrimae decuere pudicae, et facies animo dignaque parque fuit'; l. 755. 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_ ([Greek: talanton]), 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:-- 'Quid faciat? Pugnet? uincetur femina pugna; Clamet? at in dextra, qui uetet, ensis erat.' 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:-- 'Tunc quoque, iam moriens, ne non procumbat honeste, respicit. Haec etiam cura cadentis erat.' 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.' VI. THE LEGEND OF ARIADNE. For a remark upon the title, see note to l. 1966. It is difficult to say whence Chaucer derived all of this Legend. The beginning is from Ovid, Metam. vii. 456-8, viii. 6-176; the main part of the story is like Plutarch's Life of Theseus, or some similar source; and the conclusion from Ovid's Heroides, epist. x. Further, ll. 2222-4 refer to Met. viii. 176-182. See also Hyginus, Fabulae, capp. xli-xliii; Æneid, vi. 20-30; and cf. Gower, C. A. ii. 302-311. 1886. 'O Minos, king of Crete, judge in the infernal regions, now comes thy lot, now comest thou into the ring (concourse).' In l. 1894 we again have mention of Minos, king of Crete; which looks as if Chaucer has confused the two kings of this name. The 'infernal judge' was, however, the grandfather of the second Minos; at least, such is the usual account. The mention of 'the lot' in connection with Minos looks as if Chaucer was thinking of Vergil's lines, Æn. vi. 431, 2:-- 'Nec uero hae _sine sorte_ datae, sine iudice sedes. Quaesitor Minos _urnam mouet_.' Cf. also Æn. vi. 22:--'stat ductis sortibus urna.' 1889. _Memóri-e_ has four syllables, and is accented on the second. 1895. _Hadde_, had, possessed; referring to Crete. This seems better than the reading _wan_ (i.e. won), referring to Minos. Cf. Ovid, Her. x. 67:--'Non ego te, Crete, centum digesta per urbes.' 1896. Cf. Ovid, Met. vii. 456-8:-- 'Bella parat Minos ... Androgeique necem iustis ulciscitur armis.' Androgeus is again mentioned in Ovid, Her. x. 99; and in Vergil, Æn. vi. 20. 'There came certain of king Minos' ambassadors out of Creta, to ask a tribute, being now the third time that it was demanded; which the Athenians paid for this cause. Androgeus, the eldest son of king Minos, was slain by treason within the country of Attica: for which cause Minos, pursuing the revenge of his death, made very hot and sharp wars upon the Athenians, and did them great hurt.'--Shakespeare's Plutarch, p. 280. 1900. From this point to l. 1921 Chaucer follows Ovid, Met. viii. 6-176, but gives a mere outline of the story of Scylla. See note to l. 1908. 1902. _Alcathoe_, the citadel of Megara, and hence a name for Megara. It was named after Alcathous, founder of Megara; indeed, in Ovid, Met. viii. 8, it is called _Alcathoi urbs_; but Chaucer found the right form in Met. vii. 443. 1904. _Nisus_, Nisus, king of Megara; Met. viii. 8. 1908. Nisus' daughter was named Scylla. In order to gain the love of Minos, she cut off her father's purple hair, on which the safety of his kingdom depended; whereupon Nisus was changed into a sparrow-hawk, and Scylla into the bird _ciris_; Met. viii. 9-151. But Chaucer omits these details. Cf. Parl. of Foules, 292, and the note. 1922. Chaucer here leaves Ovid; this part of the story is partly given in Plutarch and Hyginus, but Chaucer seems to have filled in details from some source unknown to me. 1925. 'Whereupon the Athenians sent immediately unto him, and intreated him for peace: which he granted them, with condition that they should be bound to send him yearly, into Creta, seven young boys and as many young girls. Now thus far all the historiographers do very well agree, but in the rest not. And they which seem furthest off from the troth [including Chaucer] do declare, that when these young boys were delivered in Creta, they caused them to be devoured by the Minotaur within the labyrinth.'--Shakespeare's Plutarch, p. 280. 1928. The Minotaur was a monster, half bull and half man, dwelling in a labyrinth at Crete, constructed by Dædalus. He annually devoured the fourteen Athenian young people, as above said, till slain by Theseus. Cf. Ovid, Met. viii. 155. 1932. _Every thridde yeer_, every third year. This is due to Ovid's expr |