Opening the text

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

General

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

Name: 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
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

2413. _Him_ seems to stand alone in the first foot; for _were_, in this
phrase, is usually monosyllabic; cf. Mancip. Prol., H 23. But it also
occurs as a dissyllable, in which case the line is normal. Or else the
_-er_ in _lever_ is dwelt on.

2416. 'And his rudder was broken by a wave.'

2420. _For wood_, as (if) mad, 'like mad.' _For_ is not a prefix, but a
separate word; as shewn by 'for pure wood,' Rom. Rose, 276; and see Ho.
Fame, 1747. _Posseth_, pusheth, tosseth. Bech observes that ll. 2411-21 are
from Vergil, Æn. i. 85-90, 102, 142.

2422. _Chorus_; so in Thynne's edition; the MSS. have _Thorus_ (except T.,
which has _Thora_). Both _Chorus_ and _Thorus_ are unknown as
sea-divinities; but I think I can guess Chaucer's authority, viz. Verg. Æn.
v. 823-5:--

 'Et senior Glauci _chorus_, Inousque Palaemon,
  _Tritones_que citi, Phoreique _exercitus omnis_.
  Laeua tenent _Thetis_ et Melite, Panopeaque uirgo.'

Here we find _Thetis_, _chorus_, _Triton_; whilst 'and they alle' answers
to _exercitus omnis_. (So also Bech.) _Chorus_ is used for Caurus, the
north-east wind, in Chaucer's Boethius, bk. iv. met. 5. 17; but this is not
the purpose.

2423. _Lond_, i.e. Thrace. Phyllis, as said above, was the daughter of
Sithon, king of Thrace; but both Chaucer and Gower make her father's name
to be 'Ligurgus,' i.e. Lycurgus. This substitution may have been suggested
by Ovid, Her. ii. 111--'quae tibi subieci latissima regna _Lycurgi_.' He is
the same as the Lycurgus in Statius, Theb. iv. 386; in Ovid, Met. iv. 22,
and in Homer, vi. 130; and was king of the Edoni, a people of _Thrace_.
This accounts also for the introduction into the Knight's Tale of 'Ligurge
himself, the grete king of Thrace'; l. 1271 (A 2129). Prof. Lounsbury
(Studies in Chaucer, ii. 232) has usefully pointed out that the immediate
authority for making Lycurgus the _father_ of Phyllis was Boccaccio's De
Genealogia Deorum, lib. xi. c. 25, headed--'De Phyllidi Lycurgi filia.'

2425. _On to sene_, to look upon; cf. the parallel line, Kn. Ta., 177 (A
1035).

2427. _Is y-wonne_, is arrived. Cf. Æn. i. 173.

2434. _Chevisaunce_, borrowing; properly an agreement for borrowing money.
See C. T. 13259, 13277, 13321 (B 1519, 1537, 1581); P. Plowman, B. 5. 249,
and the note; and the Gloss. to Spenser.

2438. _Rodopeya_, the country near Rhodope, which was a mountain-range of
Thrace, now a part of the Hæmus range. See l. 2498.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

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

General

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

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

2413. _Him_ seems to stand alone in the first foot; for _were_, in this
phrase, is usually monosyllabic; cf. Mancip. Prol., H 23. But it also
occurs as a dissyllable, in which case the line is normal. Or else the
_-er_ in _lever_ is dwelt on.

2416. 'And his rudder was broken by a wave.'

2420. _For wood_, as (if) mad, 'like mad.' _For_ is not a prefix, but a
separate word; as shewn by 'for pure wood,' Rom. Rose, 276; and see Ho.
Fame, 1747. _Posseth_, pusheth, tosseth. Bech observes that ll. 2411-21 are
from Vergil, Æn. i. 85-90, 102, 142.

2422. _Chorus_; so in Thynne's edition; the MSS. have _Thorus_ (except T.,
which has _Thora_). Both _Chorus_ and _Thorus_ are unknown as
sea-divinities; but I think I can guess Chaucer's authority, viz. Verg. Æn.
v. 823-5:--

 'Et senior Glauci _chorus_, Inousque Palaemon,
  _Tritones_que citi, Phoreique _exercitus omnis_.
  Laeua tenent _Thetis_ et Melite, Panopeaque uirgo.'

Here we find _Thetis_, _chorus_, _Triton_; whilst 'and they alle' answers
to _exercitus omnis_. (So also Bech.) _Chorus_ is used for Caurus, the
north-east wind, in Chaucer's Boethius, bk. iv. met. 5. 17; but this is not
the purpose.

2423. _Lond_, i.e. Thrace. Phyllis, as said above, was the daughter of
Sithon, king of Thrace; but both Chaucer and Gower make her father's name
to be 'Ligurgus,' i.e. Lycurgus. This substitution may have been suggested
by Ovid, Her. ii. 111--'quae tibi subieci latissima regna _Lycurgi_.' He is
the same as the Lycurgus in Statius, Theb. iv. 386; in Ovid, Met. iv. 22,
and in Homer, vi. 130; and was king of the Edoni, a people of _Thrace_.
This accounts also for the introduction into the Knight's Tale of 'Ligurge
himself, the grete king of Thrace'; l. 1271 (A 2129). Prof. Lounsbury
(Studies in Chaucer, ii. 232) has usefully pointed out that the immediate
authority for making Lycurgus the _father_ of Phyllis was Boccaccio's De
Genealogia Deorum, lib. xi. c. 25, headed--'De Phyllidi Lycurgi filia.'

2425. _On to sene_, to look upon; cf. the parallel line, Kn. Ta., 177 (A
1035).

2427. _Is y-wonne_, is arrived. Cf. Æn. i. 173.

2434. _Chevisaunce_, borrowing; properly an agreement for borrowing money.
See C. T. 13259, 13277, 13321 (B 1519, 1537, 1581); P. Plowman, B. 5. 249,
and the note; and the Gloss. to Spenser.

2438. _Rodopeya_, the country near Rhodope, which was a mountain-range of
Thrace, now a part of the Hæmus range. See l. 2498.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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

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

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