Chaucer's Works, Volume 5 — Notes to the Canterbury Tales

margin of E. is written--'Alnath dicitur prima mansio lunae.' Cf. note to l. 1130; and see l. 1289. His object was, clearly, to calculate the moon's position; see l. 1287.

1288. 'And knew in whose "face" the moon arose, and in what "term," and all about it.' Each sign of the zodiac, containing thirty degrees, was divided into three equal parts, each of ten degrees, called faces in the astrological jargon of the time. Not only each sign, but each face, was assigned to some peculiar planet; hence whos means 'of which planet.' Besides this equal division of each sign, we find unequal divisions, called terms. For example, the sign Aries, considered as a whole, was called 'the mansion of Mars.' Again, of this sign, degrees one to ten were called 'the face of Mars'; degrees eleven to twenty, 'the face of the Sun'; and degrees twenty-one to thirty, 'the face of Venus.' Lastly, of the same sign, degrees one to six were 'a term of Jupiter'; degrees seven to twelve, of Venus; degrees thirteen to twenty, of Mercury; twenty-one to twenty-five, of Mars; and twenty-six to thirty, of Saturn. Of course, the whole of this assignment was purely fanciful, imposed at first by arbitrary authority, and afterwards kept up by tradition. Cf. l. 1293.

1311-1322. These lines form a 'Complaint,' quite in the style of the Compleint of Anelida, q.v. Thus, l. 1318 is like Anelida, l. 288:--'As verily ye sleen me with the peyne.' The 'complaint' of Dorigen begins at l. 1355.

1340. 'Other colour then asshen hath she noon'; Anelida, 173.

1341. 'She wepeth, waileth, swowneth pitously'; Anelida, 169.

1342. In the margin of E. is written--'The compleynt of Dorigene ayeyns Fortune.'

1343. Tyrwhitt remarks that all these examples are taken from book i. of Hieronymus contra Iouinianum. In fact, this reference is expressly supplied in the margin of E., at l. 1465, where we find--'Singulas has historias et plures, hanc materiam concernentes, recitat beatus Ieronimus contra Iouinianum in primo suo libro, cap. 39°.' There is a similar note in Hn., at l. 1395. [396]

On reference to Jerome, I find that the passages referred to are worthy of being expressly quoted, especially as Chaucer does not adhere to the order of the original. Moreover, most of them are quoted in the side-notes to E., with more or less correctness. I therefore give below all such as are worth giving.

1368. The passage in Jerome is as follows:--'Triginta Atheniensium tyranni cum Phidonem in conuiuio necassent, filias eius uirgines ad se uenire iusserunt, et scortorum more nudari: ac super pauimenta, patris sanguine cruentata, impudicis gestibus ludere, quae paulisper dissimulato doloris habitu, cum temulentos conuiuas cernerent, quasi ad requisita naturae egredientes, inuicem se complexae praecipitauerunt in puteum, ut uirginitatem morte seruarent'; p. 48. This story (quoted in full in MS. E.) refers to the excesses committed in Athens by the Thirty Tyrants, who were overthrown by Thrasybulus, B.C. 403.

1369. 'They commanded (men) to arrest his daughters.'

1370. Jerome has:--'Spartiatae et Messenii diu inter se habuere amicitias, intantum ut ob quaedam sacra etiam uirgines ad se mutuo mitterent. Quodam igitur tempore, cum quinquaginta uirgines Lacedaemoniorum Messenii uiolare tentassent, de tanto numero ad stuprum nulla consensit, sed omnes libentissime pro pudicitia occubuerunt'; p. 48. Cf. Orosius, i. 14. 1.

1371. Lacedomie, Lacedaemonia; as in C. 605.

1372. Jerome has:--'Aristoclides Orchomeni tyrannus adamauit uirginem Stymphalidem, quae cum patre occiso ad templum Dianae confugisset, et simulacrum eius teneret, nec ui posset auelli, in eodem loco confossa est'; p. 48. I suppose that Orchomenus is here the town so called in Arcadia, rather than the more famous one in Boeotia; for the district of Stymphalus is in Arcadia, and near Orchomenus.

1373. Jerome has:--'Nam Hasdrubalis uxor capta, et incensa urbe, cum se cerneret a Romanis capiendam esse, apprehensis ab utroque latere paruulis filiis, in subiectum domus suae deuolauit incendium'; Valerius Maximus has a similar story, lib. iii. c. 2. ext. 8; cf. Orosius, iv. 13. 3. Chaucer has already alluded to this story; see note to B. 4553.