Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde 3. 1–38.

I.

The relationship between this passage and Boccaccio, Filost. 3, st. 74-79 is generally known. In the present paper an attempt will be made to penetrate to more ultimate sources, and to provide additional illustrations of the same theme from earlier authors. In order to facilitate comparison, identical or similar topics are indicated by the same capital letters interspersed through the texts. This will render extended comment, in most cases, unnecessary. The opening of Chaucer's Third Book is (Tr. and Cr. 3. 1-38):

(A) O blisful light, of whiche the bemes clere
Adorneth al the (B) thridde hevene faire!
(C) O sonnes leef, (D) O Ioves doughter dere,
Plesaunce of love, O goodly debonaire,
(E) In gentil hertes ay redy to repaire!
(F) O verray cause of hele and of gladnesse,
(G) Yheried be thy might and thy goodnesse!

(H) In hevene and helle, in erthe and salte see
Is felt thy might, if that I wel descerne;
As (I) man, brid, best, fish, herbe, and grene tree
Thee fele in tymes with vapour eterne.

(J) God loveth, and to love wol nought werne;
(K) And in this world no lyves creature,

Withouten love, is worth, or may endure.

(L) Ye Ioves first to thilke effectes glade,
Thorugh which that thinges liven alle and be,
Comeveden, (M) and amorous him made
On mortal thing, (N) and as yow list, ay ye
Yeve him in love ese or adversitee;

(0) And in a thousand formes doun him sente
For love in erthe, and whom yow liste he hente.

(P) Ye fierse Mars apeysen of his ire,

And, as yow list, ye maken hertes digne;

(Q) Algates, hem that ye wol sette afyre,

They dreden shame, and vices they resigne;
Ye do hem corteys be, fresshe and benigne,
And hye or lowe, after a wight entendeth;
The ioyes that he hath your might him sendeth.

(R) Ye holden regne and hous in unitee;

Ye soothfast cause of frendship been also;
(S) Ye knowe al thilke covered qualitee

Of thinges which that folk on wondren so,
Whan they can not construe how it may io
She loveth him, or why he loveth here,

As why this fish, and nought that, cometh to were.

(T) Ye folk a lawe han set in universe,

(U) And this knowe I by hem that loveres be,
That whoso stry veth with yow hath the werse.

Chaucer's original is Boccaccio, Filost. 3, st. 74-79: (A) O luce eterna, il cui lieto splendore

Fa bello (B) il terzo ciel, dal qual ne piove
Piacer, vaghezza, pietade, ed amore;

(C) Del sole amica, (D) e figliuola di Giove,
(E) Benigna donna d'ogni gentil core;
(F) Certa cagion del valor che mi muove
A' sospir dolci della mia salute,
(G) Sempre lodata sia la tua virtute.

(H) Il ciel, la terra, lo mare, e l'inferno,
Ciascuno in sè la tua potenzia sente,
O chiara luce; e s'io il ver discerno,
(I) Le piante, i semi, e l'erbe parimente,
Gli uccei, le fiere, i pesci con eterno
Vapor ti senton nel tempo piacente,
E gli uomini (J) e gli dei, (K) nè creatura
Senza di te nel mondo vale o dura.

(L) Tu Giove prima agli alti effetti lieto
Pe' qua' vivono e son tutte le cose,
Movesti, o bella dea; (M) e mansueto
Sovente il rendi all' opere noiose
Di noi mortali; (N) e il meritato fleto
In liete feste volgi e dilettose;

(O) E in mille forme già quaggiù il mandasti,
Quand' ora d'una ed or d'altra il pregasti.

(P) Tu 'l fiero Marte al tuo piacer benegno
Ed umil rendi, e cacci ciascun' ira;
(Q) Tu discacci viltà, e d'alto sdegno
Riempi chi per te, o dea, sospira;
Tu d'alta signoria merito e degno
Fai ciaschedun secondo ch'el disira;
Tu fai cortese ognuno e costumato
Chi del tuo fuoco alquanto è infiammato.

(R) Tu in unità le case e le cittadi,

Li regni, e le provincie, e 'l mondo tutto
Tien, bella dea; tu dell' amistadi
Se' cagion certa e di lor caro frutto;
(S) Tu sola le nascose qualitadi

Delle cose conosci, onde 'l costrutto
Vi metti tal che fai maravigliare
Chi tua potenza non sa riguardare.

(T) Tu legge, o dea, poni all'universo,

Per la qual esso in essere si mantiene; (U) Nè è alcuno al tuo figliuolo avverso

Che non sen penta, se d'esser sostiene.

By way of illustration, I shall first present some passages from ancient authors, with any necessary discussion, and then touch upon probable indebtedness to Dante and other kindred

sources.

II.

I have elsewhere shown (Amer. Jour. Phil. 28. 400-404) that Boccaccio, in the First Chapter of his Fiammetta, has drawn upon two passages in Act 1 of Seneca's Hippolytus. These passages, so far as they are, or may be, here pertinent, are the following (Seneca, Hipp. 294-5, 299-308, 330-355):1

'I here follow the Lemaire edition, from which that of Leo often varies.

2 See the development of this theme in Winter's Tale 4. 4. 25-30 (and its original in Dorastus and Fawnia); cf. Chaucer, T. and C. 3. 722 ff.; Marlowe, Faustus 13. 107-110 (Ward); Lyly, Alex. and Camp. 3. 2; Griffin, Fidessa, Sonn. 54: Barnes, Sonn. 63 (cf. Sonn. 19); Chapman, May Day 2. 4; Milton, P. R. 2. 182.

(J) Opifex trisulci fulminis sensit deus;

Et qui furentes semper Ætnæis jugis
Versat caminos, igne tam parvo calet;
Ipsumque Phoebum, tela qui nervo regit,
Figit sagitta certior missa Puer;

(H) Volitatque cælo pariter et terræ gravis.

The former of these two extracts from Seneca seems to owe something to Virgil, G. 3. 242-51, 258-65:

(I) Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque,
Et genus æquoreum, pecudes, pictaque volucres,

In furias ignemque ruunt: amor omnibus idem.
Tempore non alio catulorum oblita leæna
Sævior erravit campis, nec funera volgo
Tam multa informes ursi stragemque dedere
Per silvas; tum sævus aper, tum pessima tigris;
Heu, male tum Libya solis erratur in agris.
None vides ut tota tremor pertemptet equorum
Corpora, si tantum notas odor attulit auras? ...
Quid juvenis, magnum cui versat in ossibus ignem
Durus amor? Nempe abruptis turbata procellis
Nocte natat cæca serus freta: quem super ingens
Porta tonat cæli, et scopulis inlisa reclamant
Equora; nec miseri possunt revocare parentes,
Nec moritura super crudeli funere virgo.

Quid lynces Bacchi variæ et genus acre luporum
Atque canum? quid, quæ inbelles dant proelia cervi?

To a similar effect is Ovid, F. 4. 91–108:

(H) Illa quidem totum dignissima temperat orbem;
Illa tenet nullo regna minora deo;
Juraque dat cælo, terræ, natalibus undis;
Perque suos initus continet omne genus.

(J) Illa deos omnes, longum enumerare, creavit ;
(I) Illa satis caussas arboribusque dedit;

(QR) Illa rudes animos hominum contraxit in unum,
Et docuit jungi cum pare quemque sua.

(I) Quid genus omne creat volucrum nisi blanda voluptas?
Nec coëant pecudes si levis absit amor.

Cum mare trux aries cornu decertat; at idem
Frontem dilectæ lædere parcit ovis.

Deposita taurus sequitur feritate juvencam,

Quem toti saltus, quem nemus omne, tremunt.
Vis eadem, lato quodcunque sub æquore vivit,
Servat, et innumeris piscibus implet aquas.
(QR) Prima feros habitus homini detraxit; ab illa
Venerunt cultus mundaque cura sui.

As there is a notable invocation of Venus at the beginning of Lucretius' poem, it is natural to think of this as underlying Boccaccio's lines. Nor indeed would this be impossible, notwithstanding Munro's statement in his edition (1. 2) that 'before the fifteenth [century] no Italian poet or writer shows any knowledge

of him whatever'; for Boccaccio, in one passage of the De Genealogia Deorum (12. 16) quotes outright two lines (84-5) only a short distance removed from those adduced below, the two lines being these (Munro's edition):

Aulide quo pacto Triviai virginis aram
Iphianassai turparunt sanguine fœde;"

and in another place (9. 25) appears to paraphrase Lucr. 1. 111 ff. Since, however, there are no distinct verbal echoes of Lucretius in the stanzas from the Filostrato, we are not bound to assume that Boccaccio is there drawing upon the De Rerum Natura. Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 1. 1-25, 29-40:

Eneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas,
Alma Venus, cæli subter labantia signa

(I) Quæ mare navigerum, quæ terras frugiferentis
Concelebras, per te quoniam genus omne animantum
Concipitur, visitque exortum lumina solis:

(H)

(P)

Te, dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila cæli
Adventumque tuum, tibi suavis dædala tellus
Summittit flores, tibi rident æquora ponti,
Placatumque nitet diffuso lumine cælum.

Nam simul ac species patefactast verna diei,
Et reserata viget genitabilis aura Favoni,
Aeriæ primum volucres te, diva, tuumque
Significant initum, perculsæ corda tua vi.
Inde feræ pecudes persultant pabula læta,
Et rapidos tranant amnis; ita capta lepore
Te sequitur cupide quo quamque inducere pergis.
Denique per maria ac montis fluviosque rapacis
Frondiferasque domos avium camposque virentis,
Omnibus incutiens blandum per pectora amorem,
Efficis ut cupide generatim sæcla propagent.

...

Que quoniam rerum naturam sola gubernas,
Nec sine te quicquam dias in luminis oras
Exoritur, (Q?) neque fit lætum neque amabile quicquam,
Te sociam studeo scribendis versibus esse
Quos ego de rerum natura pangere conor.
Effice ut interea fera manera militiai
Per maria ac terras omnis sopita quiescant;
Nam tu sola potes tranquilla pace juvare
Mortalis, quoniam belli fera manera Mavors
Armipotens regit, in gremium qui sæpe tuum se
Reicit, æterno devictus vulnere amoris;
Atque ita suspiciens tereti cervice reposta,
Pascit amore avidos inhians in te, Dea, visus,

As showing the state of the text of the De Genealogia in the early editions, I may add that the edition of 1511 reads trinai, Hiphinassai turparent, fodi, and that of 151 Iphinassao, turparit. There is a possi bility that Boccaccio might have found these two lines in Priscian (7. :; ed. Krehl, 1. 91); but in any case Boccaccio's paraphrase remains to be accounted for.

2 Cf. Spenser's rendering in F. Q. 4. 10. 41-17; Berni, Orl. Inn. 2. 1. 2, 3; Dryden, Pal. and Arc. 3. 1405-22.