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VIII.: THE LEGEND OF PHYLLIS. - Geoffrey Chaucer, The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. 3 (House of Fame, Legend of Good Women, Treatise on Astrolabe, Sources of Canterbury Tales) [1899]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, edited from numerous manuscripts by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat (2nd ed.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899). 7 vols.

Part of: The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 7 vols.

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VIII.

THE LEGEND OF PHYLLIS.

Incipit Legenda Phillis.

    • By preve as wel as by auctoritee,
    • That wikked fruit cometh of a wikked tree,2395[ ]
    • That may ye finde, if that it lyketh yow.
    • But for this ende I speke this as now,
    • To telle you of false Demophon .
    • In love a falser herde I never non,
    • But-if hit were his fader Theseus.2400
    • ‘God, for his grace , fro swich oon kepe us!’
    • Thus may thise women prayen that hit here.
    • Now to theffect turne I of my matere.(10)
    • Destroyed is of Troye the citee;
    • This Demophon com sailing in the see2405
    • Toward Athenes, to his paleys large;
    • With him com many a ship and many a barge
    • Ful of his folk, of which ful many oon
    • Is wounded sore, and seek , and wo begoon.
    • And they han at the sege longe y-lain.2410
    • Behinde him com a wind and eek a rain
    • That shoof so sore, his sail ne mighte stonde,
    • Him were lever than al the world a-londe,(20)
    • So hunteth him the tempest to and fro.
    • So derk hit was, he coude nowher go;2415
    • And with a wawe brosten was his stere.
    • His ship was rent so lowe, in swich manere,
    • That carpenter ne coude hit nat amende.
    • The see, by nighte, as any torche brende
    • Forwood , and posseth him now up now doun ,2420
    • Til Neptune hath of him compassioun,
    • And Thetis, Chorus , Triton, and they alle,[ ]
    • And maden him upon a lond to falle,(30)
    • Wher-of that Phillis lady was and quene,
    • Ligurgus doghter, fairer on to sene2425
    • Than is the flour again the brighte sonne.
    • Unnethe is Demophon to londe y-wonne ,
    • Wayk and eek wery, and his folk for-pyned
    • Of werinesse, and also enfamyned;
    • And to the deeth he almost was y-driven.2430
    • His wyse folk to conseil han him yiven
    • To seken help and socour of the queen,
    • And loken what his grace mighte been,(40)
    • And maken in that lond som chevisaunce ,
    • To kepen him fro wo and fro mischaunce.2435
    • For seek was he, and almost at the deeth;
    • Unnethe mighte he speke or drawe his breeth,
    • And lyth in Rodopeya him for to reste.
    • Whan he may walke, him thoughte hit was the beste
    • Unto the court to seken for socour.2440
    • Men knewe him wel, and diden him honour;
    • For at Athenes duk and lord was he,
    • As Theseus his fader hadde y-be,[ ](50)
    • That in his tyme was of greet renoun,
    • No man so greet in al his regioun;2445
    • And lyk his fader of face and of stature,
    • And fals of love; hit com him of nature;
    • As doth the fox Renard , the foxes sone,
    • Of kinde he coude his olde faders wone
    • Withoute lore, as can a drake swimme,2450
    • Whan hit is caught and caried to the brimme.
    • This honourable Phillis doth him chere,
    • Her lyketh wel his port and his manere.(60)
    • But for I am agroted heer-biforn[ ]
    • To wryte of hem that been in love forsworn,2455
    • And eek to haste me in my legende,[ ]
    • Which to performe god me grace sende,
    • Therfor I passe shortly in this wyse;
    • Ye han wel herd of Theseus devyse
    • In the betraising of fair Adriane,2460
    • That of her pite kepte him from his bane.
    • At shorte wordes, right so Demophon
    • The same wey, the same path hath gon(70)
    • That dide his false fader Theseus.
    • For unto Phillis hath he sworen thus,2465
    • To wedden her, and her his trouthe plighte,
    • And piked of her al the good he mighte,
    • Whan he was hool and sound and hadde his reste;
    • And doth with Phillis what so that him leste.
    • And wel coude I, yif that me leste so,[ ]2470
    • Tellen al his doing to and fro.
    • He seide, unto his contree moste he saile,
    • For ther he wolde her wedding apparaile(80)
    • As fil to her honour and his also.
    • And openly he took his leve tho,[ ]2475
    • And hath her sworn , he wolde nat soiorne,
    • But in a monthhe wolde again retorne.
    • And in that lond let make his ordinaunce
    • As verray lord, and took the obeisaunce
    • Wel and hoomly , and let his shippes dighte,2480
    • And hoom he goth the nexte wey he mighte;
    • For unto Phillis yit ne com he noght.
    • And that hath she so harde and sore aboght ,(90)
    • Allas! that, as the stories us recorde ,
    • She was her owne deeth rightwith a corde ,2485
    • Whan that she saw that Demophon her trayed.
    • But to him first she wroot and faste him prayed
    • He wolde come, and her deliver of peyne ,
    • As I reherse shal a word or tweyne .
    • Me list nat vouche-sauf on him to swinke,2490
    • Ne spende on him a penne ful of inke,
    • For fals in love was he, right as his syre;
    • The devil sette hir soules bothe a-fyre !(100)
    • But of the lettre of Phillis wol I wryte
    • A word or tweyne, al-thogh hit be but lyte.2495[ ]
    • ‘Thyn hostesse ,’ quod she, ‘O Demophon ,[ ]
    • Thy Phillis, which that is so wo begon,
    • Of Rodopeye, upon yow moot compleyne,
    • Over the terme set betwix us tweyne,
    • That ye ne holden forward, as ye seyde;2500
    • Your anker, which ye in our haven leyde,
    • Highte us, that ye wolde comen, out of doute,
    • Or that the mone ones wente aboute.(110)
    • But tymes foure the mone hath hid her face
    • Sin thilke day ye wente fro this place,2505
    • And foure tymes light the world again.[ ]
    • But for al that, yif I shal soothly sain,
    • Yit hath the streem of Sitho nat y-broght[ ]
    • From Athenes the ship; yit comth hit noght.
    • And, yif that ye the terme rekne wolde,2510
    • As I or other trewe lovers sholde,
    • I pleyne not, god wot, beforn my day.’—
    • But al her lettre wryten I ne may(120)
    • By ordre, for hit were to me a charge,
    • Her lettre was right long and ther-to large;2515
    • But here and there in ryme I have hit laid,
    • Ther as me thoughte that she wel hath said.—
    • She seide, ‘thy sailes comen nat again,[ ]
    • Ne to thy word ther nis no fey certein;
    • But I wot why ye come nat,’ quod she;2520
    • ‘For I was of my love to you so free.
    • And of the goddes that ye han forswore,
    • Yif that hir vengeance falle on yow therfore,(130)
    • Ye be nat suffisaunt to bere the peyne.
    • To moche trusted I, wel may I pleyne ,2525
    • Upon your linage and your faire tonge,
    • And on your teres falsly out y-wronge .
    • How coude ye wepe so by craft?’ quod she;
    • ‘Mayther swiche teres feyned be?
    • Now certes, yif ye wolde have in memorie,2530
    • Hit oghte be to yow but litel glorie
    • To have a sely mayde thus betrayed!
    • To god,’ quod she, ‘preye I, and ofte have prayed,(140)
    • That hit be now the grettest prys of alle,[ ]
    • And moste honour that ever yow shal befalle!2535
    • And whan thyn olde auncestres peynted be,
    • In which men may hir worthinesse see,
    • Than, preye I god, thou peynted be also,
    • That folk may reden, for-by as they go,
    • “Lo! this is he, that with his flaterye2540
    • Betrayed hath and doon her vilanye
    • That was his trewe love in thoghte and dede!”
    • But sothly, of oo point yit may they rede,(150)
    • That ye ben lyk your fader as in this;
    • For he begyled Adriane, y-wis,2545
    • With swiche an art and swiche sotelte[ ]
    • As thou thy-selven hast begyled me.
    • As in that point, al-thogh hit be nat fayr,
    • Thou folwest him , certein, and art his eyr.
    • But sin thus sinfully ye me begyle,2550
    • My body mote ye seen, within a whyle,
    • Right in the haven of Athenes fletinge,
    • With-outen sepulture and buryinge;(160)
    • Thogh ye ben harder then is any stoon.’
    • And, whan this lettre was forth sent anoon,2555
    • And knew how brotel and how fals he was,
    • She for dispeyr for-dide herself, allas!
    • Swich sorwe hath she, for she besette her so.[ ]
    • Be war, ye women, of your sotil fo,
    • Sin yit this day men may ensample see;2560
    • And trusteth, as in love, no man but me .[ ](168)

Explicit Legenda Phillis.

[2400. ]F. Tn. Th. B. om. if.

[2402. ]F. Tn. Th. B. om. may.

[2408. ]C. his; rest om.

[2409. ]C. sek (read seek); rest seke.

[2410. ]A. Th. the sege; F. Tn. B. a sege; T. sege; C. thasege (good).

[2412. ]C. T. A. ne myghte; rest myght not.

[2418. ]C. A. ne; T. noon; rest om.

[2420. ]A. So wood. C. A. now vp now doun; T. now vp and doun; rest vp and doun.

[2422. ]Th. Chorus; T. Thora; rest Thorus (see note). F. Tn. B. om. Triton.

[2423. ]F. Th. B. vp; rest vp-on.

[2425. ]A. B. Ligurgus; C. Tn. T. Ligurges; Th. Lycurgus; F. Bygurgus (error for Lygurgus).

[2430. ]C. That (for And). C. almost was (better than was almost in the rest).

[2435. ]C. T. A. To; rest And.

[2437. ]C. T. A. his; rest om.

[2438. ]A. om. for.

[2440. ]C. T. A. court; rest contree.

[2443. ]F. Tn. Th. B. hath.

[2444. ]C. T. A. of gret; rest grete of.

[2445. ]C. of (for in). C. the; T. A. that; rest his.

[2449. ]C. owene (for olde).

[2452. ]A. phillis; C. Philes; Th. T. quene Phillis; rest quene.

[2453. ]F. B. And; rest Her (Hire, Hir).

[2454. ]A. Th. agroted; B. agrotyd; C. agrotyed; F. Tn. agroteyd; T. agroteyed.

[2455. ]C. T. ben in love; A. ar of loue; rest in loue ben.

[2459. ]C. T. A. deuyse; F. Tn. B. the nyse (sic); Th. the gyse.

[2470, 1. ]T. I couthe ryght well, yef that hyt lykyd me Tell all hys doyng; but hyt ys vanyte.

[2472. ]C. T. vnto; A. into; rest to. F. Th. B. him; rest he.

[2475. ]F. B. omit.

[2476. ]C. hath hire sworn; A. hath to hir suorn; Tn. to her sworne; F. T. Th. B. to hir swore.

[2477. ]So C. A.; F. Tn. Th. B. ageyn he wolde.

[2480. ]C. homly; F. T. B. homely; A. huimly; Tn. humble; Th. hombly. C. let; rest om.

[2482. ]C. ne; rest om.

[2483. ]A. C. Th. abought; F. Tn. B. yboght.

[2484. ]F. Tn. B. om. as. A. T. stories; rest story (but this would require recordeth; indeed, C. has recordith !).

[2485. ]C. T. A. ryght; rest om.

[2487. ]F. Tn. Th. B. But firste wrote she to hym.

[2488. ]C. T. A. hire delyuere; rest delyner hir. F. pyne (error for peyne).

[2489. ]F. B. oo; Tn. one; rest a; see l. 2495.

[2491. ]C. T. A. Ne spende; rest Dispenden.

[2493. ]C. a fere; T. afyre; A. in fyre; F. Tn. Th. B. on a fire (badly).

[2496. ]C. Ostesse thyn. T. A. o thow Demophon.

[2498. ]F. Tn. B. om. moot.

[2504. ]F. Tn. B. om. hid.

[2505. ]Th. thylke; C. F. Tn. B. that thilke (!); A. that ilke; T. that.

[2506. ]A. hath lycht this.

[2506, 7. ]C. omits.

[2507. ]T. yef; A. if; F. B. Th. yet (error for yef); Tn. yit (error for yif).

[2508. ]C. storm (error for streem); rest streme. Th. Scython; C. B. Sytoye; A. Cytoye; T. Sitoy; F. Tn. Sitoio (Ovid has Sithonis unda). T. y-brought; rest broght (brought).

[2509. ]C. comyth it; T. A. cometh; F. Tn. B. come hit; Th. came it.

[2517. ]C. A. wel hath; rest hath wel.

[2518. ]C. T. A. thyne (thy); rest the. C. come; T. comen; F. Tn. Th. B. cometh.

[2519. ]C. T. A. thyn (thy); rest the.

[2523. ]C. T. A. Yif (only); F. Tn. Th. B. That (only); but read Yif that.

[2525. ]C. T. A. pleyne; rest seyne (!).

[2527. ]C. I-wronge; A. yronne (error for ywronge); F. Tn. Th. B. wronge.

[2529. ]A. Quhethir ther may (but this is Scottish).

[2532. ]All mayde.

[2539. ]C. T. A. for by; rest forth by.

[2546. ]A. C. T. subtilitee.

[2549. ]C. T. A. him; rest om. A. has lost ll. 2551-2616.

[2555. ]F. Tn. B. om. sent.

[2561. ]So C. T.; so Tn. Th. (with now for as); F. B. And as in love truste no man but me.

[23.]the] þe C; AB omit.

[27.]prikke] prickes C; perhaps prikkes would be a better reading.

[29.]AB omit the figure 2; but see l. 8.

[31.]in alle] in al C; A has septentrionalle, an obvious mistake for septentrional in alle, by confusion of the syllable ‘al’ in the former with ‘al’ in the latter word; B has septentrional, omitting in alle.

[2395.]An allusion to Matt. vii. 16, and to Legend VI, above.

[2398.]Demophon, usually Demophoön, son of Theseus and Phædra, who, on his return from Troy, gained the love of Phyllis, daughter of Sithon, king of Thrace. Observe that Gower says that Demophoön was on his way towards Troy.

[2400.]‘Unless it were.’

[2401.]Observe that grac-e is dissyllabic, as in l. 2433.

[2403.]‘Now I turn to the effect (the pith) of what I have to say.’

[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,
  • Tritonesque citi, Phorcique 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 mountainrange of Thrace, now a part of the Hæmus range. See l. 2498.

[2448.]‘As Reynard the fox doth, so (doth) the fox’s son.’ The line is incomplete, but the sense is clear. ‘Reynard, which with us is a duplicate for fox, while in the French renard has quite excluded the older volpils, was originally not the name of a kind, but the proper name of the fox-hero, the vulpine Ulysses, in that famous beast-epic of the middle ages, Reineke Fuchs; the immense popularity of which we gather from many evidences, from none more clearly than this. Chanticleer is in like manner the name of the cock, and Bruin of the bear in the same poem.’—Trench, Eng. Past and Present. Reynard is from M. H. G. ragin-hart, strong in counsel; from ragin, counsel, and hart, strong.

[2454.]Agroted, surfeited, cloyed. A rare word; used also by Lydgate. See the New E. Dict.

[2456.]This is a hint that Chaucer was already getting tired of his task.

[2477.]In a month. So in Ovid; see l. 2503.

[2485.]With a corde, i. e. by hanging. Cf. Ovid, Her. ii. 141:—

  • ‘Colla quoque, infidis quae se nectenda lacertis
  • praebuerant, laqueis implicuisse libet.’

[2493.]Hir soules, their souls; of Theseus and Demophoön.

[2495.]‘Although it be but a small part of the whole letter.’ In fact, Chaucer gives us ll. 1-8 of Ovid’s second Epistle (in the Heroides); and, from l. 2518 onward, sentences made up from ll. 26, 27, 43, 44, 49-52, 63-68, 73-78, and 134-137 of the same.

[2496.]Compare these lines with Ovid, Her. ii. 1-8:—

  • ‘Hospita, Demophoon, tua te Rhodopeïa Phyllis
  • ultra promissum tempus abesse queror.
  • Cornua quum Lunae pleno semel orbe coissent,
  • litoribus nostris ancora pacta tua est.
  • Luna quater latuit, toto quater orbe recrevit,
  • nec uehit Actæas Sithonis unda rates.
  • Tempora si numeres, bene quae numeramus amantes,
  • non uenit ante suum nostra querela diem.’

Hostess-e is trisyllabic; MS. C. has—‘Ostess-e thyn.’

[2502.]Highte, promised. But Chaucer seems to have mistaken the sense of Ovid’s fourth line (in the note to l. 2496).

[2508.]‘Sithonis unda’; see note to l. 2496. Here Sithonis is an adj. (gen. Sithonidis), and means ‘Sithonian,’ i. e. Thracian; because Sithon or Sitho, her father, was king of Thrace. I substitute Sitho for the MS. spellings.

[2518.]See note to l. 2495 for references.

[2521.]For, because: ‘quid feci, nisi non sapienter amaui?’

[2529.]May occupies the first foot of the line.

[2534.]She prays that the glory of having betrayed her will be the greatest glory he will ever attain to. ‘Di faciant, laudis summa sit ista tuae!’ (66).

[2551.]Mote ye, may ye. ‘Ad tua me fluctus proiectam littora portent’; (135).

[2556.]And knew, i. e. and she knew.

[2558.]Read—‘Such sórw’ hath shé,’ &c. Bell altered the second she in this line to he, without authority, and unnecessarily. The word besette does not mean ‘served’ or ‘treated,’ as those who keep this reading have to assert, but ‘bestowed’ or ‘gave up,’ and her means ‘herself.’ The sense is therefore—‘Such sorrow hath she, because she so disposed of herself.’ See Beset in the New E. Dict. § 7. Caxton has: ‘Orgarus thought his doughter shol wel be maryed, and wel beset upon hym’; Chron. Eng. cxii.

[2561.]Trusteth, imp. pl. As in love, in the matter of love. This playful-line is in the same spirit as l. 2393 above.