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Chaucer and an Italian Translation of the Heroides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Sanford Brown Meech
Sanford Brown Meech*
Affiliation:
Hunter College of the City of New York
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Extract

It has not been noted hitherto that Chaucer, in making poetic use of the material in Ovid's Heroic Epistles, resorted for convenience to an Italian translation of the Heroides, made in the Trecento. The author of this excellent model of Tuscan prose never achieved literary fame and even the facts of his life are unknown. For information concerning him one must depend upon the meagre statements set down in his introductory note to the rendering of the Epistle of Phaedra. His name in Hebrew, he informs the reader, signifies “Bocca di lanpana”—which is to say that it is Filippo. He refers there to a patroness—“bella donna giovane . . . . il cui nome è fiorito e nominato, secondo la lingua di Francia, di quel bel fiore che l'alto Re d'Francheschi porta nelle sue celestiali insegne”—and describes her coat-of-arms together with her husband's. This Lisa has been identified on manuscript authority—and correctly in probability—as the wife of a Florentine, Simone Peruzzi. She died in 1363. Assuming that she attained to the Biblical three score and ten, one may guess that the work inspired by her in youth was made between 1320 and 1330. On Delphic manuscript evidence scholars have given the author's surname as “Ceffi”—but their conjectures cannot be accepted as fully authoritative. An Italian version of Guido's Historia Trojana was executed by a Filippo Ceffi in 1324.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 45 , Issue 1: American Bibliography for 1929 , March 1930 , pp. 110 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1930

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References

1 My references are to the edition by G. Bernardoni, Epistole Eroiche di Ovidio Nasone Volgarizzate nel Buon Secolo della Lingua Seconda la Edizione di Sisto Riessinger del Secolo XV Riscontrata ed lllustrata con gli Esempi dell' Epistole Medesime Allegati dalla Crusca con Più Codici Italiani a Penne con la Edizione di Firenze del MDCCCXIX e coi Due Errata Corrige del Cav. Vincenzo Monti sopra Quella Edizione, Milan, 1842.

2 Ed. cit., pp. 30-36. The implications of the autobiographical material in this prefatory note to Her. 4 and the whole question of the translator's identity are ably discussed by E. Bellorini in his Note sulle Traduzioni Italiane delle Eroide d'Ovidio Anteriori al Rinascimento, Turin, 1900, p. 1 ff.

3 Except Epistles 10, 17, 19, and 21, to which the prefaces to Epistles 4, 16, 18, and 20 respectively are sufficient introductions.

4 Art for art's sake is a modern doctrine. In the Middle Ages the factitious investment of Ovid with the motives of an evangelist was universal. Even poets of a Muse quite incompatible with Christian dogma and mores were credited with exemplary spiritual and moral aims by mediaeval writers.

5 Some 36 MSS of Centuries 14 and 15 are listed by Bellorini, op. cit., pp. 65-68. That Filippo's work long continued to be popular is indicated by the appearance of two printed editions in Century 15—see Bellorini, op. cit., 69-72.

6 HF. 388-396.

7 RR. 13211-13214. See D. S. Fansler, Chaucer and the Roman de la Rose, N.Y., 1914, pp. 45-46. An Ovidian gloss (see MS. Balliol 143 [c. 14] fol. 5b for an example) might have been the source of Phyllis' suicide by hanging quite as well as the Roman. Phyllis' Epistle does not categorically forecast her death by the cord, suggesting it only as one of several possible methods of suicide (Her. 2.141-142).

8 Ed. cit., p. 9.

9 See, however, Her. 2, 68ff.

10 TC. 1, 659-665.

11 Her. 5, 151-152.

12 Ed cit., p. 45.

13 E.g. a marginal note in MS. Can. Lat. Class 1 (c. 13), fol. 7a: “Ipse repertor opis. id est phebus / fertur id est dicitur pauisse pheraeas / uaccas a pharos insula / uel per herbas phebus dicitur pau / isse uaccas admeti / regis, quando spoliatus fuit / deitate sua propter ciclopem / quem sagitauit in ultionem / filii sui esculapii a ioue fulminati quia re- / suscitauerat quemdam hominem.” In Trin. Coll. MS. R. 3.18 (c. 13) fol. 20b, “Ipse” is glossed interlineally as “apollo”, “repertor” as “id est inuentor medicine,” and “uaccas pauisse per herbas” (variant for “Pharaeas”) as “id est duxisse uitam pastoralem.” There is also a side note : “uaccas. scilicet admeti re / gis. scilicet quando fuit spoliatus / a sua deitate propter ciclo / pem quem iudicauit in ulcio / nem filii sui escul apii / a ioue fulminati. quia re / suscitauit quemdam hominem. Unde / ille fulminauit ciclopes et cetera.” “Igne” is glossed interlineally as “id est amore.” MS. Mon. Lat. 4612 (c. 13) fol. 10b, exhibits this marginal note: “Phareas habuit filiam / (Perimele) nomine / quam ille ardebat et ibat / ad eum pro pascenda gre / ge ut per illam uiam posset ipsam habere et cetera.” I have found the distich annotated also in MS. Ball. 143 (c. 14), fol. 14b.

14 Dido's, Hypsipyle's, Medea's, Ariadne's, Phyllis', and Hypermnestra's.

15 LGW. 1354-1365.

16 Her. 7, 1-8.

17 Ed. cit., p. 63.

18 LGW. 1564-1575. Ll. 1566-1567 summarize Her. 6, 41-74; ll. 1568-1570 render Her. 6, 123-124; and ll. 1571-1575, Her. 6, 151-157, 159-160.

19 LGW. 1670-1677.

20 Her. 12, 11-12.

21 Ed. cit., p. 111.

22 Her. 12, 19-20.

23 LGW. 2185-2217. Ll. 2185-2188 correspond to Her. 10, 7-16; l. 2189, Her. 10, 20; 1. 2190, Her. 10, 21; l. 2192, Her. 10, 83-87 (vaguely); l. 2194, Her. 10, 17-18; ll. 2195-2196, Her. 10, 25-30; l. 2197, Her. 10, 32; l. 2198, Her. 10, 1; 11. 2200-2201, Her. 10, 35-36; ll. 2202-2204, Her. 10, 41-42; l. 2207, Her. 10, 49-50; ll. 2208-2209, Her. 10, 53-54 (mistranslated); ll. 2210-2214, Her. 10, 55-59; and ll. 2215-2216, Her. 10, 63-64.

24 LGW. 1894-1895 reflects Her. 10, 67; ll. 2163-2165, Her. 59-60 and 83-87.

25 Ed. cit., p. 31.

26 LGW. 2096-2100.

27 LGW. 2103ff.

28 Boccaccio gives it in the De Genealogia Deorum (Bk. 11, Ch. 29); and Giovanni dei Bonsignori, in his paraphrase and allegorization of the Metamorphoses (c. 1370) (Bk. 8, Ch. 11). There is no evidence that Chaucer knew the latter work. E. F. Shannon (Chaucer and the Roman Poets, Cambridge, 1929, p. 250) considers Boccaccio to have been Chaucer's source for the betrothal. Without consulting the Ovide Moralisé or Filippo's translation (with which last he was of course unacquainted), Shannon (op. cit., p. 228ff) assumed the De Genealogia Deorum to have supplied the Legend of Ariadne with many of its extra-Ovidian circumstances. In this he follows and amplifies C. G. Child, “Chaucer's Legend of Good Women and Boccaccio's De Genealogía Deorum,” MLN. XI (1896), col. 482ff. As I shall show in this and more particularly in a later article, the details cited by Shannon apparently derive from “Ceffi” and the Ovide Moralisé and not from Boccaccio.

29 LGW. 2010-2011, 2019-2023, 2025, 2150-2154.

30 Met. 8, 159-168.

31 See Harper's Dict. of Class. Lit. and Antiq., N.Y., 1897, p. 464.

32 A similar gloss to Met. 8.183 occurs in a commentary to the Metamorphoses in Ms. Mon. Lat. 4610 (c. 11), fols. 70d-71a: “Dedalus interea. Secundum / manogaldum quia dedalus theseo en / sem et globos piceos consilio adri / agnes dederat. per quos globos / ille minotaurus inmoriturus / a theseo interfectus est ideo minos / dedalum in eandem domum consi / lio eius adriagnes conclusit,” and this to Met. 8.171 in a commentary in Ms. Mon. Lat. 7205 (c. 14), fol. 45c: “Novenis cecidit sors super theseum. cui / filum et picem tradidit. adriagne filia minois. amans ilium. / quo filo de poste ligato ueniens ad minithaurum cum aperiret / os suum ad deuorandum misit globum piceum in os eius quem dum / manducaret euaginato gladio caput eius amputauit. deinde / sequens filum et ad portam rediens exiuit.”

Bonsignori in his translation of the Metamorphoses (Bk. 8, Ch. 12) speaks of the club, strangling pellets and the thread as given to Theseus by Daedalus who intercedes at the request of Ariadne and Phaedra. The globe of pitch, a sword, and the thread are mentioned in an introduction to Her. 10 in an anonymous Italian translation in Ms. Riccard 1580, fol. 38a. These sundry weapons were probably all standard features of Ovidian exegesis. The reference to Daedalus' interposition in Aen. 6.29-30 would have been incomprehensible to Chaucer without glossing.

33 Met. 8. 183-235.

34 LGW. 2176-2178.

35 Child (op. cit., col. 487) and Shannon (op. cit., p. 254) give Boccaccio, De Genealogia Deorum, Bk. 10, Ch. 48 as the source. But, as it has been remarked in n. 28, acquaintance with this treatise on Chaucer's part is doubtful.

36 LGW. 2394-2400, 2446-2451.

37 Her. 2, 75-76.

38 Ed. cit., Bernardoni, p. 11.

39 “Cressa” is glossed as Ariadne in Latin texts of the Epistle of Phyllis in MSS. Can. Lat. Class. 1 (c. 13), fol. 2b; Balliol 143 (c. 14), fol. 4b; Trin. Coll. R. 3. 18 (c. 13), fol. 14a; Mon. Lat. 4612 (c. 13), fol. 3b; and so doubtless in a goodly proportion of mediaeval manuscripts of the Heroides.

40 LGW. 2404-2406.

41 The parallel between “Demofonte Duca d'Atene” and “Demophon, duk of Athenis” of the Hous of Fame has been remarked above.

42 Ed. cit., p. 9.

43 So in MSS. Can. Lat. Class. 1, fol. 2a; Balliol 143, fol. 3a; and Trin. Coll. R. 3.18, fol. 13b. Demophoön's participation in the siege of Troy and his return to his reluctant subjects are recorded also in Benoît, Roman de Troie, 28025ff., (ed. Joly). Benoît does not speak of a stop at Rhodope. Boccaccio, De Genealogía Deorum (Bk. 10, Ch. 52; Bk. 11, Ch. 25) tells us that the prince visited Phyllis on his return from Troy. Here again Child (op. cit., col. 477) and Shannon (op. cit., p. 284) wrongly consider Boccaccio to have been Chaucer's source.

44 LGW. 2407-2440.

45 Her. 2.45. Even Shannon (op. cit., pp. 285-286) does not adopt Child's demonstration (op. cit., 477-478) of the influence of the De Genealogia Deorum upon the storm in the Legend of Phyllis. The latter scholar's argument (op. cit., cols. 479-482) to show the impress of the mythology on a subsequent passage of the Legend (11. 2472-2481) is too insubstantial, in my opinion, to merit discussion.

46 LGW. 2424-2425.

47 The line, “Quae tibi subieci latissima regna Lycurgi,” Her. 2, 111 falsely suggested Lycurgus' paternity to the mediæval commentators who annotated it—e.g. in MSS. Can. Lat. Class. 1, fol. 2b; Balliol 143, fol. 52; Trin. Coll. R. 3.18, fol. 14b; MS. Mon Lat. 4612, fol. 3b. Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, II 232) is wrong in thinking the De Genealogia Deorum (Bk. 11, Ch. 25) the source of Chaucer's error.

48 Skeat, Ox. Chaucer, III, 344-345, n. LGW. 2423.

49 LGW. 2496-2554.

50 LGW. 2510-2512.

51 Her. 2, 7-8.

52 Ed. cit., pp. 9-10.

53 LGW. 2522-2524.

54 Her. 2, 43-44.

55 Ed. cit., p. 10.

56 LGW. 2525-2529.

57 Her. 2, 49-51.

58 The translator evidently read “numinibus” instead of the “nominibus” of modern texts.

59 Ed. cit., p. 11.

60 LGW. 2533-2538.

61 Her. 2, 66-67.

52 Ed. cit., p. 11.

63 Her. 2.67 is thus annotated in MS. Trin. Coll. R. 3.18, fol. 14a: “In media urbe. quia mos / erat antiquitus quod statua / uniuscuiusgue pingebantur / in media urbe”; and thus in Ms. Can. Lat. Class. 1, fol. 2b: Inter et egidas etc. consuetudo fuit antiquitus quod qualibet / magna facta cuiuslibet uiri depinge-bantur in media urbe.“

64 LGW. 2544-2549.

65 Her. 2, 75-78.

66 Ed. cit., p. 11.

67 Ed. cit., p. 132ff. The vocative form, “Lynceu” (Her. 14.123), which is the reading of all modern texts of the Heroides was supplied by the Greek translation of Maximus Planudes. In mediaeval manuscripts the reading is “Line” (nom. Linus).

68 In texts of the Heroides in MSS. Can. Lat. Class. 1, fol. 18a-19a; Balliol 143, fols. 39a-41b; Trin. Coll. R. 3.18, fols. 32a-33b; and Burney 219, fols. 28a-29d, the form “Ypermestra” occurs. Skeat's acceptance (Ox. Chaucer, 3, xl) of the De Genealogia Deorum, (Bk. 2, Ch. 22) as the source for the Legend of Hypermnestra on the basis of community of name-forms is now invalidated, as the community between those of the Legend and those of the translation is greater.

69 LGW. 2562-2564, 2570-2572.

70 Ed. cit., p. 132.

71 Even had “figliuole” been miswritten “figliuoli,” by the scribe of Chaucer's manuscript of the translation, and “figliuole,” conversely as “figliuoli,” the poet would not easily have been led astray, as the sex of Danao's offspring is unmistakably established by the later context of the prefatory note.

72 LGW. 2575.

73 Ed. cit., p. 132.

74 LGW. 2600-2609.

75 LGW. 2610-2612.

76 Her. 14, 25-26.

77 Ed. cit., p. 133.

78 LGW. 2613-2617.

79 Her. 14, 27, 29-30.

80 Ed. cit., p. 133.

81 LGW. 2620.

82 Her. 14, 22.

83 Ed. cit., p. 133.

84 LGW. 2623-2662.

85 Ll. 2641-2645 reflects Her. 14, 9-11; and 11. 2648-2649, Her. 14, 37, 40-41.

86 LGW. 2649.

87 Her. 14, 37.

88 So in MSS. Can. Lat. Class. 1, fol. 18a; and Harvard Lat. 18 (1416). The line with the variant “color” is incorporated into the Vox Clamantis (1.1485). I am indebted to Professor E. K. Rand for the notice of MS. Harvard Lat. 18.

89 Ed. cit., p. 133.

90 LGW. 2654, 2692, 2694.

91 Her, 14, 11, 45, 46.

92 So do the De Genealogia Deorum (Bk. 2, Ch. 22f.) and the De Claris Mulieribus (13) of Boccaccio and an anonymous translator of the Epistle whose work is preserved in MS. Riccard 1580 (c. 15), fols. 47a-49a. In view of the frequent echoing of Filippo in the Legend of Hypermnestra there can be no doubt that it was he who suggested to Chaucer the knife as the heroine's weapon.

93 Ed. cit., p. 132.

94 LGW. 2656-2660. Shannon's one argument to prove the De Genealogia Deorum to have been a source for the Legend of Hypermnestra now refutes itself : “The reason that Egiste gives to Hypermnestra (LGW., 1.2569), that he was warned in a dream that his nephew would be his destruction, came from Boccaccio's statement that Danao was warned by the oracle that he would die by the hand of a son-in-law.” (op. cit., p. 294).

95 LGW., 2682.

96 Her. 14, 34.

9 Ed. cit., p. 133.

98 E.g. MS. Mon. Lat. 4612, fol. 28b.

99 LGW. 2706-2707.

100 Her. 14, 67-68.

101 Ed. cit., 134.