The Faerie Queene

by Edmund Spenser

  367 embrew: plunge.

  38 4 behot: called; i.e., thought him alive.

  40 2 enfouldred: black as thundercloud.

  41 4 Cerberus: the dog that guards the gate to hell.

  43 8 minisht: diminished.

  44 5 Aetna: a volcano in Sicily.

  45 S expire: breathe out.

  46 9 tree o f life: Genesis 2.9 describes two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve ate of the latter and were expelled from Eden because of the former: ‘lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ (Genesis 3.22). Spenser is not suggesting that the tree of life is the cause of Adam’s fall but that the taking from the tree of knowledge deprived men, until Christ’s redemption, of the tree of life: and this is Adam’s ‘crime’

  47 6 Another like faire tree: tree of knowledge of good and evil.

  48 2 Balme: see note to 29.9.

  48 3 daintie deare: most precious.

  50 5 vertuous: powerful.

  50 9 noyous: harmful.

  51 2 Aurora: Aurora, goddess of dawn, loved Tithonus and begged the gods to give him immortality, which they granted. She forgot to ask as well for eternal youth, and so Tithonus ages eternally.

  53 7 importune: fierce.

  54 7 poyse: hovering.

  CANTO 12

  1 1-9The metaphor of a sea voyage near its end was quite common in classical poetry for describing the near-completion of a poem. See Var., pp. 310-11.

  3 5 by tryall: by his own experience, i.e., by seeing,

  3 9 forrayed: harassed.

  4 4 tort: wrong.

  5 3 habiliments: attire.

  5 7 armes to sownd: to use arms.

  6 9 Timbrels: tambourines. 71 fry: crowds.

  9 1 raskall many: multitude.

  IO-II Spenser’s humour is not often stressed. In these stanzas he has written a splendid comedy of the provincial, of the antics of those who have seen, but do not understand, the marvel that has occurred.

  11 4 gossips: women friends.

  12 4 defeasance: defeat

  12 9 manifold: many times.

  13 2 shaumes: oboes.

  14 1 guize: behaviour.

  16 2 passionate: express with feeling.

  17 7 seised: reached. 22 3 wimple: veil.

  22 6–9Una’s garments without spot are suggested by Bey. 19.7–8and the Song of Solomon 4.7.

  23 s enchace: adorn.

  26 1 king of Eden: Una’s father is Adam only in the sense that Redcross’s victory over the Dragon reaffirms Christ’s victory over death and redemption of mankind. The victory of any Christian is a defeat of evil and a repudiation of the curse of Adam.

  26–8Duessa’s letter reveals her fully. Her claim is merely legal. It is based on the Old Law of justice and not on the New Law of mercy, achieved by Christ and re-enacted in Redcross’s defeat of the dragon.

  31 3 intendiment: consideration OED cites this line.

  34 1 suborned: bribed.

  34 3 improuided scath: unforseen harm.

  34 5 practicke paine: cunning skill.

  35 6 chauffed: angered.

  36 7 banes: banns of marriage.

  37 4 housling: sacramental. 37 6 Teade: torch.

  39 s trinall triplidties: the nine orders of angels: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, Angels.

  BOOK II

  HEADNOTB

  Considerable attention has been paid to the sources of Spenser’s conception of the virtue of temperance (see Vat., pp. 414-26}. Although Aristotle’s Nkomachean Ethics appears to have been Spenser’s point of departure, he was influenced by a wide variety of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance philosophers and commentators. The most extensive study of medieval and Renaissance definitions of temperance is Tuve, Allegorical Imagery, pp. 65 ff. It is, however, impossible to find in Book II a systematic exposition of the views of a single source. Perhaps the best way to understand what Spenser means by temperance is to keep in mind that the word generally means ‘self-restraint’ and then to let Guyon’s adventures qualify and define the virtue further. The narrative itself will tell us what Spenser imagined temperance to be.

  The origins of the name Guyon, the titular knight of Book II, are unknown, but Fowler (MLN 75, i960, 289-92) has suggested that the name may have its origin in Gihon, one of die four rivers of Eden associated with the four cardinal virtues, Gihon with temperance. Susan Snyder (RN14, 1961, 249-52) has argued that the name comes from gym, or wrestler.

  PROEM 4

  I 8 vaunt: boast o£

  1 9 vouch: affirm, declare.

  2 5 late age: i.e., until very recently. The Amazon was first sailed in 154a In 1584 Sir Walter Ralegh presented to Queen Elizabeth the lands he had discovered in North America. See IV.ii.2i.

  4 3 admire: wonder.

  4 5 footing: tracks.

  4 6 Princesse: i.e. Queen Elizabeth.

  CANTO 1

  Arg. 1 abusd: tricked, deceived. Arg. 3 Mordant: Latin: ‘death-giving‘.

  Amauia: a slightly altered form of the Latin ‘I have loved’.

  1 1 cancred: malignant.

  1 2 bands: shackles.

  1 3 falsed: forged.

  2 7 late ygoe: recently.

  3 5 engins: plots.

  3 6 practick: experienced.

  3 8 credit: reputation.

  4 1 stales: decoys, lures.

  4 3 spials: observers, spies.

  45a vantage: i.e., Archimago’s advantage.

  6 7 tourney: compete in tournaments. lists: enclosures for tilts. debate: contend.

  6 8 Sir Huons hero of a thirteenth-century romance, Hum ae Bordeaux. See Vat., p. 188.

  7 2 comely: decent, pleasing to the moral sense (OED 3). Palmer: strictly speaking, a pilgrim who carried a palm branch or palm leaf to signify that he had returned from the Holy Land. Spenser uses the term loosely. Amavia dons ‘Palmer’s weed’ in 52.8. My colleague Julia Bolton Holloway informs me that palmers did not wear black.

  7 3 hoarie: whitish.

  7 4 stire: steer.

  7 9 equall: even, consistent.

  8 3 clew: a ball of thread (i.e., a string of plots).

  8 9 miser: a miserable or wretched person.

  9 2 bad: commanded. tenor: substance, message. 9 5 paint: adorn, embellish. 9 7 langourous: sorrowful. 10 3 ribauld: wicked or licentious person.

  10 5 sheene: beautiful.

  11 1 wroth: angry.

  11 3 weene for troth: know certainly, truly understand.

  12 3 vitall: life-sustaining.

  12 7 tract: follow, track.

  12 9 chalenge: cry aloud on finding the scent

  13 1 staid: waited for.

  13 9 blubbered: disfigured with weeping.

  14 2 bedight: arrayed.

  14 6 concerned: imagined.

  14 7 despight: injury, outrage.

  15 8 teene: sorrow.

  16 s wayment: lament bitterly.

  16 9 voluntarie: wilful.

  17 5 reaue: take away.

  19 7 enterpris: attempt, undertake.

  19 8 Errant datnozett: i.e., Una.

  20 3 abyde: suffer, endure.

  20 4 amendment: reparation.

  21 3 semblant: outward appearance.

  21 9 aguisd: dressed.

  22 9 reuest: dress again. habiliments: outfit, attire.

  23 3 slug: dally, become idle.

  23 4 irrenowmed: not renowned. OED cites this line.

  23 9 as… allye: i.e., virtuous knights who might ally themsel Redcross.

  25 2 feet: act, deed.

  25 5 do him rew: make him repent.

  25 9 addresse: point, raise.

  26 2 embrace: buckle, fasten.

  26 5 rencounter: meet, encounter.

  26 6 afixap: strike.

  26 7 abace: lower.

  26 9 betidde: befallen.

  27 2 hardiment: boldness.

  28 7 Mayd: Gloriana,
the Faerie Queene.

  29 1 attone: at one, in concord. 29 2 beuers: faceguards of helmets.

  29 3 comportance: carriage, behaviour.

  29 s Now… weet: now might I know.

  29 6 saliaunce: assault,

  29 8 gouernaunce: self-control.

  30 2 fond encheason: foolish occasion.

  30 4 ill bested: unfortunately situated.

  31 1 turne… game: resolve a serious or hazardous situation.

  31 3 aged guide: i.e., Palmer.

  31 5 had perfect cognizance: i.e., recognized Redcross.

  31 9 aguized: furnished, equipped.

  33 7 thee: thrive, prosper.

  33 9 thewes: manners.

  34 1 conge: formal farewell. 34 2 plighted: intertwined.

  34 7 race: i.e., the course of his life.

  35 2 assayes: attempts, adventures. 35 6 succour: relief.

  35 7 ruefull: sorrowful, dearnly: dismally. 35 8 lay: song (in this instance, lamentation).

  35 9 attend: pay attention to.

  36 1 carelesse: uncaring.

  36 4 despight: contempt, scorn.

  36 5 warne: prevent.

  37 1 fro ward: adverse.

  37 8 embrewd: stained, defiled.

  37 9 Loe… leaue: i.e., the blood on the child’s hands is left as a symbol of the mother’s fate. See Fowler, HLQ 24, 1961, 91-110.

  38 6 Hynd: deer.

  39 1 straict: immediately. 39 4 quicke: alive.

  39 7 gorebloud: clotted blood.

  39 9 sanguine: blood colour.

  40 4 ray: defile.

  42 2 starke: stiff, immobile.

  43 7 shop: i.e., body.

  44 3 meetest: most appropriate.

  47 7 let: prevent.

  48 6 priefe: trial, test

  48 8 cast to compasse: plan to bring about

  49 9 Mordant: see note to Arg. 3.

  51 2 Acrasia: Greek: ‘without control’. Acrasia, as a character and as a condition, becomes clear in canto 12. Her self-indulgence stands in direct contrast to Guyon’s self-control. Acrasia’s literary predecessors include Circe in Od. 10, Alcina in OP 5, 6, 10 and Armida in GL 16.

  51 4 fordonne: destroyed.

  51 8 wend amis: go wrong, stray, wander into difficulty.

  53 1–2by… yeare: nine months, measured by the phases of the moon (Cynthia), had gone by.

  53 3 crooked homes: i.e., the thin crescent of the new moon.

  53 S Lucina: goddess of birth.

  54 7 recured: restored.

  55 4–6See Carol v. Kaske, Renaissance Quarterly, 29, 1976, 195-209.

  58 1 squire: i.e., a square, the measuring device.

  59 6 teene: prescribe.

  60 3 embraue: embellish. 60 7 obsequy: funeral rites.

  60 9 Bynempt: swore solemnly.

  CANTO 2

  1 4 hent: took. a 4 portion of thy liuelihed: i.e., inheritance.

  3 9 cloue: divided.

  5 1 bord: approach.

  6 5 Floraes: goddess of flowers.

  7 5 Dan Faunus: wood god, half man, half goat; part of the company of Pan. Cf. 1.6.15–17and VII. 6.4a ff.

  7 7 chace: some editors emend to pray for the sake of rhyme.

  7–9The nearest classical analogue to this story is the tale of Daphne, who was changed into a laurel tree (Met. 1.548 ff). Cf. also Met. 9.663–5and 3.882-97.

  8 4 Diana: goddess of chastity.

  9 6 byde: abide, endure.

  10 9 moniment: monument.

  11 6 sell: saddle.

  11 7 barbes: covering for breasts and flanks of war horses.

  13 ff The three sisters are Elissa (Greek: ‘too little’, stanza 35), Medina (Greek: ‘the mean’, stanza 14), and Perissa (Greek: ‘too much’, stanza 36), an allegory of Aristotle’s ethical system of defect (too little), mean, and excess (too much). Cf. Vat., pp. 200-201. Upton (Var., p. 198) suggests that the three mothers are the rational, the appetitive, and the ireful powers of the soul, from Plato, Republic 9.7.

  14 4 Medina: Latin: medianus, Le. ‘mean between extremes’, temperate.

  14 9 enterprize: look after.

  15 8 tramels: braids.

  16 7 gest: deeds.

  17 2 Huddibras: Greek: ‘rashness’; source of Samuel Butler’s satire Hudibras (1662).

  18 1 Sans-loy: see 1.2.35.9 and note. 18 8 tortious: injurious.

  20 9 fouldring: flashing like lightning,

  22 6 lybicke: Libyan.

  22 7 surbet: bruised, aa 9 stint: stop.

  23 S englut: fill.

  24 3 disease: trouble.

  28 a gainsaid: contradicted, opposed.

  29 a Erinnys: the Furies, who punished those who had offended the gods. 29 3 brond: sword.

  29 6 thrust: thirst

  29 8 vaunt: boast.

  30 9 iarre: contention.

  31 7 Oliue: symbol of peace.

  33 3 treague: truce.

  34 6 grutch: complain.

  34 8 fret: destroy. th’vtter: the outer part. 37 2 mincing mineon: affectedly dainty hussy.

  37 4 franion: gallant, playboy.

  38 5 forward paire: Perissa and Sansloy.

  38 7 froward twaine: Elissa and Huddibras. accourage: encourage.

  39 9 lofty siege: high seat, throne.

  40 2 that great Queene: Gloriana. 40 4 shene: shining.

  42 See notes to Letter to Ralegh, p. 1070.

  42 4 Maydenhead: The Faerie analogue to the Order of the Garter, the highest order of English knighthood. See also I.7.46.4 and note.

  42 6 make: some editors emend to hold for the sake of rhyme.

  43 3 Fay: fairy.

  44 1–2Now… world: i.e., three moons (Phoebe) have passed since Guyon left the court of the Faerie Queene.

  44 4 introld: praised by song? a word of uncertain origin.

  44 5 hold: shelter.

  46 1–2Night… snake: the constellation of Scorpio (‘the snake’) is rising as Orion sets.

  46 9 hyes: hastens.

  CANTO 3

  Arg. 1 Braggadocchio: Braggadocchio is a milesgloriosus or ‘braggart soldier’, as are Shakespeare’s Falstaff in 1 and 2 Henry IV, and Pistol in Henry V.

  Arg. 4 Belphcebe: Latin and Greek: ‘beautifully shining’. 1 3 Titan: the sun.

  1 9 many-folded shield: i.e., covered with many layers of skins.

  2 1 Congi: leave.

  2 3 coniure: entreat.

  2 5 noriture: nurture, upbringing.

  2 8 Ruddy mane: ‘bloody hand’.

  4 Guyon’s horse is restored in V.3.29 ff.

  4 1 losell: scoundrel.

  4 2 bountie: virtue, valour.

  4 4 kestrell: a hawk (a contemptuous comparison).

  4 9 Purloynd: stole.

  5 7 portaunce: demeanour.

  5 8 gree: social pre-eminence.

  6 4 prancke: show ofE

  6 7 rancke: violently.

  7 9 stay: wait.

  8 7 Miser: wretch (Latin: miser, ‘wretched1).

  8 9 And deeped him his liege: i.e., called him his master, to… fee: to possess him.

  10 1 Trompart: loud boaster and deceiver (French: tromper, ‘to deceive1). Braggadocchio and Trompart have been equated with the Due d’Alenfon and his agent Simier who came to court Elizabeth in 1578. The match was strongly opposed by the English Protestant faction, led by Leicester. See identification of fielphoebe in Letter to Ralegh, and notes, p. 1070.

  12 3 sell: saddle.

  12 4 wanted: lacked.

  12 6–9See OF 1.26-30.

  12 6 forgone: lost.

  12 9 to doen: to cause.

  13 3 foen: foes. foyle: repulse.

  13 7 gin: engine, trick.

  14 3 gaged: pawned.

  15 3 doon: i.e., do.

  15 4 puruay: supply.

  16 7 quaile: daunt.

  20 3 where… beene: i.e., wherever they are.

  20 9 riue: split

  21–39This episode parodies the meeting of Aeneas and Achates with Venus disguised as Dia
na in Am. 1. 305 ff.

  21 7 weed: garments.

  23 4 persant: piercing.

  24 1 bountie: virtue.

  24 8 rubins: rubies.

  25 1 Graces: in Greek mythology the Graces are the source of beauty and gradousness. This line is quoted by E. K. in his gloss to Shepheardes Calender, ‘June’ 25, suggesting that this part of the poem was written before 1579. See also VI.10.22 and note.

  25 3 belgards: loving looks. retrate: picture, portrait.

  26 4 Camus: loose dress, chemise. 26 S Purfle4: bordered, decorated. plight: fold, pleat.

  26 7 aygulets: French: aiguilktte, ‘aglet’, point or metal tag or a lace, i.e., metal points used for decoration.

  27 1 ham: thigh.

  27 2 embayld: wrapped.

  27 3 buskins: boots.

  Cordwaine: costly leather, cordovan.

  27 4 bard: fastened. bendes: bands. entayld: carved.

  27 5 antickes: designs. aumayld: enamelled.

  28 7 play: some editors emend to sport for the sake of the rhyme.

  28 8 Libbard: leopard

  28 9 apace: quickly.

  29 5 bauldricke: belt (supporting the quiver).

  30 3 inspyre: breathe. 30 4 penon: pennant.

  30 6 heedlesse bap: by chance.

  31 1 Simile imitated from Aen. I. 498-502. 31 2 Eurotas: a river in Laconia (Sparta). Cynthus: a hill on the island of Delos, the birthplace of Apollo and Diana.

  31 3 forlore: forsaken, left.

  31 5 Queene: Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, who is said to have led an attack on Troy (Aen. 1. 490-93). In later versions of the story she is said to have been killed either by Pyrrhus or by his father Achilles.

  31 7 Priame: king of Troy.

  32 3 doubted: wondered. 32 4 bide: wait, remain.

  32 7 Hind: female deer.

  33 2–9Trompart’s speech to Belphoebe imitates Aeneas’ to Venus (Aen. 1. 327-9). Spenser is contrasting the servility of Braggadocchio with Aeneas’ nobility by making Trompart, his subordinate, speak the words of Virgil’s Aeneas, while sustaining the dignity of Belphoebe by comparing her to the Virgilian Venus.

  34 3 mewed: cooped up like a bird; see 35.6.

  36 8 prune: preen.

  37 4 transmewed: transmuted. 38 6 wher so: wherever.

  38 8 Aboue the Moone: i.e., into the realm of permanence. See introductory note to the ‘Cantos of Mutabilitie’.

  38 9 trompe: trumpet.

  40 5 eath: easy.

  41 1 she: i.e., honour.

  46 8 chaufd: chafed, grew hob