The Faerie Queene
Page 116
CANTO 4
2 The Palmer, as the guide to Guyon, is in the tradition of the old, wise hermits in Malory.
2 3 yeed: go.
2 5 suflred: permitted.
3 4 agree: settle, bring into harmony.
3 5 mad man: Furor, wrath.
4 The wicked hag is Occasion. The Renaissance showed her with hair dangling over her face but entirely bald on the back of her head because she must be seized by the forelock, as she approaches, and once she has passed by she may not be captured. Spenser is allegorizing the commonplace that wrath must find an occasion.
4 4 stay: support.
7 2 gouernance: self-control.
8 4 nathemoe: not ac all.
8 7 haling! dragging.
9 7 vnbrace: unfasten.
11 2 amenage: tame.
12 2 hent: seized. 12 4 stent: cease.
14 2 gainstriuing: striving against.
14 7 hayld: dragged.
15 7 ranck: haughty.
16 Phedon’s story imitates the tale of Ariodante and Genevra in OF 4-5. Shakespeare also used this story in Much Ado About Nothing (1600).
17 2 hap: i.e., mishap.
17 5 whelming: engulfing.
18 3 dug: breast.
20 1 Philemon: Greek: ‘love of self’. The name was common in romances.
20 1–2partake, Of: i.e., make a confidant in.
20 2 priuitie: secrets.
24 1 boorded: approached.
24 2 boulted: sifted.
24 8 nearer moue: affect more deeply.
26 3 blent: dimmed, spoiled.
28 8 Me liefer were: i.e., I would prefer, priefe: trial.
28 9 repriefe: disgrace.
32 7 chauffed: angry.
33 1 me doen to dye: i.e., tried to kill me.
34 2 bridle: conventional symbol of temperance.
37 2 varlet. Atdn (Greek:’ strife’), first named in 42, the servant of Pyrochles. See notes to 41-2.
37 8 bashed: dismayed, daunted.
38 1–6shield: shield of Pyrochles, who is introduced in 41.
38 7 flit: swift.
39 3 forestalled: bespoken (i.e., already occupied by Furor and Occasion).
40 4 minds his chaunce t’abye: i.e., intends to confront the possibility of harm. See lines 4-S of the preceding stanza.
41–2Pyrochles (Greek: ‘one of fiery disposition’) and Cymochles (Greek: ‘one who constantly fluctuates’, i.e., a wave) are allegorical representations of the irascible and concupiscible passions, wrath and desire, the two subsidiary parts of the human soul (Republic 9.7). Spenser makes them children of Aerates (Greek: ‘without control’) and Despite. Aerates is the son of Phlegethon, the river of fire in hell, and Jar (Discord). The ancestors of Phlegethon are the ancient malignant gods who ruled before Jove took control of the heavens, ultimately derived from mythographers like Boccaccio. Aerates is related etymologically to Acrasia. 42 3 derring do: might, desperate deeds.
45 3 vpbray: bring reproach on.
46 1 thrillant: piercing.
46 5 empight: emplanted itself.
46 8 forckhead: arrow.
CANTO 5
1 6 stayed: constant.
2 3 embatteiled: armed for battle.
3 2 chaffar words: bandy words.
3 5 nigh… choke: i.e., nearly able to choke.
4 8 sell: saddle.
4 9 fowly dight: i.e., besmear.
5 3 Disleall: disloyal.
5 7 blent: smirched.
6 2 marge: margin.
6 S were not his targe: i.e., if it were not for his shield.
6 9 beuer: faceguard of helmet.
8 5 molt: melted.
8 7 gyre: Greek: ‘circle’.
9 1 foynd: lunged, thrust his weapon. 9 6 closely: i.e., with restraint.
9 7 rife: strongly.
98a thwart: from the side.
11 I slight: trick. faild: deceived.
11 4 queint: quenched.
11 7 Saint: i.e., Gloriana, the Faerie Queene.
13 7 trow: know, believe.
14 9 wondered: marvelled at, 17 2 tort: injury.
19 2 assoyled: released.
19 8 enlargd: set free.
20 6 wex as wood: grow angry to the point of irrationality.
21 3 wroke: revenged.
22 7 Stygian: of the river Styx in Hades. 27 8 mewes: cages.
27 9 Titan: the sun.
28 6 delices: delights.
29 4 Eglantine: sweet-briar.
29 8 Zephyrus: the west wind.
30 1 fast beside: immediately next to it.
30 3 pumy: pumice.
31 2 stately tree: oak.
31 4–5Abides: as the first of his twelve labours Hercules killed the Nemean lion.
32 8 habiliments: dress.
33 2 aggrate: gratify, please.
33 5 embrew: pour into. OED cites this line.
33 9 for tryall: i.e., as proof.
34 3 spoyle: loot.
34 6 conceipt: conceit, idea.
35 2 waues of deepe delight: Spenser is probably calling attention to the etymology of Cymochles’ name (see note to II. 4.41-2).
37 3 theame: subject.
37 4 For to dilate at large: i.e., to be expanded upon.
CANTO 6
1 The idea of this stanza is derived from Aristotle, Ethics, 2.3.
2 7 Gondelay: gondola. Martha Craig sees in this whole episode of
Phaedria allusions to the corrupting influence of Italy (in particular, Venice) on the English gentleman traveller (“The Secret Wit of Spenser’s Language’ in Elizabethan Poetry: Modem Essays in Criticism, ed. Paul Alpers, p. 464).
S 5 a pin: the peg supporting an oar.
5 7 to apply: to steer.
7 3 aguize: dress.
7 s plight: twine.
7 6 to doe: to cause him to.
8 3 souenaunce: recollection.
9 4 cot: boat
9 7 Phcedria: Greek: ‘the shining one’. Draper (Var., p. 243) points out that Terence uses the name for a young man ‘sowing his wild oats’.
10 1 Inland sea: Le., the Mediterranean.
10 9 bourne: boundary.
12 7 arboret: small tree, bush.
13 4 dit: lyric.
15–17imitation of GL 14.62-4. Cf. Matthew 6.25-34.
16 2 Flowre-deluce: the fleur-de-lis (iris).
16 7 Belamoure: French: ‘fair love’.
16 8 cardes: prepares wool for spinning.
16 9 lets: leaves.
18 6 cleft: cut
18 9 weft: wove her way.
19 2 strand: body of water.
19 5 byding: waiting.
20 3 flit: quick.
21 I guize: manner.
21 7 gibe: taunt geare:jeer.
26 3 thewed ill: ill-mannered.
29 5 dismayld: stripped armour off.
29 6 spalles: shoulders.
29 9 giambeux: leg-armour.
30 8 wroke: revenged.
31 1 enhaunst: raised.
32 7 wo worth: i.c, may woe come to.
34 3 doe: cause. sterile: die.
34 5 scarmoges: skirmishes.
35 7 Mars: the god of war, who became Cupid’s friend by having an adulterous affair with Venus, which Phaedria considers more praiseworthy than Mars’ ‘wars and spoils’. Contrast with L Proem. 3 in which Mars is praised for his martial prowess.
36 8 suffer: permit.
37 3 pas: care, reck.
38 9 shard: obstacle.
39 5 tracted forth: followed. trade: footprints, track.
42 9 bet: beat
43 6 Harrow now out: a cry of distress.
43 9 what… betyde: i.e., what has happened to you?
46 7 agrise: horrify.
49 2 hent: seized.
49 7 drent: drowned, brent: burned.
49 8 Harrow: i.e., ‘help!’
50 2 hath… bedight: i.e., has caused my present condition.
50 3 The liver was regarded as the seat of the passions.
CANTO 7
Arg. 1 delue: cave, underground den.
1 4 yblent: obscured.
1 6 card: chart, map.
3 ff The Cave of Mammon episode imitates the epic convention of the hero’s visit to the underworld. Philosophically the episode is based on portions of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6.19 ff):
Lay not up treasures for yourselves upon the earth, where the moth and canker corrupt, and where thieves dig through, and steal. But lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither the moth nor canker corrupteth, and where thieves neither dig through, nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also… No man can serve two masters: for either he shall hate the one, and love the other, or else he shall lean to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and riches [Mammon].
4 5 entayle: ornamentation.
4 6 antickes: grotesque figures.
4 7 told: counted.
5 4 Muldbers: i.e., Vulcan’s. His element was fire. S 5 driuen: smelted. distent: beaten out.
5 6 Ingoes: ingots.
5 7 moniment: mark, decoration, identification.
5 9 kesars: emperors, caesars.
7 2 habitaunce: dwelling.
7 4 vsaunce; use.
7 9 pelfe: riches.
8 2 Mammon: god of worldly wealth (see Matthew 6.24).
8 7 swinck: toil.
9 1 sew: i.e., pursue.
9 5 fi-ancke and free: without obligation. Mammon’s language has at times a pseudo-legal quality (‘seme and sew’, ‘francke and free’).
10 2 suit: pursuit.
11 8 rowme: unspecified place (OED 11).
12 1 All otherwise: in an entirely different manner. he: i.e., Guyon.
13 7 purple robe: signifying kingship.
14 3–4Caspian… Adrian: both the Caspian and the Adriatic seas were notorious for their storms.
14 6 said: i.e., said to be.
15 9 accloyes: chokes.
16 9 meane: moderation.
17 2 Grandmother: i.e., the earth.
19 8 mew: hiding place.
20 7 descry: discover, find.
21 4 Plutoes: the god of the underworld.
22 3 imitated from Aen. 6.273-81.
23 6 Celeno: a harpy. Harpies are mythological monsters with the bodies of women and the wings and claws of birds. Spenser took this name from Aen. 3.245-6. 23 8 rift: split. 28 3 vaut: vault, arched roof. breaches: stalactites. 28 5 rift: fissure. 28 7 Arachne: Arachne, a Lydian maiden famous for her ability to weave, challenged Minerva to a tapestry-weaving contest. She produced a tapestry more beautiful than Minerva’s. The irate goddess destroyed it,and turned Arachne into a spider. See Met. 6.5 ff and notes on III.11.
28-46. Spenser tells the story in detail in Muiopotmos, 257 ff. 30 ff The temptations that Guyon undergoes in this canto are modelled on two of the three temptations of Christ by Satan (Matthew 4.1-11):
Then was Jesus led aside of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days, and forty nights, he was afterwards hungry. Then came to him the tempter, and said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, And said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written that he will give his Angels charge over thee, and with their hands they shall lift thee up, least at any time thou shouldst dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil took him up unto an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And said to him, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then said Jesus unto him, Avoid, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold, the Angels came and ministered unto him.
Medieval commentators related the three temptations to the three sins of gluttony, vainglory and avarice, the same three sins committed by Adam and Eve in eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree. The second and third temptations are taken up in stanzas 30–39and 40-50; Guyon finally succumbs to the first temptation by denying himself proper sustenance for his body in the three days he spends with Mammon, which results in his fainting (66). For the relation of the three temptations to the Infernal Triad of the World, the Flesh and the Devil, see notes to I.4.18 ff.
30 3 bends: damps, bands.
33 2 so: i.e., in such a manner.
34 6 Culuer: dove, pigeon.
35–6cf. Aen. 8.418-54.
35 4 raunges: fire-grates.
35 9 tride: refined by fire.
36 3 bronds: burning pieces of wood.
36 5 Vulcans rage: i.e., the fire.
36 9 swincke: work.
38 9 withstood: refused.
39 8 mesprise: contempt
41 3 stomacke: anger, malice.
41 4 portaunce: bearing.
44 3 preaced: crowded.
44 5 siege: seat, throne.
46 a gold chaine: see note to L9.1.1.
46 5 preace: crowd.
46 8 sty: climb, ascend.
47 4 regard: interests.
49 1 Philotime: Greek: ‘love of honour’.
49 2 wonneth: lives.
50 1 Gramercy: originally ‘may God grant you mercy’, hence, ‘thank you’.
50 7 late: recently.
50 9 causelesse: i.e., without good reason.
52 5 Cicuta bad: hemlock. All of the trees and plants mentioned in the preceding lines have lethal or soporific qualities.
52 7–9Plato’s Phaedo, which tells of die death of Socrates, does not support Spenser’s statement that Critias was a close friend of Socrates. See Var., pp. 262-3.
52 9 Belamy: French: ‘friend’.
53 1 Proserpina: queen of the underworld.
54 5–6The daughters of Atlas were the Hesperides, from whose garden Hercules took the golden apples as one of his twelve labours. According to Natalis Comes, 7.7, these apples were symbols of wealth.
54 8–9th’Eubcean young man: Hippomenes, who wanted to marry Atalanta. She would marry only a man who could run faster than she. Worried that he might lose the race, Hippomenes dropped golden apples as he ran. Atalanta stopped to pick them up and became his bride (Met.10.57s ff)’
55 1–3Acontius won Cydippe by giving her an apple with an equivocal message on it. The story is told by Ovid in Heroides 20.
55 4–9See note to III.9.36.3-4.
56 3 fee: possessions (here, fruit). 56 s compast: circled.
56 8 Cocytus: one of the traditional rivers of Hades.
57 5 shrights: shrieks.
57 8 One cursed creature: Tantalus, whose punishment is described in 58, had served his son Pelops as a banquet for the gods.
58 7 swinke: work.
58 9 couth: could.
61 2 Another wretch: Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, who handed Christ over to be crucified. ‘Then said the governor, But what evil hath he done? Then they cried the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he availed nothing, but that more tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just man. Look you to it’ (Matthew 27.23-4).
61 2 drent: drenched.
61 4 feculent: polluted, covered with faeces.
64 5 strayt: straightway, immediately.
64 7 sleight: trick.
64 8 lust: here used in the sense of’greed’.
6s 2 vitall: life-sustaining.
66 3 Upton (Var., pp. 269-70) cites Matthew 12.40 and the belief of the sacred mysteries that two nights and one day only were allowed for mortals to view hell.
66 9 Commentators vary widely in their interpretations of Guyon’s collapse. For
a summary of critical differences see Alpers, The Poetry of The Faerie Queette, pp. 235-75.
CANTO 8
Arg. 2 Aerates sonnes: Cymochles and Pyrochles.
1–2Spenser answers his question affirmatively by filling these stanzas with echoes of Biblical passages, especially Matthew 4, in which angels are sent to minister to Christ after his forty-day fast in the wilderness and his three temptations by Satan. See also Hebrews 1.14 and Psalm 144.3.
2 3 pineons: wings.
2 4 Pursuiuant: royal messenger.
4 3 efforced: uttered with effort, forced out.
5 4 peares: peers, companions.
5 5 front: Latin: frons, ‘forehead’.
5 6 Phoebus: the sun.
5 7 sheares: wings (shaped like scissors).
6 1 Idceon hill: Mount Ida. See note to III.9.36.3-4. 6 5 faire mother: Venus.
6 6 Graces: See VI. 10.22 and notes.
7 7 doe away: cast ofE
7 9 respire: breathe in.
8 1 arret: decree, assign.
9 8 courd: covered or cared for.
10 2 Two Paynim knights: Cymochles and Pyrochles, who earlier represent the concupisdble and irascible passions, reappear in this canto as enemies of Christianity, Saracens who swear by Termagamt and Mahoune. See Harry Berger, jr, Allegorical Temper, pp. 56-62.
10 3 aged Sire: Archimago, who last appeared trying to heal the wounds of Pyrochles in II.6.47 ff.
10 4 light-foot Page: Atin. See II.6.48 ff
10 8 Foreby: near.
11 1 dearely: resolutely. 11 5 tynd: kindled.
11 7 corse: body.
14 7–9Kitchin (Var., p. 273) sees these lines as a travesty on Solon’s dictum that a man’s end must be the deciding factor in whether or not he was happy.
15 2 entire: entirely.
15 7 reaue: deprive. hire: reward.
16 7 herce: coffin. trap: cover, decorate. 16 8 dight: prepared.
16 9 But… kight: i.e., be left to the birds of prey. See 1 Samuel 17.44.
17 3 bent: intending.
17 5 An armed knight: Arthur, who arrives to rescue the knights of the individual books. See I.7.29 ff.
17 6 heben: ebony. See I.7.37.2.
17 7 couerd shield: see I.8.19.
Well… space: i.e., he recognized at such a distance
17 8 th’enchaunter: i.e., Archimago. atnenaunce: bearing.
18 4 nobilesse: nobility.
18 6 Sar’zins: Saracens.
19 6 Beteeme: grant.
20 2 Merlin: see I.9.5 ff and III.3.10 ff.
20 3 noursling: i.e., Arthur.
20 5 Medcewart: an herb with magical properties (wort: ‘herb’; medae: Latin: medica).