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Title: Chaucer's Works, Volume 2 - Boethius and Troilus
Author: Geoffrey Chaucer
Editor: Walter W. Skeat
Release date: February 5, 2014 [eBook #44833]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAUCER'S WORKS, VOLUME 2 - BOETHIUS AND TROILUS ***
Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
[=a] signifies "a with macron"; [)a] "a with breve"; and so forth. [gh]
represents yogh, [*e] the schwa. A carat character is used to denote
superscription: a single character following the carat is superscripted
(example: 4^o).
Project Gutenberg has Volume VI of Skeat's edition, which contains a
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* * * * *
[Illustration: MS. CORP. CHR. COLL., CAMBRIDGE. Troil. iv. 575-588
_Frontispiece**_]
THE COMPLETE WORKS
OF
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
_EDITED, FROM NUMEROUS MANUSCRIPTS_
BY THE
REV. WALTER W. SKEAT, M.A.
LITT.D., LL.D., D.C.L., PH.D.
ELRINGTON AND BOSWORTH PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON
AND FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
* *
BOETHIUS AND TROILUS
'Adam scriveyn, if ever it thee befalle
Boece or Troilus to wryten newe,
Under thy lokkes thou most have the scalle,
But after my making thou wryte trewe.'
_Chaucers Wordes unto Adam._
SECOND EDITION
Oxford
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
M DCCCC
* * * * * *
Oxford
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, M.A.
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
* * * * * *
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION TO BOETHIUS.--§ 1. Date of the Work. § 2. Boethius.
§ 3. The Consolation of Philosophy; and fate of its author. § 4.
Jean de Meun. § 5. References by Boethius to current events.
§ 6. Cassiodorus. § 7. Form of the Treatise. § 8. Brief sketch
of its general contents. § 9. Early translations. § 10. Translation
by Ælfred. § 11. MS. copy, with A.S. glosses. § 12. Chaucer's
translation mentioned. § 13. Walton's verse translation. § 14.
Specimen of the same. § 15. His translation of Book ii. met. 5.
§ 16. M. E. prose translation; and others. § 17. Chaucer's
translation and le Roman de la Rose. § 18. Chaucer's scholarship.
§ 19. Chaucer's prose. § 20. Some of his mistakes. § 21. Other
variations considered. § 22. Imitations of Boethius in Chaucer's
works. § 23. Comparison with 'Boece' of other works by
Chaucer. § 24. Chronology of Chaucer's works, as illustrated by
'Boece.' § 25. The Manuscripts. § 26. The Printed Editions.
§ 27. The Present Edition vii
INTRODUCTION TO TROILUS.--§ 1. Date of the Work. § 2. Sources of
the Work; Boccaccio's Filostrato. §§ 3, 4. Other sources.
§ 5. Chaucer's share in it. § 6. Vagueness of reference to sources.
§ 7. Medieval note-books. § 8. Lollius. § 9. Guido delle
Colonne. § 10. 'Trophee.' §§ 11, 12. The same continued.
§§ 13-17. Passages from Guido. §§ 18, 19. Dares, Dictys, and
Benôit de Ste-More. § 20. The names; Troilus, &c. § 21.
Roman de la Rose. § 22. Gest Historiale. § 23. Lydgate's
Siege of Troye. § 24. Henrysoun's Testament of Criseyde. § 25.
The MSS. § 26. The Editions. § 27. The Present Edition.
§ 28. Deficient lines. § 29. Proverbs. § 30. Kinaston's Latin
translation. § 31. Sidnam's translation xlix
BOETHIUS DE CONSOLATIONE PHILOSOPHIE 1
BOOK I. 1
BOOK II. 23
BOOK III. 51
BOOK IV. 92
BOOK V. 126
TROILUS AND CRISEYDE 153
BOOK I. 153
BOOK II. 189
BOOK III. 244
BOOK IV. 302
BOOK V. 357
NOTES TO BOETHIUS 419
NOTES TO TROILUS 461
INTRODUCTION TO BOETHIUS.
§ 1. DATE OF THE WORK.
In my introductory remarks to the Legend of Good Women, I refer to the
close connection that is easily seen to subsist between Chaucer's
translation of Boethius and his Troilus and Criseyde. All critics seem now
to agree in placing these two works in close conjunction, and in making the
prose work somewhat the earlier of the two; though it is not at all
unlikely that, for a short time, both works were in hand together. It is
also clear that they were completed before the author commenced the House
of Fame, the date of which is, almost certainly, about 1383-4. Dr. Koch, in
his Essay on the Chronology of Chaucer's Writings, proposes to date
'Boethius' about 1377-8, and 'Troilus' about 1380-1. It is sufficient to be
able to infer, as we can with tolerable certainty, that these two works
belong to the period between 1377 and 1383. And we may also feel sure that
the well-known lines to Adam, beginning--
'Adam scriveyn, if ever it thee befalle
_Boece_ or _Troilus_ to wryten newe'--
were composed at the time when the fair copy of Troilus had just been
finished, and may be dated, without fear of mistake, in 1381-3. It is not
likely that we shall be able to determine these dates within closer limits;
nor is it at all necessary that we should be able to do so. A few further
remarks upon this subject are given below.
§ 2. BOETHIUS.
Before proceeding to remark upon Chaucer's translation of Boethius, or (as
he calls him) Boece, it is necessary to say a few words as to the original
work, and its author.
Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius, the most learned philosopher
of his time, was born at Rome about A. D. 480, and was put to death A. D.
524. In his youth, he had the advantage of a liberal training, and enjoyed
the rare privilege of being able to read the Greek philosophers in their
own tongue. In the particular treatise which here most concerns us, his
Greek quotations are mostly taken from Plato, and there are a few
references to Aristotle, Homer, and to the _Andromache_ of Euripides. His
extant works shew that he was well acquainted with geometry, mechanics,
astronomy, and music, as well as with logic and theology; and it is an
interesting fact that an illustration of the way in which waves of sound
are propagated through the air, introduced by Chaucer into his House of
Fame, ll. 788-822, is almost certainly derived from the treatise of
Boethius _De Musica_, as pointed out in the note upon that passage. At any
rate, there is an unequivocal reference to 'the felinge' of Boece 'in
musik' in the Nonnes Preestes Tale, B 4484.
§ 3. The most important part of his political life was passed in the
service of the celebrated Theodoric the Goth, who, aft Next |