28 1 Sir Satyran: Satyrane from 1.6 and III.7.
28 2 Sir Peridure: mentioned in the chronicle of kings, II. 10.44.9, does not appear elsewhere in the poem.
28 8 Sir Cdidore: hero of VI, the knight of courtesy.
29 8 Proteus: see note to 1.2.10.4.
30 3 frowy: froughy, musty, dank.
30 8 Phocas: Greek and Latin: phoca, ‘seal’.
31 2 carde: map.
32 2 raid: smeared, defiled.
32 7 feet: deed. assoyld: rescued.
33 4 attached neare: nearly caught
35 2 ftory: frosty.
36 5 aggrate: please.
37 9 Panope: Greek: ‘all-seeing’, traditionally one of the fifty Nereids. See IV.11.49.8.
42 5 remoue: i.e., leave her love. Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 116: Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove.
45 6 Paridell: Spenser’s version of Paris.
46 4 mine: fall.
47 s doubt: fear.
47 7 knights of Maydenhead: see note to I.7.46.
48 s of report: i.e., of news you have heard.
50 2 soothsay: prediction.
50 9 speed: fortune.
51 8 relate: bring back (Latin: relatus).
CANTO 9
1–3Based on OF 28.1-3.
1 2 leuell: direct,
2 2 by paragone: by comparison,
2 4 attone: together.
3 8 priuitie: privacy.
4 1 mucky pelfe: filthy wealth.
4 2 masse: wealth.
5 5 other blincked eye: one eye is blind (37.6); the other blinks.
5 8 mewes: hides.
6 1 Malbecco: Italian: ‘Evil-horn’; the horn is the sign of the cuckold.
Hellenore: Helen was taken from her husband Menelaus by Paris. The ensuing conflict between the Greeks and Trojans resulted in the destruction of Troy. Hellenore is Helen writ small.
7 3 Argus: the hundred-eyed monster whom the jealous Juno set to watch over Io to prevent her union with Jove.
9 6 mesprise: scorn.
11–18Imitation of Statius, Thebaid 1.401–81and OF 32.65 ff. In OF Brada-mante fights three knights outside the castle of Tristano, and having entered the castle, reveals that she is a woman.
13 8 liefe or loth: willing or not.
14 5 grate: fret.
14 7 rate: angrily drive back.
16 3 affiret: encounter.
17 5 hire: reward.
19 9 plight: health,
20 4 tramels: plaits.
20 6–9Imitated from OF 32.80. See also GL 4.29 and Met. 14.767-9.
20 8 vaded: vanished.
20 9 persant: piercing.
22 1–6Minerua: The 1590 text reads ‘Bellona’, the goddess of war whom E. K. in the gloss to ‘October’ 114, identifies with Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom – or Minerva. The battle of the giants was the occasion of Jupiter’s victory over the Titans, forces of disorder. Minerva is said to have flattened Enceladus by hitting him with the island of Sicily while he was fleeing. Haemus Hill is the scene of Jove’s victory over Typhon.
22 8 Gorgonian: Minerva’s shield bore the Gorgon Medusa’s snaky-haired head, which had been cut off by Perseus {Met. 4.790-803).
25 5 try: experience.
25 6 dight: prepared.
26 2 causen: explain.
26 3 erased: weak.
27 7 demeasnure: behaviour, demeanour.
28 2 embassage: message.
29 5 gryde: pierce.
30 3 Bacchus: god of wine.
30 9 sacrament prophane: wine is the outward and visible sign of the sacrament of the Eucharist. Paridell is misusing and profaning it.
31 8–9i.e., they made a fool of Malbecco. The phrase is derived from Chaucer. Upton (Var., p. 280) notes that fools used to carry apes on their shoulders.
33–7Paridell’s story of Troy and its destruction because of Paris’ love of Helen is the appropriate prelude to the adventures soon to occur at Malbecco’s castle, which will be destroyed by the spiritual descendants of Paris and Helen. Paridell’s story omits all the morally incriminating details of Paris’ choice of Helen, which were well known in the Renaissance.
34 7 Lacedcemon: Lacaedemon or Sparta was the home of Menelaus and Helen.
35 6 Scamander: a river of Troy.
35 9 Xanthus: a river of Troy.
36 3–4Paris, a shepherd on Mount Ida, was in love with the nymph Oenone.
Ate, goddess of discord, furious at not having been invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, interrupted the feast and tossed in a golden apple inscribed ‘To the fairest’. Juno, Minerva, and Venus all claimed the prize and held a contest to be judged by Paris. Juno promised power, Minerva wisdom, and Venus love, in the person of Helen. Paris’ morally wrong choice of Venus was the cause of the Trojan war and of the eventual destruction of Troy. Oenone was abandoned, but some commentators say she bore a child, Corythus, whose name Spenser changes to Parius.
36 7 Priams: Priam, king of Troy.
36 9 Paros: island in the Aegean.
37 2 Nausa: Greek: ‘ship’.
37 9 see wing: pursuing.
38 s feet: deed.
38 7 extract: descended.
38 9 Troynouant: London; often called New Troy in the sixteenth century.
41 Paridell omits all reference to Dido, whose kingdom suffered because of her love for Aeneas.
41 4 fatal! errour: wandering ordained by fate.
41 6 Lybicke: Libyan, African.
42 1 Latium: the home of the Latins ruled by King Latinus, who gave his daughter Lavinia as wife to Aeneas. This brought war by the leader of the Rutulians, Turnus, to whom Lavinia had been promised. Aeneas finally killed Turnus, married Lavinia, and restored peace.
43 2 part: divide.
43 4 Into their names the title to conuart: i.e., each tried to have the kingdom named for himself..
43 7 long Alba: Alba Longa, a town in Latium on the slopes of Mt Albanus, south-east of Rome and its precursor as capital.
43 9 Romulus: the founder of Rome.
44 Rome was often considered the second Troy, and the Tudors, because of their supposed descent from Brutus, saw London as the third Troy. See III.3.22 ff.
46 2 meare: boundary.
46 9 Albion: ancient name of Britain.
47 4 Mnemon: Greek: ‘memory’.
48 1 he: i.e., Mnemon. aduaunce: praise.
48 2 Syluius his sonne: the son of Silvius. Stanzas 48–51are derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1.13-17.
50 3 Goemagot: Gogmagog, a giant killed by Corineus. See Geoffrey of Monmouth, 1.16. See II.10.10.8 and note.
50 4 Coulin of Debon: Coulin jumped across a great pit. Devonshire is named after Debon. No source for Brutus’ story has been found, but seell.1o.11.
51 2 There is no source for Brutus’ founding Lincoln.
53 3 attent: attention.
52 9 belgardes: loving glances.
53 5 halfendeale ybrent: half burned.
CANTO 10
Arg. 4 tume: i.e., return.
1 5 same Faerie knight: i.e., Satyrane.
2 5 wanting measure: lacking control.
3 1 abie: endure.
5 2–3i.e., he deceived Malbecco’s faulty vision.
7 8 if : unless.
8 5 Bransles: dances. virelayes: short song with but two rhymes.
9 2–3sewed At hand: in attendance.
9 5 indewed: took in.
10 3 dispuruayance: failure of supplies.
10 5 Peace: i.e., castle, the ‘fort’ of line 1.
11 4 care of credite: concern for honour.
12 4 reare: take.
12 7–9Am. 6.517–19suggests that Helen behaved similarly at the destruc- tion of Troy.
13 3 tyn’d: kindled.
14 6 Idoles: i.e., his money. Malbecco worships Mammon. See 11.6.
17 6 doole: dole, grief.
19 4 takes in hond: undertakes.
19 5 endlo
ng: continuously,
20 8 houed: waited.
21 8 resemble: think similar to.
22 8 scerne: discern.
22 9 Belamour: French: ‘lover’.
23 5 arere: back.
23 9 low louted on the lay: i.e., bowed low on the ground.
24 5 quooke: quaked.
25 4 ypaid: pleased.
28 8 albe I simple such: i.e., although I am so lowly.
29 1 bouget: pouch.
29 5 nempt: named.
30 4 rownded: whispered.
30 8 courage: noble anger (ironic here).
31 1 Doucepere: champion. Charlemagne’s twelve peers were called fe’ douze pairs (the twelve peers).
31 9 massie mucks: i.e., money’s.
32 5 Sanglamort: French: ‘bloody death’.
33 1 blith: happy.
33 3 sith: times.
33 6 stolen steed: Braggadocchio stole Guyon’s horse in n.3. It is not returned until V.3.
35 6 Faragone: mistress.
35 7 filcht her bels: hawking image. Bells were attached to the legs of hawks, even in flight. Paridell has removed her restraints.
36 3 weft: waif.
38 2 keepe of: i.e., responsibility for.
38 5 sell: saddle.
38 8 whom… kend: i.e., when he knew that Paridell was gone.
42 3 greaue: thicket.
44 ff These satyrs, introduced by the sound of bagpipes, a common symbol for sexual indulgence or lechery, are behaving as literary satyrs do, unlike die satyrs Spenser introduces in 1.6.
44 7 red: proclaimed, bestowed.
45 8 brouzes: young shoots.
46 1 trusse: pack up.
46 3 busse: kiss.
46 5 shed: pour over.
47 4 Malbecco’s horns are the traditional horns of the cuckold.
48 5 come aloft: achieve sexual climax.
48 9 ring his matins bell: slang for sexual climax.
53 5 reare: steal.
54 7 bestad: beset.
55 9 Snake: associated with jealousy. See canto 11.1-2.
57 2 forpined: wasted.
59 2 pasture: food.
CANTO 11
1 1 Snake: Jealousy is generally a branch of Envy, one of whose most common attributes was a snake. Classical sources are Am. 7.341-SS and Met. 4495 ff. See also description in L4.31 and notes.
I 4 tine: anguish. a 9 Turtle: turtle-dove.
3 I as earst ye red: in canto IO.I.
3 6 Ollyphant: see canto 7.47–50and notes.
3 8 Squire of Dames: his story is told in canto 7.37-61.
4 ff Spenser is imitating Tasso, Rinaldo 5.
5 2 ensew: pursue, follow.
S 5 bace: see note to V.8.5.4.
5 8 Roe: female deer.
6 5 apply: direct.
7 2 sheare: clear.
7 7 winged boy: Cupid.
7 8 Depeincted: depicted, pictured, painted.
8 5 inuade: intrude on.
10 7 Busirane: name adapted from Ovid, Ars Atnatoria, 1.643-58, where the Egyptian king, Busiris, is noted for his cruelty. See Roche, Kindly Flame, pp. 81-2.
10 8 seuen monethes: see IV. 11.4.76-9.
11 5 Scudamore: French: ‘shield of love’.
12 1 singulfes: sobs. Spenser’s regular spelling of’singults’ (Latin: singultus).
12 2 empeach: hinder.
13 4 mistooke: i.e., supposed.
13 7 Abiecting: throwing.
14 5 prepense: consider.
14 7 values: i.e., valour’s.
16 6 in ward: in power.
16 7 leare: lore.
17 4 yold: yielded. The winning of Amoret is told in IV.10.
18 1 hersall: tale.
20 8 mountenaunce: distance.
21–5Spenser may be alluding to similar walls of flame in Tasso, Rinaldo 5.58–61and GL 13.34-5. The flames cannot harm if the knight understands what they are, as Britomart does.
21 4 ward: porter.
22 8 th’Earthes children: the Titans.
23 3 dempt: deemed, judged.
24 6 cheuisaunce: enterprise.
24 9 i.e., than to retreat because of fear from praiseworthy undertakings.
25 8 ymolt: melted.
27 4 woodnesse: madness, effierced: angered.
27 8 vtmost: outermost, formest: foremost.
28–46The source of this passage is the tapestry of Arachne in Met. 6.103-28. The context of the Ovidian passage is the weaving contest between Minerva and Arachne. Minerva’s tapestry shows figures of peace and order with subsidiary figures warning against presumption (lines 70-102); Arachne pictures the deceitful loves of the gods. Spenser elaborates on Ovid but follows him closely, expecting his reader to recognize the source and its context. The arithmological structure of the passage is discussed by Fowler, Triumphal Forms, pp. 47-58.
28 2 arras: tapestry.
29 9 kesars: caesars, emperors.
30 5 Helle: Helle and her brother Phrixus were carried away from the fury of Ino by a golden ram; Helle fell into the water, henceforth called after her the Hellespont (Ovid, Fasti 3.849-76), See V. Proem s. No classical authority exists for Jove’s turning himself into a ram to love Helle. He did, however, change himself into a ram to avoid the anger of the giant Typhoeus.
30 6 Europe: Jove assumed the shape of a bull to seduce Europa, daughter of Agenor and sister of Cadmus. See Met. 2.833-3.5 and V. Proem 5.9.
31 2 Danaë: Danae, imprisoned in a tower by her father, was seduced by Jove in the form of a shower of gold. The child of this union was Perseus.
32 2 Leda: Jove became a swan to seduce Leda, who through the union became the mother of Castor and Pollux and (some authorities say) Helen of Troy.
33 1 Thebane Semelee: Juno, jealous of Jove’s attentions to Semele, daughter of Cadmus, urged her to ask Jove to visit her fully revealed in his power; he appeared armed with his thunderbolts and lightning, which burned her to death. The unborn Bacchus was sewn into Jove’s thigh whence he was delivered three months later.
33 6 Alcmena: Alcmena, mother of Hercules, was deceived by Jove in the form of her husband Amphitryon. The’ three nights in one’ is referred to again in Epithalamion
33 6-9, reflecting the commentary of Natalis Comes, 6.1.
34 1 Eagles shape: Asterie, to avoid the advances of Jove, changed herself into a quail, whereupon he became an eagle.
34 3 scape: no such usage given in OED.
34 4 Troiane boy so faire: Ganymede became the cup-bearer of the gods after Jove, disguised as an eagle, stole him away (Met. 10.155-61).
35 1 Antiopa: Antiope, daughter of Nycteus. Apollodorus, Bibliotheca
3.5.5, mentions that Jove loved Antiope. In 3.10.1 he says that Jove was father of her children Zethus and Amphion. The details of the next four lines are taken directly from Met. 6.110-14.
35 2 Aegin’: Aegina, daughter of Asopus, bore Aeacus to Jove, according to Hyginus, Fabulae 52.
35 3 Mnemosyne: Jove slept with Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, and begot the nine Muses.
35 4 Thracian mayd: Proserpina, called ‘Deoida’ in Met. 6.114, i.e., the daughter of Ceres, the daughter of Deo.
36 3 that boy: Cupid.
36 4 Apollo revealed to the gods the adultery of Mars and Venus (Met.4–171ff)-36 5 meynt: mingled.
36 6 leaden dart: Ovid tells that Cupid has two kinds of arrows, one tipped with gold (success in love), one tipped with lead (failure in love). See Met. 1.466-71.
36 7 Daphne: daughter of Peneus, fled Apollo’s advances and through her prayers to Diana was turned into the laurel tree, with which both poets and emperors are crowned {Met. 1.450-567).
37 1 lusty Hyacinct: handsome Hyacinthus, a youth of Sparta, beloved by Apollo, who accidentally killed him in a game of quoits. A flower sprang from his blood (Met. 10.162 ff).
37 2 Coronis: the story of Coronis’s death because of Apollo’s jealousy is told in Met. 2.542-632. The legend is the basis of Chaucer’s ‘Manciple’s Tale,.
37 5
Paunce: pansy.
37 9 teene: woe.
38 1 owne deare sonne: Phaethon, son of Apollo and Clymene, died when he was unable to control Apollo’s chariot (Met. 2.1-400). Phaethon, s rash act, which almost destroyed the world, was traditionally interpreted in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as pride and presumption against recognized authority.
39 1 Isse: Isse, daughter of Macareus, was loved by Apollo disguised as a shepherd. Spenser adds the more familiar story of Apollo’s serving as cowherd to Admetus (Hyginus, Fabuloe 50). 39 3–4cowheard: Spenser may intend a pun on coward.
39 7–8Lyon… Hag… faulcon: the transformation of Apollo to a lion and to a hawk are mentioned explicitly in Met. 6.122-3. The transformation to a hag has not been identified, and some editors emend to stag; Spenser may be referring to the haggard, an untamed hawk.
40 9 Hippodames: sea-horses.
41 9 Bisaltis: Theophane, daughter of Bisaltes, was loved by Neptune in the form of a ram according to Hyginus, Fabulae 188.
42 1 Iphimedia: Neptune came in the form of a flowing river, Enipeus, to Iphimedia, wife of Aloeus.
42 2 Ante: Neptune is also said to have made love to Arne, daughter of Aeolus. See IV.9.23.
42 5 Deucalions daughter: Melantho, to whom Neptune came in the form of a dolphin.
42 8 Medusa: Neptune begot Pegasus when he seduced Medusa in the temple of Minerva.
43 1 Satume: Saturn, the most remote and malevolent of gods and planets, is not ordinarily associated with love. The source is Met. 6.126.
43 4–7Erigone… Philliras: there is no evidence for Saturn’s relation to Erigone, but Hyginus, Fabulae 138, discusses his love for Philyra, who appears in line 7. From this union came Chiron the centaur, which is probably the reason that Saturn assumed this shape. Erigone and Bacchus, the god of wine, are linked in Hyginus, Fabulae 130, but not sexually as in Spenser. Met. 6.125 says simply that Bacchus tricked Erigone with a false bunch of grapes.
44 7 horrid: bristly (Latin: horridus).
45 8 eath: easy.
46 5 Dan: Master.
46 8 rayled: flowed.
46 9 feyld: deceived (Latin: fallen).
47 3 passing: surpassing.
47 7 Pauone: peacock (Latin: pavo).
47 8 bis: goddess of the rainbow. The images of peacock and rainbow are used by Tasso to describe the beauty of the temptress Armida (GL 16.24).
48 1 Blindfold: Cupid is traditionally blind, his eyes covered with a blind- fold. For the development of the tradition see E. Panofsky, ‘Blind Cupid’ in Studies in Iconology (Harper Torchbooks, pp. 95-128).
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