Book ii
. 14, that he took the story 'out of Latin' is less helpful than it appears to be; for 'Latin' may mean either Latin or Italian.
§ 9. I have spoken (§ 4) of 'a particular case of borrowing,' which I now propose to consider more particularly. The discovery that Chaucer mainly drew his materials from Boccaccio seems to have satisfied most enquirers; and hence it has come to pass that one of Chaucer's sources has been little regarded, though it is really of some importance. I refer to the Historia Troiana of Guido delle Colonne[49], or, as Chaucer rightly calls him, Guido de Columpnis, i.e. Columnis (House of Fame, 1469). Chaucer's obligations to this author have been insufficiently explored.
When, in 1889, in printing the Legend of Good Women with an accuracy never before attempted, I restored the MS. reading _Guido_ for the _Ouyde_ of all previous editions in l. 1396, a clue was thus obtained to a new source for some of Chaucer's work. It was thus made clear that the Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea was primarily derived from this source; and further, that it was from Guido that Chaucer derived his use of _Ilioun_ to mean the citadel of Troy (Leg. of Good Women, 936, and note). In the Nonne Prestes Tale, B 4331, as was pointed out by Tyrwhitt long ago, the dream of Andromache is taken from Guido. And I find in Lounsbury's Studies in Chaucer, ii. 315, the significant but insufficient remark, that 'it was in Guido da (_sic_) Colonna's work that Chaucer found the martial deeds of Troilus recounted in full, the slaughter he wrought, and the terror he inspired.' Hence we naturally come to the question, what incidents in Troilus are expressly due to Guido?
§ 10. Before answering this question, it will be best to consider the famous _crux_, as to the meaning of the word _Trophee_.
When Lydgate is speaking of his master's Troilus, viz. in his Prologue to the Falls of Princes, st. 3, he says that Chaucer
'made a translacion Of a boke which called is _Trophe_ In Lumbarde tong,' &c.
No book or author is now known by that name; and, as Chaucer was in this case much indebted to Boccaccio, critics have jumped to the conclusion that _Trophee_ means either Boccaccio or the Filostrato; and this conclusion has been supported by arguments so hopeless as to need no repetition. But it is most likely that Lydgate, who does not seem to have known any Italian[50], spoke somewhat casually; and, as Chaucer was to some extent indebted to Guido, he may possibly have meant Guido.
So far, I have merely stated a supposition which is, in itself, possible; but I shall now adduce what I believe to be reasonable and solid proof of it.
We have yet another mention of _Trophee_, viz. in Chaucer himself! In the Monkes Tale, B 3307, he says of Hercules--
'At bothe the worldes endes, _seith Trophee_, In stede of boundes, he a piler sette.'
Whence, we may ask, is this taken? My answer is, _from Guido_.
§ 11. If we examine the sources of the story of Hercules in the Monkes Tale, we see that all the supposed facts _except_ the one mentioned in the two lines above quoted are taken from Boethius and Ovid (see the Notes). Now the next most obvious source of information was Guido's work, since the very first Book has a good deal about Hercules, and the Legend of Hypsipyle clearly shews us that Chaucer was aware of this. And, although neither Ovid (in Met. ix.) nor Boethius has any allusion to the Pillars of Hercules, they are expressly mentioned by Guido. In the English translation called the Gest Historiale of the Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson (which I call, for brevity, the alliterative Troy-book), l. 308, we read:--
'But the wonders that he wroght in this world here In yche cuntré ben knowen under Criste evyn. Tow pyllers he pight in a place lowe Vppon Gades groundes, that he gotton had.'
And again, further on, the Latin text has:--'Locus ille, in quo predicte _Herculis columpne_ sunt affixe, dicitur Saracenica lingua Saphy.' To which is added, that Alexander afterwards came to the same spot.
When Lydgate, in translating Guido, comes to this passage, he says:--
'And of the pyllers that at Gades he set, Which Alexsaundre, of Macedone the kyng, That was so worthy here in his lyuynge, Rood in his conquest, as _Guydo_ list to write, With all his hoost proudely to visyte ... And these boundes named be of all Of Hercules, for he hymselfe theim set As for his markes, all other for to lette Ferther to passe, as _Guydo_ maketh mynde'; &c. Siege of Troye, ed. 1555, fol. B6.
We can now easily see that, when Lydgate speaks of the book 'which called is Trophe in Lumbarde tong,' he is simply copying the name of the book from Chaucer, though he seems also to have heard some rumour of its being so called in Italy.
§ 12. _Why_ this particular book was so called, we have no means of knowing[51]; but this does not invalidate the fact here pointed out. Of course the Latin side-note in some of the MSS. of the Monkes Tale, which explains 'Trophee' as referring to 'ille vates Chaldeorum Tropheus,' must be due to some mistake, even if it emanated (as is possible) from Chaucer himself. It is probable that, when the former part of the Monkes Tale was written, Chaucer did not know much about Guido's work; for the account of Hercules occurs in the very first chapter. Perhaps he confused the name of Tropheus with that of Trogus, i.e. Pompeius Trogus the historian, whose work is one of the authorities for the history of the Assyrian monarchy.
§ 13. It remains for me to point out some of the passages in Troilus which are clearly due to Guido, and are not found in Boccaccio at all.
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