The Classical Origin and Tradition of Literary Conceits 9781463222390

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The Classical Origin and Tradition of Literary Conceits

A n a l e c t a Gorgiana

367 Series Editor George Anton Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and

short

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The Classical Origin and Tradition of Literary Conceits

M. B. Ogle

w

1 gorgias press 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

1

ISBN 978-1-60724-654-1

ISSN 1935-6854

Extract from The A^merican Journal of Philology 34 (1913)

Printed in the LTnited States of America

AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY VOL. X X X I V , 2.

WHOLE NO. 134.

I.—THE C L A S S I C A L ORIGIN AND T R A D I T I O N OF L I T E R A R Y CONCEITS. The most casual reader of English poetry of the Elizabethan period doubtless has been struck by the frequent appearance of catalogues of feminine charms, a simple example of which is furnished by the following sonnet of Thomas Watson, Hecatompathia 7 : " Hark you that list to heare what sainte I serve: / Her yellowe lockes exceede the beaten goulde ; /Her sparkeling eies in heav'n a place deserve; / H e r forehead high and faire of comely moulde ; /Her words are musicke all of silver sounde ; /Her wit so sharpe as like can scarse be found; /Each eyebrowe hanges like Iris in the skies; /Her eagles nose is straight of stately frame; /On either cheeke a rose and lillie lies; / H e r breathe is sweete perfume or hollie flame; / H e r lips more red than any corall stone ; / Her necke more white than aged swans yat mone; /Her breast transparent is like christall rocke ; /Her fingers long fit for Apolloes lute ; /Her slipper such as Momus dare not mocke; /Her vertues all so great as make me mute ; /What other partes she hath I neede not say, /Whose face alone is cause of my decay ". For similar catalogues cf. Constable, Diana, Son. 7, 1 ; Barnes, Odes Pastoral, Canz. 3 ; Lodge, Rosalynd, ed. Hazlitt, p. 69, Rosader's Description of Rosalynd, Phillis, Son. 2 2 ; Heywood, A Praise of His L a d y ; Gascoign, Dan Bartholemew of Bathe; Spenser, Amoretti, Son. 1 5 ; Epithalamion vs. 147 sq.; Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, Son. 9, and an atrocious example in Arcadia Bk. 2, the song beginning, " What tongue can her perfection tell " ?; in the drama, cf. Greene, Friar 9

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Bacon, i , i , 51 sq.; K y d , S o l i m a n and Perseda 4, 1 , 75 sq.; L y l y , Midas 4, 1. It is this habit of cataloguing beauty which Chapman rebukes in his first sonnet to " h i s Mistress P h i l o s o p h y " , beginning " Muses that sing Love's sensual empery " , etc., and of which Shakespeare makes fun in L . L . L . 4, 3, for example, where Biron s a y s : " W h e n shall you hear that I /Will praise a hand, a foot, a face, an eye, / A gait, a state, a brow, a breast, a waist, / A leg, a l i m b " ? Cf. Henry V , 3, 7, R . and J . 2, 1 , the Pyramus and Thisbe episode in M . N. D. 3, 1 and 5, 1, also Son. 106, 130, but even Shakespeare could not wholly escape, especially in his earlier poetry, the prevailing evil of his day ; note his description of Lucrece in T h e R a p e of Lucrece, St. 55 sq., and cf. Troil. and Cres. 1 , 1 . T h e type of beauty which is praised by these poets in their catalogues is, with hardly an exception, 1 a blonde, whose hair is golden, eyes sparkling bright, and grey in color, cheeks lily white and rosy red, red lips, white teeth, snow-white arms, and white hands, with long, slender fingers. I have called attention elsewhere 2 to the fact that this blonde beauty is not peculiar to the poets of the Elizabethan period, but is praised by all the English poets beginning with Chaucer; that the same type predominates, to the practical exclusion of her dark sister, in the love poetry and prose romances of Italy and France from the 12th century onward ; that, moreover, this reign of the blonde in modern literature is but a continuation of her reign in the literature of Greece and R o m e ; that all the Roman love-poets, and the later G r e e k writers of romance and erotic letters, give to the ladies whom they desire to praise the same golden or auburn hair, sparkling eyes, white skin, red lips, slender white hands, and that their models, the Greek Alexandrian poets, praise the same blonde t y p e ; that, finally, the Greek heroes and heroines, gods and goddesses, with one or two prominent exceptions, 3 are 1 Shakespeare's " dark lady " , Son. 127-32, may be mentioned ; I agree with L e e , L i f e of Shakespeare, p. 122,that she is a creature of his fancy. Sidney's Stella differs from the common type only in her black eyes ; this also may be conventional, as the black eye is common in Spanish, Italian, and classic poetry; cf. Montemayor, L a Diana, Parte Pr., L i b . 7 ; Ariosto, O. F . 7, 1 0 sq.; Catull. 43, 2, with E l l i s ' note. 2

Sewanee R e v i e w , Oct., 1 9 1 2 , pp. 459 sq. Zeus and Poseidon, for example ; this problem, which is anthropological rather than literary, I shall consider in a later article. 3

ORIGIN

AND

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OF LITERARY

CONCEITS.

127

described as blondes by Homer and the early poets, and continued to be so described by succeeding writers, in spite of the fact that the Greeks of the classical period had dark hair and dark eyes. I shall endeavor to show now that, just as the type of beauty which is praised by the modern literary lover is traditional, so the language in which he tries to do justice to the charms of his beloved is also traditional,—that modern writers have added scarcely a word to what we may call the ancient lover's vocabulary. It is not feasible, of course, even if it were useful, to collect all the examples of any given conceit, and I have chosen a few representative examples only. Nor have I tried, except in a few instances, to trace direct borrowing, for the effort, owing to the multiplicity of possible originals, is generally futile. T h e main course of tradition, however, is plain enough. T h e prime source was, I believe, the literature of the Greek Alexandrian age. From this drew the Roman Elegiac poets, the writers represented in the Greek Anthology, the professional rhetoricians and the writers of erotic letters and romance; and through them, and especially through the rhetorical schools, the stream passed on into the literature of the entire western world. No one could map out the general course of this tradition more clearly than does Chrétien de Troyes in his tale of Cligés, 31 sq.: Ce nos ont nostre livre apris/Que Grece ot de chevalerie/Le premier los et de clergie ; /Puis vint chevalerie a R o m e / E t de la clergie la some/Qui or est an France venue. Beginning with the Renaissance, however, Italian poetry was perhaps the main channel through which the traditional conceits were distributed, but, at the same time, the prime source, the literature of Greece and Rome, was also accessible, and it is often impossible to tell from which drew the French and English poets of the 15th and 16th centuries. In the present paper, which is one of several dealing with the whole subject of lovers' conceits, I shall consider some of the conceits employed by the literary lover to praise the beauty of his lady, and the sonnet of Watson, quoted above, may serve, for the sake of convenience, as the starting point. The first item in this catalogue is the lady's hair: " Her yellowe lockes exceede the beaten goulde." That this is the stock description of the yellow hair of all literary heroines beginning

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with classic poetry I have pointed out in the article referred to above. 1 T h e r e are, however, some interesting variations, one of the most c o m m o n of which occurs in Shakespeare's M. of V . , 3, 2,120. W h e n Bassanio finds in the casket the portrait of Portia he exclaims, " H e r e in her h a i r s / T h e painter plays the spider, and hath w o v e n / A g o l d e n net to entrap the hearts of m e n / F a s t e r than gnats in c o b w e b s " 2 . F o r e x a m p l e s of this conceit in the writings of Shakespeare's predecessors, cf. Daniel, Delia 1 4 : " T h o s e snary locks are those same nets, my d e a r , / W h e r e w i t h my liberty thou dids't s u r p r i s e " ; Constable, Diana 4, 2 : " S o many hearts bound in thy hairs as t h r a l l " ; Spenser, A m . 7 3 : " M y hart, (whom none with servile bands can t y e , / B u t the faire tresses of y o u r g o l d e n h a y r e ) " ; ib. 37 : " W h a t g u y l e is this, that those her g o l d e n tresses/She doth attyre under a net of g o l d ; / A n d with sly skill s o cunningly them dresses,/That which is g o l d , or heare, m a y scarse be told ? / I s it that men's frayle eyes, which g a z e too b o l d , / S h e may entangle in that g o l d e n snare " ? ; imitated by Constable, Diana 2 , 8 ; S i d n e y , S o n g to the T u n e of a Neapolitan Villanelle : " A l l m y sense thy sweetness g a i n e d , / T h y fair hair m y heart enchained " . F o r this figure in F r e n c h poetry we m a y c o m p a r e Desportes, D i a n e 2, 41 : chev e u x — m o n cœur, plus que mon bras, est par vous enchaisné ; ib. i , 31 ; A m . d ' H i p p . 85 ; D i v e r s e s A m o u r s : A Mademoiselle de la C h a s t a i g n e r a y e ; Baïf, A m o u r s de Francine 3 (Poésies Choisies, ed. B e c q de Fouquières p. 1 5 9 ) : Q u a n d ces cheveux j e v o y , dont A m o u r m ' a p r e s t a / L e bien heureux filét où pris il m'arresta; Jodelle, L e s A m o u r s , S o n . 9. F r o m Italian poetry it will suffice 1 A l l of S h a k e s p e a r e ' s heroines w h o are explicitly described, e x c e p t R o s a l i n e in L . L . L . , h a v e g o l d e n or auburn hair, as have the heroines of the other dramatists of his age ; the same g o l d e n - h a i r e d beauty is praised by the E n g l i s h , F r e n c h , and I t a l i a n sonneteers ; she appears in the poetry of H a w e s , L y d g a t e , C h a u c e r , Froissart, L o r r i s , C h r e t i e n and other old F r e n c h poets, in that of Ariosto, B o c c a c c i o , and earlier poets, such as J a c o p o da L e n t i n o , G u i n i c e l l i ; that the same type w a s common in Spanish literature is s h o w n by the ridicule m a d e of it in D o n Quixote, cf. Pt. I, ch. 28, Pt. I I , ch. 58. F o r the ideal of b e a u t y in old F r e n c h poetry, cf. V o i g t , D a s I d e a l der S c h ö n h e i t u. H ä s s l i c h k e i t in den a l t f r a n z ö s i s c h e n chansons de geste, Diss. M a r b u r g , 1891 ; L o u b i e r , D a s I d e a l der m ä n n l i c h e n Schönheit b e i den altfranz D i c h t e r n des X I I . u. X I I I . Jahrh. D i s s . H a l l e , 1890. 2 T h e s e last words seem to be a r e m i n i s c e n c e of " good old M a n t u a n " , E e l . I, 4 2 : me mea G a l l a suo sic c i r c u m v e n e r a t ore/ut captam pedicis circumdat aranea muscam.

ORIGIN

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CONCEITS.

129

to cite T a s s o I, S o n . 8 : o n d e g g i a v a n o sparsi i bei crin d'oro / O n d ' A m o r mille e mille lacci ordiva ; id. S o n . 49, 252 ; Ariosto, M a d r i g a l e 1 : le chiome b i o n d e / D i che più volte hai la tua rete intesta ; Son. 25 : l'aureo crine, onde A m o r fece q u e l l a / R e t e , etc.; cf. Son. 9; Petrarch I, Son. 2 1 5 : O chiome bionde, di che '1 cor m ' a n n o d a / A m o r , e cosi preso il mena a morte ; id. Canz. 14, Son. 164. This conceit does not appear, as far as I have discovered, in exactly this form in ancient literature, but the idea is evidently due to it. B o t h G r e e k and Latin poets often write of L o v e ( A p h r o d i t e , V e n u s , E r o s , A m o r , Cupido) as a hunter who ensnares lovers in a net, 1 and G r e e k poets sometimes describe the e y e s of their beloved, not the hair, as the net in which their g a z e or their heart is held captive. T h e origin of this idea is to be found, I think, in a fragment of Ibycus, F r . 2 ( B e r g k 3, p. 2 3 6 ) : V.ficos . . . fie KvavtoKTtv virò ¡3\€apots TaKep' ofifiaat èfpKopevos . . • BiKTva KvrrpiSós < / i f > jSciXXet. T h e next step, however, the identification of the e y e with the net, seems to have been due to A l e x a n d r i a n p o e t r y ; cf. Dioscorides, A . P. 5, 56: yXrji'iiL XatTLaitrtv vir opv rrjs àXXijXtoi/ àwikavov àyXaiat, cf. ib. 1 , 7 ! O v . A m . 2, 16, 44 : p e r q u e oculos, sidera nostra, tuos ; ib. 3 , 3 , 9 ; M . 1, 4 9 9 ; 3, 420; Petron. 126 w h e r e the b e a u t y has oculi clariores stellis extra lunam fulgentibus ; Mart. 4, 42, of his ideal s l a v e - b o y : lumina sideribus c e r t e n t ; Stat. Silv. 2, 1, 41 : O ubi p u r p u r e o suffusus sanguine c a n d o r / s i d e r e i q u e orbes, r a d i a t a q u e lumina c a e l o / E t castigatae collecta modestia frontis. In later L a t i n p o e t r y the conceit is v e r y c o m m o n ; 2 cf. A r b o r i u s , ad N y m p h a m 3 3 : c u m radiis certare Iovis tua lumina p o s s e n t , / E t possent radiis vincere s i g n a Iovis ; Incerti ad L y d i a m 9 : p a n d e puella stellatos o c u l o s ; it occurs in C a r m . B u r . 40, 141, 6 ; in H i l d e b e r t o f T o u r s ( M i g n e 1 7 1 , col. 1309) Passio S . A g n e t i s ; in A n s e l m , ed. D i i m m l e r , V e r s . E p o r e d i e n s i s I, 17, 259. Interesti n g parallels to the p a s s a g e cited a b o v e from R o m e o and Juliet are Philostr. E p . IO ' N77IDÙ)l' 8 ES ovpavov TOV pcv RJ\LOI> rjyovpat KtiTLfi'iu Ka\ (tiirta TTOV ¡3aëi.Ç(iv, àvr' eiceivov St Tos/7rai8ôe

àrr' o(f>ôa\)j.â>v, a ! Sè nap' r)e\iov.

i b . 1 2 , 1 9 6 : ¿(f)dahp.ovs tTTrivSrjpas c x f l f • • • aurpairreis

¿¡ipaaiv.

StratO, Cf. A .

P.

5, n i , 2 5 1 , 1 2 , 72, Philostr. Jun. I m a g . 9, 1 ; Callistr. D e s c r . 3 , 3 ; H i m e r . O r . i, 19 ; o f t h e L a t i n p o e t s it will suffice t o cite O v . A r s A m . 1, 573 ; 2, 721 ; S t a t . S i l v . 2, 6, 54 s q . T h e conceit is s i m p l y a n ' M o s c h u s , 1, 7, a p o e m w h i c h B a ï f is t r a n s l a t i n g , s a y s s i m p l y : à/i/iara â' avrCi/dfiifivla. 2

nal (¡lAoyôtvra.

C f . t h e p o e m in W e r n s d o r f , P L M . 3, 1 9 7 : h u e i l l u c

flectat

ocellos,/hinc

i l l i n c v i d e a s e u r r e r e m i l l e f a c e s ; t h e p o e m , w h i c h is a s c r i b e d to G a l l u s , is l a t e ; cf. Teufifel, G e s c h i c h . d. R o m . L i t e r a t u r (6th ed.) 2, p. 5 1 .

W e may note,

a l s o , C a r m . B u r . 132, 3 : l a m p a s o c u l o r u m / c o n c e r t a t c a r b u n c u l o .

ORIGIN

AND

TRADITION

OF LITERARY

CONCEITS.

135

e x t e n s i o n of a v e r y n a t u r a l m e t a p h o r ; cf. s u c h p a s s a g e s as S o p h . T r a c h . 379 of I o l e : ? K(ipra \afi7rpa v/iptpos eiXeKTpov/vvpcjias- E u r i p . Hec. 442 s a y s of Helen : Sia Ka\S>v yap opparmv/ . . . Tpoiav fiXe, a n d I. A . 583 of Paris ,6c rat 'HXivas/iv avTamoisft\e i n < q u o t e d above, p. 142, and Anacreont. fr. 26 A ( B e r g k 3, p. 3*2) • ov\ tirnos ai\fcrtv jiç/ov neÇos ov)(1 vrjçs/arparòs ôè naivòs 1

cf.

In

Son.

94,

Sylvester's

Barnes

tr. o f

Du

describes Bartas,

styled " t h e s e Cupid's quivers". p.

97) m a k e s A m o u r

a b o v e , p. 1 3 3 : refera.

say,

enfant, . . .

mon va

his l a d y ' s op.

cit.

eye

523

as " L o v e ' s

sq„

where

the

Quiver"; eyes

are

B a ï f , A m . de M e l i n e (ed. de F o u q u i è r e s , carcois

ses yeux,

vers m a d a m e / Q u i

S o L i b a n . D e s c r . P u l c h r . p. 1070, 29, uses

and

cf. S c è v e ,

de s e s y e u x tes ^TMOT/IO] in

cited fléchés

connection

w i t h the g i r l ' s e y e s . 2

T h i s c o n c e i t d o e s n o t o c c u r in the L a t i n p o e m , I n c e r t i a d L y d i a m

(in

W e r n s d o r f , P . L . M . 3, p. 398), o f w h i c h this p o e m of B a ï f is an i m i t a t i o n ; cf. I n g r a h a m , o p . c i t . p . 22.

ORIGIN

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TRADITION

OF

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CONCEITS.

145

â\\os/àn' ònnàrav ¡x€ fìakXav.1 W e m a y compare, also, Strato, A . P. 12, 181, w h o p l a c e s " f i v e times ten g r a c e s " on his l a d y ' s face and arms them all with the bow ; so in Liban. 1. c. p. 1069 and Himer. O r . 1, 19 E r o s shoots his arrows from the maiden's eyes. H e r e again these rhetoricians seem to h a v e drawn from classic p o e t r y , for a fragment of S o p h o c l e s runs (fr. 162 N . ) ¿¡ifxaTav âîro/\6y%as lr))c ÎKépXtvKov airS>v Ka\ irlova xpolàv

Tà 7ropcf>vpovv avôoç

¿7rt(f)Oiut^7j' c f . A c h i l . T a t .

I, 4 J

Quint. S m y r . 14, 47, uses the same word to describe the blush which rises on Helen's cheek, and Rufinus, A . P. 5, 48 (the only example I have noted in the A n t h o l o g y ) thus describes his lady's mouth : arropa 7rop(pvpéijr repTrvÔTtpov koKVKOr. In Latin poetry, on the other hand, from the classical period to the Middle A g e s , the kindred word purpureus 2 is very often used to describe the redness of cheeks and lips. With the line from Simonides, cf. Catul. 45, 1 2 : illo purpureo ore s a v i a t a ; 3 with Bion, 1. c. cf. Stat. Achil. 1 , 1 6 1 , of Achilles : dulcis adhuc visu, niveo natat ignis in 1 A p . Athen. 603 E ; cf. Plut. Mor. 760 D , both cited by J e b b in his note on Soph. A n t . 782. 2 F o r the use of this word in the L a t i n elegiac poets, cf. Pichon, op. cit. s. v. purpureus. Aphrodite is called 7ropvpf/ by A n a c r . fr. 2 (Bergk 3, p. 253) and A m o r purpureus by Ov. A m . 2, 1 , 38, 9, 34 ; cf. R e m . A m . 7 0 1 . 3 Catullus is imitated by J o a n n e s Secundus, Basium 2, 1 1 : tunc me nec Cereris nec amici cura L y a e i / . . . tuo de purpureo divelleret ore ; cf. B a s .

1 8 , 7.

ORIGIN

AND

TRADITION

OF LITERARY

CONCEITS.

147

o r e / p u r p u r e u s ; with the f r a g m e n t of P h r y n i c h u s , cf. V e r g . A e n . 1, 5 9 0 : l u m e n q u e i u v e n t a e p u r p u r e u m ; cf., further, H o r . O . 3, 3, 12, imitated b y M a r t . 8, 65, 4 ; O v . A m . 3, 14, 2 3 ; S t a t . S i l v . 2, 1 , 4 1 ; T h e b . 1 , 5 3 7 ; 2, 231 ; 7, 148 ; C l a u d , d e R a p t . P r o s . 1, 270; A p u l . (?) A n t h . L a t . 1, 2, 7 1 2 ; A u s o n . P a r e n t . 23, 19 ; A n t h . L a t . I, 217 ; A r b o r i u s , ad N y m p h a m 9 0 ; Incerti ad L y d i a m 1 2 ; a n d , finally, in the A r s V e r s , of M a t h i e u d e V e n d ô m e , p. 26, 19, w e m e e t a g a i n the familiar p h r a s i n g , N o n h o s p e s colit o r a color, ne p u r p u r a v u l t u s / l a n g u e s c a t n i v e o d i s p u t â t ore r u b o r . T h e u s e o f c o g n a t e w o r d s in m o d e r n l a n g u a g e s to d e s c r i b e the r e d n e s s of c h e e k s a n d lips s e e m s t o b e d u e to direct translation from the G r e e k or L a t i n , p r i n c i p a l l y the latter. T h u s A r i o s t o , S o n . 1 4 : le o d o r a t e r o s e / D e l l e p u r p u r e e l a b b r a ; V o l t a i r e , Z a d i g 1 3 : S e s j o u e s animées d e la plus b e l l e p o u r p r e ; Barnes, M a d r . 18 : " M y p r i c e l e s s r o s e b u d veils his p u r p l e l e a v e s " ; id. S o n . 45 ; (cf. N e m e s i a n . E e l . 2, 48, p u r p u r e a e q u e r o s a e ) ; cf., also, the f a m o u s line o f G r a y , P r o g r e s s of P o e s y 1, 3, 16 : O ' e r her w a r m c h e e k a n d rising b o s o m m o v e / T h e b l o o m o f y o u n g d e s i r e and purple l i g h t 1 of love ". T h e favorite conceit e m p l o y e d to d e s c r i b e this r e d and w h i t e c o m p l e x i o n w h i c h is c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the l i t e r a r y b e a u t y is that e m p l o y e d b y W a t s o n in his c a t a l o g u e : " O n either c h e e k a R o s e a n d L i l l i e lies " ; C a m p i o n ( A y r e s , 4, 7 ) : " T h e r e is a g a r d e n in h e r f a c e , / W h e r e roses and w h i t e lillies g r o w " ; S h a k e s p e a r e , T w o G e n t . 4, 4 : " T h e air hath s t a r v e d t h e roses in h e r c h e e k s , / A n d p i n c h ' d t h e lily tincture of h e r f a c e " ; cf. id. M . N . D . 1, 1, 1 2 9 ; L . L . L . 5, 2 ; M . for M . 1, 4 ; R a p e of L u c r e c e S t . 1 1 : " T h i s silent w a r of lilies a n d of r o s e s . . . in h e r fair f a c e ' s field", with w h i c h cf. K y d , S o l i m a n a n d P e r s . 4, 1, 8 2 : " C h e e k s w h e r e t h e rose a n d lily a r e in c o m b a t " ; P a s s i o n a t e P i l g r i m V I I : " A l i l y p a l e with d a m a s k d y e to g r a c e h e r " ; B a r n e s , O d . 10 : " In h e r clear c h e e k s s h e c l o s e s / S w e e t d a m a s k roses ! /'In h e r n e c k w h i t e lilies " : id. S o n . 26 ; 4 5 - 6 ; E l e g . 1 ; O d . 5, 16 ; G r e e n e , J a m e s I V , 4, 2 : " F a i r as t h e lilies, red as r o s e s " ; id. D o r o n ' s D e s c r i p t i o n o f S a m e l a : " H e r c h e e k s l i k e rose a n d lily y i e l d forth g l e a m s " ; G a s c o i g n , 1 C f . V e r g . A e n . 1, 590, quoted a b o v e ; the expression o c c u r s in Sil. I t a l . 7, 195, of B a c c h u s : i n d e nitentem l u m i n e purpureo frontem cinxere cor y m b i ; cf Mart. C a p . 2, 1 1 4 ; in an inscription in B u e c h e l e r - R i e s e , C a r m . E p . 1431, it is said of a b o y , purpureusque nitor, quam brevis, evanuit.

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Dan Bartholemew : " U p o n her cheeks the lily and the rose/ Did entremeete with equal change of h e w e " ; Skelton, Garland of Laurel 883 : " T h e enbuddid blossoms of roses red of h e w / With lilyes whyte your beautie dothe r e n e w e " ; L y d g a t e , T r o y Book 2, 3668, description of Helen : " evene ennwed with quiknes of colour/Of the rose and the lyllie flour"; ib. 4, 5 8 4 ; 1 , i 9 6 0 ; Temple of Glas 2 7 6 ; Chaucer, K n . Tale 1 7 7 : E m e l y e is fairer " than is the lilie upon his stalke grene : . . . with the rose colour stroof hir h e w e " ; id. Phis. T a l e 32 ; in French poetry, cf. Desportes, Diane i , 31 : Que les lys blanchissans de son sein me plaisoient ! /Que de fleurs, . . . que de roses vermeilles ; ib. Cleonice 1 3 ; Baïf, Eel. (B. de Fouquières, p. 2 1 2 ) : Marion, ma douceur, plus fraîche que la rose/Plus blanche que du lis la fleur de frais éclose ; Guil. de Machault, Rondeau (Crepet 1, p. 324) : Blanche com lys, plus que rose vermeille ; Arnaut von Marueil (Mahn, W e r k e d. Troubadours 1, p. 1 5 3 ) ; e '1 vostre fron pus blanc que lis . . . la fassa fresca de colors/Blanca, vermelha pus q u e f l o r s ; 1 Chrétien, Cligés 817 : cler vis/Ou la rose cuevre le lis ; cf. E r e c et Enid. 421 sq. It will be noticed that the English and French sonneteers furnish few examples of the combination of the lily and the rose to describe the red and white complexion of their beloved, although the comparison of the complexion to the rose is common enough. This may be due to the fact that the combination occurs very rarely in the Italian sonneteers ; I have noticed no examples either in Medici or in Petrarch, and in the poets of the 13th cen. only Guido Guinicelli, Poeti, 1 , p. i n : Io vo' del ver la mia donna l o d a r e , / E rassembrarla alla rosa ed al giglio ; cf. Dante da Maiano, Poeti, 2, p. 457 : R o s a e giglio e fiore aloroso/Perchè ancidete lo vostro servente ? Nor is it common elsewhere ; we may note Boccaccio, II Teseide 12, 5 8 : L e guance . . . eran dilicate e graziose,/Bianche e vermiglie, non d'altra mistura/Che in tra gigli le vermiglie rose ; Boiardo, Ori. Innam. I, 1, 2 1 ; Donzella . . . la qual sembrava mattutina s t e l l a / E giglio d ' o r o 2 e rosa di verziere ; it occurs in a poem of • C f . Fierabras 2007: L a car . . . blance comme flours en e s t é , / L a face vermellete comme rose de pré; Raoul de Cambrai, 3661 : Blanche char ot comme flors espanie,/Face vermeille con rosecoulorie; R o m a n d e Berte 789: Vermeille ert comme rose, blanche com flours de lis. Other flowers are also mentioned in old French poetry; cf. Voigt, op. cit. pp. 3 2 - 3 . 2 Panizzi, in his edition of Boiardo, reads giglio d'orto.

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the 15th cen., Jesus Maria, printed by Ancona, Poesia Populare Ital. p. 442 : O giglio fra le rose . . . tu se' più bella che non fu Elena. In Ariosto, O. F . 7, 1 1 , in the description of Alcina, ligustri are substituted for gigli ; Spargeasi per la guancia delicata/Misto color di rosa e di ligustri ; so in Tasso I, Son. 400: duo begli occhi illustri/E tra rose vermiglie e bei ligustri, and in Sannazaro, Arcad. Ecl. 2 : Phillida mia più che i ligustri bianca,/ Più vermiglia che '1 prato a mezzo Aprile. This comparison is taken directly from Ovid ; cf. Met. 1 3 , 789 : candidior folio nivei, Galatea, ligustri/FIoridior pratis, (i. e. of roses; cf. Aristaen. E p . 1 , 1 0 ; Mus. 60). Ovid, A m , 2, 5, 34, also gives us an example of lilia combined with rosae : conscia purpureus venit in ora pudor,/ . . . Quale rosae fulgent inter sua lilia mixtae, (cf. Greene, quoted above). T h e combination is rare in ancient literature ; I have noticed no examples in early Greek, although the skin is spoken of as " lily-white " , xc° a heipioevra, as far back as Homer, II, 13, 830. Vergil makes use of the comparison in A e n . 12, 68: mixta rubent ubi lilia multa/alba rosa: talis virgo dabat ore colores; Nemesian. Ecl. 2, 47 ; at tu si venias et candida lilia fient/purpureaeque rosae; Claud. (?) Epithal. Laur. ( K o c h p. 302) 31 : pulchro formosa colore./Lilia ceu niteant rutilis cominixta rosetis,/Sic rubor et candor pingunt tibi florida vultus; Arborius, in his poem ad N y m p h a m 43 sq., makes use of both lilia and ligustra : alba ligustra tuae nequeunt accedere laudi,/ fixaque cespitibus lilia laude premis ; /nulla tuos possunt aequare rosaria vultus; Auson. Id. 7, on the picture of Bissula : ergo age, pictor,/puniceas confunde rosas et lilia misce. The combination turns up in the Carm. Bur. 40: certant nivi . . . pectus, mentum, colla, gene : / s e d ne candore nimio/evanescat in pallorem,/precastigat hunc candorem/rosam maritans lilio/prudentior Natura ; ib. 136, 3 : rosa rubicundior,/lilio candidior; so in later Greek p o e t r y ; cf. Nonn. 15, 224; L e o Magister, 5, 67 ( B e r g k 3, p. 362). Another combination employed to describe the complexion, which, in spite of its beauty, is not common, is that of roses and snow. 1 Thus. Ov. A m . 3, 3, 5 : candida candorem roseo suffusa rubore/ante fuit : niveo lucet in ore rubor; this seems to be an echo of Bion's description of Achilles, Id. 2, 1 8 : «al yàp 1

More usually the complexion is described simply as a mixture of red and snowy white ; cf. A . P. 5, 259 ; Stat. Silv. 1 , 2 , 2 0 ; Achil. 1 , 1 6 1 ; Sen. Med. 99 ; Claud, de Nupt. Hon. Aug. 265.

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MTOV Trjvaiç ÔR)\VV€TO KAI TOŒOV avôoç/)(tovéatç 7TÔp(f)vp€ napijiai \ cf. M u saeus 58 : tiKpa 5è xiovccov (¡>0iviVTCv