Four Arthurian Romances
men-at-arms, until no city or burg, town or castle, however strong or
however high, will be able to withstand their assault. Then Cligés did
not forget to thank the King for the aid he offered him. The King sends
out to seek and summon all the high barons of the land, and causes to be
requisitioned and equipped ships, war vessels, boats, and barks. He has
a hundred ships loaded and filled with shields, lances, bucklers, and
armour fit for knights. The King makes such great preparations for
the war that never did Caesar or Alexander make the like. He orders to
assemble at his summons all England, and all Flanders, Normandy, France,
and Brittany, and all the men as far as the Pyrenees. [243] Already they
were about to set sail, when messengers arrived from Greece who delayed
the embarkation and kept the King and his people back. Among the
messengers who came was John, that trusty man, for he would never be a
witness or messenger of any news which was not true, and which he did
not know for a certainty. The messengers were high born men of Greece,
who came in search for Cligés. They made inquiry and asked for him,
until they found him at the King's court, when they said to him: "God
save you, sire! Greece is made over to you, and Constantinople is given
to you by all those of your empire, because of the right you have to
them. Your uncle (but you know it not) is dead of the grief he felt
because he could not discover you. His grief was such that he lost
his mind; he would neither drink nor eat, but died like a man beside
himself. Fair sire, now come back again! For all your lords have sent
for you. Greatly they desire and long for you, wishing to make you their
emperor." Some there were that rejoiced at this; and others there were
who would have gladly seen their guests elsewhere, and the fleet make
sail for Greece. But the expedition is given up, and the King dismisses
his men, and the hosts depart to their homes again. And Cligés hurriedly
makes haste in his desire to return to Greece. He has no wish to tarry.
His preparations made, he took his leave of the King, and then of all
his friends, and taking Fenice with him, he goes away. They travel until
they arrive in Greece, where they receive him with the jubilation
which they ought to show to their rightful lord, and they give him
his sweetheart to be his wife. Both of them are crowned at once. His
mistress he has made his wife, but he still calls her his mistress and
sweetheart, and she can complain of no loss of affection, for he loves
her still as his mistress, and she loves him, too, as a lady ought to
love her lover. And each day saw their love grow stronger: he never
doubted her, nor did she blame him for anything. She was never kept
confined, as so many women have been who have lived since her time. For
never since has there been an emperor who did not stand in fear of his
wife, lest he should be deceived by her, upon his hearing the story of
how Fenice deceived Alis, first with the potion which he drank, and then
later by that other ruse. Therefore, every empress, however rich and
noble she may be, is guarded in Constantinople as in a prison, for the
emperor has no confidence in her when he remembers the story of Fenice.
He keeps her constantly guarded in her room, nor is there ever allowed
any man in her presence, unless he be a eunuch from his youth; in the
case of such there is no fear or doubt that Love will ensnare them in
his bonds. Here ends the work of Chrétien. [244]
----Endnotes: Cligés
Endnotes supplied by Prof. Foerster are indicated by "(F.)"; all other
endnotes are supplied by W.W. Comfort.
[Footnote 21: There is no English version corresponding to the old
French "Cligés". The English metrical romance "Sir Cleges" has nothing
to do with the French romance.]
[Footnote 22: Ovid in "Metamorphosis", vi. 404, relates how Tantalus at
a feast to the gods offered them the shoulder of his own son. It is not
certain, however, that Chrétien is referring here to this slight episode
of the "Metamorphosis".]
[Footnote 23: This allusion is generally taken as evidence that the poet
had written previously of the love of Tristan and Iseut. Gaston Paris,
however, in one of his last utterances ("Journal des Savants", 1902,
p. 297), says: "Je n'hesite pas a dire que l'existence d'un poeme sur
Tristan par Chrétien de Troies, a laquelle j'ai cru comme presque tout
le monde, me parait aujourd'hui fort peu probable; j'en vais donner les
raisons."]
[Footnote 24: The story of Philomela or Philomena, familiar in Chaucer's
"Legende of Good Women", is told by Ovid in "Metamorphosis", vi.
426-674. Cretiens li Gois is cited by the author of the "Ovide moralise"
as the author of the episode of Philomena incorporated in his long
didactic poem. This episode has been ascribed to Chrétien de Troyes by
many recent critics, and has been separately edited by C. de Boer, who
offers in his Introduction a lengthy discussion of its authorship. See
C. de Boer, "Philomena, conte raconte d'apres Ovide par Chrétien de
Troyes" (Paris, 1909).]
[Footnote 25: The present cathedral of Beauvais is dedicated to St.
Peter, and its construction was begun in 1227. The earlier structure
here referred to, destroyed in 1118, probably was also dedicated to the
same saint. (F.)]
[Footnote 26: The real kernal of the Cligés story, stripped of its
lengthy introduction concerning Alexandre and Soredamors, is told in a
few lines in "Marques de Rome", p. 135 (ed. J. Alton in "Lit. Verein in
Stuttgart", No. 187, Tubingen, 1889), as one of the tales or "exempla"
recounted by the Empress of Rome to the Emperor and the Seven Sages. No
names are given except that of Cligés himself; the version owes nothing
to Chrétien's poem, and seems to rest upon a story which the author may
have heard orally. See Foerster's "Einleitung to Cligés" (1910), p. 32
f.]
[Footnote 27: This criticism of ignoble leisure on the part of a warrior
is found also in "Erec et Enide" and "Yvain".]
[Footnote 28: This allegorical tribute to "largesse" is quite in the
spirit of the age. When professional poets lived upon the bounty of
their patrons, it is not strange that their poetry should dwell upon the
importance of generosity in their heroes. For an exhaustive collection
of "chastisements" or "enseignements", such as that here given to
Alexandre by his father, see Eugen Altner, "Ueber die chastiements in
den altfranzosischen chansons de geste" (Leipzig, 1885).]
[Footnote 29: As Miss Weston has remarked ("The Three Days' Tournament",
p. 45), the peculiar georgraphy of this poem "is distinctly Anglo-Norman
rather than Arthurian".]
[Footnote 210: For this intimate relation between heroes, so common
in the old French heroic and romantic poems, see Jacques Flach, "Le
compagnonnage dans les chansons de geste" in "Etudes romances dediees a
Gaston Paris" (Paris, 1891). Reviewed in "Romania", xxii. 145.]
[Footnote 211: Here begins one of those long dialogues, where one person
is represented as taking both sides of an argument. This rhetorical
device, so wearisome to modern readers, is used by Chrétien preferably
when some sentiment or deep emotion is to be portrayed. Ovid may well
have suggested the device, but Ovid never abuses it as does the more
prolix mediaeval poet. For the part playing by the eyes in mediaeval
love sophistry, see J.F. Hanford, "The Debate of Heart and Eye" in
"Modern Language Notes", xxvi. 161-165; and H.R. Lang, "The Eyes as
Generators of Love." id. xxiii. 126-127.]
[Footnote 212: For play upon words and for fanciful derivation of proper
names in mediaeval romance literature, see the interesting article
of Adolf Tobler in "Vermischte Beitrage", ii. 211-266. Gaston Paris
("Journal des Savants", 1902, p. 354) points out that Thomas used the
same scene and the play upon the same words "mer", "amer", and "amers"
in his "Tristan" and was later imitated by Gottfried von Strassburg.]
[Footnote 213: According to the 12th century troubadours, the shafts of
Love entered the victim's body through the eyes, and thence pierced the
heart.]
[Footnote 214: For fanciful derivation of proper names, cf. A. Tobler,
"Vermischte Beitrage", ii. 211-266.]
[Footnote 215: Ganelon, the traitor in the "Chanson de Roland", to
whose charge is laid the defeat of Charlemagne's rear-guard at Ronceval,
became the arch-traitor of mediaeval literature. It will be recalled
that Dante places him in the lowest pit of Hell ("Inferno", xxxii. 122).
(NOTE: There is a slight time discrepance here. Roland, Ganelon, and the
Battle of Ronceval were said to have happened in 8th Century A.D., fully
300 years after Arthur and the Round Table.--DBK).]
[Footnote 216: For the ceremonies attendant upon the conferring of
knighthood, see Karl Treis, "Die Formalitaten des Ritterschlags in der
altfranzosischen Epik" (Berlin, 1887).]
[Footnote 217: The "quintainne" was "a manikin mounted on a pivot and
armed with a club in such a way that, when a man struck it unskilfully
with his lance, it turned and landed a blow upon his back" (Larousse).]
[Footnote 218: This conventional attitude of one engaged in thought or
a prey to sadness has been referred to by G.L. Hamilton in "Ztsch fur
romanische Philologie", xxxiv. 571-572.]
[Footnote 219: Many traitors in old French literature suffered the same
punishments as Ganelon, and were drawn asunder by horses ("Roland",
3960-74).]
[Footnote 220: The same rare words "galerne" and "posterne" occur in
rhyme in the "Roman de Thebes", 1471-72.]
[Footnote 221: This qualified praise is often used in speaking of
traitors and of Saracens.]
[Footnote 222: The failure to identify the warriors is due to the fact
that the knights are totally encased in armour.]
[Footnote 223: A reference to the "Roman de Thebes", 1160 circ.]
[Footnote 224: The disregard of Alis for his nephew Cligés is similar to
that of King Mark for Tristan in another legend. In the latter, however,
Tristan joins with the other courtiers in advising his uncle to marry,
though he himself had been chosen heir to the throne by Mark. cf. J.
Bedier, "Le Roman de Tristan", 2 vols. (Paris, 1902), i. 63 f.]
[Footnote 225: See Endnote #14 above.]
[Footnote 226: Cf. Shakespeare, "Othello", ii. I, where Cassio, speaking
of Othello's marriage with Desdemona, says: "he hath achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame; One that excels the quirks of
blazoning pens, And in the essential vesture of creation Does tire the
enginer."]
[Footnote 227: Ovid ("Metamorphosis", iii. 339-510) is Chrétien's
authority.]
[Footnote 228: Cf. L. Sudre, "Les allusions a la legende de Tristan dans
la litterature du moyen age", "Romania", xv. 435 f. Tristan was famed as
a hunter, fencer, wrestler, and harpist.]
[Footnote 229: "The word 'Thessala' was a common one in Latin, as
meaning 'enchantress', 'sorceress', 'witch', as Pliny himself tells
us, adding that the art of enchantment was not, however, indigenous to
Thessaly, but came originally from Persia." ("Natural History", xxx.
2).--D.B. Easter, "Magic Elements in the romans d'aventure and the
romans bretons, p. 7. (Baltimore, 1906). A Jeanroy in "Romania", xxxiii.
420 note, says: "Quant au nom de Thessala, il doit venir de Lucain, tres
lu dans les ecoles au XIIe siecle." See also G. Paris in "Journal des
Savants", 1902, p. 441 note. Thessala is mentioned in the "Roman de la
Violetta", v. 514, in company with Brangien of the Tristan legend.]
[Footnote 230: Medea, the wife of Jason, is the great sorceress of
classic legend.]
[Footnote 231: This personage was regarded in the Middle Ages as an
Emperor of Rome. In the 13th-century poem of "Octavian" (ed. Vollmuller,
Heilbronn, 1883) he is represented as a contemporary of King Dagobert!]