The Faerie Queene (126 page)

36 S
in pound: in a scale (Latin:
pondus,
‘weight
^,
).

37 1
Elfe: knight 37 8 surceast: stopped.

40 5
vade: fade, decay.

41–3
The stanzas are a tissue of Biblical paraphrase, beautifully stating the rebuttal to the Giant's claims'. Essentially the argument is that of the voice in the whirlwind, Job 37-9: all that we have is from the Lord, and therefore we must accept whatever he metes out to us.

41 1–2
cf. 1 Samuel 2.6-7: ‘The Lord killeth and maketh alive: bringeth down to the grave and raiseth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich: bringeth low, and exalteth.' See also Daniel 4.3a. 41 5 cf. Proverbs 8.15-16: ‘By me, Kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule and the nobles, and all the judges of the earth.'

41 7
cf. Psalm 75.7: ‘But God is the judge: he maketh low and he maketh high.
^.
See also 1 Samuel 2.6-7, quoted above, and Job 1.21.

42 5–43
a cf. 2 Esdras 4.2,5,10-11,13 ff:

Thine heart hath taken too much upon it in this world, and thou thinkest to comprehend the ways of the highest… Weigh me the weight of the fire, ormeasure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past.. . Thine own things, and such as are grown up with thee, canst thou not know: How should thy vessel then be able to comprehend the way of the Highest?… I came to a forest in the plain where the trees held a counsel, And said, Come, let us go fight against the sea, that it may give place to us, and that we may make us more woods. Likewise the floods of the sea took counsel and said, Come, let us go up and fight against the trees of the wood, that we may get another country for us. But the purpose of the wood was vain: for the fire came and consumed it. Likewise also the purpose of the floods of the sea; for the sand stood up and stopped them.

See also Romans 11.33.

43 2
cf. Job 28.25: ‘To make the weight of the winds, and to weigh the waters by measure.'

44 9
winged words: an allusion to II
.
1.201. 46 7 peise: weigh (French:
peser).

46 8
swat: sweated. chauf'd: chafed, grew angry.

47 4
wroken: avenged.

48–9
The Giant's aversion to the mean and predilection for extremes indicate his moral foolishness. Gough
(Var.,
p. 180) is pertinent:

This stanza and the following allude somewhat obscurely to the Aristotelian theory of virtue as a mean between two extremes, which are contrary vices. It follows from this theory that right and wrong (a virtue and a vice) are incommensurable. The same is the case with truth and falsehood. There are no degrees of truth… but there are infinite degrees of falsehood on both sides of truth. The problem is therefore to weigh one falsehood or one wrong against another, e.g., cowardice against fbolhardiness.

49 4
eeke: increase.

49 s
misleeke: dislike. The demagoguery of the Giant deceives the populace and, in fact, resembles the offence of Pollente: both figures are tyrannical, even though one pretends to be in favour of democracy.

51
Spenser's portrayal of the Giant and his effect on the common people is the typical sixteenth-century view of democracy. For Spenser the Giant's opinions are ‘unbalanced'. They are trying to realign conventional ideas in logically impossible ways.

52 4
t'embrew: to stain. 54 2 foreby: near.

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3

2 1
The story is told in IV. 12.25–35.

2 2
affide: engaged.

2 6
giusts: jousts.

3 2
deuicefull sights: the devices (masques and pageants) with which the guests were entertained at the marriage.

4 4
aguiz'd: dressed.

4 5
furnitures: equipment.

5 1
Orimont:
the exact meaning of the names of the six knights accompany- ing Marinell is unknown, but most critics assume that Spenser invented them for their sound value.

6 3
lust: wanted.

10–12
Compare Arthegall's rescue of Marinell with
OF
17.86-113.

10 3
Braggadochio:
see II-3.Arg.I and note. Braggadocchio won False

Florimell, the ‘snowy Dame', in III.8.11–13but surrendered her to Sir Ferraugh in III.8.18. Braggadocchio again is given False Florimell at Sir Satyrane's tournament in IV.5.25-7.

11 1
ouer hent: overtook. 11 9 fet: fetched, took.

13 5
false Ladie: the False Florimell (see III .8.5–9and note).

14 3
To greet his guerdon: i.e., to reward the winner.

16 7
crake: crow.

17 2
Trompart:
Braggadocchio's companion. See II.3.6-10. 17 9 skill: knowledge.

19 1–4
As Gough points out
(Var.,
p. 188), Spenser's simile describes the sun and the mock-sun, parhelion, caused by refraction of the sun's rays through ice crystals. Usually, two parhelia appear, on either side of the real sun.

20 2
Stood… couered: i.e., stood in the crowd in a disguise. 20 6 losell: ne'er-do-well, scoundrel.

20 8
leasings: lies.

22 7
Franion: loose person. fere: companion. 24 3 paragone: comparison. 24 9 th'emptie girdle: the girdle of chastity belonging to Florimell. See IV.5.6fF.

25 1
daughter of
Thaumantes:
Iris, goddess of the rainbow.

27 5
weft: waif, but mote precisely a legal term (also used in IV.12.31.3) meaning ‘a piece of property found ownerless, which, if unclaimed within a fixed period after due notice given, rails to the lord of the manor
^,
(OED).

27 6
foule monster: the hyena-like creature in 111.7.22-31.

29
ff Guyon, the knight of Temperance in Book II, had his horse stolen by Braggadocchio in II.3. The horse, Brigadore (stanza 34), is named after Orlando's horse, Brigliadoro
(OF
11.80; 11.66 in Harington). The name is derived from the Italian:
briglia,
‘bridle';
d'oro,
‘of gold'. The bridle is a traditional symbol of temperance.

30 8
bereaued: taken.

30 9
extort: stolen.

31
See II.1.35 ff.

32 6
priuie: secret.

33 7
hedstall: halter. See
OF
1.74-6.

34 4
vndertake: hear, understand.

36 4
doen aby: cause to suffer.

37 2
hent: seized.

37 $-9
See the punishment of Martano in
OF
18.91-3.

37 5
beard did shaue: a sign of disgrace. See 1 Chronicles 19.4 and Jeremiah 48.37

37 6
renuerst: reversed, as a sign of disgrace. 37 7 blent: blemished.

37 8
baffuld: to inflict open infamy on a perjured knight, such as hanging him up by the heels. vnherst: i.e., took his armour off the stand (the herse) on which it had been placed.

38 1
guilefull groome: Trompart. 38 2 him: Talus.

38 4
deform'd with infamie: i.e., shaved his beard.

39 2
foreside: appearance, front, used figuratively by Spenser as cited by
OED.

40 3
taking… forepast: i.e., making up for time lost 40 4 delices: delights.

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4

2 6
president: precedent. 4–20The names of Bracidas and Amidas have not been satisfactorily explained, but Philtera is Greek: ‘love', and Latin:
terra,
‘land'. Lucy is Latin:
lux,
‘light'. The moral problem is related to the Giant's false argument in V.2.37-40. See Thomas Dunseath, Spenser's Allegory of
Justice,
pp. 124-5. 5 9 pall: abate. 7 3
Milesio:
the sons of Milesius, rulers of Ireland, could not agree about an equitable distribution of property and therefore resorted to violence.

See
Var.,
p. 194.

9 7
liuelod: contracted form of'livelihood'.

II 3
visnomie: physiognomy.

15 S
strand: shore.

21
ff The practice of Radigund the Amazon (stanzas 31 ff) is based on the myth of Hercules and Omphale, a story originating in Diodorus Siculus, 24s and 3.51, and Apollodorus, 2.6.2 ff, about Hercules' servitude to Omphale. The Roman poets (e.g., Ovid,
Heroides
9.73 ff,
Fasti
2.350) elaborate the story, making Hercules dress as a woman and carry the distaff to spin wool. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance the story was used as an exemplum of the reason overcome by the passions, i.e., man dominated by woman. The ‘regne of Femenye', as Chaucer calls it in ‘The Knight's Tale' 866, is brought under control by Hippolyta's marriage to Theseus. See also
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
An Amazonian kingdom occurs in
OF
19-20. The Amazons as a group are to be distinguished from individual female warriors such as Camilla
{Am.),
Bradamante
(OF),
Clorinda (GL), and Belphoebe and Brito-mart, who perform different functions in the poems in which they appear. The source of the name
Radigund
has not been traced, but Skeat in his note to
Piers Plowman
C.23.83 cites ‘radegoundes', running sores, especially of the eyes, and a possible confusion with St Radegund, who was known for miraculous cures. A
Radagon
appears in Robert Greene,
A Looking Glass for London and England
(1594).

22 2
pinnoed: pinioned, bound. 24 6 so wces: blows.

24 7
incontinent: uncontrolled; or perhaps adverb, ‘immediately'.

30 2
Bellodant:
Latin: ‘war-giving'.

31 6
card: to prepare wool for spinning.

32 3
gibbet: gallows.

33 9
prieued: proved.

34 2
Maydenhead: the Order of Maidenhead. See II.2.42 and note.

34 9
empaire: diminish.

35 3
gyu'd: fettered.

39 9
no colours knew: i.e., saw only black, fainted. 42 4 Goshauke: a short-winged hawk. 42 7 souce: swoop. 42 9 pounce: claw. riue: tear. 44 2 strange weapon: iron flail. neuer wont in warre: i.e., not customarily used in war. 44 7 sort: flock.

47 9
disauenterous: disastrous.

48 3
Clarin:
perhaps Spenser had in mind Tasso's female warrior Clorinda.

49 3
lore: teachings.

49 8
iuncates: junkets, delicacies.

50 9
emparlaunce: conference.

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5

2 1
Camis: dress. The description of Radigund (stanzas 2-3) should be contrasted with that of Belphoebe in II.3.22-31. 2 4 Trayled: interwoven. distraught: arranged. 2 7 ham: thigh.

2 9
habergeon: long coat of mail.

3 1
buskins: high boots. 3 2 Basted: sewn. bends: bands. 3 3 mailes: holes for laces.

3 7
bosse: boss, raised points on the shield.

4 s
shaumes: shawm, an instrument, obsolete in Britain, resembling an oboe.

6 7
flaw: onset; literally, gust of wind. 6 9 foynd: thrust.

8 9
discarded: forced away.

9 1
trenchant: sharp, piercing. 9 9 See note to III.5.42.3.

12
See the fight between Britomart and Arthegall in
TV.6.

13 6
ruth.: pity.

15 1
Puttocke: kite or buzzard.

17
Arthegall has made what he considered a legal bargain with Radigund. When unexpectedly he is defeated he thinks that he must accept subjection to Radigund. Spenser is making a point about the observance of law and not carnal subservience as the Hercules-Omphale myth was usually interpreted. Apparently Talus agrees with his master's judgement. See also V.5.19.9, 23.8–9and 26.6.

17 4
warelesse: incautious.

18 1
flatting: with the flat side of her sword. 18
6
attacht: seized.

18 7
crooke: the gallows. See V.4.32.

20 8
napron: apron.

20 9
Curiets and bases: armour guarding the breast and loins.

21 3
sield: ceiled, covered.

22 4
rew: row.

22 6
pyne: suffering.

23 2
distaffe: staff on which thread is wound for spinning.

24 3–9
Spenser's confusion of Iole with Omphale is repeated in Sidney,

Arcadia,
Boccaccio,
Gen.
13.1, and
GL
16.3. Hercules' love for Iole causes Deianira, his wife, to give him the magical shirt of Nessus, which burns Hercules to death. 24 5 club: Hercules' club was allegorized as prudence and wisdom. See Dunseath, p. 67. 24 7 Lyons skin: worn by Hercules, won by killing the Nemean lion, one of bis twelve labours. See
Met.
9.197 ff.
pall: robe.

26 5
election: choice. 29 ff Clarinda's function in this part of the Radigund episode is derived from Virgil's similar use of Anna, confidante of Dido in
Aen.
4, and may have influenced Pope to name Belinda's confidante Clarinda in
The Rape of

the Lock.

34 3
Eumenias:
apparently one of the watchmen of the city, as in V.4.36.1.