Astronomical Lore in Chaucer Part 7

That, for thy lady saw nat thy distresse, Therefor thou yave hir up at Michelmesse!"[167]

I have said that Chaucer makes wide use of the astrological beliefs of his century in portraying character and have shown how some of the strange astrological ideas of the people of his time are reflected in Chaucer's poetry. It remains to consider somewhat more closely the relations between astrological faith and conduct, and Chaucer's application of these relations to the dramatic action in his poems.

The inevitable logical outcome of astrological faith is the doctrine of Necessity. The invariability of the celestial motions suggested to early astrologers that there must be a higher power transcending and controlling them, and this power could be none other than Necessity. But, since the stars by their movements and positions were the regulators of mundane events and human affairs, it followed that human destiny on the earth was also under the sway of this relentless power of Necessity or Fate. Now it was the Stoics alone who developed a thorough-going fatalism and at the same time made it consistent with practical life and virtue. They taught that man could best find himself in complete submission to the divine law of destiny. The early Babylonian astrologers who originated the doctrine of necessity did not develop it to its logical consequences. Reasoning from certain very unusual occurrences that sometimes took place in the heavens, such as the appearance of comets, meteors and falling stars, they reached the conclusion that divine will at times arbitrarily interfered in the destined course of nature. So priests foretold future events from the configuration of the heavens, but professed ability to ward off threatened evils by spells and incantations, or, by purifications and sacrifices, to make the promised blessings more secure.

Now the fatalism of Chaucer's characters is something like this. The general belief in the determination of human destiny by Fortune or Necessity is present and is expressed usually at moments of deep despair, when the longings of the heart and the struggles of the will have been relentlessly thwarted. When the Trojans decree that Criseyde must go to the Greeks in exchange for Antenor, Troilus pleads with Fortune:

"Than seyde he thus, 'Fortune! allas the whyle!

What have I doon, what have I thus a-gilt?

How mightestow for reuthe me bigyle?

Is ther no grace, and shall I thus be spilt?

Shal thus Criseyde awey, for that thou wilt?

Allas! how maystow in thyn herte finde To been to me thus cruel and unkinde?

Allas! Fortune! if that my lyf in Ioye Displesed hadde un-to thy foule envye, Why ne haddestow my fader, king of Troye, By-raft the lyf, or doon my bretheren dye, Or slayn my-self, that thus compleyne and crye, I, combre-world, that may of no-thing serve, But ever dye, and never fulle sterve?'"[168]

But there is present, too, in spite of all obstacles and defeats, an undying hope that somehow--by prayers and sacrifices to the celestial powers, or by the choice of astrologically favorable times of doing things--that somehow the course of human lives, mapped out at birth by the stars under the control of relentless destiny, may be altered. So the characters in Chaucer's poems pray to the orbs of the sky to help in their undertakings. The love-lorn Troilus undertakes scarcely a single act without first beseeching some one of the celestial powers for help. When he has confessed his love to Pandarus and the latter has promised to help him, Troilus prays to Venus:

"'Now blisful Venus helpe, er that I sterve, Of thee, Pandare, I may som thank deserve.'"[169]

and when the first step has been taken and he knows that Criseyde is not ill disposed to be his friend at least, he praises Venus, looking up to her as a flower to the sun:

"But right as floures, thorugh the colde of night Y-closed, stoupen on hir stalkes lowe, Redressen hem a-yein the sonne bright, And spreden on hir kinde cours by rowe; Right so gan tho his eyen up to throwe This Troilus, and seyde, 'O Venus dere, Thy might, thy grace, y-heried be it here!'"[170]

When Troilus is about to undertake a step that will either win or lose Criseyde he prays to all the planetary G.o.ds, but especially to Venus, begging her to overcome by her aid whatever evil influences the planets exercised over him in his birth:

"'Yit blisful Venus, this night thou me enspyre,'

Quod Troilus, 'as wis as I thee serve, And ever bet and bet shal, til I sterve.

And if I hadde, O Venus ful of murthe, Aspectes badde of Mars or of Saturne, Or thou combust[171] or let were in my birthe, Thy fader prey al thilke harm disturne.'"[172]

Troilus does not forget to praise Venus when Criseyde is won at last:

"Than seyde he thus, 'O, Love, O, Charitee, Thy moder eek, Citherea the swete, After thy-self next heried be she, Venus mene I, the wel-w.i.l.l.y planete;'"[173]

And after Criseyde has gone away to the Greeks, it is to Venus still that the lover utters his lament and prayer, saying that without the guidance of her beams he is lost:

"'O sterre, of which I lost have al the light, With herte soor wel oughte I to bewayle, That ever derk in torment, night by night, Toward my deeth with wind in stere I sayle; For which the tenthe night if that I fayle The gyding of thy bemes brighte an houre, My ship and me Caribdis wol devoure:'"[174]

Another effect of astrological faith on conduct was the choice of times for doing things of importance with reference to astrological conditions.

When a man wished to set out on any enterprise of importance he very often consulted the positions of the stars to see if the time was propitious.

Thus in the _Squieres Tale_ it is said that the maker of the horse of bra.s.s

"wayted many a constellacioun, Er he had doon this operacioun;"[175]

that is, he waited carefully for the moment when the stars would be in the most propitious position, so that his undertaking would have the greatest possible chance of success. Pandarus goes to his niece Criseyde to plead for Troilus at a time when the moon is favorably situated in the heavens:

"And gan to calle, and dresse him up to ryse, Remembringe him his erand was to done From Troilus, and eek his greet empryse; And caste and knew in good plyt was the mone-- To doon viage, and took his wey ful sone Un-to his neces paleys ther bi-syde."[176]

The kind of fatalism that Chaucer's characters, as a rule, represent is well ill.u.s.trated in the story of Palamon and Arcite, told by the Knight in the _Canterbury Tales_. These two young n.o.bles of Thebes, cousins by relationship, are captured by Theseus, king of Athens, and imprisoned in the tower of his palace. From the window of the tower Palamon espies the king's beautiful sister Emelye walking in the garden and instantly falls in love. Arcite, seeing his cousin's sudden pallor and hearing his exclamation which, Chaucer says, sounded

"As though he stongen were un-to the herte."[177]

thinks that Palamon is complaining because of his imprisonment and urges him to bear in patience the decree of the heavens:

"'For G.o.ddes love, tak al in pacience Our prisoun, for it may non other be; Fortune hath yeven us this adversitee.

Som wikke aspect or disposicioun Of Saturne, by sum constellacioun, Hath yeven us this, al-though we hadde it sworn; So stood the heven whan that we were born; We moste endure it; this is the short and pleyn.'"[178]

This is the doctrine of Necessity, and it suggests the Stoic virtue of submission to fate; yet Arcite's att.i.tude toword his misfortune is not truly stoic, for there is none of that joy in submission here that the Stoic felt in surrendering himself to the will of the powers above. Arcite would resist fate if he could.

Palamon explains the cause of his woe and when Arcite looks out and sees Emelye he too falls a victim to love. Then Palamon knits his brows in righteous indignation. Did he not love the beautiful lady first and trust his secret to his cousin and sworn brother? And was it not Arcite's duty and solemn pledge to help and not hinder him in his love? Arcite's defence shows that the fatalism that dominates his thought is a fatalism that excuses him for doing as he pleases: Love knows no law, but is a law unto itself. Therefore he must needs love Emelye.

"Wostow nat wel the olde clerkes sawe, That 'who shal yeve a lover any lawe?'

Love is a gretter lawe, by my pan, Than may be yeve to any erthly man.

And therefore positif lawe and swich decree Is broke al-day for love, in ech degree.

A man moot nedes love, maugree his heed."[179]

When Arcite is released from prison but banished from Athens with the threat of death should he return, both men are utterly unhappy, Arcite, because he can no longer see Emelye, and Palamon because he fears that Arcite will return to Athens with a band of kinsmen to aid him, and carry off Emelye by force. After Arcite has gone Palamon reproaches the G.o.ds for determining the destiny of men so irrevocably without consulting their wishes or their deserts:

"'O cruel G.o.ddes, that governe This world with binding of your word eterne, And wryten in the table of athamaunt Your parlement, and your eterne graunt, What is mankinde more un-to yow holde Than is the sheep, that rouketh in the folde?'"[180]

Many a man, Palamon says, suffers sickness, imprisonment and other misfortunes unjustly because of the inexorable destiny imposed upon him by the G.o.ds. Even the lot of the beasts is better, for they do as they will and have nothing to suffer for it after death; whereas man must suffer both in this life and the next. This, surely, is not willing submission to fate.

After some years Palamon escapes from prison and encounters Arcite, who has returned in disguise and become Theseus' chief squire. They arrange to settle their differences by a duel next day. But destiny was guiding Theseus' conduct too, so the narrator of the story says, and was so powerful that it caused a coincidence that might not happen again in a thousand years:

"The destinee, ministre general, That executeth in the world over-al The purveyaunce, that G.o.d hath seyn biforn, So strong it is, that, though the world had sworn The contrarie of a thing, by ye or nay, Yet somtyme it shal fallen on a day That falleth nat eft with-inne a thousand yere.

For certeinly, our appetytes here, Be it of werre, or pees, or hate, or love, Al is this reuled by the sighte above."[181]

Theseus goes hunting and with him, the queen and Emelye. They of course interrupt the duel between Palamon and Arcite. Through the intercession of the two women the duelists are pardoned and it is arranged that they settle their dispute by a tournament set for about a year later.

On the morning before the tournament Palamon, Arcite, and Emelye all go, at different hours, to pray and sacrifice to their respective patron deities. The times of their prayers are chosen according to astrological considerations, each going to pray in the hour[182] that was considered sacred to the planet with which his patron deity was identified. Palamon prays to Venus only that he may win his love, whether by victory or defeat in the tournament makes no difference to him. After his sacrifices are completed, the statute of Venus shakes and Palamon, regarding this as a favorable sign goes away with glad heart. Arcite prays Mars for victory and is answered by a portent even more favorable than that given to Palamon. Not only does the statue of Mars tremble so that his coat of mail resounds, but the very doors of the temple shake, the fire on the altar burns more brightly and Arcite hears the word "Victory" uttered in a low dim murmur. Emelye does not want to be given in marriage to any man and so she prays to Diana[183], as the protectress of maidenhood, to keep her a maid. Diana, the G.o.ddess, appears in her characteristic form as a huntress and tells Emelye that the G.o.ds have decreed her marriage either to Palamon or to Arcite, but that it cannot yet be revealed to which one she is to be given.

But now there is trouble in heaven. Venus has promised that Palamon shall have his love, and Mars has promised Arcite the victory. How are both promises to be fulfilled? Chaucer humorously expresses the dilemma thus:

"And richt anon swich stryf ther is bigonne For thilke graunting, in the hevene above, Bitwixe Venus, the G.o.ddesse of love, And Mars, the sterne G.o.d armipotente, That Iupiter was bisy it to stente; Til that the pale Saturnus the colde, That knew so manye of aventures olde, Fond in his old experience an art, That he ful sone hath plesed every part."[184]

We had almost forgotten that all the G.o.ds to whom prayers have been uttered and sacrifices offered were anything more than pagan G.o.ds. But now, by the reference to Saturn, "the pale Saturnus the colde" suggesting the dimness of his appearance in the sky, we are reminded that these G.o.ds are also planets.

But, to resume the story, Saturn finds the remedy for the embarra.s.sing situation. He rehea.r.s.es his powers and then tells Venus that her knight shall have his lady, but that Mars shall be able to help his knight also.

"'My dere doghter Venus,' quod Saturne, 'My cours, that hath so wyde for to turne, Hath more power that wot any man.

Now weep namore, I shal doon diligence That Palamon, that is thyn owne knight, Shal have his lady, as thou hast him hight.

Though Mars shal helpe his knight, yet nathelees Bitwixe yow ther moot be som tyme pees, Al be ye noght of o complexioun, That causeth al day swich divisioun.'"[185]

When the appointed time for the tourney arrives, in order that no means of securing the G.o.d's favor and so a.s.suring success may be left untried, Arcite, with his knights, enters through the gate of Mars, his patron deity, and Palamon through that of Venus. Palamon is defeated in the fight but Saturn fulfills his promise to Venus by inducing Pluto to send an omen which frightens Arcite's horse causing an accident in which Arcite is mortally injured. In the end Palamon wins Emelye.

Although the scene of this story is laid in ancient Athens, the characters are plainly mediaeval knights and ladies. Throughout the poem, as in many of Chaucer's writings, there is a curious mingling of pagan and Christian elements, a strange juxtaposition of astrological notions, Greek anthropomorphism and mediaeval Christian philosophy. But pervading the whole is the idea of determinism, of the inability of the human will to struggle successfully against the destiny imposed by the powers of heaven, or against the capricious wills of the G.o.ds.