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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The Faerie Queene is packed with classical allusions and classical proper names, especially Canto xi of Book iv, with its lists of sea-gods and founders of kingdoms and the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. Here in particular, Spenser concentrated his mythological learning both in quantity and in obscure erudition; and he seems to have had at his elbow such compilations as Hesiod's Theogony, the Library of Apollodorus, and the Libri Mythologiæ of Natalis Comes. His use of the Theogony in his list of nereids illustrates how closely in this matter he followed his authorities: all but two of the fifty are derived from Hesiod; he followed even Heriod's order as closely as his stanza-form allowed; and a number of the descriptive epithets are similar. Two of Spenser's names, however, have no counterpart in Hesiod, Phao and Poris; nor do they appear in similar lists of nereids in Homer or Apollodorus or other classical sources, nor in Boccaccio's Genealogia Deorum Gentilium nor in Natalis Comes.
1 See Alice E. Sawtelle, The Sources of Spenser's Classical Mythology (New York, 1896), 107 etc.; and W. Reidner, Spensers Belesenheit (Leipzig, 1908).
2 For instance, all but two of the first ten in Spenser are among the first ten in Hesiod also; the same is true of the second ten; and, into this group, Spenser managed to introduce the two omitted before. Hesiod and Spenser both begin and end with the same names.
3 Cf. Miss Sawtelle, op. cit., 89–90.
4 Spenser probably discarded Hesiod's Cymatolege for metrical reasons, but one wonders why he omitted Thoe.
5 Spenser's nereid Phao must not be confused with the Phao of the Faerie Queene, iii, ii, 20, who is clearly a different person.
6 Viz., Erato and Polynome.
7 Boccaccio used etymology as a “solvent of mythology”; and Spenser had a “habit of poeticizing the gods by etymology.”—C. G. Osgood, Boccaccio on Poetry (Princeton, 1930), xxvi and xxxix n. See also the present writer, M.P. xvii, 471 et seq.; and the linguistic experiments in the Shepheards Calender.
8 See Works, ed. Dodge, 814 passim.
9 E.g. Terpine and Tristram, and Cambel and Canacee from Chaucer. Spenser, moreover, rarely borrows names from the old chronicles. See Carrie A. Harper, British Chronicle History in Spenser's Faerie Queene (Philadelphia, 1910).
10 Spenser seems to take Brunell from Brunello (O.F., iv) and perhaps Melissa (O.F., iii etc.); but, though he uses Lucy, Lucifera, and Lucida, he never employs Ariosto's Lucina (O.F., xvii).
11 E.g., names in -mant, -mont, -mart, -ia, -ica, -illa, -dine, etc.
12 E.g., Aveugle, Bellamoure, Bonfont, Brigador, Bruncheval, Fradubio, Gardante, Maleffort, Malfont, Malvenú, Marinell, Orgoglio, Orimont, Sansfoy, Sprenza, Spumador, Trompart. In the case of some, it is hard to tell whether Spenser is using a romance language or Latin.
13 E.g., Adulterie, Aeternitie, Ambition, Amendment, Anger, Appetite, Authority, Autumne, Awe.
14 E.g., Titus (iv, x, 27).
15 E.g., Chimæra, Damon, Danaides. Paeon is an early god of healing referred to by Homer. Later the name was applied to Apollo and to Æsculapius as an attributive epithet from , healer. See Miss Sawtelle, op. cit., for further examples.
16 E.g., Æmylia, who does not seem to fit any of the classical persons of that name; Ecastor, who has no apparent relation either to Castor, of which the name is a variant, or to the literal sense, beaver; Milesio, whose name seems to be derived from , i.e., a native of Miletus; Phedon, who seems to have his name from Plato's friend ; “old Timon,” who may have something to do with Timon the philosopher and something with Timon the misanthrope, but who does not quite fit either; and Tryphon, “the sea gods surgeon,” who may have been suggested by any one of several Greek surgeons of that name (cf. Miss Sawtelle, op. cit., 117–118). The writer takes pleasure in acknowledging the kindness of Dean G. D. Chase of the University of Maine and Professor Carleton Brown for suggestions and corrections in this and the following lists.
17 A residuum of seemingly classical names, Spenser apparently took from other sources or invented for their sound: e.g., Briana, Brianor (cf. Celtic Brian) Busirane (cf. Busiris), Cambina, Dony (cf. Doni, the moral philosopher), Druon, Erivan, Evarna, Gesippus, and Phison.
18 For references in the Faerie Queene, see ed., Dodge, 814.
19 Dodge's gloss, “she that loves to live,” though taken from F.Q. ii, i, 55, could hardly have been intended by Spenser as explaining her name.
20 Cf. Marphisa in the Orlando Furioso.
21 Cf. the Gaelic fiotta and the Welsh gwen- used in proper names.
22 Pausanias, iii, 14, 2; Aristophanes, Ran., 1402; Euripides, Iphig. Taur., 126, etc.
23 Florimel bears rather a close resemblance to the character and exploits of : both seek refuge from their lovers by taking to sea and are rescued by divine intervention.
24 Miss Sawtelle omits Britomart from her list of Spenser's mythological characters.
26 Cf. Dodge, who suggests “blind devotion.” The etymology seems to support the common opinion that the passage in question refers to the dissolution of the monasteries.
26 Cf. Upton (ed. Spenser, ii, 440), who derives Elissa, Perissa, and Medina from Italianized Greek words.
27 According to Boccaccio's Genealogia, “Gratica fatica” is the daughter of Erebus and Night; Phlegeton is not mentioned; and, in Virgil and Statius, the river appears as the son of Cocytus.
28 Placida and Placidus were of course common Christian names. See A. Potthast, Bibliotheca Historica Medii Ævi (Berlin, 1868), Supplement, 239.
29 See Potthast, op. cit., Supplement, 242.
30 Serena was a Latin Christian name; but Spenser's allusion to the weather shows the connotation he intended.
31 E.g., Amphisa, Bacchante, Chrysogone, Eumenias, Lucida, Mirabella, Mnemon, Noctante, Ollyphant, Portamore. In some of these cases, the meaning of the name, although not used as a part of the climax, is helpful, if not necessary, in understanding the allegory.
32 The two notable exceptions are Adicia and Radigund: he names them at once, probably because he wants to convey immediately to his reader his disapproval.
33 F.Q., ii, ix, 55–59
34 F.Q., v, ii, 4–10.
35 See the present writer, M.P., xvii, 471 et seq.
36 Such considerations suggest that one should look in Spenser's allegory not only for strictly political matters, but also, as in Lyly's Endimion, for contemporary court intrigue.
37 See Ruth Kelso, The Doctrine of the English Gentleman in the Sixteenth Century, U. of Ill. Studies, xiv (Urbana, 1929), 18 et seq.
38 Dr. P. W. Long kindly suggests the following evidence in support of this theory: Elizabeth, to whom the poem was addressed, was of course proficient in Latin and Greek (F Q., iv, Proem); and Spenser seems to have taken definite exception on occasion to the contemporary Italianate vogue (F.Q., v, Proem; and The Teares of the Muses).
39 Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle illustrates the attitudes of the aristocracy and of the bourgeoisie toward this mediæval material.
40 If this were the purpose of the poem, a question previously raised by the present writer can probably be answered (PMLA., xxxix, 323): Spenser doubtless conceived of the content of his poem before he worked out its form.
41 Perhaps Spenser is also defending the feudal military system, which during the 1580's and '90's was, in a series of pamphlet wars, making its last stand against the modern professionalized army. See the present writer, “Captain General Othello,” Anglia xliii, 296 et seq.