32 Chaucer's 'Swerd of Winter' 



Finally, after the death of Charles V of France (1380), he com- 

 plains to Charles VI, possibly with allusion to his father (8. 159)^ : 



Li tempts n'est pas qu'Octoviens 



Regnoit. 



In the light of these instances, then, it would seem probable that 

 Chaucer is comparing Edward III to Augustus Caesar. 



In representing Edward as enjoying the pleasures of the chase, 

 Chaucer is upheld by the monk of St. Albans to whom we 

 owe the Chronicon Anglice. On his deathbed, it appears, being 

 encouraged by Alice Ferrers to believe that he would recover, 

 he would talk of nothing but hunting and hawking, 'and trifles 

 of that sort.'*^ 



VII. CHAUCER'S 'SWERD OF WINTER' 



In the Legend of Good Women (125-7) we read: 



Forgeten had the erthe his pore estat 

 Of winter, that him naked made and mat. 

 And with his swerd of cold so sore greved. 



And in the Squire's Tale (52-7) : 



Ful lusty was the weder and benigne, 



For which the foules, agayn the sonne shene, 



What for the seson and the yonge grene, 



Ful loude songen hir afifecciouns ; 



Hem semed han geten hem protecciouns 



Agayn the swerd of winter kene and cold. 



With these may be compared Roman de la Rose 6678-82 (ed. 



Michel) : 



Et quant bise resouffle, il fauche 



Les floretes et la verdure 



A I'cspee de sa froidure, 



Si que la flor i pert son estre 



Sitost cum el commence a nestre. 



The general notion is that of the 'penetrale frigus' of Lucretius 

 I. 494, and the 'penetrabile frigus' of Virgil, Georg. i. 93; 

 Martial 4. 19. 9; so in English we speak of piercing, biting (and 

 bitter), cutting, sharp, keen cold. 



' Cf. Oeuvres 11. 253-5. 



'Ed. Thompson (Rolls series), p. 142: 'Itaque factum est ut, per totum 

 illud tempus, de aucupatione, venatione, talibus quoque nugis ser- 

 mocinaretur.' 



