Prologue i-ii 9 



Nee Veneri tempus quam ver erat aptius nullum. . . . 

 Et formosa Venus formoso tempore digna est." 



Of the spring months, it was April that was especially asso- 

 ciated with Aphrodite ; in fact, one of the two ancient etymologies 

 for 'April' related it to the name of the goddess (Macrobius, 

 Sat}^ I. 12. 8) : 'Secundum mensem nominavit Aprilem, ut 

 quidam putant cum adspiratione quasi Aphrilem, a spuma quam 

 Graeci a<f>p6v vocant, unde orta Venus creditur.'^® 



Moreover, Horace explicitly calls (Od. 4. 11. 15) April 'the 

 month of sea-born Venus. '^'^ 



In the light of the preceding, it may be worth while to regard 

 attentively the opening lines of Chaucer's Prologue: 



Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote 



The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, 



And bathed every veyne in swich licour 



Of which vertu engendred is the flour; 



Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth 



Inspired hath in every holt and heeth 



The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne 



Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, 



And smale fowles maken melodye, 



That slepen al the night with open ye, 



(So priketh hem nature in hir corages).^ 



" 'And no season was there more becoming for Venus than the 

 spring. . . . And the lovely Venus is deserving of the lovely season.' 



Cf. Horace, Od. i. 4. iff.; Preller, Griech. Myth., 2d ed., pp. 270-1; 

 Spenser, Amor. 70. i. 



^^ Chaucer is not usually credited with knowing the Saturnalia, but it 

 is certain that Petrarch was familiar with it (Nolhac, Petrarque et 

 I'Hunianisme, 2d ed., i. 157), and there seems no reason why Chaucer 

 may not have been. Cf. p. 12, note 24. 



^""He [Romulus] called the second month April, or, as some suppose, 

 Aphril (with the aspirate), from foam, which the Greeks called aphros, 

 and from which Venus is believed to have sprung.' 



^' Cf. Preller, as above; Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie i. 2768-9; 

 Shakespeare, Ant. and Cleop. 3. 2. 43. 



"As throwing light upon the detailed interpretation, I append the 

 translation by Hertzberg (Chancers Cantcrbury-Gcschichten, p. 67) : 

 Wenn, von Aprillenregen mild durchdrungen, 

 Der Staub des Marz recht griindlich ist bezwungen, 

 Und so von Saften jede Ader schwillt, 

 Dass aus dem Boden Blum' an Blume quillt; 



