This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 67-6362 ROBERTS, Gildas Owen, 1932- JOSEPH OF EXETER: THE ILIAD OF DARES PHRYGIUS TRANSLATED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1966 Language and Literature, general University Microfilms. Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan (§) Copyright by Gildas Owen Roberts 1967 JOSEPH OF EXETER THE IT,TAT) OF DARES FHRIGIUS TRANSLATED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio S ta te U niversity I* Gildas Owen Roberts, B.A., M.A., B.Ed, «#«**** The Ohio S ta te U niversity 1966 Approved by J-**- Adviser Department of English ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I must thank ny adviser, Professor Francis Lee Utley, who patiently brought his encyclopaedic knowledge to bear on my effo rts* 1 must also acknowledge divers help generously given by Professor Geoffrey Rid dehough, University of B ritish Columbia; Professor E.R. Seary, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Professor Robert Estrich, The Ohio State University; Professor Clarence Forbes, The Ohio State University; Mr* Russell M iller, University of Maryland* My chief and most heartfelt thanks, however, go to my wife, Patricia, whose helpfulness, patience, fortitude and good humour are a constant example and reproach to me* ii VITA December 5, 1932 Born — Johannesburg, South Africa 1 9 5 1.................* B.A., University of Cape Town, South Africa 1953 ...................... M.A., U niv ersity o f Cape Town, South A frica 1955 B. E d., U n iv ersity o f Cape Town, South A frica 1958-1961 . • . Senior Classics Master, Lawrence Sheriff School, Rugby, England 1961-1962 . • Assistant Instructor, Department of Romance Languages, Hie Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1962-1964 • • • Instructor, Department of Classical Languages, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1964-1965 • • • Instructor, Division of Comparative Literature, The Ohio S ta te U niversity, Columbus, Ohio 1965-1966 . Assistant Professor, Department of English, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland FIELDSfields OF STUDYSTUDY Major Fields English (Medieval and Linguistics) Minor* L atin i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgments 11 I, Introduction 1 I I , The T ranslation Book I 55 Book I I 77 Book I I I 102 Book 17 121 Book V 1 43 Book VI 165 III* Notes on the Translation 205 IV, Glossary 214- Bibliography 235 iv INTRODUCTION 1. Joseph of Exeter* His Life and His Times a. Hla life Joseph was born in Exeter, in Devon, and is called after his city Josephus Exoniensis or I sc anus, and after his county Josephus Devonius. Little is known of his life. He was educated in the city of his birth, and won the friendship and patronage of his fellow-townsman, Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was also perhaps his uncled In 1180 he went abroad to study, and while at Gueldres became the friend of the learned Abbot Guibert. One of Guibert's letters to Joseph 2 and three of Joseph's to Guibert have been preserved. The Abbot's letter presents the young Joseph as a most engaging person. Guibert writes glowingly of the "beauty and charm of his appearance, the attractiveness of his face, the elegance of his conversation, the cheerfulness of his looks, the steadfastness of his gaze, and the moderation of every gesture of his body". Joseph's first letter contains a gracious apology for not coining to visit Guibert in person, a disclaimer of the title "master", and a wish, tactfully expressed, that Guibert see to it that the monastery of Florennes, to whose abbacy he had recently been elected, should flourish. This is a smooth and gracefully eloquent letter, in which little of Joseph the man stands revealed. 1 2 In the second letter, however, we have Joseph speaking from a troubled heart, "Unsettled and defiled, I have been distracted by ray- thought s; too keenly have I embraced the wicked delight of words; I have tolled at tasks displeasing to God." He begs earnestly for Guibert to pray assiduously on his behalf. What works of his in particular were displeasing to God he does not say, and we are left to guess. Certainly 3 there are sections of The Iliad of Dares Phrvgjus which are so m ew h at worldly, and Bale lists^ among his writings certain Nugae imatorlae. "Lovers' Trifles" (which have not come down to us). In March 1190 Archbishop Baldwin passed through France on his way to the Holy Land, and induced Joseph to accompany him on the Crusade. Joseph, in the third of his letters to Guibert, does not appear to have been too happy about the prospect. The letter commences* "I speak to your holiness with bag on my back and staff in my hand, as I set out for Jerusalem with my lord, the Archbishop of Canterbury, summoned by — and would that it were, accompanied by — divine grace." He again asks Guibert for his earnest and assiduous prayers and again reminds him that "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5. 16) • The letter concludes* "I beseech you now to accept that which I do not proffer without tears — the last, as I think, farewell of your beloved Joseph." On 19 November 1190 Archbishop Baldwin d ied in th e Holy Land and Joseph returned home. That is the last which is heard of him. All attempts 5 to flesh out his life with further details have ended in failure. Besides the three letters and The Iliad of Dares Phrvgiua all that has £ come down to us of his writings is one short fragment of his other epic, the Ant^ochy^ff. which celebrated the first crusade. All the other works 3 n listed by Bale have disappeared, "if, indeed, they ever existed," T heir somewhat generic and u n sp ecific t i t l e s are i) Pwnflgvricus ad Henri cum (This is perhaps simply the lines in praise of Henry which occur at the end of Bk, V of the Iliad.) ii) De Institutions Cvri i i i ) Nugae Amatoriae iv) Epigrammatq v) Diversi generis Carmina b. His Times Joseph of Exeter was no 3port of rare excellence in a bleak age. When one considers his century, his king, and his patron, the high standard of his literary craftsmanship and his flamboyantly copious store of ancient knowledge should come as no surprise. Henry II, his king, who was born in 1133 and reigned 1154-1189, was a lover of learning himself and the admirer of learning in others. Peter of Blois, one of the many scholars he attracted to his court, writes thus of his royal master to the Archbishop of Palermo! "For as often as he can get breathing time amid his business cares, he occupies himself with private reading, or takes pains in working out some knotty question among his clerks. Your king is a good scholar, but ours is far better; I know the abilities and accomplishments of both. You know that the King of Sicily was my pupil for a year; you yourself taught him the elements of verse-making and literaxy composition; from me he had further and deeper lessons, but as soon as I left the kingdom he threw away his books and took to the easy-going ways of the court. But with the King of England there is school every day, constant conversation of the best scholars and discussion of questions.*** Front the names of distinguished w riters and men of learning which studded the lists of his courtiers, we know further that the king's influence was a living force in the land* To employ a tag of which Joseph would have heartily approved* "vulgi turba movetur regie ad exemplar. 11 Archbishop Baldwin, Joseph's patron, was likewise a great stimulator of intellectual endeavour* Joseph invokes his support for both his Iliad and his ftntinnhai g. Gerald of Barry* s Itinerarium Kambriae is based on his journey with Baldwin through Vales to preach the Third Crusade* It was one of Baldwin's dearest wishes to found a teaching college at Lambeth which might have made London the intellectual as well as the commercial centre of the realm* Joseph had many distinguished contemporaries and near-contemporaries in Britain. A generation or so before him had come Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 - c* 115?)* In December 1135, or very soon thereafter, Geoffrey completed his Hiatoria Re gum TVrlt^nnl«m. which is not only a great work in its own right, but is of great significance as the seminal work of the Arthurian tradition* His Vita Marllnl. which was completed at some time between late 1148 and early 1151, is a long and polished poem consisting of 1529 hexameters* Then there was Joseph's fellow Vest-Countryman, John of Salisbury (c. 1120-1180). Like Joseph he appears to have read and remembered all there was to read and remember of Latin literature, pagan and Christian* His great work, the Policraticus (1159), abounds in quotations culled from his wide reading* Valter Map (c. 1140-1209) was a Welshman especially renowned for the excellence of his conversation. To him has been doubtfully ascribed the 5 authorship of the missing prose Lancelot- and some of the most famous of the Goliardic poems* His one extant book, De Nugjs Curialium. is a delight­ ful "collection of stories, historical anecdotes, scraps of folklore, witty remarks and amusing incidents, occasionally bits of satire and denunciation, Q without order or plan, written down between 1181 and 1193*" Giraldus Cambrensis (c. 114& - c. 1220), or Gerald of Barry, has already been referred to* Like Valter Map a Welshman, he wrote history, travel and autobiography.