SELIM12.doc Carla Morini, Selim 12 (2003-2004): 109—125 THE FIRST ENGLISH LOVE ROMANCE WITHOUT “LOVE”! THE OLD ENGLISH APOLLONIUS OF TYRE The Historia Apollonii (henceforth abbreviated to HA), a romance composed either in Greek or in Latin during the third century, was handed down to us in three Latin redactions,1 preserved in about 100 manuscripts, the earliest of which dates from the ninth century.2 This work was considered worthy of being preserved not only in Latin but also of being translated and drawn up again —in verse and in prose— into different vernaculars from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries.3 Its first translation into a vernacular language was made in Anglo-Saxon England (henceforth abbreviated to Apollonius) during the tenth century. Goolden has argued that there are in this translation only a few additions, which are to be attributed to an erroneous interpretation and thus to a poor translation of the Latin source.4 1Its rich Latin textual tradition was collected for the first time by A. Riese 1893 [1973] and more recently G. A. A. Kortekaas 1984, vol. 3: 109-113. There are basically two hypotheses as to its origin put forward by scholars. According to the first hypothesis the work was initially compiled in Greek during the third century A.D. and then translated into Latin. It is based on the presence in the HA of references to certain places and events contained in the Ephesiaca of Xenophon (see Archibald 1991: 32; Kortekaas 1984: 109-113) or in Euripides’ Alcmaeon (see Krappe 1924: 57-58). According to the second hypothesis the text was directly compiled in Latin during the third century A.D., then between the fifth and the sixth centuries it was reworked from a Christian perspective; see Klebs 1899: 216. 2 See Riese 1973 and Kortekaas 1984. The Latin version is first mentioned in the second half of the 6th century by Venantius Fortunatus (see Manitius 1935: 324- 325; Kortekaas 1984: 419-431). For reconstructing the history of this recension, see the very useful work written by Archibald 1991: 182-216. For a detailed and recent study on the textual relationships existing among the three extant redactions, see Kortekaas 1984: 59-96 3 On the history of this romance see Archibald 1991: 182-216. On its entire tradition into vernacular languages: 182-216; see also Archibald 1989: 24-40; 1991: 123-37; 1999: 229-37. 4 ‘Deviations between the Old English text and its source are, apart from this small point, entirely the casual results of a not too meticulous process of translation’ (Goolden 1958: xx). Carla Morini 110 Arguably, however, it could be considered an impressive prose work which, in varying degrees of proximity to its model, creates a quite different atmosphere and a better text than its source. The real novelties in the Old English translation, which is not always a literal one, are the introduction and the omission of certain clauses or of simple words, the stressing and the adaptation of certain scenes, and its amplification with the introduction of new words or clauses, a process which seems, in my opinion, consistent with the intention of creating an exemplary text on matter of law.5 Apollonius is also the first English romance concerning sex, love and marriage.6 It makes through the translator’s modifications a clear distinction between deceitful and immoral love, prohibited by religious and lay law— also punished by men— and honest love, which ends in marriage. It is my aim to analyse the way these two kinds of love are presented in Apollonius, focusing on the points in which it departs from the Latin source in the treatment both of the incestuous relationship between king Antiochus and his daughter, and of the chaste/lawful relationship between Apollonius and the princess, daughter of King Arcestrates. The textual difference between the Latin source and its Old English translation could be understood in the context of the early medieval Christian regulations concerning love and marriage. The only Old English text of the HA is preserved in the MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 201, part B, written in insular minuscule by three hands around the middle of the eleventh century.7 It is a miscellaneous 5 See Morini 2002: 199-216. 6 ‘Es war der erste Versuch, einen unterhaltenden Prosaroman zu schreiben, eine Liebesgeschichte zu erzähl (…) Der Mönch, der Anfang des 11. Jahrhunderts den Apollonius in engl. Prosa brachte, war damit allerdings seiner Zeit um vierhundert aus voraus (…) der engl. Prosaroman beginnt im 15. Jahrhundert...’ (Raith 1956: 48). 7 Ms CCCC 201, written in Anglo-Saxon insular minuscule, is bound from two different manuscripts; see Ker 1990 [1957@: n° 49, (A, ff. 1-7, 161-67+ B, ff. 8- 160, 167-176) and 50. Part A of the first manuscript contains the Regularis Concordia, Bede’s De die judici, etc.; the second part of the MS (Ker n° 50) contains the Capitula of Theudulf of Orleans and other small pieces; for more details see Whitbread 1959: 106-112. Both codices were written in insular minuscule, and put together at Canterbury in the second half of the eleventh century. While the second part of this manuscript (Ker n° 50) was undoubtedly written at Exeter, little agreement has been reached by scholars on the place of origin of its first part (A+B). See also Budny 1997: 475-486; recently Wormald (2000: 211-213) argues that this text was probably a work later than Wulfstan, The First English Love Romance without "Love"! 111 codex of Wulfstan’s homilies, laws and ecclesiastical institutes, also containing a few texts of other genres.8 Little agreement has been reached till now by scholars on the place of origin of its first part (A+B). York, Winchester, Worcester or some unidentified location in the South of England have variously been proposed as the place where it was compiled.9 As it is well known, the manuscript does not contain the entire translation of the HA, but only a copy from another exemplar of two fragments of it, respectively corresponding to chapters 1 to 22 (pp. 131 to 140) and 48 to 51 (pp. 141- 145) of the Latin work. Its text was written down by the same hand, from the first half of the eleventh century, that wrote down most of the texts contained in CCCC 201B.10 Mary Richards has argued that there was a reason for sandwiching in MS CCCC 201B pieces on Christian duty in matters of faith and instructional texts with laws dealing with the same topic: they all had the function of instructional texts, in order to provide Anglo-Saxon England with useful sources (Richards 1986: 171-92). According to Bethurum and Richards, this careful arrangement of “the entire codex was made under Wulfstan’s written by another archbishop, one of his two immediate successors or someone in his entourage. 8 For a complete list of the texts contained in the MS 201 B and its description see Ker 1990: n° 50, p. 91; Whitbread 1959: 100. For a detailed description of this MS see James 1912: 485-486; Fehr 1966 [1914@: xiv-xvi; cxxvii-cxxix (Supplement to the introduction by P. Clemoes); Ker 1990: 82-90; Whitbread 1959: 107-108; R. Fowler 1972: xi-xiii; J. Raith 1956: 4-8 and Morini 2000: 15-17. The dating is that upheld by Ker, but other scholars such as Bethurum (1971 [1957@: 2) attribute it to the end of the eleventh century. 9 Whitelock (1976: 25) in relation to the extant Northumbrian Priests Laws, a work originating in and concerning the province of York, argued that the MS could have been compiled in York; see also Bethurum (1950: 449-463), who first claimed Wulfstan’s authorship for these laws. Gneuss (1981: 5) claimed that the MS was originated in Winchester. It is also argued that the MS did not originate at Worcester, but only assembled there (Whitbread 1959: 109-110). In the opinion of P. Clemoes (Fehr 1966: cxxix), this manuscript does not contain the standard form of writing which characterized the Worcester scriptorium; that means that the peculiar spelling of its main hand has been introduced there, as well as other spellings, by Wulfstan himself or by his secretaries. Finally, according to Fehr (1966: xvi), the manuscript was originated in Canterbury. 10 Ker 1990: n° 49B, 90. To different hands belong pp. 151-160 (Genesis) and pp. 170-176 (Latin rites for the confession) of the ms; see Ker no. 49B, art°56 and 58. According to Goolden (1958: xxxi) its scribe was a Saxon (from Essex) who introduced dialect forms into a West Saxon copy.�Raith (1956: 15) argues that it is not possible to define the dialect of the scribe. Carla Morini 112 supervision” (Richards 1986: 178; Bethurum 1971: 2).� But Richards has also argued that Apollonius has nothing to do with this plan: the romance, she suggested was added later by others, because it belonged to a genre, “a marvellous narrative” (Richards 1986: 180-181), which Wulfstan avoided.11 On the contrary, as I recently argued (Morini 2000), it could also be a relationship between some of the juridical and religious statements handed down in MS CCCC 201 B and the content of the fragments of the romance, which only concern four topics: rape and incest, marriage, free consent, and widowhood. In particular the fragments of Æthelred’s Laws contained in MS CCC 201 (V Atr, pp. 48-52, and VI Atr, pp. 126-130) mention the juridical situation of the widow, while the Institutes of Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical (MS, pp. 40-43 and pp. 87-93) defines the norms for regulating the social behaviour of laymen and religious people in marriage, as well as in bachelorhood and in widowhood. Finally, the Handbook for the Confession, chapters 1-14 (MS, pp. 115-121) concerns the penitence inflicted on the transgressor of the marriage canon, and on anyone who carries out violence on women, is described in detail. The translation of the HA was carried out in Anglo-Saxon England between the end of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh centuries (Raith 1956: 8; Goolden 1958: xxxvii), while the surviving English tradition of the Latin romance is more recent and is part of the so-called C redaction.12 11 But a relationship could also exist between some of the juridical and religious statements handed down in the manuscript and the content of the fragments of the OEHA, which mainly concern four topics: incest and rape, love and marriage, free consent, and widowhood. See, for example, the fourth book, chapters 1-14 of the Handbook for the Confession (pp. 115-121 of the MS), where the penance inflicted on the transgressor of the marriage canon, and on anyone who carries out violence on women, is described in detail. The fragments of Aethelred’s Laws contained in the MS CCCC 201 (V Atr, pp. 48-52, and VI Atr, pp. 126-130 of the MS) mention the juridical situation of the widow, while the Institutes of Polity, the Civil and Ecclesiastical (MS, pp. 40-43 and pp. 87-93) defines the norms for regulating the social behaviour of laymen and religious people in marriage, as well as in bachelorhood and in widowhood; see Morini 2000: 17-22. 12 MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 318, pp. 477-509: Vita Apollonii Tyrii, s. XII; MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 451, fol. 88a-105b: Historia Apollonii, s. XIII; MS Oxford, Bodleian Library Laud 247, fol. 204a-223a: Liber Apollonii, s. XIII; MS Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawilson D. 893, fol. 194 (105), ch. 15-16; fol. 195 (106), ch. 31, s. XIV; MS Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawilson C. 5010, fol. 260b-(31b); fol. 270b (41b), s. XIV. Riese 1973: 125-73 was the first The First English Love Romance without "Love"! 113 I quote here both the Latin and the Old English text from Raith’s edition, who presents the reasonable hypothesis that the lost transcription of the Latin text used for the Old English translation could have been very close to the version contained in CCCC 318, which was extant during the twelfth century.13 Goolden (1958) on the contrary also published an artificial and “conflated” Latin text,14 which is mainly based on the same manuscript CCCC 318. But all the convergent variant readings with the Anglo-Saxon translation, preserved in many manuscripts belonging to all three recensions, are extant in Goolden’s text. The Old English translation begins, as does the Latin text, with the narration of the incest episode, concerning King Antiochus who seduces and rapes his daughter and sets to her suitors a riddle relating to his incest.15 But the translation introduces some modifications, which have been inserted as regards the presentation of the event, using the amplification of some particulars and the omission of others: � ch.1. Sed dum pater deliberaret, cui potissimum filiam suam in matrimonium daret, cogente iniqua concupiscentia crudelitateque flamme�� LQFLGLW�LQ�DPRUHP�ILOLH�VXH, et cepit eam aliter diligere quam quod patrem opportebat. Qui diu luctatur cum furore pugne, cum dolore vincitur amore. Excidit illi pietas, oblitus est esse se patrem, induit coniugem� Sed dum sevi pectoris sui vulnus ferre non posset, quadam die prima luce vigilans irrupit cubiculum , famulos secedere longius iussit, quasi cum filia sua secretum colloquium habiturus�� GLXTXH� UHSXJQDQWL� QRGXP� YLUJLQLWDWLV�HUXSLW� perfectoque scelere cupit celare secrete. to discover the existence of this version; see now Raith 1956: 85-91 and Kortekaas 1984: 20-22. 13 See Raith 1956. For other hypotheses see Morini (forthcoming) “The Old English Apollonius of Tyre and Wulfstan of York.” Leeds Studies in English. 14 ‘Über den Wert eines solches conflated Text kann man verschiedener Meinung sein; hier jedenfalls bietet er alles, was zum Verständnis des ae. Textes wesentlich ist, während ein lat. Text, der ausschließlich einer Hs. folgt, für die meisten Benutzer, des Buches kaum von Vorteil wäre’ (Gneuss 1960: 366). 15 On this topic see Archibald 1986: 259-72, and also 2001; for the incest topic in the ME Apollonius tale in Gower’s Confessio amantis, see Bullón-Fernández 2000. Carla Morini 114 Ða gelamp hit sarlicum gelimpe, þa ða se fæder þohte hwam he hi mihte healicost forgifan, ìD�JHIHRO� �KLV�DJHQ�PRG�RQ�K\UH�OXIH mid unrihtre gewilnunge� to ðam swiðe þæt he forgeat þa fæderlican arfæstnesse and gewilnode his agenre dohtor him to gemæccan; and þa gewilnunge naht lange ne ylde, ac sume dæge on ærne mergen, þa he of slæpe awoc, he abræc into ðam bure, þar heo inne læg, and het his hyredmen ealle him aweg gan, swilce he wið his dohtor sume digle spæce sprecan wolde. Hwæt! he ða on ðare manfullan scilde abisgode DQG� ìD� RQJHDQ� ZLQQHQGDQ�I PQDQ�PLG�PLFHOUH�VWUHQJèH�HDUIRèOLFH�RIHUFRP�� and þæt gefremede man gewilnode to bediglianne Then it happened, through a painful misfortune, that while the father was thinking to whom he might give her, in preference to others, then he fell in love with her, (excited) by illicit desire, so violently that he forgot paternal piety, and desired his own daughter to himself for a mate; and that desire did not long delay; but one day, in early the morning, when he from sleep awoke, he broke into the room where she lay, and bade all his servants to go away from him, as if he would speak some secret speech with his daughter. He then engaged in that immoral crime, and the wriggling girl overcame with great difficulty; and sought to hide the committed crime � ch. 2 6HG�GXP�JXWWH�VDQJXLQLV� LQ�SDYLPHQWR�FHFLGLVVHQW, subito nutrix introivit; et vidit puellam roseo rubore perfusam, asperso sanguine pavimento (…) Ða gewearð hit þæt þæs mædenes fostor-moðor in to ðam bure eode, and geseah hi ðar sittan on micelre gedrefednesse (…) Then it happened that the maiden’s foster-mother went into the room, and saw her there sitting in great distress (…) ch.3. Et ut semper impiis thoris filie frueretur, ad expellendos nuptiarum petitores questiones proponebat. and to ðam þæt he þe lengc brucan mihte his dohtor arleasan brid- beddes, and him fram adryfan þa ðe hyre girndon to rihtum gesynscipum, he asette ða rædels. and in order that he might the longer enjoy his daughter’s impious bride-bed, and drive from him those who desired her in lawful marriage, he set then a riddle. The First English Love Romance without "Love"! 115 Every insertion or omission was added in order to stress the serious impiety of the king, and above all the illegality of his crime, and otherwise to emphasize the opposite lawful behaviour. First he gradually informs his reader about what is going to happen: initially he generically adds that gelamp hit sarlicum gelimpe ‘a painful misfortune occurred,’ caused mid unrihtre gewilnunge ‘by an illegal desire.’ Then, he introduces the adjective unriht ‘illegal, unjust’ in order to offer a juridical judgment of the action that was being revealed. Moreover, another sentence introduced by the translator —Hwæt, he ða on ðare manfullan scilde abisgode— expresses the transition from intention to action, to the violence that is perpetrated against a non- acquiescent person (Lat. repugnanti). It is particularly interesting to observe that the anonymous translator underlines that the rape had been perpetrated secundum legem, which means ‘against the will of the raped,’ introducing the adverb earfodlice ‘with difficulty’ and a complement mid micelre strengðe, which literally means ‘with a lot of strength.’ The adjective manful ‘sinful’ is added in order to mark clearly as immoral father’s action; the adjective riht (ch. 3: þa ðe hyre girndon to rihtum gesynscipum) ‘legal, juridical,’ introduced with a positive qualification to the Latin noun nuptial (ch.3 ad expellendos nuptiarum petitores) underlines, in this case, the legality of the future marriage of the princess which could be contracted with one of her suitors, in opposition to the illegitimate relationship with her father, defined by the translator, as I have said before, as unriht (ch. 2). Finally, at ch. 2 some particulars relating to rape and violence are omitted or modified: “sed dum gutte sanguinis in pavimento cecidissent; et vidit puellam roseo rubore perfusam / hi ðar sittan on micelre gedrefednesse.” It is worth noting that rape is described with a greater touch of delicacy than it is in the Latin text. Otherwise the OE text contains other enlargements concerning the lawful marriage between Apollonius and princess:16 Apollonius, invited at the court of King Arcestrates, meets his daughter. The princess falls in love with him, gives him presents and obtains her father’s permission to study with him. Finally she chooses him as husband. 16 As the Latin source (MS CCC 318), the OE fragments give the name of the princess (that is the same of the king) only at the end of the romance, ch. 49. Otherwise she is defined as maiden or the king’s daughter. Carla Morini 116 The translator emphasized that it is the princess, not her father, who chooses her husband of her own will. There are also significant differences in the expression of princess’ feelings towards Apollonius in the Old English text. It is worth noting that the love story between Apollonius and the daughter of the king has been retold in Old English without any “love words”: Ch. 17 Puella timens ne DPDWXP�VXXP non videret hora qua vellet (…) Ða adred þæt mæden þæt heo næfre eft $SROORQLXP ne gesawe swa raðe, swa heo wolde (…) Then the young girl was afraid she should not see Apollonius any more, as she would have liked to do (…) � ch. 20 Puella ut vidit DPRUHV�VXRV��sic) ait: (…) Mit þam þe þæt mæden geseah $SROORQLXP, þa cwæð heo (…) When the young girl saw Apollonius she said (…) In the second fragment Arcestrate, now the chief priestess of Diana, recognizes the stranger as her husband, but the translator does not render any feeling. Only plentiful tears express her emotions, as in the Latin source. So the princess appears to be less passionate in the Old English than in the Latin text: “ ch. 49 et illa cum lacrimis voce magna clamavit dicens “Ego sum coniunx tua Arcestrates, regis Arcestratis filia”. Et mittens VH� LWHUXP� LQ� DPSOH[X� HLXV� cepit dicere: Tu es Tyrius meus Apollonius. Heo ða micelre stæfne clipode and cwæð mid wope “Ic eom Arcestrate, þin gemæcca, Archestrates dohtor þæs cynges, and þu eart Apollonius min lareow”. And then crying in a loud voice broken by sobs, she said: “I am Arcestrate, your wife, daughter of King Arcestrates and you are Apollonius, my teacher.” Finally, it is also to be noted that there is an entire section that has been omitted by the translator: ch. 18. Interposito pauci temporis spacio, FXP�QRQ�SRVVHW�SXHOOD� XOOD� UDWLRQH� DPRULV� VXL� XXOQXV� WROHUDUH�� VLPXODWH� LQILUPLWDWH� The First English Love Romance without "Love"! 117 FHSLW� LDFHUH. Rex ut vidit filiam suam subitaneam valitudinem incurrisse, sollicitus adhibuit medicos. while he added a new passage, describing the princess as not lovesick, but “busy for learning”: Ch.21 Certe dixi vobis, quod non apto tempore me interpellastis. Sed cum nubendi tempus fuerit, mittam ad vos. Ch.21. Soð is þæt ic eow ær sæde þæt ge ne comon on gedafenlicre tide mynre dohtor to bidanne; ac þonne heo mæg hi fram hyre lare geæmtigan, þonne sænde ic eow word. It is true what I said to you before, that you came not in right time to ask for my daughter; but when she can disengage from her studies, then I will send you news. Thus the learned daughter of King Arcestrates seems to represent the Anglo-Saxon woman, of noble rank, who loves song and the music of the harp and whose education was imparted by a teacher (lareow).17 The princess is able to write, as the translator emphasized many times, more in fact than the Latin source: Ch. 20. Apollonius ait: “Immo gratulor, quod abundantia litterarum studiorum meorum percepta me volente cui animus tuus desiderat nube.” puella ait: “Magister, VL� DPDUHV� dolores.” Hec dicens istante amoris audacia VFULSVLW et signatos codicellos iuveni tradidit. Pertulit Apollonius in foro et tradidit regi. 6FULSWL�HUDQW sic. Apollonius cwæð: Na, ac ic blissige swiðor, ðæt þu miht ðurh ða lare, þe þu æt me underfenge�� � ìH� V\OI� RQ� JHZULWH� JHFLèDQ, hwilcne heora þu wille. Min willa is, þæt þu ðe wer geceose, þar ðu silf wille. Ðæt mæðen cwæð: Eala lareow��JLI�èX�PH�OXIRGHVW� þu hit besorgodest. Æfter þisum wordum heo mid modes anrædnesse DZUDW� RèHU� JHZULW and þæt geinseglode and sealde Apollonio: Apollonius hit þa ut bær on ða stræte and sealde þam cynge. ç W�JHZULW Z V�ìXV�JHZULWHQ� Apollonius said: “No, but I rejoice much more if you, through the instruction you received from me, could yourself declare in writing which one of them you want. My will is that you choose 17 See Fell 1984: 114 see also Murray 1928: 283-92; Lazzari 1998: 613. For more details see Morini 2004. According to Bede, there were in Anglo-Saxon England as students quique viri ac feminae. Carla Morini 118 whom you will.” The maiden said: “Oh teacher, if you loved me, you would be sorry about it.” After these words she, with steadiness of mind, wrote another letter and sealed and gave it to Apollonius. Then Apollonius took it into the street and gave it to the king. The letterer was written in this way. While in the source Lat. scribere (scripsit and scripti erant) occurs only twice, in the Old English text the translator stresses repeatedly Arcestrate’s writing and introduces a new clause (þe sylf on gewrite geciðan), using wordplay: awrat oðer gewrit, Ðæt gewrit wæs þus gewriten.18 On the evidence of the comparison between the Latin and the Old English text, it appears clear that the translator has deliberately omitted almost entirely any word concerning the feeling of love in the young woman, as well as the entire passage which refers to her love-sickness. The rare exceptions are: ch. 18 sed puella DE�DPRUH�LQFHQVD inquietam habuit (…) et non sustinens DPRUHP, prima luce vigilat, irripuit cubilum patris (…). Ac þæt mæðen hæfde unstille niht und PLG�ìDUH�OXIH�DQ OHG and na leng he one gebad ðonne hit dæg wæs (…). But the maiden, inflamed with love, had a restless night and because she could not endure it any longer, at daybreak (…). ch. 20 Puella ait: “Magister, VL�DPDUHV, dolores . hec dicens istante DPRULV�DXGDFLD scripsit�et signatos codicellos iuveni tradidit (…) Þæt mæðen cwæð: “Eala lareow, gif ðu me OXIRGHVW, þu hit besorgodest.”Æfter þisum wordum heo mid modes anrædnesse awrat oðer gewrit and þæt geinseglode and sealde Apollonio (…). The maiden said: “Oh, teacher! if you did love me, you would be sorry of it.” After these words, she, with steadiness of mind, wrote another letter, sealed it and gave it to Apollonius (…). While the translator also omitted amoris audacia, he translated Lat. amares as lufodest, from lufian, a verb which recurs in Old English with the broad meaning of ‘to love, to have affection for,’ merely used for expressing ‘love to God.’ It is worth noting that only in Ælfric’s Grammar 19 do we read a reference to love: te amo: ðe ic lufige (Zupitza 1880). Also OE lufu, 18 On the wordplay in Apollonius, see Morini forthcoming. The First English Love Romance without "Love"! 119 lufe, mainly occurs in the Old English corpus in the meaning of divine love, charity, affection, friendliness, feeling. It is also worth noting that Arcestrate is the first female figure in Old English literature to fall in love: ‘þa gefeol hyre mod on his lufe’: ch.17. Sed dum pater deliberaret, cui potissimum filiam suam in matrimonium daret, cogente iniqua concupiscentia crudelitateque flamme��LQFLGLW�LQ�DPRUHP�ILOLH�VXH. Ða gelamp hit sarlicum gelimpe, þa ða se fæder þohte hwam he hi mihte healicost forgifan, ìD�JHIHRO� �KLV�DJHQ�PRG�RQ�K\UH�OXIH mid unrihtre gewilnunge� to ðam swiðe þæt he forgeat þa fæderlican arfæstnesse. Then it happened, through a painful misfortune, that while the father was thinking to whom he might give her, in preference to others, then he fell in love with her, (excited) by illicit desire, so violently that he forgot paternal piety. ch. 17 Puella ut vidit iuvenem omnium atrium studiorumque cumulatum, incidit in amorem. Sodlice mid þy þe þæs cynges dohtor geseah þæt Apollonius on eallum godum cræftum swa wel wæs getogen, þa gefeol hyre mod on his lufe. Now, when the king’s daughter saw that Apollonius was so well educated in all good arts, then she fell in love with him. It is also to be remarked that this is the first English occurrence of this expression, which was used twice by the translator; however the Oxford English Dictionary does not mention this occurrence.19 Moreover, it is to be noted that, although the Latin text very often uses the expression “love,” the translator reproduces with this word and its cognate adjective only the father-daughter feeling, evidently a concession to Anglo- 19 It is worth remarking that the Oxford English Dictionary, at the subst. love, also quotes to fall in love (38b)�� with the meaning “to fall (to be taken or caught) in love, to be enamoured.” Here its first occurrence is dated in the 16th century (a. 1530, Palscr, 544/2). Moreover, under the verb “to fall,” the same dictionary (7f), in the occurrence “to fall in love,” quotes as its first occurrence a sixteenth century text (a. 1568, Grafton, Chron. I, 37), ignoring the fact that the expression had been in use in Old English since the end of the tenth century! Carla Morini 120 Saxon prudery. So the princess addresses the father with the words����Bone rex et pater optime� (ch.15)��PLQ�VH�OHRIHVWD�I GHU; care genitor (ch. 17): OHRID�I GHU; Bone rex et pater optime (ch. 20): JRGD�F\QJF�DQG�PLQ��VH�� OHRIHVWD� I GHU; pater piissime� (ch. 22): GX� DUI VWD� I GHU. Princess Arcestrate also gives her father a kiss in the vernacular text: dedit osculum patri� (ch. 14)�� F\VWH� K\UH� I GHU�� The father addresses the daughter with these words nata dulcis, iuvenis (ch. 15): OHRIH�GRKWRU; nata dulcis (ch. 16, ch. 22, twice): OHRIH�GRKWRU; cara dulcis (ch. 18):�OHRIH�GRKWRU. Apollonius also addresses his daughter Tharsia and King Arcestrates in the same way: �� Domina Tharsia, nata dulcis (ch. 50): /HRIH� GRKWRU� 7KDVLD; Bone rex et pater optime (ch. 15):�JRGD�F\QLQJF��VLF��DQG�PLQ�VH�OHRIHVWD�I GHU. Basically, it appears clear that the translator reacts prudishly to lust and sexuality, colours with diminished intensity the description of heterosexual love and reproduces only paternal and filial love. The feeling of love and lust is seldom mentioned and very rarely described in the Old English literary corpus in general, the bulk of which is constituted, as it is well known, by male literary genres, heroic and elegiac poetry, the latter with the rare exception of The Wife’s Lament, and other possible frauenlieder (Wulf and Eadwacer, for example), homiletic or didactic prose, which are not likely to emphasize sex and the passion of love—with the exception of the sexual discourses made in some of the lives of saints or riddles. Chastity and restraint were more strongly emphasized than sex and passion. Thus, Old English poetry is ‘largely asexual,’ with very rare exceptions. Emotion is directly expressed by the female’s voice only in The Wife’s Lament,20 (min hlaford 5a “my lord,” min leodfruma 8a and mines fela leofan 26 ‘my only one beloved,” minre weaþearfe 10b “my woeful need” ), etc. 21 Only in rare cases love and sexuality are recorded in OE works. In Maxims II, they are incidentally mentioned, as well as adultery: freoð hy fremde monnan, þonne se oþer feor gewiteþ. (l.102) They love strange men when the others depart away. 20 See Swanton 1964: 271. Emotion is less expressed in Wulf and Edwacer where the woman refers to her husband using the possessive adjective and pronoun. 21 See Goepp 1938: 171; Klinck 1982: 108; Richards & Stanfield 1990: 89. The First English Love Romance without "Love"! 121 In Maxims I. 99 one reads that “it is necessary to give the husband what his love asks” (þæs his lufu bædeð).22 Moreover, it has been argued that about ten riddles referring to sexual themes were composed by one woman and that in every case such texts were destined to a female audience (Whitehurst Williams 1990: 137-145). At this point a further observation should be made. From the ninth-tenth centuries the lives of holy virgins already constituted an exemplary model of how to overcome sexual violence through the observance of chastity. The Anglo-Saxon cultured woman, in fact, listened to or read histories of heroines, as is particularly the case of the lives of virgin martyrs. Ignoring peasant women, queens and wives are largely portrayed in a domestic role, either suffering or pleasant, in heroic poetry, always subject to male society and power. Other very strong women are recorded in Old English poetry, like Elene, Judith and Juliana, who escape from the female passive role only by denying their sexuality. Only later did a new genre of literature arise in order to spread an exemplary model of conjugal life in which the limits of the licit and the illicit had to be fixed. Thus, the banishing of the emotional and sexual aspects of marriage from the Apollonius seems to imply the desire by the translator to conform to medieval ethics which equated them with vice. These aspects were also rejected by the Church and by the laws.23 In my opinion, the fragments of the Apollonius, with its enlarged and cut parts, are to be considered as exercepta from the entire Latin work in order to offer an exemplum of the legal / illegal way to view marriage and love, the legal / illegal behaviour of a father.24 The behaviour of Antiochus and his daughter constitutes, in fact, a negative example, in contrast to that of King Arcestrates and his daughter, which represents proper or legal behaviour, as has been underlined by the lexical amplifications introduced by the translator. Moreover, the behaviour of King Arcestrates is exemplary, both as a father and as king. Princess Arcestrate speaks of and demonstrates her own will unlike the other princess, the unlucky daughter of Antiochus, who is passive and suffering, a victim who is 22 See Krapp and Dobbie 1936. On the Exeter Book see also Gameson 1996: 135- 185. 23 See Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen: I, V Atr., 21, 21.1, 242; VI Atr 26, 26.1: 254. 24 See Archibald 1989: 24-40; and Morini, forthcoming. Carla Morini 122 submitted to her father’s will. According to these juridical considerations, the censure of the conduct of King Antiochus and the desire of King Arcestrates to respect the will of his daughter in the choice of bridegroom appear to be perfectly in tune with the ideology of marriage sanctioned by the Church and by the king to Anglo-Saxon society at the end of the tenth century; it constitutes an example of the way in which one should behave, as it was established by Wulfstan in his own promulgation of ecclesiastical and lay duties.25 Moreover, King Antiochus is the bad character, drawn by instinct; Apollonius and King Arcestrates are the good ones, both civilized and religious. In conclusion, the Old English text of Apollonius reveals the sexual pessimism of the Medieval Christian Church inherited from the Fathers, who celebrated chastity and monogamy in marriage and considered sexual relations as evil and unclean. Therefore this translation seems to be attached to a practical aim: that of depicting the model of a couple’s life as was allowed by the Christian Church in Anglo-Saxon England, by omitting any feeling and any words concerning marital love. Carla Morini Università della Calabria WORKS CITED Archibald E. 1989: Fathers and Kings in Apollonius of Tyre. In Images of Authority: Papers Presented to Joyce Reynolds on the Occasion of her Seventieth Birthday. Ed. M. M. Mackenzie & C. Rouche. Cambridge Philological Society, Supplementary 16: 24-40. Archibald E. 1986: The Flight from Incest: Two Late Classical Precursors of the Constance Theme. Chaucer Review 20: 259-272. 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