Blandie, which he had conquered, and neglected to pay tribute (truage) to Agrian (xxx.). The king Isopes offers Berinus his niece Clepatras in marriage (xli.). The barons of Blandie sent word to Logres, a rival suitor, of this news (xlii.), who in consequence arrived at Blandie, but is conquered by Berinus (lv.), who is in consequence led in triumph through the city in a robe of cloth of gold, after which the nuptials took place (lxi.). The union resulted in a son and a daughter, Aigres and Rommaine. Isopes died, and the barons sent to search out Logres to make him king (lxiv.). Berinus and his family were brought "vitupereusement to Logres (lxvi.) by traitors whom Logres to their great surprise hung (lxvii.). Berinus, however, who seems to have been incurably addicted to yachting, was drawn to the rock of Adamant (lxx.), upon which they at once proceed to begin deep mourning (lxxi.). It was decided by lot that Aigres should remain here (lxxii.) while the rest departed to Rome, where Berinus found his old master Geoffroy. The experiences of Berinus on the rock were of the most variegated-visions, phantoms, robbers. The latter he killed and routed (lxxix.), but retained their servant for his own use, which servant showed him their treasures. Aigres conquered the king Danemont, and converted him, by this unusual means securing his friendship (lxxxi.). Aigres found diplomatic service in a mission to demand of king Absalon his daughter for the hand of King Holofernes (lxxxiii. and lxxxiiii.); he was however imprisoned with lions, which he slew unaided, an exploit which was reported by the seneschal Maugis to the king. Absalon announces he will only bestow his daughter upon him who can overcome two marvellous lions (lxxxvii.). Aigres kills the animals (lxxxviii.), and marries Melia, the princess, but his disloyal companion Accars thrusts him into a well, and abducts Melia; she was shortly seized, however, by a king Abilaus. Aigres conquered Abilaus and took off Melia (xciiii.). Aigres, with his horse Moreau, returns at length to his father Berinus. The latter portion of the romance recounts the robbery of the treasury of the emperor (cxiii. etc.), which is a version of the Rhampsinitus story in Herodotus (ii. 121). Aigres cuts off his father's head to prevent his recognition (cxix., cxx.), and meeting a knight on his return kills him to avoid detection (cxx.). The Seven Sages (among whom Cicero) advise that the trunk of Berinus should be drawn through Rome (cxxv.). Aigres, however, takes down the body to a hermit for sepulture, whom he pays for prayers (cxxxiii.) The emperor sends for the Seven Sages, who had failed in the recovery of the treasure, and tells them they are not wise (cxxxvii.). Aigres however departs and eventually reaches Rome, where he espouses Melia in great solemnity. The romances of the second class, or those which relate to Charlemagne, so closely resemble the fictions concerning Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, that the same, or nearly the same, observations apply to both. The foundations of each are laid from supposed histories: Arthur wars against the Saxons, and Charlemagne against the Saracens; both princes are unhappy in their families, and sometimes unsuccessful in their undertakings. In each class of compositions the characters of these sovereigns are degraded below their historical level, for the purpose of giving greater dignity and relief to their paladins and chivalry; since otherwise the monarchs would have been the only heroes, and the different warriors would not have appeared in their proper light. But, by lowering as it were the sovereign princes, the writers of romance delineated the manners of their times, and pleased perhaps those haughty barons, who took delight in representations of vassals superior in prowess and in power to their lords. The authors of the romances concerning Charlemagne wrote under considerable disadvantages: the ground had been already occupied by their predecessors, and they could do little more than copy their pictures of tented fields, and their method of dissecting knights and giants. On the other hand, circumstances were in some degree more favourable to them than to the authors of the fictions concerning Arthur and the companions of the Round Table. The Saracens were a more romantic people than the Saxons; and tales of eastern fairies and eastern mag nificence offered new pictures to delight and astonish the mind. "The knights of Charlemagne," says Sismondi, "no longer wandered, like those of the Round Table, through gloomy forests, in a country half civilized, and which seemed always covered with storms and snow. All the softness and perfumes of regions most favoured by nature were now at the disposal of romancers; and an acquisition still more precious was the imagination of the east, that imagination so brilliant and various, which was employed to give animation to the sombre mythology of the north. Magnificent palaces now arose in the desert: enchanted gardens or groves, perfumed with_orange trees and myrtles, bloomed amidst burning sands, or barren rocks surrounded by the sea.” All these are much less agreeable than genuine pictures of life and nature; but they are better, at least, than descriptions of continual havoc, and the unprovoked slaughter of giants. Of all kinds of warfare the gigantomachia is, in truth, the least interesting, as we invariably anticipate what will be the final lot of the giant, who, from the unlucky precedent of the Titans and Goliah, has constantly fallen under the arm of his adversary. Indeed, in proportion to his bulk and stature, his destruction appears always the more easy and his fate more certain. Butler pronounces it to be a heavy case, that a man should have his brains knocked out for no other reason than because he is tall and has large bones; but the case seems still harder, that strength and stature, while they provoked aggression, should have been of no service in repelling it, and that a giant's power and prowess should have proved of no avail except to his antagonist. In this respect, however, it must be confessed, that the book of nature differs little from the volumes of chivalry, since, while the race of mites and moths remain, the mammoth and megatherion are swept away. 1 The following works may be noted in connexion with the subject :— Le Origini dell' epopea francese, indagate da Pio Raina, Firenze, 1884, of which a critical account is given by M. G. Paris in Romania, Oct. 1884. (See note, p. 342, supra). G. Paris, Histoire poétique Charlemagne, 1865, etc. A. Pakscher, Zur Kritik und Geschichte des altfranzösischen Rolandsliedes, Berlin, 1885. L. Gautier, Epopées Françaises. 1880, CHAPTER V. ROMANCES OF THE PENINSULA CONCERNING AMADIS DE GAUL AND HIS DESCENDANTS.-ROMANCES RELATING TO THE IMAGINARY FAMILY OF THE PALMERINS.-CATA LONIAN ROMANCES.-TIRANTE THE WHITE.-PARTENOPEX DE BLOIS. THE 'HE reader, who has now toiled through the romances of the Round Table, and those relating to Charlemagne, has not yet completed the whole of his labour: Alter erit nunc Tiphys, et altera quae vehat Argo VIRG. Ecl. 4. Had it been my intention, indeed, merely to compose a pleasing miscellany, I should not only refrain from analyzing any other romances of chivalry, but should even have omitted many of which an abstract has been given. But the value of a work of the description which I have undertaken, consists, in a considerable degree, in its fulness. The multiplicity of the productions of any species is evidence of the kind of literature which was in fashion at the time of their composition, and therefore indicates the taste of the age. Even the dulness of the fictions of chivalry is, in some degree, instructive, as acquainting us with the monotonous mode of life which prevailed during the periods which gave them birth; while, at the same time, by a comparison of the intellectual powers exhibited in romance with the exertions of the same ages in law, theology, and other pursuits, we are enabled to form an estimate of the employment of genius in those distant periods, and to behold in what arts and sciences it was most successfully displayed. While the other European nations were so much occupied with romance writing, it was not to be expected that the Portuguese and Spaniards should altogether have neglected a species of composition so fascinating in itself, and at this time so much in vogue. The subject of Arthur, and the topics connected with Charlemagne, had been exhausted, and it was now requisite to find a new chief and a new race of heroes. Arthur had been selected as a leader in romance, less perhaps from national vanity than from being in possession of some traditional glory, and thus forming a kind of head and support, by which unity was given to the adventures of subordinate knights. Charlemagne was naturally adopted by the romance writers of the neighbouring country as having many analogies with Arthur. In Portugal, however, where we shall find the first great romance of the series on which we are now entering was formed,' there seems to have been no prince nor leader who was thus clothed with traditional fame. Accordingly an imaginary hero was chosen, and, as the first romance which was written in the peninsula was possessed of great literary merit, it had an overpowering and subduing effect on succeeding fablers. In imitation of the former author, they continued the family history, supposing, perhaps, that the interest which had been already excited on the subject, which formed the source of their works, would be favourable to their success. This also furnished a certain facility of magnifying their heroes, as it was not difficult to represent each new descendant as surpassing his predecessor. Unfortunately the successive writers of romance supposed that what had pleased once must please always; in the same manner that it was long thought necessary that an epic writer should have in his poem the same number of books as Homer, and should employ the same forms of address, comparison, and description. Accordingly the heroes of most romances of the peninsula are illegitimate; there are usually two brothers, a Platonist and Materialist; and, in short, a general sameness of character and incident. The opponents of the knights are, however, different from those in the romances of Arthur or Charlemagne; they are no longer the Saxons or Saracens, but the Turks; and as the Greek empire was now trembling to its base, many of the scenes of warfare are laid at 1 See, however, note on p. 354, respecting the authorship of the Amadis. |