Lidia
Encyclopedia
The Comoedia Lydiae is a medieval Latin
elegiac comedy
from the late twelfth century. The "argument" at the beginning of the play refers to it as the Lidiades (line 3, a play on Heroides
), which the manuscripts gloss
as comedia de Lidia facta (a comedy made about Lidia) and which its English translator gives as Adventures of Lidia.
Lidia was long ascribed to Matthieu de Vendôme
, but in 1924 Edmond Faral
, in his study of Latin "fabliau
x", discounted this hypothesis. More recently, scholars have argued in favour of the authorship of the cleric Arnulf of Orléans, which now seems secure. The play was probably composed sometime shortly after 1175.
Compared with the other elegiac comedies, Lidia is not as dependent on Ovid
. It is dark and cynical in its view of human nature
, even misogynistic. Lidia, the title character, is portrayed as a complete brute, sexually mischievous, faithless, cruel, and completely self-centred. Arnulf is explicit when he claims that Lidia is just a typical woman (line 37).
In style, Lidia is highly rhetoric
al. Bruno Roy called it "the apotheosis
of the pun
". Lidia's name is often punned with ludus (game) and ludere (play), often with connotations of deception or sexual activity. Women are the virus
that destroys virum (man, virility
). Lidia would be unsatisfied even with ten (decem) men, a pun on her husband's name, Decius. The puns, though fashionable in the late twelfth century, make elegance in translation very difficult.
Lidia is preserved in two fourteenth-century manuscripts. One of them may have been copied by the hand of Giovanni Boccaccio
. Regardless, he certainly borrowed the tale for his Decameron, 7.9. His major alteration was the name of Lidia's husband, changed from Decius to Nicostrato. Geoffrey Chaucer
also borrowed aspects of Lidia for "The Merchant's Tale
", one of The Canterbury Tales
.
laying out the characters and the situation, and the story itself. In the argument Arnulf claims that he is writing to improve upon his previous comedy about "the sportive knight", Miles gloriosus. He has depicted "all female wiles worthy of note" so that you "may flee forewarned: after all, you too may have a Lidia in your life" (lines 5–6). A moralistic or didactic purpose was often given in the Middle Ages to justify the production of eroticised or sexualised literature.
The prologue begins with a pun on one of the main characters, Pyrrhus, the loyal knight
of Lidia's husband, the duke
Decius, and the Latin word for pear tree
, pirus. The pun is accommodated in English by use of "Pearus" for "Pyrrhus". A pear was a common phallic symbol from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The dramatist is poking fun at Pyrrhus when he refers to "the pears fallen from the pear tree" (line 8). The references to the "jealous one" in the prologue are probably a reference to Matthieu de Vendôme and his rivalry with Arnulf.
The tale begins by describing Lidia's dissatisfaction with her marriage. She is enamored of Pearus and whenever he passes she pretends to faint, his name gets stuck in her throat (which, given its phallic symbolism, is an innuendo
for oral sex
), and when she lies in her bed alone she is pleased that Decius is away. She then concocts a plan to test Pearus. She sends her elderly messenger Lusca (the one-eyed) to tell Pearus how she dies for him, would willingly give herself to him, and is unfaithful to her husband. Shocked, Pearus rationalises that it is a test of his loyalty planned by his master, Decius, and proclaims that just as Lidia is loyal to the duke, so is Pearus.
What follows is a diatribe
from Lusca on the evil of women, the promiscuity of Lidia, and the decline of the state of marriage. She decides, however, that her interests are best served by Lidia's continued infidelity, since a disloyal wife is freer with her husband's wealth. When Lusca approaches Pearus a second time, the knight is moved by the story of Hippolytus
to test Lusca's allegation that Decius is a fool whom Lidia controls and deceives at will. He devises three tests for Lidia: she must kill the duke's prized falcon
to prove she can deceive him, she must pluck five hairs from his beard, and she must extract one of his teeth. Each of these tests is a test of virility, since the falcon, the beard, and the tooth could all be symbols for male sexuality in the Middle Ages.
In the following scene, Lusca relays Pearus' challenge to Lidia. Lidia, dressed "sumptuously", then brazenly enters the noisy hall where Decius is holding court, makes an impassioned speech accusing Decius of preferring the hunting grounds to her bedchamber, and grabbing the falcon from its perch, wrings its neck in front of all. Then, laughing, she nuzzles up to Decius and plucks five hairs from his beard, claiming that they were white, making him appear older than he was.
The ruse to take Decius' tooth takes days of planning. Lidia eventually has the youthful cupbearers turn their heads to the side as they serve the wine, in the belief that they have bad breath. Then, at the banquet, she loudly proclaims that they turn aside because Decius has bad breath. Pearus is then summoned to help remove the duke's offending bad tooth. Amazed, Pearus then concedes to Lidia's newest wish: to be caught "in flagrante delicto" by the duke.
The plan is simple. Lidia feigns illness and the four named characters make a trip to a garden to help relieve her. When they arrive at a pear tree, Decius sends Pearus up it to fetch some fruit. While in the tree the knight, feigning modesty, pretends that he can see the duke and Lidia in the act of intercourse. Lidia explains that it is an illusion caused by the height. Decius and Pearus promptly switch places to test the illusion. While Pearus and Lidia have sex, the duke believes he is being tricked by the pear tree. When he climbs down, he orders the tree cut down, at Lidia's request, so that it will not deceive others.
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
elegiac comedy
Elegiac comedy
Elegiac comedy was a genre of medieval Latin literature or drama popular in the twelfth century. About twenty such works survive, almost all of them produced in west central France . Though commonly identified in manuscripts as comoedia, modern scholars often reject their status as comedy. Unlike...
from the late twelfth century. The "argument" at the beginning of the play refers to it as the Lidiades (line 3, a play on Heroides
Heroides
The Heroides , or Epistulae Heroidum , are a collection of fifteen epistolary poems composed by Ovid in Latin elegiac couplets, and presented as though written by a selection of aggrieved heroines of Greek and Roman mythology, in address to their heroic lovers who have in some way mistreated,...
), which the manuscripts gloss
Gloss
A gloss is a brief notation of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader's language if that is different....
as comedia de Lidia facta (a comedy made about Lidia) and which its English translator gives as Adventures of Lidia.
Lidia was long ascribed to Matthieu de Vendôme
Matthew of Vendôme
Matthew of Vendôme was a French poet of the twelfth century, writing in Latin. He was a pupil of Bernard Silvestris, at Tours, as he himself writes. He is known for his Ars Versificatoria, a theoretical work on versification.According to E. R. Curtius,.....
, but in 1924 Edmond Faral
Edmond Faral
Edmond Faral was a French medievalist. He became in 1924 Professor of Latin literature at the Collège de France.He wrote his dissertation on the jongleurs, and E. R. Curtius states that he was the first to recognize an influence of the medieval Latin poetics and rhetoric on Old French poetry...
, in his study of Latin "fabliau
Fabliau
A fabliau is a comic, often anonymous tale written by jongleurs in northeast France between ca. 1150 and 1400. They are generally characterized by an excessiveness of sexual and scatological obscenity. Several of them were reworked by Giovanni Boccaccio for the Decamerone and by Geoffrey Chaucer...
x", discounted this hypothesis. More recently, scholars have argued in favour of the authorship of the cleric Arnulf of Orléans, which now seems secure. The play was probably composed sometime shortly after 1175.
Compared with the other elegiac comedies, Lidia is not as dependent on Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
. It is dark and cynical in its view of human nature
Human nature
Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally....
, even misogynistic. Lidia, the title character, is portrayed as a complete brute, sexually mischievous, faithless, cruel, and completely self-centred. Arnulf is explicit when he claims that Lidia is just a typical woman (line 37).
In style, Lidia is highly rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
al. Bruno Roy called it "the apotheosis
Apotheosis
Apotheosis is the glorification of a subject to divine level. The term has meanings in theology, where it refers to a belief, and in art, where it refers to a genre.In theology, the term apotheosis refers to the idea that an individual has been raised to godlike stature...
of the pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
". Lidia's name is often punned with ludus (game) and ludere (play), often with connotations of deception or sexual activity. Women are the virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
that destroys virum (man, virility
Virility
Virility refers to any of a wide range of masculine characteristics viewed positively. It is not applicable to women or to negative characteristics. The Oxford English Dictionary says virile is "marked by strength or force." Virility is commonly associated with vigour, health, sturdiness, and...
). Lidia would be unsatisfied even with ten (decem) men, a pun on her husband's name, Decius. The puns, though fashionable in the late twelfth century, make elegance in translation very difficult.
Lidia is preserved in two fourteenth-century manuscripts. One of them may have been copied by the hand of Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
. Regardless, he certainly borrowed the tale for his Decameron, 7.9. His major alteration was the name of Lidia's husband, changed from Decius to Nicostrato. Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
also borrowed aspects of Lidia for "The Merchant's Tale
The Merchant's Prologue and Tale
"The Merchant's Tale" is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In it Chaucer subtly mocks antifeminist literature like that of Theophrastus . The tale also shows the influence of Boccaccio , Deschamps' , Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris , Andreas Capellanus, Statius and Cato...
", one of The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...
.
Story
The comedy is divided into three parts: a short "argument" explaining the nature and purpose of the work, a brief prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
laying out the characters and the situation, and the story itself. In the argument Arnulf claims that he is writing to improve upon his previous comedy about "the sportive knight", Miles gloriosus. He has depicted "all female wiles worthy of note" so that you "may flee forewarned: after all, you too may have a Lidia in your life" (lines 5–6). A moralistic or didactic purpose was often given in the Middle Ages to justify the production of eroticised or sexualised literature.
The prologue begins with a pun on one of the main characters, Pyrrhus, the loyal knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of Lidia's husband, the duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
Decius, and the Latin word for pear tree
Pear Tree
Pear Tree is an inner city suburb of Derby, England. It is situated next to the areas of Normanton, Rose Hill and Osmaston. Pear Tree could be described as a suburb within a suburb because the people of Derby would identify it as an area in its own right, but it could also be described as forming...
, pirus. The pun is accommodated in English by use of "Pearus" for "Pyrrhus". A pear was a common phallic symbol from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The dramatist is poking fun at Pyrrhus when he refers to "the pears fallen from the pear tree" (line 8). The references to the "jealous one" in the prologue are probably a reference to Matthieu de Vendôme and his rivalry with Arnulf.
The tale begins by describing Lidia's dissatisfaction with her marriage. She is enamored of Pearus and whenever he passes she pretends to faint, his name gets stuck in her throat (which, given its phallic symbolism, is an innuendo
Innuendo
An innuendo is a baseless invention of thoughts or ideas. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging , that works obliquely by allusion...
for oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
), and when she lies in her bed alone she is pleased that Decius is away. She then concocts a plan to test Pearus. She sends her elderly messenger Lusca (the one-eyed) to tell Pearus how she dies for him, would willingly give herself to him, and is unfaithful to her husband. Shocked, Pearus rationalises that it is a test of his loyalty planned by his master, Decius, and proclaims that just as Lidia is loyal to the duke, so is Pearus.
What follows is a diatribe
Diatribe
Diatribe is the name of a weekly column by Greek-Australian journalist, poet and lawyer Dean Kalimniou appearing in the Melbourne Greek language newspaper Neos Kosmos since 2001...
from Lusca on the evil of women, the promiscuity of Lidia, and the decline of the state of marriage. She decides, however, that her interests are best served by Lidia's continued infidelity, since a disloyal wife is freer with her husband's wealth. When Lusca approaches Pearus a second time, the knight is moved by the story of Hippolytus
Hippolytus (mythology)
thumb|260px|The Death of Hippolytus, by [[Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema]] .In Greek mythology, Hippolytus was a son of Theseus and either Antiope or Hippolyte...
to test Lusca's allegation that Decius is a fool whom Lidia controls and deceives at will. He devises three tests for Lidia: she must kill the duke's prized falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
to prove she can deceive him, she must pluck five hairs from his beard, and she must extract one of his teeth. Each of these tests is a test of virility, since the falcon, the beard, and the tooth could all be symbols for male sexuality in the Middle Ages.
In the following scene, Lusca relays Pearus' challenge to Lidia. Lidia, dressed "sumptuously", then brazenly enters the noisy hall where Decius is holding court, makes an impassioned speech accusing Decius of preferring the hunting grounds to her bedchamber, and grabbing the falcon from its perch, wrings its neck in front of all. Then, laughing, she nuzzles up to Decius and plucks five hairs from his beard, claiming that they were white, making him appear older than he was.
The ruse to take Decius' tooth takes days of planning. Lidia eventually has the youthful cupbearers turn their heads to the side as they serve the wine, in the belief that they have bad breath. Then, at the banquet, she loudly proclaims that they turn aside because Decius has bad breath. Pearus is then summoned to help remove the duke's offending bad tooth. Amazed, Pearus then concedes to Lidia's newest wish: to be caught "in flagrante delicto" by the duke.
The plan is simple. Lidia feigns illness and the four named characters make a trip to a garden to help relieve her. When they arrive at a pear tree, Decius sends Pearus up it to fetch some fruit. While in the tree the knight, feigning modesty, pretends that he can see the duke and Lidia in the act of intercourse. Lidia explains that it is an illusion caused by the height. Decius and Pearus promptly switch places to test the illusion. While Pearus and Lidia have sex, the duke believes he is being tricked by the pear tree. When he climbs down, he orders the tree cut down, at Lidia's request, so that it will not deceive others.