Arcadia. Sir Philip Sidney
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“[I]n a final desperate effort [Thyrsis] changes to an intricate five-line stanza rhyming a5b3c5c3b5 … but Dorus surpasses him by beginning his reply with the last line of [Thyrsis’] stanza and then repeating the same form. The roles are now reverse, for [Thyrsis] is forced to reply to Dorus by beginning with his last line. He manages to do so for one stanza, but when Dorus again successfully caps his effort, he returns to the terza rima with which he had begun and acknowledges defeat" (Ringler 386).
elegiac verses] Sidney regarded quantitative verse as noble and courtly (Ringler 393); in the 1593 Arcadia only Pyrocles and Musidorus use this Greek and Latin versification form based on long and short syllables rather than stresses. Elegiac couplets are common in quantitative verse; for example, in Ovid’s Heroides and Ars Amatoria and much medieval Latin poetry:
— — / — — / — ∪ ∪ / — ∪ ∪/ — ∪ ∪ / —
— — / — ∪ ∪ / — // — ∪ ∪ / — ∪ ∪ / —
A long syllable may substitute for two shorts except in the penultimate foot. The first two lines of Musidorus’ poem are scanned:
— — / — — / — — / — — / — ∪ ∪ / — —
For-tune, / Na-ture, / Love, long / have con- / tend-ed a- / bout me
— — / — ∪ ∪ / — // — ∪ ∪ / — ∪ ∪ / —
which should / most mi - se- / ries , // cast on a / worm that I / am.
adusted] “[W]hen choler (one of the four humours of the body) becomes adusted (loses its moisture through heat), melancholy results” (Ringler 393).
her] the “beauty divine” (Pamela).
spite] Pamela still disdains Dorus.
shamefastness] modesty. (She blushes.)
Sapphics] A verse form used by the Latin love poet Catullus (11 and 51) in imitation of the Greek female poet Sappho, and therefore well suited for Zelmane:
— ∪ — — — ∪ ∪ — ∪ — —
If my eyes can speak to do heart-y er-rand,
— ∪ — — — ∪ ∪ — ∪ — —
or my eyes’ lan-guage she do hap to judge of
— ∪ — — — ∪ ∪ — ∪ — —
so that eyes’ mes-sage be of her re-ceiv-ed
— ∪ ∪ — —
hope, we do both die.
vale] “the world as a place of sorrow and tears” (OED).
“The disguised Musidorus and Pyrocles together sing of their loves ‘in a secret manner,’ hoping that the ‘parties intended’ (Pamela and Philoclea) will understand their meaning; but they are no more successful than Shakespeare’s Viola was when she addressed Orsino in similar fashion” (Ringler 394).
Lady] Zelmane (Pyrocles in disguise).
Both princes use the same hexameter verse form:
— ∪ ∪ / — ∪ ∪ / — ∪ ∪ / — ∪ ∪ / — ∪∪ / — —.
Thus the first four lines read:
La-dy re- / served by the / heav’ns to do / pas-tor’s / com-pa-ny / ho-nor,
join-ing / your sweet / voice to the / ru-ral / muse of a / de-sert,
here you / ful-ly do / find the / strange o-per- / a-ti-on / of love—
how to the / woods love / runs, as / well as / rides to the / pa-lace.
Cyparissus] Pyrocles envies Musidorus because he can cool his passions, hot as the sun (Phoebus), in the guise (shade) of an unassuming heterosexual male (Cyparissus, as in Spenser’s Faerie Queene 1.6.17) lodged near the woman he loves (pleasant myrtle, the shrubbery of Venus, goddess of love).
Idea] “the Platonic … Ideal, the ‘fore conceit’ of an arist’s work … but Musidorus’ … is a real woman, Pamela” (Ringler 394).
manly] “The required elision throws the emphasis on ‘man’—Musidorus, even though disguised, appears as a man and can express his love for a woman; Pyrocles, disguised as a woman, cannot” (Ringler 394). Professor Ringler concludes that it is possible to scan Sidney’s quantitative lines so that the eye perceives how the syllables fit the Latin meter; nonetheless “when read aloud many of his lines do not sound like verse to English ears.” He adds that “it must be remembered that all . . . the measured poems are described as being sung, … so that by the tune of the music the poet or listener ‘should straight know how every word should be measured’” (392-393). The editors have more freely than usual modernized this poem from here on.
greater] Pamela and Philoclea.
puppet] impersonator, an inferior actor.
to estates which still be adherent] “which always accompany high position” (Ringler 395).
The laurel or bay leaf is a sign of renown; myrrh is an aromatic gum, a balm of sweetness; the evergreen leaf of the myrtle is a sign of love; the willow of unrequited love; and the cypress of mourning. The boy is Cupid, god of love.
fig … hurtful] Secret murderers were said to use poisoned figs.
style] “The pastoral traditionally requires the low style” (Ringler 494).