v.2–v.4 arg.2-4 In 1596 these lines are revised to read ‘And Furors chayne unbinds, / Of whom sore hurt, for his revenge / Atin Gymochles finds’ (‘G’ for ‘C’ in Cymochles being an error carried over from the 1590 text). This change extends the summary of the action beyond Atin’s departure, related at 25.4-9, to include his discovery of Cymochles in the Bower, described in st. 28-36.

v.1.4 stubborne perturbation: Alluding to the Gk etymology shared by the names of the brothers Pyrochles and Cymochles: ὀχλεω ochleō to be swept away, to disturb by tumult.

v.2.4–v.2.5 2.4-5 A consistent allegory of the elements fire (anger) and water (desire) attaches to the brothers in this canto, culminating in Pyrochles’ failed baptism (vi.42-51). These lines introduce the motif by mingling the apparent opposites, perhaps to suggest that they are closely related (allegorically brothers) after all; cf. i.34.7-9 for the anticipation of this hint in the combination of wrath and concupiscence that overtakes Guyon in his near-assault on Redcrosse.

v.3.2 chaffar: Literally, exchange for profit (cf. Mother Hubberd 1159, ‘He chaffred Chayres in which Churchmen were set’). Cf. i.25.9 and note; Guyon here encounters his own previous error, now objectified in Pyrochles.

v.3.3 prickt: Allegorically the knight is spurring his own animal passions, represented by the horse he rides; cf. 36.1 and 38.9, where Atin pricks the recumbent Cymochles first with ‘his sharp pointed dart’ and then ‘with spurs of shame and wrong’.

v.3.4 smoke: to go with the ‘sparkling fire’ of 2.6, both suggested by the etymology of the name ‘Pyrochles’ (see iv.37.4-7 and 41.2n)

v.3.7 sturdy: in ME and early modern usage, violent, fierce, or cruel; cf. E.K.’s gloss to SC Feb 149, ‘Sterne strife) said Chaucer .s. fell and sturdy.’

v.4.1 St. 4-5 The accidental beheading of your opponent’s horse is bad form in chivalric romance. For variations on this typical incident, see Bevis of Hampton 1885-98, Morte D’Arthur 10.42, OI 3.8.38, and OF 24.105-6.

v.5.7 5.7 It is unclear how Pyrochles would know anything about Guyon’s past behavior.

v.6.2–v.6.3 the vpper marge Of his seuenfolded shield: See iii.1.9n. Spenser’s phrase here may translate Aen 12.925, clipei extremos septemplicis orbis, (‘the sevenfold shield’s utmost circle’).

v.7.7 disarme: Punning grimly on the idea of cutting the arm off altogether; cf. vi.14.6-7, where Phaedria lays Cymochles’ ‘head disarmed / In her loose lap’.

v.8.4 added flame vnto his former fire: Cf. I.i.19.3 where Una urges Redcrosse to ‘Add faith unto your force, and be not faint’; the alliterative echoes as well as the similar formulation make Pyrochles a parody of holiness; instead of godly virtue to righteous effort, he adds anger to itself.

v.8.7 warlike gyre: A combat maneuver that involves circling sharply around to strike.

v.10.1 St. 10 Cf. Timon of Athens 4.3.336-8: ‘wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and make thine own selfe the conquest of thy fury’. The lion’s trick is referred to in Julius Caesar 2.1.203-5 and described in Topsell 1607, which also characterizes the unicorn as ‘a beast of an untamable nature’ (p. 557). Job 39:13 asks, ‘Canst thou binde the unicorne?’

v.10.4 him . . . applyes: ‘Places himself in contact with’; possibly a comic echo of the canto’s opening line.

v.10.7 precious horne: Thought to have magical medicinal properties.

v.11.1 fayld: From L fallere to decieve; cf. III.xi.46.9, ‘So lively and so like, that living sence it fayld’.

v.11.7 the Saint: Cf. i.28.7, ‘that faire image of that heavenly Mayd’, and IV.pr.4.2, ‘But to that sacred Saint my soveraigne Queene’.

v.12.2 offer of: The irony implicit in ‘offer’ is contradicted by Pyrochles’ cry for mercy in lines 7-9, but cf. his call for death at vi.45.5 and his scornful rejection of Arthur’s offered mercy at viii.51-52.

v.12.8 12.8 ‘Do not judge your force according to the unjust judgment of fortune’ (Hamilton 2001). Smith 1909, following Jortin 1734, suggests ‘but’ for ‘by’.

v.12.9 maugre: A verb expressing defiance: ‘damn her spite’.

v.13.2 aduizement slow: As opposed to ‘hasty wroth’.

v.13.4 th’equall die: With a pun on die.

v.14.4 sandy: Cf. Furor’s red eyes, copper hair, and tawny beard (iv.15.5-9n).

v.14.9 14.9 ‘Whose bounty he wondered at more than his might, yet he wondered at both’; or, ‘Whose bounty was greater than his might, yet he wondered at both’.

v.15.1 St. 15 The narrator addresses Guyon in similar terms at III.i.7.5-9.

v.15.5 15.5 ‘Yet soon gained far more than he had lost’.

v.15.9 15.9 Cf. Guyon’s self-defeating combat with Furor, iv.8.8-9.

v.16.1 16.1 Echoing Medina’s exhortation, ‘O fly from wrath, fly, O my liefest Lord’ (ii.30.5).

v.16.2 lesser partes: The bodily sources of the passions, internal organs and humors.

v.16.4 hartmurdring loue: Like that of Mortdant and Amavia.

v.16.7–v.16.9 16.7-9 Echoing Redcrosse’s question to Guyon at i.29.5-9.

v.17.1 St. 17 Pyrochles misconstrues the allegorical tableau as an opportunity for chivalric rescue. See 3.2n and cf. Archimago’s provocation of Guyon, i.9-11.

v.17.2–v.17.5 17.2-5 It is unclear who could have made this complaint, since Pyrochles arrives just after Atin flees (see 2.9).

v.17.4 effort: From ‘efforce’; cf. xii.43.6-7, ‘wisdomes power, and temperaunces might, / By which the mightiest things efforced bin’.

v.19.7 garre: See E.K.’s gloss SC Apr 1.

v.20.3 20.3 Alluding to the theological point that human nature resists grace; Furor belongs entirely to the ‘lesser partes’ that ‘move’ war within the self (16.1-2).

v.21.7 21.7 At i.5.2 Archimago lies in wait for Redcrosse ‘In hope to win occasion to his will’.

v.21.9 entise: Probably from L titio firebrand.

v.22.6–v.22.9 22.6-9 Cf. Jas 3:6, ‘And the tongue is fire’ and iv.5.1.

v.22.7 Stygian: Relating to the river Styx, or more generally the classical underworld of Hades where Styx and four other rivers ran. Normally Phlegethon is the infernal river associated with fire (cf. ‘flaming Phlegeton’ at vi. 50.9). OED notes that Styx (Gk Στυξ) is etymologically linked to ‘hate’ and ‘hateful’.

v.23.9 wretched man: Cf. Rom 7:24 ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’

v.25.4–v.25.9 25.4-9 Atin, having fled at the close of the previous canto (iv.46.9, v.2.1), here flees a second time.

v.26.6 for terrour of his name: I.e., ‘to make his reputation more terrifying’.

v.26.8–v.26.9 26.8-9 When Redcrosse fights Sansloy, Sansfoy’s shield is displayed on a tree as the spoils (with Duessa) of the combat (I.v.5.7-8).

v.26.9 Dame: From L domina, suggesting domination or command.

v.27.1 St. 27-35 These stanzas offer a preview of the ‘Bowre of Blisse’, extensively described in the final canto of Book II. A number of specific verbal echoes link the two passages.

v.27.2 Acrasia: See i.51.2-4n for the etymology of the name.

v.28.3–v.28.5 lust and loose liuing . . . he has pourd out his ydle mynd: Cf. I.vii.7.1-3, where Redcrosse pours ‘out in loosnesse’ with his ‘Dame’ Duessa; the lustful activity seems to have a similar weakening effect on both Cymochles and the hero of Book I.

v.28.7 28.7 The mollification of Mars by Venus, derived from the invocation to Lucretius De Rerum (1.1-49) is a common topos in the iconography and Neoplatonic philosophy of the Italian Renaissance that recurs with frequent variations in FQ. Cf. I.pr.3.7-9n.

v.29.1–v.29.2 29.1-2 The idea that art’s imitation of nature can turn into a rivalry is common in early modern discussions of art and literature. Spenser harks back to Ovid’s description of the grotto sacred to Diana (Met 3.155-62), by way of Tasso, GL 16.9-12. Spenser will develop this topos with extensive echoing of both passages in canto xii.

v.29.3 wanton Yuie: Sacred to Bacchus, ivy is wanton because it clings to everything; see I.i.48.9n.

v.29.4 fragrant Eglantine: Sweet-briar, a species of rose featuring ‘strong hooked prickles, pink single flowers, and small aromatic leaves’ (OED).

v.29.5 prickling armes: ‘Eglantine’ derives from L aculentus prickly.

v.29.8 Zephyrus: the west wind; cf. Chaucer, CT Gen Pro, ‘And Zephyrus eke with his sweete breath / Inspired hath in every holt and heeth / The tendre croppes’ (3-5).

v.31.2–v.31.5 31.2-5 These lines mingle references to the oak, sacred to Jove (Od 14.327-28, repeated at 19.296, and Met 1.106), and the poplar, sacred to Hercules (Idylls 2.121 and Ecl 7.61; Georg 2.66; Aen 5.134, 8.276-77). Olympick Jove further suggests the olive, used to crown victors at the Olympic Games (Statius, Thebaid 6.5-8).

v.31.5 Nemus: Where Hercules slew the Nemean lion.

v.32.1 displaid: Cf. 30.7.

v.32.6 follies: From Fr folie, akin to the modern theatrical use, as context indicates.

v.32.7 disaray: With a glance at ‘put into disorder’.

v.32.9 32.9 The description of the damsels as both ‘naked’ and ‘deckt’ may simply mean that they are adorned with jewelry, not garments. But the apparent contradiction, underlined by the juxtaposition ‘naked, deckt’, extends the confusion of art and nature (29.1-2n) to the female body, suggesting that this body is ‘ornamented’ by nature. Cf. the description of Belphoebe, where details of her attire and its highly ornamented description (‘golden fringe’, ‘close enwrapped’ knots, ‘the temple of the Gods’, breasts that ‘through her thin weed their places only signifide’) signify anatomical features not otherwise revealed (iii.26-29).

v.33.1 St. 33-34 Upton identifies these stanzas as a direct translation of GL 16.18-19. The contrast between the aggressive solicitation of the maidens and Cymochles’ feigned slumber emphasizes the perversity of his desire to ‘steale a snatch’ of what is so freely offered.

v.33.4 dropping like honny dew: Cf. Prov. 5.3, ‘For the lippes of a strange woman drop as an honie combe, and her mouth is more soft then oyle’. The Geneva gloss adds, ‘By oyle and honie he meaneth flattering and craftie intisements’.

v.33.5 bathed kisses: Perhaps an ellipsis for ‘bathed [him with] kisses’.

v.33.6 sugred licour: From L liquor liquidity.

v.33.9 all for tryall: Repetition and orthography suggest a pun.

v.34.5 wanton eies: Echoing the ‘wanton Yvie’ of 29.3.

v.34.6 conceipt: Either the general power of conceiving, or a specific notion. The spelling recalls an etymological link to L capere seize, reinforced by the phrase ‘steale a snatch’.

v.34.9 receipt: Also ‘act of receiving’, in pointed contrast to Cymochles’ fantasy of seizing.

v.35.1 St. 35 For the topos of rousing an erstwhile warrior from his lapse into sensuality, cf. Aen 4.265-76, OF 7.57-64, and GL 16.32-33.

v.35.6 Acrates: For the etymology linking this name to ‘Acrasia’ see iv.41.6 and i.51.2-4n.

v.36.1 dart: Cf. the poison darts borne by Atin on his first appearance at iv.38.7, and the recurrent association of Pyrochles with ‘pricking’ (3.3n).

v.36.2 36.2 Cf. GL 16.33.2-3: qual viltà l’alleta? / Su su (‘what sloth doth thee infect? / Up, up’; trans. Fairfax).

v.36.6 sencelesse ground: An unconventional instance of transferred epithet, since in fact the ground is senseless.

v.37.7 Furies: See ii.29.2n.

v.38.8–v.38.9 pricketh . . . pricks: See 3.3 note.