Il Filostrato

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Il Filostrato is a poem by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, and the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and later the Shakespeare play Troilus and Cressida.

Il Filostrato is a narrative poem on a classical topic written in "royal octaves" and divided into eight cantos. The title, a combination of Greek and Latin words, can be translated approximately as "lowered by Love". The poem has a mythological plot: it narrates the love of Troiolo (Troilus), a younger son of Priam of Troy, and Criseida (Cressida)), daughter of Calcas (Calchas). Calcas, a Trojan prophet, has forseen the fall of the city and joined the Greeks, leaving his daughter alone in Troy.

Troiolo wins Criseida's love with the aid of his friend Pándaro (Pandarus), Criseida's cousin. However, in a later interchange of prisoners, Criseida is sent away to the Greek camp at her father's request. There, the Greek hero Diomedes falls in love with her, and succeeds in seducing her. Troiolo discovers his lover's betrayal when the Trojan Deífobo (Deiphobus) returns to the city with the clothes that he has snatched in battle from Diomedes; on the garment is a clasp that belonged to Criseida. Troiolo, infuriated, goes into battle to seek out Diomedes, but, although able to cause damage among the Greek ranks, he does not encounter Diomedes, and is slain by Achilles.

Although its setting is Trojan, Boccaccio's story is not taken from Greek myth, but from the Roman de Troie, a twelfth-century French medieval re-elaboration of the Trojan legend by Benoît de Sainte-Maure known to Boccaccio in the Latin prose version by Guido delle Colonne (Historia destructionis Troiae).

The plot of the Filostrato can be read as a roman à clef of Boccaccio's love of "Fiammetta". The atmosphere of the poem is reminiscent of that of the court of Naples, and the psychology of the characters is portrayed with subtle notes. There is no agreement on the date of its composition: according to some, it may have been written in 1335, whereas others consider it to date from 1340.