''Pamphilus de amore'' (or, simply, ''Pamphilus'' or ''Pamfilus'') is a 780-line, 12th-century Latin comedic play, probably composed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, but possibly

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

.Vincente Cristóbal, "Ovid in Medieval Spain", in ''Ovid in the Middle Ages'', ed. James G. Clark, Frank T. Coulson and Kathryn L. McKinley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 231–256 (p. 241). It was "one of the most influential and important of the many pseudo-Ovidian productions concerning the 'arts of Love'" in medieval Europe,Thomas Jay Garbaty, "Pamphilus, de Amore: An Introduction and Translation", ''The Chaucer Review'', 2 (1967), pp, 108–134 (p. 108 ff.

and "the most famous and influential of the medieval Elegiac comedy, elegiac comedies, especially in Spain". The protagonists are Pamphilus and Galatea, with Pamphilus seeking to woo her through a

procuress Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

(as with the procuress in Book 1.8 of

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

's '' Amores'').

Style

The play was one of the works that many boys learning Latin in the Middle Ages would study. The hero is presented as falling in love with the virgin Galathea, yet he does not set about winning her heart, despite some initial encouragement. Instead he "pays an old woman to entrap her and, despite her protestations, rapes her. Pamphilus and the old woman argue that she should accept the situation... but her last words are despondent: 'There is no hope of happiness for me.'" According to Thomas Jay Garbaty, "The Latin original abounds in all aspects of medieval rhetoric as outlined by grammarian

Geoffrey de Vinsauf Geoffrey of Vinsauf (fl. 1200) is a representative of the early medieval grammarian movement, termed ''preceptive grammar'' for its interest in teaching '' ars poetria''. ''Ars poetria'' is a subdivision of the grammatical art (''ars grammatica' ...

, in his '' Poetria Nova'', specifically ''repetitio'', paradox, oxymoron, alliteration. It is obvious that the author sacrificed much dramatic tension and liveliness for elegance of style."

Influence

''Pamphilus de amore'' gave rise to the word ''

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

'', in the sense of a small work issued by itself without covers, because the poem was popular and widely copied and circulated on its own, forming a slim

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

. The word came into

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...

in about 1387 as or .Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
/ref> ''Pamphilus'' soon became widely read: by the early 13th century, it was being quoted and anthologised in England, France, Provence, and Italy. It is first attested in the Netherlands about 1250, in Germany about 1280, and Castile about 1330. It remained popular in England into the late 15th century. It was translated into

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

in the 13th century as ''Pamphilus ok Galathea'',Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, ''Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances'', Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 86. and into French as ''Pamphile et Galatée'' by Jean Brasdefer (about 1300/1315). In England, the poem was known to

John Gower John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the '' Mirour de l'Omme'', '' Vo ...

and

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

, Chaucer drawing on it particularly in ''

The Franklin's Tale "The Franklin's Tale" ( enm, The Frankeleyns Tale) is one of '' The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer. It focuses on issues of providence, truth, generosity and ''gentillesse'' in human relationships. Synopsis A medieval franklin was fre ...

'' and '' Troilus and Criseyde''. It also influenced the '' Roman de la Rose''; Boccaccio's '' Fiammetta'' drew inspiration from it; and it was adapted in Juan Ruiz's Don Melon/Dona Endrina episode in the ''

Libro de Buen Amor ''The Book of Good Love'' (''El libro de buen amor''), considered to be one of the masterpieces of Spanish poetry, is a pseudo-biographical account of romantic adventures by Juan Ruiz, the Archpriest of Hita, the earliest version of which date ...

'' in the earlier 14th century.

Editions and translations

*Alphonse Baudouin, ed.
''Pamphile, ou l'Art d'étre aimé, comédie latine du Xe siècle''
(Paris, 1874) *Jacobus Ulrich, ed., ''Pamphilus'', Codici Turicensi (Zurich, 1983) * Gustave Cohen, ''La "Comédie" latine en France au 12e siècle'', 2 vols (Paris, 1931) *Adolfo Bonilla and San Martín, ''Una comedia latina del siglo XII: (el "Liber Panphili"); reproducción de un manuscrito inédito y versión castellana'', ''Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia'', 70: Cuaderno, V (Madrid: Imp. de Fortanet, 1917) *Thomas Jay Garbáty, "Pamphilus, de Amore: An Introduction and Translation", ''The Chaucer Review'', 2 (1967), pp. 108–134
English translation

References

{{authority control 12th-century plays 12th-century Latin books Medieval drama Comedy plays