CONTENTS

Penny SullivanMEDIEVAL AUTOMATA: THE 'CHAMBRE DE BEAUTES'IN BENOiT'S ROMAN DE TROIE 1

Haydn MasonCYRANO DE BERGERAC'S SPACE-INVENTIONS 21

David MeakinMECHANISM, ENLIGHTENMENT AND MYTH: THE DIALECTICOF REPRESSION IN MORELLY'S CODE DE LA NATURE 34

Geoff WoollenZOLA'S THERMODYNAMIC VITALISM 48

Andrew MartinTHE MACHINE STOPS: THE BREAKDOWN OFTHE VERNIAN VEHICLE

Shirley VinallTHE EMERGENCE OF MACHINE IMAGERYIN MARINETTI'S POETRY

63

78

Robert HavardFAST CAR METAPHYSICS:JORGE GUILL~N AND PEDRO SALINAS 96

S. Beynon JohnTHE ULTIMATE INFERNAL MACHINE: THE ATOMIC BOMBAND CONTEMPORARY FRENCH AVANTGARDE THEATRE 110

David BaguleyLA FILLE DE NANA: PALINGENESIS, PALIMPSEST? 128

MEDIEVAL AUTOMATA: THE 'CHAMBRE DE BEAUTES' INBENOiT'S ROMAN DE TROIE

Penny Sullivan

There seems to be some reason to believe that theaction which takes place at or around the mid-point ofa medieval romance is likely to bE'of particular sig-nificance in terms of the overall structure or senofthe work. It has oftE'n been noted, for instance:-that it is almost exactly at thE' half-way stage inChr6tien's Chevalier au Lion that thE' hE'ro Yvain E'n-counters thE' lion who is to bE'come his faithfulcompanion and symbol of his new identity as a'chE'valiE'rde la justice et de la charit6'.1 Whilstit would be foolish to expect that E'vE'ryromanciershould pay such attention to symmetry in the composi-tion of his work, Chretien's examplE' should pE'rhapsalE'rt us to the possibility that the mid-pointepisode or episodes of an Old French romance may leadus to the heart of the matter in more senses than one.

The exact mid-point of Benoit de Sainte-Maure'sRoman de Troie, in the Constans edition,2 falls inthe middle of a brief description of how the fickleBriseida tightens the net around her suitor Diomedesby alternately taunting him and giving him tokens ofher affections (11.15001-186). It is difficult tosee how this could be intended to convey any profoundtruth to the reader, unless it is to point up thesuffering inherent in emotional entanglements - andit could scarcely be argued that Benoit meant hismassive poem to be simply a cautionary tale about theeffE'cts of love.3 But if, unlike Briseida, we widenthe net a little to take in the episodes immediatelyprecE'ding and following her conversation withDiomedes, a different picture E'mergE's.4 Her displayof E'motional manipulation lies between a descriptionof thE' 'Chambre de Beautes' where Hector is nursedback to hE'alth after being seriously wounded by theGreeks, and an account of thE' ninth and tenthbattles outside Troy, in the coursE' of which Hector

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meets his de~th. This ~~cond episode Is obviouslydf major significance' within th~ o~erall structure ofthe romance~ It marks a turning-point in the courseof the war. the removal of the greatest obstacle inthe way of total victory for the Greeks. With Hector.the Trojans are still formidable enemies; without himtheir resistance is progressively eroded.5 Thequestion which concerns me here is whether the otherleaf of the diptych. the description of the 'Chambrede Beautes'. has a parallel significance. Does italso contribute to a core of meaning at the mid-pointof the Roman de Troie?

A certain amount of preliminary evidence can begleaned from the references which Benott makes to the'Chambre de Beautes' at other points in his narrative.Of particular interest is the way in which theChamber is presented in the resume which precedes themain body of the poem (11.145-714). The 'Chambre deBeautes' is referred to three times by name in thecourse of rather less than six hundred lines. It ismentioned in line 305 as the setting for a meeting atwhich various Trojan leaders are urged to redoubletheir efforts; in line 386. at the beginning of asummary of the description of the Chamber. and.inline 582. as the setting for a tearful encounterbetween Troilus and his mother after the battle inwhich Achilles sends his Myrrnid6ris back into action.6No other part of King Priam's palace - or of thephysical background in general - is highlighted inthis way. Lines 389 to 392 direct attention towardswhat is to be found in the Chamber. promising marvelswhich will make exceptionally good listening:

Iluec orreiz enchantemenz.Tresgiez e merveillos e genzSi granz corn cuers puet porpenser:Mout Ie fera buen escouter.

The resume. then. suggests that the author attachesparticular importance to the 'Chambre de Beautes'.since he signposts it so clearly as an item ofspecial interest for the audience. and also impliesthat its contents may have some special significance.A closer look at the Chamber itself will show thatthis is indeed the case.

The description of the 'Chambre de Beautes'occupies some three hundred lines at the end of thesecond volume of the Constans edition of the Romande Troie. Jt consists ofa 'Prologue' (11.14631-56)giving a general picture of the extraordinarily richdecoration of the Chamber: detailed descriptions offour mechanical figures which occupy its four

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corners (11.14657-918), and an 'Epilogup' in whichthe poet explains that the Chamber is made entirelyof alabaster (it is referred to in line 14631 as 'laChambre de Labastrie') and comments on the propertiesof this material (11.14919-36). (A full Englishtranslation of the description is given below, pp.13-16.)

The main foci of the episode are the four mechan~ical figures, which Benoit singles out for theattention of his audience from amongst the numerous ~~works of art which make up the sumptuous ornamentatfanof Hector's sick-room. The descriptions of the {_figures are carefully arranged in a symmetrical risingand falling movement, the first and fourth and thesecond and third having similar features and funct ions.The two outer figures (the first and fourth respective-ly) are static and each is associated with an objectwhich has beneficial properties. The first is astatue of a girl holding a mirror which gives so truea reflection of everyone entering the Chamber thatthey are made instantly and unerringly aware of anydefects in their appearance, and so can take steps torectify them. The fourth is a youth capable of indi-cating confidentially whether anyonp in th£' Chamberis behaving in an anti-social manner and should con-duct himself or herself more appropriately. He holdsa censer filled with rare aromatic gums whose scentcan cure any sickness or pain. The inner pair, like-wise a girl and a youth, are much more complex andcapable of many different kinds of movement whichstretch the credulity of the modern reader to thelimit. Number two not only performs feats of acro-batics, but also conjures up other, smaller movingfigures and puts them through their paces severaltimes a day. Number three plays twelve musicalinstruments whose music not only prevents foolishdesires and evil thoughts but also allows confidentialdiscussions to take place without fear of eavesdropp-ing. In addition, he strews the floor of the Chamberwith flowers which he then replaces as they dry up inthe breeze created by the wings of a mechanical eaglewhose flight is triggerpd off by a mechanical satyrthrowing a small club in its direction.

Such descriptions of mechanical figures andother automata are by no means uncommon in early medi-eval French literature.7 Elab6rate architectural __'descriptions involving moving statues, many of whic~:have musical properties, are to be found in a numbef0of twelfth and early thirteenth-century narratives.They are a particular feature of the four greatromans d'antiquite. The Roman de Thebes8 containstwo descriptions, albeit brief ones, of life-likemetal figures with unusual qualities. The tent be-longing to Adrastus, king of Argos, is topped by an

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eagle made of gold and niello, which responds to sun-light and wind by emitting flames from its beak:

des que soleill et vent la touchefeu ardant giete par la bouche. (11.J211-2)

The war chariot of the Greek 'archbishop' Amphiarasboasts two statues who strike fear into the hearts ofthe enemy by making their own contribution to theclamour of the battlefield:

Une ymage y at tresgiteequi vet cornant a la menee,une autre qui toz tens freteleplus cler que rate ne viele. (1].5003~6)The romance of Eneas9 contains a lengthy account

of the tomb of CamilT"aWhich includes a curious andrather ingenious type of burglar alarm. Camilla'sbody is placed in an amb~r sarcophagus situated atthe top of an extraordinary and architecturally im-plausible mausoleum shaped like an ice-cream conebalanced on two interlocking archps. Above thesarcophagus hangs a lamp made from a single preciousstone, filled with everlasting oil. The other end ofthe chain from which the lamp is suspended is fixedto the beak of a golden dove attached to the cornicrof the funeral chamber. Opposite the dove is thefigure of an nrcherwith his bow bent and an arrow inposition, aimed directly at the golden bird. Thebow-string is held in place by a delicately-balancedmechanism suspended above the statue. Any movementat all, even a breath of wind entering the sealedchamber, will trigger off this mechanism, which willin turn release the bow-st~ing, sending the arrowacross the room and dislodging the dove, therebybreaking the chain and causing the lamp to fall andextinguish itself (11.7531-724). MSS D, F, and G ofEneas also contain an interpolation of uncertain datewhich credits Dido's palace in Carthage with anintricate golden vine bearing grapes made of preciousstones and decorated with golden birds which moveabout and 'sing', each one producing a different noteaccording to its size, when the wind blows:

quant il vente si font canterles oisiax tos et voleter:lonc sa grandor coscuns i cante.qui eel son at par nient demandeharpe. viele, son de corde,nul estrument nen dolc orge.IOThe third branch of the Roman d'Alexandre of

Alexandre de ParisIl contains a number of descrip-tions of 'mechanical devices of varying degrees ofcomplexity. The entrance to the 180is as Puceles' isguarded by two golden statues of youths, one tall andslim, the other short and fat, placed at the far end

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of a drawbridge spanning the river Clarence. AsAlexander and his army approach, these figures takehold of maces and bar their way:

Si corn l'os aprisma et il o~nt les cris,Chascuns saisit un mail, Ii pas est contredis.Desor aus 'ot deus bries. Que uns clers ot escris,Qui les fait par augure deffendre au passe!s.12

(11.3397-400)The tomb of the amirant of Babylon is likewise pro-tected by a pair of automata, similarly described as'dui enfant', but this time made of copper rather thanof gold (1.7176). They are equipped with heavy goldenshields and iron rods with which to strike one anotherand, presumably, anyone foolish enough to try to robthe mausoleum:

Chascuns tint un escu d'or et fort et pesant,A deus bastons de fer se vont grant caus don ant ,Comme autre champion se vont escremissant.Puis que cil s'ent issirent qui fin='ntcest enchant,N'i vit on puis entrer nisune riens vivant.

(11. 7178-82)A pair of moving statues also appears in the A

Version of Floire et Blancheflor,13 which is roughlycontemporaneous with the romans d'antiquite. Thehero's father attempts to separate the two younglovers of the tit Ie by sell ing Blanchef lor as a slaveand telling his son that she is dead. To make thisfiction credible, he erects an ornate tomb in whichthe young woman's body is supposedly laid to rest.On top of the tomb are two life-like golden replicasof Floire and Blancheflor offering a golden lily anda golden rose to one another. Four pipes incorpor-ated into the tomb harness the wind-power which causesthe figures to move as if embracing and speaking toone another:

Quant Ii venz les enfanz tochoit,L'un be~oit l'autre et acoloit,Si disoient par nigromanceTretout lor bon et lor enfance. (11.584-7)

The palace of the emir of Babylon, where Blanchefloris later reunited with her lover, is described ascontaining a garden, the walls of which are decoratedwith brass birds of various kinds which recall thesinging birds of Dido's palace in MSS D, F, and G of.Eneas. When the wind blows they all make differen~;sounds ,the combination of which would calm any wildbeast which hegrd them, however savage it might bec(11.1746-57).1 .

Descriptions of automata are not confined to thegenre of romance. They are also to be found inchansons de geste of the twelfth and early thirteenth

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centuries. The famous revolving palace of King Hugonin the Voyage de Charlemagne15 boasts two human fig-ures made of gold. niello. copper. and other metals.holding ivory horns. The wind causes them to soundthe horns. but not in.a particularly musical fashion:

Cil corn sunent e buglent e tunent ensementCum taburs u toneires u grant cloches qui pent:Li uns esgardet l'altre ensement en riant.Que Co vus fust viarie que tut fussent vivant.

(11.358-61)The author of Aymer i de Narbonne 16 1ikewise seemed tofeel that his description of the former Sarcen stroog-hold of Narbonne would not be complete without amusical 'marvel', in this case a gold-plated coppertree with singing birds of every conceivable variety.An interesting variation on the idea of wind-poweredmechanisms is introduced here: the poet explains thatthe device was constructed in such a way that it waspossible to regulate the flow of air through the pipesand turn the music off at will. But he also suggeststhat this on-off switch may have been redundant,since no-one could ever hear too much of the birds'singing:

Soz ciel n'a home qui s'en puist saouler;S'il est iriez.por coi l'oie soner.Tout maintenant Ii fet s'ire oublier.

(11. 3524-6)The precise origins of this type of description

are unclear. but there do seem to have been both rea1-life and literary models for Old French poets to drawupon .. Otto SOhring attempted to demonstrate that allthe musical and mechanical devicps which appear in--Old French narratives had real-lifp ancestors. Heargued that they could all be traced directly to asmall number of Byzantine archetypes. knowledge ofwhich would have spread to the West via diplomaticand crusading expeditions.17 His argument ultimatelyfails to convince because it allows too little roomfor literary borrowing and the workings of the poeticimagination. but his careful researches did establishthe fact that the automata in medieval French romancesand chahsons de geste are not pure inventions on thppart of the authors. They bear some relation toreality. We know, for instance. that technicallysophisticated organs in the form of trees decoratedwith mechanical birds whith produced a variety ofsounds did exist in the East from a relatively earlydate. LIutprandof:Cremona describes such a device atthe court of Constantinople in his Antapodosis, andhis account can be verified against the descriptiongiven by a Byzantine emperor himself. ConstantinePorphyrogenitus. in his Book of Ceremonies.I8 Life-size statues and statues made entirely of, or covered

- 7 -entirely with, gold were well-known in both East andWest.19 Human figures which moved also seem to havebeen in existence in Byzantium, according to someearly technical manuals.2o (It is highly unlikely,however, that a mechanism complex enough to producethe movements attributed to the four statues in the'Chambre de Beautes' could ever have existed outsidethe imagination of poets.)

Literary and oral tradition also contributed inno small measure to the introduction of automata intoOld French narrative. A number of descriptions ofsuch artefacts in vernacular poetry contain clear _reminiscences of Latin texts which are known to havebeen studied in medieval ecclesiastical schools. Thegolden vine in Eneas and the golden trees and movirr~birds found in a number of Old French poems would--·seem to be direct descendants of the 'vinea aurea ...racemique crystallini' and the 'aureae platani'described in the Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelemwhich forms part of the life of Alexander the Greatby Julius Valerius (pseudo-Callisthenes).21 AristideJoly, the first editor of the Roman de Troie, identi-fied another possible literary source in the passagesof William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum whichdeal with the activities of Gerbert (later PopeSylvester 11).22 There are interesting parallelsbetween a number of French texts and William'saccount of how Gerbert discovered the lost treasureof the emperor Octavian. Having made their way under-ground by means of various occult procedures, Gerbertand his attendant came across a vast palace madeentirely of gold, peopled by life-like figures alsomade of gold. seemingly engaged in various courtlyactivities: 'conspicantur ingentem regiam, aureosparietes, aurea lacunaria, aurea omnia; militesaureos aureis tesseris quasi animum oblectantes;regem metallicum cum regina discumbentem, appositaobsonia, astantes ministros, pateras multi ponderiset pretii, ubi naturam vincebat opus. '23 In onecorner of an inner chamber stands a statue of a youngbowman, his arrow trained upon the carbuncle whichlights the palace. He and the other figures also actas guardians of the treasure of which they are apart. When Gerbert's chamberlain tries to make offwith a precious knife, he triggers a terrifyingresponse from the metal courtiers: 'Verum mox omnibusimaginibus cum fremitu exsurgentibus, puer quoque;'emissa arundine in carbunculum, tenebras induxit ;.et,nisi ille monitu domini cultellum reJicere acceleras-set, graves ambo poenas dedissent. ,2 William thengoes on to recount how a monastic colleague of hishad found the same treasure in his youth, protectedby even more elaborate automata. Whether our oldFrench poets would have been familiar with William of

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Malmesbury's chronicle is, however, open to questinn.It is probably wiser not to seek to <,stablish a directrelationship between the Gesta Regum Anglorum andparticular Old French texts, but rather to acceptWilliam's descriptions as evidence that stories aboutfabulous treasures guarded by mechanical figures werecirculating in ecclesiastical circles during thetwelfth century. French poets could have come intocontact with any of these stories, in either oral orwritten form, and then turned them to good accountwhen they came to compose their own works of litera-ture.

The task of establishing literary ant<,cedentsfor our automata is further complicated by the factthat borrowing and conscious imitation undoubtedlytook place between the four romans d'antiguit6 them-selves, and between them and other works of the sameperiod. The imperfect state of our knowledge of therelative chronology of these poems makes it impossibleto define precise relationships between the variousautomata described. By way of example, we have noway of knowing for sure whether the figures describedin Floire et Blancheflor were based on those in theRoman de Traie, or the other way round, or whetherthey der ive independent 1y from a common source or evenfrom independent sources. In very general terms, itwould appear that the more complex the machine, thelater the date commonly assigned to the work in whichit appears, as if poets were consciously or unconsci-ously trying to produce bigger and better marvelsthan their predecessors. Such a spirit of competi-tion between authors probably goes further than anyreal-life or literary models towards explaining theastonishing complexity of some of the automata des-cribed. As Edmond Faral'put it: IC'est ainsi que,dans leur d6sir dl6tonner et de trouver mieux queleurs devanciers, les poetes ont quitt6 Ie curieuxpour l'extraordinaire, et l'extraordinaire pour Iemerveilleux: ils d6passerent l'Orient lui-m~me d'ouleur 6tait venue la premiere inspiration. '25

The descriptions of the automata in the 'Chambrede Beaut6s' are not isolated phenomena in medievalliterature. Many other works of the twelfth and earlythirteenth centuries contain similar descriptions ofhighly complex and technically sophisticated works ofart which waver to and fro across the ill-definedboundary between mechanical curiosities. and super-natural phenomena. Where the description of theChamber does differ from descriptions of mechanicalfigures in other works is in its scale and, moreparticularly, in the functions attributed to the indi-vidual statues. No other description of an automatonin Old French literature goes into quite such detailas, for instance, BenoIt's portrait of his figure

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number three. The audience is told that it is aseated statue. that its 'faudestuel' is made of .~obsidian. and that obsidian has certai~quasi-medicalproperties. They learn that it plays twelve instru~~ments. who invented them. and what their names are:

...gigue. harpe e simphonie.Rote. vi~le e armonie.26Sautier. cimbales. timpanon.Monocorde. lire. coron. (11.14781-4)

They then hear of the undesirable qualities the musicis reputed to dispel. and the fact that it acts as acover for confidential discussions. making eavesdrop-ping impossible. And this is only slightly more thanhalf the description: it is followed by a furtherfifty-eight lines devoted to the figure's flower-strewing activities and the performances of the eagleand satyr which accompany them.

The most intriguing and also most significantfeature of Benort's automata is what for want of abetter term I shall call their 'social function'.Each one has. in addition to its sheer power to aston-ish the audience.27 a well-defined role to play inpreserving and promoting the values of courtoisie.The first figure is associated with the externals ofcourtly life. The mirror it holds enables the youngnoblewomen.of Troy to judge whether they are appropri-ately dressed:

Apertement. senz deceveir.I pueent conoistre e saveirLes danzeles se lor mantelLor estont bien e lor cercelE lor guimples e lor fermal. (11.14697-701)

The importance attached to outward appearance in medi-eval aristocratic society is highlighted in the nextthree lines. as Benort explains the benefits of thesystem to his audience:

Co esteit bien. non mie mal:Plus searement s'en esto~ntE mout meins assez en doto~nt. (11.14702-4)

Appropriate deportment is also important. The pres-ence of the mirror discourages the display of emotionsand gestures which are out of keeping with theaspirations of a civilised society:

N'i esteit om guaires reprisDe fol semblant ne de fol ris:Tot demostrot Ii mireors.Contenances. semblanz. colors.Teus corn chascuns aveit en sei. (11.14705-9)

This pre-occupation with mirrors also presents us withthe image of a society becoming conscious of itself~for the first time and learning the benefits to be~

- 10 -gained from collective self-awareness.

The second figure-has a·dual function. bothaspects of which likewise relate to fundamental com-ponents of courtoisie .. It serves to entertain theoccupants of the Chamber. to the extent that it isalmost impossible for anyone to leave during itsperformance (11.14755-8). The importance of enter-tainment in an increasingly leisured aristocraticmilieu such as the one for which Benott was writingscarcely needs to be emphasised. But pleasure aloneis not enough: the figure is also designed to educateits audience. Entertainment and didacticism go handin hand. After a display of acrobatics and jugglingthe figure presents a series of tableaux - wildbeasts fighting. council scenes. ships sailing thesea. and so on - which are intended to illustrate thedifferent natures of the objects and creatures repre-sented:

Conoistre fait tot en apertDe quei chascune jo~ e sert. (11.14739-40)

Similarities in form between the second and thirdfigures have already been mentioned; given the carewith which the whole episode is constructed. it is notsurprising to find that there are close correspond-ences between their functions as well. The thirdalso combines entertainment with a more seriou~ pur-pose. His music has a spiritual quality ('Tot semblechose esperitable'. 1.14790) which contributes to thelevel of 'civilisedness' of the Chamber by immunisingthose who hear it against unpleasant sensations andprotecting them from some of the worst enemies ofcourtly life:

Ne trait dolor ne mal ne sentQuil puet oIr ne escouter.Fol corage ne mal penserN'i prent as genz. ne fous talanz. (11.14794-7)

Once again. an automaton serves as a check on anti-social desires and the ill-considered behaviour whichmight result from them. The descr ipt ion of thi s figuredraws attention to the material aspect of aristocraticexistence as well. The combination of youth. eagle.and satyr is a most elegant device for ensuring theconstant provision of a sweet-smelling floor-covering.one of the luxuries of noble life in early medievaltimes.

The fourth figure. like the first. provides littleor no entertainment. and is designed almost entirelyto promote courtoisie. Its concerns are complementaryto those of its counterpart. relating to the innerqualities and forms of action' appropriate to the mem-bers of a civilised ~ommunity. The figure can letpeople in the Chamber know what they should and should

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not do. while maintaining the privacy and respect forthe individual which are among the ideals of courtlysociety:

S'en la Chambre fussent set cent,Si seast chascuns veirementQue l'image Ii demostrastI~o que plus Ii besoignast.Co qu'il mostrot ert bien segrei:Nel coneast ja rien fors sei.Ne jo ne nus. fors il toz sous. (11.14871-7)

Its function is to banish undesirable qualities bymaking individuals aware of the ways in which theycan improve their attitudes. in exactly the same wayas the first figure made them aware of defects intheir clothing and manners:

Bien guardot ceus d'estre enoios.D'estre vilains. d'estre coitos.Qui dedenz la Chambre veneient.Qui entro~nt ne qui eisseient:Nus n'i po~it estre obli~zFous ne vilains ne esguarez,Quar l'image. par grant mais~rie,Les guardot toz de vilanie.2 (11.14887-94)The repetition in this passage of the terms

vilain and vilanie (which occurs in a position ofemphasis, at the rhyme) provides a clue as to theoverall significance of the 'Chambre de Beautes' andits contents. The term vilanie sums up everythingthat the Chamber is not. The combination of vilanieand folie, which also recurs throughout the episode.in the form of the adjective 'fous' (1.14894) and thecombinations 'fol semblant' (1.14706), 'fol ris'(1.14706), 'fol corage' (1.14796), 'fous talanz' (1.14797), and 'fous corages' (1.14910), represents thecomplex of anti-courtly behaviours which are to beexcluded from it. Together they define antithetical-ly what the 'Chambre de Beautes' stands for: thecourtly ideal in its highest and most exclusiveform.29 The exclusivity of this world is clearlyhighlighted in the discussion of the nature of ala-baster with which the episode ends. Benoit carefullypoints out that alabaster functions like a two-waymirror: those inside the Chamber can see out throughthe walls, but those outside cannot see in:

Quant il i a aucunes genz.Veeir pueent tot cler par mi,Mais il n'i seront ja choisi:Qui dedenz est, defors veit cleir:Si ne set nus tant esguarder.S'il est defors, ja dedenz veie. (11.14926-31)

What better image could there be of the social barrfcrwhich the medieval aristocracy hoped to establish be-

- 12 -tween themselves and the non-noble classes, and whichwent by the name of courtliness?

To refer to the 'Chambre de Beautes' in terms ofa mirror is not simply a useful figure of speech.The Chamber is, in effect, a Miroir de Courtoisie,reflecting all that is courtly, nohle, and refined inTrojan society. It is the image of Troy as Benoitwould like us to conceive of it: a high. point ofcivilisation in every sense of the term. The materialsof which it is constructed and with which it is decor-ated (alabaster, precious and semi-precious stones,gold, and silver) reflect the material wealth of thecity~ The manner of its construction - by 'treipo~te, sages dotors,/Qui mout sorent de nigromance'(11.14668-9) - reflects the intellectual and artisticresources of the nation, which are so highly developedas·to seem almost praeternatural. The automata whichit houses reflect ~oth these elements of civilisation,and also embody a third: the 'civilisedness' of Troy,which expresses itself through the forms of courtoisie.These figures provide an admirable illustration ofwhat Bezzola has termed 'la base esthetique - ethiquede la courtoisie'.30 They are simultaneously worksof art which enhance the physical surroundings ofaristocratic society and agents of the ethical advance-ment of that society. They actively promote improve-ments in the standards of dress, manners, instructionand social behaviour which are the outward manifesta-tion of its ~oral pre-occupations.

At this point it will become clear that theanswer to one at least of our original questions mustbe in the affirmative. The description of the'Chambre de Beautes' does have a particular signifi-cance, above and beyond its decorative value. Itfunctions as a summa of the ideal civilisation ofTroy and, by extension, of the aspirations of thearistocratic society for which Benoit was writing.But the fact that this summa is placed at the verycentre of the romance is-aISo significant. The posi-tioning of the 'Chambre de Beautes' within the overallstructure of the work is as carefully thought out asthe arrangement of the automata inside it.

The Roman de Troie is a story of escalation. Ittells how simmering hostilitie~ are encouraged toboil over into full-scale warfare, how the spirit ofretaliation is fuelled whjle genuine opportunitiesfor reconciliation are allowed to slip by. The endresult of this process, fostered by individual humanweakness, is destruction on a massive scale: therazing of Troy, and turmoil in Greece when the vic-torious armies finally return. The 'ChambredeBeautes' episode occurs at a point where the story isfinely balanced between the upstroke of developmentswhich have ensured that the war will be fought to the

- 13 -bitter end, and the downstroke of gradual Trojancollapse. It represents a breathing-space, an invita-tion to the reader to pause and consider the stakesinvolved in the struggle before the tragedy begins togain momentum again with the death of Hector. Bysummarising the artistic and social achievements ofTroy at this point, Benoit forces the reader to seethe conflict in its true colours. It is not simply asuccession of exciting battles and individual acts ..ofdaring. It is a destructive process, initiated anaencouraged by the senselessorguel of men, which willresult in the loss of an incomparable civilisation.If the Roman de Troie has a sen. it is surely this:'that hubris, a mortal constant. erodes rare men andeminent civilisations'.31 The two episodes whichframe the midpoint of the romance lead us directly tothat sen. The account of the death of Hector showsus the-rarest of individuals meeting an untimely end;the description of the 'Chambre de Beaut6s' revealshow eminent a civilisation is also going to beswallowed up by war.University of Sheffield

APPENDIX: Translation

[They tended Hector] in the Alabaster Chamber. which glistenswith Arabian gold and the twelve twin stones which God decidedwere the loveliest of all when he gave them the name 'preciousstones' - sapphire and sard. topaz. chrysoprase. chrysolite,emerald. beryl. amethyst. jasper. ruby. precious sardonyx.bright carbuncle and chalcedony - these were to be found ingreat abundance the length and breadth of the Chamber. No othersource of light was needed. for the Chamber on a dark night faroutshines the ver'ybdghtestsUJIU11erday. The windows are madeof green chrysoprase and sard and fine almandite and the framesare moulded in Arabian gold. I do not intend to recount or tospeak of the many sculptures and statues. the images and paint-ings. the marvels and the tricks there were in various places.for it would be tiresome to listen to. (14656)

But in the four corners of the Chamber there were four tallhandsome pillars: one was of precious yellow amber. another ofpowerful jasper: the third was of onyx and the fourth of jet:the least of them was worth more than two hundred marks of pure

- 14 -

gold, I believe. Th('[e is no-one alive today powerful enoughto acquire the two lC'ast valuable ones with either money orinfluence. 'Three poets, wise and learned men, well versed inthE'magic arts, arranged them in such a way that each one sup-ported a figure of great beauty, cast in metal. The two mostattractive figures were in the form of maidens: the other two,of youths - the most handsome ever. seen - coloured and shapedin such a way that anyone looking at them would think theythey were angels from Paradise. (14680)

The smaller of the two girls was permanently 'holding amirror, set in bright red gold, which shone more brightly thanany sun- or moon-beam. Anyone who was in the Chamber could se('himself in it exactly as he was, clearly and without distortion.The mirror gave a true reflection and was there for the commonbenefit of all who entered th£'Chamber. They would, look attheir reflections and be immediately aware of what was unbecom-ing in their dress: in no time th{'ywould put things right andre-arrange them attractively. Young ladies could recognise andSf.'e,clearly and without bping misled, whether their cloaks andtheir chaplets and their wimples and their brooches looked wellon them. TIIis was all to the good, and was certa inl y not a badthing: they were more self-assured and far less anxious becauseof it. People there were hardly ever accused of unseemlybehaviour or foolish laughter: the mirror showed everything -attitudes, manners, complexion - just as it was, in everyone.The other figures had different functions. (14710)

'The other girl figure was most courtly, for it performf'dand entertained and danced and cap{'red and gcunbolled and leaptall day long on top of the pillar, so high up that it is awonder it did not fall. At frequent intervals it would sitdown and throw and catch four knives. Seven or eight times aday it would perform a hundred rich and splendid tricks. Infront of it was a great broad table of pure gold, on which itworked such wonders that ewrything it could possibly imagine -combats between bears and wild boars, griffons, tigers andlions; goshawks and falcons and sparrow-hawks and other birdsin flight: the games that ladies and young girls play: councilsand ambushes, battles, treasons, and armed assaults: shipssail ing on the high seas; all the various fishes of the sea;single combats between champions; men with horns and grotesques;hideous flying serpents, demons and fearsome monsters - it hasall these perform and rev£'al their natures every day: it demon-strates quite clearly what each Oll{, enjoys and how it behaves.It is lik{'a marvel to watch, for no-on{' could imagine whathappens to them after the performance. Whoever moulded themand devised the statue was Vf.'rywell versed in th{'arts andsecrets of the heavens. Whoever considers this gr{'at marvel,and the authorship of such things, is amazed that it can exist:for God never brought anyone into the world who can look on itand not forget what he is thinking and saying, not have to payattention to it, not be detained by th{' statue. It is hard foranyon{' to leave or go out of the Chamber while the figur{' isperforming its tricks, as it stands on top of the pillar.(14758)

•.15 -One of the youths on the other side was most carefully

moulded. It was seated on top of the. pillar in a magnificentchair. This was made out of a single piece of obsidian, whichis a very valuable stone. If you see it at all frequently - sosays the Book, which does not lie - you are refreshed and re-vitalised by it, your colour improves, and you will not sufferany great distress on a day when you see it even once. Thefigure's head was crowned with a golden chaplet, finely wroughtwith emeralds and rubies which shed great light on its face.It held musical instruments of all sizes, and the truth is thatDavid, their creator and inventor, was never as skilled withthem and never played them as well as the statue. It was asource of such great delight, and played the rebec, the harp,the hurdy-gurdy, the rotte, the viol, the armonie, the psaltery,the cymbals, the tambourine, the monochord, the lyre and thechorus - these are the twelve instruments - so sweetly thatneither the harmony of the heavens nor the celestial choirs areso delightful to listen to: it seems wholly divine. When thosein the Chamber were in council, or about to go to sleep, orkeeping watch, it would perform and play so sweetly that no-onewho could hear or listen to it would feel any sorrow or be inany pain. People are not affected there by extravagant ideas.evil thoughts, or foolish desires. The music is of great bene-fit to the listeners, for they can talk quite loudly and no-onecan overhear them. This suits the majority very well, for theyfrequently discuss love-affairs and secrets and other matters,when they do not wish to be overheard. (14804)

After playing the instruments this youth, who is so attrac-tive, takes lovely, fresh, sweet-smelling flowers of manydifferent kinds and strews them so liberally on the mosaic-bordered floor that in the end it is completely covered by them:and this happens both summer and winter. The figure does thisat frequent intervals and no-one can tell either how it holdsso many flowers or how it carnes by them. It does not last verylong, for as part of the statue there is a very splendid andwell-made eagle, cast in gold, mounted on an arch: now hear howthis bird behaves. On the far right, on the other side, thereis the very carefully-made figure of a hideous small hornedsatyr standing on a vaulted arch, holding in its hand a smallclub, slightly smaller than a bread roll. It takes aim straightat the eagle and when it lets go of the club the bird immediate-ly flies away and escapes until the shot rebounds. The littlesatyr quickly catches the missile again, without fail, arid itwould be impossible for it not to recover or catch it and throwit again on other occasions, when the time is right. But foras long as it is in the air, the eagle takes flight and is air-borne: its wings and feathers create a breeze, as is right andproper. As soon as it fl ies over the flowers, the wise men'smagic makes them so completely dried up and aged, before. theyhave had the time to wilt, that no-one knows what becomes ofthem; then they are replaced by other beautiful fresh flowersof a different colour. This happens twice a day. As soon asthe eagle settles and the satyr has its club once more, thefigure scatters its flowers again, much sweeter-smelling and:.:.much finer ones than before. No reeds or rushes or small grass

- 16 -will ever be strewn there. The figure is never idle for long:it busies itself with many activities which are most admirableand agreeable to watch. In the opinion of the Trojans. thefigure and its flowers are a sign of great nobility: they saythat it is a very great treasure; a work of such mastery wasnever created or heard of before. (14862)

The fourth statue for its part served a very valuablepurpose: for it would watch people in the Chamber and convey tothem by means of signs what they ought to do and what was mostimportant for them: it would let them know this without anyoneelse perceiving it. Even if there were seven hundred people inthe Chamber. each one would be clearly aware that the figurewas showing him what he was in greatest need of. What itshowed was truly confidential: no-one else could recognise it.not I nor anyone other than the person concerned alone. Herewas proof of most ingenious skill: it was astonishing that thiscould exist or that anyone could have invented it. No-one couldstay in the Chamber any longer than he ought to: the figureknew how to indicate when it was time to go. and when it wastoo soon and when it was too late; it would frequently payattention to this. It kept those who came into the Chamber.who entered or left it, from being disagreeable. uncourtly, ·orimportunate; no-one could be irresponsible or foolish or un-courtly or senseless there. for the statue very cleverly keptthem all from any uncourtly action. In its hand it held acenser made from a single large. brilliant. and valuable topaz.with finely-engraved chains tightly interlaced with gold wire.The censer was completely filled with some exquisite gums whichare discussed at length in the Book of Medecine: never was sosmall a quantity of anything worth so much. Inside it therewas a stone which is alight but gives off neither flame norsmoke: it burns day and night without diminishing, a fiercefire without heat. A sweet smell comes from the gums burninginside the censer as soon as they begin to smoulder: no-one onearth can smell it and still be misled by foolish ideas. Theirscent has spiritual qualities, for there is no sickness or painyou cannot be cured of once you smell it. It needed greatknowledge to ensure that it would last and be stable for evermore; and so it would have been until the Day of Judgement. hadthe city not fallen as it did. (14918)

There was never any mortar in the Chamber. or lime or sandor costly cement. no surfacing or coating or plaster: it wasmade entirely of alabaster. which is a very delicate stone:whiter than a lily allover. both inside and out. When thereare people inside. they can see through it quite clearly, butwithout ever being seen: anyone inside can see outside clearly,but no-one on the outside can see in. however hard he looks.Money is well invested and put to good use when spent on such awork of art as this. The doors were made of real silver niello.very finely wrought. and the bolts were of pure gold. (14936)

- 17 -NOmS

1. These expressions are taken from Jean Frappier, Etude sur'Yvain' ou. 'Le Chevalier au Lion' (Paris, 1969), pp. 204-7.Frappier drew attention on two separate occasions to thepositioning of Yvain's meeting with the lion: 'Cet ~pisode,d'ou provient Ie titre duroman, se place exactement a soncentre; sans doute n'est-ce point l'effet d'un pur hasard'(p. 43); "Ce n'est pas sans intention que Chr~tien situela rencontre symbolique du lion au centre de gravit~ de sonoeuvre' (p. 186).

2. Benoit de Sainte-Maure, Le Roman de Troie, publi~ parL~opold Constans, SATF, 6 vols (Paris, 1904-12).

3. On the role.and importance of the theme of love in theRoman de Troie, see Rosemarie Jones, The Theme of Love inthe 'Romans d'antiquite', MHRA Dissertation Series 5(London, 1972), pp. 43-59, and R.M. Lumiansky, 'StructuralUnity in Benoit's Roman de Troie', Romania, LXXIX (1958),410-24.

4 .. Differences in length between MSS also make strict numer-ical calculations of the mid-point of a particular editionrather unreliable. It is interesting, however, that themid-point of the Joly edition, based on MS K, falls at al-most exactly the same point in the narrative as that of theConstans edition, which is based on MS M2, with contribu-tions from E, F, K, M, Ml and N.

5. On the significance of the episode of the death of Hector,see my article 'Translation and Adaptation in the Roman deTroie', forthcoming in The Spirit of the Court, edited bynryn-S. Burgess and Robert Taylor (Woodbridge, 1985).

6. In the first case, the correspondence between the r~sum~and the main body of the printed text is inexact. In thelatter, the meeting takes place in tune chambre de benus,/Que plus reluist e plus resplent/Que la lune del firmament'(11.11848-50). A marble and ebony chamber is mentioned inthe description of Priam's reconstruction of Troy (11.3099-128), but this is almost certainly not the same roomas the 'chambre de benus' of 1. 11848. The marble andebony chamber is described as a dining-hall, and forms partof the main palace; at the end of their interview theTrojan nobles leave the so-called ebony chamber to go anddine in the 'grant palais' (1.11935). There is also theproblem of how a room made of ebony could be said to shinemore brightly than the moon in the heavens. This inconsis-tency, together with the sbnilarity between this comparisonand 11. 14644-6 of the description of the 'Chambre deBeaut~s' ('toz Ii plus beaus jorz d'est~/Ne reluist si n'atel mesure/Come el faiseit par nuit oscure') inclines meto believe that 'benus' is in fact a corruption of beaut~s,and that the text of 1. 11848 should be emended to bringit into line with the r~sum~. It is possible that beaut~sis itself a corruption of labaustre (alabaster), perceivedas being composed of the definite article and a feminine

19.

16.

15.

- 18 -

noun baustre. See Gaston Paris, 'Labaustre', Romania,XXIX (1900), 426-9.

7. For a comprehensive survey of automata and other works ofart in Old French literature'~see Otto SOhring, 'Werkebildender Kunst in altfranzOsischen Epen', RomanischeForschungen, XII (1900), 491-640.

8. Le Roman de Thebes, publie par Guy Raynaud de Lage, CFMA,2 vo1s (Paris, 1966 and 1968).

9. Eneas, publie par J.-J. Salverda da Grave, CFMA, 2 vols(Paris, 1925 and 1929) •.

10. Volume II, p. 214. My punctuation.11. The Medieval French 'Roman d'Alexandre' Volume II: Version

of Alexandre de Paris, edited by E.C. Armstrong, D.L. Buf-fum, Bateman Edwards, and L.F.H. Lowe, Elliott Monographs37 (Princeton and Paris, 1937).

12. A substantial number of descriptions of automata containsimilar references to the quasi-supernatural powers oftheir inventors (e.g. Troie, 11.14668-9 and 14743-6). Suchreferences imply a complex perception of the relationshipbetween science and nigromance which will form the subjectof a future article.

13. Floire et Blancheflor, edition du MS 1447 du fondsfran~ais, par Margaret M. Pelan, Publications de laFaculte des Lettres de l'Universite de Strasbourg:'Textesd'etude 7 (Paris, 1956).

14. Such reminiscences of the Orpheus legend are another com-mon feature of descriptions of automata in Old Frenchliterature.Le Vo a e de Charlema e a Jerusalem et a Constantino Ie,pu ie par Pau Aebisc er, TLF (Geneva, 965. For a is-cussion of possible models for Hugon's palace, seeMargaret Schlauch, 'The Palace of Hugon of Constantinople',Speculum, VII (1932), 500-14.Aymeri de Narbonne, publie par Louis Demaison, SATF, 2vOIs (Paris, 1887).

17. S6hring, pp. 580-98.18. See Edmond Fara1, Recherches sur 1es sources latines des

. contes et romans courtois du moyen Age (Paris, 1913), pp.329 and 334. There is an illustration of a Byzantineautomaton, with whistling birds activated by wind underwater pressure, based on a twelfth-century MS from St.Blasien, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music andMusicians, edited by Stanley Sadie, 20 vols (London,1980), XIII, 726 (ill. 25).For example, the Golden Virgin of Essen (c. 1000). SeeJohn Beckwith, Earl Medieval Art: Caro1in ian, Ottonian,Romanesque (London, 964, p. 41. Vesse s ma P. romsingle pieces of semi-precious stone, similar in principleto the lamp in Eneas and the censer in the 'Chambre de

• 19 -Beautes'. were also kno~l in both East and West. Forexamples from Byzantium. see John Beckwith. The Art ofConstantino Ie: An Introduction to B zantine Art 330-

453 Lon on and New Yor. 968. p. 88. and DaviTaIbot Rice. Byzantine Art (Harmondsworth. 1962). p. 56.The most famous example known in the West was probably thechalice of Abbot Suger of Saint Denis, now in the NationalGallery· of Art in Washington. D.C .• which consists of asolid sardonyx bowl (Roman in origin) set in a gold andsilver gilt mounting.

20. See Faral. p. 334. note 1.21. Iuli Valeri A1exandri Po1emi res estae Alexandri Macedonis.

recensuit Bernar us Kue er Leipzig. 888. pp. 192-3.22. Aristide Joly, Benott de Saint-Maure et Ie Roman de Troie

ou les metamor hoses d'Homere et de lie 0 ee reco-latineau moyen-age Paris. 70), pp. 230-1.

23. Willelmi Malmesburiensis. De Gesta regum Anglorum libriquinque. II. 169 (Patrologia Latina. 179. col. 1141). Inthe translation by J.A. Giles (William of Malmesbury.Chronicle of the Kings of England. translated by J.A. Giles(London. 1895)) this passage reads as follows: 'They seebefore them a vast palace with golden walls, golden roofs,everything of gold; golden soldiers amusing themselves. asit were. with golden dice; a king of the same metal. attable with his queen; delicacies set before them and serv-ants waiting; vessels of great weight and value. where thesculpture surpassed nature herself.' (p. 176)

24. Giles: 'In an instant. the figures all starting up with aloud clamour, the boy let fly his arrow at the carbuncle.and in a moment all was in darkness; and if the servant hadnot. by the advice of his master, made the utmost despatchin throwing back the knife. they would have both sufferedseverely.' (p. 177)

25. Faral. p. 335.26. I have identified the other eleven instruments with reason-

able certainty. but the armonie remains a mystery to me.Suggestions will be gratefully received.

27. The noun merveille and its derivatives occur five times inthe description of the second figure alone (11. 14715.14722. 14741. 14747 and 14749).

28. None of the other automata discussed earlier has such aclear-cut socia.l function. The majority would seem to havebeen included in their respective poems in order to en-liven the material. to intrigue the audience with extra-ordinary visual effects, or to add weight and depth to theexotic oriental background of certain stories (this isparticularly true in the case of the Roman d'A1exandre).In the case of Floire et Blancheflor. the two figures onthe alleged tomb of Blancheflor provide an ironic counter-point to the situation of the hero and heroine (they are

- 20 -

separated and grieving; the automata are united and givethe appearance of joyfulness), as well as underscoring themain theme of the indestructible love between the twoyoung people - but they have no statement to make aboutthe structure of the society in which the story is set.

29. See Glyn Sheridan Burgess, Contribution a 1 'etude duvocabulaire pre-courtois, Publications ramanes etfrancaises CX (Paris, 1970), pp. 35-43.

30. Reto R. Bezzo1a, Les Origines et 1a formation de 1a 1it-terature courtoise en Occident , 3 vols (Paris, 1958-63),III, 365.

31. J.L. Levenson, 'The Narrative Format of Benoit's Roman deTroie', Romania. C (1979).54-70 (p. 65).