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AURELIAN. Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, c. A.D. 215-275, became Roman emperor on the death of Claudius in 270. Two Roman emperors had failed to defeat Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, but Aurelian succeeded in 273. The city was reduced to a village, and Aurelian led Zenobia in his triumph through the streets of Rome. When he was criticized in the Senate for treating her like a conquered general instead of like a woman, Aurelian praised her military prowess (Flavius Vospiscus, Divus Aurelianus XXII-XXX, in Scriptores historiae Augustae).

The Monk narrates the life of Cenobia, a famous woman defeated by Fortune, MkT 2247-2274. Chaucer's sources are very likely Boccaccio, De claris mulieribus, XCVIII, and De casibus virorum illustrium, VIII.6. [Cenobia: Odenake]

Aurelian, the English variant of Latin Aurelianus, occurs once initially, MkT 2351, and once in final rhyming position, MkT 2361.


Boccaccio, CFW, trans. G. Guarino, 226-230; ibid., De casibus, ed. P.G. Ricci and V. Zaccaria, 678-682; ibid., De claris mulieribus, ed.V. Zaccaria, 406-414; Scriptores historiae Augustae, ed. and trans. D. Magie, III: 193-294.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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