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BILYEA. Bilia, fl. third century A.D., was the wife of Duilius, who defeated the Carthaginian fleet off Mylae in Sicily in 260 B.C. His victory was made possible by a new type of ship, the corvus, and Duilius celebrated the first naval triumph. Jerome tells that Bilia endured her husband's bad breath in silence, Epistola adversus Jovinianum (Letter Against Jovinian) I.46 (PL 23: 275).

Dorigen thinks Bilyea is an exemplary figure of wifely patience, FranklT 1455. [Dorigen]

The name appears in final rhyming position.


K. Hume, "The Pagan Setting of the Franklin's Tale and the Sources of Dorigen's Cosmology." SN 44 (1972): 289-294; OCD 367; J. Sledd, "Dorigen's Complaint." MP 45 (1947): 36-45.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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