PHILOMENE. Philomela was the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, and Procne's sister. Procne, married to Tereus of Thrace, longed to see her sister, and Tereus went to Athens to fetch Philomela. Upon returning to Thrace, he took Philomela into the woods, raped her, cut out her tongue, and shut her up in a house in the woods. Philomela, however, wove her story into a tapestry of purple on a white background and sent it to Procne by a messenger. Telling Tereus that she was going to celebrate the Bacchic rites in the woods, Procne left home, rescued her sister, and took her back with her. To avenge herself on Tereus, she killed her son Itys, cut him up and cooked him, and served the dish to Tereus. When he discovered that he had eaten his son, he pursued the sisters, but Philomela was changed into a nightingale and Procne into a swallow (Met VI.424-674; OM VI.2217-3684).

Proigne the swallow begins her wailing, for Tereus has taken her sister, Tr II.64-70, a reference to Philomela. Criseyde hears a nightingale singing a lay of love in the moonlight, Tr II.918-922. Philomene is the nightingale, the nocturnal songbird. Criseyde is compared to the newly startled nightingale, Tr III.1233-1239. Chaucer follows Ovid closely for most of the story in LGW 2228-2392 and may have also used a version by Chrétien de Troyes, Philomene, inserted in the Ovide Moralisé VI.217-3684. J.L. Lowes shows that the LGW is a composite of both Ovid and Chrétien. Chaucer omits the barbarous vengeance and the transformations. The nightingale appears throughout his work without further mention of Philomela. The Squire sleeps no more than does the nightingale, Gen Prol 98. Nicholas sings in a quavering voice like a nightingale, MillT 3377. Alys says that she used to sing like a nightingale, WBP 458. Sir Thopas is merrier than the nightingale, Thop 834. The foolish priest who fleeces his clients is gladder than the nightingale in May; he takes the silver, which the Canon has turned into gold, to be weighed by a goldsmith, CYT 1341-1344. No nightingale can sing more sweetly than Phoebus's crow, MancT 136-138, but Phoebus takes away his power to sing, MancT 291-295. [Pandion: Proigne: Tereus]

Philomene, the French name for Philomela, appears three times in medial positions only, LGW 2274, 2284, 2339.