ABSTRACT
Upon leaving the Castle of the Strond where the marriage of Marinell and Florimell has taken place, Artegall comes upon ‘two comely Squires,/Both brethren, whom one wombe together bore,’ quarreling over a coffer of treasure (FQ v iv 4-20). The elder, Bracidas (Gr brachys +idia few possessions), explains that each of them inherited islands (at the time, equally ‘great and wide’) from their father, Milesio. Originally, too, Bracidas was engaged to ‘Philtera the faire,/With whom a goodly doure I should have got,’ while his younger brother Amidas (L am+Gr idia love of possessions) was engaged to the virtuous but poor Lucy (L lux light; hence ‘Lucy bright’). With the passage of time, however, the sea washed away most of Bracidas’ land and deposited it on Amidas’ island, whereupon Philtera (Gr phil+L terra love of land) left Bracidas for Amidas, who abandoned Lucy. Lucy threw herself into the sea in despair but was saved by floating on a coffer to Bracidas’ island; there she bestowed on him both her self and the treasure in the coffer. Philtera now claims that the coffer was hers and that she is entitled to have it back.
