Clo'dio (Count), governor. A dishonorable pursuer of Zeno'cia, the chaste troth-plight wife of Arnoldo.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country (1647).
Clodio, the younger son of Don Antonio, a coxcomb and braggart. Always boasting of his great acquaintances, his conquests, and his duels. His snuff-box he thinks more of than his lady-love, he interlards his speech with French, and exclaims "Split me!" by way of oath. Clodio was to have married Angelina, but the lady preferred his elder brother, Carlos, a bookworm, and Clodio engaged himself to Elvira of Lisbon.—C. Cibber, Love Makes a Man (1694).
Clo'e, in love with the shepherd, Thenot, but Thenot rejects her suit out of admiration of the constancy of Clorinda for her dead lover. She is wanton, coarse, and immodest, the very reverse of Clorinda, who is a virtuous, chaste, and faithful shepherdess. ("Thenot," the final t is sounded.)—John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess (1610). (See CHLOE).
Clo'ra, sister of Fabrit'io, the merry soldier, and the sprightly companion of Frances (sister to Frederick).—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain (1613).
Clorida'no, a humble Moorish youth, who joined Medo'ro in seeking the body of King Dardinello to bury it. Medoro being wounded, Cloridano rushed madly into the ranks of the enemy and was slain.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Clorin'da, daughter of Sena'pus of Ethiopia (a Christian). Being born white, her mother changed her for a black child. The Eunuch Arse'tes (3 syl.) was entrusted with the infant Clorinda, and as he was going through a forest, saw a tiger, dropped the child, and sought safety in a tree. The tiger took the babe and suckled it, after which the eunuch carried the child to Egypt. In the siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Clorinda was a leader of the Pagan forces. Tancred fell in love with her, but slew her unknowingly in a night attack. Before she expired she received Christian baptism at the hands of Tancred, who greatly mourned her death.—Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered, xii. (1675).
(The story of Clorinda is borrowed from the Theag'anês and Charicle'a of Heliodorus Bishop of Trikka).
Clorinda, "the faithful shepherdess" called "The Virgin of the Grove," faithful to her buried love. From this beautiful character Milton has drawn his "lady" in Comus. Compare the words of the "First Brother" about chastity, in Milton's Comus, with these lines of Clorinda:
Yet I have heard (my mother told it me),
And now I do believe it, if I keep