We have yet another mention of Trophee, viz. in Chaucer himself! In the Monkes Tale, B 3307, he says of Hercules—
'At bothe the worldes endes, seith Trophee,
In stede of boundes, he a piler sette.'
Whence, we may ask, is this taken? My answer is, from Guido.
§ 11. If we examine the sources of the story of Hercules in the Monkes Tale, we see that all the supposed facts except the one mentioned in the two lines above quoted are taken from Boethius and Ovid (see the Notes). Now the next most obvious source of information was Guido's work, since the very first Book has a good deal about Hercules, and the Legend of Hypsipyle clearly shews us that Chaucer was aware of this. And, although neither Ovid (in Met. ix.) nor Boethius has any allusion to the Pillars of Hercules, they are expressly mentioned by Guido. In the English translation called the Gest Historiale of the Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson (which I call, for brevity, the alliterative Troy-book), l. 308, we read:—
'But the wonders that he wroght in this world here
In yche cuntré ben knowen under Criste evyn.
Tow pyllers he pight in a place lowe
Vppon Gades groundes, that he gotton had.'
And again, further on, the Latin text has:—'Locus ille, in quo predicte Herculis columpne sunt affixe, dicitur Saracenica lingua Saphy.' To which is added, that Alexander afterwards came to the same spot.