Gaius Julius Hyginus
The poet recounts ten stories of virtuous women in nine sections. The “legend” is Chaucer’s retelling of several stories that he long admired: Cleopatra, Thisbe, Medea, Phyllis, Hypsipyle, Ariadne, Lucretia, Philomela, Hypermnestra, and, most notably, Dido. The work is similar in structure to the later Monk's Tale and like that tale, and many of his other works, seems to be unfinished. Chaucer's sources for the legends include: Virgil's "Aeneid", Vincent of Beauvais, Guido delle Colonne's "Historia destructionis Troiae", Gaius Julius Hyginus' "Fabulae" and Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and "Heroides".