And in his tyme swich a conquerour,
That gretter was ther noon under the sonne.
Ful many a riche contree hadde he wonne;
What with his wisdom and his chivalrye,
He conquered al the regne[3] of Femenye,
That whylom was y-cleped[4] Scithia;
And weddede the quene Ipolita,
And broghte hir hoom with him in his contree
With muchel glorie and greet solempnitee,
And eek hir yonge suster Emelye.
And thus with victorie and with melodye
Lete I this noble duke to Athenes ryde,
And al his hoost, in armes, him besyde.
And certes, if it nere[5] to long to here,
I wolde han told yow fully the manere,
How wonnen was the regne of Femenye
By Theseus, and by his chivalrye;
And of the grete bataille for the nones
Betwixen Athenës and Amazones,
And how asseged[6] was Ipolita,
The faire hardy quene of Scithia ..."

Egeus, whom Shakespeare makes a courtier of Theseus and father to Hermia,
is in the classical legend Aegeus, father of Theseus; both Plutarch and
Chaucer so mention him.

The name of Philostrate also comes from Chaucer, where, as we shall see, it
is the name adopted by Arcite when he returns to court in disguise, to
become first "page of the chamber" to Emelye, and thereafter chief squire
to Theseus. It is in this latter capacity that Chaucer's "Philostrate" is