CER (Cambridge English Readers) 3 The House by the Sea

When he reaches Olivia's house, he is met by his officers, who bring the sea captain Antonio to judgment. The first officer says: Orsino, this is that Antonio That took the Phoenix and her fraught [cargo] from Candy; And this is he that did the Tiger board When your young nephew Titus lost his leg.   —Act V, scene i, lines 60-63 There is an unobvious reference here to the island of Crete. Crete has been a Greek-speaking island throughout history and in the early Middle Ages the largest city upon it was named Herakleon. In 826 Crete was captured by Moslems, who built a fortress on the site of the city and called it Khandax. In 1204 the Venetians took the island and to them Khandax became Candia (and to the English, Candy). Since Candia was the largest city in Crete, it gave the name to the entire island. (Within the last century the island has become Greek again, taken back its own name, and its largest city is back almost to what it was-Iraklion). In Shakespeare's time Venice and the Ottoman Turks were in a state of chronic warfare over the eastern islands, including Crete, and so there is this vague reference to some sort of battle in which Crete is named. … th'Egyptian thief.. . Mix-ups continue ...»