Chapter XIII: Part 13

'Quod potes, id tentato; operis ne pondere pressus
Succumbat labor, et frustra tentata relinquas.'

2408. The Lat. text has:--'Ait enim Petrus Alfunsus, Si dicere metuas unde poeniteas, semper est melius _non_ quam _sic_.' From his Disciplina Clericalis, vi. 12.

2411. _Defenden_, forbid, i. e. advise one not to do. This passage is really a quotation from Cicero, De Officiis, i. 9:--'Bene praecipiunt qui uetant quidquid agere, quod dubites aequum sit an iniquum.'

2413. The Lat. text has:--'Nunc superest uidere, quando consilium uel promissum mutari possit uel debeat.' This shews that the reading _counseil_, as in Hl., is correct.

2415. Lat. text:--'Quae de nouo emergunt, nouo indigent consilio, ut leges dicunt.'

2416. Lat. text:--'Inde et Seneca dixit, Consilium tuum si audierit hostis, consilii dispositionem permutes.' But no such sentence has been discovered in Seneca.

2419. Lat. text:--'Generaliter enim nouimus, Turpes stipulationes nullius esse momenti, ut leges dicunt,' for which Sundby refers us to the Digesta, xlv. 1. 26.

2421. 'Malum est consilium, quod mutari non potest': Publilius Syrus, Sent. 362.

2431. _First and forward_; so in l. 2684. We now say 'first and foremost.'

2436. See above, ll. 2311-2325; vol. iv. p. 208.

2438. _Anientissed_, annulled, annihilated, done away with. In Rom. iv. 14, where Wycliffe's earlier text has _anentyschid_, the later text has _distried_. The Prompt. Parv. has: 'Anyyntyschyn, or enyntyschyn, _Exinanio_.' From O. F. _anientiss_-, pres. pt. stem of _anientir_, to bring to nothing, variant of _anienter_, a verb formed from prep. _a_, to, and O. F. _nient_ (Ital. _niente_, mod. F. _néant_), nothing. The form _nient_ answers to Lat. *_ne-entem_ or *_nec-entem_, from _ne_, _nec_, not, and _entem_, acc. of _ens_, being. See the New E. Dict. Cf. _anyente_ in P. Plowman, C. xx. 267, xxi. 389. _As yow oghte_, as it behoved you; Hl. _as ye oughte_. Both phrases occur.

2439. _Talent_; Fr. text, 'ta voulonte'; i. e. your desire, wish. '_Talent_, [212] ... will, desire, lust, appetite, an earnest humour unto'; Cotgrave. Cf. C. 540, and l. 2441 below.

2444. This paragraph is omitted in MS. Hl.

2447. _Hochepot_; Hl. _hochepoche_, whence E. _hodgepodge_. From F. _hochepot_, 'a hotch-pot, or gallimaufrey, a confused mingle-mangle of divers things jumbled or put together'; Cotgrave. This again is from the M. Du. _hutspot_, with the same sense; from _hutsen_, to shake, and _pot_. See _Hotchpot_ in my Etym. Dict. _Ther been ye condescended_, and to that opinion ye have submitted.

2449. _Reward_, regard; for _reward_ is merely an older spelling of 'regard.' So in Parl. of Foules, 426; Leg. of Good Women, 375, 399, 1622.

2454. Lat. text:--'Humanum enim est peccare, diabolicum uero perseuerare.' Sundby refers us to St. Chrysostom, Adhortatio ad Theodorum lapsum, I. 14 (Opera, Paris, 1718, fol.; i. 26); where we find (in the Lat. version):--'Nam peccare quidem, humanum est; at in peccatis perseuerare, id non humanum est, sed omnino satanicum.' It is also quoted by Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, lib. xvii. c. 45.

2459. Lat. text:--'ad illorum officium spectat omnibus prodesse et nulli nocere.' This (says Sundby) is quoted from the Decretals of Gregory IX., lib. i. tit. 37. cap. 3.

2467. Cf. Lat. text:--'scilicet, Contraria contrariis curantur.'

2473. Fr. text:--'Or veez, dist Prudence, comment un chascun croist legierement ce qu'il veut et desire!'--Mr.

2479. _For good_, &c., 'namely, in the sense that good,' &c.

2482. See Rom. xii. 17; cf. 1 Thess. v. 15; 1 Cor. iv. 12. The Lat. text quotes part of verses 17-21 of Rom. xii. But it is clear that Chaucer has altered the wording, and was thinking of 1 Pet. iii. 9.

2485. After _wyse folk_, Cp. inserts 'and olde folk,' and Ln. 'and the olde folke.' The Fr. text has: 'les advocas, les sages, et les anciens.' Ed. 1532 also inserts 'and olde folke'; and perhaps it should be inserted.

2487. _Warnestore_, to supply with defensive materials, to garrison, protect; see 2521, 2523, 2525 below. 'And wel thei were _warnestured_ of vitailes inow'; Will, of Palerne, 1121. We also find a sb. of the same form. 'In eche stude hii sette ther strong _warnesture_ and god'; Rob. of Glouc. 2075 (ed. Hearne, p. 94). 'The Sarazins kept it [a castle] that tym for ther chefe _warnistour_'; Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, ed. Hearne, p. 180. 'I will remayn quhill this _warnstor_ be gane'; Wallace, bk. ix. l. 1200, where ed. 1648 has 'till all the stuffe be gone.' Correctly _warnisture_; a derivative of O. F. _warnir_, _garnir_, to supply (E. _garnish_). Godefroy gives O. F.'_garnesture_, _garnisture_, _garniture_, _warnesture_, s. f. provisions, ressource; authentication; garnison, forteresse'; with eight examples. Cf. E. _garrison_ (M. E. _garnison_), _garment_ (M. E. _garnement_), and _garniture_. The last of these is, in fact, nothing but the O. F. _warnisture_ in a more modern [213] form. Hence we obtain the sense by consulting Cotgrave, who gives: '_Garniture_, garniture, garnishment, furniture; provision, munition, store, necessary implements.' It also appears that the word is properly a substantive, with the spelling _warnisture_; it became _warnistore_ or _warnestore_ by confusion with O. F. _estor_, a store; and, as the word _store_ was easily made into a verb, it was easy to treat _warnestore_ in the same way. It is a sb. in Rob. of Gloucester, as shewn above, but appears as a verb in Will. of Palerne. MS. Hl. has _warmstore_ (with _m_ for _ni_); and the same error is in the editions of Wright, Bell, and Morris. Ed. 1532 has _warnstore_.

2494. From Ps. cxxvii. 1 (cxxvi. 1, Vulgate).

2496. From Dionysius Cato, lib. iv. dist. 14:--'Auxilium a nobis petito, si forte laboras; Nec quisquam melior medicus quam fidus amicus.'

2499. _Piers Alfonce_, Petrus Alfonsi, in his Disciplina Clericalis, xviii. 10:--'Ne aggrediaris uiam cum aliquo nisi prius eum cognoueris; si quisquam ignotus tibi in uia associauerit, iterque tuum inuestigauerit, dic te uelle longius ire quam disposueris; et si detulerit lanceam, uade ad dextram; si ensem, ad sinistram.'

2505. The repetition of _that_ before _ye_, following the former _that_ before _for_, is due to a striving after greater clearness. It is not at all uncommon, especially in cases where the two _thats_ are farther apart. Cf. the use of _he_ and _him_ in l. 2508.

_Lete the keping_, neglect the protection; A. S. _l[=æ]tan_.

2507. 'Beatus homo qui semper est pauidus; qui uero mentis est durae, corruet in malum'; Prov. xxviii. 14. Hence the quotation-mark follows _bityde_.

2509. _Counterwayte embusshements_, 'be on the watch against lyings in ambush.' '_Contregaitier_, v. act. épier, guetter de son côté'; refl. se garder, se mettre en garde'; Godefroy. Three examples are given of the active use, and four of the reflexive use. _Espiaille_, companies of spies; it occurs again in the sense of 'a set of spies' in D. 1323. Mätzner well remarks that _espiaille_ does not mean 'spying' or 'watching,' as usually explained, but is a _collective_ sb., like O. F. _rascaille_, _poraille_, _pedaille_. Godefroy, in his O. F. Dict., makes the same mistake, though his own example is against him. He has: '_Espiaille_, s. f. action d'épier: Nous avons ja noveles par nos _espiailles_'; i. e. by means of our spies (not of our spyings). This quotation is from an A. F. proclamation made in London, July 26, 1347.

2510. _Senek_, Seneca; but, as before, the reference is really to the Sentences of Publilius Syrus. Of these the Lat. text quotes no less than four, viz. Nos. 542, 607, 380, and 116 (ed. Dietrich); as follows:--

'Qui omnes insidias timet, in nullas incidet.' 'Semper metuendo sapiens euitat malum.' 'Non cito perit ruina, qui ruinam timet.' 'Caret periculo, qui etiam [cum est] tutus cauet.'

[214]

2514. _Senek_; this again is from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 255:--'Inimicum, quamuis humilem, docti est metuere.'

2515. The Lat. and Fr. texts both give the reference, correctly, to Ovid's Remedia Amoris; see l. 421:--

'Parva necat morsu spatiosum uipera taurum;
A cane non magno saepe tenetur aper.'

Chaucer has here interpolated the reference to 'the thorn pricking the king' between his translations of these two lines. The interpolation occurs neither in the French nor in the Latin text.

_Wesele_, weasel. The origin of this queer mistake is easily perceived. The Fr. text has: 'La petite _vivre_ occist le grant torel.' Here _vivre_ represents Lat. _uipera_, a viper (cf. E. _wivern_); but Ch. has construed it as if it represented Lat. _uiuerra_, a ferret.

2518. _The book._ The quotation is from Seneca, Epist. 111. § 3:--'Quidam fallere docuerunt, dum falli timent.' (_For_ Quidam _read_ Nam multi). Tyrwhitt's text is here imperfect, and he says he has patched it up as he best could; but the MSS. (except Cp. and Ln.) give a correct text.

2520. Lat. text:--'Cum irrisore consortium non habeas; loquelae eius assiduitatem quasi toxica fugias.' From Albertano of Brescia, who here quotes from his own work, De Arte Eloquendi, p. cviii.; according to Sundby.

2521. _Warnestore_, protect; see note to 2487 above, and see 2523.

2523. _Swiche as han_, 'such as castles and other kinds of edifices have.'

_Artelleries_, missile weapons; cf. 1 Sam xx. 40, 1 Macc. vi. 51 (A. V.). 'Artillarie now a dayes is taken for ii. thinges: Gunnes and Bowes'; Ascham, Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 65. In Chaucer's time it referred to bows, crossbows, and engines for casting stones. Cotgrave explains F. _artillier_ as 'one that maketh both bowes and arrowes.'

2525-6. Owing to the repetition of the words _grete edifices_, one of the early scribes (whom others followed) passed from one to the other, thus omitting the words 'apperteneth som tyme to pryde and eek men make heighe toures and grete edifices.' But MSS. Cp. and Ln. supply all but the last three words 'and grete edifices,' and as we know that 'grete edifices' must recur, they really supply all but the sole word 'and,' which the sense absolutely requires. Curiously enough, these very MSS. omit the rest of clause 2525, so that none of the MSS. are perfect, but the text is easily pieced together. It is further verified by the Lat. text, which has:--'Munitio turrium et aliorum altorum aedificiorum ad superbiam plerumque pertinet ... praeterea turres cum magno labore et infinitis expensis fiunt; et etiam cum factae fuerint, nihil ualent, nisi cum auxilio prudentium et fidelium amicorum et cum magnis expensis defendantur.' The F. text supplies the gap with--'appartiennent aucune fois a orgueil: apres on fait les tours et les grans edifices.'--MS. Reg. 19 C. vii. leaf 133, back. Hence there is no doubt as to the reading. [215]

All former editions are here defective, and supply the gap with the single word _is_, which is found in ed. 1532.

2526. _With gret costages_, at great expense: Fr. text, 'a grans despens.'

_Stree_, straw; MS. Hl. has the spelling _straw_. We find the phrase again in the Book of the Duch. 671; also 'ne roghte of hem a _stree_,' id. 887; 'acounted _nat a stree_,' id. 1237; 'ne counted _nat three strees_,' id. 718.

2530. Lat. text:--'unum est inexpugnabile munimentum, amor ciuium.' Not from Cicero; but from Seneca, De Clementia, i. 19. 5.

2534. 'In omnibus autem negotiis, prius quam aggrediare, adhibenda est praeparatio diligens'; Cicero, De Officiis, i. 21.

2537. Lat. text:--'Longa praeparatio belli celerem uictoriam facit.' But the source is unknown; it does not seem to be in Cicero. Mätzner quotes a similar saying from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 125:--'Diu apparandum est bellum, ut uincas celerius.'

2538. 'Munitio quippe tunc efficitur praeualida, si diuturna fuerit excogitatione roborata'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 17.

2545. _Tullius._ This refers to what has already preceded in 2391-2400, the passage referred to being one from Cicero's De Officiis, ii. 5, where we are bidden to consider several points, viz. (1) 'quid in quaque re uerum sincerumque sit; (2) quid consentaneum cuique rei sit; (3) quid consequens; (4) ex quo quidque gignatur; (5) quae cuiusque rei caussa sit.' All these five points are taken below in due order; viz. (1) in 2546; (2) in 2550; (3) in 2577; (4) in 2580; and (5) in 2583.

2546. _Trouthe_; referring to _uerum_ in clause (1) in the last note.

2550. _Consentinge_; i. e. _consentaneum_ in clause (2) in note to 2545. Cf. 2571. MS. Hl. has here the false reading _couetyng_, but in l. 2571 it has _consentynge_.

2551. Lat. text:--'qui et quot et quales.' Thus _whiche_ means 'of what sort.' The words _and whiche been they_, omitted in MS. E. only, are thus seen to be necessary; cf. l. 2552, where the phrase is repeated.

2558. _Cosins germayns_; Lat. 'consanguineos germanos.' _Neigh kinrede_, relations near of kin; cf. 'nis but a fer kinrede' in 2565.

2561. _Reward_, regard, care; as above, in 2449; (see the note).

2565. _Litel sib_, slightly related; _ny sib_, closely related. Cf. 'ne on his mæges láfe þe swa _néah sib_ wære,' nor with the relict of his kinsman who was so near of kin; Laws of King Cnut, § vii; in Thorpe's Ancient Laws, i. 364.

2570. _As the lawe_; Sundby refers to Justinian's Codex, VIII. iv. 1.

2573. _That nay_; Fr. text--'que non.'

2577. _Consequent_; i. e. 'consequens' in clause (3), note to 2545.

2580. _Engendringe_; i. e. 'ex quo quidque gignatur' in clause (4), note to 2545.

2582. Mätzner says this is corrupt; but it is quite right, though obscure. The sense is--'and, out of the taking of vengeance in return for that, would arise another vengeance'; &c. _Engendre_ is here taken [216] in the sense of 'be engendred' or 'breed'; see the New E. Dict. The Fr. text is clearer: 'de la vengence _se engendrera_ autre vengence.'

2583. _Causes_; i. e. 'caussa' in clause (5), note to 2545.

2585. The Lat. text omits _Oriens_, which seems to be here used as synonymous with _longinqua_. 'Caussa igitur iniuriae tibi illatae duplex fuit _efficiens_, scilicet _remotissima_ et _proxima_.'

2588. 'Occasio uero illius caussae, quae dicitur _caussa accidentalis_, fuit odium,' &c. So below, the Lat. text has _caussa materialis_, _caussa formalis_, and _caussa finalis_.

2591. _It letted nat_, it tarried not; Lat. text, 'nec per eos remansit.' This intransitive use of _letten_ is awkward and rare. It occurs again in P. Plowman, C. ii. 204, xx. 76, 331.

2594. _Book of Decrees_; Sundby refers us to the Decretum Gratiani; P. ii, Caussa 1, Qu. 1. c. 25:--'uix bono peraguntur exitu, quae malo sunt inchoata principio.'

2596. _Thapostle_, the apostle Paul. The Lat. text refers expressly to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, meaning 1 Cor. iv. 5; but Chaucer has accommodated it to Rom. xi. 33.

2600. The Lat. text informs us that _Melibeus_ signifies _mel bibens_. For similar curiosities of derivation, see note to G. 87. There was a town called Meliboea ([Greek: Meliboia]) on the E. coast of Thessaly.

2605. From Ovid, Amor. i. 8. 104:--'Impia sub dulci melle uenena latent.'

2606. From Prov. xxv. 16.

2611. _The three enemys_, i. e. the flesh, the devil and the world. The entrance of these into man through the five senses is the theme of numerous homilies. See especially Sawles Warde, in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, First Series, p. 245; and the Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 263.

2614. _Deedly sinnes_, the Seven Deadly Sins; see the Persones Tale. _Fyve wittes_, five senses; cf. P. Plowman, C. ii. 15, xvi. 257.

2615. _Wold_, willed; pp. of _willen_. F. text--'a voulu.' See 2190 above; Leg. of Good Women, 1209; Compl. of Venus, 11; P. Plowman, B. xv. 258; Malory's Morte Arthure, bk. xviii. c. 15--'[he] myghte haue slayne vs and he had _wold_'; and again, in c. 19--'I myght haue ben maryed and I had _wolde_.' Gower has--'if that he had _wold_'; Conf. Amantis, ii. 9.

2618. _Falle_, befall, come to pass; F. text--'advenir.'

2620. _Were_, would be; F. text--'ce seroit moult grant dommage.'

2623-4. The missing portion is easily supplied. The French text (MS. Reg. 19 C. vii, leaf 136) has:--'Et a ce respont Dame Prudence, Certes, dist elle, Ie t'octroye que de vengence vient molt de maulx et de biens; mais vengence n'appartient pas a vn chascun, fors seulement aux iuges et a ceulx qui ont la iuridicion sur les malfaitteurs.' Here 'mais vengence' should rather be 'mais faire vengence,' as in MS. Reg. 19 C. xi. leaf 59, back, and in the printed edition. It is [217] clear that the omission of this passage is due to the repetition of _trespassours_ at the end of 2622 and 2624.

2627. Lat. text--'nam, ut ait Seneca, Bonis nocet, qui malis parcit.' This corresponds to--'Bonis necesse est noceat, qui parcit malis'; Pseudo-Seneca, De Moribus, Sent. 114; see Publilius Syrus, ed. Dietrich, p. 90. The Fr. text has:--'Cellui nuit [_al._ nuist] aux bons, qui espargne les mauvais.' Chaucer's translation is so entirely at fault, that I think his MS. must have been corrupt; he has taken _nuist aux_ as _maistre_, and then could make but little of _espargne_, which he makes to mean 'proveth,' i. e. tests, tries the quality of; perhaps his MS. had turned _espargne_ (or _esparne_) into _esprouve_. MSS. Cp. Pt. Ln. turn it into _reproveth_; this makes better sense, but contradicts the original still more.

2628. 'Quoniam excessus tunc sunt in formidine, cùm creduntur iudicibus displicere'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 4.

2629. Lat. text:--'Et alibi dixit, Iudex, qui dubitat ulcisci, multos improbos facit'; slightly altered from Publ. Syrus, Sent. 526:--'Qui ulcisci dubitat, inprobos plures facit.'

2630. From Rom. xiii. 4. For _spere_, as in all the copies, Chaucer should have written _swerd_. The Fr. text has _glaive_; Lat. _gladium_.

2632. _Ye shul retourne or have your recours to the Iuge_; explanatory of the F. text--'tu recourras au iuge.'

2633. _As the lawe axeth and requyreth_; explanatory of the Fr. text--'selon droit.' For this use of _axeth_ (= requires), cf. P. Plowman, C. i. 21, ii. 34.

2635. _Many a strong pas_; Fr. text--'moult de fors pas.' MS. Hl. has:--'many a strayt passage.'

2638. Not from Seneca, but (as in other places where Seneca is mentioned) from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 320 (ed. Dietrich):--'Male geritur, quicquid geritur fortunae fide.'

2640. Again from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 189 (ed. Dietrich):--'Fortuna uitrea est; tum quum splendet frangitur.'

2642. _Seur_ (E. _sure_) and _siker_ are mere variants of the same word; the former is O. F. _seur_, from Lat. acc. _sec[=u]rum_; the latter is from Lat. _séc[)u]rus_, with a different accentuation and a shortening of the second vowel. We also have a third form, viz. _secure_.

2645. Again from Publ. Syrus, Sent. 173:--'Fortuna nimium quem fouet, stultum facit.'

2650. From Rom. xii. 19; cf. Deut. xxxii. 35, Ps. xciv. 1.

2653. From Publ. Syrus, Sent. 645:--'Veterem ferendo iniuriam inuites nouam.'

2655. _Holden over lowe_, esteemed too low, too lightly.

2656. From Publ. Syrus, Sent. 487:--'Patiendo multa [_al._ inulta] eueniunt [_al._ ueniunt] quae nequeas pati.' _Mowe suffre_, be able to endure. For _mowe_, Wright wrongly prints _nowe_; MS. Hl. has _mowe_, correctly. [218]

2663. From Caecilii Balbi Sententiae, ed. Friedrich, 1870, no. 162:--'Qui non corripit peccantem gnatum, peccare imperat.'

2664. 'And the judges and sovereign lords might, each in his own land, so largely tolerate wicked men and evil-doers,' &c. Lat. text:--'si multa maleficia patiuntur fieri.'

2667. _Let us now putte_, let us suppose; Fr. text--'posons.' A more usual phrase is 'putte cas,' put the case; cf. note to 2681.

2668. _As now_, at present; see 2670.

2671. From Seneca, De Ira, ii. 34, § 1:--'Cum pare contendere, anceps est; cum superiore, furiosum; cum inferiore, sordidum.'

2675. From Prov. xx. 3.

2678. From Publilius Syrus, Sent. 483:--'Potenti irasci sibi periclum est quaerere.'

2679. From Dion. Cato, Dist. iv. 39:--

'Cede locum laesus Fortunae, cede potenti;
Laedere qui potuit, aliquando prodesse ualebit.'

2681. _Yet sette I caas_, but I will suppose; Fr. text--'posons,' as in 2667 above.

2684. _First and foreward_; Fr. text--'premierement.' See note to 2431 above.

2685. _The poete_; Fr. text, 'le poete.' Not in the Latin text, and the source of the quotation is unknown. Cf. Luke, xxiii. 41.

2687. _Seint Gregorie._ Not in the Lat. text; source unknown.

2692. From 1 Pet. ii. 21.

2700. Referring to 2 Cor. iv. 17.

2702. From Prov. xix. 11, where the Vulgate has:--'Doctrina uiri per patientiam noscitur.'

2703. From Prov. xiv. 29, where the Vulgate has:--'Qui patiens est multa gubernatur prudentia.'

2704. From Prov. xv. 18.

2705. From Prov. xvi. 32.

2707. From James, i. 4:--'Patientia autem opus perfectum habet.'

2713. _Corage_, desire, inclination; cf. E. 1254.

2715. The Fr. text is fuller: 'et si ie fais un grant exces, car on dit que exces n'est corrige que par exces, c'est a dire que oultrage ne se corrige fors que par oultrage.'--Mr. Perhaps part of the clause has been accidentally omitted, owing to repetition of 'exces.'

2718. 'Quid enim discrepat a peccante, qui se per excessum nititur uindicare?'--Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 30.

2721. Lat. text:--'ait enim Seneca, Nunquam scelus scelere uindicandum.' Not from Seneca; Sundby refers us to Martinus Dumiensis, De Moribus, S. 139.

2723. _Withouten intervalle ... delay_; the Fr. text merely has 'sans intervalle.' Chaucer explains the word _intervalle_.

2729. 'Qui impatiens est sustinebit damnum'; Prov. xix. 19.

2730. _Of that that_, in a matter that. [219]

2731. Lat. text (p. 95):--'Culpa est immiscere se rei ad se non pertinenti.' Sundby refers us to the Digesta, l. xvii. 36.

2732. From Prov. xxvi. 17.

2733. _Outherwhyle_, sometimes, occasionally; cf. 2857. So in Ch. tr. of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 12. 119 (vol. ii. p. 89); P. Plowman, C. vi. 50, vii. 160, xxii. 103, &c.

2740. From Ecclesiastes, x. 19:--'pecuniae oboediunt omnia.'

2741. All the copies have _power_; but, as Mätzner remarks, we should read _poverte_; the Fr. text has _povrete_.

2743. _Richesses ben goode_; the Lat. text here quotes 1 Tim. iv. 4.

2744. 'Homo sine pecunia est quasi corpus sine anima' is written on a fly-leaf of a MS.; see my Pref. to P. Plowman, C-text, p. xx.

2746. All the MSS. have _Pamphilles_ instead of _Pamphilus_. The allusion is to Pamphilus Maurilianus, who wrote a poem, well-known in the fourteenth century, entitled _Liber de Amore_, which is extant in MSS. (e.g. in MS. Bodley 3703) and has been frequently printed. Tyrwhitt cites the lines here alluded to from the Bodley MS.

'Dummodo sit diues cuiusdam nata bubulci,
Eligit e mille, quem libet, illa uirum.'

Sundby quotes the same (with _ipsa_ for _illa_) from the Paris edition of 1510, fol. a iiii, recto. Chaucer again refers to Pamphilus in F. 1110, on which see the note.

2748. This quotation is not in the Latin text, and is certainly not from Pamphilus; but closely follows Ovid's lines in his Tristia, i. 9. 5:--

'Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos;
Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.'

See notes to B. 120 and B. 3436.

2751. Neither is this from Pamphilus, but from some author quoted by Petrus Alfonsi, Discip. Cler. vi. 4, who says:--'ait quidam uersificator, Clarificant [_al._ Glorificant] gazae priuatos nobilitate.'

2752. We know, from the Lat. text, that there is here an allusion to Horace, Epist. i. 6. 37:--

'Et genus et formam regina pecunia donat.'

2754. The Lat. text has _mater criminum_, and the Fr. text, _mere des crimes_. It is clear that Chaucer has misread _ruines_ for _crimes_, or his MS. was corrupt; and he has attempted an explanation by subjoining a gloss of his own--'that is to seyn ... overthrowinge or fallinge doun.' The reference is to Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. ix. epist. 13:--'Ut dum _mater criminum_ necessitas tollitur, peccandi ambitus auferatur.'

2756. 'Est una de aduersitatibus huius saeculi grauioribus libero homini, quod necessitate cogitur, ut sibi subueniat, requirere inimicum'; Petrus Alfonsi, Disciplina Clericalis, iv. 4.

2758. Lat. text:--'O miserabilis mendicantis conditio! Nam, si petit, pudore confunditur; et si non petit, egestate consumitur; sed ut [220] mendicet necessitate compellitur'; Innocentius III (Papa), De Contemptu Mundi, lib. i. c. 16. See note to B. 99, at p. 142.

2761. 'Melius est enim mori quam indigere'; Ecclus. xl. 29; cf. A. V., Ecclus. xl. 28. See note to B. 114, at p. 142.

2762. 'Melior est mors quam uita amara'; Ecclus. xxx. 17. The Fr. text has:--'Mieulx vault la mort amere que telle vie'; where, as in Chaucer, the adjective is shifted.

2765. _How ye shul have yow_, how you ought to behave yourself. In fact, _behave_ is merely a compound of _be-_ and _have_.

2766. _Sokingly_, gradually. In the Prompt. Parv. we find 'Esyly, or _sokyngly_, Sensim, paulatim.' And compare the following:--'Domitius Corbulo vsed muche to saie, that a mannes enemies in battaill are to be ouercomed (_sic_) with a carpenters squaring-axe, that is to saie, _sokingly_, one pece after another. A common axe cutteth through at the first choppe; a squaring-axe, by a little and a little, werketh the same effecte.'--Udall, tr. of Erasmus' Apophthegmes, Julius Caesar, § 32.

2768. From Prov. xxviii. 20.

2769. From Prov. xiii. 11.

2773. Not in the Latin text.

2775. 'Detrahere igitur alteri aliquid, et hominem hominis incommodo suum augere commodum, magis est contra naturam, quam mors, quam paupertas, quam dolor, quam cetera, quae possunt aut corpori accidere aut rebus externis'; Cicero, De Officiis, iii. 5.

2779. 'For idleness teacheth much evil'; Ecclus. xxxiii. 27.

2780. From Prov. xxviii. 19; cf. xii. 11.

2783. Cf. Prov. xx. 4.

2784. From Dionysius Cato, Distich. i. 2:--

'Plus uigila semper, nec somno deditus esto;
Nam diuturna quies uitiis alimenta ministrat.'

2785. Quoted again in G. 6, 7; see note to G. 7.

2789. _Fool-large_, foolishly liberal; Fr. text, 'fol larges.' Cf. 2810.

2790. _Chincherye_, miserliness, parsimony; from the adj. _chinche_, which occurs in 2793. _Chinche_, parsimonious, miserly, is the nasalised form of _chiche_; see Havelok, 1763, 2941; and see _Chinch_ in the New E. Dictionary. To the examples there given add:--'A Chinche, _tenax_: Chinchery, _tenacitas_'; Catholicon Anglicum.

'But such an other _chinche_ as he
Men wisten nought in all the londe.'
Gower, Conf. Amant. ii. 288.

2792. From Dionysius Cato, Distich. iv. 16:--

'Utere quaesitis opibus; fuge nomen auari;
Quo tibi diuitias, si semper pauper abundas?'

2795. From Dionysius Cato, Distich. iii. 22:--

'Utere quaesitis, sed ne uidearis abuti;
Qui sua consumunt, quum deest, aliena sequuntur.'

[221]

2796. _Folily_, foolishly. We find M. E. _folliche_, both adj. and adv., and _follichely_, _folily_ as adv. It is spelt _folily_ in Wycliffe, Num. xii. 11, and in the Troy-book, 573; also _folili_, Will. of Palerne, 4596; _folyly_, Rom. of the Rose, 5942 (see the footnote).

2800. _Weeldinge_ (so in E., other MSS. _weldinge_), wielding, i. e. power.

2802. Not in the Latin text.

2807. Compare Prov. xxvii. 20.

2811. 'Quamobrem nec ita claudenda est res familiaris, ut eam benignitas aperire non possit; nec ita reseranda, ut pateat omnibus'; Cicero, De Officiis, ii. 15.

2818. See Prov. xv. 16; xvi. 8.

2820. _The prophete_, i. e. David; see Ps. xxxvii. 16.

2824. See 2 Cor. i. 12.

2825. 'Riches are good unto him that hath no sin'; Ecclus. xiii. 24.

2828. From Prov. xxii. 1.

2829. The reference seems to be to Prov. xxv. 10 in the Vulgate version (not in the A. V.):--'Gratia et amicitia liberant; quas tibi serua, ne exprobrabilis fias.'

2832. The reference is clearly to the following:--'Est enim indigni [_al._ digni] animi signum, famae diligere commodum'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 4. This is quoted by Albertano (p. 120), with the reading _ingenui_ for _indigni_; hence Chaucer's 'gentil.' Mätzner refers us to the same, lib. v. epist. 12:--'quia pulchrum est commodum famae.'

2833. 'Duae res sunt conscientia et fama. Conscientia tibi, fama proximo tuo'; Augustini Opera, ed. Caillou, Paris, 1842, tom. xxi. p. 347.--Mr.

2837. Fr. text:--'il est cruel et villain.'--Mr.

2841. Lat. text:--'nam dixit quidam philosophus, Nemo in guerra constitutus satis diues esse potest. Quantumcunque enim sit homo diues, oportet illum, si in guerra diu perseuerauerit, aut diuitias aut guerram perdere, aut forte utrumque simul et personam.'--p. 102.

2843. See Ecclesiastes, v. 11.

2851. 'With the God of heaven it is all one, to deliver with a great multitude, or a small company: For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host; but strength cometh from heaven.' 1 Macc. iii. 18, 19.

2854. The gap is easily detected and filled up by comparison with the Fr. text, which Mätzner cites from Le Menagier de Paris, i. 226, thus:--'pour ce ... que nul n'est certain s'il est digne que Dieu lui doint victoire _ne plus que il est certain se il est digne de l'amour de Dieu_ ou non.' We must also compare the text from Solomon, viz. Ecclesiastes, ix. 1, as it stands in the Vulgate version.

2857. _Outher-whyle_, sometimes; see note to 2733.

2858. _The seconde book of Kinges_, i. e. Liber secundus Regum, now called 'the second book of Samuel.' The reference is to 2 Sam. xi. 25, [222] where the Vulgate has: 'uarius enim euentus est belli; nunc hunc et nunc illum consumit gladius.' The A. V. varies.

2860. _In as muchel_; Fr. text:--'tant comme il puet bonnement.' This accounts for _goodly_, i. e. meetly, fitly, creditably. Cotgrave has: '_Bonnement_, well, fitly, aptly, handsomely, conveniently, orderly, to the purpose.'

2861. _Salomon_; rather Jesus son of Sirach. 'He that loveth danger shall perish therein'; Ecclus. iii. 26.

2863. _The werre ... nothing_, 'war does not please you at all.'

2866. _Seint Iame_ is a curious error for _Senek_, Seneca. For the Fr. text has:--'Seneque dit en ses escrips,' according to Mätzner; and MS. Reg. 19 C. xi (leaf 63, col. 2) has 'Seneques.' There has clearly been confusion between _Seneques_ and _Seint iaques_. Hence the use of the pl. _epistles_ is correct. The reference is to Seneca, Epist. 94, § 46; but Seneca, after all, is merely quoting Sallust:--'Nam concordia paruae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur'; Sallust, Jugurtha, 10.

2870. From Matt. v. 9.

2872. _Brige_, strife, contention; F. _brigue_, Low Lat. _briga._ '_Brigue_, s. f. ... debate, contention, altercation, litigious wrangling about any matter'; Cotgrave. See _Brigue_ in the New E. Dict.

2876. Here Hl. has _pryde_ and _despysing_ for _homlinesse_ and _dispreysinge_, thus spoiling the sense. The allusion is to our common saying--Familiarity breeds contempt.

2879. _Syen_, saw; Cm. seyen; Ln. sawe; Cp. saugh.

2881. Lat. text (p. 107):--'scriptum est enim, Semper ab aliis dissensio incipiat, a te autem reconciliatio.' From Martinus Dumiensis, De Moribus, Sent. 49.

2882. _The prophete_, i. e. David; Ps. xxxiv. 14.

2883. The words 'as muchel as in thee is' are an addition, due to the Fr. text:--'tant comme tu pourras.'--Mr.

2884. The use of _to_ after _pursue_ is unusual; Mätzner compares _biseke to_, in 2940 below and 2306 above.

2886. From Prov. xxviii. 14.

2891. Fr. text:--'Pour ce dit le philosophe, que les troubles ne sont pas bien cler voyans.' Cf. the Fr. proverb:--'À l'oeil malade la lumière nuit, an eie distempered cannot brook the light; sick thoughts cannot indure the truth'; Cotgrave.

2895. From Prov. xxviii. 23.

2897. This quotation is merely an expansion of the former part of Eccles. vii. 3, viz. 'sorrow is better than laughter'; the latter part of the same verse appears in 2900, immediately below.

2901. _I shal not conne answere_, I shall not be able to answer; Fr. text:--'ie ne sauroie respondre.'--Mr.

2909. From Prov. xvi. 7.

2915. Fr. text:--'ie met tout mon fait en vostre disposition.'--Mr. [223]

2925. Referring to Ps. xx. 4 (Vulgate)--'in benedictionibus dulcedinis'; A. V.--'with the blessings of goodness,' Ps. xxi. 3.

2930. From Ecclus. vi. 5:--'Verbum dulce multiplicat amicos, et mitigat inimicos.' The A. V. omits the latter clause, having only:--'Sweet language will multiply friends.'

2931. Fr. text:--'nous mettons nostre fait en vostre bonne voulente.'--Mr.

2936. _Hise amendes_, i. e. amends to him. For _hise_ or _his_, Cp. Ln. have _him_, which is a more usual construction. Cf. 'What shall be _thy amends_ For thy neglect of truth?' Shak., Sonnet 101. 'If I have wronged thee, seek _thy mends_ at the law'; Greene, Looking-Glass for London, ed. Dyce, 1883, p. 122.

2940. _Biseke to_; so in 2306; see note to 2884.

2945. From Ecclus. xxxiii. 18, 19:--'Hear me, O ye great men of the people, and hearken with your ears, ye rulers of the congregation: Give not thy son and wife, thy brother and friend, power over thee while thou livest.'

2965. Not from Seneca, but from Martinus Dumiensis, De Moribus, S. 94 (Sundby). The Lat. text has:--'ubi est confessio, ibi est remissio.'

2967. Neither is this from Seneca, but from the same source as before. Lat. text has:--'Proximum ad innocentiam locum tenet uerecundia peccati et confessio.'

2973. Lat. text:--'Nihil enim tam naturale est, quam aliquid dissolui eo genere, quo colligatum est.' From the Digesta, lib. xvii. 35.

2984. Lat. text:--'Semper audiui dici, Quod bene potes facere, noli differre.' Fr. text:--'Le bien que tu peus faire au matin, n'attens pas le soir ne l'endemain.'

2986. _Messages_, messengers; Cp. _messagers_; Hl. _messageres_. See B. 144, 333. In 2992, 2995, we have the form _messagers_.

2997. _Borwes_, sureties; as in P. Plowman, C. v. 85. In 3018 it seems to mean 'pledges' rather than 'sureties.'

3028. _A coveitous name_, a reputation for covetousness.

3030. From 1 Tim. vi. 10. See C. 334.

3032. Lat. text (p. 120):--'Scriptum est enim, Mallem perdidisse quam turpiter accepisse.' This is from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 479:--

'Perdidisse ad assem mallem, quam accepisse turpiter.'

3036. Also from P. Syrus, Sent. 293:--

'Laus noua nisi oritur, etiam uetus amittitur.'

3040. For 'it is writen,' the Fr. text has 'le droit dit.' This indicates the source. The Lat. text has:--'priuilegium meretur amittere, qui concessa sibi abutitur potestate.' This Sundby traces to the Decretalia Gregorii IX., iii. 31. 18.

3042. _Which I trowe ... do_; Lat. 'quod non concedo.'

3045. _Ye moste ... curteisly_; Lat. 'remissius imperare oportet.' [224]

3047. Lat. text:--'Remissius imperanti melius paretur'; from Seneca, De Clementia, i. 24. 1.

3049. 'Ait enim Seneca'; the Lat. text then quotes from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 64:--'Bis uincit, qui se uincit in uictoria.'

3050. Lat. text:--'Nihil est laudabilius, nihil magno et praeclaro uiro dignius, placabilitate atque clementia.' From Cicero, De Officiis, i. 25. 88.

3054. _Of mercy_, i. e. on account of your mercy.

3056. 'Male uincit iam quem poenitet uictoriae'; Publilius Syrus, Sent. 366. Attributed to Seneca in the Latin text.

3059. From James, ii. 13.

3066. _Unconninge_, ignorance; cf. Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 131; Prick of Conscience, l. 169.

3067. _Misborn_, borne amiss, misconducted. See Life of Beket, l. 1248.

THE MONK'S PROLOGUE.

3079. The tale of _Melibee_ (as told above) is about a certain Melibeus and his wife Prudence, who had a daughter called Sophie. One day, while Melibeus is absent, three of his enemies break into his house, beat his wife, and wound his daughter. On returning, he takes counsel as to what must be done. He is for planning a method of revenge, but his wife advises him to forgive the injuries, and in the end her counsels prevail.

3082. _corpus Madrian_, body of Madrian: which has been interpreted in two ways. Urry guessed it to refer to St. Materne, bishop of Treves, variously commemorated on the 14th, 19th, or 25th of September, the days of his translations being July 18 and October 23. Mr. Steevens suggested, in a note printed in Tyrwhitt's Glossary, that the 'precious body' was that of St. Mathurin, priest and confessor, commemorated on Nov. 1 or Nov. 9. The latter is more likely, since in his story in the Golden Legende, edit. 1527, leaf 151 back, the expressions 'the precious body' and 'the holy body' occur, and the story explains that his body would not stay in the earth till it was carried back to France, where he had given directions that it should be buried.

3083. 'Rather than have a barrel of ale, would I that my dear good wife had heard this story.' Cf. _morsel breed_, B. 3624.

_lief_ is not a proper name, as has been suggested, I believe, by some one ignorant of early English idiom. Cf. 'Dear my lord,' Jul. Caesar, ii. 1. 255; and other instances in Abbott's Shakesp. Grammar, sect. 13.

3101. 'Who is willing (_or_ who suffers himself) to be overborne by everybody.'

3108. _neighëbor_, three syllables; _thannè_, two syllables.

3112. Observe the curious use of _seith_ for _misseith_.

3114. _Monk._ See him described in the Prologue, A. 165.

3116. _Rouchester._ The MSS. have _Rouchester_, (Hl. _Rowchestre_), [225] shewing that _Lo_ stands alone in the first foot of the line. Tyrwhitt changed _stant_ into _stondeth_, but all our seven MSS. have _stant_.

According to the arrangement of the tales in Tyrwhitt's edition, the pilgrims reach Rochester _after_ coming to Sittingborne (mentioned in the Wife of Bath's Prologue), though the latter is some eleven miles nearer Canterbury. The present arrangement of the Groups remedies this. See note to B. 1165, at p. 165.

3117. _Ryd forth_, ride forward, draw near us.

3119. _Wher_, whether. _dan_, for Dominus, a title of respect commonly used in addressing monks. But Chaucer even uses it of Arcite, in the Knightes Tale, and of Cupid, Ho. Fame, 137.

3120. The monk's name was _Piers_. See B. 3982, and the note.

3124. Cf. 'He was not pale as a for-pyned goost'; Prol. A. 205. Jean de Meun says, in his Testament, l. 1073, that the friars have good pastures (il ont bonnes pastures).

3127. _as to my doom_, in my judgment.

3130. Scan the line--Bút a góvernoúr wylý and wýs. The Petworth MS. inserts 'boþ' before 'wyly': but this requires the very unlikely accentuation 'govérnour' and an emphasis on a. The line would scan better if we might insert _art_, or _lyk_, after _But_, but there is no authority for this.

3132. Read--_A wél-faríng persónë_, after which comes the pause, as marked in E. and Hn.

3139. The monk's _semi-cope_, which seems to have been an ample one, is mentioned in the Prologue, A. 262. In Jack Upland, § 4, a friar is asked what is signified by his 'wide cope.'

3142. 'Shaven very high on his crown'; alluding to the tonsure.

3144. _the corn_, i. e. the chief part or share.

3145. _borel men_, lay-men. _Borel_ means 'rude, unlearned, ignorant,' and seems to have arisen from a peculiar use of _borel_ or _burel_, sb., a coarse cloth; so that its original sense, as an adj., was 'in coarse clothing,' or 'rudely clad.' See _borrel_ and _burel_ in the New Eng. Dictionary.

_shrimpes_, diminutive or poor creatures.

3146. _wrecched impes_, poor grafts, weakly shoots. Cf. A. S. _impian_, to graft, _imp_, a graft; borrowed from Low Lat. _impotus_, a graft, from Gk. [Greek: emphutos], engrafted.

3152. _lussheburghes_, light coins. In P. Plowman, B. xv. 342, we are told that 'in Lussheborwes is a lyther alay (bad alloy), and yet loketh he lyke a sterlynge.' They were spurious coins imported into England from Luxembourg, whence the name. See Liber Albus, ed. Riley, 1841, p. 495; and Blount's Nomolexicon. Luxembourg is called _Lusscheburghe_ in the Allit. Morte Arthure, l. 2388. The importation of this false money was frequently forbidden, viz. in 1347, 1348, and 1351.

3157. _souneth into_, tends to, is consistent with; see Prol. A. 307, and Sq. Ta., F. 517. The following extracts from Palsgrave's French Dictionary are to the point. 'I sownde, I appartayne or belong, _Ie tens_. [226] Thys thyng sowndeth to a good purpose, _Ceste chose tent a bonne fin_.' Also, 'I sownde, as a tale or a report sowndeth to ones honesty or dyshonesty, _Ie redonde_. I promise you that this matter sowndeth moche to your dishonoure, _Ie vous promets que ceste matyere redonde fort a votre deshonneur_.'

3160. _Seint Edward._ There are two of the name, viz. Edward, king and martyr, commemorated on March 16, 18, or 19, and the second King Edward, best known as Edward the Confessor, commemorated on Jan. 5. In Piers the Plowman, B. xv. 217, we have--

'Edmonde and Edwarde · eyther were kynges,
And seyntes ysette · tyl charite hem folwed.'

But Edward the Confessor is certainly meant; and there is a remarkable story about him that he was 'warned of hys death certain dayes before hee dyed, by a ring that was brought to him by certain pilgrims coming from Hierusalem, which ring hee hadde secretly given to a poore man that askyd hys charitie in the name of God and sainte Johan the Evangelist.' See Mr. Wright's description of Ludlow Church, where are some remains of a stained glass window representing this story, in the eastern wall of the chapel of St. John. See also Chambers, Book of Days, i. 53, 54, where we read--'The sculptures upon the frieze of the present shrine (in Westminster Abbey) represent _fourteen scenes in the life_ of Edward the Confessor.... He was canonized by Pope Alexander about a century after his death.... He was esteemed the _patron-saint of England_ until superseded in the thirteenth century by St. George.' These fourteen scenes are fully described in Brayley's Hist. of Westminster Abbey, in an account which is chiefly taken from a life of St. Edward written by Ailred of Rievaulx in 1163. Three 'Lives of Edward the Confessor' were edited, for the Master of the Rolls, by Mr. Luard in 1858. See Morley's Eng. Writers, 1888, ii. 375.

3162. _celle_, cell. The monk calls it _his_ cell because he was 'the keper' of it; Prol. 172.

3163. _Tragédie_; the final _ie_ might be slurred over before _is_, in which case we might read _for to_ for _to_ (see footnote); but it is needless. The definition of 'tragedy' here given is repeated from Chaucer's own translation of Boethius, which contains the remark--'_Glose._ Tragedie is to seyn, a ditee [_ditty_] of a prosperitee for a tyme, that endeth in wrecchednesse'; bk. ii. pr. 2. 51. This remark is Chaucer's _own_, as the word _Glose_ marks his addition to, or _gloss_ upon, his original. His remark refers to a passage in Boethius immediately preceding, viz. 'Quid _tragoediarum_ clamor aliud deflet, nisi indiscreto ictu fortunam felicia regna uertentem?' De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. ii. prosa 2. See also the last stanza of 'Cresus' in the Monkes Tale (vol. i. p. 268).

3169. _exametron_, hexameter. Chaucer is speaking of Latin, not of English verse; and refers to the common Latin hexameter used in heroic verse; he would especially be thinking of the Thebaid of Statius, [227] the Metamorphoseon Liber of Ovid, the Aeneid of Vergil, and Lucan's Pharsalia. This we could easily have guessed, but Chaucer has himself told us what was in his thoughts. For near the conclusion of his Troilus and Criseyde, which he calls a _tragedie_, he says--

'And kis the steppes wheras thou seest pace
_Virgile_, _Ovyde_, Omer, _Lucan_, and _Stace_.'

Lucan is expressly cited in B. 401, 3909.

3170. _In prose._ For example, Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum and De Claris Mulieribus contain 'tragedies' in Latin prose. Cf. ll. 3655, 3910.

3171. _in metre._ For example, the tragedies of Seneca are in various metres, chiefly iambic. See also note to l. 3285.

3177. _After hir ages_, according to their periods; in chronological order. The probable allusion is to Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum, which begins with Adam and Nimrod, and keeps tolerably to the right order. For further remarks on this, shewing how Chaucer altered the order of these Tragedies in the course of revision, see vol. iii. p. 428.

THE MONKES TALE.

For some account of this Tale, see vol. iii. p. 427.

3181. _Tragédie_; accented on the second syllable, and riming with _remédie_; cf. B. 3163. Very near the end of Troilus and Criseyde, we find Chaucer riming it with _comédie_. That poem he also calls a tragedie (v. 1786)--

'Go, litel book, go, litel myn _tragédie_,' &c.

3183. _fillen_, fell. _nas no_, for _ne was no_, a double negative. Cf. Ch. tr. of Boethius--'the olde age of tyme passed, and eek of present tyme now, is ful of ensaumples how that kinges ben chaunged in-to wrecchednesse out of hir welefulnesse'; bk. iii. pr. 5. 3.

3186. The Harl. MS. has--'Ther may no man the cours of hir whiel holde,' which Mr. Wright prefers. But the reading of the Six-text is well enough here; for in the preceding line Chaucer is speaking of Fortune under the image of a person fleeing away, to which he adds, that no one can _stay her course_. Fortune is also sometimes represented as stationary, and holding an ever-turning wheel, as in the Book of the Duchesse, 643; but that is another picture.

3188. _Be war by_, take warning from.

LUCIFER.

3189. _Lucifer_, a Latin name signifying _light-bringer_, and properly applied to the morning-star. In Isaiah xiv. 12 the Vulgate has--'Quomodo cecidisti de caelo, _Lucifer_, qui mane oriebaris? corruisti in terram, qui uulnerabas gentes?' &c. St. Jerome, Tertullian, St. Gregory, and [228] other fathers, supposed this passage to apply to the fall of Satan. It became a favourite topic for writers both in prose and verse, and the allusions to it are innumerable. See note to Piers the Plowman, B. i. 105 (Clar. Press Series). Gower begins his eighth book of the Confessio Amantis with the examples of Lucifer and Adam.

Sandras, in his Étude sur Chaucer, p. 248, quotes some French lines from a 'Volucraire,' which closely agree with this first stanza. But it is a common theme.

3192. _sinne_, the sin of _pride_, as in all the accounts; probably from 1 Tim. iii. 6. Thus Gower, Conf. Amant. lib. i. (ed. Pauli, i. 153):--

'For Lucifer, with them that felle,
Bar _pride_ with him into helle.
Ther was pride of to grete cost,
Whan he for pride hath heven lost.'

3195. _artow_, art thou. _Sathanas_, Satan. The Hebrew _sâtân_ means simply an _adversary_, as in 1 Sam. xxix. 4; 2 Sam. xix. 22; &c. A remarkable application of it to the evil spirit is in Luke x. 18. Milton also indentifies Lucifer with Satan; Par. Lost, vii. 131; x. 425; but they are sometimes distinguished, and made the names of two different spirits. See, for example, Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 270-283.

3196. Read _misérie_, after which follows the metrical pause.

ADAM.

3197. Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium begins with a chapter 'De Adam et Eua.' It contains the passage--'Et ex agro, qui postea _Damascenus_,... ductus in Paradisum deliciarum.' Lydgate, in his Fall of Princes (fol. a 5), has--

'Of slyme of the erthe, in _damascene_ the feelde,
God made theym aboue eche creature.'

The notion of the creation of Adam in a field whereupon afterwards stood Damascus, occurs in Peter Comestor's Historia Scholastica, where we find (ed. 1526, fol. vii)--'Quasi quereret aliquis, Remansit homo in loco vbi factus est, in agro scilicet damasceno? Non. Vbi ergo translatus est? In paradisum.' See also Maundeville's Travels, cap. xv; Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, l. 207; and note in Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, ii. 185.

3199. Cf. 'Formatus est homo ... de spurcissimo spermate'; Innocent III., De Miseria Conditionis Humanae, i. 1 (Köppel).

3200. So Boccaccio--'O caeca rerum cupiditas! Hii, _quibus rerum omnium_, dante Deo, _erat imperium_,' &c. Cf. Gen. i. 29; ii. 16.

SAMPSON.

3205. The story of Sampson is also in Boccaccio, lib. i. c. 17 (not 19, as Tyrwhitt says). But Chaucer seems mostly to have followed [229] the account in Judges, xiii-xvi. The word _annunciat_, referring to the announcement of Samson's birth by the angel (Judges xiii. 3), may have been suggested by Boccaccio, whose account begins--'_Praenunciante_ per angelum Deo, ex Manue Israhelita quodam et pulcherrima eius vxore Sanson progenitus est.' _thangel_ in l. 3206=_the angel_.

3207. _consecrat_, consecrated. A good example of the use of the ending _-at_; cf. _situate_ for _situated_.--M. Shakespeare has _consecrate_; Com. of. Err. ii. 2. 134.

3208. _whyl he mighte see_, as long as he preserved his eyesight.

3210. _To speke of strengthe_, with regard to strength; _to speke of_ is a kind of preposition.--M. Cf. Milton's Samson Agonistes, 126-150.

3211. _wyves_. Samson told the secret of his riddle to his wife, Judges xiv. 17; and of his strength to Delilah, id. xvi. 17.

3215. _al to-rente_, completely rent in twain. The prefix _to-_ has two powers in Old English. Sometimes it is the preposition _to_ in composition, as in _towards_, or M. E. _to-flight_ (G. _zuflucht_), a refuge. But more commonly it is a prefix signifying _in twain_, spelt _zer-_ in German, and _dis-_ in Moeso-Gothic and Latin. Thus _to-rente_ = rent in twain; _to-brast_ = burst in twain, &c. The intensive adverb _al_, utterly, was used not merely (as is commonly supposed) before verbs beginning with _to-_, but in other cases also. Thus, in William of Palerne, l. 872, we find--'He was _al a-wondred_,' where _al_ precedes the intensive prefix _a-_ = A. S. _of_. Again, in the same poem, l. 661, we have--'_al bi-weped_ for wo,' where _al_ now precedes the prefix _bi-_. In Barbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, x. 596, is the expression--

'For, hapnyt ony to slyde or fall,
He suld be soyne _to-fruschit al_.'

Where _al to-fruschit_ means utterly broken in pieces. Perhaps the clearest example of the complete separability of _al_ from _to_ is seen in l. 3884 of William of Palerne;--

'_Al to-tare_ his atir · þat he _to-tere_ mi[gh]t';

i. e. he entirely tore apart his attire, as much of it as he could tear apart. But at a later period of English, when the prefix _to-_ was less understood, a new and mistaken notion arose of regarding _al to_ as a separable prefix, with the sense of _all to pieces_. I have observed no instance of this use earlier than the reign of Henry VIII. Thus Surrey, Sonnet 9, has '_al-to_ shaken' for shaken to pieces. Latimer has--'they love and _al-to_ love (i. e. entirely love) him'; Serm. p. 289. For other examples, see _Al-to_ in the Bible Word-book; and my notes in Notes and Queries, 3 Ser. xii. 464, 535; also _All_, § C. 15, in the New E. Dict.

3220. Samson's wife was given to a friend; Judges, xiv. 20. She was afterwards burnt by her own people; Judges, xv. 6.

3224. _on every tayl_; one brand being fastened to the tails of two foxes; Judg. xv. 4.

3225. _cornes._ The Vulgate has _segetes_ and _fruges_; also _utneas_ for [230] _vynes_, and _oliueta_ for _oliveres_. The plural form _cornes_ is not uncommon in Early English. Cf. 'Quen thair _corns_ war in don,' i. e. when their harvests were gathered in; Spec. of Eng. pt. ii. ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 70, l. 39. And again, 'alle men-sleeris and brenneris of houses and cornes [misprinted _corves_] ben cursed opynly in parische chirches'; Wyclif's Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 329.

3234. _wang-toth_, molar tooth. This expression is taken from the Vulgate, which has--'Aperuit itaque Dominus _molarem dentem_ in maxilla asini'; where the A. V. has only--'an hollow place that was in the jaw'; Judg. xv. 19.

3236. _Judicum_, i. e. Liber Judicum, the Book of Judges. Cf. note to B. 93, at p. 141.

3237. _Gazan_, a corruption of Gazam, the acc. case, in Judg. xvi. 1, Vulgate version.

3244. _ne hadde been_, there would not have been. Since _hadde_ is here the subjunctive mood, it is dissyllabic. Read--_worldë n' haddë_.

3245. _sicer_, from the Lat. _sicera_, Greek [Greek: sikera], strong drink, is the word which we now spell _cider_; see Wyclif's Works, ed. Arnold, i. 363, note. It is used here because found in the Vulgate version of Judges xiii. 7; 'caue ne uinum bibas, nec _siceram_.' I slightly amend the spelling of the MSS., which have _ciser_, _siser_, _sythir_, _cyder_. Wyclif has _sither_, _cyther_, _sidir_, _sydur_.

3249. _twenty winter_, twenty years; Judg. xvi. 31. The English used to reckon formerly by _winters_ instead of _years_; as may be seen in a great many passages in the A. S. Chronicle.

3253. _Dalida_; from Gk. [Greek: Dalida], in the Septuagint. The Vulgate has _Dalila_; but Chaucer (or his scribes) naturally adopted a form which seemed to have a nearer resemblance to an accusative case, such being, at that time, the usual practice; cf. _Briseide_ (from _Briseida_), _Criseyde_ and _Anelida_. Lydgate also uses the form _Dalida_.

3259. _in this array_, in this (defenceless) condition.

3264. _querne_, hand-mill. The Vulgate has--'et clausum in carcere molere fecerunt'; Judg. xvi. 21. But Boccaccio says--'ad _molas manuarias_ coegere.' The word occurs in the House of Fame, 1798; and in Wyclif's Bible, Exod. xi. 5; Mat. xxiv. 41. In the Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 181, the story of Samson is alluded to, and it is said of him that he 'uil [_fell_] into þe honden of his yuo [_foes_], þet him deden grinde _ate querne_ ssamuolliche,' i. e. who made him grind at the mill shamefully (in a shameful manner). Lydgate copies Chaucer rather closely, in his Fall of Princes, fol. e 7:--

'And of despite, after as I fynde,
At their _quernes_ made hym for to grinde.'

3269. _Thende_, the end. _Caytif_ means (1) a captive, (2) a wretch. It is therefore used here very justly.

3274. _two pilers_, better than the reading _the pilers_ of MS. E.; because _two_ are expressly mentioned; Judg. xvi. 29. [231]

3282. So Boccaccio--'Sic aduersa credulitas, sic amantis pietas, sic mulieris egit inclyta fides. Vt quem non poterant homines, non uincula, non ferrum uincere, a mulieribus latrunculis uinceretur.' Lydgate has the expressions--

'Beware by Sampson your counseyll well to kepe,
Though [_misprinted_ That] Dalida compleyne, crye, and wepe';

and again:--

'Suffre no nightworm within your counseyll crepe,
Though Dalida compleyne, crye, and wepe.'

HERCULES.

3285. There is little about Hercules in Boccaccio; but Chaucer's favourite author, Ovid, has his story in the Metamorphoses, book ix, and Heroides, epist. 9. Tyrwhitt, however, has shewn that Chaucer more immediately copies a passage in Boethius, de Cons. Phil. lib. iv. met. 7, which is as follows:--