Chapter XVIII: Front Matter (18)

3082. _Protheüs._ According to Statius, _Achill._ i. 494 ff., Protesilaus rebuked Calchas for not having discovered Achilles, upon which Calchas revealed the truth. Perhaps the mention of Protesilaus suggested to Gower the idea of Proteus, of whom he had heard as one who could change his form at will, see l. 6672, and perhaps as having prophesied the birth and greatness of Achilles (Ovid, _Metam._ xi. 221 ff.).

3119. _topseilcole_, see note on viii. 1890.

3138 f. Cp. _Achill._ i. 812 ff.

3247 ff. The first part of the story of Jason and Medea (ll. 3247-3926) is taken from Benoît (_Rom. de Troie_, 703-2062), and not from Guido, as may be easily shown by comparison of the texts. For example, Guido tells all the conditions of the enterprise, about the fire-breathing bulls, the serpent’s teeth and so on, at the beginning of the story, whereas Benoît more dramatically introduces them into the instructions given to Jason by Medea (_Rom. de Troie_, 1337-1374, 1691-1748), and in this he is followed by Gower (3505-3540). Guido says nothing about the sleeplessness of the serpent (_Rom. de Troie_, 1357 f., _Conf. Am._ v. 3514), nor about repeating the charm ‘contre orient’ (_Rom. de Troie_, 1700), nor does he mention the thanksgiving which Jason is to offer up to the gods after his victory and before he takes the fleece (_Rom. de Troie_, 1735 f., _Conf. Am._ v. 3626 ff.). The sleep of Jason after leaving Medea is omitted by Guido (_Rom. de Troie_, 1755 ff., _Conf. Am._ v. 3665 ff.), and also the bath which he took after his adventure (_Rom. de Troie_, 1999, _Conf. Am._ v. 3801). There is no need to multiply instances, which will be observed by every careful reader. We have seen on other occasions that Gower prefers Benoît to Guido, and not without excellent reasons. Guido indeed makes this story even more prosaic than usual, and combines it with matter-of-fact discussions about the magic powers of Medea and the virtues of the various stones which she used.

Gower, however, does not follow Benoît in a slavish manner. He omits or alters the details of the story very happily at times, and he adds much of his own. Thus he omits all mention of the evil motives of Peleus (or Pelias), and makes the proposal to seek the golden fleece come from Jason; he passes over the story of the dispute with Laomedon, which was necessary to the _Roman de Troie_, but not to the story of Jason taken separately; he adds the discourse of Jason with Oëtes on his arrival; he omits the details about Medea’s hair and eyes, her arms and her chin (_Rom. de Troie_, 1254 ff.), and dwells rather upon the feelings which the two lovers had for one another at first sight (3376 ff.). When they are together at night, it is Medea, according to our author, and not Jason, who suggests that it is time to rise and to speak of what has to be done (3547 ff.); and Gower adds the scene of parting (3634-3659), the description of Jason’s return over the sea and of Medea’s feelings meanwhile upon her tower, and the sending of the maid to inquire how he did. Finally, he much improves the story by making the flight take place at once, instead of prolonging Jason’s stay for a month.

Chaucer, who tells the story in a rather perfunctory manner, follows Guido (_Leg. of Good Women_, 1396 ff.).

3291. _And schop anon_, &c. This might be understood of Peleus, who, according to the original story, gave orders for the building of the ship; but better perhaps of Jason, ‘And schop’ for ‘And he schop,’ cp. l. 4590 and vi. 1636.

3376. _herd spoke_: cp. 4485, ‘I have herd seid.’

3388. That is, ‘they took heed each of other.’ For the plural verb cp. 3439.

3416. That is, ‘he took St. John as his pledge’ of a good issue, ‘he committed himself to the care of St. John.’ The expression was often used in connexion with setting out on a journey: cp. Chaucer, _Compl. of Mars_, 9.

3422. Cp. iv. 3273, vi. 2104. The expression in vi. 1621 f., ‘to ful age, That he can reson and langage,’ that is, ‘till he is of full age and knows reason,’ &c., is much of the same kind.

3488. _dede him helpe._ We must take this second ‘helpe’ as a substantive, otherwise the rhyme would not be good. The rule is that words identical in form can only be combined in rhyme when they have some difference of meaning.

3509. _to thyle._ The idea was that the golden fleece was guarded in a small island adjacent to the larger ‘isle of Colchos.’ See _Rom. de Troie_, 1791 ff.,

‘Ilec li covient à passer,
Ou voille ou non, un bras de mer;
Mès estreiz est, ne dure mie
Gaires plus de lieue et demie.
De l’altre part est li isliax,
Non mie granz, mès molt est biax.’

3533. _dethes wounde_, ‘deadly wound’: cp. iii. 2657, ‘And smot him with a dethes wounde,’ and also the genitives ‘lyves’ for ‘living’ and ‘worldes’ for ‘worldly,’ i. 1771, iv. 382, &c.

3573. _hold_, i. e. let him hold: cp. viii. 1128, 1420.

3579 ff. According to Benoît Medea gave him first the magic figure, ‘une figure Fete par art et par conjure’ (cp. 3580), then the ointment and the ring, and after that a writing, the words of which he was to repeat three times when he came to the place. Gower changes the order of things, and combines the writing with the ‘hevenely figure,’ describing it as written over with names which he is to repeat in the manner mentioned.

3632. _That thanne he were_, &c., that is, she prayed that he would soon be gone.

3654. ‘It shall not be owing to any sloth of mine if I do not,’ &c.

3665 ff.

‘Dedanz son lit s’est tost cochiez
Endormi sei en eslepas;
Car tot esteit de veiller las:
Et quant il ot dormi grant piece,
Tant qu’il estoit ja halte tierce,
Levez s’est,’ &c. _Rom. de Troie_, 1756 ff.

‘undren hih’ is in the French ‘halte tierce.’

3681. _recorde_, ‘take note of.’

3688. The reading of X here, ‘And forth with all his wey he fongeth,’ is also that of GOAd₂.

3707. _scherded_: perhaps the word is suggested by Benoît’s expression, ‘Les escherdes hérice’ (_Rom. de Troie_, 1905).

3711. A literal translation of _Rom. de Troie_, 1906, ‘Feu et venin gitot ensenble.’ With the lines that follow cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 1911 ff.

3731 ff. The picturesque elements here are perhaps partly suggested by _Rom. de Troie_, 1869 ff.

3747. _That he ne were_, expressing a wish: cp. iv. 3414, ‘Helas, that I nere of this lif,’ equivalent to ‘why ne were I,’ l. 5979.

3781 f. ‘leyhe’ seems to be modified in form for the sake of the rhyme, the usual form in Gower being ‘lawhe.’

3786. _naght_, in rhyme for ‘noght’: cp. ‘awht,’ ‘auht,’ i. 2770, v. 6073.

3789. So Ovid, _Metam._ vii. 144 ff.,

‘Tu quoque victorem complecti, barbara, velles,
Obstitit incepto pudor,’ &c.,

but it is also in Benoît, _Rom. de Troie_, 1991 f.

3793 ff. The sending of the maid, with the pretty touch in l. 3800, is an addition by Gower.

3890. Cp. i. 1516.

3904. _this was conseil_, ‘this was a secret’: cp. iii. 778, vi. 2326; so Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, C 819, ‘Shal it be conseil?’ cp. D 966, E 2431.

3927 ff. Benoît tells no more of Jason’s life after his return to Greece, saying that Dares relates no more, and he does not wish to tell stories that may not be true, ‘N’en velt fere acreire mençonge.’ From this point then Gower follows Ovid, _Metam._ vii. 159-293, and it must be understood that the illustrative quotations in the notes are from this passage.

3947. ‘And prayed her that by the magic art which she knew,’ &c. For the order of words cp. 2815 f.

3957 f. Ovid makes it full moon, l. 180, but afterwards, l. 188, says ‘Sidera sola micant.’

3962 ff.

‘Egreditur tectis vestes induta recinctas,
Nuda pedem, nudos humeris infusa capillos,
Fertque vagos mediae per muta silentia noctis
Incomitata gradus.’ _Metam._ vii. 182 ff.

The comparison to the adder in l. 3967 is Gower’s own.

3966. F has a stop after ‘specheles,’ there being a natural tendency even in the best copies to treat ‘and’ or ‘for’ as the beginning of a new clause: so (to take examples from the fifth book only) v. 231, 410, 444, 2318, 2937, 5096, in all which places F has apparently wrong punctuation in connexion with this kind of inverted order.

3971 ff.

‘Ter se convertit, ter sumptis flumine crinem
Irroravit aquis, ternis ululatibus ora
Solvit’: 189 f.

3981. The punctuation is that of F, but perhaps we ought rather to read,

‘Sche preide and ek hield up hir hond,
To Echates and gan to crie.’

3986. _help._ For this use of the imperat. sing, (with ‘helpeth’ just above) see Introduction, p. cxviii.

3994.

‘Sublimis rapitur, subiectaque Thessala Tempe
Despicit, et Creteis regionibus applicat angues:’ 222 f.

Gower very naturally understood this to mean that Medea visited Crete, and hence the confusion of geography. He could not be expected to know that Othrys and Olympus were mountains of Thessaly, and hence that the ‘Creteis’ or ‘cretis’ of his manuscript was probably a corruption.

4000 f.

‘et placitas partim radice revellit,
Partim succidit curvamine falcis ahenae.’ 226 f.

4005. _Eridian_, i. e. Apidanus.

4006.

‘Necnon Peneus, necnon Spercheïdes undae
Contribuere aliquid.’ 230 f.

4011. _the rede See._ Perhaps Gower read ‘rubrum mare’ for ‘refluum mare’ in _Metam._ vii. 258.

4031 ff.

‘statuitque aras e caespite binas,
Dexteriore Hecates, at laeva parte Iuventae.’ 240 f.

4039. ‘verbenis, silvaque incinxit agresti,’ 242. Gower took ‘silva agrestis’ as the name of a herb and ingeniously translated it into ‘fieldwode.’

4052 f. ‘Umbrarumque rogat rapta cum coniuge regem,’ 249. Our author is able to supply the names correctly.

4064-4114. This picturesque passage is for the most part original.

4127 ff. ‘Nec defuit illic Squamea Cinyphii tenuis membrana chelydri,’ 272. Gower understood this to mean ‘the scales of Cinyphius (or Cimphius) and _the_ skin of Chelidrus.’

4134. ‘novem cornicis saecula passae,’ 274.

4137. Ovid speaks of the entrails of a werwolf, ‘Ambigui prosecta lupi,’ &c.

4156. For omission of relative cp. l. 4205 and note on i. 10.

4175 ff. The story here is only summarized by Ovid, _Metam._ vii. 394-401. Gower of course knew it from other sources.

4219. ‘intrat Palladias arces,’ _Metam._ vii. 398. This means Athens, but it is misunderstood by Gower.

4251. _Philen_, i. e. Nephele. Hyginus tells this story much as it is told here (except that it was the mother of the children who provided the ram), but he gives the name in its Latin form, as ‘Nebula.’ Note the mistake as to this name in the margin, appearing in all MSS. except SΔΛ.

4299 ff. Note the confused construction of the sentence: cp. note on i. 98.

4391. The metaphor of hunting is still kept up: the gain which they pursue is started like a hare and driven into the net.

4399. _Outward_, that is, when he gives things out, cp. ‘withinne’ below.

4452. _I were a goddeshalf._ This seems to mean, ‘I should be content,’ that is, I should be ready to say ‘In God’s name let it be so.’ For the expression cp. l. 5016, ‘Thanne a goddes half The thridde time assaie I schal.’ In the _New Engl. Dict._ (‘half’) it is said to be used ‘to add emphasis _to_ a petition, command, or expression of consent or resignation’: cp. Chaucer, _Book of the Duchess_, 370, 757.

4455. _I biede nevere ... Bot_, ‘I demand only.’ In this expression ‘biede’ and ‘bidde’ have been confused, as often. Thus we have ‘I bidde nevere a betre taxe,’ i. 1556, ‘That I ne bede nevere awake,’ iv. 2905, in the latter of which ‘bede’ may be either pret. subj. of ‘bidde,’ or pres. ind. equivalent to ‘biede,’ and vi. 1356, ‘He bede nevere fare bet’ where ‘bede’ is apparently pret. subj. of bidde; while in the English _Rom. of the Rose_, 791, we have ‘Ne bode I nevere thennes go,’ in which ‘bode’ must be pret. subj. of ‘biede.’

4465. _lete_: see note on i. 3365.

4549 ff. Cp. i. 42 ff.

4557 f. ‘No law may control him either by severity or by mildness.’ For the use of ‘compaignie’ in the sense of ‘friendliness’ cp. i. 1478, and below, l. 7759.

4583 ff. Ovid, _Metam._ iii. 362 ff., but the circumstances are somewhat modified to suit Gower’s purpose. According to Ovid Echo’s fault was that she talked too much and diverted Juno’s attention, and her punishment was that her speech was confined to a mere repetition of what she heard. Here the crime is rather that she cunningly concealed in her speech what she ought to have told, and the punishment is that she is obliged to tell everything that comes to her ears.

4590. ‘And through such brocage he was untrue,’ &c. For the omission of the pronoun see note on i. 1895.

4623. _maken it so queinte_, ‘be so cunning’: cp. iv. 2314, where however ‘queinte’ has a different meaning.

4642. _hire mouth ascape_, i. e. escape being repeated by her mouth.

4661. The aspiration of ‘hem,’ so as to prevent elision, is very unusual: cp. Introduction, p. cxxv.

4668 ff. ‘I shall arrange in their due order those branches of Avarice on which no wealth is well bestowed,’ that is, those which make no return for what is bestowed upon them, viz. Usury and Ingratitude.

4708. _of som reprise_, i. e. ‘of some cost,’ cp. i. 3414,

‘Which most is worth, and no reprise
It takth ayein,’

that is, it costs nothing.

4724. _with ydel hand_, ‘with empty hand,’ that is, without a lure. This seems to be the original meaning of the adjective: see _New Eng. Dict._ ‘idle.’

4731. _the gold Octovien._ The treasures of Octovien (or Octavian) were proverbial: cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 1684 f.,

‘Unques Oteviens de Rome
Ne pot conquerre tel aveir,’

and again 28594,

‘Se li tresors Octoviens
Fust lor, si lor donassent il.’

The expression here seems to be in imitation of the French form without preposition, as in the latter of the above quotations.

The French _Roman d’Othevien_, found in the Bodleian MS. Hatton 100, and reproduced in two English versions, has nothing to do with the treasures of Octovien, for which see William of Malmesbury, _Gesta Regum_, ii. § 169 f. The treasures were supposed to be buried at Rome or elsewhere, and several persons, especially the Pope Silvester (Gerbert), were said to have seen them, but not to have been permitted to carry them away. They appear also in the _Roman des Sept Sages_.

4748. _eschu of._ The adjective is used by Chaucer with ‘to’ (or ‘for to’) and infin., _Cant. Tales_, E 1812, I 971. We may note the spelling here with reference to Chaucer’s rhyme in the former passage.

4763. ‘It may not by any means be avoided that,’ &c.

4774. _as to tho pars_, ‘as regards those matters’: ‘pars’ is the French plural form, cp. _Mirour_, 7386, where apparently ‘pars’ means ‘duties.’

4787. Cp. l. 7716, where the saying has a different application. The proverb is here used of those who are, as we say, penny wise and pound foolish. In the other passage it is applied to the opposite case of gaining the coat for the hood.

4808 ff. This story is founded on the so-called _Comedia Babionis_, one of those Latin elegiac poems in a quasi-dramatic form which were popular in the fourteenth century. Others of the same class are _Geta_ and _Pamphilus_. In the original, Viöla is Babio’s step-daughter, with whom he is in love, and who is taken in marriage against his will by Croceus. The serving-man is Fodius, not Spodius, and most of the piece is concerned with an intrigue between him and the wife of Babio. See Wright’s _Early Mysteries_, p. 65.

4899. _comth to londe_, ‘appears’: cp. l. 18.

4921. _who that it kan_, that is, as any one who knows it will witness: cp. l. 4927, ‘For, as any one who observes may know, a beast is,’ &c.

4937 ff. This story, which is of Eastern origin, is told near the end of the _Speculum Stultorum_ (i. e. _Burnellus_), with which Gower was acquainted, as we know from the _Vox Clamantis_. The names there are Bernardus and Dryānus, and the animals are three, a serpent, an ape, and a lion. A similar tale is told by Matthew Paris, under the year 1195, as related by King Richard I in order to recommend liberality in the cause of Christendom. In this the rich man is Vitalis, a Venetian, and the poor man’s name is not given. The animals in the pit are a lion and a serpent. Vitalis thanks his deliverer, and appoints a time for him to come to his palace in Venice and receive the promised reward of half his goods; but when he comes, he is refused with contumely. The magic qualities of the gem which the serpent brings are not mentioned in the story of Vitalis.

5010 f. So in the _Speculum Stultorum_, ‘Tunc ita Bernardus, Sathanae phantasmate lusum Se reputans, dixit,’ &c.

5022. _blessed_, i. e. crossed himself. This ceremony plays a considerable part in the story of Vitalis, for by it he is preserved from the wild beasts while in the pit.

5025. _Betwen him and his Asse_, that is, he and his ass together: cp. l. 5381. The expression is imitated from the French, cp. _Roman de Troie_, 5837.

5093. There is a stop after ‘Purs,’ no doubt rightly, in F. On the other hand the stop after ‘wif’ in l. 5096 must be wrong.

5123 f. Cp. 4597 ff.

5215. _standt._ For this spelling cp. ‘bidt,’ iv. 1162.

5231 ff. The outline of this story might have been got from Ovid and from Hyginus, _Fab._ 40-43, but several points of detail suggest a different source. These are, for example, the idea that the son of Minos went to Athens to study philosophy, the statement of the number of persons sent as a tribute to Minos, the incident of the ball of pitch given by Ariadne to Theseus to be used against the Minotaur, and the name of the island where Ariadne was deserted. In the first and third of these Gower agrees with Chaucer, _Legend of Good Women_, 1894 ff., but his story is apparently quite independent, so that in regard to, these matters we must assume a common source: cp. L. Bech in _Anglia_, v. 337 ff.

_as telleth the Poete._ The authority referred to here must be Ovid (cp. i. 386, ii. 121, v. 6713, 6804, &c.). He slightly mentions the death of Androgeus, _Metam._ vii. 458, and relates the war of Minos against Megara at some length (_Metam._ viii. 1 ff), very briefly summarising the remainder of the story. Chaucer follows Ovid more fully here, telling the story of Nisus, to which Gower does not think it necessary to refer.

5248. _dighte._ This is the form of spelling here in S as well as F: so also in l. 5352.

5264 f. Hyginus says seven persons each year: Chaucer seems to conceive it as one every third year. The usual account is seven youths and seven maidens either every year or once in nine years.

5302. _many on._ Perhaps we should read ‘manye on’ with S and F, as vii. 2191, ‘manye an other.’

5319. This expression occurs also in ll. 5598 and 7553.

5360. _fawht._ Elsewhere this verb has preterite ‘foghte,’ as iii. 2651, iv. 2095, but the strong form ‘faught’ is used by Chaucer, e. g. _Cant. Tales_, B 3519, and this in fact is the originally correct form.

5413. _Chyo._ Ovid says ‘Dia,’ that is Naxos.

5507. _His rihte name_: cp. _Mirour_, 409, ‘par son droit noun Je l’oi nommer Temptacioun,’ 4243, ‘Si ot a noun par droit nommant,’ &c. and other similar expressions.

5510. _as men telleth_: cp. l. 6045, ‘men seith.’

5511. According to the margin Extortion is the _mother_ of Ravine.

5550. _femeline_, used repeatedly both as adjective and as substantive in the _Mirour de l’Omme_.

5551 ff. The tale of Tereus is from Ovid, _Metam._ vi. 424-674, in some parts abbreviated and in others expanded, with good judgement usually in both cases, so that this is one of Gower’s best-told tales. He omits the long account given by Ovid of the way in which Pandion was persuaded to allow Philomela to accompany Tereus (_Metam._ vi. 447-510), the incidents of the rescue of Philomela from her imprisonment, which no doubt he felt would be unintelligible to his readers (587-600), and many of the more shocking details connected with the death of Itys and the feast upon his flesh. On the other hand he has added the prayer and reflections of Philomene in her prison (ll. 5734-5768), the prayers of the two sisters (5817-5860), the words of Progne to Tereus (5915-5927), and especially the reflections on the nightingale and the swallow at the end of the story (5943-6029). This latter part is quite characteristic of our author, and as usual it is prettily conceived.

Chaucer, who tells the story in the _Legend of Good Women_, 2228-2393, was weary of it even from the beginning (2257 f.), and omits the conclusion altogether, either as too shocking or as not suiting with his design. So far as he goes, however, he follows Ovid more closely than Gower.

5555. See note on Prol. 460.

5598. So also ll. 5319, 7553.

5623. Ovid’s comparison is to fire catching dry straw and leaves, _Metam._ vi. 456 f.

5643 ff. Ovid compares her state after the deed was done to that of a lamb hurt by a wolf and still trembling, or a dove which has escaped wounded from a bird of prey (527-530). Here, on the other hand, the idea is of being held fast, so that she cannot move or escape; while Chaucer, using the same similes as Ovid, applies the comparison less appropriately to her fear of the violence yet to come.

5651. Cp. _Metam._ vi. 531, ‘Mox ubi mens rediit.’

5663 ff.

‘si copia detur,
In populos veniam; si silvis clausa tenebor,
Implebo silvas, et conscia saxa movebo.’ _Metam._ vi. 545 ff.

5670. I suspect the combination ‘tale and ende’ may have arisen from some such phrase as ‘to sette tale on ende’ (or ‘an ende’), meaning to begin a speech: see _New Engl. Dict._ under ‘ende.’

5676. _where is thi fere?_ that is, ‘where is thy fear of the gods?’ We must not take ‘fere’ in the sense of ‘companion’ or ‘equal,’ because in that case it could not properly rhyme with ‘Ere.’

5690 f.

‘comprensam forcipe linguam
Abstulit ense fero.’ _Metam._ vi. 556 f.

Gower must be commended for omitting the tasteless lines which follow in Ovid about the severed tongue, and still more the shocking statement, which even Ovid accompanies with ‘vix ausim credere,’ of 561 f.

5709. _tyh_, preterite of ‘ten,’ from OE. ‘_tēon_,’ meaning ‘draw,’ and hence ‘come.’

5724. The punctuation follows F, ‘To hire’ meaning ‘in her case,’ cp. l. 4182, vii. 4937. It would suit the sense better perhaps to set the comma after ‘forsake,’ and to take ‘To hire’ with what follows: cp. note on l. 3966, where it is shown that the punctuation of F is often wrong in such cases as this.

5726. _hir Sostres mynde_, ‘her sister’s memory.’

5730. _guile under the gore_, that is, deceit concealed, as it were, under a cloak: cp. l. 6680. The expression ‘under gore’ is common enough, meaning the same as ‘under wede,’ and this alliterative form looks like a proverbial expression.

5734-5768. All this is original.

5737. _so grete a wo_: cp. l. 6452, and see Introduction, p. cx.

5778. ‘nec scit quid tradat in illis,’ _Metam._ vi. 580.

5793. ‘Non est lacrimis hic, inquit, agendum, Sed ferro,’ _Metam._ vi. 611.

5802 ff. According to Ovid this was done under cover of a Bacchic festival (587 ff.).

5816-5860. This is all original.

5840. _to lytel of me let_: see note on l. 1004.

5891 ff. Gower does well in omitting the circumstances of this which Ovid gives (619-646), and in partially covering the horror of it by the excuse of madness, but there is one touch which ought to have been brought in, ‘Ah, quam Es similis patri!’ (621).

5910 ff. Ovid says that Philomela threw the gory head into the father’s face, and that Tereus endeavoured to vomit up that which he had eaten. Our author has shown good taste in not following him.

5915 ff. This speech is not in Ovid.

5943-6029. Nearly all this is Gower’s own. Ovid only says, ‘Quarum petit altera silvas: Altera tecta subit’ (668 f.). We have already observed upon our author’s tendency to make additions of this symbolical kind to the stories which he takes from Ovid: see note on i. 2355.

6020. The reading ‘here’ is given both by S and F, but ‘hire’ (‘hir’), supported by AJMXGCB₂, BT, W, seems to be required by the sense. She informs them of the falseness of her husband, that they also may learn to beware of them, that is of husbands. The combination of ‘here’ with the singular ‘housebonde,’ meaning ‘their husbands,’ would be very harsh.

6041 ff.

‘Ille dolore suo, poenaeque cupidine velox,
Vertitur in volucrem, cui stant in vertice cristae,
Prominet immodicum pro longa cuspide rostrum.
Nomen Epops volucri, facies armata videtur.’

_Metam._ vi. 671 ff.

The lapwing is identified with the hoopoe because of its crest. In the _Traitié_, xii, where this story is shortly told, Tereus is changed into a ‘hupe,’

‘Dont dieus lui ad en hupe transformée,
En signe qu’il fuist fals et avoltier,’

while at the same time in the _Mirour_, 8869 ff., the ‘hupe’ is represented as the bird which tries to deceive those who search for its nest, a description which obviously belongs to the lapwing.

6047. Cp. Chaucer, _Parl. of Foules_, 347, ‘The false lapwyng ful of trecherye.’

6053. _goddes forebode_: cp. Chaucer, _Leg. of Good Women_, 10,

‘But goddes forbode but men schulde leve,’

where the second form of text has

‘But god forbede but men shulde leve.’

We must take ‘forebode’ as a substantive.

6073. _auht_: modified to suit the rhyme: so ‘awht,’ i. 2770, and ‘naght,’ l. 3786, rhyming with ‘straght.’ The regular forms for Gower are ‘oght,’ ‘noght.’

6145 ff. This is from Ovid, _Metam._ ii. 569-588. Gower has judiciously kept it apart from the story of Coronis and the raven, told by him in the second book, with which it is combined in rather a confusing manner by Ovid. The story is somewhat expanded by Gower.

6150. _wif to Marte_: cp. 1214 f.

6169. _And caste_: cp. l. 4590, and see note on i. 1895.

6197. ‘mota est pro virgine virgo, Auxiliumque tulit,’ _Metam._ ii. 579 f., but Ovid says nothing of any special prayer to Pallas for help, nor does he represent that Cornix was before in attendance upon that goddess.

6207 ff. This is original and characteristic of our author.

6225 ff. This story is from Ovid, _Metam._ ii. 409-507, but Gower evidently knew it from other sources also, for the name Calistona (or Callisto) is not given by Ovid, who calls her ‘virgo Nonacrina’ and ‘Parrhasis.’ Hyginus tells it in various forms, _Fab._ 177 and _Poet. Astr._ ii. 2.

6255. According to Ovid, Diana was quite ignorant of the fact, though the nymphs suspected it.

6258. _in a ragerie_, that is ‘in sport’: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, E 1847, and the use of the verb ‘rage,’ e. g. i. 1764 and _Cant. Tales_, A 257, 3273, 3958.

6275 ff. ‘I procul hinc, dixit, nec sacros pollue fontes,’ _Metam._ ii. 464.

6281. F has a stop after ‘schame.’

6291 ff. This address is mostly original: cp. _Metam._ ii. 471 ff.

6334 ff.

‘Arcuit omnipotens, pariterque ipsosque nefasque
Sustulit, et celeri raptos per inania vento
Imposuit caelo vicinaque sidera fecit.’

_Metam._ ii. 505 ff.

_Latin Verses_, x. The idea expressed is that though examples of virginity can only be produced through marriage, yet virginity is nobler than marriage, as the flower of a rose is nobler than the stock from which it springs. Marriage, in fact, replenishes the earth, but virginity heaven: cp. _Trait._ ii.

6359 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 17119 ff., where the saying is attributed to Jerome, who says in fact that precedence was given in the streets to the Vestal Virgins by the highest magistrates, and even by victors riding in the triumphal car (_adv. Jovin._ ii. 41).

6372 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 18301 ff. The anecdote is taken from Valerius Maximus, _Mem._ iv. 5, but the name in the original is ‘Spurina,’ and he does not thrust out his eyes, but merely destroys the beauty of his face. In the _Mirour_ it is ‘Coupa ses membres.’

6385 ff. ‘So may I prove that, if a man will weigh the virtues, he will find that virginity is to be praised above all others.’ The sentence is disordered for the sake of the rhymes: cp. ii. 709 ff.

6389. The quotation from the Apocalypse is given in the margin of SΔ and in _Mirour_, 17053 ff. The reference is to Rev. xiv. 4.

6395* ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 17067 and note.

6398 ff. This also appears in _Mirour_, 17089 ff., and _Traitié_, xvi. It may have been taken from the _Epistola Valerii ad Rufinum_.

6402. The margin makes him ‘octogenarius,’ and so it is also in the _Mirour_ and _Traitié_, as well as in the _Epistola Valerii_.

6435 ff. This shows more knowledge than could have been got from the _Roman de Troie_. The story is told by Hyginus, _Fab._ 121, but not exactly as we have it here. This ‘Criseide douhter of Crisis’ should be distinguished from the Criseide daughter of Calchas (Briseïda in the _Roman de Troie_), who is associated with Troilus, if it is worth while making distinctions where so much confusion prevails.

6442. _dangerous_, that is, ‘grudging’ or ‘reluctant’: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, D 1090, and see note on i. 2443.

6452. _So grete a lust_: cp. l. 5737 and Introduction, p. cx.

6498. _as a Pocok doth._ It is difficult to see the appropriateness of the comparison, for to ‘stalke’ is to go cautiously or secretly, and that is evidently the meaning here, so that any idea of display is out of the question. The peacock was supposed to be ashamed of its ugly feet, cp. _Mirour_, 23459, and in the _Secretum Secretorum_ we actually have the expression ‘humilis et obediens ut pavo,’ translated by Lydgate (or Burgh) ‘Meeke as a pecock.’ Albertus Magnus says, ‘Cum aspicitur ad solem, decorem ostentat, et alio tempore occultat quantum poterit’ (_De Animalibus_, 23). There seems to have been a notion that it was liable to have its pride humbled and to slink away ashamed.

6526. _bile under the winge_, that is, concealed, as a bird’s head under its wing: apparently proverbial.

6541. _I mai remene ... mene._ This is apparently the reading of the MSS. The meaning of ‘remene’ is properly to bring back. It is used earlier, i. 279, with reference to the application of the teaching about vices generally to the case of love, and here it seems to have much the same sense. ‘So that I may apply what has been said about this craft directly’ (‘Withouten help of eny mene’) to the case of lovers, they being very evidently offenders in this way.

6581. _hire it is_: but in l. 4470, ‘It schal ben hires.’

6608 ff. For the construction see note on i. 718.

6620. _Danger_: see note on i. 2443.

6634. _slyke_: cp. l. 7092*, ‘He can so wel hise wordes slyke.’ The word means properly to smoothe, hence to flatter: cp. the modern ‘sleek.’

6635. _Be him_, &c., i. e. by his own resources or by the help of any other.

6636. _To whom_: see note on i. 771.

6654. _a nyht_, i. e. by night, also written ‘anyht,’ ii. 2857.

6672. _Protheüs_, that is Proteus: cp. note on l. 3082.

6674. _in what liknesse_, ‘into any form whatsoever.’

6680. _under the palle_, ‘in secret,’ like ‘under the gore,’ l. 5730.

6713 ff. From Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 192-255, but with several changes. In the original story the Sun-god came to Leucothoe by night and in the form of her mother. Clytie (not Clymene) discovered the fact (without the aid of Venus) and told it to the father; and it was an incense plant which grew from the place where Leucothoe was buried.

6757. For the expression cp. iii. 2555, ‘Achastus, which with Venus was Hire priest.’

6779. This change into a flower which follows the sun is suggested by _Metam._ iv. 266 ff., where we are told that Clytie was changed into a heliotrope. Here it is a sun-flower apparently.

6807 ff. From Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 305-358. The ‘mistress’ of whom Ovid speaks is Omphale, but Gower supposed it to be Iole. He gets ‘Thophis’ as the name of the cave from a misunderstanding of l. 317, and apparently he read ‘Saba’ for ‘Lyda’ in l. 356, out of which he has got his idea of a goddess Saba with attendant nymphs. This feature, though based on a mistake, is a decided improvement of the story, which is told by Gower in a spirited and humorous manner.

6848 ff. The reading of X in this passage is also that of GOAd₂.

6899. The punctuation is that of F.

6932. _al a route_: so iv. 2145, cp. l. 6257, ‘al a compainie.’

7013. Cp. _Mirour_, 7181 ff.

7048. This is a nautical metaphor, ‘so near the wind will they steer.’ The verb ‘love’ is the modern ‘luff,’ meaning to bring a ship’s head towards the wind. The substantive ‘lof’ (genit. ‘loves’) means in ME. a rudder or some similar contrivance for turning the ship, and ‘love’ here seems to mean simply to steer. The rhyme with ‘glove’ makes ‘love’ from ‘lufian’ out of the question, even if it gave a satisfactory sense.

7140. _gon offre._ The ceremony of ‘offering’ after mass was one which involved a good deal of etiquette as regards precedence and so on, cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, A 449 ff., and ladies apparently were led up to the altar on these occasions by their cavaliers.

7179. ‘If I might manage in any other way,’ like the expression ‘(I cannot) away with,’ &c.

7195 ff. The story comes no doubt from Benoît, _Rom. de Troie_, 2851-4916, where it is told at much greater length. Guido does not differ much as regards the incidents related by Gower, but by comparing the two texts in some particular places we can tell without much difficulty which was Gower’s source. For example, in the speech of Hector Benoît has,

‘Veez Europe que il ont,
La tierce partie del mont,
Où sont li meillor chevalier.’ 3791 ff.,

while Guido says, ‘Nostis enim ... totam Affricam et Europam hodie Grecis esse subiectam, quanta Greci multitudine militum sunt suffulti,’ &c. See below, 7340 ff.

The story is told by Gower with good judgement, and he freely omits unnecessary details, as those of the mission of Antenor to Greece. The debate in Priam’s parliament is shortened, and the speeches of Hector and Paris much improved.

7197 ff. Cp. 3303 ff.

7202. The sentence is broken off and resumed in a different form: see note on i. 98.

* * * * *

7015* ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 7156 ff.

7033*. _And that_, i. e. ‘And provided that.’

7092*. See note on l. 6634.

7105* ff. The tale is told also in the _Mirour de l’Omme_, 7093-7128. It is to be found in the _Gesta Romanorum_ (which however is not Gower’s source), and in various other places. Cicero tells what is practically the same story of Dionysius of Syracuse (_De Nat. Deorum_, iii. 34), but the acts of sacrilege were committed by him in various places. The golden mantle was taken from the statue of Zeus at Olympia, and the beard from that of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, the justification in this latter case being that Apollo, the father of Aesculapius, was always represented without a beard. Those who repeated the anecdote in the Middle Ages naturally missed this point. We may note that Dyonis is the name given in the _Mirour_.

* * * * *

7213 ff. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 2779 ff.

7235 ff. _Rom. de Troie_, 3029 ff. Gower has judiciously cut short the architectural details.

7275. _Esionam_: see note on l. 6719.

7307. _in his yhte_, ‘in his possession.’ For the substance of these lines cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 2915-2950.

7372. _schape ye_, imperative, for _schapeth_; so ‘Sey ye’ in l. 7435.

7377. _Strong thing_, i. e. a hard thing to bear. This is apparently a translation of the French ‘fort,’ which was very commonly used in the sense of ‘difficult’: see the examples in Godefroy’s Dictionary, e. g. ‘forte chose est de çou croire,’ ‘fors choses est a toi guerroier ancontre moi.’

7390 ff. ‘Ten men have been seen to deal with a hundred and to have had the better.’

7400. _Rom. de Troie_, 3842, ‘L’autrier ès kalendes de Mai,’ &c. The word ‘ender’ is an adjective meaning ‘former,’ originally perhaps an adverb. It is used only in the expressions ‘ender day’ and ‘ender night.’ The combination ‘enderday’ occurs in i. 98.

7420. _Rom. de Troie_, 3889 f.,

‘Cascune conseilla à mei
Privéement et en segrei,’ &c.

7451 ff. For Cassandra as the Sibyl cp. Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 214 (ed. 1584).

7497 f.

‘Molt est isnele Renommée,
Savoir fist tost par la contrée,’ &c.

_Rom. de Troie_, 4299 ff.

7555 ff. The further incidents of the embarkation and of the voyage home, _Rom. de Troie_, 4505-4832, are omitted.

7576 f. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 4867 ff.

7591 ff. This incident is related in the _Rom. de Troie_, 17457 ff. The occasion was an anniversary celebration at the tomb of Hector, and though the temple of Apollo is not actually named here by Benoît, it has been previously described at large as Hector’s burial place.

7597 ff. The scene in Chaucer’s _Troilus_, i. 155 ff., is well known. He took it from Boccaccio.

7612. In the treatment of Avarice Gower has departed entirely from the plan of fivefold division which he follows in the first three books, as throughout in the _Mirour_. In the sixth book he deliberately declines to deal with more than two of the branches of Gule (vi. 12f.), and the treatment of Lechery is also irregular.

7651. _here tuo debat_, i. e. the strife of those two.

7716. _the Cote for the hod_: that is, he gets a return larger than the amount that he gave; a different form of the expression from that which we have in l. 4787.

7719. _hors_: probably plural in both cases.

7724. ‘If a man will go by the safe way.’

7736 ff. This saying is not really quoted from Seneca, but from Caecilius Balbus, _Nug. Phil._ xi. It must have been in Chaucer’s mind when he wrote ‘Suffice unto thy good, though it be smal,’ that is, ‘Adapt thy life to thy worldly fortune.’

7830 f. I take this to mean, ‘And suddenly to meet his flowers the summer appears and is rich.’ For the meaning of ‘hapneth’ see the examples in the _New English Dictionary_.

7838. _be war_: written as one word in F and afterwards divided by a stroke.

LIB. VI.

_Latin Verses._ i. 6. _ruit_ seems to be transitive, ‘casts down.’

i. 7. Rather involved in order: ‘on the lips which Bacchus intoxicates and which are plunged in sleep.’

4. _mystymed_, ‘unhappily produced.’ In other places, as i. 220, iii. 2458, the word seems to mean to order or arrange wrongly. The OE. ‘mistīmian’ means to happen amiss.

7. _dedly_, ‘mortal,’ i. e. subject to death.

34. _wext_, ‘he waxeth’: for the omission of the pronoun see note on i. 1895 and cp. ll. 149, 213, 367, below.

57. For the form of expression cp. i. 380, ii. 2437, and below, l. 106.

59. _sterte_ is for ‘stert,’ pres. tense.

70. _in vers_, that is ‘in order.’ The word ‘vers’ is given in Godefroy’s Dictionary with the sense ‘state,’ ‘situation’; e. g. _Rom. de la Rose_, 9523 ff.,

‘Malement est changies li vers,
Or li vient li gieus si divers,
Qu’el ne puet ne n’ose joer.’

71 f. Cp. _Mirour_, 8246 f.

84. _the jolif wo_: cp. i. 88, vii. 1910, and _Balades_, xii. 4, ‘Si porte ades le jolif mal sanz cure.’

105. _of such a thew_, ‘by such a habit’ (i. e. of love), to be taken with ‘dronkelew.’

144. _hovedance_, ‘court dance’: see _New Eng. Dictionary_.

145. _the newefot_: written thus as one word in S and F: it must be regarded as the name of some dance.

160. _it am noght I_: cp. Chaucer, _Leg. of G. Women_, 314, ‘sir, hit am I,’ _Cant. Tales_, A 1736, &c.

188. _holde forth the lusti route_: perhaps simply, ‘continue to be with the merry company.’ See ‘forth’ in the Glossary.

218. _vernage_: the same wine that is called ‘gernache’ or ‘garnache’ in the _Mirour de l’Omme_, ‘vernaccia’ in Italian, but whether a wine of Italy or Greece seems uncertain.

221. _at myn above_: see note on iv. 914.

239. _the blanche fievere_: cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, i. 916, with Skeat’s note.

249. Cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, i. 420, ‘For hete of cold, for cold of hete, I dye.’

253. _of such reles_: this seems to men ‘of such strength,’ and ‘relais’ perhaps has a somewhat similar sense in _Mirour_, 3021,

‘C’est droit qu’il sente le relais
De la tempeste et de l’orage.’

As in the modern ‘relay,’ the idea of ceasing or of relaxation may be accompanied by the notion of fresh vigour taking the place of exhaustion, and so the word may stand simply for strength or freshness.

If this explanation is not admissible, we must suppose that ‘reles’ means here the power of relaxing or dissolving.

285 f. Cp. _Rom. de la Rose_, 4326 f.,

‘C’est la soif qui tous jors est ivre,
Yvrece qui de soif s’enyvre.’

290. _liste_: perhaps pret. subjunctive; so l. 606, and ‘leste,’ 357.

296. _be the bend_, i. e. ‘by the band,’ at his girdle.

311 f. ‘This for the time alleviates the pain for him who has no other joy.’ ‘As for the time yit’ means simply ‘for the time,’ cp. ll. 738, 893.

321. For ‘men’ with singular verb cp. ii. 659, v. 5510, 6045, vii. 1352, and Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, A 149, &c.

330 ff. Cp. viii. 2252 ff. and. _Traitié_, xv. 2. The poet referred to in the margin is perhaps Homer, who is quoted in the _Rom. de la Rose_ as authority for an arrangement somewhat similar to that described here:

‘Jupiter en toute saison
A sor le suel de sa maison,
Ce dit Omers, deus plains tonneaus;
Si n’est viex hons ne garçonneaus,
N’il n’est dame ne damoisele,
Soit vielle ou jone, laide ou bele,
Qui vie en ce monde reçoive,
Qui de ces deus tonneaus ne boive.
C’est une taverne planière,
Dont Fortune la tavernière
Trait aluine et piment en coupes’ &c. 6836 ff. (ed. Méon).

Gower has applied the idea especially to the subject of love, and has made Cupid the butler instead of Fortune. The basis in Homer is _Il._ xxiv. 527 ff.,

δοιοὶ γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν Διὸς οὔδει, κ.τ.λ.

360. _trouble_ is properly an adjective, cp. v. 4160. The corrupt reading ‘chere’ for ‘cler’ has hitherto obscured the sense.

399 ff. This story of Bacchus is told by Hyginus, _Poet. Astr._ ii, under the heading ‘Aries.’

437. _a riche temple._ This was the temple of Jupiter Ammon.

439. ‘To remind thirsty men’ of the power of prayer.

485 ff. The story is from Ovid, _Metam._ xii. 210 ff.

502 f. _thilke tonne drouh, wherof_, &c., ‘drew such wine for them that by it,’ &c. See note on i. 771 and cp. ll. 618 and 1249 of this book.

537. I do not know what authority is referred to.

598. _unteid_, ‘set free,’ so ‘wandering abroad.’

609. The name of this second branch of Gluttony has not been mentioned before.

632 f. ‘so long as he has wealth by which he may be provided with the means.’ For the use of ‘founde’ cp. v. 2690 and Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, C 537, ‘How gret labour and cost is thee to fynde!’ (addressing the belly).

640. _for the point of his relief_, ‘in order to please him,’ so below ‘he is noght relieved,’ l. 678.

656. _toke_, subjunctive, ‘how he should take it.’

662. After this line a couplet is inserted by Pauli from the Harleian MS. 7184 (H₃),

To take metes and drinkes newe,
For it shulde alwey eschewe.’

The lines are nonsense and have no metre. They come originally from K, the copyist of which apparently inserted them out of his own head, to fill up a space left by the accidental omission of two lines (645 f.) a little above in the same column. He was making his book correspond column for column with the copy, and therefore discovered his mistake when he reached the bottom, but did not care to draw attention to it by inserting what he had omitted.

663. ‘Physique’ is apparently meant for the Physics of Aristotle, and something very like this maxim is to be found there, but the quotation, ‘Consuetudo est altera natura,’ is actually taken from the _Secretum Secretorum_ (ed. 1520, f. 21).

664. The transposition after this line of the passage ll. 665-964, which occurs in MSS. of the second recension, is not accidental, as we see by the arrangements made afterwards for fitting in the passage (l. 1146). The object apparently was to lay down the principle ‘Delicie corporis militant aduersus animam,’ illustrated by the parable of Dives and Lazarus, before proceeding to the discussion of ‘Delicacie’ in the case of love, and this is perhaps the more logical arrangement; but the alteration, as it is made, involves breaking off the discussion here of the ill effects of change, and resuming it after an interval of nearly two hundred lines.

674. _Avise hem wel_, i. e. ‘let them take good heed.’

683. ‘Without regard to her honour’: cp. _Balades_, xxii. 4, ‘Salvant toutdis l’estat de vostre honour.’

709. _abeched_, from the French ‘abechier,’ to feed, used properly of feeding young birds. The word ‘refreched’ is conformed to it in spelling.

728. The reading of Pauli, ‘I say I am nought gilteles,’ just reverses the sense. Berthelette has the text right here.

738. _for a time yit_: cp. 311, ‘As for the time yit,’ and 893, ‘As for the while yit.’

770. ‘Without wrinkle of any kind,’ cp. _Mirour_, 10164, ‘Car moult furont de noble grein’; or perhaps ‘Without the smallest wrinkle,’ ‘grein’ being taken to stand for the smallest quantity of a thing: cp. ii. 3310.

778. Cp. Chaucer, _Book of the Duchess_, 939 ff.

785. _schapthe._ For this form, which is given by S and F, cp. the word ‘ssepþe,’ meaning ‘creature’ or ‘form,’ which occurs repeatedly in the _Ayenbite of Inwyt_.

800. ‘And if it seemed so to all others.’ The person spoken of throughout this passage as ‘he,’ ‘him,’ is the eye of the lover. This seems to itself to have sufficient sustenance by merely gazing on the beloved object, and if it seemed so to all others also, that is, to the other senses, the eye would never cease to feed upon the sight: but they, having other needs, compel it to turn away.

809. _as thogh he faste_: the verb seems to be pret. subjunctive, as ‘syhe’ down below.

817. _tireth._ This expresses the action of a falcon pulling at its prey: cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, i. 787, ‘Whos stomak foules tiren everemo.’ The word is used in the same sense also in the _Mirour_, 7731.

845. _mi ladi goode_, ‘my lady’s goodness.’

857. Lombard cooks were celebrated, and there was a kind of pastry called ‘pain lumbard,’ _Mirour_, 7809.

879. The romance of Ydoine and Amadas is one of those mentioned at the beginning of the _Cursor Mundi_. It has been published in the ‘Collection des poètes français du moyen âge’ (ed. Hippeau, 1863). Amadas is the type of the lover who remains faithful through every kind of trial.

891. _a cherie feste_: cp. Prol. 454. It is an expression used for pleasures that last but a short time: cp. Audelay’s Poems (Percy Soc. xiv) p. 22,

‘Hit fallus and fadys forth so doth a chere fayre’

(speaking of the glory of this world).

893. Cp. 311, 738.

897. _he_, i. e. my ear.

908. _me lacketh_: the singular form is due perhaps to the use of the verb impersonally in many cases.

961. _excede_, subjunctive, ‘so as to go beyond reason.’

986 ff. This story furnishes a favourable example of our author’s style and versification. It is told simply and clearly, and the verse is not only smooth and easy, but carefully preserved from monotony by the breaking of the couplet very frequently at the pauses: see 986, 998, 1006, 1010, 1016, &c.

995. We have remarked already upon Gower’s fatalism, iii. 1348, &c. Here we may refer also to ll. 1026, 1613, 1702, for further indications of the same tendency.

1059. _is overronne_, that is, ‘has passed beyond.’

1110. _descryve_, apparently ‘understand,’ ‘discern,’ perhaps by that confusion with ‘descry’ which is noted in the _New Engl. Dictionary_.

1149 f. These two lines are omitted without authority by Pauli.

1176. That is, though they had rendered no services for which they ought to be so distinguished.

1180. _sojorned_: the word is used in French especially of a horse kept in stable at rack and manger and refreshed for work: see _Mirour_, Glossary.

1216. ‘So that that pleasure should not escape him.’

1245. _out of feere_, ‘without fear.’

1262. _unwar_, here ‘unknown’: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 427, ‘The unwar wo or harm that comth behinde.’

1295. Originally geomancy seems to have been performed, as suggested in this passage, by marks made in sand or earth, then by casual dots on paper: see the quotations under ‘geomancy’ in the _New Engl. Dictionary_. Gower here mentions the four recognized kinds of divination, by the elements of earth, water, fire, and air.

1306 ff. It is practically certain that Gower was acquainted with the treatise ascribed to Albertus Magnus, called _Speculum Astronomiae_ or _De libris licitis et illicitis_ (_Alberti Magni Opera_, v. 655 ff.), since he seems to follow it to a great extent not only here, but also in his list of early astronomers (vii. 1449 ff.). There are however some things here which he must have had from other sources; for there is no mention in the above-mentioned treatise of ‘Spatula,’ ‘Babilla,’ ‘Cernes,’ ‘Honorius.’

1312. _comun rote_, that is, apparently, ‘common custom.’ The word ‘rote’ is used also below, l. 1457, where it appears to mean ‘condition.’ It must be the same as that which appears in the phrase ‘by rote,’ and it is difficult to believe that it can be the French ‘route,’ as is usually said. The rhyme here and in l. 1457, as well as those in Chaucer (with ‘cote,’ ‘note’), show that the ‘o’ had an open sound, and this would be almost impossible from French ‘ou.’ The expression ‘par routine’ or ‘par rotine’ is given by Cotgrave as equivalent to the English ‘by rote,’ but I am not aware of any use of such an expression in French as early as the fourteenth century. Many of the examples of the phrase ‘by rote’ seem to have to do with singing or church services (cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 1712, _Piers Plowmans Crede_, 379), and Du Cange gives a quotation in which ‘rotae’ seems to mean ‘chants’ or ‘hymns’ (‘rota,’ 6). From such a sense as this the idea of a regular order of service, and thence of ‘custom,’ ‘habit,’ might without much difficulty arise.

1314 ff. The following passage from the _Spec. Astronomiae_, cap. 10, gives most of the names and terms which occur in these lines: ‘Ex libris vero Toz Graeci est liber de stationibus ad cultum Veneris, qui sic incipit: _Commemoratio historiarum_ ... Ex libris autem Salomonis est liber de quatuor anulis, quem intitulat nominibus quatuor discipulorum suorum, qui sic incipit: _De arte eutonica et ideica_, &c. Et liber de nouem candariis.... Et alius paruus de sigillis ad dæmoniacos, qui sic incipit: _Caput sigilli gendal et tanchil_.’

1316. _Razel._ ‘Est autem unus liber magnus Razielis, qui dicitur liber institutionum,’ &c. In MS. Ashmole 1730 there is a letter to Dr. Richard Napier from his nephew at Oxford, speaking of a book of Solomon in the University Library called _Cephar Raziel_, that is, he explains, ‘Angelus magnus secreti Creatoris,’ of which he proposes to make a copy, having obtained means of entering the library at forbidden hours. Again, in MS. Ashmole 1790 there is a description of this book.

1320. ‘cui adiungitur liber Beleni de horarum opere,’ _Spec. Astron._ p. 661. The seal of Ghenbal is the ‘sigillum gendal,’ mentioned in the former citation.