951. Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 673.
953. _Metam._ xv. 665.
955 f. That is, the deeds of Friday (dies Veneris) were more atrocious
than those of Thursday.
961 f. The construction of accusative with infinitive is here used
after ‘Ecce,’ as if it were a verb, and ‘Calcas’ is evidently meant for
an accusative case. It is probable that the names here given, Calchas,
Antenor, Thersites, Diomede, Ulysses, as well as those which follow
in ll. 985 ff., are meant to stand for general types, rather than for
particular persons connected with the government. In any case we could
hardly identify them.
997. _Vix Hecube thalami_, &c. This looks like an allusion to the
princess of Wales, the king’s mother, whose apartments in the Tower
were in fact invaded by the mob. Similarly in the lines that follow
‘Helenus’ stands for the archbishop of Canterbury.
1019 ff. The text of these five lines, as we find it in DTH₂, that is
in its earlier form, was taken for the most part from the _Aurora_ of
Petrus (de) Riga, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 88 v^o,
‘Non rannus pungens, set oliua uirens, set odora
Ficus, set blanda uitis abhorret eos.
Anticristus enim regit hos, nam spiritus almus,
Nam lex, nam Cristus, non dominatur eis.’
He is speaking of the parable of Jotham in the Book of Judges.
1046. _Fasti_, ii. 228.
1073. _medioque_: written apparently for ‘mediaque.’
1076. _posse caret_, ‘is without effect.’
1081. Cp. _Tristia_, iv. 2. 5 f.
1094. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 122.
1141. _Metam._ vi. 559.
1143. Cp. _Metam._ vii. 603.
1161. _Metam._ vii. 602. Considering that the line is borrowed from
Ovid, we cannot attach much importance to it as indicating what was
done with the body of the archbishop.
1173. _ostia iuris_: cp. Walsingham, i. 457, ‘locum qui vocatur “Temple
Barre,” in quo apprenticii iuris morabantur nobiliores, diruerunt.’
1188. Cp. Ovid, _Her._ iii. 4.
1189. _Metam._ v. 41.
1193 f. Cp. _Ars Amat._ ii. 373 f., where, however, we have ‘cum
rotat,’ not ‘conrotat.’
1206. _Quam periturus erat_, ‘rather than that he should perish,’
apparently.
1209. Cp. _Metam._ v. 40.
1211. _Metam._ xiv. 408.
1215 f. A reference probably to the massacre of the Flemings.
1219 f. _Fasti_, iii. 509 f.
1221 f. Ovid, _Amores_, iii. 9. 11 f.
1224. Cp. _Her._ v. 68.
1253. Cp. _Metam._ vii. 599, ‘Exiguo tinxit subiectos sanguine cultros.’
1271. Perhaps ‘cessit’ is right, as in l. 1265, but the reading of C is
the result of a correction, and the corrections of this manuscript are
usually sound.
1279 f. If there is any construction here, it must be ‘Erumpunt
lacrimae luminibus, que lumina,’ &c. For this kind of ellipse cp. l.
1501.
1283. Cp. _Her._ viii. 77.
1289. _Metam._ ix. 775.
Cap. xvi. _Heading_, l. 1. _quasi in propria persona_: cf. _Conf.
Amantis_, i. 60, _margin_, ‘Hic quasi in persona aliorum quos amor
alligat, fingens se auctor esse Amantem,’ &c. The author takes care
to guard his readers against a too personal application of his
descriptions.
1359. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ xiv. 198. In the lines that follow our author
has rather ingeniously appropriated several other expressions from the
same story of Ulysses and Polyphemus.
1363 f. _Ars Amat._ iii. 723 f.
1365. _Metam._ xiv. 206.
1369. _Metam._ xiv. 200.
1379 f. Cp. _Tristia_, v. 4. 33 f.
1385 f. _Her._ xx. 91 f.
1387. Cp. _Metam._ xiv. 120.
1395. Cp. _Metam._ iv. 723.
1397 f. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 3. 53 f.
1401 f. Cp. _Fasti_, v. 315 f.
1403. Cp. _Metam._ xv. 27.
1413 f. _Pont._ i. 3. 57 f.
1420. Cp. _Her._ iii. 24, used here with a change of meaning.
1424. Cp. _Ars Amat._ ii. 88, ‘Nox oculis pavido venit oborta metu.’
1425 f. _Pont._ i. 2. 45 f.
1429 f. Cp. _Pont._ i. 2. 49 f.
1433. _Metam._ iii. 709.
1442. Cp. _Her._ v. 14, where we have ‘Mixtaque’ instead of ‘Copula.’
1445 ff. Cp. _Metam._ xiv. 214-216.
1453. Adapted from _Metam._ iv. 263, ‘Rore mero lacrimisque suis
ieiunia pavit.’ The change of ‘mero’ to ‘meo’ involves a tasteless
alteration of the sense, while the sound is preserved.
1459. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 581.
1465. _Metam._ ii. 656. Our author has borrowed the line without
supplying an appropriate context, and the result is nonsense. Ovid has
‘Suspirat ab imis
Pectoribus, lacrimaeque genis labuntur obortae.’
1467 f. _Pont._ i. 2. 29 f.
1469. Cp. _Metam._ xiii. 539.
1473. Ovid, _Metam._ viii. 469.
1475. _Metam._ iv. 135, borrowed without much regard to the context.
1485. From Ovid, _Her._ xiv. 37, where however we have ‘calor,’ not
‘color,’ a material difference.
1496. _Her._ v. 46.
1497. The expression ‘verbis solabar amicis’ is from Ovid (_Fasti_, v.
237), but here ‘solabar’ seems to be made passive in sense.
1501 f. i.e. ‘cessat amor eius qui prius,’ &c., with a rather harsh
ellipse of the antecedent. The couplet is a parody of Ovid, _Pont._ iv.
6. 23 f.,
‘Nam cum praestiteris verum mihi semper amorem,
Hic tamen adverso tempore crevit amor.’
1503 f. Cp. _Tristia_, iii. i. 65 f.,
‘Quaerebam fratres, exceptis scilicet illis,
Quos suus optaret non genuisse pater.’
1506. _Fasti_, i. 148, not very appropriate here.
1512. _Her._ xi. 82.
1514. Cp. _Her._ xiii. 86, ‘Substitit auspicii lingua timore mali.’
1517 f. Cp. _Her._ iii. 43 f.
1519. Cp. _Pont._ iii. 4. 75.
1521. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 11. 23.
1534. Cp. _Tristia_, v. 4. 4, ‘Heu quanto melior sors tua sorte mea
est.’
1535 ff. Cp. _Tristia_, iii. 3. 39 ff.
1539 f. _Tristia_, iii. 3. 29 f.
1541. _scis quia_: ‘quia’ for ‘quod,’ cp. l. 1593; ‘puto quod,’ i.
Prol. 15, &c.
1549. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 483.
1564. _Her._ xiv. 52.
1565 f. Cp. _Her._ x. 113 f. The lines are not very appropriate here.
1568. See note on l. 1420.
1569. Cp. _Metam._ iii. 396.
1571. Cp. _Metam._ xiv. 210.
1573. Cp. _Metam._ vii. 614.
1575. Cp. _Metam._ ix. 583.
1581. _Obice singultu_, that is, ‘Impediente singultu’: cp. _Cronica
Tripertita_, ii. 3.
1585. _Metam._ xiv. 217.
1589. _Tristia_, i. 5. 45.
1593. _vidi quia_: cp. l. 1541.
1609. _quid agant alii_, ‘whatever others may do.’
1612. Cp. _Her._ xix. 52.
1615 f. It seems probable that this is a prayer to the Virgin Mary,
whose name ‘Star of the Sea’ was used long before the fourteenth
century, e.g.
‘Praevia stella maris de mundo redde procella
Tutos: succurre, praevia stella maris,’
in an address to the Virgin by Eberhard (date 1212) in Leyser, _Poet.
Med. Aevi_, p. 834, and the name occurs also in Peter Damian’s hymns
(xi. cent.). For Gower’s use of the expression cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_,
29925, ‘O de la mer estoille pure,’ and later in this book, l. 2033,
‘Stella, Maria, maris.’ Here, however, we might translate, ‘Be thou a
star of the sea going before me,’ taking it as a prayer to Christ.
1623. _Metam._ i. 265.
1627. _Extra se positus_, ‘beside himself.’
1630. _Fasti_, iv. 386.
1631. Cp. _Metam._ i. 282.
1635. Cp. _Metam._ i. 269.
1637. Cp. _Metam._ i. 270.
1653 ff. From this point to the end of the chapter the description is
mostly taken from Ovid, _Metam._ xi. 480-523, many hexameters being
appropriated without material change, e.g. ll. 480, 482, 484, 486, 488,
491, 492, 495, 499, 501, 516, 517, 519 f.
1689. The line is taken away from its context, and consequently gives
no sense. In Ovid it is,
‘Ipse pavet, nec se qui sit status ipse fatetur
Scire ratis rector.’--_Metam._ xi. 492.
1693. _Metam._ i. 292.
1695. From Peter Riga, _Aurora_, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 16 v^o.
1697-1700. Cp. _Aurora_, f. 15 v^o,
‘Fontes ingresso Noe corrumpuntur abyssi,
Et de uisceribus terra fluenta uomit.
Effundunt nubes pluuias, deciesque quaternis
Sustinet inmensas archa diebus aquas.’
1717 f. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 689 f.
1719. Cp. _Metam._ iv. 706 f. Ovid has ‘praefixo,’ which is more
satisfactory.
1721. Cp. _Metam._ iv. 690.
1727 f. _Tristia_, i. 11. 21 f.
1729. _Fasti_, iii. 593.
1735. _Metam._ xi. 539.
1739. Cp. _Metam._ xi. 515, ‘Rima patet, praebetque viam letalibus
undis.’
1774. Cp. _Fasti_, ii. 98.
1775 f. Cp. _Amores_, ii. 11. 9 f.
1779 f. _Tristia_, v. 12. 5 f.
1781. _Metam._ xiv. 213.
1825. Cp. _Tristia_, ii. 179.
1832. _Tristia_, i. 5. 36.
1847 f. Cp. Ovid, _Pont._ iii. 7. 27 f. In the second line Ovid has
‘tumidis,’ for which there is no authority in Gower. Our author perhaps
read ‘timidis’ in his copy of Ovid, or made the change himself, taking
‘timidis’ to mean ‘fearful.’
1879. ‘Perhaps that day would have been the last of confusion, even
if,’ &c. This, by the context, would seem to be the meaning.
1898. Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 542.
1899 f. Cp. _Pont._ i. 3. 9 f.
1907 f. From Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 82 (ed. 1584).
1909. ‘But he who walked upon the sea,’ &c., that is, Christ.
1913. Cp. _Metam._ i. 328, ‘Nubila disiecit, nimbisque Aquilone
remotis.’
1917. _Metam._ i. 329.
1919. Cp. _Metam._ i. 345.
1921. Cp. _Metam._ v. 286, where we have ‘nubila,’ as the sense
requires. Here the MSS. give ‘numina’ without variation.
1923. Cp. _Metam._ ix. 795.
1925. _Metam._ i. 344.
1935. _Metam._ xiii. 440.
1939. _Metam._ xiii. 419.
1944. _Quam prius_: for ‘prius quam,’ as often.
1963 f. This alludes to the supposed reply made to Brutus (son of
Silvius), when he consulted the oracle of Diana in the island of
Leogecia, ‘Brute, sub occasum solis,’ &c., as told by Geoffrey of
Monmouth.
1979 f. Ovid, _Pont._ iii. 8. 15 f.
1991 ff. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 11. 25 ff.
1997 f. _Tristia_, iii. 2. 25 f.
2001 f. Cp. _Her._ xi. 27 f.
2003 f. _Her._ xiv. 39 f.
2029 f. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 119 f.
2031 f. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 531 f.
2033 f. Cp. _Her._ ii. 123 f.
2037 f. _Pont._ iv. 3. 49 f.
2043. Cp. _Pont._ i. 4. 21. In Ovid we read ‘animus quoque pascitur
illis,’ and this probably was what Gower intended to write.
2071 f. Cp. _Pont._ ii. 7. 9 f.
2074. _Pont._ ii. 7. 8.
2091. Cp. _Hist. Apollonii Tyrii_, xli, ‘Sicut rosa in spinis nescit
compungi mucrone.’
2139. Cp. _Pont._ i. 5. 47.
2150. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 484.
LIB. II. PROLOGUS.
15. Cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 11, l. 41 (Rolls Series, 59, vol. i.).
41. Deut. xxxii. 13, ‘ut sugeret mel de petra oleumque de saxo
durissimo.’
49 f. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 73 f.
51. The supposed mischief-maker is compared to Sinon, who gave a signal
by fire which led to the destruction of Troy: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, i.
1172. I cannot satisfactorily explain ‘Excetra.’
57 f. From Neckam, _De Vita Monachorum_, p. 175 (ed. Wright, Rolls
Series, 59, vol. ii.).
61. _De modicis ... modicum_: cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 16532.
64. Cp. Ovid, _Ars Amat._ ii. 166.
LIB. II.
With the general drift of what follows cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 529
ff.
1. _Incausti specie_, cp. _Conf. Amantis_, viii. 2212.
18. _nos_: meaning the people of England, as compared with those of
other countries.
31 f. Cp. Ovid, _Tristia_, v. 8. 19 f.
33. _Tristia_, v. 5. 47.
41. Job v. 6, ‘Nihil in terra sine causa fit’: cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_,
26857.
59. This is the usual opposition of rose and nettle, based perhaps
originally on Ovid, _Rem. Amoris_, 46: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, ii. 401 ff.
67 f. Cp. Boethius, _Consol. Phil._ 2 Pr. 4, ‘in omni adversitate
fortunae infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem.’ So Dante,
_Inf._ v. 121 ff.,
‘Nessun maggior dolore,
Che ricordarsi del tempo felice
Nella miseria.’
117 ff. Cp. Ovid, _Her._ v. 109 ff. In l. 117 ‘siccis’ is substituted,
not very happily, for ‘suci.’
138. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Latin Verses after ii. 1878,
‘Quod patet esse fides in eo fraus est, que politi
Principium pacti finis habere negat.’
163 f. Cp. Ovid, _Tristia_, v. 8. 15 f.
167 ff. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 5. 27 ff.
199 f. There seems to be no grammatical construction here.
239 ff. With this passage cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 27013 ff., where
nearly the same examples are given. The classification is according to
the nature of the things affected, first the heavenly bodies, then the
elements of air, water, fire and earth, and finally living creatures.
This arrangement is more clearly brought out in the _Mirour_.
259. Cp. _Mirour_, 27031, and note.
261. ‘And from the hard rocks of the desert,’ the conjunction being out
of its proper place, as in i. 407, 847, ii. 249, &c.
267 f. Cp. _Mirour_, 27049 ff.
281 ff. See _Mirour de l’Omme_, 27073 ff.
282. _Congelat_, ‘took form.’ Probably the author had in his mind the
phrase ‘congelat aere tacto,’ Ovid, _Metam._ xv. 415.
306. ‘num’ is here for ‘nonne’; cp. l. 320.
316. _Cumque_, for ‘Cum’: cp. l. 545, iii. 958, &c.
353 f. Cp. Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 9 (ed. 1584).
‘Ante creaturam genitor deus et genitura,
Primaque natura, novit statuitque futura.’
357-359. These three lines are from the _Pantheon_, p. 9.
371-374. Taken with slight change from the _Pantheon_, p. 10.
377 f. From _Aurora_, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 7 v^o.
414. ‘That which the new star brings argues that he is God.’
423. That is, ‘Lux venit, vt obscurari possit tenebris,’ &c.
485. ‘Every one who thinks upon Jesus ought to resolve to lay aside,’
&c.
487. The MSS. give ‘benedicti,’ but it seems probable that ‘benedici’
was meant. The verb is commonly transitive in later Latin.
495 ff. Cp. Isaiah, xliv. 9-20.
531 f. Psalms, cxiii. 8.
619 ff. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ i. 74 ff.
LIB. III. PROLOGUS.
11 ff. The author characteristically takes care to point out that
in his criticism of the Church he is expressing not his own private
opinion, but the ‘commune dictum,’ the report which went abroad among
the people, and the ‘vox populi’ has for him always a high authority.
Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18445 ff., 19057 ff., and see below, l. 1267
ff, iv. 19 f., 709 f.
With what is said in this Book of the condition of the Church and the
clergy we may compare the author’s _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18421-20832.
25 f. Compare with this the author’s note on _Mirour de l’Omme_,
21266-78.
61. Cp. Ovid, _Pont._ iv. 14. 41.
64. Cp. _Pont._ iv. 9. 10.
67 f. Cp. _Tristia_, ii. 301 f.
82. Cp. _Pont._ ii. 2. 128.
LIB. III.
1-28. The form of these lines which stood originally in S is given by
the Trinity College, Dublin, and the Hatfield MSS. The passage has been
rewritten over erasure in CHG, and it must be left doubtful what text
they had originally. From the fact that the erasure in G begins with
the second line, it may seem more probable that the original text of
this manuscript agreed with that which we have now in S, rather than
with TH₂: for in the latter case there would have been no need to begin
the erasure before l. 4. In CH the whole passage has been recopied
(the same hand appearing here in the two MSS.) so that we can draw no
conclusion about the point where divergence actually began. EDL have
the same text by first hand. It will be noted that the lines as given
by TH₂ make no mention of the schism of the Papacy.
11 ff. With this we may compare _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18769 ff.
22. _nisi_, for ‘nil nisi’: cp. l. 32.
41. Cp. Ovid, _Amores_, iii. 8. 55.
63. _Fasti_, i. 225.
65 f. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 249 f.
85-90. Chiefly from the _Aurora_ of Petrus (de) Riga, (MS. Bodley 822)
f. 71,
‘Ollarum carnes, peponum fercula, porros,
Cepas pro manna turba gulosa petit.
Quosdam consimiles sinus ecclesie modo nutrit,
Qui pro diuinis terrea uana petunt.
. . . . . .
Carnes ollarum carnalia facta figurant
Que uelut in nostra carne libido coquit.’
It would seem that Gower read ‘Gebas’ (which has no meaning) for
‘Cepas’ and ‘preponunt,’ as in MS. Univ. Coll. 143, for ‘peponum,’
which is the true reading, meaning ‘melons’ or ‘pumpkins.’
115. Cp. _Metam._ xv. 173.
Cap. iii. _Heading_. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 288 (margin), where
this is given as a quotation from Gregory.
141 f. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18553.
167 f. From _Aurora_, f. 37.
175. _gregis ex pietate mouetur_, ‘is moved by pity for his flock.’
193 ff. With this passage compare _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 407-413, and
_Mirour de l’Omme_, 20161 ff. In all these places a distinct charge is
brought against the clergy, to the effect that they encourage vice,
in order to profit by it themselves in money and in influence: ‘the
prostitute is more profitable to them than the nun,’ as our author
significantly says in the _Mirour_ (20149).
209 ff. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 20113 ff.
227 ff. For this attack on the ‘positive law’ of the Church cp. _Conf.
Amantis_, Prol. 247, _Mirour_, 18469 ff. The ‘lex positiva’ is that
which is enjoined not as of inherent moral obligation, but as imposed
by Church discipline.
249 f. Cp. _Mirour_, 18997 ff. Apparently ‘nouo’ is an adverb, meaning
‘anew,’ ‘again’: cp. 284, 376.
265 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 18505 ff.
283 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 18637, _Conf. Amantis_, ii. 3486.
329 ff. With this chapter compare _Mirour_, 18649-18732.
375. The note which we find here in the margin of SCHGD refers to the
crusade of the bishop of Norwich in Flanders in the year 1383, which
probably took place soon after the completion of our author’s book. It
is added in SCHG in what appears to be one and the same hand, possibly
that of the author himself. If we may judge by the manner in which the
campaign in question is referred to by contemporary chroniclers, it
seems to have been considered a public scandal by many others besides
Gower.
419. Gower uses ‘sublimo’ as an ablat. sing, in l. 701; therefore
‘sublimis’ may here be an ablative plural agreeing with ‘meritis.’
425 ff. Cp. _Aurora_, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 103,
‘Cogitat inde domum domino fundare, sed audit
A domino, “Templi non fabricator eris.
Es uir sanguineus, ideo templum mihi dignum
Non fabricare potes, filius immo tuus.”
Sanguineus uir signat eum qui, crimina carnis
Amplectens, templum non ualet esse dei.
Ecclesie sancte talis non erigit edem,
Nec sacre fidei collocat ille domum.’
508. ‘And whosoever may sound trumpets, we ought to be silent’; cp. i.
1609.
531 f. _Aurora_, f. 75 v^o.
619 f. Ovid, _Pont._ ii. 5. 61 f.
623 f. _Pont._ ii. 6. 21 f.
641. See _Ars Amat._ ii. 417, where we find ‘semine,’ a reading which
is required by the sense, but not given in the Gower MSS.
651. ‘The line of descent by right of his mother proclaims Christ to be
heir of that land in which he was born.’ The author argues for crusades
to recover the Holy Land, if there must be wars, instead of wars
against fellow Christians, waged by one pope against the other under
the name of crusades: cp. below, 945 ff.
676. _quo foret ipse vigil_, ‘where it ought to be watchful,’ a common
use of the imperfect subjunctive in our author’s Latin: cp. ‘gestaret,’
695, ‘lederet,’ 922, ‘medicaret,’ 1052.
815. What follows is spoken as in the person of the supreme pontiff:
cp. _Mirour_, 18505-18792, where somewhat similar avowals are put into
the mouth of a member of the Roman Court.
819 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 261,
‘The hevene is ferr, the world is nyh.’
835. Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 209.
955 f. I take this concluding couplet as a remark made by the author on
the sentiments which he has just heard expressed by the representative
of the Pope. It practically means that ‘Clemens’ is not a proper name
for the Pope: it is in fact a ‘headless name’ and should rather be
‘Inclemens.’ Compare the address to Innocent III at the beginning of
Geoffrey de Vinsauf’s _Poetria Nova_:
‘Papa, stupor mundi, si dixero Papa _nocenti_,
Acephalum nomen tribuam tibi: si caput addam,
Hostis erit metri,’ &c.
957 ff. It seems best to take what follows as, in part at least, a
dialogue between the author and the representative of the pope, who
has just spoken. Soon however the speech passes again entirely to the
author. The Biblical reference here is to Revelation, xxii. 8 f. The
same use is made of it in the _Mirour_, 18736 ff.
1077-1080. These four lines are from the _Aurora_, f. 44 v^o.
1113 f. Ovid, _Ars Amat._ iii. 595 f. (where we have ‘sequatur’). The
original application is to the effects of rivalry in stimulating the
passion of lovers. For the use of ‘sequetur’ here, apparently as a
subjunctive, compare l. 1946, ‘Inueniet tardam ne sibi lentus opem.’
1118-1124. These lines are almost entirely borrowed from the _Aurora_,
(MS. Bodley 822) f. 21 v^o.
1124. In the Glasgow MS. ‘Est’ has been here altered to ‘Et.’
1145-1150. Almost verbatim from _Aurora_, f. 93 v^o.
1169. S has here in the margin in a somewhat later hand than that of
the text, ‘No_ta_ h_ic_ _quattu_or n_e_cc_essar_ia ep_iscop_o.’
1171 f. Cp. _Aurora_, f. 44 v^o,
‘Est olei natura triplex, lucet, cybat, unguit;
Hec tria mitratum debet habere capud.’
1183 f. Cp. _Aurora_, f. 44 v^o,
‘Lux est exemplo, cibus est dum pascit egenos,
Vnctio dum populis dulcia uerba ferit.’
Gower is right in reading ‘serit,’ which is given in MS. Univ. Coll.
143, f. 13.
1206. Cp. l. 1376.
1213. Cp. Ovid, _Ars Amat._ iii. 655.
1215 f. Cp. _Ars Amat._ iii. 653 f.
1233. Cp. _Ars Amat._ ii. 279.
1247 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 18793 ff.
1267. _Vox populi_, &c.: cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 100, l. 4, and
see also the note on iii. Prol. 11.
1271. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 304 ff. and _Mirour_, 18805.
1313. With the remainder of this Book, treating of the secular clergy,
we may compare _Mirour de l’Omme_, 20209-20832.
1341. Cp. _Mirour_, 18889 ff.
1342. _participaret_, ‘he ought to share’: see note on l. 676.
1359 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, i. 1258 ff.
1375 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 20287 ff.
1376. The reading ‘vngat vt’ is given by the Digby MS. and seems almost
necessary: cp. l. 1206.
1405. _prece ruffi ... et albi_, ‘by reason of the petition of the
red and the white,’ that is, presumably, by the influence of gold and
silver, ‘dominis’ in the next line being in a loose kind of apposition
to a dative case suggested by ‘Annuit.’
1407. S has here in the margin, in a rather later hand, ‘contra
rectores Oxon.’
1417. Eccles. iv. 10, ‘Vae soli, quia cum ceciderit, non habet
sublevantem se.’
1432. The margin of S has here, in the same hand as at 1407, ‘Nota
rectores et studentes Oxon.’
1443. _formalis_, that is, ‘eminent,’ from ‘forma’ meaning ‘rank’ or
‘dignity,’ but here also opposed to ‘materialis.’
1454. Originally the line was ‘Dum legit, inde magis fit sibi sensus
hebes,’ but this was altered to ‘plus sibi sensus hebes est,’ with
the idea apparently of taking ‘magis’ with ‘legit.’ This involves an
awkward metrical licence, ‘hebes est’ equivalent to ‘hebest,’ and the
original text stands in CEH as well as in TH₂. The expedient of the
Roxburghe editor is quite inexcusable.
1493 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 20314. The sporting parson was quite a
recognized figure in the fourteenth century. Readers of Froissart will
remember how when the capture of Terry in Albigeois was effected by
stratagem, the blowing of the horn to summon the company in ambush was
attributed by those at the gate to a priest going out into the fields,
‘Ah that is true, it was sir Francis our priest; gladly he goeth a
mornings to seek for an hare.’
1498. _fugat_: used apparently as subjunctive also in l. 2078, but it
is possible that ‘Nec fugat’ may be the true reading here.
1509 ff. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 20313 ff.
1527. _Est sibi missa_, ‘his mass is over.’
1546. Apparently a proverbial expression used of wasting valuable
things.
1549. If benefices went from father to son, little or nothing would be
gained by those who go to Rome to seek preferment, for an heir would
seldom fail.
1555 ff. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 20497 ff. The priests here spoken of
are the ‘annuelers,’ who get their living by singing masses for the
dead, the ‘Annua seruicia’ spoken of below:
‘Et si n’ont autre benefice,
Chantont par auns et par quartiers
Pour la gent mort.’ _Mirour_, 20499.
1559. In the _Mirour_,
‘Plus que ne firont quatre ainçois’ (20527).
1587-1590. Taken with slight change from _Aurora_, (MS. Bodley 822) f.
65 v^o.
1591. ‘With the ancients it is possible to say “hic et hec sacerdos,”’
that is, ‘sacerdos’ is both masculine and feminine.
1693-1700. Adapted from _Aurora_, f. 65,
‘Omen in urbe malum bubo solis iubar odit,
Escam uestigat nocte, ueretur aues:
In quem forte gregis auium si lumina figant,
Et clamando uolant et laniando secant.
Incestus notat iste reos, qui corpore fedi
Contra nature iura latenter agunt:
Hos iusti quasi lucis aues discerpere querunt,
Zelo succensi uerba seuera serunt.’
(‘Conclamando’ for ‘Et clamando’ in MS. Univ. Coll. 143.)
1727 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 20713 ff.
1759 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 20725 ff.,
‘Ne sont pas un, je suis certeins,
Ly berchiers et ly chapelleins,
Ne leur pecché n’est pas egal,
L’un poise plus et l’autre meinz,’ &c.
1775. _fierent_, ‘ought to become’: cp. l. 1789.
1791-1794 are from _Aurora_, f. 93 v^o, and the succeeding couplet is
adapted from the same source, where we have,