Perseus from several sources, for it does not seem to occur in any
single authority precisely as he gives it. The first part, which has
to do with the false accusation brought against Demetrius and its
consequences, agrees with the account given in Justin, _Epitome_, lib.
xxxii. The story of the daughter of Paulus Emilius and her little dog
is told by Valerius Maximus, _Mem._ i. 5. 3. Finally, the details
of the defeat of Perseus seem to be taken from the account of a
catastrophe which about the same time befell the Basternae, a Thracian
tribe allied with Perseus, who according to Orosius (iv. 20), when
crossing the Danube in winter with large numbers of men and horses,
were almost annihilated by the breaking of the ice. The same author
mentions that after the defeat and capture of Perseus his son exercised
the craft of a brass-worker at Rome.
It is possible of course that Gower had before him some single account
in which these elements were already combined. In Vincent of Beauvais,
_Speculum Hist._ v. 65 f., we find first the catastrophe of the
Basternae, taken from Orosius, then the Macedonian war from Justin and
Orosius, with the incident of the dog inserted from Valerius.
1631 (margin). _testibus que iudicibus_, ‘witnesses and judges,’ a
common use of the conjunction in Gower’s Latin: cp. ‘Celsior est Aquila
que Leone ferocior,’ _Latin Verses after_ i. 574.
1633. _dorst_, so here in the best MSS. for ‘dorste.’
1711. _apparant_, for ‘heir apparant,’ which was the original reading of
the first recension: cp. _Mirour_, 5580,
‘Car d’autre bien n’est apparant.’
1723. _livende his father_: for this absolute use cp. 752.
1757. _upon depos_, that is, having his power given to him as a
temporary charge. See the examples in the _New Engl. Dict._
1778. _And he._ ‘As he’ is an error which crept into the third
recension. The interchange of ‘As’ with ‘And’ in Gower MSS. is very
common.
1793 f. ‘For such an omen of an hound was most like to him,’ the words
being transposed for the sake of the metre.
1799. _do slain._ This is apparently past participle by attraction for
infinitive: cp. i. 3153, iv. 249, 816.
1817 ff. This incident is not related of the army of Perseus in any
history, so far as I know: see note on 1613.
_Latin Verses._ iv. 7 f. As punctuated in F the couplet runs,
‘Quod patet esse fides in eo, fraus est que politi
Principium pacti, finis habere negat.’
This does not seem to give any sense. The text may be translated thus:
‘What appears to be faith in him is in fact fraud, and the end of the
smooth covenant disowns the beginning’ (_lit._ ‘denies that it has the
beginning’).
1921. _it scheweth_, ‘there appeareth’: cp. iii. 809.
1943. _how it were_: subjunctive of indirect question; cp. 1243.
1950. _of love, and._ The punctuation is that of F.
2016. _byme_: see note on i. 232.
2018. _For this I weene_, ‘the other cause is because I ween,’ &c.
2025. _Forwhy and_, ‘provided that’: the same line occurs again in
v. 2563. Compare the use of ‘for why that’ in _Le Morte Arth._ 389
(Roxb.), ‘Thou shalt haue yiftis good, For why þat thou wilte dwelle
wyth me,’ quoted in the _New Engl. Dict._
2066. _of his oghne hed._ It may be questioned whether ‘hed’ is not here
from an O. E. ‘*hǣd,’ a collateral form of ‘hád,’ like the termination
‘-hed’ for ‘-hod.’ See _New Engl. Dict._, ‘hede.’ In that case, ‘of his
oghne hed’ would mean ‘about his own condition.’ The rhyme with ‘red’
is no guide to us.
2071. _Bot hield_, i.e. ‘But I held’; see note on i. 1895.
2098 ff. With this attack on the Lombards compare _Mirour de l’omme_,
25429 ff. It is the usual popular jealousy of foreign rivals in trade.
2122. _Fa crere_, ‘make-believe,’ the art by which they acquired
credit in business. The form ‘crere’ is used in Gower’s French, e. g.
_Mirour_, 4474.
2124. _hem stant no doute_, ‘they have no fear,’ ‘they are sure’: cp.
iii. 1524, v. 7244. In v. 2118, ‘which stant of him no doute,’ we have
a somewhat different form of the expression: cp. iii. 2536.
2157 ff. The story is mainly taken from Ovid, _Metam._ ix. 101 ff.,
but probably Gower was acquainted also with the epistle, _Deianira
Herculi_, and he has (naturally enough) supposed that what is there
said of Hercules and Omphale, the exchange of clothes &c., referred to
the relations of Hercules and Iole: see 2268 ff. ‘The kinges dowhter of
Eurice’ is no doubt derived from the expression ‘Eurytidosque Ioles’:
cp. _Traitié_, vii. 2. Ovid’s account of the death of Hercules is very
much shortened by our author, and not without good reason.
2160. That is, ‘it befell him to desire,’ &c.
2297. Ovid, _Met._ ix. 229 ff.
2299. _al of_: so the first and second recension copies generally, and
also W. The sense seems to require it, rather than ‘of al,’ given by
FH₃.
2341. _his slyh compas_: a clear case of the loss of inflexion in the
adjective, notwithstanding that it is a native English stem. The same
word occurs in the definite form in l. 2374 ‘with his slyhe cast.’
2346. _chalk for chese_: cp. Prol. 416.
2366. _axeth no felawe_, ‘requires none to share it.’
2392. The metre requires the form ‘bote,’ which is etymologically
correct, and is given in the best MSS.
2403. _Me roghte noght_: pret. subjunctive, ‘I should not care.’
2423. _I wolde_: cp. iii. 78. We should expect the negative ‘I nolde,’
as in i. 2750 f.,
‘I wol noght say
That I nam glad on other side.’
The conditional clause thrown in has broken the thread of the sentence.
2430. _tant ne quant_: so _Mirour de l’omme_, 3654, 23358.
2437. _A man to ben_, cp. vi. 57.
2447. _in a wayt_: so given by the best copies, cp. 2999, but ‘upon
await’ iii. 955, 1016.
2451 ff. In the MSS. the paragraph is marked as beginning with the next
line, ‘At Troie how that,’ the line before being insignificant. As to
the first story referred to in the text, Gower may have known it from
Hyginus (_Fab._ cvi), or from Ovid, _Her. Ep._ iii. The example of
Diomede and Troilus had been popularized by Chaucer, who had the name
‘Criseide’ from Boccaccio’s ‘Griseida.’ In Benoît and Guido the name is
‘Briseida,’ but Boccaccio was aware that Briseis was a different person
(_Gen. Deorum_, xii. 52).
2459 ff. The name Geta was taken by Gower from the Geta of Vitalis
Blesensis, a dramatic piece in Latin elegiacs founded on Plautus, in
which Geta takes the place of Sosia: see Wright’s Early Mysteries,
&c., pp. 79-90. It may be suspected that our author himself
modified the story in order to make it more suitable for his purpose by
substituting a mortal friend for Jupiter. We may note that he has also
reversed the part played by Amphitryon.
2501 ff. I cannot indicate the source of this tale.
2537. _As thei._ The sense seems to require this reading, which is found
however in only two MSS., so far as I know, and those not the best. It
appears as a correction in Berthelet’s second edition.
2550. _which that him beclipte._ Either this means ‘who was encompassing
him,’ that is pressing upon his borders, referring to the Caliph of
Egypt, or ‘which encircled his territory,’ referring to what follows,
‘in a Marche costeiant.’ In the latter case we should have a very bold
inversion of clauses for the sake of rhyme, but hardly more so than in
709 ff.
2558. _unto Kaire._ It is evident that the author conceives this as the
capital not of Egypt but of Persia: cp. 2648.
2578. _hair._ The form of the word is accommodated to the rhyme: so iv.
1252.
2642. _Upon hire oth_ &c., inverted order, ‘how it was a token that she
should be his wife upon her oath,’ i.e. in accordance with her oath.
2670. The same line occurs also i. 2106, ii. 895.
2680. _tome_, i.e. ‘leisure,’ ‘opportunity,’ from the adjective ‘tom,’
empty. The reading ‘come’ is due probably to the misunderstanding of a
rather unusual word, but the rhyme ‘Rome: come’ (past partic.) is not
an admissible one (cp. K. Fahrenburg in _Archiv für neuere Sprachen_,
vol. 89, p. 406, who of course is not aware of the corruption).
2803. The account of Boniface VIII which was most current in England
is that which we find given in Rishanger’s Chronicle and repeated by
Higden and Walsingham. It is as follows, under the year 1294:--
_Papa cedit._
‘Coelestinus Papa se minus sufficientem ad regendam Ecclesiam
sentiens, de consilio Benedicti Gaietani cessit Papatui, edita prius
constitutione super cessione Pontificum Romanorum.
_Supplantatio Papae._
‘In vigilia Natalis Domini apud Neapolim in Papam eligitur Benedictus
Gaietanus.... De quo praedecessor eius Coelestinus, vir vitae
anachoriticae, eo quod eum ad cedendum Papatui subdole induxisset,
prophetavit in hunc modum, prout fertur: “Ascendisti ut vulpes,
regnabis ut leo, morieris ut canis.” Et ita sane contigit; nam
ipsum Papam ut Papatui cederet et ut Papa quilibet cedere posset,
constitutionem edere fecit; quam quidem postmodum ipsemet Papa
effectus revocavit. Deinde rigide regens generosos quosdam de Columpna
Cardinales deposuit; Regi Francorum in multis non solum obstitit, sed
eum totis viribus deponere insudavit. Igitur Senescallus Franciae,
Willelmus de Longareto, vir quidem in agibilibus admodum circumspectus,
et fratres de Columpna praedicti, foederatis viribus Bonifacium Papam
comprehenderunt et in equum effrenem, versa facie ad caudam, sine freno
posuerunt; quem sic discurrere ad novissimum halitum coegerunt, ac
tandem fame necaverunt.’
It remains to be asked where Gower found the story of the
speaking-trumpet by means of which Celestin was moved to his
abdication, why he supposed that the capture of Boniface took place
near Avignon, and whence came such additional details as we have in l.
3028.
As to the first, it was certainly a current story, because we find it
repeated by later writers, as Paulus Langius, _Chron. Citiz._, ann.
1294, ‘Per fistulam etiam frequentius noctu in cubili per parietem
missam, velut coelica vox esset, loquebatur ei: “Celestine, Celestine,
renuncia papatui, quia aliter saluari non poteris, nam vires tuas
excedit.”’
As to the death of Boniface, it was commonly reported that he had
been starved in prison, the fact being that after the episode of his
captivity he refused to take food, and the biting of his hands was
observed as a symptom of extreme vexation, ‘saepe caput muro concussit
et digitos momordit,’ ‘per plures dies ira feruidus manus sibi arrodere
videbatur,’ &c. Ciacon. _Vita Pont._ p. 655.
2837 f. cp. Prol. 329.
2875. _of such prolacioun_,’with so prolonged a note.’
2889. _hedde_: cp. v. 1254.
2966. _Lowyz._ This of course is a mistake historically.
2985. _And seiden._ For omission of pronoun cp. i. 1895.
2995. _de Langharet._ We find this form of the name, or something
equivalent, in the English Chronicles quoted, and also in Villani. The
true name was apparently ‘de Nogaret.’
3001. _at Avinoun._ This is quite unhistorical, and the precise mention
of ‘Pontsorge’ (or as our author first wrote it, ‘Poursorge’) seems to
point to the use of some particular form of the story, which cannot at
present be indicated.
3033 ff. This saying is sometimes given in the form of a prophecy, and
attributed to the predecessor of Boniface, whose resignation he was
said to have procured: see the passage quoted on l. 2803.
3037. _to the houndes like_, ‘after the likeness of the hound’: cp. i.
2791, ‘to his liche.’ The form ‘like’ would hardly be admissible here
as an adjective for ‘lik.’
3056. This prophecy no doubt was current among the many attributed to
the Abbot Joachim, but I do not find it exactly in the form here given.
The quotation of it in the margin of F is in a different hand from that
of the text and of the heading ‘Nota de prophecia’ &c. The omission of
the Latin altogether in some manuscripts, as AdT, W, has no special
significance for this passage.
3081 f. ‘He shall not be able to abstain from hindering him.’
3095. This saying, which is here attributed to Seneca, and which
appears also in the _Mirour de l’omme_ in a slightly different form,
3831 ff., may be based really upon the well-known passage of Dante,
_Inf._ xiii. 64.
_Latin Verses._ vi. 4. _Dumque_, for ‘Dum,’ as sometimes in the _Vox
Clamantis_.
_ethnica flamma_: see note on l. 20.
3122 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 3819 ff.
3160. See note on i. 232.
3187. The Latin books referred to are the current lives of Saint
Silvester, the substance of which is reproduced in the _Legenda Aurea_.
Gower tells the story in considerably better style than we have it
there, with amplifications of his own, especially as regards the
reflections of Constantine, 3243 ff., and the preaching of Silvester
to the Emperor, 3383 ff. There are some variations in detail from the
current account which may or may not point to a special source. For
example, in the Life of Silvester we are told that the Emperor met the
lamenting mothers as he was riding up to the Capitol to take his bath
of blood, and in all forms of the legend that I have seen the mountain
where Silvester lay in hiding was Soracte (or Saraptis) and not Celion.
The name may however have been altered by Gower for metrical reasons,
as was sometimes his habit; see note on i. 1407 (end).
3210. _of Accidence._ ‘Accidentia’ in its medical sense is explained as
‘affectus praeter naturam’: cp. v. 763.
3243 ff. These reflections, continued to l. 3300, are an expanded
and improved form of the rather tasteless string of maxims given
in the legend, the most pointed of which is that with which our
author concludes, ‘Omnium se esse dominum comprobat, qui servum se
monstraverit pietatis.’
3260. _his oghne wone._ This appears to mean ‘according to his own
habits,’ like ‘his oghne hondes’ (i. 1427), ‘his oghne mouth’ (v.
5455), for ‘with his own hands,’ &c.
3507. _vertu sovereine_: a clear case of the French feminine inflexion,
which must have been a very natural variation in such expressions as
this; cp. i. 2677. In French as in English our author would feel at
liberty to adapt the form to the rhyme or metre: so we have ‘sa joye
soverein’ _Mir._ 4810, but ‘ma sovereine joie’ _Bal._ ix. 7.
3517. _betwen ous tweie_, i.e. ‘together’; cp. l. 653.
LIB. III.
4. _ther nis on._ Note the repetition of the negative from the clause
above.
71. _the leng the ferre_, i.e. ‘the lengere the ferre.’
78. _mihte I_, for ‘ne mihte I’: cp. ii. 2423.
83. _redy to wraththe_: cp. ii. 3444, ‘redi to the feith.’
143 ff. The story is from Ovid, _Her. Ep._ xi. It is that which is
referred to by Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 77,
‘But certeinly no word ne writeth he
Of thilke wikke ensample of Canacee,
That loved hir owene brother synfully.’
(Note that the name ‘Canace’ is used by Gower so as to rhyme with
‘place.’)
In spite of the character of the subject, it must be allowed that Gower
tells the story in a very touching manner, and he shows good taste in
omitting some of Ovid’s details, as for example those in _Ep._ 39-44.
The appeal of Canace to her father as given by Gower is original, and
so for the most part is the letter to her brother and the picturesque
and pathetic scene of her death. On the whole this must be regarded as
a case in which our author has greatly improved upon his authority.
Lydgate obviously has Gower’s story before him when he introduces
the tale (quite needlessly) into his _Fall of Princes_. It may be
noted that in Ovid also the catastrophe is given as a consequence of
ungoverned anger:
‘Imperat, heu! ventis, tumidae non imperat irae.’
172. _lawe positif_: see note on Prol. 247. Gower’s view is that there
is nothing naturally immoral about an incestuous marriage, but that it
is made wrong by the ‘lex positiva’ of the Church. This position he
makes clear at the beginning of the eighth book, by showing that in
the first ages of the world such marriages must have been sanctioned
by divine authority, and that the idea of kinship as a bar to marriage
had grown up gradually, cousins being allowed to marry among the Jews,
though brother and sister might not, and that finally the Church had
ordered,
‘That non schal wedden of his ken
Ne the seconde ne the thridde.’ viii. 147 f.
If attacked by Chaucer with regard to the subject of this story, he
would no doubt defend himself by arguing that the vice with which it
dealt was not against nature, and that the erring brother and sister
were in truth far more deserving of sympathy than the father who
took such cruel vengeance. Notwithstanding his general strictness
in matters of morality, Gower was something of a fatalist, cp. the
recurring phrases of 1222, 1348, 1677, iv. 1524, &c., and he repeatedly
emphasizes the irresistible character of the impulses of nature in
love; cp. i. 17 ff., 1051 ff., 2621, vi. 1261 ff., and here l. 161
(margin), ‘intollerabilem iuuentutis concupiscenciam.’
219. ‘the child which was,’ cp. i. 10.
253 f. Ovid, _Her. Ep._ xi. 96,
‘Et iubet ex merito scire quid iste velit.’
279 ff. This letter is for the most part original. That which we have
in Ovid is mainly narrative.
292. _If that_ &c. The point of this as it occurs in Ovid depends upon
the fact that her child has already been exposed and, as she conceives,
torn by wild beasts, and she entreats her brother if possible to
collect his remains and lay them by her,--a very natural and pathetic
request. Gower has chosen for the sake of picturesque effect in this
scene to make the exposure of the child come after the death of the
mother, and he should therefore perhaps have omitted the reference to
the child’s burial.
300 f. Ovid, _Her. Ep._ xi. 3, 4,
‘Dextra tenet calamum, strictum tenet altera ferrum,
Et iacet in gremio charta soluta meo.’
315. The word ‘baskleth’ is perhaps a genuine alternative reading.
331. ‘Of such a thing done as that was.’ We must not be tempted by the
correction ‘tho’ for ‘that.’
352. A fatalistic maxim which is often repeated, e.g. i. 1714, ‘nede he
mot that nede schal.’
355. The revision of this line for the third recension may indicate
a preference for throwing back the accent of ‘nature’ in the English
fashion: so ii. 1376, but ‘natúre’ ll. 175, 350.
361 ff. This is from Ovid, _Met._ iii. 324 ff. Gower has chosen to omit
the sequel of the story, which was that after seven years Tiresias saw
the same snakes again, and by striking them a second time recovered his
former sex. This being so, he is obliged to make a separate story (736
ff.) of the dispute between Jupiter and Juno, which gave Ovid occasion
for mentioning the incident of the snakes.
382. _Wherof_,’ In regard to which.’
390. _menable_, ‘apt to be led’; see note on i. 1067. For the
variations of reading cp. ii. 1599, and below, 519.
417. ‘Cheste’ is that form of contention which expresses itself in
angry words. Gower seems to have taken it to be connected with the verb
‘chide,’ see 443, 492, 534, 552 ff.
431. Cp. _Mirour_, 4146 ff.,
‘ly sage auci
Ce dist, que deinz le cuer de luy
Folie buylle tresparmy,
Comme du fontaine la liquour.’
The reference is to Proverbs xv. 2, ‘os fatuorum ebullit stultitiam.’
436. _oppose_, ‘inquire.’
463 ff. See note on the Latin verses at the beginning of the Prologue,
5 f.
479. That is, rather than sing such a creed, I would choose to be
unlearned and know no creed at all.
487. _Upon hirself_, i.e. upon her authority.
515. _balketh._ A ‘balk’ is a ridge left unploughed, and ‘to balk’
in ploughing is to leave a ridge either between two furrows or in
the furrow itself, the plough being permitted to pass over a piece
of ground without breaking it. Here it is referred to as an accident
arising either from not ploughing straight or not keeping the
ploughshare regularly at the proper depth. From this idea of leaving
out something come most of the other meanings of the verb: see _New
Engl. Dict._
544. _Hire oghte noght be._ For this impersonal use with the simple
infinitive cp. 704.
545. _For I_, i.e. ‘For that I’: cp. 820, &c.
585. This expression, which Pauli for some reason calls an ‘obscene
proverb,’ seems to be nearly equivalent to the saying about the bird
that fouls his own nest (cp. _Mirour_, 23413), and refers apparently to
recriminations between the owl and the stock upon which he sits, on the
matter of cleanliness. The application is to the case of the man who
quarrels with his own performances, and naturally has the worst of it
himself.
626. ‘World’ seems to be the true reading here, though ‘word’ stood in
the earlier form of text. The meaning is ‘that state of things shall
never be permitted by me.’ The use of ‘world’ is like that which we
have in i. 178, where ‘mi world’ means ‘my condition’: cp. Prol. 383,
1081. The verb ‘asterte’ is used in the sense of escaping notice and so
being allowed to pass or to happen: cp. i. 1934,
‘Bot that ne schal me noght asterte,
To wene forto be worthi,’ &c.
Cp. i. 722.
The expression ‘that word schal me nevere asterte’ is a more ordinary
one (and therefore more likely to have been introduced by a copyist),
but it gives no satisfactory sense here.
641 ff. The story was a hackneyed one, and occurs in many places. It is
shortly told by Jerome, _Adv. Jovin._ i. 48.
665. _what labour that sche toke._ The verb is subjunctive, either
because the form of speech is indirect, cp. 708, or because the
expression is indefinite.
699. Cp. _Mirour_, 4185 ff., where after telling the same story the
author roundly declares that he shall not follow the example.
704. _Him oghte ... bere_: cp. 544, 1666.
708. _how that it stode_: subjunctive of indirect speech, under rhyme
influence: cp. ii. 1243 and l. 771 below, and see note on Prol. 41.
736. _Met._ iii. 316 ff. We have here the rest of the story which was
referred to above, 361 ff. The point of the incident as told by Ovid is
(perhaps purposely) missed by Gower, who does not mention the reason
why Tiresias was selected as judge.
737. That is, according to the religious belief which then prevailed.
762. ‘And yet the other state would have pleased him better, to have
had’ &c.
771. _what he mene_: for the subjunctive cp. 708.
782. _of olde ensample_: for ‘olde’ in this expression cp. 1683; but
‘of old time,’ i. 1072, ‘an old ensample,’ iv. 75.
783. This is from Ovid, _Met._ ii. 542 ff. The Cornide of Gower’s story
is Coronis. The story is told at greater length by Chaucer as the
_Manciple’s Tale_.
818 ff. From Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 585 ff.
889. _fals_: see note on Prol. 221.
918. F alone gives ‘overmor,’ but it is probably what the author
intended, though his first editions had the common variation ‘evermor.’
S is here defective.
957. _sleth_, ‘strikes.’
971. _who so rede_: subjunctive because indefinite; cp. 2508 and note
on Prol. 460.
973 ff. This story may be found in Benoît’s _Roman de Troie_, 27551
ff. and in Guido, lib. 32 (n 3 v^o, ed. Argent.). We must note however
that for the classical Nauplius we find in Gower ‘Namplus,’ whereas in
Benoît and Guido both it is ‘Naulus’: therefore it would seem that our
author had before him also some other form of the story, where he found
the name ‘Nauplius’ or ‘Nauplus,’ which he read ‘Nanplus’ or ‘Namplus.’
Perhaps this may have been Hyginus, _Fab._ cxvi. Elsewhere Gower
usually follows Benoît rather than Guido, but here several expressions
occur which seem to be suggested by Guido’s form of the story: see
notes on 1030 and 1063. Also Gower says nothing of the incident of
rocks being hurled down on the Greeks (_Rom. de Troie_, 27795 ff.),
which is also omitted by Guido.
1002. The name which appears here and in the Latin margin as ‘Namplus,’
with no important variation of reading, is quite clearly ‘Nauplus’ in
iv. 1816 ff.
1021. _Homward_, i.e. going towards home: cp. 2451.
1030 f. _Hist. Troiana_, n 4, ‘qui necesse habebant per confinia regni
sui transire.’
1036. _it sihe_, ‘might see it.’
1049. _ten or twelve._ Guido says two hundred. Benoît does not specify
the number of ships, but says that ten thousand men were lost. Gower
has judiciously reduced the number.
1063. Cp. _Hist. Troiana_, n 4 v^o, ‘fugiunt et se immittunt in pelagus
spaciosum.’
1065. ‘what’ for ‘war,’ which appears in the unrevised form of the
first recension, must be an error of the original scribe: on the other
hand, ‘tyme’ for ‘dai’ proceeded no doubt originally from the author
and was altered in order to make the verse run more smoothly.
_Latin Verses._ iv. 1. _et sit spiritus eius Naribus_: a reference to
Isaiah ii. 22, ‘Quiescite ergo ab homine, cuius spiritus in naribus
eius est.’ The same passage is quoted in _Mirour_, 4754, and it is
evident there that the ‘breath in the nostrils’ was understood by our
author to stand for fury of anger.
1113. _war hem wel_, ‘let them beware.’