3285. Matt. viii. 12, &c.
3294. _doit supplanter_, ‘may supplant’: see note on 1193.
3361. Cic. _de Off._ iii. 21.
3365. _Conjecture_, ‘trickery’: cp. 6389.
3367. _ce que chalt_: cp. 8905, 25269, 25712. Here and at 8905 it
stands by itself, but in the other cases it is followed by ‘car,’ or
‘quant.’ It is apparently equivalent to ‘it matters not,’ or some such
phrase.
3388. Ps. xli. 9 (_Vulg._ xl. 10): ‘magnificavit super me
supplantationem’ is the Latin version.
3398. _Ambicioun_: evidently not ‘ambition’ in the ordinary sense, but
the vice of those who go about prying into other people’s affairs, and
playing the spy upon them with a view to some advantage for themselves.
3415. Perhaps Habakkuk ii. 8, 9: cp. 3601, where Habakkuk is certainly
quoted as ‘Baruch.’
3445. Jer. iii. 24.
3453. _cele_, used for definite article, see note on 301.
3457. Prov. xi. 3 ff.
3467. A favourite form of expression with our author, cp. 3160, and
_Trait._ ii. 1 ff.,
‘Si l’un est bon, l’autre est assetz meilour.’
3487. _Qui_, ‘He whom.’
3531. Prov. xxvi. 22.
3533. _affole_, ‘wounds’ (Low Latin ‘fullare’), to be distinguished
from ‘affoler’ meaning ‘to make foolish.’
3541. Ps. lv. 21 (_Vulg._ liv. 22), ‘Molliti sunt sermones eius super
oleum, et ipsi sunt iacula.’
3553. Ecclus. xl. 21, ‘Tibiae et psalterium suavem faciunt melodiam, et
super utraque lingua suavis.’
3559. Prov. xxix. 5.
3575. ‘His deeds change into sorrow that by which before he made them
laugh’: _luy_ for _ly_ = _les_.
3584 ff. Cp. the Latin lines (beginning ‘Nil bilinguis aget’) which
introduce the description of ‘Fals semblant’ in _Conf. Am._ ii. 1879,
‘Vultus habet lucem, tenebras mens’ &c.
3589. Ecclus. xxxvii. 20 (23) f., ‘Qui sophistice loquitur odibilis
est: in omni re defraudabitur. Non est illi data a Domino gratia,’ &c.
3601. The quotation is from Habakkuk ii. 15 f.
3612 ff. Ps. cxx. 3, 4, of which these two stanzas are a much expanded
version.
3637. Ecclus. xxviii. 15 ff.
3667. Perhaps Job v. 12.
3679. Micah ii. 1, ‘Vae, qui cogitatis inutile.’
3685. Jer. iv. 4, ‘ne forte egrediatur ut ignis indignatio mea, et
succendatur, et non sit qui extinguat, propter malitiam cogitationum
vestrarum.’
3721. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 401,
‘For as the Netle which up renneth
The freisshe rede Roses brenneth,
And makth hem fade and pale of hewe,
Riht so this fals Envious hewe’ &c.
The opposition of rose and nettle is common in our author, e.g. _Bal._
xxxvi. 3, xlviii. 1, _Vox Clam._ vii. 181.
3725. _l’ille Colcos_: cp. _Trait._ viii. 1, and _Conf. Am._ v.
3265: so also in Chaucer. Guido delle Colonne is the person mainly
responsible for the idea.
3727. _Medea la meschine_, ‘Medea the maid.’ The word ‘meschine’ means
‘maidservant’ just above and in 5163, but it was also used generally
for ‘girl,’ ‘young woman,’ as ‘meschin’ for ‘young man.’ The origin is
said to be an Arabic word meaning ‘poor’ (cp. the meaning of ‘mesquin,’
‘meschino,’ in modern French and Italian), hence ‘feeble,’ ‘delicate.’
3735. Rev. xii. 7, 10: ‘en oel’ stands apparently for ‘ante conspectum
Dei.’
3747. The description of the basilisk is perhaps from Solinus,
_Collect._ 27. He had it from Plin. _Nat. Hist._ viii. 121.
3773. Prov. xiv. 30, ‘putredo ossium invidia.’
3781. Levit. xiii. 46.
3801. Hor. _Epist._ i. 2. 58, ‘Invidia Siculi non invenere tyranni
Maius tormentum.’ Our author did not understand it quite rightly.
3805. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 20, and _Prol._ 329. In all these passages
the reference is to the fire of Envy as a heat that consumes itself,
rather than anything outside itself.
3823. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 3122 ff.
3831. _Conf. Am._ ii. 3095 ff., where the saying is attributed to
Seneca: cp. Dante, _Inf._ xiii. 64.
3841. Perhaps Jerome, who says something of the kind: cp. _Wisd._ ii.
24.
3864. _les faisont a despire_, ‘hate them’: but the preposition with
the infinitive in this kind of expression is unusual. As a rule
‘faisont a despire’ would mean ‘ought to be hated’: cp. 1883.
3882. _pour poy du riens_, ‘for a trifling matter,’ lit. ‘for little of
matter’: cp. 4826.
3898. _Ore voet, noun voet_, i.e. ‘Ore voet, ore noun voet,’ but cp.
5470.
3913. The text is Ecclus. iv. 30 (35): see note on 1317.
3925. Prov. xxv. 28.
3958. Perhaps we ought rather to read ‘pour ton salu.’
3977. Exod. xxxii. 21, and other passages.
3997. Baruch iv. 6.
4021. Perhaps suggested by Ps. lxxviii. (_Vulg._ lxxvii.) 58 ff.
4067. _Par contumelie_: for the metre see note on 296, and cp. 4312,
4317.
4077. Cp. 4704.
4112. ‘Which flies free without caging.’
4117. Referred to also by Chaucer, _Wyf of Bath, Prol._ 278 ff., and
_Tale of Melibeus_, 2276. It is a common enough saying, but not to be
found in the Bible in this form: cp. Prov. xxvii. 15.
4129. Jer. viii. 17.
4141. Ecclus. xxv. 15 (22), ‘Non est caput nequius super caput colubri,
et non est ira super iram mulieris.’
4147. Perhaps Prov. xv. 2, ‘os fatuorum ebullit stultitiam.’
4155. Ecclus. xxi. 29, ‘In ore fatuorum cor illorum.’
4168. This is related also _Conf. Am._ iii. 639 ff., and there too a
doubt is expressed as to whether so much patience was altogether wise.
4189 ff. Ecclus. xxviii. 18 (22) ff.
4203. Ecclus. xxviii. 24 (28), ‘Sepi aures tuas spinis, linguam nequam
noli audire.’
4213. James iii. 7, 8.
4219. Apparently a vague reference to Amos iv. 6, 9, ‘dedi vobis
stuporem dentium ... Percussi vos in vento urente.’
4237. Zech. v. 5 ff.
4273. _Rampone_, ‘raillery,’ ‘mockery,’ cp. Ital. ‘rampognare.’
4285 ff. The idea seems to be this: ‘Contention wounded by wrath
encamps in the heart in a tent of mockery, whence it issues forth
through the mouth, and assisted by Slander and Defamation enlarges
other men’s vices to their greatest extent, until its own wound becomes
so foul that he dies who inhales its corruption.’
4369. Prov. xxvii. 6.
4381. Ecclus. xii. 16.
4387. Prov. vi. 16, 18.
4393. Cic. _de Amic._ 89, ‘odium, quod est venenum amicitiae.’
4453. Beemoth is here perhaps confused with Leviathan, which was
regarded by some as a kind of serpent: see Isidore, _Etym._ viii. 27.
4462. _le al_: there is of course an elision, though not indicated in
the text.
4477. 2 Macc. v. 17, &c.
4494. Note that in the forms ‘refusablez,’ ‘abhominablez,’
‘delitablez,’ &c., the _z_ is equivalent to _s_, and does not imply any
accenting of the final syllable.
4542. _ou_, for ‘au,’ see Glossary.
4558. _devant lez meins_, ‘beforehand’: cp. 5436.
4561. _survient._ This and the other verbs rhyming with it in the
stanza seem to be in the past tense, for ‘survint,’ ‘vint,’ ‘tint,’ &c.
Other examples of this will be found elsewhere, e.g. 8585, 9816. The
passage means: ‘When the fire from heaven fell on the sacrifice, it was
Malignity that inspired the hatred of Abel in the heart of Cain, for
which he was accursed.’ ‘Dont’ answers regularly to such expressions as
‘par tiele guise’: see note on 217.
4570. Ps. x. 15, ‘Contere brachium peccatoris et maligni.’
4605. Ps. xxii. 16 (_Vulg._ xxi. 17), ‘concilium malignantium obsedit
me,’ &c.
4704. _mestre Catoun_: the author of the well-known _Disticha_, many of
whose maxims tend to teach patience.
4717. Exod. xxi. 24 f.
4729. Exod. xxi. 26 f.
4741. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iii. 1095,
‘Contek, so as the bokes sein,
Folhast hath to his Chamberlein,’ &c.
4750. _le court sure_, ‘runs upon him’; so 10763 and elsewhere.
4752. _l’un ne lesse_, ‘he fails not to attain one or the other,’ i.e.
either the object of his violence, or his own destruction.
4753. Is. ii. 22, ‘Quiescite ergo ab homine, cuius spiritus in naribus
eius est.’ This illustrates the meaning, otherwise rather obscure, of
the Latin line after _Conf. Am._ iii. 1088 (introducing the subject of
‘Contek’), which is seen by this to be a reference to the above passage
of Isaiah.
4769. _come fist a Asahel_, ‘as it did to Asahel’: see note on 1135.
The reference is to 2 Sam. ii. 18 ff.
4826. Cp. 3882.
4837. Ecclus. xxii. 30, ‘Ante ignem camini vapor et fumus ignis
inaltatur: sic et ante sanguinem maledicta et contumeliae et minae.’
4850. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iii. 453 ff.
4858. _voit_, used for _vait_, as 3 sing. pres. ind.
4864 ff. This kind of repetition is often used by our author, cp. 8294
ff., _Vox Clam._ iii. 11 ff., and _Conf. Am._ v. 2469 ff.
4870. _ou giroun_, ‘in the bosom’: ‘giro(u)n’ is properly the bend or
fold of a cloak (sinus).
4897. 2 Sam. iv.
4906. Matt. xxvi. 52, Rev. xiii. 10.
4945. Ex. xxi. 14.
4962. 2 Sam. vii. 4 ff., but it is not quite accurately cited.
4973. Gen. ix. 6.
5005. Ezek. xxv. 12 f.
5018. Is. xiv. 12, ‘Corruisti in terram, qui vulnerabas gentes.’ The
rest is hardly a quotation, though it may give the general sense.
5029 ff. The same thing is related with the same application in _Conf.
Am._ iii. 2599-2616. There, as here, it is referred to Solinus, but
this seems to be a mistaken reference.
5031. _a diviser_, ‘to describe’ (or ‘compare’), i.e. ‘to describe
it, we may say that it has’ &c.: so, ‘pour deviser’ 11245, ‘au droit
deviser’ 13204.
5055. _faisont a redoubter_: see note on 1883.
5059. _fait periler_, ‘imperils’: _ainçois ... Que_, ‘before that.’
5114 ff. Matt. v. 3, 5.
5126. _D’Accidie_: see note on 296.
5179. For the use of ‘lée’ in this phrase as a dissyllable cp. 15518,
‘ove lée chiere,’ 17122, 28337. When occurring in other connexions it
seems to follow the usual rule, as in 28132, 28199, &c.
5190 f. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 2739 f.,
‘And makth his exposicion
After the disposicion
Of that he wolde.’
The connexion is the same as here.
5205. On the subject of ‘Tirelincel’ cp. Waddington, _Man. des Pech._
4078 ff.
5216. ‘Hold thy nurture so dear’ (as to think of it in this matter):
‘norreture’ is that which has to do with physical development, and
‘preu’ I take to represent the Latin ‘prope,’ which appears in this
form among others: see Godefroy.
5252. Cp. 8130. To judge by Littré’s examples for the
fourteenth-century usage of ‘bout,’ it would seem to be specially used
of the top or bottom of a cask.
5257. Prov. xxvi. 14.
5266. Cato, _Distich._ i. 2:
‘Plus vigila semper, neu somno deditus esto,
Nam diuturna quies vitiis alimenta ministrat.’
5269. I do not know what passage is referred to.
5283. Jer. li. 39, ‘inebriabo eos, ut sopiantur et dormiant somnum
sempiternum et non consurgant.’
5329. Ecclus. xli. 1, ‘O mors, quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem
habenti in substantiis suis.’ The rest is our author’s addition.
5344. Deut. xxviii. 56 f.
5349. _Cil homme tendre_, equivalent to ‘l’omme tendre,’ so 5553,
‘celle alme peccheresse’: see note on 301.
5376. _Luy dorra_: usually in this form of expression (which is common
alike in the French, Latin, and English of our author) a negative is
used with the verb of the second clause, e.g. _Bal._ xviii. 2.
5377. ‘Peresce’ answers to ‘Ydelnesse’ in the _Confessio Amantis_.
5389 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 1090 f.,
‘In Wynter doth he noght for cold,
In Somer mai he noght for hete.’
5395 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 1108 ff.,
‘And as a cat wolde ete fisshes
Withoute wetinge of his cles,
So wolde he do.’
5436. _apres la mein_: cp. 4558 and _Conf. Am._ iv. 893: ‘Thanne is he
wys after the hond,’ an exact translation of this line.
5437 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 877 ff.
5449. Prov. xx. 4.
5452. _beguinage_, equivalent to ‘beggerie’ (5800), as ‘beguyne’ (6898)
is used for ‘beggar.’ The Beguins were mendicants.
5455. 2 Thess. iii. 10.
5458. _le decré_: the reference is probably to the Canon law; cp. 7480.
5492. _des perils ymaginer._ This form of expression, in which the
preposition belonging to the infinitive is combined with the article of
the object, occurs also 9339, 16303, and elsewhere. So also in other
authors, as _Rom. de la Rose_ 2875, ‘Or sunt as roses garder troi.’
5499. Prov. vii. 10-22.
5500. _Qui_, ‘whom.’
5572 f. ‘He who has growth in common with the trees’; an allusion to
the text of Gregory quoted so often by our author: see 26869.
5580. _apparant_: I take this to mean ‘heir apparent,’ as in _Conf.
Am._ ii. 1711.
5606. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 9,
‘And everemore he seith, “Tomorwe.”’
5622. The kissing of the ‘pax’ came after the prayer of consecration.
5645 ff. Matt. x. 22, and Luke ix. 62.
5659. Deut. xxv. 18.
5701 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 3389 ff., where, however, ‘Tristesce’
is described as developed from ‘Slowthe’ generally, not (as here)
from ‘Lachesce’ in particular. ‘Tristesce’ is there synonymous with
‘Desesperance.’
5714. Prov. xxv. 20, ‘Sicut tinea vestimento et vermis ligno, ita
tristitia viri nocet cordi.’ The English version is quite different.
5729 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 3432 ff.,
‘For Tristesce is of such a kinde,
That forto meintiene his folie
He hath with him Obstinacie,
Which is withinne of such a slouthe
That he forsaketh alle trouthe,
And wole unto no reson bowe.’
5758. Job vii. 16, ‘Desperavi: nequaquam ultra iam vivam.’
5762. Jer. xviii. 12 ff., ‘Qui dixerunt: Desperavimus: post
cogitationes enim nostras ibimus ... Ideo haec dicit Dominus:
Interrogate gentes: quis audivit talia horribilia?... Quia oblitus
est mei populus meus,... ut fieret terra eorum in desolationem et in
sibilum sempiternum: omnis qui praeterierit per eam obstupescet et
movebit caput suum.’ This is a good example of our author’s method of
dealing with a text.
5792. Cp. 8492.
5794. _jure vent et voie_: cp. 8685, ‘jure tout le monde.’
5822. Cp. _Bal._ vii. 2,
‘Tressalt et buile et court aval le prée’
(speaking of a spring).
5839. Eccles. ii. 21, ‘Nam cum alius laboret in sapientia et doctrina
et sollicitudine, homini otioso quaesita dimittit: et hoc ergo vanitas
et magnum malum.’ I suspect we should read here
‘que c’est errour
Et vanité,’ &c.
5845. Perhaps Ecclus. xxxiii. 29, ‘Multam enim malitiam docuit
otiositas,’ the rest being added by our author.
5854. The reference is perhaps really to Ezek. xvi. 49.
5868. Matt. xii. 44 f.
5879. After this, one leaf has been cut out, which contained 190
lines and one rubric, ‘La quinte file de Accidie, q’est appellée
Necgligence,’ or something to that effect.
6070. The author seems here to be speaking of the negligence shown by
overseers of some kind, who do not efficiently superintend those under
their authority.
6082. 2 Tim. ii. 12.
6102. _ou pis_, for ‘au pis,’ ‘in his heart’: cp. 7100.
6103. James i. 23 f.
6109. Prov. xxxi. 4, 5.
6115. Hos. iv. 6.
6226. _ne serroit partie_, ‘should not be a party interested in the
suit.’ The conditional is used for subjunctive, as often.
6253 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 2015 ff.,
‘Bote as the Luce in his degre
Of tho that lasse ben than he
The fisshes griedili devoureth,’ &c.,
where the author is speaking, as here, of ‘Covoitise.’
6303. The ‘lot,’ as a measure of wine, is about half a gallon.
6313 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 2859 ff., where Coveitise has two especial
counsellors, Falswitness and Perjurie.
6315. ‘Chalenge’ (Lat. calumnia) is a claim or accusation against a
person in a court of law, usually in a bad sense.
6328. _falt ... pour retenir_, ‘it is necessary to retain’: ‘pour’ is
often used by our author instead of ‘de’ or ‘a,’ representing perhaps
the English ‘forto’: cp. ll. 7650, 10639, 29078, _Bal._ iv*. 1, xlv. 1,
2, &c.
6345. Mal. iii. 5, ‘et ero testis velox maleficis et adulteris et
periuris et qui calumniantur mercedem mercenarii,’ &c.
6363. Jer. l. 33 ff. ‘Haec dicit Dominus exercituum: Calumniam
sustinent filii Israel ... Gladius ad Chaldaeos, ait Dominus, et ad
habitatores Babylonis,’ &c.
6386. Can this be Is. xix. 9, ‘Confundentur qui operabantur linum ...
texentes subtilia’?
6389. _Conjecture_, cp. 3365.
6391. Luke xvi. 8.
6397. Ambrose tells the story, _Hex._ v. 8, of the _crab_ and the
oyster, ‘tunc clanculo calculum immittens, impedit conclusionem
ostrei.’ I do not know the word ‘areine.’
6409. _Perjurie_: see note on l. 296.
6434. This was a charge commonly brought against swearers by the
preachers of the day: cp. Chaucer, _Pardoneres Tale_, l. 12, &c.,
_Persones Tale_, 591 (Skeat).
6445. Cp. Matt. xxiii. 21 f.
6451. Probably Is. xlviii. 1.
6482. Zech. v. 1-4.
6496. _si tresfalse noun_, ‘except (what was) utterly false’: cp. 8853,
_Bal._ xxiv. 1.
6498. Ps. lxiii. 11.
6499. Mal. iii. 5: cp. 6345.
6528. Perhaps Prov. i. 18, ‘moliuntur fraudes contra animas suas.’
6529. Levit. vi. 2-7.
6539. ‘Fails to do right at the risk of his soul,’ and not merely of
his worldly goods, as by the old law.
6544. Cp. _Bal._ xlii. 3, where ‘fraude et malengin’ go together, as
here.
6545 f. ‘It were well if they were caught in the snare, to be thrown
far into the deep sea.’
6553 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4396 ff., where the practice here mentioned
is ascribed to ‘Usure.’
6556. _au creance_, ‘on credit,’ meaning apparently that they charge
exorbitant prices when credit is given, cp. 7246, 7273 ff.
6561. Deut. xxv. 14.
6640. _tout son propre adune_, ‘gathers together everything for
himself,’ i.e. appropriates everything.
6672. _qu’il doit vivre_, ‘that he should live’: for this use of
‘doit,’ cp. 1193.
6685 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4917-4922.
6733. For this treatment of _dame_ as a monosyllable in the metre, cp.
13514, 16579, and _Bal._ xix. 3, xx. 2, &c.
6745. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 1971 (for the form of expression).
6750. Matt. xix. 24.
6758. 1 Tim. vi. 10.
6760. Senec. _Dial._ xii. 13, ‘si avaritia dimisit, vehementissima
generis humani pestis.’
6769. Prov. xxvii. 20.
6781. _Conf. Am._ vii. 2551.
6783 ff. 2 Chron. xxi. Our author is evidently familiar with every part
of the Old Testament history.
6798. Ambros. _Hex._ vi. 24.
6841. Probably Ezek. xxii. 25.
6855. Job iv. 11, ‘Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet praedam.’ The
English version is different.
6859. Prov. xi. 24.
6865. Is. xxxiii. 1.
6869. Jer. xxx. 16.
6877. This time ‘Baruch’ stands for Nahum, ii. 8 ff.
6886. Nahum ii. 10, ‘et facies omnium eorum sicut nigredo ollae.’
6925 ff. The same three that are mentioned here, Robbery, Stealth, and
Sacrilege, are dealt with in the same order in the _Confessio Amantis_
immediately after ‘Ravine’ (v. 6075 ff.), though not as dependent upon
it.
6940 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 6089 ff.,
‘Forthi to maken his pourchas
He lith awaitende on the pas,’ &c.
6958. _m’encordie_: see note on l. 296; but perhaps we should read
‘m’encorde,’ cp. l. 7574.
6967. _ne fait pas a demander_, ‘there is no need to ask’: an
impersonal form of the construction noticed on l. 1883.
6987. Ps. lxii. 10.
6991. Prov. xxi. 7.
6999. Joshua vii.
7015. Ambros. _Hex._ v. 18, ‘Accipitres feruntur in eo duram adversum
proprios fetus habere inclementiam, quod ubi eos adverterint tentare
volatus primordia, nidis eiciunt suis,’ &c.
7025 f. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 6501-6516, a close parallel. ‘Stelthe’ (in
the Latin margin ‘secretum latrocinium’) corresponds to ‘Larcine’ here.
7033 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 6517-6521.
7081. Gen. xxxi. 19 ff.
7093. This story is told _Conf. Am._ v. 7105*-7207* under the head of
Sacrilege, with no essential difference except in the greater detail
and in the name of the person involved. Here it is ‘Dyonis,’ apparently
for convenience of rhyming, there Lucius.
d’Appollinis: the genitive form is also used in _Conf. Am._ v. 7109*,
‘Unto the temple Appollinis.’
7109. _Conf. Am._ v. 7186* ff.,
‘Gold in his kinde, as seith the bok,
Is hevy bothe and cold also,’ &c.
7153 ff. The distinctions of various kinds of Sacrilege, indicated in
this stanza, are more fully developed _Conf. Am._ v. 7015* ff.: cp.
Chaucer, _Persones Tale_, 801 ff. (Skeat).
7177 ff. The same examples occur in _Conf. Am._ v. 7007 ff., with the
addition of Antiochus.
7181. 2 Kings xxv. 8 ff.
7193. Jer. l., li.
7209. Cp. Neh. x. 31, &c.
7215. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4395, ‘Usure with the riche duelleth.’
7227 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4387.
7249. Lev. xxv. 37, &c., Luke vi. 35.
7270. _Qe_, repeated from the line above.
7282. _ou mein_, apparently for ‘au meinz,’ ‘at least.’
7315. The reference seems to be a mistaken one.
7319. _le tresor de Pavie_, cp. l. 1944. Pavia no doubt has its
reputation of wealth from having been the capital of the Lombard
kingdom.
7379. _Les lettres_: cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 209.
7393 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1233 ff.
7416. _Poverte avoir_, ‘that Poverty has.’
7429. Matt. xxi. 12.
7441. Rev. xi. 1.
7453. Ezek. vii. 12.
7454. Is. xxiv. 2.
7459. 2 Kings v. 20 ff.
7475. _concordance_: that is, what we should call a ‘harmony’ of the
Gospels or other parts of the Bible.
7499. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4678, and the marginal Latin.
7507. Probably we should read ‘tenont,’ or ‘tienont,’ for ‘tenoit’: cp.
8459.
7511. _privé de son secroy_, ‘privy to his secret counsels.’
7549. The reference is not really to the Psalter, but to the song of
Moses, Deut. xxxii. 13.
7562. Ecclus. xxxi. 29, ‘Nequissimo in pane murmurabit civitas.’
7569. 2 Cor. ix. 6.
7587. ‘the right pit of helle,’ as they said in English. The same
comparison is made _Conf. Am._ v. 29 ff. With these cp. Chaucer, _Tale
of Melibeus_: ‘And therefore seith seint Austyn that the averous man is
likned unto helle’ &c.
7597. I fear that this is a rendering of ‘Avaro autem nihil est
scelestius,’ with additions by our author: Ecclus. x. 9.
7603 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 249 ff.
7609. Col. iii. 5, ‘avaritiam, quae est simulacrorum servitus.’
7611. 2 Kings xxi. 21 ff.
7621 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 363 ff., where the same comparison is made
in fuller detail.
7640. The author referred to as ‘Marcial’ here and in ll. 15505,
15949, is in fact Godfrey of Winchester, popularly called by the name
of the epigrammatist whom he not unhappily imitated. He was a native
of Cambrai, and prior of St. Swithin’s in the twelfth century. His
epigrams are repeatedly quoted under the name of Martial by Albertano
of Brescia in the _Liber Consolationis_. They will be found in Wright’s
_Satirical Poets of the Twelfth Century_ (Rolls series). The reference
here is to _Ep._ cxxxvi,
‘Non sibi, non aliis prodest, dum vivit, avarus:
Et prodest aliis et sibi, dum moritur.’
7645 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 49 ff., a very close parallel,
‘To seie hou such a man hath good,
Who so that reson understod,
It is impropreliche seid,
For good hath him and halt him teid,’ &c.
7650. _Pour ... faire_: cp. 6328.
7678. Perhaps Jer. xv. 13.
7694. Bern. _Serm. Resurr._ iii. 1, ‘Et vero magna abusio et magna
nimis, ut dives esse velit vermiculus vilis, propter quem Deus
maiestatis et Dominus sabaoth voluit pauper fieri.’
7728. _farin_: a form of ‘frarin’ (‘frerin’), ‘beggarly,’ hence
‘wretched.’
7731. For this use of ‘tire’ cp. _Conf. Am._ vi. 817.
7739. See note on 415.
7777. Job xv. 27, ‘Operuit faciem eius crassitudo, et de lateribus eius
arvina dependet.’ Perhaps our author read ‘anima’ for ‘arvina,’ unless
he was also thinking of xl. 15 (11).
7791. _ces_, for ‘les,’ see note on 301.
7825 ff. Cp. Chaucer, _Pardoneres Tale_, 76 ff.
7827. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 870 (margin), ‘Iupiter deus deliciarum.’
7883. _allaita_, apparently here ‘sucked (milk)‘: ‘he thinks not of the
former time when he sucked the simple milk and longed for it.’
7896. ‘Nor will they hunt in that wood,’ that is, they will not share
in the sport: ‘brosser,’ ‘bruisser,’ a term of the chase, meaning to
ride or run through thick underwood, see Littré under ‘brosser,’ and
_New Eng. Dict._ ‘brush.’
7940. ‘Martinmas beef’ was the meat salted in the autumn for the supply
of the household during the winter, in times when keep for cattle in
winter was hard to get.
7969. Cp. _Trait._ xv. 1 ff., ‘Car beal oisel par autre se chastie,’ a
proverbial expression meaning that one should take example by others.
7972. The story is told in the same connexion _Conf. Am._ vi. 986 ff.
7993. 2 Pet. ii. 12 ff.
8049. Deut. xxxii. 15 ff.
8053. Is. xlvii. 8, 9.
8072. For the position of ‘et’ see note on 415.
8077. Job xx. 15 f. The preceding stanza is mostly the invention of our
author.
8089. Job xx. 19 ff.
8103. Lam. iv. 5, ‘qui nutriebantur in croceis, amplexati sunt
stercora.’ Our author misunderstood ‘in croceis.’
8138 f. Cp. _Conf. Am._ vi. 19-23.
8191. _serroit governé_, ‘should be ruled.’
8236. Gen. xix. 30 ff.
8246 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ vi. 71 f.,
‘He drinkth the wyn, bot ate laste
The wyn drynkth him and bint him faste.’
8266. _puis la mort_, ‘after death,’ ‘puis’ used as a preposition.
8269. Is. v. 11.
8278. Prov. xxiii. 31 f., or Ecclus. xxxi. 32 ff.
8289. Jer. xxv. 15.
8294 ff. See note on 4864.
8376. _ou_ = ‘ove.’