fault. 'At uolui, nec unquam uelle desistam. Fatebimur? [MS. C. Et
fatebimur.] Sed impediendi delatoris opera cessabit.'
113. _by me_, with regard to me; 'de me.'
117. _Socrates_; in Plato's Republic, Book VI: [Greek: tên apseudeian ...
misein, tên d' alêtheian stergein] (485 C).
120. _preisen_, appraise, judge of: 'aestimandum.'
131. _Canius_, better _Canus_, i.e. 'Julius Canus, whose philosophic death
is described by Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, cap. xiv.'--Gibbon. He has
already been mentioned above, Prose iii. l. 40.
132. _Germeynes sone_, the son of Germanicus. This Gaius Cæsar is better
known as Caligula, the emperor who succeeded Tiberius.
143. _famileres_, friends, i.e. disciples, viz. Epicurus, in the De Ira
Divina, cap. xiii (Stewart).
154. _Verone_, Verona; next to Ravenna, the favourite residence of
Theodoric.
156. _his real maiestee_, high treason, lit. 'his royal majesty'; Lat.
'maiestatis crimen.' The king was intent upon repressing all freedom of
speech.
167. _submittede_, subdued: 'summitteret.'
171. _present_, i.e. he would, even in such a case, have been allowed to
appear in his defence, would have been called upon to confess his crime,
and would have been condemned in a regular manner.
173. _fyve hundred_, nearly 500 miles. Boethius was imprisoned in a tower
at Pavia.
176. _as who seith, nay_; i.e. it is said ironically. The senate well
deserve that no one should ever defend them as I did, and be convicted for
it.
181. _sacrilege_; glossed _sorcerie_: 'sacrilegio.' Sorcery or magic is
intended. 'At the command of the barbarians, the occult science of a
philosopher was stigmatised with the names of sacrilege and
magic.'--Gibbon. See below, l. 196.
186. _Pictagoras_, Pythagoras. The saying here attributed to him is given
in the original in Greek--[Greek: hepou theô]. Some MSS. add the gloss, _i.
deo non diis seruiendum_. MS. C. has: _deo et non diis sacrificandum_.
188. _I_, i. e. for me. A remarkable grammatical use.
190. _right clene_: 'penetral innocens domus.'
193. _thorugh_, i. e. for. Caxton and Thynne read _for_.
195. _feith_: 'de te tanti criminis fidem capiunt.'
198. _it suffiseth nat only ... but-yif_, this alone is insufficient ...
unless thou also, &c. _of thy free wille_: 'ultro.'
212. _good gessinge_, high esteem: 'existimatio bona.'
215. _charge_, burden, load: 'sarcinam.'
219. _by gessinge_, in men's esteem: 'existimatione.'
223. _for drede_: 'nostri discriminis terrore.'
METRE 5. 1. _whele_, sphere: 'orbis.' Not only were there seven spheres
allotted to the planets, but there was an eighth larger sphere, called the
sphere of fixed stars, and a ninth 'sphere of first motion,' or _primum
mobile_, which revolved round the earth once in 24 hours, according to the
Ptolemaic astronomy. This is here alluded to. God is supposed to sit in an
immoveable throne beyond it.
3. _sweigh_, violent motion; the very word used in the same connexion in
the Man of Lawes Tale, B 296; see note to that passage.
4. _ful hornes_, i. e. her horns filled up, as at full moon, when she meets
'with alle the bemes' of the Sun, i. e. reflects them fully.
7. _derke hornes_, horns faintly shining, as when the moon, a thin
crescent, is near the sun and nearly all obscured.
'The bente mone with hir hornes pale;' Troil. iii. 624.
9. _cometh eft ayein hir used cours_, returns towards her accustomed
course, i. e. appears again, as usual, as a morning-star, in due course. I
think the text is incorrect; for _cometh_ read _torneth_, i. e. turns. Lat.
text: 'Solitas iterum mutet habenas.' The planet Venus, towards one
apparent extremity of her orbit, follows the sun, as an evening-star; and
again, towards the other apparent extremity, precedes it as a morning-star.
So Cicero, De Nat. Deorum, ii. 20. 53: 'dicitur Lucifer, cum antegreditur
solem, cum subsequitur autem, Hesperus.'
11. _restreinest_, shortenest; the sun's apparent course being shorter in
winter. Lat. 'stringis.'
13. _swifte tydes_, short times; viz. of the summer nights.
19. _Arcturus_, [alpha] Boötis, in the sign Libra; conspicuous in the
nights of spring.
20. _Sirius_, [alpha] Canis Maioris, or the Dog-star, in the sign of
Cancer; seen before sun-rise in the so-called dog-days, in July and August.
It was supposed that the near approach of Sirius to the Sun caused great
heat.
21. _his lawe_, i.e. '_its_ law'; and so again in _his propre_.
28. _on._ Caxton and Thynne rightly read _on_.
29. _derke derknesses_, obscure darkness: 'obscuris ... tenebris.' Not a
happy expression.
31. _covered and kembd_: 'compta.' Cf. _kembde_ in Squi. Ta. F 560.
37. _erthes_, lands; the pl. is used, to translate 'terras.'
41. _bonde_, i.e. the chain of love; see Bk. ii. Met. 8. l. 15.
PROSE 5. 1. _borken out_, barked out; 'delatraui.' MS. A. changes _borken_
into _broken_. The glossaries, &c., all seem to miss this excellent example
of the strong pp. of _berken_. _Borken_ appears as a pt. t. pl. in the King
of Tars, l. 400. The A.S. pp. _borcen_ appears in the A.S. Leechdoms, ed.
Cockayne, i. 170, l. 17.
14. _oo ... king._ The original is in Greek--[Greek: heis koiranos estin,
heis basileus]: quoted from Homer, Iliad, ii. 204, with the change from
[Greek: estô] to [Greek: estin].
18, 19. _thy citee_, i.e. the city of heaven; note the context.
22. _palis_, paling, rampart; 'uallo.' Clearer than _paleis_, as in A,
which might mean palace; but both spellings occur in French.
25. _face_ (facies), the look of this prison.
31. _in comune good_, for the common good: 'in commune bonum.'
34. _thinges ... aposed_, accusations; 'delatorum.'
45. _thy wode Muse_: 'Musae saeuientis'; cf. Met. 5 above, l. 22.
51. _thilke passiouns_: 'ut quae in tumorem perturbationibus influentibus
induruerunt.'
54. _by an esier touchinge_ refers to the preceding _mowen ... softe_:
'tactu blandiore mollescant.'
METRE 6. This Metre refers to the necessity of doing everything in its
proper season.
2. 'When the sun is in Cancer'; i.e. in the month of June.
4. _lat him gon_, let him go and eat acorns.
6. _whan the feld_: 'Cùm saeuis Aquilonibus Stridens campus inhorruit.'
_Chirkinge_, hoarse, rustling; alluding to the rustling of frozen grass in
a high wind.
15. _And forthy_: 'Sic quod praecipiti uiâ Certum deserit ordinem, Laetos
non habet exitus.'
PROSE 6. 10. _by fortunous fortune_: 'fortuitis casibus.' Not well
expressed.
14. _the same ... thou_, thou didst sing the same thing. See Met. v. 22.
17. _owh!_ an exclamation of astonishment: Lat. 'papae.'
18. _why that thou_: 'cur in tam salubri sententiâ locatus aegrotes.'
20. _I not ... what_: 'nescio, quid abesse coniecto.'
22. _with whiche governailes_, by what sort of government.
28. _the strengthe_, the strength of the gaping stockade discloses an
opening: 'uelut hiante ualli robore.' The corruption of _chyning_ to
_schynyng_ in MS. A. makes sad nonsense of the passage.
42. _they may nat al_: 'sibique totum extirpare non possint.'
55. _or elles the entree_: 'uel aditum reconciliandae sospitatis inueni.'
56. _For-why, for_, Because, since. _for-thy_, therefore.
64. _the auctor ... of hele_: 'sospitatis auctori.'
65. _norisshinges_; perhaps better _norisshing_, as in Caxton and Thynne;
'fomitem,' i. e. furtherance.
71. _faster_, firmer, stronger: 'firmioribus.'
76. _to maken thinne and wayk_: 'attenuare.'
77. _meneliche_, moderate: 'mediocribus.'
METRE 7. 1. _yeten a-doun_, pour down; 'fundere.' Not _geten_, as in A.
2. _trouble_, turbid; 'Turbidus Auster.'
3. _medleth the hete_: 'Misceat aestum.' See above, Met. iv. l. 5.
5. _clere as glas_; cf. Knight's Tale, A 1958.
_withstande_: 'Mox resoluto Sordida caeno, Visibus obstat.'
7. _royleth_, wanders; 'uagatur.' Not 'rolls.'
11. _holden_, keep to; cf. 'Hold the hye wey'; Truth, l. 20. _weyve_:
'Gaudia pelle, Pelle timorem; Spemque fugato.'
BOOK II.
PROSE 1. 13. _to begyle_; copied in Troil. iv. 2, 3:--
'---- y-thonked be Fortune,
That semeth trewest whan she wol bigyle.'
22. _myn entree_: 'de nostro adyto.' But Chaucer has translated 'adyto' as
if it were 'aditu.' He translates _aditum_ by _entree_ in Bk. i. Pr. 6, l.
55. _Adyto_ is 'sanctuary.'
28. _Com_, i. e. let (it) come; imperative: 'Adsit igitur rhetoricae
suadela dulcedinis.'
32. _moedes_, moods, strains; 'modos.' _prolaciouns_, utterances.
35. Compare Chaucer's poem on Fortune; and see the long note at the
beginning of the Notes to that poem.
45. _use hir maneres_; rather, make the best of her conduct: 'utere
moribus.' _agrysest_, shudderest at, dreadest.
48. _She hath forsaken_: 'Reliquit enim te, quam non relicturam nemo umquam
poterit esse securus.'
51. The MSS. usually agree in this clause. Chaucer's gloss is due to an
obscure note in MS. C., viz. 'vel quam non relictam, secundum alios
libros.' Other notes occur there, but do not help us.
68. _floor_: 'intra fortunae aream.' We say 'area' or 'domain.'
77. _amonges_, at various times, from time to time, now and then; see New
E. Dict., s.v. _Among_, B. 2.
83. _cesede_, would cease; copied in Troil. i. 848:--
'For if hir wheel stinte any-thing to torne,
Than cessed she Fortune anoon to be.'
METRE 1. 3. _Eurype_, Euripus; a narrow channel, with a strong current;
especially that between Boeotia and Euboea. This use of the word is here
seen to be far older in English than the quotation from Holland's Pliny in
the New E. Dict.
8. _so hard_: 'Ultroque gemitus, dura quos fecit, ridet.'
9. _laugheth_, laughs at; 'ridet.' It is impossible to accept the reading
_lyssheth_ in C. There seems to be no such word. It probably arose from the
attempt of the scribe to represent the guttural sound of _gh_, because we
actually find him writing _neysshebour_ for _neighbour_ twice, viz. in Bk.
ii. Pr. 3. 24, and in Pr. 7. 57. This passage is imitated in Troil. iv. 7:
'Than laugheth she and maketh him the mowe.'
PROSE 2. 1. Compare Chaucer's 'Fortune'; l. 25, &c.
4. _every-dayes_, daily: 'cottidianis querelis.'
37. _I torne_: 'Rotam uolubili orbe uersamus.'
39. _Worth up_, climb up: 'Ascende.' Cf. P. Plowman, B. vii. 91; Wars of
Alexander, 2878, 2973.
42. _Cresus_, Croesus; see note to Monk. Tale, B 3917.
47. _Perciens_, Persians. But Chaucer is here wrong. The Lat. text has
'Persi regis,' i. e. king Perseus. Perseus, or Perses III, was the last
king of Macedonia, who was defeated by L. Æmilius Paulus in a decisive
battle fought near Pydna, in June, B.C. 168. 'When brought before Æmilius
[here, Paulus], he is said to have degraded himself by the most abject
supplications; but he was treated with kindness by the Roman general;'
Smith, Class. Dict. See Livy, xl. 57; xli. 53; xliv. 32; &c.; Plutarch,
Life of Æmilius.
51. _Tragedie._ Cf. the definition in the Monk. Prol. B 3163; and note to
Anelida, 320.
53. _in Greke._ These two words are not in the original, but the following
quotation is given in Greek: [Greek: duo tous pithous, ton men hena kakôn,
ton de heteron kalôn]. Some MSS. add: 'duo dolia quidem malum alterum
bonum.' From Homer, Iliad, xxiv. 527:
[Greek: doioi gar te pithoi katakeiatai en Dios oudei,]
[Greek: dôrôn, hoia didôsi, kakôn, heteros de eaôn.]
Cf. notes to Wyf of Bathes Prol. D 170, and to Leg. of Good Women, 195.
54. _in the entree_: 'in Iouis limine': [Greek: en Dios oudei].
61. _realme_: 'intra commune omnibus regnum locatus.'
METRE 2. 1. _hielde_, pour: 'Tantas fundat opes, nec retrahat manum Pleno
copia cornu.'
8. _as fool-large_, like one that is foolishly lavish: 'Multi prodigus
auri.'
11. _other gapinges_: 'Alios pandit hiatus.' Some MSS. have _Altos_, but
Chaucer evidently read _Alios_, as in MS. C.
13. _to any ... ende_; rather, 'within a prescribed boundary'; 'Certo fine
retentent.'
PROSE 3. 22. _princes._ These were, in particular, Festus and Symmachus.
Boethius married Rusticiana, the daughter of Symmachus. Hence the allusion
to his _fadres-in-lawe_ (socerorum) just below, in l. 26; where the right
sense is _parents-in-law_. See Stewart's Essay, p. 24.
23. _leef_: 'delectusque in affinitatem principum ciuitatis, quod
pretiosissimum propinquitatis genus est, priùs carus, quam proximus esse
coepisti.' Hence _the whiche thing_ really refers back to _affinitee_,
which is hardly obvious in the E. version.
40. _whan thou_: 'cùm in Circo duorum medius consulum circumfusae
multitudinis exspectationem triumphali largitione satiasti.'
43. _gave thou wordes_: 'Dedisti ... uerba fortunae.'
48. _privee_, a man of private station, not of noble rank: 'priuato.' The
reference is to the election of his two sons as consuls in one day.
55. _Art thou_: 'An tu in hanc uitae scenam nunc primum subitus hospesque
uenisti.' Thus _shadwe or tabernacle_ is meant to translate _scenam_.
60. _laste day_; quoted in Chaucer's 'Fortune,' l. 71; see note to the
line.
61. _and also_, i. e. even to such Fortune as abides and does _not_ desert
the man: 'fortunae ... etiam manentis.'
62. _thar recche_; it is absolutely necessary to insert _thee_ after
_thar_; i. e. And therefore, what, do you suppose, need you care? _yif
thou_, i. e. whether thou.
METRE 3. 10. _the fairnesse_: 'Iam spinis abeat decus.'
13. _over-whelveth_, turns over: 'Verso concitat aequore.' _whelveth_ is
the right form, as noted by Stratmann; it occurs in MS. Ii. 1. 38, and in
the black-letter editions. It occurs again in Palladius on Husbandry, i.
161: 'For harme ... may ... perchaunce the _overwhelve_,' i.e. for perhaps
harm may overthrow thee. And again, in the same, i. 781: '_overwhelve_ hit
upsodowne,' i.e. turn it (the land) right over.
16. _tomblinge_, fleeting, transitory; 'caducis.'
18. _nis_, is; we must disregard the second negative.
PROSE 4. 3. _ne be comen_, is not come; i.e. did not come. It refers to
past time.
5. _For in alle_: 'Nam in omni aduersitate fortunae infelicissimum genus
est infortunii, fuisse felicem.' This famous sentence has been several
times copied. See, e.g., Troil. iii. 1625-8; Dante, _Inferno_, v. 121-3;
Tennyson, _Locksley Hall_, 76.
8. _But that thou_, i.e. 'but the fact that thou.' _abyest_, sufferest:
'falsae opinionis supplicium luis.'
12. _For al be it_: 'Nam si te hoc inane nomen fortuitae felicitatis
mouet.'
20. _Symacus_, Symmachus. There were several distinguished men of this
family. Q. Aurelius Symmachus was a statesman and author in the latter half
of the fourth century. The one here referred to is Q. Aurelius Memmius
Symmachus, who had been consul under Odoacer in 485, and was involved in
the fate of Boethius, being put to death by Theodoric in 525, shortly after
the execution of Boethius in 524. He had two daughters, Rusticiana and
Galla, of whom the former married Boethius. See Procopius, de Bello
Gothico, lib. i., and several Epistles in Cassiodorus, viz. lib. iv. epist.
22, 37, 66.
25. _thy wyf_; i. e. Rusticiana, daughter of Symmachus; for there is no
proof that Boethius was twice married (Stewart, p. 24). She survived the
capture of Rome by the Goths under Totila, A.D. 546. 'The riches of
Rusticiana, the daughter of Symmachus and widow of Boethius, had been
generously devoted to alleviate the calamities of famine. But the
barbarians were exasperated by the report, that she had prompted the people
to overthrow the statue of the great Theodoric; and the life of that
venerable matron would have been sacrificed to his memory, if Totila had
not respected her birth, her virtues, and even the pious motive of her
revenge.'--Gibbon, Rom. Empire, ch. 43.
31. _two sones_; the two spoken of just above (Pr. iii. l. 35), as being
both made consuls together. This was in 522.
_conseilours_, i.e. of consular rank: 'consulares.'
40. _thyne ancres_. Hence the line, 'Yit halt thyn ancre.' Fortune, l. 38.
52. _thy delices_: 'delicias tuas.' The sense here intended is
'effeminacy,' or 'unmanly weakness.'
56. _ful anguissous_, very full of anxieties: 'Anxia enim res,' &c.
Repeated in Troilus, iii. 816, q.v.
68. _for alwey_, &c. Very obscure. Chaucer seems to mean--'for always, in
every man's case, there is, in something or other, that which (if he has
not experienced it) he does not understand; or else he dreads that which he
has already experienced.' The Latin is clearer: 'inest enim singulis, quod
inexpertus ignoret, expertus exhorreat.'
79. _nothing [is] wrecched_. The insertion of _is_ completes the sense:
'adeo nihil _est_ miserum, nisi cùm putes.' Observe '_nis a wrecche_' in
Chaucer's own gloss (l. 81); and see l. 25 of 'Fortune.'
83. _by the agreabletee_, by means of the equanimity: 'aequanimitate
tolerantis.' Not having the word 'equanimity' at command, Chaucer
paraphrases it by 'agreeabletee or egalitee,' i. e. accommodating or
equable behaviour. Cf. l. 92.
86. _The swetnesse_, &c. Cf. Troilus, iii. 813-5; and Man of Lawes Tale, B
421-2, and note.
89. _withholden_, retained: 'retineri non possit.' _that_, so that.
107. _sheweth it wel_, it is plain: 'manifestum est.'
110. _either he woot_, &c.; copied in Troilus, iii. 820-833.
115. _lest he lese that ... it_, lest he lose that which. MS. A. _omits_
'it'; but the phrase is idiomatic.
119. _this is to seyn that men_, that is to say that, in such a case, men,
&c.
120. _lost_, loss. This form of the sb. occurs elsewhere; as in Gower, i.
147 (goth to _lost_); and in P. Plowman, C. vii. 275; &c. See Stratmann.
131. _it ne maketh_, it does not make men miserable.
METRE 4. 7. _lause_, loose; Icel. _lauss_: 'solutae.' Usually _loos_, as in
Cant. Ta. A 4064, 4352.
8. _forthy if thou_: 'Fugiens periculosam Sortem sedis amoenae, Humili
domum memento Certus figere saxo.' Chaucer's translation is hardly correct;
_sortem_ and _sedis_ must be taken in close connection. 'Avoiding the
perilous condition of a fair (and exposed) situation, take care to found
thy house securely on a low-lying (and sheltered) rock.'
12. _weleful_: 'Felix robore ualli Duces serenus aeuum.' _palis_, stockade,
rampart; as before, Bk. i. Pr. 3. 56, Pr. 5. 22.
PROSE 5. 10. _to hem that despenden it_; rather, by spending it; Lat.
'effundendo.' So again, in l. 11, _to thilke folke that mokeren it_ answers
to the Lat. gerund 'coaceruando.'
11. _mokeren it_, hoard it. Perhaps related to O.F. _mucier_; see
_Curmudgeon_ in my Etym. Dict. See _mokereres_, misers, below.
15. _stenteth to ben had_, ceases to be possessed: 'desinit possideri.'
16. _large_, lavish; 'largiendi usu desinit possideri.'
18. _as of that_, as regards that hoard.
19. _a voys al hool_, a voice not yet dispersed: 'uox ... tota.'
32. _yif it wanteth_, if it lacks: 'carens animae motu atque membrorum
compage.'
35. _of the laste_: 'postremae aliquid pulcritudinis.' Perhaps it means
'of the lowest kind of beauty.' Mr. Stewart, in his Essay, p. 225, reads
_postremo_, for which I find _no_ authority. MS. C. has _postreme_.
36. _through the distinccioun_: 'suique distinctione.'
40. _Why sholde it nat_, &c. In some editions, this passage is not marked
as being assigned to Boethius. In others, it is.
85. _ostelments_, furniture, household goods: 'supellectilis.' O.F.
_ostillement_, _oustillement_, furniture; cf. mod. F. _outil_, a word of
doubtful origin. Cf. l. 94.
90. _subgit_; as if for 'suppositis'; but the Lat. text has 'sepositis,'
i.e. separate, independent.
92. _beest_, animal: 'diuinum merito rationis animal.'
97. _of the lowest_, &c., 'by means of vilest things.'
101. _yif that al_, &c., 'if all the good possessed is more valuable than
the thing possessing it.'
105. _and certes_: 'quod quidem haud immerito cadit.'
111. _it cometh_: 'it arises from some defect in them.'
121. _Gabbe I of this_, do I lie concerning this?
125. _weneth._ The texts have _and weneth_; but I suppress _and_ to make
sense, and to make the translation agree with the Latin. 'Atqui diuitiae
possidentibus persaepè nocuerunt, cùm pessimus quisque, eóque alieni magis
auidus, quidquid usquam auri gemmarumque est, se solum qui habeat
dignissimum putat.'
128. _way-feringe_; MS. A, _way-faryng_. Both forms, _feringe_ and
_faring(e)_ occur; see Stratmann. _Feringe_ = A. S. _f[=e]rende_, from the
weak verb _f[=e]ran_, to go, travel; whilst _faringe_ = A. S. _farende_,
from the strong verb _faran_, to go. _F[=e]ran_ (= _*f[=o]rian_) is
derived, with vowel-mutation, from the stem _*f[=o]r_, appearing in
_f[=o]r_, the pt. t. of _faran_.
130. _singe_, &c. Doubtless from Juvenal, Sat. x. 22; see Wyf of Bathes
Tale, D 1191, and the note.
METRE 5. Largely imitated in Chaucer's poem called 'The Former Age,' which
see. See also the Notes to the same.
5. _They ne coude_, they knew not how: 'Non Bacchica munera norant Liquido
confundere melle.'
6. _piment_, usually spiced wine; here, wine mixed with honey. See Rom. of
the Rose, 6027, and the note. _clarree_, wine mixed with honey and spices,
and then strained till it is clear; clarified wine. See Rom. of the Rose,
5967, 6026; Former Age, 16; Kn. Tale, A 1471. Chaucer uses these two words
here in conjunction, for the simple reason that he was thinking of the
parallel passage in the French Rom. de la Rose, which is imitated from the
present passage in Boethius. Ll. 8418-9 are:--
'Et de l'iaue simple bevoient
Sans querre _piment_ ne _claré_.'
7. _ne they coude_: 'Nec lucida uellera Serum Tyrio miscere ueneno.' Hence
the _Seriens_ are the _Seres_, or Chinese; and _the venim of Tyrie_ should
rather be _the venim of Tyre_, but Chaucer follows the adjectival form in
the original, both here and in Bk. iii. Met. 4, l. 2. _Venim_ is not the
right word here; 'ueneno' merely means 'dye.' The reference is to the
_murex_ or purple shell-fish. See Vergil, Aen. iv. 262: '_Tyrio_que ardebat
_murice_ laena'; and Georg. ii. 465: '_alba_ nec Assyrio _fucatur lana
ueneno_.'
13. _gest ne straungere_: 'hospes.' Cf. Former Age, 21.
17. _armures_, defensive armour: 'arma.' The usual reading is _arua_, i. e.
fields; but more than six MSS. have _arma_, and Chaucer's copy had the
same; as appears from MS. C.
18. _For wherto_: 'for to what purpose, or what sort of madness of enemies
would first take up arms, when they saw but cruel wounds (as the result)
and no rewards for the blood that was shed?'
22. _But the anguissous_: 'Sed saeuior ignibus Aetnae Feruens amor ardet
habendi.'
24. _Allas!_ &c. Cf. Former Age, 27-32. _the gobetes or the weightes of
gold_: 'Auri ... pondera.'
26. _He dalf_: 'Pretiosa pericula fodit.'
PROSE 6. 8. _the imperie of consulers_, consular rank: 'consulare
imperium.' The reference is to the creation of Decemviri; see Livy, iii.
32.
20. _so requerable_, in such request: 'expetibilis.'
29. _into the ... body_: 'in secreta quaeque.'
32. _the whiche I clepe_, by which I mean; so again below, l. 39.
35. _a thought_, a mind; 'mentem firma sibi ratione cohaerentem.'
36. _a free man_; Anaxarchus of Abdera, B.C. 323. The _tyraunt_ was
Nicocreon, king of Cyprus. See Valerius Maximus, iii. 3.
44. _But what_: 'Quid autem est, quod in alium quisquam facere possit, quod
sustinere ab alio ipse non possit?'
47. _Busirides_, Busiris (gen. case, _Busiridis_), a king of Egypt, who
sacrificed all strangers on his altars. But Hercules, coming to Egypt, slew
him and abolished the custom. See Vergil, Georg. iii. 5; Ovid, Tr. iii. 11.
39. In the Monkes Tale, B 3293, Chaucer calls him _Busirus_.
49. _Regulus_; M. Regulus, taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, B.C. 255.
The story of his embassy to Rome is well known.
63. _may I._ It is necessary to insert _I_ (only found in the black-letter
editions) to complete the sense. 'Quod quidem de cunctis fortunae muneribus
dignius existimari potest.'
71. _as of wil_, i.e. when it can: 'ultro.'
80. _reproeved_, disproved: 'redarguuntur.'
METRE 6. 2. _Nero._ Cf. Monkes Tale, B 3653-84.
4. _his brother_; Britannicus, poisoned by Nero; Tacitus, Annal. xiii. 16;
Suetonius, Nero, 33.
8. _domesman_, judge; see Monk. Ta. B 3680, and note.
15. _septem triones_, properly, the seven chief stars in the Lesser Bear;
also sometimes used of the seven bright stars in the Greater Bear. The
leading star in the Lesser Bear is the pole-star; and as that remains fixed
in the north, the whole constellation came to signify the north. Hence, in
the Monk. Ta. B 3657, we are told that Nero ruled over 'Both Est and West,
South and _Septemtrioun_'; see note to that line.
18. _Nothus_, Notus, the south wind; see below. _scorkleth_, scorches; MS.
A has _scorchith_. The Prompt. Parv. has: 'Scorkelyn, _ustulo_, _ustillo_';
and 'Scorklyd, _ustillatus_.' As Mr. Bradley notes, it is a variant of
_scorknen_ or _scorpnen_. The orig. Icel. verb is _skorpna_, to become
shrivelled, allied to _skorpinn_, shrivelled. This is a pp. form as if from
_*skerpa_, pt. t. _*skarp_; cf. _skera_, pt. t. _skar_, pp. _skorinn_. The
adj. _skarpr_ means 'sharp,' whence the weak verb _skerpa_, to sharpen. The
sense of the primitive verb _*skerpa_ was, doubtless, 'to cut'; and
_scorklen_ is, lit., 'to cause to be cut about,' when used as a transitive
verb; hence, 'to shrivel up,' from the appearance of plants 'cut' with
frost or parched with heat.
21. _Allas!_
'Heu grauem sortem, quoties iniquus
Additur saeuo gladius ueneno!'
More correctly, 'lordshippe to venimous crueltee.' MS. C has 'gladius, i.
potestas exercendi gladium'; and 'ueneno, i. venenose crudelitati.'
PROSE 7. 3. _I have wel desired_: 'materiam gerendis rebus optauimus, quo
ne uirtus tacita consenesceret.'
10. _drawen to governaunce_: 'allicere,' i. e. allure (simply).
18. _a prikke_, a point; cf. Parl. of Foules, 57; Troil. v. 1815; Ho. Fame,
907. From Ptolemy, Syntaxis, lib. i. cap. 6; cf. Macrobius, In Somnium
Scipionis, lib. ii. c. 9.
23. _Tholomee_, Ptolemy; viz. in the beginning of book ii. of his Megale
Syntaxis. See the same in Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 68.
28. _wel unnethe_, scarcely, hardly at all: 'uix angustissima inhabitandi
hominibus area relinquetur.'
34. _And also sette_: 'Adde, quod hoc ipsum breuis habitaculi septum plures
incolunt nationes.'
38. _defaute ... marchaundise_; Lat. only: 'tum conmercii insolentia.'
41. _Marcus Tullius_, i.e. Cicero, in his Somnium Scipionis, which
originally formed part of the sixth book of the De Republica. See cap. vi.
of that work, and Note to Parl. Foules, 31.
43. _Caucasus_; mentioned again in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 1140.
45. _Parthes_, Parthians.
59. _hath the wrecched_: 'scriptorum inops deleuit obliuio.'
69. _ended_: 'definitum.' We now say 'finite.'
73. _endeles_: 'interminabilem.' We now say 'infinite.'
77. _were thought_, were considered in comparison with eternity.
89. _This rather man_, this former man, the former.
95. _seyde_: 'Iam tandem, inquit, intelligis me esse philosophum? Tum ille
nimium mordaciter, Intellexeram, inquit, si tacuisses.' This story is
alluded to in Piers Plowman; see my note to that poem, C. xiv. 226.
108. _despyseth it_; cf. Troilus, v. 1821-7.
METRE 7. 1. _with overthrowing thought_: 'mente praecipiti.'
3. _shewinge_, evident, open to the view: 'Latè patentes ... plagas.'
7. _dedly_, mortal, perishable: 'mortali iugo.'
8. _ferne_, distant: 'remotos.' This is important, as settling the sense of
'ferne halwes' in the Prologue to the Tales, l. 14.
13. _Fabricius_, the conqueror of Pyrrhus; censor in B.C. 275. _Brutus_,
the slayer of Cæsar.
14. _Catoun_, Cato of Utica (B.C. 95-46).
17. _Liggeth_, lie ye; 'Iacetis.' The imperative mood.
20. _cruel_; Lat. 'sera,' which Chaucer has taken as 'seua.' 'Cum sera
uobis rapiet hoc etiam dies.' _thanne is_: 'Iam uos secunda mors manet.'
PROSE 8. 2. _untretable_, not to be treated with, intractable, inexorable:
'inexorabile.'
7. _unpleyten_, unplait, explain: 'explicare.'
17. _windinge._ Read _windy_, i.e. unstable; Lat. 'uentosam.' Caxton's
edition has _wyndy_, which proves the point. So also other old black-letter
editions.
23. _aspre_: 'haec aspera, haec horribilis fortuna.'
26. _visages_, faces. See Notes to the poem on Fortune.
METRE 8. 1. It begins 'Quòd mundus stabile fide Concordes uariat uices;
Quòd pugnantia semina Foedus perpetuum tenent.' The whole of this metre
reappears in Troilus, iii. 1744-1764.
6. _hath brought_, hath led in, introduced: 'duxerit.'
_greedy to flowen_; the Lat. text merely has _auidum_; 'Ut fluctus auidum
mare Certo fine coerceat.' The Lat. _fluctus_ answers to 'hise flodes.'
7. _ende_, boundary: 'fine.'
8. _termes or boundes_, borders: 'terminos.'
10. _Love_: 'Et caelo imperitans amor.' On this passage is founded one in
the Knightes Tale, A 2991-3.
11. _slakede_, were to relax. The last lines are:--
'Et quam nunc socia fide Pulcris motibus incitant,
Certent soluere machinam. Hic sancto populos quoque
Iunctos foedere continet: Hic et coniugii sacrum
Castis nectit amoribus: Hic fidis etiam sua
Dictat iura sodalibus. O felix hominum genus,
Si uestros animos amor, Quo caelum regitur, regat!'
BOOK III.
PROSE 1. 3. _streighte_, pp., i.e. stretched; 'adrectis ... auribus.' The
form _streight-e_ is plural.
6. _so_, i.e. so much. Better 'how much'; Lat. _quantum_.
8. _unparigal_, unequal; 'imparem.'
11. _nat only that_, it is not only the case that. It would be clearer if
_that_ were omitted.
12. _agrisen_, filled with dread; pp., with short _i_, of _agrysen_. Cf.
_agryseth_, Bk. i. Met. 6, l. 7.
15. _ravisshedest_, didst greedily receive; 'rapiebas.'
32. _for the cause of thee_, for thy sake; 'tui caussa.'
33. _but I wol_, &c.; 'sed quae tibi caussa notior est, eam prius designare
uerbis atque informare conabor.'
METRE 1. 2. _hook_, sickle; 'falce.'
4. _Hony_; cf. Troilus, i. 638, iii. 1219.
6. _Nothus_, Notus, the South wind. _ploungy_, stormy, rainy; 'imbriferos.'
9. _bigin_, do thou begin; imperative; 'incipe.'
PROSE 2. 2. _streite sete_, narrow (retired) seat; 'in angustam sedem.'
3. _cures_, endeavours; 'omnis mortalium cura.'
7. _over that_, beyond it; 'ulterius.'
8. _sovereyn good_; 'omnium summum bonorum.'
11. _out of ... good_; 'extrinsecus.'
28. _mesuren_, &c.; 'Plurimi uerò boni fructum gaudio laetitiâque
metiuntur.'
34. _is torned_; a bad translation of 'uersatur,' i.e. 'resides.'
38. _merinesse_, enjoyment; 'iocunditatis.'
50. _for which_, on which account; 'quare.'
55. _Epicurus._ See Cant. Tales, Prol. 336-8, where this is quoted; and see
Merch. Ta. E 2021; Troil. iii. 1691; 'Epicurus ... sibi summum bonum
uoluptatem esse constituit.'
57. _birefte awey._ But the Lat. text has precisely the opposite sense:
'quod caetera omnia iocunditatem animo uideantur adferre.' For _adferre_
[MS. C _afferre_], Chaucer has given us the sense of _auferre_.
58. _studies_, i.e. endeavours; 'studia.' _corage_; 'animus.'
59. _al be it_, &c.; 'et si caligante memoria.'
60. _not_, knows not; 'uelut ebrius, domum quo tramite reuertatur,
ignorat.' See Cant. Tales, A 1262.
67. _that ... it_: 'qui quod sit optimum, id etiam ... putant.'
75. _forsake_, deny; 'sequestrari nequit.'
77. _be anguissous_, i.e. 'be _neither_ full of anxiety.' The _neither_ is
implied in the following _ne_; 'non esse anxiam tristemque.' It is clearer
if we supply _nat_, as in the text.
83. _Than is it good_, then it is the _summum bonum_.
86. _lovinge_, as if translating _diligendo_, which occurs in many MSS.;
but the better reading is 'deligendo,' i.e. selecting.
METRE 2. 1. _with slakke ... strenges_; 'fidibus lentis.'
2. _enclineth and flitteth_; 'flectat.' _flitteth_ here means 'shifts.'
3. _purveyable_, with provident care; 'prouida.'
6. _of the contre of Pene_; 'Poeni leones'; lions of North Africa, supposed
to be extremely ferocious.
8. _sturdy_, cruel, hard; 'trucem ... magistrum.'
13. _and hir mayster_: 'Primusque lacer dente cruento Domitor rabidas
imbuit iras.'
15. _Iangelinge_, garrulous; 'garrula.' This passage is imitated twice in
the Cant. Tales, F 607-617, H 163-174.
17. _pleyinge bisinesse_; 'ludens cura.'
19. _agreables_; this form of the pl. adj. is only used in the case of
words of French origin. Examples are not very common; cf. _reverents_
below, Bk. iii. Met. 4, l. 6; and _delitables_, C. T. F 899.
26. _by privee path_, by an unseen route; 'secreto tramite.' Alluding to
the apparent passage of the sun below the horizon and, as it were,
underneath the world. Cf. Troil. iii. 1705.
27. _Alle thinges_: 'Repetunt proprios quaeque recursus.'
PROSE 3. 1. _beestes_, animals; 'animalia.' Chaucer always uses _beest_ for
'animal.'
15. _fals beautee_, a false beauty; 'falsa ... beatitudinis species.' But
'species' may simply mean 'semblance.'
17. After _axe_, Caxton and Thynne insert _the_, i.e. thee; 'te ipsum.'
24. _thee lakked_: 'uel aberat quod abesse non uelles, uel aderat quod
adesse noluisses.' This sentence much impressed Chaucer. He again recurs to
it in the Complaint to Pite, 99-104; Parl. Foules, 90, 91; and Complaint to
his Lady, 47-49. This fact helps to prove the genuineness of the last-named
poem.
36. _No._ Observe the use of _no_ after a sentence containing _nis nat_. If
there had been no negative in the preceding sentence, the form would have
been _Nay_. Such is the usual rule.
40, 41. _maken_, cause, bring it about. _bihighten_, promised.
48. _foreyne ... pletinges_; 'forenses querimoniae.' But _forenses_ means
'public.'
69. _be fulfild ... and axe any thing_; rather paraphrastic; 'aliquid
poscens opibus expletur.' _fulfild_ here means 'plentifully supplied,' not
'completely satisfied,' whereas in the very next line it means 'completely
satisfied.'
71. _I holde me stille, and telle nat_, I say nothing about; 'Taceo.' Seven
E. words for one of Latin.
74. _what may ... be_, why is it; 'quid est quod,' &c.
METRE 3. 1. After _river_, Caxton and Thynne insert _or a gutter_; Lat.
'gurgite.'
2. _yit sholde it never_. This gives quite a false turn to the translation,
and misses the sense intended. I quote the whole Metre.
'Quamuis fluente diues auri gurgite
Non expleturas cogat auarus opes,
Oneretque baccis colla rubri litoris;
Ruraque centeno scindat opima boue:
Nec cura mordax deserit superstitem,
Defunctumque leues non comitantur opes.'
3. _rede see_; lit. 'red shore.' However, the Red Sea is alluded to.
Chaucer's translation of _baccis_ by 'stones' is not happy; for 'pearls'
are meant. Cf. Horace, Epod. viii. 14; Sat. ii. 3. 241. Pliny praises the
pearls from the Red Sea; Nat. Hist. lib. xii. c. 18.
PROSE 4. 9. _postum_, short for _apostume_, i.e. imposthume. _boch_, botch,
pustule. Lat. _struma_. Catullus is the well-known poet, and the allusion
is to his lines addressed to himself (Carm. 52):--
'Quid est, Catulle, quid moraris emori?
Sella in curuli struma Nonius sedet.'
14. _Certes, thou_, &c. Rather involved. 'Tu quoque num tandem tot
periculis adduci potuisti, ut cum Decorato gerere magistratum putares, cùm
in eo mentem nequissimi scurrae delatorisque respiceres?' _With_ is used
for _by_: 'by so many perils' is intended. See Chaucer's gloss.
16. _Decorat_, Decoratus. He seems to have been in high favour with king
Theodoric, who wrote him a letter which is preserved in Cassiodorus, lib.
v. 31. It is clear that Boethius thought very ill of him.
32. _that he is despysed_, i.e. _because_ he is despised. The argument is,
that a wicked man seems the more wicked when he is despised by a very great
number of people; and if he be of high rank, his rank makes him more
conspicuous, and therefore the more generally contemned. The MSS. vary
here; perhaps the scribes did not see their way clearly. See the footnote.
35. _and ... nat unpunisshed_; 'Verùm non impunè.'
40. _comen by_, arise from; 'per has umbratiles dignitates non posse
contingere.' See Chaucer's Balade on Gentilesse, l. 5.
42. _many maner_, a mistranslation: 'Si quis multiplici consulatu functus.'
46. _to don his office_, to perform its function. Cf. Wyf of Bathes Tale, D
1144.
50. _that wenen_, i.e. (folk or people) who suppose.
56. _provostrie_, i.e. the prætorship; 'praetura.'
57. _rente_, income; 'et senatorii census grauis sarcina.'
58. _the office_; this alludes to the _Praefectus annonae_, once an
honourable title. It was borne by Augustus, when emperor.
64. _by the opinioun of usaunces_; 'opinione utentium.' Chaucer's phrase
seems to mean 'by estimation of the mode in which it is used.' He should
have written 'by the opinioun of hem that usen it.'
66. _of hir wille_, of their own accord (as it were); 'ultro.'
68. _what is it_; 'quid est, quòd in se expetendae pulcritudinis habeant,
nedum aliis praestent?'
METRE 4. Cf. Monkes Tale, B 3653-60.
2. _Tirie_, Tyre; lit. 'Tyrian,' the adjectival form; 'Tyrio superbus
ostro.' So above, Bk. ii. Met. 5, l. 8.
3. _throf he_, he flourished (lit. throve); 'uigebat.'
6. _reverents_, the pl. form of the adj. See above, Bk. iii. Met. 2, l. 19.
_unworshipful_, &c.; 'indecores curules.'
PROSE 5. 1. _regnes_, kingdoms; _familiaritees_, friendships.
2. _How elles_, why not? 'Quidni?' _whan_, whenever.
4. _kinges ben chaunged._ This is the subject of Chaucer's Monkes Tale.
Examples are certainly numerous. In the time of Boethius (470-524), they
were not wanting. Thus Basiliscus, emperor of the East, had a reign which
Gibbon describes as 'short and turbulent,' and perished miserably of hunger
in 476; and Odoacer was killed by Theodoric in 493; see Gibbon's History.
13. _upon thilke syde that_, on whichever side.
14. _noun-power ... undernethe_; 'impotentia subintrat.' _nounpower_, lack
of power, occurs in P. Plowman, C. xx. 292; see my note.
17. _A tyraunt_; Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily, who caused a
sword to be hung by a slender thread over the head of his favourite
Damocles, to teach him that riches could not make happy the man whose death
was imminent. See Cicero, Tuscul. v. 21. 6; Horace, Carm. iii. 1. 17;
Persius, Sat. iii. 40. And see Ch. Kn. Tale, A 2029.
27. _seriaunts_, serjeants (satellite), different from _servauntes_
(seruientium) below. The difference is one of use only; for the form
_seriaunt_, E. _serjeant_, represents the Lat. _seruientem_, whilst
_servaunt_, E. _servant_, represents the O. F. pres. part. of the O. F.
verb _servir_; which comes to much about the same thing.
30. _what_, why; _what ... anything_ answers to Lat. 'quid.'
33. _in hool_, &c., whether that power is unimpaired or lost; Lat.
'incolumis ... lapsa.'
34. _Nero_; see note to Monkes Tale, B 3685.
35. _Antonius_, a mistake for _Antoninus_, as in the Lat. text. By
Antoninus is meant the infamous emperor Caracalla, on whom Septimius
Severus had conferred the title of Antoninus. Papinianus was a celebrated
Roman jurist, who was put to death at the command of Caracalla; see Gibbon,
Roman Empire, ch. vi.
39. _Senek_, Seneca; see Tacitus, Annal. xiv.
41. _But whan_; 'Sed dum ruituros moles ipsa trahit, neuter, quod uoluit,
effecit.' I.e. neither Papinian nor Seneca found it possible to forego
their position.
48. _Certes, swiche folk_; see Monkes Ta. B 3434-5.
50. _pestilence_; see Merch. Ta. E. 1784, and 1793-4.
METRE 5. 1. For _corage_, Caxton and Thynne have _corages_, but this may be
an alteration due to the Latin which they quote as a heading: 'Qui se uolet
esse potentem, _Animos_,' &c.
5. _Tyle_; 'ultima Thule.' Supposed to be Iceland, or one of the Shetland
Islands.
PROSE 6. 3. _tragedies_; see note to Cant. Ta. B 3163.
3, 4. _O glorie._ The original has: [Greek: ô doxa doxa myrioisi dê brotôn,
ouden gegôsi bioton ônkôsas megan]. See Euripides, Andromache, 319. For
this, MS. C. gives, as the Latin equivalent--'o gloria, gloria, in milibus
hominum nichil aliud facta nisi auribus inflatio magna'; an interpretation
which Chaucer here follows.
24. _gentilesse._ See remarks (in the notes) on Chaucer's Balade of
Gentilesse.
METRE 6. 8. _For yif thou loke your_; the change from _thy_ to _your_ is
due to the Latin: 'Si promordia _uestra_ Auctoremque Deum _spectes_.'
9. _forlived_, degenerate; 'degener.' In Prose 6 (above), l. 37, _outrayen
or forliven_ translates 'degenerent.'
PROSE 7. 1. _delices_; 'uoluptatibus.' The MSS. so confuse the words
_delices_ and _delyts_ that it is hardly possible to say which is meant,
except when the Lat. text has _deliciae_. Both E. words seem to correspond
to _uoluptates_.
12. _Iolitee_: intended to translate 'lasciuiam,' a reading of some MSS.;
MS. C. has this reading, glossed 'voluptatem.' Most MSS. read _lacunam_,
i.e. void, want. _were_, would be; 'foret.'
14. _that children_: 'nescio quem filios inuenisse tortores.'
15. _bytinge_; 'mordax.' _anguissous_: 'anxium.'
16. _or_, ere; in fact, Caxton has _ere_, and Thynne, _er_.
18. _Euripidis_; in the gen. case, as in the Lat. text. The reference is to
Euripides, Andromache, 418: [Greek: pasi d' anthrôpois ar' ên psychê,
tekn'; hostis d' aut' apeiros ôn psegei, hêsson men algei, dystychôn d'
eudaimonei].
METRE 7. 3. _he fleeth_: 'Fugit et nimis tenaci Ferit icta corda morsu.' As
to the use of _flyes_ for 'bees,' see note to Parl. Foules, 353.
PROSE 8. 1. _that thise weyes_: 'quin hae ad beatitudinem uiae deuiae
quaedam sint.'
8. _supplien_, supplicate, beg: 'danti supplicabis.'
11. _awaytes_, snares: 'subiectorum insidiis obnoxius periculis
subiacebis.' _anoyously_; a mistranslation of 'obnoxius,'; see above.
12. _destrat_, distracted: 'distractus.'
16. _brotel_, brittle, frail: 'fragilissimae.'
28. _of the somer-sesoun_: 'uernalium.' So elsewhere, _somer-sesoun_ really
means the spring. Cf. P. Plowman, line 1.
_Aristotle._ The reference is not known; but the belief was common. It is
highly probable that the fable about the lynx's sharp sight arose from a
confusion with the sharp sight of Lynceus; and it is Lynceus who is really
meant in the present passage; 'Lynceis oculis.' Cf. Horace, Sat. i. 2. 90:
--'ne corporis optima Lyncei
Contemplere oculis.'
METRE 8. 5. _ginnes_, snares: 'laqueos.'
7. _Tyrene_; 'Tyrrhena ... uada'; see Vergil, Aen. i. 67.
14. _echines_: 'uel asperis Praestent echinis litora.'
PROSE 9. 10. _thorugh a litel clifte_: 'rimulâ.'
14. _misledeth it and transporteth_: 'traducit.'
16. _Wenest thou_: 'An tu arbitraris, quod nihilo indigeat, egere
potentia?'
38. _Consider_: 'Considera uero, ne, quod nihilo indigere, quod
potentissimum, quod honore dignissimum esse concessum est, egere
claritudine, quam sibi praestare non possit, atque ob id aliqua ex parte
uideatur abiectius.'
53. _This is a consequence_: 'Consequitur.'
69. _they ne geten hem_: 'nec portionem, quae nulla est, nec ipsam, quam
minimè affectat, assequitur.'
77. _that power forleteth_: 'ei, quem ualentia deserit, quem molestia
pungit, quem uilitas abicit, quem recondit obscuritas.' Hence _that_ means
'whom,' and refers to the man.
95. _that shal he not finde._ This is turned into the affirmative instead
of the interrogative form: 'sed num in his eam reperiet, quae
demonstrauimus, id quod pollicentur, non posse conferre?'
119. _norie_, pupil; Lat. 'alumne.'
136. _that lyen_: 'quae autem beatitudinem mentiantur.'
142. _in Timeo_; 'uti in Timaeo Platoni.' Here Chaucer keeps the words _in
Timaeo_ without alteration, as if they formed the title of Plato's work.
The passage is: [Greek: all' ô Sôkrates, touto ge dê pantes hosoi kai kata
brachy sôphrosynês metechousin epi pasê hormê kai smikrou kai megalou
pragmatos theon aei pou kalousin] (27 C).
METRE 9. 3. _from sin that age hadde biginninge_, since the world began:
'ab aeuo.' _thou that dwellest_: cf. Kn. Tale, A 3004.
5. _necesseden_, compelled, as by necessity: 'pepulerunt.'
6. _floteringe matere_: 'materiae fluitantis'; see below, Pr. xi. 156.
8. _beringe_, &c.; see Leg. of Good Women, 2229, and note.
13. _Thou bindest_: 'Tu numeris elementa ligas.'
14. _colde._ Alluding to the old doctrine of the four elements, with their
qualities. Thus the nature of fire was thought to be _hot_ and _dry_, that
of water _cold_ and _moist_, that of air _cold_ and _dry_, that of earth
_hot_ and _moist_. Cf. Ovid, Met. i. 19:--
'Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.
Hanc Deus et melior litem Natura diremit ...
Dissociata locis concordi pace ligauit.'
Sometimes the four elements are represented as lying in four layers; the
earth at the bottom, and above it the water, the air, and the fire, in due
order. This arrangement is here alluded to. Cf. Kn. Ta. A 2992.
18. _Thou knittest_, &c.
'Tu triplicis mediam naturae cuncta mouentem
Connectens animam per consona membra resoluis.
Quae cum secta duos motum glomerauit in orbes,
In semet reditura meat mentemque profundam
Circuit, et simili conuertit imagine caelum.
Tu caussis animas paribus uitasque minores
Prouehis, et leuibus sublimes curribus aptans
In caelum terramque seris, quas lege benigna
Ad te conuersas reduci facis igne reuerti.
Da pater angustam menti conscendere sedem,
Da fontem lustrare boni, da luce reperta
In te conspicuos animi defigere uisus.'
24. _cartes_, vehicles; the bodies which contain the souls.
34. _berer_: 'uector, dux, semita, terminus idem.'
PROSE 10. 8. _for that veyn_, in order that vain, &c.
11. _ne is_, exists. We should now drop the negative after 'deny.' _nis
right as_, is precisely as.
12. _is proeved_: 'id imminutione perfecti imperfectum esse perhibetur.'
14. _in every thing general_: 'in quolibet genere.'
21. _descendeth_: 'in haec extrema atque effeta dilabitur.' Cf. Kn. Ta.
3003-10.
31, 2. _that nothing nis bettre_, i.e. than whom nothing is better. So
below (l. 70) we have--'that nothing nis more worth.'
32. _nis good_, is good. The _ne_ is due to the preceding 'douted.'
39. _for as moche_: 'ne in infinitum ratio procedat.'
51. _this prince_; Caxton and Thynne have _the fader_; Lat. 'patrem.'
62. _feigne_: 'fingat qui potest.'
88. _thanne ne may_: 'quare neutrum poterit esse perfectum, cum alterutri
alterum deest.' Thus we must read _may_ (sing.), not _mowen_ (pl.).
98. _Upon thise thinges_, besides this: 'Super haec.'
100. _porismes_: '[Greek: porismata]'; corollaries, or deductions from a
foregoing demonstration.
101. _as a corollarie_: 'ueluti corollarium.' _Corollary_ is derived from
_corolla_, dimin. of _corona_, a garland. It meant money paid for a garland
of flowers; hence, a gift, present, gratuity; and finally, an additional
inference from a proposition. Chaucer gives the explanation _mede of
coroune_, i.e. gift of a garland.
106. _they ben maked iust_: these four words must be added to make sense;
it is plain that they were lost by the inadvertence of the scribes. Lat.
text: 'Sed uti iustitiae adeptione _iusti_, sapientiae sapientes fiunt, ita
diuinitatem adeptos, Deos fieri simili ratione necesse est.'
165. _the soverein fyn_; Lat. text: 'ut summa, cardo, atque caussa.'
Chaucer seems to have taken _summa_ to be the superl. adjective; and _fyn_,
i.e. end, is meant to represent _cardo_.
METRE 10. 8. _Tagus_; the well-known river flowing by Toledo and Lisbon,
once celebrated for its golden sands; see Ovid, Am. i. 15. 34; Met. ii.
251, &c.
10. _Hermus_, an auriferous river of Lydia, into which flowed the still
more celebrated Pactolus. 'Auro turbidus Hermus;' Verg. Georg. ii. 137.
_rede brinke_: 'rutilante ripa.'
_Indus_; now the Sind, in N. W. India.
11. _that medleth_: 'candidis miscens uirides lapillos'; which Chaucer
explains as mingling _smaragdes_ (emeralds) with _margaretes_ (pearls); see
footnote on p. 80.
17. _that eschueth_: 'Vitat obscuras animae ruinas.'
PROSE 11. 3. _How mochel_; i.e. at what price will you appraise it: 'quanti
aestimabis.'
24. _The thinges thanne_: 'Quae igitur, cùm discrepant, minimè bona sunt;
cùm uero unum esse coeperint, bona fiunt: nonne haec ut bona sint, unitatis
fieri adeptione contingit?'
55. _non other_; i.e. no other conclusion: 'minimè aliud uidetur.'
63. _travaileth him_, endeavours: 'tueri salutem laborat.'
71. _thar thee nat doute_, thou needst not doubt.
81. _What woltow_: 'Quid, quod omnes, uelut in terras ore demerso trahunt
alimenta radicibus, ac per medullas robur corticemque diffundunt?'
(_maryes_, marrows.)
91. _renovelen and puplisshen hem_: 'propagentur.'
92. _that they ne ben_, that they are; the superfluous _ne_ is due to the
_ne_ preceding.
110. _But fyr_: 'Ignis uero omnem refugit sectionem.'
112. _wilful_: 'de uoluntariis animae cognoscentis motibus.'
123. _som-tyme_: 'gignendi opus ... interdum coërcet uoluntas.'
128. _And thus_: 'Adeò haec sui caritas.'
142. _for yif that that oon_: 'hoc enim sublato, nec esse quidem cuiquam
permanebit.'
156. _floteren_, fluctuate, waver; 'fluitabunt'; see above, Met. ix. 6.
161. _for thou hast_: 'ipsam enim mediae ueritatis notam mente fixisti.'
163. _in that_, in that thing which: 'in hoc ... quod.'
METRE 11. 2. _mis-weyes_, by-paths: 'nullis ... deuiis.'
_rollen and trenden_: 'reuoluat.' Chaucer here uses the causal verb
_trenden_, to revolve, answering to an A.S. form _*trendan_, causal of a
lost verb _*trindan_. The E. _trund-le_ is from the same strong verb (pp.
_*getrunden_).
'Longosque in orbem cogat inflectens motus,
Animumque doceat quidquid extra molitur
Suis retrusum possidere thesauris.'
7. Cf. Troilus, iv. 200.
8. _lighten_, i.e. shine: 'Lucebit.'
10. _Glosa._ This gloss is an alternative paraphrase of all that precedes,
from the beginning of the Metre.
32. _Plato_. From Plato's Phaedo, where Socrates says: [Greek: hoti hêmin
hê mathêsis ouk allo ti ê anamnêsis tynchanei ousa] (72 E).
PROSE 12. 18. _Wendest_, didst ween: 'Mundum, inquit, hunc â Deo regi
paullo antè minimè dubitandum putabas.' Surely Chaucer has quite mistaken
the construction. He should rather have said: 'Thou wendest, quod she, a
litel her-biforn that men ne sholden nat doute,' &c.
19. _nis governed_, is governed; the same construction as before. So also
_but-yif there nere_ = unless there were (l. 25).
28. _yif ther ne were_: 'nisi unus esset, qui quod nexuit contineret.'
30. _bringe forth_, bring about, dispose, arrange: 'disponeret.'
_so ordenee_: 'tam dispositos motus.'
38. _that thou_: 'ut felicitatis compos, patriam sospes reuisas.'
55. _a keye and a stere_: 'ueluti quidam clauus atque gubernaculum.' Here
Chaucer unluckily translates _clauus_ as if it were _clauis_.
63. _ne sheweth_: 'non minùs ad contuendum patet'; i.e. is equally plain to
be seen.
67. _by the keye_: 'bonitatis clauo'; see note to l. 55.
73. _It mot nedes be so_: 'Ita, inquam, necesse est; nec beatum regimen
esse uideretur, si quidem detrectantium iugum foret, non obtemperantium
salus.' The translation has here gone wrong.
87. _softely_, gently, pleasurably: 'suauiter.'
91. _so at the laste_: 'ut tandem aliquando stultitiam magna _lacerantem_
sui pudeat.' Another common reading is _latrantem_, but this was evidently
not the reading in Chaucer's copy; MS. C. has _lacerantem_.
97. _the poetes._ See Ovid, Met. i. 151-162; Vergil, Georg. i. 277-283.
116. _Scornest thou me_: 'Ludisne, inquam, me, inextricabilem labyrinthum
rationibus texens, quae nunc quidem, qua egrediaris, introeas; nunc uerò
qua introieris, egrediare; an mirabilem quemdam diuinae simplicitatis orbem
complicas?'
117. _the hous of Dedalus_; used to translate 'labyrinthum.' See Vergil,
Aen. vi. 24-30, v. 588. No doubt Boethius borrowed the word
_inextricabilis_ from Aen. vi. 27.
125. _for which_: 'ex quo neminem beatum fore, nisi qui pariter Deus esset,
quasi munusculum dabas.' Here _munusculum_ refers to _corollarium_, which
Chaucer translates by 'a mede of coroune'; see above, Pr. x. 101.
132. _by the governements_: 'bonitatis gubernaculis.'
135. _by proeves in cercles and hoomlich knowen_: 'atque haec nullis
extrinsecus sumptis, sed altero ex altero fidem trahente insitis
domesticisque probationibus.' Chaucer inserts _in cercles and_, by way of
reference to arguments drawn from circles; but the chief argument of this
character really occurs later, viz. in Bk. iv. Pr. vi. 81.
143. _Parmenides_, a Greek philosopher who, according to Plato, accompanied
Zeno to Athens, where he became acquainted with Socrates, who was then but
a young man. Plato, in his Sophistes, quotes the line of Parmenides which
is here referred to: [Greek: pantothen eukyklou sphairas enalinkion onkô].
This the MSS. explain to mean: 'rerum orbem mobilem rotat, dum se immobilem
ipsa conseruat.' The Greek quotation is corruptly given in the MSS., but is
restored by consulting Plato's text (244 E); hence we do not know what
reading Boethius adopted. It can hardly have been the one here given, which
signifies that God is 'like the mass of a sphere that is well-rounded on
all sides.' Perhaps he took the idea of God's immobility from the next two
verses:--
[Greek: messothen isopales pantê, to gar oute ti meizon]
[Greek: oute bebaioteron pelei.]
i.e. 'equidistant from the centre in all directions; for there is nothing
greater (than Him), and nothing more immoveable.'
152. _Plato._ From Plato's Timaeus, 29 B: [Greek: hôs ara tous logous
hônper eisin exêgêtai, toutôn autôn kai syngeneis ontas]. Chaucer quotes
this saying twice; see Cant. Tales, A 741-2, H 207-210.
METRE 12. 3. _Orpheus._ This well-known story is well told in Vergil,
Georg. iv. 454-527; and in Ovid, Met. x. 1-85.
_Trace_, Thrace; as in Cant. Ta. A 1972.
4. _weeply_, tearful, sorrowful: 'flebilibus.'
5. _moevable_ should precede _riveres_; 'Silvas currere, mobiles Amnes
stare coegerat.' Chaucer took these two lines separately.
12. _hevene goddes_, gods of heaven: 'superos.'
'Illic blanda sonantibus Chordis carmina temperans
Quicquid praecipuis deae Matris fontibus hauserat,
Quod luctus dabat impotens, Quod luctum geminans amor
Deflet Taenara commouens, Et dulci ueniam prece
Umbrarum dominos rogat.'
16. _laved out_, drawn up (as from a well). The M. E. _laven_, to draw up
water, to pour out, is from the A. S. _lafian_, to pour; for which see
Cockayne's A. S. Leechdoms, ii. 124, ii. 74, iii. 48. It is further
illustrated in my Etym. Dict., s. v. _Lavish_, its derivative. No doubt it
was frequently confused with F. _laver_, to wash; but it is an independent
Teutonic word, allied to G. _laben_. In E. Friesic we find _lafen sük_ or
_laven sük_, to refresh oneself. It is curious that it appears even in so
late an author as Dryden, who translates Lat. _egerit_ (Ovid, Met. xi. 488)
by _laves_, i.e. bales out. And see _laven_ in Mätzner.
16. _Calliope._ Orpheus was son of Oeagrus, king of Thrace, and of
Calliope, chief of the Muses; cf. Ovid, Ibis, 484.
17. _and he song._ This does not very well translate the Latin text; see
note to l. 12.
21. _of relesinge_: 'ueniam'; i.e. for the release (of Eurydice).
22. _Cerberus_, the three-headed dog; cf. Verg. Georg. iv. 483; Aen. vi.
417; Ovid, Met. iv. 449.
23. _Furies_; the Eumenides; cf. Verg. Georg. iv. 483; Ovid, Met. x. 46.
26. _Ixion_, who was fastened to an ever-revolving wheel; see Georg. iv.
484; iii. 38; Ovid, Met. iv. 460.
_overthrowinge_, turning over: 'Non Ixionium caput Velox praecipitat rota.'
27. _Tantalus_, tormented by perpetual thirst; Ovid, Met. x. 41; iv. 457.
29. _Tityus_: 'Vultur dum satur est modis Non traxit Tityi iecur.' Cf.
Verg. Aen. vi. 595-600; Ovid, Met. iv. 456. And see Troilus, i. 786-8.
34. _But we wol_: 'Sed lex dona coërceat.'
37. _But what_; quoted in Kn. Tale, A 1164.
42. _and was deed_: 'occidit.' The common story does not involve the
immediate death of Orpheus.
49. _loketh_, beholds: 'uidet inferos.' The story of Orpheus is excellently
told in King Alfred's translation of Boethius, cap. xxxv. §6.
BOOK IV.
PROSE 1. 5. _forbrak_, broke off, interrupted: 'abrupi.'
14. _so as_, seeing that, since: 'cùm.'
25. _alle thinges may_, is omnipotent: 'potentis omnia.'
27. _an enbasshinge ... ende_: 'infiniti stuporis.'
30. _right ordenee_, well ordered: 'dispositissima domo.'
32. _heried_, praised. This resembles the language of St. Paul; 2 Tim. ii.
20.
41. _cesen_, cause to cease: 'sopitis querelis.'
45. _alle thinges_, all things being treated of: 'decursis omnibus.'
47. _fetheres_, wings; 'pennas.' The A. S. pl. _fethera_ sometimes means
wings.
50. _sledes_, sleds, i. e. sledges: 'uehiculis.' The Vulgate version of 1
Chron. xx. 3 has: 'et fecit super eos tribulas, et _trahas_, et ferrata
carpenta transire.' Wycliffe translates _trahas_ by _sledis_ (later
version, _sleddis_).
METRE 1. 2-5. Quoted in Ho. Fame, 973-8.
5. _fyr_, fire. In the old astronomy, the region of air was supposed to be
surrounded by a region of fire, which Boethius here says was caused by the
swift motion of the ether: 'Quique agili motu calet aetheris Transcendit
ignis uerticem.' Beyond this region were the planetary spheres, viz. those
of the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. This
explains the allusion to the passage of Thought (Imagination) through 'the
houses that bear the stars' (i. e. planets), in Latin _astriferas domos_,
and so, past the sun, to the seventh sphere of Saturn. After this, Thought
soars to the eighth sphere, called the Sphere of the Fixed Stars (denoted
below by 'the circle of the stars' or 'the firmament'); and after 'wending
on the back of it,' i. e. getting beyond it, reaches the _primum mobile_,
where 'the lord of kings holds the sceptre of his might.'
'Donec in astriferas surgat domos,
Phoeboque coniungat uias,
Aut comitetur iter gelidi senis
Miles corusci sideris;
Vel quocunque micans nox pingitur,
Recurrat astri circulum,
Atque ubi iam exhausti fuerit satis,
Polum relinquit extimum,
Dorsaque uelocis premat aetheris
Compos uerendi luminis.'
9. _Saturnus_, the planet Saturn; which Chaucer rightly gives as the sense
of 'senis.'
_and he y-maked_, i.e. and he (Thought) becomes a knight. I hesitate to
insert _is_ after _he_, because all the authorities omit it; in fact, the
phrase _and he y-maked_ seems to be equivalent to 'he being made.' I do not
understand what is meant by 'Miles corusci sideris,' unless it means that
Boethius imagines Thought to become a companion of Mars, and thus to be
made a soldier, in the service of that bright planet.
15. _images of sterres_, i.e. constellations, which were fancifully
supposed to represent various objects.
18. _worshipful light._ MS. A has _dredefulle clerenesse_. Both are
translations of 'uerendi luminis.'
22. _swifte cart_: 'uolucrem currum.' _Cart_ is sometimes used for car or
chariot.
25. _but now_, &c. These words are supposed to be spoken by Boethius, when
he remembers all the truth. 'Haec dices, memini, patria est mihi.'
26. _heer wol I fastne my degree_: 'hic sistam gradum.' The sense is
rather, 'here will I [_or_, let me] fix my step,' or 'plant my foot'; i.e.
remain. Cf. 'Siste gradum,' i. e. stop; Verg. Aen. vi. 465.
27. _But yif_:
'Quod si terrarum placeat tibi
Noctem relictam uisere,
Quos miseri toruos populi timent
Cernes tyrannos exules.'
PROSE 2. 1. _owh_, an exclamation; 'Papae.'
13. _fey_, the faith, the certainty: 'fides.' _sentence_, opinion.
31. _And in that_: 'Quod uero quisque potest.' _may_, can do.
38. _lad_, led; _studies_, desires: 'quae diuersis studiis agitur.'
71. _Yif that_: 'Etsi coniecto, inquam, quid uelis.'
84. _knit forth_: 'Contexe, inquam, cetera.'
93. _shewinge_, evident; _is open and shewinge_: 'patet.'
97. _Iugement._ Evidently meant to translate _iudicium_. But Chaucer
misread his text, which has _indicium_. 'Idque, ut medici sperare solent,
indicium est erectae iam resistentisque naturae.'
103. _ledeth hem_, i. e. leads them to: 'qui ne ad hoc quidem peruenire
queunt, ad quod eos naturalis ducit, ac pene compellit, intentio.'
104. _And what_: 'Et quid? si hoc tam magno ac pene inuicto praeeuntis
naturae desererentur auxilio?'
112. _Ne shrewes_: 'Neque enim leuia aut ludicra praemia petunt, quae
consequi atque obtinere non possunt.'
120. _laye_, might lie (subjunctive): 'quo nihil ulterius peruium iaceret
incessui.'
137. _for to ben_, even to exist. So below, _ben_ frequently means 'to
exist,' as appears from the argument.
151. _mowen_, have power to act: 'possunt.'
161. _understonde_, mayest understand: 'ut intelligas.'
187. _Plato_, viz. in the Gorgias and Alcibiades I, where many of the
arguments here used may be found.
METRE 2. The subject of this metre is from Plato, De Republica, x.
Chaucer's translation begins with the 7th line of the Latin.
'Quos uides sedere celsos Solii culmine reges,
Purpura claros nitente, Septos tristibus armis,
Ore toruo comminantes, Rabie cordis anhelos,
Detrahat si quis superbis Vani tegmina cultus,
Iam uidebit intus arctas Dominos ferre catenas.
Hinc enim libido uersat Auidis corda uenenis;
Hinc flagellat ira mentem Fluctus turbida tollens,
Moeror aut captos fatigat, Aut spes lubrica torquet.
Ergo, cum caput tot unum Cernas ferre tyrannos,
Non facit, quod optat, ipse Dominis pressus iniquis.'
12. _tyrannyes._ This reading (in C ed.) gives the sense better than the
reading _tyrauntis_ (in A); although the latter is quite literal.
PROSE 3. 7. _stadie_, race-course: 'in stadio'; which Chaucer explains by
'furlong.'
10. _purposed_, equivalent to _proposed_; 'praemium commune propositum.'
14. _For which thing_: 'quare probos mores sua praemia non relinquunt.'
25, 26. _so as_, whereas. _for men_, because men.
27. _part-les_, without his share of: 'praemii ... expertem.'
35. _no day_: 'quod nullus deterat dies.'
39. _undepartable_, inseparable: 'inseparabili poena.'
49. _may it semen_: 'possuntne sibi supplicii expertes uideri, quos omnium
malorum extrema nequitia non afficit modò, verumetiam uehementer inficit?'
70. _under_, beneath, below: 'infra hominis meritum.'
METRE 3. 1. _aryvede_, cause to arrive, drove: 'appulit.'
_the sailes_: 'Vela Neritii ducis;' Chaucer inserts _Ulixes_, i. e.
Ulysses. The phrase is from Ovid: 'Dux quoque Neritius,' i. e. Ulysses;
Fasti, iv. 69. Neritos was a mountain of Ithaca, the island of Ulysses. MS.
C. reads _Naricii_, which accounts for the form _Narice_.
3. _Circes_, Circe, as in Ho. Fame, 1272; inserted by Chaucer.
7. _that oon of hem_: 'Hunc apri facies tegit.'--'One of them, his face is
covered,' &c.
9. _Marmorike_: 'Marmaricus leo.' This refers to the country of Barca, on
the N. African coast, to the W. of Egypt.
13. _But al-be-it_: 'Sed licet uariis modis Numen Arcadis alitis Obsitum
miserans ducens Peste soluerit hospitis.' _Arcas ales_, the winged
Arcadian, i. e. Mercury, because born on the Arcadian mountain Cyllene.
16. _algates_, at any rate; _by this_, already.
19. _akornes of okes_; this is not tautology, for an _acorn_ was,
originally, any fruit of the field, as the etymology (from _acre_) shews.
23. _over-light_, too light, too feeble: 'O leuem nimium manum, Nec
potentia gramina, Membra quae ualeant licet, Corda uertere non ualent.'
32. _for vyces_: 'Dira, quae penitus meant, Nec nocentia corpori Mentis
uulnere saeuiunt.'
PROSE 4. 2. _ne I ne see nat_: 'nec iniuria dici uideo uitiosos, tametsi
humani corporis speciem seruent, in belluas tamen animorum qualitate
mutari.' Chaucer's 'as by right' should rather be 'as by wrong.' It means
'I do not see that it is wrongly said.'
4, 5. _But I nolde_, but I would rather that it were not so with regard to
evil men: 'eis licere noluissem.'
18. _to mowen don_, to be able to do: 'potuisse.'
22. _three_, i. e. the triple misfortune of _wishing_ to do evil, of _being
able_ to do it, and of _doing_ it.
26. _thilke unselinesse_: 'hoc infortunio'; i. e. the ability to sin.
28. _So shullen_: 'Carebunt, inquit, ocius, quàm uel tu forsitan uelis, uel
illi sese existiment esse carituros.'
30. _For ther_: 'Neque enim est aliquid in tam breuibus uitae metis ita
serum, quod exspectare longum immortalis praesertim animus putet.'
39. _by the outtereste_: 'eorum malitiam ... mors extrema finiret.'
42. _ben perdurable_, i. e. to exist eternally: 'infinitam liquet esse
miseriam, quam constat esse aeternam.'
51. _ther is not why_, there is no reason why.
54. _but of the thinges_: 'sed ex his, quae sumpta sunt, aeque est
necessarium.'
64. _but I understande_: 'sed alio quodam modo infeliciores esse improbos
arbitror impunitos, tametsi nulla ratio correctionis, nullus respectus
habeatur exempli.' Thus 'non ensaumple of lokinge' is wrong; it should
rather be 'non lokinge of ensaumple,' i. e. no regard to the example thus
set.
90. _which defaute_: 'quam iniquitatis merito malum esse confessus es.'
Hence 'for the deserte of felonye' means 'when we consider what wickedness
deserves.'
102. _to leten_, to leave: 'nullane animarum supplicia ... relinquis?'
132. _briddes_, i. e. owls. See Parl. Foules, 599.
142. _right as thou_: 'ueluti si uicibus sordidam humum caelumque
respicias, cunctis extra cessantibus, ipsa cernendi ratione nunc coeno nunc
sideribus interesse uidearis.'
153. Wrong. It should rather run: 'sholde we wene that _we_ were blinde?'
Lat. 'num uidentes eadem caecos putaremus?'
193. _in al_, altogether: 'tota,' sc. opera defensorum.
197, 8. _at any clifte_: 'aliqua rimula.'
_sawen_, if they should perceive: 'uiderent.'
200. _right for_: 'compensatione adipiscendae probitatis.' Hence _for to
geten hem_ means 'of obtaining for themselves.'
205. _y-leten_, left: 'nullus prorsus odio locus relinquatur.'
METRE 4. 1. _What delyteth you_, Why does it delight you? 'Quid tantos
iuuat excitare motus?'
Lines 8-10 are put interrogatively in the Latin text.
9. _and wilnen_: 'Alternisque uolunt perire telis.'
10. _But the resoun_: 'Non est iusta satis saeuitiae ratio.'
PROSE 5. 9. _y-shad_, shed, spread abroad: 'transfunditur.'
20. _hepeth_: 'Nunc stuporem meum Deus rector exaggerat.'
METRE 5. The Latin text begins thus:--
'Si quis Arcturi sidera nescit
Propinqua summo cardine labi,
Cur legat tardus plaustra Boötes,
Mergatque seras aequore flammas,
Cum nimis celeres explicet ortus,
Legem stupebit aetheris alti.'
1. _sterres of Arcture_, the stars of the constellation Arcturus. Arcturus
was (as here) another name for Boötes, though it properly meant the
brightest star in that constellation. It is at no great distance from the
north pole, and so appears to revolve round it. The passage, which is
somewhat obscure, seems to refer to the manner of the rising and setting of
Boötes; and the argument is, that a person ignorant of astronomy, must be
puzzled to understand the laws that rule the motions of the sky.
3. _the sterre_, the constellation. Chaucer uses _sterre_ in this sense in
several passages; see Kn. Tale, A 2059, 2061, and the notes.
8. _the fulle mone._ This alludes to an eclipse of the moon, as appears
from below.
9. _infect_: 'Infecta metis noctis opacae.'
_confuse_, confounded, overcome; the light of the moon disappears in a full
eclipse, rendering the stars brighter.
11. _The comune errour_: 'Commouet gentes publicus error.' The people who
do not understand an eclipse, are excited by it; they bring out basins, and
beat them with a loud din, to frighten away the spirit that is preying on
the moon. Chaucer calls them _Corybantes_, but these were the priests of
Cybele. Still, they celebrated her rites to the sound of noisy music; and
he may have been thinking of a passage in Ovid, Fasti, iv. 207-14. C. adds
a gloss: 'i. vulgaris error, quo putatur luna incantari.'
12. _thikke strokes_, frequent strokes. The word resembles _thilke_ in C.,
because _lk_ is not unfrequently written for _kk_ in the fifteenth century,
to the confusion of some editors; see my paper on Ghost-words, in the
Philol. Soc. Trans. 1886, p. 370.
18. _by quakinge flodes_: 'frementi ... fluctu.'
23. _alle thinges_: 'Cuncta, quae rara prouehit aetas.'
24. _troubly errour_: 'nubilus error.'
PROSE 6. 9. _laven it_, to exhaust the subject: 'cui uix exhausti quidquam
satis sit.' As to _lave_, see note to Bk. iii. Met. 12-16.
13. _Ydre_, Hydra; see note below to Met. 7. The form is due to _hydrae_
(MS. _hydre_) in the Latin text.
_Ne ther ... ende_: 'nec ullus fuerit modus.' _Manere_ is not the sense of
_modus_ here; it rather means _ende_ or 'limit.'
14. _but-yif_: 'nisi quis eas uiuacissimo mentis igne coërceat.'
24, 5. _But althogh_: 'Quòd si te musici carminis oblectamenta delectant,
hanc oportet paullisper differas uoluptatem, dum nexas sibi ordine contexo
rationes.' This is said, because this 'Prose' is of unusual length. For
_sibi_, another reading is _tibi_; hence Chaucer's 'weve _to thee_
resouns.'
30. _muable_, mutable, changeable: 'mutabilium naturarum.' Cf. Kn. Tale, A
2994-3015.
33. _in the tour_: 'Haec in suae simplicitatis arce composita, multiplicem
rebus gerendis modum statuit.'
48. _but destinee_: 'fatum uero singula digerit in motum, locis, formis, ac
temporibus distributa.'
59. _and ledeth_: 'et quod simpliciter praesentarieque prospexit, per
temporales ordines ducit.' Cf. Troilus, i. 1065-9.
67. _by some sowle_; glossed 'anima mundi.' This idea is from Plato, De
Legibus, bk. x: [Greek: psychên dê dioikousan kai enoikousan en hapasi tois
pantê kinoumenois môn ou kai ton ouranon anankê dioikein phanai]; (896 D).
68. _by the celestial_, &c.; alluding to the old astrology.
81. _a same centre_; i.e. concentric circles, as on a target.
87. _and yif ther be_: 'si quid uero illi se medio connectat et societ, in
simplicitatem cogitur, diffundique ac diffluere cessat.'
93. _laus_, loose; from Icel. _lauss_. Also spelt _loos_, _los_. _it
axeth_: 'quantò illum rerum cardinem uicinius petit.' Thus _it axeth_ is
due to 'petit,' i.e. seeks, tends to.
97. _Thanne right swich_: 'Igitur uti est ad intellectum ratiocinatio; ad
id quod est, id quod gignitur; ad aeternitatem tempus; ad puncti medium
circulus: ita est fati series mobilis ad prouidentiae stabilem
simplicitatem.'
108. _whan they passen_: 'cùm ... proficiscantur.' Thus _whan_ should
rather be _so as_, i.e. whereas, because.
112. _unable to ben ybowed_: 'indeclinabilem caussarum ordinem promat.'
114. _sholden fleten_: 'res ... temerè fluituras.'
_For which it is_: 'Quo fit.'
116. _natheles_: 'nihilominus tamen suus modus ad bonum dirigens cuncta
disponat.'
121. _ne the ordre_: 'ne dum ordo de summi boni cardine proficiscens, a suo
quoquam deflectat exordio.' MS. C. has 'deflectatur.'
123. 'Quae uero, inquies, potest ulla iniquior esse confusio.' For
'iniquior,' MS. C. has the extraordinary reading 'inquiescior,' which
Chaucer seems to have tried to translate.
138. _Ne it ne is nat_: 'Non enim dissimile est miraculum nescienti.'
145. _hele of corages_: 'animorum salus.'
148. _lecher_, i.e. leech-er, healer: 'medicator mentium Deus.'
151. _leneth hem_, gives them: 'quod conuenire nouit, accommodat.' Printed
_leueth_ in Dr. Furnivall's print of MS. C., but _leneth_ in Morris's
edition of MS. A. There is no doubt as to the right reading, because
_accommodare_ and _lenen_ are both used in the sense 'to lend.'
154. _for to constreine_: 'ut pauca ... perstringam,' i.e. 'to touch
lightly on a few things.' Chaucer has taken it too literally, but his
paraphrase is nearly right.
157. _right kepinge_: 'aequi seruantissimum.'
159. _my familer_: 'familiaris noster Lucanus.' Alluding to the famous
line:--'Victrix caussa deis placuit, sed uicta Catoni'; Pharsalia, i. 128.
168. _with-holden_, retain: 'retinere fortunam.'
176. _by me_, by my means, by my help: 'Nam ut quidam me quoque
excellentior ait.' This looks like a slip on the part of Boethius himself,
for the supposed speaker is Philosophy herself. The philosopher here
alluded to still remains unknown. MS. C. has 'me quidem'; and 'me' is
glossed by 'philosophus per me.'
177. _in Grek._ Some MSS. have: [Greek: andros hierou sôma dynameis
oikodomousi]. There are various readings, but Chaucer had before him only
the interpretation: 'Viri sacri corpus aedificauerunt uirtutes.' Such is
the reading in MS. C.
179. _taken_, delivered, entrusted. 'Fit autem saepe, uti bonis summa rerum
gerenda deferatur.'
182. _remordeth_: 'remordet,' i.e. plagues, troubles.
186. _And other folk_: 'Alii plus aequo metuunt, quod ferre possunt.'
201. _of wikkede merite_: 'eos male meritos omnes existimant.'
206. _serven to shrewes_: 'famulari saepe improbis.' _I trowe_: 'illud
etiam dispensari credo.'
207, 8. _overthrowinge to yvel_: 'praeceps.'
209. _egren him_: 'eum ... exacerbare possit.'
219. _shal be cause_: 'ut exercitii bonis, et malis esset caussa
supplicii.' Hence _continuacion_ seems to mean 'endurance' or
'continuance.'
242. _sin that_: the original is in Greek, with (in MS. C.) the false
gloss:--'fortissimus in mundo Deus omnia regit.' The Greek is--[Greek:
Argaleon de me tauta theon hôs pant' agoreuein]. From Homer, Il. xii. 176,
with the change from [Greek: agoreusai] to [Greek: agoreuein].
247. _with-holden_, to retain, keep, maintain; 'retinere.'
253. _ben outrageous or haboundant_: 'abundare.' Hence _outrageous_ is
'superfluous' or 'excessive.'
257. _and whan_: 'quo refectus, firmior in ulteriora contendas.'
METRE 6. 1. 'Si uis celsi iura tonantis Pura sollers cernere mente, Adspice
summi culmina caeli'; &c.
5. _cercle_: 'Non Sol ... Gelidum Phoebes impedit axem.'
6. _Ne the sterre_: 'Nec quae summo uertice mundi Flectit rapidos Ursa
meatus, Numquam occiduo lota profundo, Cetera cernens sidera mergi, Cupit
Oceano tingere flammas.' Hence _deyen_ is to dye, to dip.
10. _Hesperus_, the evening-star; _Lucifer_, the morning-star.
13. _And thus_: 'Sic aeternos reficit cursus Alternus amor; sic astrigeris
Bellum discors exsulat oris. Haec concordia temperat aequis Elementa modis,
ut pugnantia Vicibus cedant humida siccis'; &c.
20, 1. _in the firste somer-sesoun warminge_: 'uere tepenti.' This is not
the only place where _uer_ is translated _somer-sesoun_, a phrase used as
applicable to May in P. Plowman, Prol. 1. Another name for 'spring' was
_Lent_ or _Lenten_.
24. _and thilke_: 'Eadem rapiens condit et aufert Obitu mergens orta
supremo.'
29. _And tho_: 'Et quae motu concitat ire, Sistit retrahens, ac uaga
firmat.'
31. _For yif_: 'Nam nisi rectos reuocans itus, Flexos iterum cogat in
orbes, Quae nunc stabilis continet ordo, Dissepta suo fonte fatiscant.'
37. _This is_: 'Hic est cunctis communis amor Repetuntque boni fine teneri,
Quia non aliter durare queunt, Nisi conuerso rursus amore Refluant caussae,
quae dedit esse.'
PROSE 7. 57. _ne also it_: 'ita uir sapiens molestè ferre non debet,
quotiens in fortunae certamen adducitur.'
60. _matere_, material, source.
62. _vertu._ Boethius here derives _uirtus_ from _uires_: 'quod suis
_uiribus_ nitens non superetur aduersis.'
64. _Ne certes_: 'Neque enim uos in prouectu positi uirtutis, diffluere
deliciis, et emarcescere uoluptate uenistis; proelium cum omni fortuna
nimis acre conseritis, ne uos aut tristis opprimat, aut iucunda corrumpat:
firmis medium uiribus occupate.'
72. _in your hand_: 'In uestra enim situm est manu.'
METRE 7. 1. _wreker_, avenger; _Attrides_, Atrides, i.e. Agamemnon, son of
Atreus. Chaucer derived the spelling _Agamenon_ from a gloss in MS. C.
Gower (C. A. ii. 344) has the same form.
2. _recovered_: 'Fratris amissos thalamos piauit.'
5. _Menelaus_, &c.; 'that was his brother Menelaus' wife.' The usual idiom;
see note to Squieres Tale, E 209.
9. _doughter_, i.e. Iphigenia; Ovid, Met. xii. 27-38.
13. _Itacus_: 'Fleuit amissos Ithacus sodales.' The well-known story of
Ulysses of Ithaca; from Homer, Od. ix.
15. _empty_; as if translating 'inani.' But the right reading is _inmani_
(or _immani_); i.e. 'vast.' MS. C. 'inmani,' glossed 'magno.'
20. _Hercules._ See Monkes Tale, B 3285, and the notes. In the first note,
this passage from Boethius is given at length.
21. _Centaures_, Centaurs; Hercules was present at the fight between the
Centauri and Lapithae; Ovid, Met. xii. 541; ix. 191.
22. _lyoun_, the Nemean lion; Ovid, Met. ix. 197, 235; Her. ix. 61.
23. _Arpyes_, the Harpies; with reference to the destruction of the
Stymphalian birds, who ate human flesh; Met. ix. 187. The gloss in the
footnote--_in the palude of lyrne_ (in the marsh of Lerna) is a mistake; it
should refer to the Hydra mentioned below.
25. _dragoun_, the dragon in the garden of the Hesperides; Met. ix. 190.
The 'golden metal' refers to the golden apples.
26. _Cerberus_; Ovid, Met. ix. 185.
27. _unmeke_, proud; see note to Monkes Tale, B 3293; and Ovid, Met. ix.
194-6. Note that _hors_ (= horses) is plural.
29. _Ydra_, Hydra; Ovid, Met. ix. 192.
30. _Achelous_; see the story in Ovid, Met. ix. 1-97. Boethius imitates
Ovid, l. 97, viz. 'Et lacerum cornu mediis caput abdidit undis.'
35. _Antheus_, Antaeus; Ovid, Met. ix. 184. For the story, see Lucan,
Phars. iv. 590-660; Lucan refers to _Lybia_ as the place of combat; l. 582.
36. _Cacus_; see the story in Ovid, Fasti, i. 543-86.
39. _boor_, the boar of Erymanthus; Ovid, Her. ix. 87. For _scomes_ (lit.
scums), Caxton and Thynne have _vomes_, for _fomes_ (foams).
40. _the whiche_, 'which shoulders were fated to sustain (lit. thrust
against) the high sphere of heaven.' Alluding to Hercules, when he took the
place of Atlas.
45. _nake_, expose your unarmed backs (Lat. nudatis), like one who runs
away. An unarmed man was usually said to be _naked_; as in Othello, v. 2.
258; 2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 234; &c.
BOOK V.
PROSE 1. 3. A mistranslation. 'Recta quidem exhortatio, tuaque prorsus
auctoritate dignissima.'
9. _assoilen to thee the._ I prefer this reading, adopted from Caxton's
edition, because the others make no sense. The original reading was _to the
the_ (= _to thee the_), as in MS. Ii. 1. 38, whence, by dropping one _the_,
the reading _to the_ in C. and Ed. MS. A. alters it to _the to the_,
absurdly. The fact is, that _to thee_ belongs to the next clause. 'Festino,
inquit, debitum promissionis absoluere, uiamque _tibi_,' &c.
14. _to douten_, to be feared; 'uerendumque est.'
28. _left, or dwellinge_, left, or remaining (_reliquus_). 'Quis enim ...
locus esse ullus temeritati reliquus potest?'
31. _nothing_: 'nihil ex nihilo exsistere.' Referring to the old
saying:--'Ex nihilo nihil fit.'
34. _prince and beginnere_ oddly represents Lat. 'principio.' _casten it_,
laid it down: 'quasi quoddam iecerint fundamentum.' I supply _it_.
44. _Aristotulis_, Aristotle. The reference is to Aristotle's Physics, bk.
ii. ch. 5.
47. _for grace_, for the sake of; 'gratia.'
50. _Right as_, just as if. _by cause_, for the purpose.
55. _ne dolve_, had not digged; subj. mood.
57. _abregginge._ A mistranslation. 'Hae sunt igitur fortuiti caussae
compendii'; these then are the causes of this fortuitous acquisition.
_Compendium_ also means 'an abbreviating,' which Chaucer here expresses by
_abbregginge_, introducing at the same time the word 'hap,' to make some
sense.
66. _uneschuable_, inevitable; 'ineuitabili.'
METRE 1. 2. _Achemenie_: 'Rupis Achaemeniae scopulis,' in the crags of the
Achæmenian rock or mountain. _Achaemenius_ signifies 'Persian,' from
Achaemenes, the grandfather of Cyrus; but is here extended to mean
Armenian. The sources of the Tigris and Euphrates are really different,
though both rise in the mountains of Armenia; they run for a long way at no
great distance apart, and at last join.
3. _fleinge bataile_, the flying troop; with reference to the well-known
Parthian habit, of shooting arrows at those who pursue them; see Vergil,
Georg. iii. 31.
5. _yif they_, when they; meaning that they _do_ converge.
9. _and the wateres_: 'Mixtaque fortuitos implicet unda modos: Quae tamen
ipsa uagos terrae decliuia cursus Gurgitis et lapsi defluus ordo regit.'
14. _it suffereth_: 'Fors patitur frenos, ipsaque lege meat.'
PROSE 2. 4, 5. _destinal_, fatal; 'fatalis.' _corages_, minds.
10. _thinges ... fleen_, i.e. to be avoided: 'fugienda.'
13. _is_, i.e. is in, resides in: 'quibus in ipsis inest ratio.'
14. _ordeyne_, determine: 'constituo.'
16. _sovereines_, the supreme divine substances. This is a good example of
adjectives of French origin with a plural in _-es_.
17, 18. _wil_: 'et incorrupta uoluntas.' _might_: 'potestas.'
27. _talents_, affections: 'affectibus.'
30. _caitifs_, captive: 'propriâ libertate captiuae.' Ll. 30-34 are
repeated in Troilus, iv. 963-6; q.v.
34. _in Greek_: [Greek: pant' ephora kai pant' epakouei]. From Homer,
Iliad, iii. 277--[Greek: Êelios th', hos pant' ephoras kai pant'
epakoueis]. Cf. Odys. xii. 323.
METRE 2. 1, 2. _with the_, &c.; 'Melliflui ... oris.' _cleer_, bright;
alluding to the common phrase in Homer: [Greek: lampron phaos êelioio]; Il.
i. 605, &c.
8. _strok_: 'Uno mentis cernit in ictu.'
PROSE 3. A large portion of this Prose, down to l. 71, is paraphrased in
Troilus, iv. 967-1078; q.v.
12. _libertee of arbitre_, freedom of will (arbitrii).
19. _proeve_, approve of: 'Neque ... illam probo rationem.'
30. _but ... ytravailed_: 'Quasi uero ... laboretur'; which means, rather,
'as if the question were.'
35. _But I ne_, &c. The translation is here quite wrong; and as in another
place, Chaucer seems to have read _nitamur_ as _uitamus_. The text has: 'At
nos illud demonstrare nitamur.' The general sense is: 'But let me endeavour
to shew, that, in whatever manner the order of causes be arranged, the
happening of things foreseen is necessary, although the foreknowledge does
not seem to impose on future things a necessity of their happening.'
53. _For althogh that_; cf. Troil. iv. 1051-7, which is clearer.
55. _therfore ne bityde they nat_, it is not on _that_ account that they
happen. Cf. 'Nat that it comth for it purveyed is'; Troil. iv. 1053.
71. _at the laste_, finally: 'Postremò.'
78. _that I ne wot it._ The _ne_ is superfluous, though in all the copies.
The sense is--'if I know a thing, it cannot be false (must be true) that I
know it.'
80. _wanteth lesing_, is free from falsehood: 'mendacio careat.'
90, 1. _egaly_, equally: 'aeque.' _indifferently_, impartially.
94. _Iape-worthy,_ ridiculous: 'ridiculo.' From Horace, Sat. ii. 5. 59--'O
Laërtiade, quicquid dicam, aut erit, aut non.'
116. _sent_, for _sendeth_, sends: 'mittit.'
117. _constreineth_: 'futuri cogit certa necessitas.'
121. _discrecioun_, discernment: 'indiscreta confusio.'
_And yit_, &c. To make sense, read _than whiche_ for _of the whiche_. The
whole clause, from _And yit_ down to _wikke_ is expanded from 'Quoque nihil
sceleratius excogitari potest.'
131. _sin that_: 'quando optanda omnia series indeflexa connectit?'
141. _that nis nat ... or that_, that cannot be approached before. The
Latin is: 'illique inaccessae luci, prius quoque quam impetrent, ipsa
supplicandi ratione coniungi.'
142. _impetren_, ask for it; such is the reading of MS. Ii. 1. 38. A coined
word, from the Lat. _impetrent_; see the last note.
146. _linage of mankind_, the human race; to which _his_ (its) twice refers
below.
147. _a litel her-biforn_; i.e. in Bk. iv. Met. 6. 34, where we find--'they
sholden departen from hir welle, that is to seyn, from hir biginninge, and
faylen.' See p. 122.
METRE 3. 1. _What_, &c.: 'Quaenam discors foedera rerum Caussa resoluit?'
2. _the coniunccioun_; but this gloss seems to be wrong, for the reference
is rather (as Chaucer, following a sidenote in MS. C., says in l. 5) to
foreknowledge and free will.
3. _Whiche god_, i.e. what divinity: 'Quis tanta deus Veris statuit bella
duobus?'
7. _But ther nis._ The Lat. text is put interrogatively: 'An nulla est
discordia ueris, Semperque sibi certa cohaerent?'
10. _by fyr_: 'oppressi luminis igne.'
12. _But wherefore_: 'Sed cur tanto flagrat amore Veri tectas reperire
notas?' It thus appears that _y-covered_, i.e. 'that are hidden,' refers to
_thilke notes_, not to _sooth_; cf. l. 15. But the translation is not at
all happy.
16. _Wot it_: 'Scitne, quod appetit anxia nosse?'
18. _seith thus_: 'Sed quis nota scire laborat? At si nescit, quid caeca
petit? Quis enim quidquam nescius optet?'
23. _or who_: 'Aut quis ualeat nescita sequi? Quoue inueniat, quisue
repertam Queat ignarus noscere formam?'
26. _But whan_: not a statement, as here taken, but a question. 'An cùm
mentem cerneret altam Pariter summam et singula norat?' The translation is
quite incorrect, and the passage is difficult. The reference seems to be to
the supposition that the soul, apart from the body, sees both universals
and particulars, but its power in the latter respect is impeded by the
body; ideas taken from Plato's Meno and Phædo.
32, 33. _withholdeth_, retains: 'tenet.' _singularitees_, particulars:
'singula.'
34. _in neither nother_, put for _in ne either ne other_, i.e. not in one
nor in the other; or, in modern English, 'he is neither in one position nor
the other': 'Neutro est habitu.' This curious phrase is made clearer by
comparing it with the commoner _either other_. Thus, in P. Plowman, B. v.
148: '_either_ despiseth _other_'; in the same, B. v. 164: '_eyther_ hitte
_other_'; and again, in B. xi. 173: 'that alle manere men .. Louen her
_eyther other_'; and, in B. vii. 138: 'apposeden _either other_'; and
lastly, in B. xvi. 207: '_either_ is _otheres_ Ioye.'
36. _retreteth_, reconsiders: 'altè uisa _retractans_.'
PROSE 4. 2. _Marcus Tullius_, i.e. Cicero; De Diuinatione, lib. ii. 60.
8. _moeven to_: 'ad diuinae praescientiae simplicitatem non potest
admoueri.'
15. _y-spended_, spent; but the right sense of the Latin is weighed or
considered: 'si prius ea quibus moueris, _expendero_.'
22. _from elles-where_: 'aliunde'; compare Chaucer's gloss.
24. _unbityde_, not happen: 'non euenire non possunt.'
27. _thou thyself._ The reference is to Bk. v. Pr. 3. l. 27, above--'ne it
ne bihoveth nat, nedes, that thinges bityden that ben purvyed.'
28, 9. _what cause_: 'quid est, quod uoluntarii exitus rerum ad certum
cogantur euentum?' _endes_, results: 'exitus;' and so again below.
30. _by grace of position_, for the sake of a supposition, by way of
supposition: 'positionis gratia.' Cf. Chaucer's use of _pose_ for 'suppose'
in the next line. The reading _possessioun_ (in both MSS.) is obviously
wrong; it sounds as if taken down from dictation.
31. _I pose_, I suppose, I put the case: 'statuamus nullam esse
praescientiam.' The words 'per impossibile' are inserted by Chaucer, and
mean, 'to take an impossible case.'
56. _But, certes, right_; only, indeed, just as, &c. It is difficult to
give the right force intended; and, probably, Chaucer quite mistook the
sense. 'Quasi uero nos ea, quae prouidentia futura esse praenoscit, non
esse euentura credamus.'
62. _in the torninge_: 'in quadrigis moderandis atque flectendis.'
63. _And by_: 'atque ad hunc modum caetera.'
100. _and for that this thing shal mowen shewen_, and in order that this
may appear (lit. may be able to appear). The whole clause merely
means--'And to make this clearer by an easy example.' Lat. 'Nam ut hoc
breui liqueat exemplo.'
101. _roundnesse_ is here in the objective case: 'eandem corporis
rotunditatem aliter uisus aliter tactus agnoscit.'
107. _And the man_: 'Ipsum quoque hominem.' _wit_, i.e. sense. The 'five
wits' were the five senses.
113. _spece_, species. _peces_, parts; _in the singuler peces_, i.e. in the
particular parts.
114. _intelligence_, understanding; 'intelligentiae.'
115. _universitee_, that which is universal: 'uniuersitatis ambitum.'
133. _by a strok_: 'illo uno ictu mentis formaliter.'
137. _diffinissheth_, defines the universality of her conception.
METRE 4. 1. _The Porche_; in Latin, _Porticus_; in Gk. [Greek: stoa], a
roofed colonnade or porch in Athens, frequented by Zeno and his followers,
who hence obtained the name of Stoics.
'Quondam Porticus attulit Obscuros nimium senes,
Qui sensus, et imagines E corporibus extimis
Credant mentibus imprimi.'
10. TEXT. The Latin text continues thus:--
'Vt quondam celeri stilo Mos est aequore paginae
Quae nullas habeat notas, Pressas figere litteras.'
11. _pointel_; see note to Somn. Tale, D 1742. And cf. Troilus, i. 365;
Cant. Ta. E 1581, 2.
15. _But yif_:
'Sed mens si propriis uigens Nihil motibus explicat
Sed tantùm patiens iacet Notis subdita corporum,
Cassasque in speculi uicem Rerum reddit imagines.
Vnde haec sic animis uiget Cernens omnia notio?
Quae uis singula prospicit, Aut quae cognita diuidit?
Quae diuisa recolligit, Alternumque legens iter
Nunc summis caput inserit, Nunc desidit in infima,
Tum sese referens sibi, Veris falsa redarguit?'
32. _passioun_, passive feeling, impression: 'passio.'
PROSE 5. 1. _But what yif ... and al be it so_, Nevertheless, even if it be
so: 'Quod si ... quamuis.'
4. _entalenten_, affect, incline, stimulate: 'afficiant.'
18. _For the wit_, i.e. the sense, the external senses.
21. _as oystres ... see_: the Latin merely has: 'quales sunt conchae
maris.'
23. _remuable_, capable of motion from place to place: 'mobilibus belluis.'
_talent_, inclination, desire, wish: 'affectus.'
30. _But how ... yif that_, but how will it be if?
33. _that that that_, that _that_ thing which.
35. _ne that ther nis_, so that there is: 'nec quicquam esse sensibile.'
49. _maner stryvinge_, sort of strife: 'In huiusmodi igitur lite.'
62. _parsoneres_, partners of, endowed with. The modern _partner_
represents the M. E. _parcener_, variant of _parsoner_, from O. F.
_parsonier_, representing a Latin form _*partitionarius_. Lat.
'participes.'
66. _For which_: 'Quare in illius summae intelligentiae cacumen, si
possumus, erigamur.'
METRE 5. 1. _passen by_, move over: 'permeant.'
6. _by moist fleeinge_: 'liquido ... uolatu.' _gladen hemself_, delight:
'gaudent.'
7. _with hir goings ... feet_: 'gressibus.'
9. _to walken under_, to enter: 'subire.'
10. _enclined_, i.e. enclined earthwards: 'Prona.'
11. _hevieth_, oppresses: 'Prona tamen facies hebetes ualet ingrauare
sensus.' From Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals, Bk. iv. [Greek: Dio
pleionos genomenou tou barous kai tou sômatôdous, anankê rhepein ta sômata
pros tên gên] (chap. 10). As to the upright carriage of man, see the same
chapter. Cf. Ovid, Met. i. 84, and see note to Chaucer's 'Truth,' l. 19.
12. _light_, i.e. not bowed down: 'leuis recto stat corpore.'
14. _axest_, seemest to seek: 'caelum ... petis.'
PROSE 6. 21. _as Aristotle demed_; in De Caelo, lib. i.
33. _present_: 'et sui compos praesens sibi semper assistere.'
42. _Plato._ This notion is found in Proclus and Plotinus, and other
followers of Plato; but Plato himself really expressed a contrary opinion,
viz. that the world had a definite beginning. See his Timæus.
48. _For this ilke_: 'Hunc enim uitae immobilis praesentarium statum
infinitus ille temporalium rerum motus imitatur; cumque eum effingere atque
aequare non possit, ex immobilitate deficit in motum, et ex simplicitate
praesentiae decrescit in infinitam futuri ac praeteriti quantitatem;' &c.
53. _disencreseth_; a clumsy form for _decreseth_: 'decrescit.'
65. _therfor it_: 'infinitum temporis iter arripuit.'
81. _it is science_: 'sed scientiam nunquam deficientis instantiae rectius
aestimabis.'
82. _For which_: 'Unde non praeuidentia, sed prouidentia, potius dicitur.'
The footnote to l. 83 is wrong, as Dr. Furnivall's reprint of MS. C. is
here at fault. That MS. (like MS. Ii. 1. 38) has here the correct reading
'p_re_uydence,' without any gloss at all. The gloss 'p_ro_uidentia' belongs
to the word 'purviaunce.' Hence the reading 'previdence,' which I thought
to be unsupported, is really supported by two good MSS.
86. _Why axestow ... thanne_: 'Quid igitur postulas?'
112. _he ne unwot_: 'quod idem exsistendi necessitate carere non nesciat.'
116. _it ne may nat unbityde_: 'id non euenire non posse.'
119. _but unnethe_: 'sed cui uix aliquis nisi diuini speculator
accesserit.'
150, 1. _in beinge_, in coming to pass: 'exsistendo.'
_by the which_: 'qua prius quam fierent, etiam non euenire potuissent.' MS.
C. has the contraction for 'que,' i.e. 'quae'; but Chaucer clearly adopted
the reading 'qua.' The usual reading is 'quia' or 'quae.'
154. _so as they comen_, since they come: 'cum ... eueniant.'
159. _the sonne arysinge._ See above, p. 148, l. 102: 'Right so,' &c.
185. _And thilke_: 'illa quoque noscendi uices alternare uideatur?'
191. _For the devyne_: 'Omne namque futurum diuinus praecurrit intuitus, et
ad praesentiam propriae cognitionis retorquet ac reuocat.' Hence _retorneth
hem_ means 'makes them return.'
193. _ne he ne_: 'nec alternat, ut existimas, nunc hoc, nunc illud
praenoscendi uices; sed uno ictu mutationes tuas manens praeuenit atque
complectitur.'
199. _a litel her-biforn._ See above, Bk. v. Pr. 3, ll. 62-65; &c.
207. _purposen_, propose, assign: 'proponunt.'
208. _to the willinges_: 'solutis omni necessitate uoluntatibus.'
211. _renneth ... with_, concurs with: 'concurrit.'
214. _put_, set: 'positae.' _that ne mowen_: 'quae cum rectae sunt,
inefficaces esse non possunt.'
217. _areys thy corage_: 'animum subleuate.' _yilde_: 'humiles preces in
excelsa porrigite.'
220. _sin that ye_: 'cum ante oculos agitis iudicis cuncta cernentis.' With
the word 'cernentis' the Lat. treatise ends.
The words--'To whom ... Amen' occur in the Cambridge MS. only; and, in all
probability, were merely added by the scribe. However, the Latin copy in
that MS. adds, after 'cernentis,' the following: 'Qui est dominus noster
Iesus Christus, cui sit honor et gloria in secula seculorum. AMEN.'
NOTES TO TROILUS.
BOOK I.
I must refer the student to Mr. Rossetti's work (Chaucer Soc. 1875) for a
detailed comparison of Chaucer's poem with the _Filostrato_ of Boccaccio.
The following table roughly indicates the portions of these works which are
more or less similar, down to the end of Book I. Similar tables are
prefixed to the Notes on the other books. It often happens that a stanza in
Chaucer has a mere general resemblance to the corresponding one in
Boccaccio. The lines in Chaucer not mentioned below are, in the main,
original; e.g. 1-20, 31-56, &c.; and so are many others that cannot be here
more exactly specified.
CHAUCER: BOOK I. FILOSTRATO.
ll. 21-30. Bk. I. St. V, VI.
57-213. VII-XXV.
267-329. XXVI-XXXII. 6.
354-392. XXXII. 7-XXXVII.
400-420. [Petrarch: Sonnet 88.]
421-546. XXXVIII-LVII.
547-553. Bk. II. St. I.
568-630. II-X.
645-7, 666-7, 675-6. XI. 1, XIII. 7, 8, XI, 7, 8.
680-686. XII.
701-3, 708-9, 722-3. XIII, XV. 1.
860-889. XVI, XVII, XX-XXII.
897-900. XXIII. 1-3.
967-1060. XXIV-XXXIV.
2. 'That was the son of King Priam of Troy.'
5. _fro ye_, from you; observe the rime. The form _ye_ is not here the nom.
case, but the _unemphatic form_ of the acc. _you_; pronounced (y[*e]),
where ([*e]) is the indefinite vowel, like the _a_ in _China_. So in Shak.
Two Gent. iv. 1. 3, 4, we have _about ye_ (unemphatic) in l. 3, and _you_
twice in l. 4.
6. _Thesiphone_, Tisiphone, one of the Furies, invoked as being a 'goddess
of torment.' Cf. '_furial_ pyne of helle,' Sq. Ta. F 448.
13. _fere_, companion; viz. Tisiphone.
16. 'Nor dare pray to Love,' &c.
21. Cf. Boccaccio: 'Tuo sia l'onore, e mio si sia l'affanno,' Fil. I. st.
5. And see ll. 1042, 3 below.
57. Here begins the story; cf. Fil. I. st. 7. Bell remarks that 'a thousand
shippes,' in l. 58, may have been suggested by 'mille carinae' in Verg. Æn.
ii. 198; cf. 'anni decem' in the same line, with l. 60.
67. Read _éxpert_. _Calkas_ is Homer's Calchas, Il. i. 69. He was a Greek,
but Guido makes him a Trojan, putting him in the place of Homer's Chryses.
See the allit. Troy-book, 7886.
70. _Delphicus_, of Delphi; cf. Ovid, Met. ii. 543.
77. _Ye_, yea. _wolde who-so nolde_, whoever wished it or did not wish it.
This idiomatic phrase is thus expressed in the MSS. Bell's edition has
_wold who so or nolde_, where the _e_ in _wolde_ is suppressed and the word
_or_ inserted without authority. I hesitate, as an editor, to alter an
idiomatic phrase. Cf. _will he, nill he_, in which there is no _or_.
91. 'Deserve to be burnt, both skin and bones.'
99. _Criseyde_; Boccaccio has _Griseida_, answering to Homer's [Greek:
Chrysêida], Il. i. 143. It was common, in the Middle Ages, to adopt the
accusative form as the standard one, especially in proper names. Her father
was Chryses; see note to l. 67. But Benoît de Sainte-Maure calls her
_Briseida_, and _Chryseis_ and _Briseis_ seem to have been confused. The
allit. Troy-book has _Bresaide_; l. 8029.
119. 'While it well pleases you'; _good_ is used adverbially. Ital. 'mentre
t' aggrada.'
125. 'And would have done so oftener, if,' &c.
126. _and hoom_, and (went) home.
132, 133. This is a curious statement, and Chaucer's object in making it is
not clear. Boccaccio says expressly that she had neither son nor daughter
(st. 15); and Benoît (l. 12977) calls her 'la pucele.'
136. _som day_, one day; used quite generally.
138. 'And thus Fortune wheeled both of them up and down again.' Alluding to
the wheel of Fortune; see the Ballade on Fortune, l. 46, and note.
145. _Troyane gestes_, Trojan history; cf. the title of Guido delle
Colonne's book, viz. 'Historia Troiana,' which Chaucer certainly consulted,
as shewn by several incidents in the poem.
146. _Omer_, Homer; whose account was considered untrustworthy by the
medieval writers; see Ho. Fame, 1477, and note. _Dares_, Dares Phrygius;
_Dyte_, Dictys Cretensis; see notes to Ho. Fame, 1467, 1468. These three
authors really mean Guido delle Colonne, who professed to follow them.
153. _Palladion_, the Palladium or sacred image of Pallas, on the keeping
of which the safety of Troy depended. It was stolen from Troy by Diomede
and Ulysses; see Æneid, ii. 166. But Chaucer doubtless read the long
account in Guido delle Colonne.
171. Hence Henrysoun, in his Testament of Criseyde, st. 12, calls her 'the
flower and A-per-se Of Troy and Greece.' Cf. 'She was a woman A-per-se,
alon'; Romance of Partenay, 1148. Boccaccio's image is much finer; he says
that she surpassed other women as the rose does the violet. On the other
hand, l. 175 is Chaucer's own.
172. _makelees_, matchless, peerless; cf. A.S. _gemaca_.
189. _lakken_, to blame; see P. Pl. B. v. 132.
192. _bayten_, feed, feast (metaphorically); E. _bait_.
205. _Ascaunces_, as if; in l. 292, the Ital. text has _Quasi dicesse_, as
if she said. See Cant. Ta. D 1745, G 838. It is tautological, being formed
from E. _as_ and the O.F. _quanses_, as if (Godefroy); so that the literal
force is 'as as if.'
210. 'And nevertheless [or, still] he (Cupid) can pluck as proud a peacock
(as was Troilus).' Cf. Prol. A 652.
214-266. These lines are Chaucer's own.
217. _falleth_, happens; _ne wenden_, would not expect. In Ray's Proverbs,
ed. 1737, p. 279, is a Scotch proverb--'All fails that fools thinks'
(_sic_); which favours the alternative reading given in the footnote.
218. _Bayard_, a name for a bay horse; see Can. Yem. Ta. G 1413.
229. _wex a-fere_, became on fire. _Fere_ is a common Southern form, as a
variant of _fyre_, though _a-fyre_ occurs in Ho. Fame, 1858. The A.S. vowel
is _[=y]_, the A.S. form being _f[=y]r_.
239. 'Has proved (to be true), and still does so.'
257. 'The stick that will bend and ply is better than one that breaks.'
Compare the fable of the Oak and the Reed; see bk. ii. 1387.
266. _ther-to refere_, revert thereto. Halliwell gives: '_Refeere_, to
revert; _Hoccleve_.' Chaucer here ends his own remarks, and goes back to
the _Filostrato_.
292. _Ascaunces_, as if (she said); see note to l. 205.
316. _awhaped_, amazed, stupefied; see Anelida, 215; Leg. of Good Women,
132, 814, 2321; he was 'not utterly confounded,' but only dazed; cf. l.
322.
327. _borneth_, burnishes, polishes up; i.e. makes bright and cheerful. The
rime shews that it is a variant spelling of _burneth_; cf. _burned_,
burnished, Ho. Fame, 1387; Kn. Ta. A 1983.
MS. Harl. 3943 has _vnournith_, an error for _anorneth_, adorns; with a
like sense.
333. _Him tit_, to him betideth; _tit_ is for _tydeth_.
336. _ordre_, sect, brotherhood; a jesting allusion to the religious
orders. So also _ruled_ = under a religious rule.
337. _noun-certeyn_, uncertainty; cf. O.F. _noncerteit_, uncertainty
(Godefroy); _nounpower_, want of power (P. Plowman); and F. _nonchalance_.
Again spelt _noun-certeyn_, Compl. Venus, 46.
340. _lay_, law, ordinance; see Sq. Ta. F 18.
344. 'But observe this--that which ye lovers often avoid, or else do with a
good intention, often will thy lady misconstrue it,' &c.
363. _a temple_, i.e. in the temple.
381. _First_ stands alone in the first foot. Cf. ll. 490, 603, 811.
385. _Yelt_, short for _yeldeth_, yields.
394. _writ_, writeth. _Lollius_; Chaucer's reason for the use of this name
is not known. Perhaps we may agree with Dr. Latham, who suggested (in a
letter to the _Athenæum_, Oct. 3, 1868, p. 433), that Chaucer misread this
line in Horace (_Epist._ i. 2. 1), viz. 'Troiani belli scriptorem, maxime
_Lolli_'; and thence derived the notion that Lollius wrote on the Trojan
war. This becomes the more likely if we suppose that he merely saw this
line quoted apart from the context. Chaucer does not seem to have read
Horace for himself. As a matter of fact, ll. 400-420 are translated from
the 88th sonnet of Petrarch. See note to Ho. of Fame, 1468. The following
is the text of Petrarch's sonnet:
'S'amor non è, che dunque è quel ch' i'sento?
Ma s'egli è amor, per Dio, che cosa e quale?
Se buona, ond' è l'effetto aspro mortale?
Se ria, ond' è si dolce ogni tormento?
S'a mia voglia ardo, ond' è 'l pianto e'l lamento?
S'a mal mia grado, il lamentar che vale?
O viva morte, o dilettoso male,
Come puoi tanto in me s'io nol consento?
E s'io 'l consento, a gran torto mi doglio.
Fra si contrari venti, in frale barca
Mi trovo in alto mar, senza governo.
Sì lieve di saver, d'error sì carca
Ch' i' medesmo non so quel ch'io mi voglio,
E tremo a mezza state, ardendo il verno.'
In l. 401, _whiche_ means 'of what kind.'
425. Ital. text--'Non so s'io dico a donna, ovvero a dea'; Fil. I. 38. Cf.
Æneid, i. 327. Hence the line in Kn. Ta. A 1101.
457. _That_; in modern E., we should use _But_, or else _said not_ for
_seyde_.
463. _Fled-de_ is here a plural form, the pp. being treated as an
adjective. Cf. _sprad-de_, iv. 1422; _whet-te_, v. 1760.
464. _savacioun_; Ital. 'salute.' Mr. Rossetti thinks that _salute_ here
means 'well-being' or 'health'; and perhaps _savacioun_ is intended to mean
the same, the literal sense being 'safety.'
465. _fownes_, fawns; see Book of the Duch. 429. It is here used,
metaphorically, to mean 'young desires' or 'fresh yearnings.' This image is
not in Boccaccio.
470. I take the right reading to be _felle_, as in Cm. Ed., with the sense
'destructive.' As it might also mean 'happened,' other MSS. turned it into
_fille_, which makes a most awkward construction. The sense is: 'The sharp
destructive assaults of the proof of arms [i.e. which afforded proof of
skill in fighting], which Hector and his other brothers performed, not once
made him move on _that_ account only'; i.e. when he exerted himself, it was
not for mere fighting's sake. Chaucer uses _fel_ elsewhere; the pl. _felle_
is in Troil. iv. 44; and see Cant. Ta. D 2002, B 2019. For _preve_, proof,
see l. 690.
473, 4. _riden_ and _abiden_ (with short _i_) rime with _diden_, and are
past tenses plural. l. 474 is elliptical: 'found (to be) one of the best,
and (one of those who) longest abode where peril was.'
483. _the deeth_, i.e. the pestilence, the plague.
488. _title_, a name; he said it was 'a fever.'
517. _daunce_, i.e. company of dancers. Cf. Ho. Fame, 639, 640.
530-2. 'For, by my hidden sorrow, (when it is) blased abroad, I shall be
befooled more, a thousand times, than the fool of whose folly men write
rimes.' No particular reference seems to be intended by l. 532; the Ital.
text merely has 'più ch' altro,' more than any one.
557. _attricioun_, attrition. 'An imperfect sorrow for sin, as if a
bruising which does not amount to utter crushing (_contrition_); horror of
sin through fear of punishment ... while _contrition_ has its motive in the
love of God;' New E. Dict.
559. _ley on presse_, compress, diminish; cf. Prol. A 81.
560. _holinesse_, the leanness befitting a holy state.
626. 'That one, whom excess causes to fare very badly.'
631-679. Largely original; but, for l. 635, see note to Bk. III. 329.
638-644. There is a like passage in P. Pl. C. xxi. 209-217. Chaucer,
however, here follows Le Roman de la Rose, 21819-40, q.v.
648. _amayed_, dismayed; O.F. _esmaier_. So in Bk. IV. l. 641.
654. _Oënone_ seems to have four syllables. MS. H. has _Oonone_; MS. Cm.
_senome_ (over an erasure); MS. Harl. 3943, _Tynome_. Alluding to the
letter of _Oenone_ to Paris in Ovid, Heroid. v.
659-665. Not at all a literal translation, but it gives the general sense
of Heroid. v. 149-152:
'Me miseram, quod amor non est medicabilis herbis!
Deficior prudens artis ab arte mea.
Ipse repertor opis uaccas pauisse Pheraeas
Fertur, et a nostro saucius igne fuit.'
_Ipse repertor opis_ means Phoebus, who 'first fond art of medicyne;'
_Pheraeas_, i.e. of Pherae, refers to Pherae in Thessaly, the residence of
king Admetus. Admetus gained Alcestis for his wife by the assistance of
Apollo, who, according to some accounts, served Admetus out of attachment
to him, or, according to other accounts, because he was condemned to serve
a mortal for a year. Chaucer seems to adopt a theory that Apollo loved
Admetus chiefly for his daughter's sake. The usual story about Apollo is
his love for Daphne.
674. 'Even though I had to die by torture;' cf. Kn. Ta. A 1133.
686. 'Until it pleases him to desist.'
688. 'To mistrust every one, or to believe every one.'
694. _The wyse_, Solomon; see Eccles. iv. 10.
699. _Niobe_; 'lacrimas etiamnum marmora manant;' Ovid, Met. vi. 311.
705. 'That eke out (increase) their sorrows,' &c.
707. 'And care not to seek for themselves another cure.'
708. A proverb; see note to Can. Yem. Ta. G 746.
713. _harde grace_, misfortune; cf. Cant. Ta. G 665, 1189. Tyrwhitt quotes
Euripides, Herc. Furens, 1250: [Greek: Gemô kakôn dê, kouket' esth' hopou
tethê].
730, 731. From Boethius, Bk. I. Pr. 2. l. 14, and Pr. 4. l. 2.
739. 'On whose account he fared so.'
740. Compare: 'He makes a rod for his own breech'; Hazlitt's Proverbs.
745. 'For it (love) would sufficiently spring to light of itself.'
747. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 7595-6.
763. 'But they do not care to seek a remedy.'
780. Pronounced _ben'cite_; see note to Cant. Ta. B 1170.
786. _Ticius_, Tityos. MS. H2. wrongly has _Siciphus_. 'The fowl that
highte _voltor_, that eteth the stomak or the giser of Tityus, is so
fulfild of his song that it nil eten ne tyren no more;' tr. of Boeth. Bk.
III. Met. 12. 28. The original has:
'Vultur, dum satur est modis,
Non traxit Tityi iecur.'
See also Verg. Æn. vi. 595; Ovid, Met. iv. 456.
811. First foot deficient, as in ll. 603, 1051, 1069, &c. _winter_, years.
Perhaps imitated from Le Rom. de la Rose, 21145-9.
846, 847. See Boethius, Bk. ii. Pr. 3. 52-54.
848. From Boethius, Lib. II. Pr. 1: 'si manere incipit, fors esse
desistit.' See p. 26 above, l. 83.
887. 'And, to augment all this the more.'
890-966. This is all Chaucer's own; so also 994-1008.
916. _a blaunche fevere_, a fever that turns men white; said jocosely.
Lovers were supposed to be pale; Ovid, Art. Am. i. 729. Cotgrave is
somewhat more precise. He gives: '_Fievres blanches_, the agues wherewith
maidens that have the green sickness are troubled; hence, _Il a les fievres
blanches_, either he is in love, or sick of wantonness.' In the Cuckoo and
the Nightingale, l. 41, we find: 'I am so shaken with _the feveres white_.'
932. _beet_; beat thy breast (to shew thy repentance). Cf. P. Plowm. B. v.
454.
956. A proverb. 'The more haste, the worse speed (success).' Cf. Bk. iii.
1567, and The Tale of Melibeus, B 2244.
964. Dr. Köppel says--cf. Albertano of Brescia, Liber de Amore Dei, 45b:
'Iam et Seneca dixit, Non conualescit planta, quae saepe transfertur.'
969. 'A bon port estes arrivés'; Rom. de la Rose, 12964.
977. Fil. ii. st. 27: 'Io credo certo, ch' ogni donna in voglia Viva
amorosa.'
1000. _post_, pillar, support; as in Prol. A 214.
1002. Cf. 'The greater the sinner, the greater the saint.'
1011. Understand _he_. 'He became, as one may say, untormented of his wo.'
1024. _cherl_, man. 'You are afraid the man will fall out of the moon!'
Alluding to the old notion that the spots on the moon's surface represent a
man with a bundle of sticks. See the curious poem on this subject in
Wright's Specimens of Lyric Poetry, p. 110; also printed in Ritson's
Ancient Songs, i. 68, and in Böddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen, p. 176,
where a fear is expressed that the man may fall out of the moon. Cf. Temp.
ii. 2. 141; Mids. Nt. Dr. v. 1. 249; and see Alex. Neckam, ed. Wright, pp.
xviii, 54.
1026. 'Why, meddle with that which really concerns you,' i.e. mind your own
business. Some copies needlessly turn this into a question and insert _ne_
before _hast_.
1038. 'And am I to be thy surety?'
1050. _Scan_: 'And yet m' athink'th ... m'asterte.' The sense is: 'And yet
it repents me that this boast should escape me.'
1051. Deficient in the first foot: 'Now | Pandáre.' So in l. 1069.
1052. 'But thou, being wise, thou knowest,' &c. In this line, _thou_ seems
to be emphatic throughout.
1058. Read _désiróus_; as in Book ii. 1101, and Sq. Ta. F 23.
1070. _Pandare_ is here trisyllabic; with unelided _-e_.
1078. The same line occurs in the Clerk. Ta. E 413.
1088. 'And is partly well eased of the aching of his wound, yet is none the
more healed; and, like an easy patient (i.e. a patient not in pain), awaits
(lit. abides) the prescription of him that tries to cure him; and thus he
perseveres in his destiny.' _Dryveth forth_ means 'goes on with,' or 'goes
through with.' The reading _dryeth_, i.e. endures, is out of place here, as
it implies suffering; whereas, at the present stage, Troilus is extremely
hopeful.
BOOK II.
The chief correspondences are shewn in the following table.