13. Polies: Apulian. The horses of Apulia — in old French
“Poille,” in Italian “Puglia” — were held in high value.
14. The Greeke’s horse Sinon: the wooden horse of the Greek
Sinon, introduced into Troy by the stratagem of its maker.
15. Master tower: chief tower; as, in the Knight’s Tale, the
principal street is called the “master street.” See note 86 to the
Knight’s Tale.
16. Alhazen and Vitellon: two writers on optics — the first
supposed to have lived about 1100, the other about 1270.
Tyrwhitt says that their works were printed at Basle in 1572,
under the title “Alhazeni et Vitellonis Opticae.”
17. Telephus, a son of Hercules, reigned over Mysia when the
Greeks came to besiege Troy, and he sought to prevent their
landing. But, by the art of Dionysus, he was made to stumble
over a vine, and Achilles wounded him with his spear. The
oracle informed Telephus that the hurt could be healed only by
him, or by the weapon, that inflicted it; and the king, seeking
the Grecian camp, was healed by Achilles with the rust of the
charmed spear.
18. Ferne: before; a corruption of “forne,” from Anglo-Saxon,
“foran.”
19. Aldrian: or Aldebaran; a star in the neck of the constellation
Leo.
20. Chamber of parements: Presence-chamber, or chamber of
state, full of splendid furniture and ornaments. The same
expression is used in French and Italian.
21. In Pisces, Venus was said to be at her exaltation or greatest
power. A planet, according to the old astrologers, was in
“exaltation” when in the sign of the Zodiac in which it exerted
its strongest influence; the opposite sign, in which it was
weakest, was called its “dejection.”
22. Launcelot: Arthur’s famous knight, so accomplished and
courtly, that he was held the very pink of chivalry.