78. To put an ape into one’s hood, upon his head, is to befool
him; see the prologue to the Prioresses’s Tale, l.6.
79. Obviously Chaucer should have said the temple of Diana, or
Artemis (to whom, as Goddess of the Moon, the Egyptian Isis
corresponded), at Ephesus. The building, famous for its
splendour, was set on fire, in B.C. 356, by Erostatus, merely
that he might perpetuate his name.
80. “Now do our los be blowen swithe,
As wisly be thou ever blithe.” i.e.
Cause our renown to be blown abroad quickly, as surely as you
wish to be glad.
81. The Labyrinth at Cnossus in Crete, constructed by Dedalus
for the safe keeping of the Minotaur, the fruit of Pasiphae’s
unnatural love.