267: ‘fulgent quasi stellae in perpetuas aeternitates,’ V 209 _b_, from
Daniel xii. 3. #wlite#: ‘Regem in decore suo vident,’ V from Isa.
xxxiii. 17. The writer omits any reference to monks, to whom the last
clause of this sentence, ‘ꝥ--ehnen’ (Rev. vii. 17), is applied in the
Latin. It is significant that he greatly expands the passage which
describes the maidens; which should be compared with AS. Hom., ed.
Assmann, 42/460-72 (Ælfric, de Virginitate), HM 19/9-15.
269. #ferreden#: comp. ‘i þe feire ferreden | of uirgines in heouene,’
SK 2309. #ilikest towart engles#: so, ‘þu ofearnest meiden to beo engle
euening iþe heȝe blisse of heuene,’ HM 13/5; ‘to singen wið engles hwas
felahes ha beoð,’ id. 19/8, 21/31.
270. #feolohlukest#, best fitted as associates and equals to rejoice and
be glad with them. An isolated superlative of felaȝlich: comp.
‘wunderlukest,’ 34/88; ‘wurðlukest,’ L 25496. The comparative adv. is
more common: ‘dimluker,’ 56/43, ‘creftluker,’ 131/88, ‘greatluker,’
70/157, ‘monluker,’ 66/110, ‘oðerluker,’ 38/149, 86/135, ‘witerluker,’
125/285: in AR ‘ȝeorneluker,’ ‘gledluker,’ ‘wisluker,’ ‘uestluker,’
234/5, 7, 8, 9; ‘wunderluker,’ OEH i. 93/28. For #u# in these forms see
Bülbring, §§ 420, 421. #ouergað#: see 22/143.
271. #flesches lahe#, desires of the flesh: #lahe# is custom, habit; its
use was perhaps suggested by ‘Video autem aliam legem in membris meis
. . . captivantem me in lege peccati,’ Rom. vii. 23. #cunde#, natural
propensities: comp. 160/209; ‘heald þin cunde,’ follow nature, OEH ii.
31/6.
272. #as#, where: comp. 124/246. There should be a full stop at wunieð,
as in RT.
274. R omits þe--singen. The arrangement in T shows how the mistake
arose from the similar endings of two lines:
na tu{n}ge telle{n}. Alle ha singeð
ꝥ ter beoð. Ah hare song ne
mahe nane bute{n} heo singen
Se swote smal ham folheð hwi.
#hare song#: ‘Nam cantabant canticum, quod nemo alius poterat dicere,’ V
209 _c_, from Rev. xiv. 3 (altered).
275. #smeal#: smel R, smal T. ‘Sed odor in regione earum tam suavis
erat, ut omnia aromatum genera exuperet,’ V.
277. #aȝein# &c., to receive their petitions. #ꝥ alle# &c.: ꝥ alle þe
oðer `he´ walden sitti{n}de ihereð R, ꝥ alle þoðre halhen sittinde hi{m}
hereð T.
279. #Ah nu# &c.: ‘De singulis beatorum Ordinibus mira disseris,
quaesumus ut quae sit eorum in communi actio edicas,’ V 209 _d_. The
stop should come not after setnesse, but after sunderlepes, as in T; R
puts it after sumhwet, which is tolerable. #setnesse#, OE. #setness#,
properly ordinance, arrangement, is here by extension, order, class: R
has the isolated tosetnesse, corresponding to an OE. *#tō-setness#,
division into classes, which is probably the original word. The sense
is, Well, thou hast now spoken so admirably about each class of the
blessed severally, tell us somewhat as to what bliss is common to all
alike. W explains #setnesse# as = swetnesse.
282. #lengðe#: ‘Vivunt, sapiunt, amant, gaudent, laudant, veloces sunt,
securi sunt,’ V 209 _d_.
283. In T #murie# by punctuation goes with ‘loft song,’ which is OE.
#lof-song#, Lauds, hymns of praise; see 126/318.
287-330. The messenger proceeds to explain the nature of the seven
blisses. The scribe marks off each section with a special capital, but
has omitted one at ‘her,’ 126/317.
287. #brihtre#: comp. ‘seouesiðe schenre þen þe sunne,’ HM 41/2; AR
100/4; SK 1665; SM 23/13; a phrase of this group. See Ælf. Lives, i.
538/820.