158, 159. ‘Septem spice plene pullulabant in culmo vno,’ C. #busk#,
bush, for stalk is curious. #ranc and wel tidi#, luxuriant and very
healthy-looking; the phrase qualifies ‘eares.’
161. #drugte numen#: ‘percusse vredine,’ C.; ‘uredo . . . dicitur
corruptio ex urente vento proveniens quando stantes segetes aduste
videntur in campo,’ Catholicon: ‘de gelée brulez,’ Joseph 904. With
#numen# comp. 198/32: drugte, sorge are genitives. Similar constructions
without prepositions are frequent in this author, ‘water wold,’ 526,
overpowered by water; ‘sinne wod,’ 1073, demented by sin; ‘elde swac,’
1528, weakened by age; ‘herte hard,’ 2936, hard of heart; ‘hungur
fordred,’ 3313, in fear of hunger; ‘nede driuen,’ 3165; ‘deades driuen,’
1125, under the sway of death. See 207/342.
163, 164. There is nothing in Comestor or the Vulgate corresponding to
these difficult lines. Mätzner takes #it# as equivalent to they, and
quotes for the intransitive use of #smiten#, ‘Heo smiten to-gædere,’ L
5183, to which may be added, ‘Bitid a stund þai samen smate | In a dale
biside a wate,’ CM 2495. Schumann objects that smiten is transitive
everywhere else in the poem; he proposes, To-samen is smiten, them
dashed together, apparently depending on #ranc#. It would probably be
better to omit #it# (see 197/16 note); adopting Fritsche’s ðristen he in
the next line, the meaning would be, Next (ðo) the lean ears have
overcome the full ears, dashed together in conflict, and in a moment
they have thrust the full ears to the ground. The participial phrase is
quite in the manner of the author.