'O thou rede Marz armypotente,
That in the trende baye hase made thy throne;
That God arte of bataile and regent,
And rulist all that alone;
To whom I profre precious present,
To the makande my moone
With herte, body and alle myn entente,
. . . . . .
In worshipe of thy reverence
On thyn owen Tewesdaye.'
Sowdone of Babyloyne, ll. 939-953.
[79]
The word _armipotent_ is borrowed from Boccaccio's _armipotente_, in the
Teseide, vii. 32. Other similar borrowings occur hereabouts, too numerous
for mention. Note that this description of the temple of Mars once belonged
to the end of the poem of Anelida, which see.
Let the reader take particular notice that the temple here described (ll.
1982-1994) is merely a _painted_ temple, depicted on one of the walls
_inside_ the oratory of Mars. The walls of the other temples had paintings
similar to those inside the temple of which the outside is here depicted.
Chaucer describes the painted temple as if it were real, which is somewhat
confusing. Inconsistent additions were made in revision.
1984. _streit_, narrow; 'la stretta entrata'; Tes. vii. 32.
1985. _vese_ is glossed _impetus_ in the Ellesmere MS., and means 'rush' or
'hurrying blast.' It is allied to M.E. _fesen_, to drive, which is
Shakespeare's _pheeze_. Copied from 'salit Impetus amens E foribus'; Theb.
vii. 47, 48.
1986. _rese_ = to shake, quake. 'Þe eorðe gon _to-rusien_,' 'the earth gan
to shake.'--La[gh]amon, l. 15946. _To resye_, to shake, occurs in Ayenbite
of Inwyt, pp. 23, 116. Cf. also--'The tre _aresede_ as hit wold falle';
Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 915. A.S. _hrysian_.
1987. 'I suppose the _northern light_ is the aurora borealis, but this
phenomenon is so rarely mentioned by mediaeval writers, that it may be
questioned whether Chaucer meant anything more than the faint and cold
illumination received by reflexion through the door of an apartment
fronting the north.' (Marsh.) The fact is, however, that Chaucer here
copies Statius, Theb. vii. 40-58; see the translation in the note to l.
2017 below. The 'northern light' seems to be an incorrect rendering of
'aduersum Phoebi iubar'; l. 45.
1990. 'E le porte eran d'eterno diamante'; Teseide, vii. 32. Such is the
reading given by Warton. However, the ultimate source is the phrase in
Statius--'adamante perenni ... fores'; Theb. vii. 68.
1991. _overthwart_, &c., across and along (i. e. from top to bottom). The
same phrase occurs in Rich. Coer de Lion, 2649, in Weber, Met. Romances,
ii. 104.