'Et uacui currus, protritaque curribus ora.'
2029. For the story of Damocles, see Cicero, Tuscul. 5. 61; cf. Horace, Od.
iii. 1. 17. And see Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 5. 17. Most
likely Chaucer got it from Boethius or from the Gesta Romanorum, cap. 143,
since the _name_ of Damocles is _omitted_.
2037. _sterres_ (Harl.) Elles. &c. have _certres_ (_sertres_); but this
strange reading can hardly be other than a mistake for _sterres_, which is
proved to be the right word by the parallel passage in The Man of Lawes
Tale, B. 194-6.
2041. In the note to l. 1955, I have quoted part of cap. v. of a work by
Albricus. In cap. iii. (De Marte) of the same, we have a description of
Mars, which should be compared. I quote all that is material. 'Erat enim
eius figura tanquam unius hominis furibundi, in curru sedens, armatus
lorica, et caeteris armis offensiuis et defensiuis.... Ante illum uero
lupus ouem portans pingebatur, quia illud scilicet animal ab antiquis
gentibus ipsi Marti specialiter consecratum est. Iste enim _Mauors_ est, id
est _mares uorans_, eo quod bellorum deus a gentibus dictus est.' Chaucer
seems to have taken the notion of the wolf devouring a man from this
singular etymology of _Mauors_.
In cap. vii. (De Diana) of the same, there is a description of 'Diana, quae
et Luna, Proserpina, Hecate nuncupatur.' Cf. l. 2313 below.
2045. 'The names of two figures in geomancy, representing two
constellations in heaven. Puella signifieth Mars retrogade, and Rubeus Mars
direct.'--Note in Speght's Chaucer. It is obvious that this explanation is
wrong as regards 'Mars retrograde' and 'Mars direct,' because a
constellation cannot represent a single planet. It happens to be also wrong
as regards 'constellations in heaven.' But Speght is correct in the main
point, viz., that Puella and Rubeus are 'the names of two figures in
geomancy.' Geomancy was described, under the title of 'Divination by
Spotting,' in The Saturday Review, Feb. 16, 1889. To form geomantic
figures, proceed thus. Take a pencil, and hurriedly jot down on a paper a
number of dots in a line, without counting them. Do the same three times
more. Now count the dots, to see whether they are odd or even. If the dots
in a line are _odd_, put down _one_ dot on another small paper, half-way
across it. If they are _even_, put down _two_ dots, one towards each side;
arranging the results in four rows, one beneath the other.
_Three_ of the figures thus formed require our attention; the whole number
being sixteen. Fig. 1 results from the dots being odd, even, odd, odd. Fig.
2, from even, odd, even, even. Fig. 3, from odd, odd, even, odd. These (as
well as the rest of the sixteen figures) are given in Cornelius Agrippa, De
Occulta Philosophia, lib. ii. cap. 48: De Figuris Geomanticis. Each
'Figure' had a 'Name,' belonged to an [83] 'Element,' and possessed a
'Planet' and a Zodiacal 'Sign.' Cornelius Agrippa gives our three 'figures'
as below.
* * * *
* * * *
* * * * *
* * * *
Fig. 1 (Puella). Fig. 2 (Rubeus). Fig. 3 (Puer). That is, Fig. 1 is
'Puella,' or 'Mundus facie'; element, water; planet, Venus; sign, Libra.
Fig. 2 is 'Rubeus' or 'Rufus'; element, fire; planet, Mars; sign, Gemini.
Fig. 3 is 'Puer,' or 'Flavus,' or 'Imberbis'; element, fire; planet, Mars;
sign, Aries.
Chaucer (or some one else) seems to have confused figures 1 and 3, or Puer
with Puella; for Puella was dedicated to Venus. Rubeus is clearly right, as
Mars was the red planet (l. 1747). I first explained this, somewhat more
fully, in The Academy, March 2, 1889.
2049. From Tes. vii. 38:--'E tal ricetto edificato avea Mulcibero _sottil_
colla sua arte.'--Kölbing, in Engl. Studien, ii. 528.
2056. _Calistopee_ = _Callisto_, a daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia, and
companion of Diana. See Ovid's Fasti, ii. 153; Gower, Conf. Amantis, ed.
Pauli, ii. 336.
2059, 2061. 'Cf. Ovid's Fasti, ii. 153-192; especially 189, 190,
"Signa propinqua micant. Prior est, quam dicimus Arcton,
Arctophylax formam terga sequentis habet."
The nymph Callisto was changed into _Arctos_ or the Great Bear; hence "Vrsa
Maior" is written in the margin of E. Hn. Cp. Ln. This was sometimes
confused with the other Arctos or Lesser Bear, in which was situate the
_lodestar_ or Polestar. Chaucer has followed this error. Callisto's son,
Arcas, was changed into Arctophylax or Boötes: here again Chaucer says a
_sterre_, when he means a whole constellation; as, perhaps, he does in
other passages.'--Chaucer's Astrolabe, ed. Skeat (E. E. T. S.), pp. xlviii,
xlix.
2062, 2064. _Dane_ = _Daphne_, a girl beloved by Apollo, and changed into a
laurel. See Ovid's Metamorph. i. 450; Gower, Conf. Amantis, ed. Pauli, i.
336; Troilus, iii. 726.
2065. _Attheon_ = _Actaeon_. See Ovid's Metamorph. iii. 138.
2070. _Atthalante_ = _Atalanta_. See Ovid's Metamorph. x. 560; and Troilus,
v. 1471.
2074. _nat drawen to memorie_ = not draw to memory, not call to mind.
2079. Cf. 'gawdy greene. _subviridis_'; Prompt. Parv. This _gaudè_ has
nothing whatever to do with the E. sb. _gaud_, but answers to F. _gaudé_,
the pp. of the verb _gauder_, to dye with weld; from the F. sb. _gaude_,
weld. As to _weld_, see my note to The Former Age, 17; in [84] vol. i. p.
540. Littré has an excellent example of the word: 'Les bleus teints en
indigo doivent être _gaudés_, et ils deviennent _verts_.'
2086. _thou mayst best_, art best able to help, thou hast most power.
Lucina was a title both of Juno and Diana; see Vergil, Ecl. iv. 10.
2112. Here _paramours_ is used adverbially, like _paramour_ in l. 1155.
From Le Roman de la Rose, 20984:--'Jamès par amors n'ameroit.'
2115. _benedicite_ is here pronounced as a trisyllable, viz. _ben'cite_. It
usually _is_ so, though five syllables in l. 1785. Cf. _benste_ in Towneley
Myst. p. 85. Cf. 'What, liveth nat thy lady, _benedicite_!' Troil. i. 780.
_Benedicite_ is equivalent to 'thank God,' and was used in saying graces.
See Babees Book, pp. 382, 386; and Appendix, p. 9.
2125. This line seems to mean that there is nothing new under the sun.
2129. This is the 're Licurgo' of the Teseide, vi. 14; and the Lycurgus of
the Thebaid, iv. 386, and of Homer, Il. vi. 130. But the description of him
is partly taken from that of another warrior, Tes. vi. 21, 22. It is worth
notice that, in Lydgate's Story of Thebes, pt. iii., king Ligurgus or
Licurgus (the name is spelt both ways) is introduced, and Lydgate has the
following remark concerning him:--
'And the kingdom, but-if bokes lye,
Of Ligurgus, called was Trace;
And, as I rede _in another place_,
He was the same mighty champion
To Athenes that cam with Palamon
Ayenst his brother (!) that called was Arcite,
Y-led in his chare with foure boles whyte,
Upon his bed a wreth of gold ful fyn.'
The term _brother_ must refer to l. 1147 above. See further, as to
Lycurgus, in the note to Leg. Good Women, 2423, in vol. iii. p. 344.
2134. '_kempe heres_, shaggy, rough hairs. Tyrwhitt and subsequent editors
have taken for granted that _kempe_ = _kemped_, combed (an impossible
equation); but _kempe_ is rather the reverse of this, and instead of
smoothly combed, means bristly, rough, or shaggy. In an Early English poem
it is said of Nebuchadnezzar that
"Hol_gh_e (hollow) were his y_gh_en anunder (under) _campe hores_."
Early Eng. Alliterative Poems, p. 85, l. 1695.
_Campe hores_ = shaggy hairs (about the eyebrows), and corresponds exactly
in form and meaning to _kempe heres_,'--M. See Glossary.
2141. I. e. the nails of the bear were yellow. In Cutts, Scenes and
Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 345, the bad guess is hazarded that these
'nails' were metal studs. But Chaucer was doubtless thinking of the tiger's
skin described in the Thebaid, vi. 722:--
'Tunc genitus Talao uictori tigrin inanem
Ire iubet, fuluo quae circumfusa nitebat
Margine, et extremes auro mansueuerat _ungues_.'
[85] Lewis translates the last line by:--'The sharpness of the claws was
dulled with gold.'
2142. _for-old_, very old. See next note.
2144. _for-blak_ is generally explained as _for blackness_; it means _very
black_. Cf. _fordrye_, very dry, in F. 409.
2148. _alaunts_, mastiffs or wolf-hounds. Florio has: '_Alano_, a mastiue
dog.' Cotgrave: '_Allan_, a kind of big, strong, thickheaded, and
short-snowted dog; the brood where-of came first out of Albania (old
Epirus).' Pineda's Span. Dict. gives: '_Alano_, a mastiff dog, particularly
a bull dog; also, an _Alan_, one of that nation.' This refers to the tribe
of _Alani_, a nation of warlike horsemen, first found in Albania. They
afterwards became allies, first of the Huns, and afterwards of the
Visi-Goths. It is thus highly probable that _Alaunt_ (in which the _t_ is
obviously a later addition) signifies 'an Alanian dog,' which agrees with
Cotgrave's explanation. Smith's Classical Dict. derives _Alanus_, said to
mean 'mountaineer,' from a Sarmatian word _ala_.
The _alaunt_ is described in the Maister of the Game, c. 16. We there learn
they were of all colours, and frequently white with a black spot about the
ears.
2152. _Colers of_, having collars of. Some MSS. read _Colerd of_, which I
now believe to be right. _Collared_ was an heraldic term, used of
greyhounds, &c.; see the New Eng. Dict. This leaves an awkward
construction, as _torets_ seems to be governed by _with_. See Launfal, 965,
in Ritson, Met. Rom. i. 212. Cf. 'as they (the Jews) were tied up with
girdles ... so were they _collared_ about the neck.'--Fuller's Pisgah Sight
of Palestine, p. 524, ed. 1869.
_torets_, probably eyes in which rings will turn round, because each eye is
a little larger than the thickness of the ring. This appears from Chaucer's
Astrolabe, i. 2. 1--'This ring renneth in a maner turet,' i. e. in a kind
of eye (vol. iii. p. 178). Warton, in his Hist. E. Poet. ed. 1871, ii. 314,
gives several instances. It also meant a small loose ring. Cotgrave gives:
'_Touret_, the annulet, or little ring whereby a hawk's lune is fastened
unto the jesses.' 'My lityll bagge of blakke ledyr with a cheyne and
_toret_ of siluyr'; Bury Wills, ed. Tymms, p. 16. Cf. E. _swivel_-ring.
2156. _Emetrius_ is not mentioned either by Statius or by Boccaccio; cf.
Tes. vi. 29, 17, 16, 41.
2158. _diapred_, variegated with flowery or arabesque patterns. See
_diaspre_ and _diaspré_ in Godefroy's O. F. Dict.; _diasprus_ and
_diasperatus_ in Ducange. In Le Rom. de la Rose, 21205, we find mention of
_samis diaprés_, diapered samites.
2160. _cloth of Tars_, 'a kind of silk, said to be the same as in other
places is called _Tartarine_ (_tartarinum_), the exact derivation of which
appears to be somewhat uncertain.'--Wright. Cf. Piers the Plowman, B. xv.
224, and my note to the same, C. xvii. 299; also _Tartarium_ in Fairholt.