2288. _at his large_, at liberty (to speak or to be silent).
2290. 'E coronò di quercia cereale'; Tes. vii. 74. _Cerial_ should be
_cerrial_, as spelt by Dryden, who speaks of 'chaplets green of _cerrial_
oak'; Flower and Leaf, 230. It is from _cerreus_, adj. of _cerrus_, also
ill-spelt _cerris_, as in the botanical name _Quercus cerris_, the Turkey
oak. The cup of the acorn is prickly; see Pliny, bk. xvi. c. 6.
2294. _In Stace of Thebes_, in the Thebaid of Statius, where the reader
will _not_ find it. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 72.
2303. _aboughte_, atoned for. _Attheon_, Actaeon; Ovid, Met. iii. 230.
2313. _thre formes._ Diana is called _Diva Triformis_;--in heaven, Luna; on
earth, Diana and Lucina, and in hell, Proserpina. See note to l. 2041.
2336. Cf. Statius, Theb. viii. 632:--'Omina cernebam, subitusque intercidit
ignis.'
2365. _the nexte waye_, the nearest way. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 93.
2368. _walked is_, has walked. See note to l. 2217.
2371-434. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 23-28, 39-41.
2388. For the story, see Ovid, Met. iv. 171-189; and, in particular, cf.
Rom. de la Rose, 14064, where Venus is said to be 'prise et _lacie_.'
2395. _lyves creature_, creature alive, living creature.
2397. See Compl. of Anelida, 182; cf. Compl. to his Lady, 52.
2405. _do_, bring it about, cause it to come to pass.
2422-34. From Tes. vii. 39, 40; there are several verbal resemblances
here.--Kölbing.
2437. 'As joyful as the bird is of the bright sun.' So in Piers Pl., B. x.
153. It was a common proverb.
2438-41. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 67.
2443. Cf. 'the olde colde Saturnus'; tr. of Boethius, bk. iv. met. 1.
2447-8. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 13022, q. v.
2449. 'Men may outrun old age, but not outwit (surpass its counsel).' Cf.
'Men may the wyse at-renne, but not at-rede.'--Troilus, iv. 1456.
'For of him (the old man) þu migt leren
Listes and fele þewes,
Þe baldure þu migt ben:
Ne for-lere þu his redes,
For þe elder mon me mai of-riden
Betere þenne of-reden.'
'For of him thou mayest learn
Arts and many good habits,
The bolder thou mayest be.
Despise not thou his counsels,
For one may out-ride the old man
Better than out-wit.'
The Proverbs of Alfred, ed. Morris, in an Old Eng. Miscellany, p. 136. And
see Solomon and Saturn, ed. Kemble, p. 253.
2451. _agayn his kynde._ According to the Compost of Ptolemeus, [88] Saturn
was influential in producing strife: 'And the children of the sayd Saturne
shall be great jangeleres and chyders ... and they will never forgyve tyll
they be revenged of theyr quarell.'--Wright.
2454. _My cours._ The course of the planet _Saturn_. This refers to the
orbit of Saturn, supposed to be the largest of all, until Uranus and
Neptune were discovered.
2455. _more power._ The Compost of Ptolemeus says of Saturn, 'He is mighty
of hymself.... It is more than xxx yere or he may ronne his course.... Whan
he doth reygne, there is moche debate.'--Wright.
2460. _groyning_, murmuring, discontent; from F. _grogner_. See Rom. Rose,
7049; Troil. i. 349.
2462. 'Terribilia mala operatur Leo cum malis; auget enim eorum
malitiam.'--Hermetis Aphorismorum Liber, § 66.
2469.
'Er fyue [gh]er ben folfult, such famyn schal aryse,
þorw flodes and foul weder, fruites schul fayle,
And so seiþ Saturne, and sent vs to warne.'
P. Plowman, A. vii. 309 (B. vi. 325; C. ix. 347).
2491-525. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 95-99.
2504. _Gigginge_, fitting or providing (the shield) with straps. Godefroy
gives O. F. _guige_, _guigue_, a strap for hanging a buckler over the
shoulder, a handle of a shield. Cotgrave gives the fem. pl. _guiges_, 'the
handles of a target or shield.' In Mrs. Palliser's Historic Devices, p.
277, she describes a monument in St. Edmund's chapel, in Westminster Abbey,
on which are three shields, each with 'the _guige_ or belt of Bourchier
knots formed of straps.' In the M. E. word _gigginge_, both the _g_'s are
hard, as in _gig_ (in the sense of a two-wheeled vehicle).
_Layneres lacinge_, lacing of thongs; see Prompt. Parv., s. v. _Lanere_.