401. See Lucan's Pharsalia, iii. 79--'Perdidit o qualem uincendo plura
triumphum!' But Chaucer's reference, evidently made at random, is unlucky.
Lucan laments that he had no triumph to record.
404. The line is deficient at the beginning, the word _But_ standing by
itself as a foot. So also in A. 294, G. 341, &c. See Ellis's Early English
Pronunciation, pp. 333, 649. (This peculiarity was pointed out by me in
1866, in the Aldine edition of Chaucer, i. 174.) For the sense of
_scorpioun_, see the reference to the Ancren Riwle, in note to l. 360, and
compare the following extracts. 'Thes is the scorpioun, thet maketh uayr
mid the heauede, and enuenymeth mid the tayle'; Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed.
Morris, p. 62. 'The scorpion, the whiche enoynteth with his tongue, and
prycketh sore with his taylle'; Caxton, Fables of Æsop; Lib. iv. fable 3.
Chaucer repeats the idea, somewhat more fully, in the Marchaunts Tale, E.
2058-2060. So also _this wikked gost_ means this Evil Spirit, this Tempter.
421. Pronounce _ever_ rapidly, and accent _súccessour_ on the first
syllable. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Pt. and Cp. is the following [154]
note: 'Nota, de inopinato dolore. Semper mundane leticie tristicia
repentina succedit. Mundana igitur felicitas multis amaritudinibus est
respersa. Extrema gaudii luctus occupat. Audi ergo salubre consilium; in
die bonorum ne immemor sis malorum.' This is one of the passages from
Innocent's treatise de Contemptu Mundi, of which I have already spoken in
the note to B. 99-121 above (p. 140). Lib. i. c. 23 has the heading--'De
inopinato dolore.' It begins:--'Semper enim mundanae letitiae tristitia
repentina succedit. Et quod incipit a gaudio, desinit in moerore. Mundana
quippe felicitas multis amaritudinibus est respersa. Noverat hoc qui
dixerat: "Risus dolore miscebitur, et extrema gaudii luctus occupat."...
Attende salubrem consilium: "In die bonorum, non immemor sis malorum."'
This passage is mostly made up of scraps taken from different authors. I
find in Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. ii. pr. 4--'Quam
multis amaritudinibus humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa est'; which
Chaucer translates by--'The swetnesse of mannes welefulnesse is _sprayned
with many biternesses_'; see vol. ii. p. 34; and the same expression is
repeated here, in l. 422. Gower quotes the same passage from Boethius in
the prologue to his Confessio Amantis. The next sentence is from Prov. xiv.
13--'Risus dolore miscebitur, et extrema gaudii luctus occupat.' The last
clause (see ll. 426, 427) is from Ecclesiasticus, xi. 27 (in the Vulgate
version). Cf. Troil. iv. 836.
438. Compare Trivet's French prose version:--'Dount ele fist estorier vne
neef de vitaile, de payn quest apele bisquit, & de peis, & de feues, de
sucre, & de meel, & de vyn, pur sustenaunce de la vie de la pucele pur
treis aunx; e en cele neef fit mettre la richesse & le tresour que Iempire
Tiberie auoit maunde oue la pucele Constaunce, sa fille; e en cele neef
fist la soudane mettre la pucele saunz sigle, & sauntz neuiroun, & sauntz
chescune maner de eide de homme.' I. e. 'Then she caused a ship to be
stored with victuals, with bread that is called biscuit, with peas, beans,
sugar, honey, and wine, to sustain the maiden's life for three years. And
in this ship she caused to be placed the riches and treasure which the
Emperor Tiberius had sent with the maid Constance his daughter; and in this
ship the Sultaness caused the maiden to be put, without sail or oar, or any
kind of human aid.'
_foot-hot_, hastily. It occurs in Gower, ed. Pauli, ii. 114; in The Romaunt
of the Rose, l. 3827: Octovian, 1224, in Weber's Met. Rom. iii. 208; Sevyn
Sages, 843, in the same, iii. 34; Richard Coer de Lion, 1798, 2185, in the
same, ii. 71, 86; and in Barbour's Bruce, iii. 418, xiii. 454. Compare the
term _hot-trod_, explained by Sir W. Scott to mean the pursuit of marauders
with bloodhounds: see note 3 H to the Lay of the Last Minstrel. We also
find _hot fot_, i. e. immediately, in the Debate of the Body and the Soul,
l. 481. It is a translation of the O. F. phrase _chalt pas_, immediately,
examples of which are given by Godefroy.