2210. _Outrely_, utterly, entirely, i. e. without reserve; Fr. text _tout
oultre_. Not from A. S. _[=u]tor_, outer, utter, but from F. _oultre_,
_outre_, moreover; of which one sense, in Godefroy, is 'excessivement.' See
E. 335, 639, 768, 953; C. 849; &c.
2216. Fr. text--'en telle maniere que tu soies bien pourveu d'espies et
guettes.'--Mr.
2218. _To moeve_; Fr. text, _de mouvoir guerre_; cf. the Lat. phrase
_mouere bellum_.--Mr.
2220. The Lat. text has here _three_ phrases for Chaucer's 'common
proverb.' It has: 'non enim subito uel celeriter est iudicandum, "omnia
enim subita probantur incauta," et "in iudicando criminosa est celeritas,"
et "ad poenitendum properat qui cito iudicat."' Of these, the first is from
Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. c. 17; and the second and [205] third from
Publilius Syrus, Sententiae, 254 and 32 (ed. Friedrich, Berolini, 1880).
For _iudicando_, as in some MSS., Friedrich has the variant _vindicando_.
Cf. the Proverbs of Hending, l. 256: 'Ofte rap reweth,' haste often rues.
See note to 2244.
2221. _Men seyn_; this does not necessarily mean that Chaucer is referring
to a proverb. He is merely translating. The Lat. text has; 'quare _dici
consueuit_, Optimum iudicem existimem, qui cito intelligit et tarde
iudicat.' It also quotes two sentences (nos. 311 and 128) from Publilius
Syrus: 'Mora omnis odio est, sed facit sapientiam'; and--'Deliberare utilia
mora est tutissima.' Mätzner points out that there are two other sentences
(nos. 659 and 32) in Publilius, which come very near the expression in the
text, viz. 'Velox consilium sequitur poenitentia'; and--'Ad poenitendum
properat, qui cito iudicat.'
2223. See John, viii. 3-8. For _he wroot_, Hl. has 'he_m_ wrot,' which is
obviously wrong.
2227. _Made contenaunce_, made a sign, made a gesture. Among the senses of
F. _contenance_, Cotgrave gives: 'gesture, posture, behaviour, carriage.'
2228. Fr. text--'qui ne scevent que guerre se monte.'--Mr.
2229. 'The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water'; Prov.
xvii. 14.
2231. 'The chylde may rue that is vnborn'; Chevy Chase, l. 9.
2235. 'A tale out of season is as music in mourning'; Ecclus. xxii. 6.
2237. Not from 'Solomon,' but from 'Jesus, son of Sirach,' as before. The
Lat. text agrees with the Vulgate version of Ecclus. xxxii. 6: 'ubi auditus
non est, ne effundas sermonem'; the E. version (verse 4) is somewhat
different, viz. 'Pour not out words where there is a musician, and shew not
forth wisdom out of time.' Chaucer gives us the same saying again _in
verse_; see B. 3991.
2238. Lat. text: 'semper consilium tunc deest, quando maxime opus est';
from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 594. (_Read_ cum opus est maxime.)
2242. Cf. F. text--'Sire, dist elle, je vous prie que vous ne vous hastez,
et que vous pour tous dons me donnez espace.'--Wright.
2243. _Piers Alfonce_, Petrus Alfonsi. 'Peter Alfonsus, or Alfonsi, was a
converted Spanish Jew, who flourished in the twelfth century, and is well
known for his _Disciplina Clericalis_, a collection of stories and
moralisations in Latin prose, which was translated afterwards into French
verse, under the title of the _Chastoiement d'un pere a son fils_. It was a
book much in vogue among the preachers from the thirteenth to the fifteenth
century.'--Wright. Tyrwhitt has a long note here; he says that a copy of
this work is in MS. Bibl. Reg. 10 B. xii in the British Museum, and that
there is also a copy of another work by the same author, entitled _Dialogus
contra Judaeos_, in MS. Harl. 3861. He also remarks that the manner and
style of the _Disciplina Clericalis_ 'show many marks of an Eastern
original; and one of his stories _Of a trick put upon a thief_ is entirely
taken from the Calilah a Damnah, a celebrated collection of Oriental
apologues.' All the best fables of Alfonsus [206] were afterwards
incorporated (says Tyrwhitt) into the Gesta Romanorum. He was born at
Huesca, in Arragon, in 1062, and converted to Christianity in 1106.
The words here referred to are the following: 'Ne properes ulli reddere
mutuum boni uel mali, quia diutius expectabit te amicus, et diutius timebit
te inimicus'; Disc. Cler. xxv. 15; ed. F. W. V. Schmidt, Berlin, 1827,
4to., p. 71.
2244. _The proverbe_, &c.; not in either the Latin or the French texts. Cf.
the proverb of Hending--'ofte rap reweth,' often haste rues it. Heywood
has--'The more haste, the worse speed'; on which Ray notes--'Come s'ha
fretta non si fa mai niente che stia bene'; _Ital._ Qui trop se hâte en
cheminant, en beau chemin se fourvoye souvent; _Fr._ Qui nimis properè
minus prosperè; et nimium properans serius absoluit.
'Tarry a little, that we may make an end the sooner, was a saying of Sir
Amias Paulet. Presto e bene non si conviene; _Ital._' See 2325 below, and
observe that Chaucer has _the same form of words_ in Troil. i. 956.
2247. From Ecclesiastes, vii. 28. Cf. A. 3154.
2249. From Ecclus. xxv. 30 (Vulgate): 'Mulier, si primatum habeat,
contraria est uiro suo.' Not in the A. V.; cf. v. 22 of that version.
2250. From Ecclus. xxxiii. 20-22 (Vulgate); 19-21 (A. V.).
2251. After _noght be_, ed. 1550 adds--'if I shuld be cou_n_sayled by the';
but this is redundant. See next note.
2252-3. These clauses are omitted in the MSS. and black-letter editions,
but are absolutely necessary to the sense. The French text has--'car il est
escript: la jenglerie des femmes ne puet riens celer fors ce qu'elle ne
scet. Apres, le philosophe dit: en mauvais conseil les femmes vainquent les
hommes. Pour ces raisons, je ne doy point user de ton conseil.' It is easy
to turn this into Chaucerian English, by referring to ll. 2274, 2280 below,
where the missing passage is quoted with but slight alteration.
The former clause is quoted from Marcus Annaeus Seneca, father of Seneca
the philosopher, Controversiarum Lib. ii. 13. 12:--'Garrulitas mulierum id
solum nouit celare, quod nescit.' Cf. P. Plowman, B. v. 168; xix. 157; and
see the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D. 950. The second clause is from Publilius
Syrus, Sent. 324:--'Malo in consilio feminae uincunt uiros.'
2257. 'Non est turpe cum re mutare consilium'; Seneca, De Beneficiis, iv.
38, § 1.
_Maketh no lesing_, telleth no lie; compare the use of _lyer_ just above.
_Turneth his corage_, changes his mind. Mätzner quotes a similar phrase
from Halliwell's Dict., s. v. _Torne_:--
'But thogh a man himself be good,
And he _torne_ so _his mood_
That he haunte fooles companye,
It shal him torne to grete folie.'