207-253. The whole of this fine passage appears to be original. There is no
hint of it in Le Roman de la Rose, except as regards l. 225, where Le Roman
(l. 5659) has:--'Car il par amors, sans haïne.' We may compare the farewell
speech of Virginius to his daughter in Webster's play of Appius and
Virginia, Act iv. sc. 1.
240. _Iepte_, Jephtha; in the Vulgate, _Jephte_. See Judges, xi. 37, 38.
MSS. E. Hn. have in the margin--'fuit illo tempore Jephte Galaandes'
[_error for_ Galaadites]. This reference by Virginia to the book of Judges
is rather startling; but such things are common enough in old authors,
especially in our dramatists.
255. Here Chaucer returns to Le Roman, 5660-82. The rendering is pretty
close down to l. 276.
280. _Agryse of_, shudder at; 'nor in what kind of way the worm of
conscience may shudder because of (the man's) wicked life'; cf. 'of pitee
gan agryse,' B. 614. When _agryse_ is used with _of_, it is commonly
passive, not intransitive; see examples in Mätzner and in the New E.
Dictionary. Cf. _been afered_, i. e. be scared, in l. 284.
'Vermis conscientiae tripliciter lacerabit'; Innocent III., De Contemptu
Mundi, l. iii. c. 2.
286. Cf. Pers. Tale, I. 93:--'repentant folk, that stinte for to sinne, and
forlete [give up] sinne er that sinne forlete hem.'