'Multiplicantur fercula, cibi alii aliis farciuntur, condiuntur haec illis,
et in iniuriam naturae, innatum relinquere, et alienum coguntur afferre
saporem. Conficiuntur et salsamenta.... Coquorum solicitudo fervet arte
multiplici,' &c.--Joh. Salisburiensis, Policraticus, lib. viii. c. 6.
539. There is here an allusion to the famous disputes in scholastic
philosophy between the Realists and Nominalists. To attempt any explanation
of their language is to become lost in subtleties of distinction. It would
seem however that the Realists maintained that everything possesses a
_substance_, which is inherent in itself, and distinct from the _accidents_
or outward phenomena which the thing presents. According to them, the form,
smell, taste, colour, of anything are merely _accidents_, and might be
changed without affecting the _substance_ itself. See the excellent article
on _Substance_ in the Engl. Cyclopaedia; also that on _Nominalists_. Cf.
Wyclif's Works, ed. Matthew, p. 526.
According to Chaucer, then, or rather, according to Pope Innocent III., (of
all people), the cooks who toil to satisfy man's appetite change the nature
of the things cooked so effectually as to confound _substance_ with
_accident_. Translated into plain language, it means that those who partook
of the meats so prepared, could not, by means of their taste and smell,
form any precise idea as to what they were eating. The art is not lost. Cf.
Troil. iv. 1505.
547. _haunteth_, practises, indulges in; cf. l. 464. In the margin of MSS.
E. and Hn. is written--'Qui autem in deliciis est, viuens mortuus est.'
This is a quotation from the Vulgate version of 1 Tim. v. 6, but with _Qui_
for _quae_, and _mortuus_ for _mortua_.
549. In the margin of MSS. E. and Hn. is written--'Luxuriosa res vinum, et
contumeliosa ebrietas.' The Vulgate version of Prov. xx. 1 [280] agrees
with this nearly, but has _tumultuosa_ for _contumeliosa_. This is of
course the text to which Chaucer refers. And see note to the parallel
passage at B. 771-7. The variant _contumeliosa_ occurs in the text as
quoted by St. Jerome, Contra Jovinianum, lib. ii. 10 (Köppel).
554. He means that the drunkard's stertorous breathing seems to repeat the
sound of the word _Sampsoún_. The word was probably chosen for the sake of
its nasal sounds, to imitate a sort of grunt. Perhaps we should here
pronounce the _m_ and _n_ as in French, but with exaggerated emphasis. So
also in l. 572.
555. See note to the Monkes Tale, B. 3245. In Judges, xiii. 4, 7, the
command to drink no wine is addressed, not to Samson, but to his mother. Of
Samson himself it is said that he was 'a Nazarite,' which implies the same
thing; see Numbers, vi. 3, 5.