12-13. In E., a sidenote has:--'Qui enim semel iuit ad nuptias, docuit
semel esse nubendum.' This is from Hieronymi lib. i. c. Jovinianum; Epist.
(ut supra), t. ii. p. 29. But the edition has _uenit_ for _iuit_, and
_semel docuit_.
14-22. This also is from Jerome, as above (p. 28):--'Siquidem et illa in
Euangelio Iohannis Samaritana, sextum se maritum habere dicens, arguitur a
domino, quod non sit uir eius. Vbi enim numerus maritorum est, ibi uir, qui
proprie unus est, esse desiit.' Cf. John, iv. 18.
23-25. In the margin of E. we find:--'Non est uxorum numerus diffinitus.'
About 15 lines after the last quotation, we find in Jerome:--'non esse
uxorum numerum definitum.' This is immediately preceded (in Jerome) by a
quotation from St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 29), which is also quoted in the
margin of E.
28. In the margin of E.--'Crescite et multiplicamini'; Gen. i. 28. The text
was suggested by the fact that Jerome quotes it near the beginning of his
letter (p. 18). Soon after (p. 19), he quotes Matt. xix. 5, which Chaucer
quotes accordingly in l. 31.
33. _bigamye._ 'Bigamy, according to the canonists, consisted not only in
marrying two wives at a time, but in marrying two spinsters
successively.'--Bell.
_octogamye_, marriage of eight husbands. This queer word is due to Jerome,
and affords clear proof of Chaucer's indebtedness. 'Non damno _digamos_,
imò nec _trigamos_; et (si dici potest) _octogamos_'; p. 29. Cf. 'A
dodecagamic Potter,' in a note to 'And a polygamic Potter,' in Shelley's
Prologue to Peter Bell the Third.