44. _I deme_, I suppose. This looks as if Chaucer had read some account of
a festival made by the Grand Khan on _one_ of his birthdays, from which he
inferred that he _always_ held such a feast every year; as, indeed, was the
case. See vol. iii. p. 473.
45. _He leet don cryen_, he caused (men) to have the feast cried. The use
of both _leet_ and _don_ is remarkable; cf. E. 523. He gave his orders to
his officers, and they took care that the proclamation was made.
47. It is not clear _why_ Chaucer hit upon this day in particular. Kublai's
birthday was in September, but perhaps Chaucer noted that the White Feast
was on New Year's day, which he took to mean the vernal equinox, or some
day near it. The day, however, is well defined. The 'last Idus' is the very
day of the Ides, i. e. March 15. The sun entered Aries, according to
Chaucer (Treatise on the Astrolabe, ii. 1. 4) on March 12, at the vernal
equinox; and, as a degree answers to a day very nearly, would be in the
_first_ degree of Aries on the 12th, in the _second_ on the 13th, in the
_third_ on the 14th, in the _fourth_ on the 15th, and in the _fifth_ (or at
the end of the _fourth_) on the 16th, as Chaucer most expressly says below;
see note to l. 386. The sign Aries was said, in astrology, to be the
_exaltation_ of the Sun, or that sign in which the Sun had most influence
for good or ill. In particular, the 19th degree of Aries, for some
mysterious reason, was selected as the Sun's exaltation, when most exactly
reckoned. Chaucer says, then, that the Sun was in the sign of Aries, in the
fourth degree of that sign, and therefore nigh (and approaching to) the
19th degree, or his special degree of exaltation. Besides this, the poet
says the sun was in the 'face' of Mars, and in the mansion of Mars; for
'_his_ mansioun' in l. 50 means _Mars's_ mansion. This is exactly in
accordance with the astrology of the period. Each sign, such as Aries, was
said to contain 30 degrees, or 3 _faces_; a _face_ being 10 degrees. The
first face of Aries (degrees 1-10) was called the face of Mars, the second
(11-20) the face of the Sun, the third (21-30) that of Venus. Hence the
sun, being in the fourth degree, was in Mars's _face_. Again, every planet
had its (so-called) _mansion_ or _house_; whence Aries was called the
mansion of Mars, Taurus that of Venus, Gemini that of Mercury, &c. See
Chaucer's Astrolabe, in vol. iii. p. lxxviii; or Johannis Hispalensis
Isagoge in Astrologiam, which gives all the technical terms.
50. _Martes_ is a genitive from the nom. _Mart._ or _Marte_ (A. 2021),
which is itself formed, as usual, from the Latin acc. _Martem_. [373]
51. In the old astrology, different qualities are ascribed to the different
signs. Thus Aries is described as _choleric and fiery_ in MS. Trin. Coll.
Cam. R. 15. 18, tract 3, p. 11. So, too, Tyrwhitt quotes from the
Calendrier des Bergers that Aries is 'chault et sec,' i. e. hot and dry.