537. Chaucer clearly quotes this as a proverb; _true_ man means _honest_
man, according to Dogberry; Much Ado about Nothing, iii. 3. 54. The sense
seems to be much the same as 'You cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear,'
or 'Once a knave, always a knave.' Compare the use of _theef_ in Anelida,
l. 161; also--
'Alas! I see a serpent or a theef,
That many a trewe man hath doon mescheef;
Knightes Tale, 467 (A. 1325).
548. The reading _Troilus_ (in E. Hn.) must be a mistake, because he was
not guilty of transferring his love to another; it was _Cressida_ who did
that, so that the falcon would take care not to refer to that story. Paris
deserted Oenone for Helen, and Jason deserted Medea for Glauce. Lamech was
the first to have two wives, viz. Adah and Ziilah; [385] Gen. iv. 23. The
whole of this passage is a recast of Chaucer's earlier poem of Anelida,
where Lamech is introduced just in the same way (l. 150).