1379. Jerome has:--'Spartiatae et Messenii diu inter se habuere amicitias,
intantum ut ob quaedam sacra etiam uirgines ad se mutuo mitterent. Quodam
igitur tempore, cum quinquaginta uirgines Lacedaemoniorum Messenii uiolare
tentassent, de tanto numero ad stuprum nulla consensit, sed omnes
libentissime pro pudicitia occubuerunt'; p. 48. Cf. Orosius, i. 14. 1.
1380. _Lacedomie_, Lacedaemonia; as in C. 605.
1387. Jerome has:--'Aristoclides Orchomeni tyrannus adamauit uirginem
Stymphalidem, quae cum patre occiso ad templum Dianae confugisset, et
simulacrum eius teneret, nec ui posset auelli, in eodem loco confossa est';
p. 48. I suppose that Orchomenus is here the town so called in Arcadia,
rather than the more famous one in Boeotia; for the district of Stymphalus
is in Arcadia, and near Orchomenus.
1399. Jerome has:--'Nam Hasdrubalis uxor capta, et incensa urbe, cum se
cerneret a Romanis capiendam esse, apprehensis ab utroque latere paruulis
filiis, in subiectum domus suae deuolauit incendium'; Valerius Maximus has
a similar story, lib. iii. c. 2. ext. 8; cf. Orosius, iv. 13. 3. Chaucer
has already alluded to this story; see note to B. 4553.
1402. _alle_; Valerius Maximus merely says--'dextra laeuaque communes
filios trahens.'
1405. Jerome says:--'Ad Romanas foeminas transeam, et primam ponam
Lucretiam; quae uiolatae pudicitiae pudens superuiuere, maculam corporis
cruore deleuit'; p. 50. In the margin of E. we find:--'primo ponam
Lucretiam ... deleuit'; with the reading _nolens_ for _pudens_. See also
the legend of Lucretia in the Legend of Good Women.
1409. Jerome says:--'Quis ualeat silentio praeterire septem Milesias
uirgines, quae Gallorum impetu cuncta uastante, ne quid indecens ab
hostibus sustinerent, turpitudinem morte fugerunt; exemplum sui cunctis
uirginibus relinquentes, honestis mentibus magis pudicitiam curae esse,
quam uitam'; p. 50. MS. E. quotes this as far as 'Gallorum.' As Miletus is
in Caria, perhaps _Galli_ refers here to the Gallograeci or Galatae. [397]
1414. 'Xenophon in Cyri maioris scribit infantia, occiso Abradote uiro,
quem Panthea uxor miro amore dilexerat, collocasse se iuxta corpus lacerum;
et confosso pectore, sanguinem suum mariti infudisse uulneribus'; p. 50.
MS. E. cites the first eight words of this, with the spelling _Abradate_;
whence Chaucer's _Habradate_. Chaucer's account of Panthea's exclamation is
evidently imaginary. The story is told at length in Xenophon's Cyropaedia,
bk. vii. Abradates, king of the Susi, was killed in battle against the
Egyptians. His wife Panthea slew herself with a dagger, and fell with her
head upon his breast.
1426. 'Demotionis Areopagitarum principis uirgo filia, audito sponsi
Leosthenis interitu, qui bellum Lamiacum concitarat, se interfecit:
asserens quanquam intacta esset corpore, tamen si alterum accipere
cogeretur, quasi secundum acciperet, cum priori mente nupsisset'; p. 48. E.
quotes the first five words of this.
1428. 'Quo ore laudandae sunt Scedasi filiae in Leuctris Boeotiae, quas
traditum est absente patre duo iuuenes praetereuntes iure hospitii
suscepisse. Qui multum indulgentes uino, uim per noctem intulere
uirginibus. Quae amissae pudicitiae nolentes superuiuere, mutuis
conciderunt uulneribus'; p. 48. E. quotes the first six words, with the
spelling _Cedasii_. The story of Scedasus ([Greek: Skedasos]) and his
daughters is told at length by Plutarch, being the third story in his
Amatoriae Narrationes ([Greek: erôtikai diêgêseis]).
1432. 'Nicanor uictis Thebis atque subuersis, unius uirginis captiuae amore
superatus est. Cuius coniugium expetens, et uoluntarios amplexus, quod
scilicet captiua optare debuerat, sensit pudicis mentibus plus uirginitatem
esse quàm regnum; et interfectam propria manu, flens et lugens amator
tenuit'; p. 49. E. cites a few words of this, with the spelling _Nichanor_.
The reference is to the taking of Thebes by Alexander, B.C. 336. Nicanor
was one of his officers.
1434. This story, in Jerome, immediately follows the former:--'Narrant
scriptores Graeci et aliam Thebanam uirginem, quam hostis Macedo
corruperat, dissimulasse paulisper dolorem, et uiolatorem uirginitatis suae
iugulasse postea dormientem; seque interfecisse gladio, ut nec uiuere
uoluerit post perditam castitatem, nec ante mori, quàm sui ultrix
existeret.' E. quotes a few words of this.
1437. Chaucer has translated here very literally. For Jerome has:--'Quid
loquar Nicerati coniugem? quae impatiens iniuriae uiri, mortem sibi ipsa
consciuit; ne triginta tyrannorum, quos Lysander uictis Athenis imposuerat,
libidinem substineret'; p. 49. Compare Plutarch's Life of Lysander.
Niceratus, son of Nicias, was put to death by the Thirty Tyrants, who were
imposed upon Athens by Lysander, B.C. 404.
1439. 'Alcibiades ille Socraticus, uictis Atheniensibus, fugit ad
Pharnabacum [i. e. Pharnabazum]. Qui accepto precio à Lysandro principe
Lacedaemoniorum, iussit eum interfici. Cumque suffocato caput esset
ablatum, et missum Lysandro in testimonium caedis expletae, reliqua pars
corporis iacebat insepulta. Sola igitur concubina [398] contra crudelissimi
hostis imperium inter extraneos et imminente discrimine, funeri iusta
persoluit; mori parata pro mortuo, quem uiuum dilexerat'; pp. 49, 50. E.
quotes the first four words. See Plutarch's Life of Alcibiades; or the
extracts from it in my edition of 'Shakespeare's Plutarch,' p. 304. The
woman's name was Timandra; cf. Timon of Athens, iv. 3.
1442-4. Jerome says:--'Alcestin fabulae ferunt pro Admeto sponte defunctam,
et Penelopes pudicitia Homeri carmen est'; p. 50. Quoted in E., with the
spellings _Alcesten_, _Adameto_, and _Omeri_. Cf. Legend of Good Women, l.
432, and the note; also vol. iii. p. xxix.
1445. 'Laodamia quoque poetarum ore cantatur, occiso apud Troiam
Protesilao, noluisse superuiuere'; p. 50. E. quotes most of this, with the
spellings _Lacedomia_ and _Protheselao_. See Ovid, Heroid. Ep. xiii.;
Hyginus, Fabula 243.
1448. 'Sine Catone uiuere Martia potuit, Portia sine Bruto non potuit'; p.
50. Partly quoted in E. The death of Portia is told by Plutarch, at the
very end of his Life of M. Brutus.
1451. 'Artemisia quoque uxor Mausoli insignis pudicitiae fuisse perhibetur.
Quae cum esset regina Cariae ... defunctum maritum sic semper amauit, ut
uiuum, et mirae magnitudinis exstruxit sepulchrum; intantum, ut usque hodie
omnia sepulchra preciosa ex nomine eius _Mausolaea_ nuncupentur'; p. 49. E.
quotes a part of this, with the spelling _Arthemesia_. There is an account
of her in Valerius Maximus, bk. iv. cap. 6. ext. I. Hence comes our word
_mausoleum_.
1452. _Barbarye_, barbarian territory, heathendom. Cf. 'the Barbre
nacioun'; B. 281.
1453. Jerome says:--'Teuta Illyricorum regina, ut longo tempore uiris
fortissimis imperaret, et Romanos saepe frangeret, miraculo utique meruit
castitatis'; p. 49. Called _Teutana_ by Florus, ii. 5. 2. Pliny says that
Teuta, the queen of the Illyrians, put to death some Roman ambassadors;
Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 6. 11.
1455. Tyrwhitt omits this line and the next. Both lines appear in the old
editions; but they are omitted in all the seven MSS. except E. They are
certainly genuine, because the names in them are taken from Jerome, like
the rest. E. has the spelling _Bilyea_, but I alter it to _Bilia_ (as in
the old editions) because such is Jerome's spelling. The story is rather a
long one.
'Duellius, qui primus Romae nauali certamine triumphauit, Biliam uirginem
duxit uxorem, tantae pudicitiae, ut illo quoque seculo pro exemplo fuerit:
quo impudicitia monstrum erat, non uitium. Is iam senex et trementi
corpore, in quodam iurgio audiuit exprobrari sibi os foetidum, et tristis
se domum contulit. Cumque uxori questus esset, quare nunquam se monuisset,
ut huic uitio mederetur: Fecissem, inquit, illa, nisi putassem omnibus
uiris sic os olere. Laudanda in utroque pudica et nobilis foemina, et si
ignorauit uitium uiri, et si patienter tulit, et quod maritus infelicitatem
corporis sui, non uxoris fastidio, sed maledicto sensit inimici'; p. 50.
This Duellius or Duillius, [399] or Duilius, was the famous conqueror of
the Carthaginians, in honour of whom the _Columna rostrata_ was erected, to
celebrate his naval victory, the first of that character ever gained by the
Romans, B.C. 260. See Florus, Epitome, lib. ii. c. 2.
Hoccleve has this story in his De Regimine Principum, ed. Wright, p. 134.
He turns _Bilia_ into _Ulye_, because he got the story from Jacobus de
Cessolis, who calls her _Ylia_.
1456. Jerome says:--'Rhodogune filia Darii, post mortem uiri, nutricem quae
illi secundas nuptias suadebat, occidit'; p. 50. According to Erasmus,
Rhodogune is mentioned in the _Imagines_ [Greek: Eikones] of Flavius
Philostratus.
Again (at p. 50) Jerome says:--'Valeria, Messalarum soror, amisso Seruio
uiro, nulli uolebat nubere. Quae interrogata cur hoc faceret, ait sibi
semper maritum Seruium uiuere.'
1457. Notwithstanding the length of Dorigene's complaint, Chaucer seems to
have contemplated adding more examples to the list. For in the margin of E.
is the note:--'Mem. Strato regulus. Vidi et omnes pene Barbares (_sic_);
cap. xxvi^o. primi [libri]. Item, Cornelia, &c. Imitentur ergo nupte
Theanam, Cleobiliam, Gorgun., Thymodiam, Claudias atque Cornelias; in fine
primi libri.' All these names are in Jerome, who says: 'Imitentur ergo
nuptae Theano, Cleobulinam, Gorguntem, Timocliam, Claudias atque
Cornelias'; &c.
1470. _as wis_, as (it is) certain; cf. Ancren Riwle, p. 38; Ormulum, l.
2279, &c. Stratmann (ed. Bradley) gives the example _also wis so he god
is_, as surely as he is God. Of course the _i_ is short, as _wis_ rimes
with _this_. Cf. A. S. _ge-wis_, _ge-wiss_, Icel. _viss_, adj., certain,
sure. And see _wisly_, i. e. certainly, in l. 1475.
1472. Referring to the proverb--'Let sleeping dogs lie'; or to one with the
same sense. Cf. Troil. iii. 764.
1483. _tel_ is here the right form of the imperative; see l. 1591. So in D.
1298.
1493-8. Of our seven MSS., only E. contains these six lines. They are
omitted in most modern editions, except Gilman's. But they occur, as
Tyrwhitt pointed out, in the second edition printed by Caxton. In l. 1496,
Caxton has _him_ for _hir_; which, perhaps, is better.
1502. _quikkest_, most lively, i. e. most frequented.
1503. _boun_, all ready, prepared; _as she was boun_ implies that she had
already set out, and was on her way. Preserved in mod. E., in the form
_bound_, in such phrases as 'the ship is _bound_ for New York.' See
_Bound_, pp., in the New E. Dictionary. Cf. l. 1505.
1525. _For which_, for which reason, wherefore.
1529-1531. The phrases _him were lever_ and _I have lever_ are here seen to
have been both in use at the same time. See, again, ll. 1599, 1600 below.
1532. _Than I departe_, than that I may part. So in all seven MSS. T.
altered _I_ to _to_.