186. _seintes buriels_, burial-places of the saints; Lat. 'sepulchra
martirum.' It is worth observing, perhaps, that the form _buriels_ is
properly _singular_, not plural; cf. A. S. _byrigels_, a sepulchre, and see
the examples in Stratmann. In P. Plowman, B. xix. 142, the Jews are
represented as guarding Christ's body because it had been foretold that He
should rise from the tomb--
'þat þat blessed body · of _burieles_ shulde rise.'
The mistake of supposing _s_ to be the mark of a plural was easily made,
and the singular form _buriel_ was evolved. This mistake occurs as early as
in Wyclif's Bible, IV Kings xxiii. 17; see Way's note in Prompt. Parv. p.
37, note 1. Consequently, it is most likely that Chaucer has made the same
mistake here. The South-E. Legendary (see note to l. 120) says that Urban
dwelt 'among puttes and burieles.'
There is here a most interesting allusion to the celebrated catacombs of
Rome; see Chambers, Book of Days, i. 101, 102.
_lotinge_, lying hid. In MS. E., the Latin word _latitantem_ is written
above, as a gloss. This was taken from the Latin text, which has--'intra
sepulchra martirum latitantem.' Stratmann gives six examples [408] of the
use of _lotien_ or _lutien_, to lie hid. It occurs once in P. Plowman, B.
xvii. 102.
201. _An old man_; i. e. an angel in the form of an old man, viz. St. Paul.
Cf. note to l. 207.
202. _with lettre of gold_; Lat. 'tenens librum aureis litteris scriptum.'
L. 203 is not in the original.
205. 'When he (Valerian) saw him (the old man); and he (the old man) lifted
up him (Valerian); and then he (Valerian) began thus to read in his (the
old man's) book.' This is very ambiguous in Chaucer, but the Latin is
clear. 'Quem uidens Ualerianus prae nimio timore quasi mortuus cecidit, et
a sene leuatus sic legit.'
207. _Oo lord_, one lord. Tyrwhitt prints _On_, 'to guard against the
mistake which the editions generally have fallen into, of considering _o_,
in this passage, as the sign of the vocative case.' For the same reason, I
have printed _Oo_, as in MS. Pt., in preference to the single _O_, as in
most MSS. Even one of the scribes has fallen into the trap, and has written
against this passage--'Et lamentat.' See MS. Cp., in the Six-text edition.
The fact is, obviously, that ll. 207-209 are a close translation of Eph.
iv. 5, 6. Hence the old man was St. Paul.