662. _the sothe_, the truth. The reader should carefully note the full
pronunciation of the final _e_ in _sothe_. If he should omit to sound it,
he will be put to shame when he comes to the end of the next line, ending
with _tó thee_. A very similar instance is that of _tyme_, riming with _bý
me_, G. 1204 below. The case is the more remarkable because [420] the A. S.
_s[=o]ð_, truth, is a monosyllable; but the truth is that the definite
adjective _the sothe_ (A. S. _þæt s[=o]ðe_) may very well have supplied its
place, the adjective being more freely used than the substantive in this
instance. Chaucer has _sothe_ at the end of a line in other places, where
it rimes with the dissyllabic _bothe_; G. 168; Troil. iv. 1035.
We may remark that _the sothe_ is written and pronounced instead of _the
sooth_ (as shewn by the metre) in the Story of Genesis and Exodus, ed.
Morris, l. 74:--
'He [_they_] witen the sothe, that is sen.'
665. _Peter!_ by St. Peter; as in B. 1404, D. 446. The full form of the
phrase--'bi seynt Peter of Rome'--occurs in Piers the Plowman, B. vi. 3.
The shorter exclamation--'Peter!' also occurs in the same, B. v. 544; see
my note on that line. _harde grace_, disfavour, ill-favour; a mild
imprecation. In l. 1189, it expresses a mild malediction.
669. _multiplye._ This was the technical term employed by alchemists to
denote their supposed power of transmuting the baser metals into gold; they
thought to _multiply_ gold by turning as much base metal as a piece of it
would buy into gold itself; see l. 677. Some such pun seems here intended;
yet it is proper to remember that the term originally referred solely to
the supposed fact, that the strength of an elixir could be multiplied by
repeated operations. See the article 'De Multiplicatione,' in Theatrum
Chemicum, iii. 301, 818; cf. 131. Cf. Ben Jonson's Alchemist, ii. 1:--
'For look, how oft I iterate the work,
So many times I add unto his virtue'; &c.
686. To scan the line, accent _yeman_ on the latter syllable, as in ll.
684, 701.
687. To scan the line, pronounce _ever_ nearly as _e'er_, and remember that
_hadde_ is of two syllables. The MSS. agree here.
688. _Catoun_, Cato. Dionysius Cato is the name commonly assigned to the
author of a Latin work in four books, entitled Dionysii Catonis Disticha de
Moribus ad Filium. The work may be referred to the fourth century. It was
extremely popular, not only in Latin, but in French and English versions.
Chaucer here quotes from Lib. i. Distich. 17:--
'Ne cures si quis tacito sermone loquatur;
Conscius ipse sibi de se putat omnia dici.'
See other quotations from Cato in the Nonne Preestes Tale, B. 4130; Merch.
Ta., E. 1377; and see my note to Piers Plowman, B. vi. 316.
It is worth noticing that _Catoun_ follows the form of the Lat. _Catonem_,
the accusative case. Such is the usual rule.
694. _dere abye_, pay dearly for it. _abye_ (lit. to buy off) was corrupted
at a later date to _abide_, as in Shak. Jul. Caesar, iii. 1. 94.
703. _game_, amusement. In l. 708, it is used ironically. Cf. _ernest_,
i. e. a serious matter, in l. 710. Cf. The Alchemist, ii. 1:--
'Alchemy is a pretty kind of game,' &c.
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