460. _causeth ... meschaunce_, often brings many a man into peril and
misfortune. The idiom is curious; but all the MSS. agree here, and Thynne's
edition has the same. Tyrwhitt has 'causeth ful oft to many man peril,' &c.
This is easier, but lacks authority.
467. Chaucer found this quotation from Seneca in the Latin treatise which
is the original of 'Melibeus' (p. 124 of Sundby's edition), though the
passage does not occur in his version of that tale. It is made up of two
clauses, taken, respectively, from Seneca, De Clementia, i. 3. 3, and the
same, i. 19. 2. 'Nullum clementia magis decet quam regem'; et iterum,
'Iracundissimae et parui corporis sunt apes, rex tamen earum sine aculeo
est.' Cf. Pliny, Nat. History, bk. xi. c. 17; Batman upon Bartholomè, bk.
xviii. c. 12; Hoccleve, de Regimine Principum, p. 121; Brunetto Latini, Li
Livres dou Tresor, i. v. 155.
At the same time, it is remarkable that Chaucer's words resemble even more
closely a passage from Cicero which is quoted on the preceding page of the
same book:--'Nam Tullius dixit: Nihil est laudabilius, nihil magno et
praeclaro viro dignius placabilitate atque clementia'; De Officiis, i. 25.
470. Here there is a slight change in the order; the 'goods of grace' are
discussed _before_ those of 'fortune'; see 454, 455.