749. _mawmet_, idol. It was unjustly supposed that Mahometans worshipped
the prophet; whence _Mahomet_, corrupted to _mawmet_, came to mean an idol
in general. See Marco Polo, ed. Yule, i. 174, for illustrations.
751. 'Non habebis deos alienos coram me. Non facies tibi sculptile'; Exod.
xx. 3, 4. The addition of the second clause, taken from the second
commandment, is remarkable. It was quite common to omit the second
commandment altogether; cf. note to C. 641. Cf. Ayenb. pp. 5, 6.
752. _tailages_, &c. The Fr. text has:--'par tallies, par corvees, par
emprunz, par mauvaises coustumes,' &c.; cf. 'be tailes, be coruees, be
lones, be kueade wones'; Ayenb. p. 38. Cowel explains _tallage_ as 'a
tribute, toll, or tax.' It was, in fact, an exaction for which a _tally_,
or acknowledgement (upon a notched stick) was given; see note to P.
Plowman, B. iv. 57; and cf. Chaucer's Prologue, 570; P. Plowman, C. xxii.
37.
Dr. Murray explains _cariage_ in this passage as meaning 'an obsolete
service of carrying, or a payment in lieu of the same, due by a tenant to
his landlord or feudal superior, or imposed by authority.'
_amerciments_, arbitrary fines inflicted 'at the mercy' of an affeeror. If
the affeeror had no mercy, they became, as is here said, mere extortions.
754. The reference is given to Augustine's De Civitate Dei, lib. ix.; but
is wrong. It should be to lib. xix. c. 15:--'Prima ergo seruitutis caussa
peccatum est.'
755. See Gen. ix. 18-27. The reference to Gen. v. is a mistake, perhaps due
to the fact that Ham is first mentioned in that chapter, at the end of it.
See 766 below.
759. This is from Seneca, Epist. 47, which begins:--'Libenter ex his, qui a
te ueniunt, cognoui, familiariter te cum seruis tuis uiuere; hoc prudentiam
tuam, hoc eruditionem decet. Serui sunt? immo homines. Serui sunt? immo
contubernales.' [469]
760. _contubernial with_, dwelling together with, intimate with. Chaucer
found the word in Seneca; see the last note.
761-3. The general sense of this passage is from Seneca, Epist. 47 (note to
759). Thus the words 'that they rather love thee than drede' answer to
'Colant [serui] potius te, quam timeant.'