The complete works of John Gower, volume 2 (part 4 of 4)

The complete works of John Gower, volume 2 (part 4 of 4)

[1232] 1625 Wher B

[1233] 1637 Som tidinge] Somtime (Som tyme) H₁XE ... B₂ Some tydinges Λ

[1234] 1640 bet B

[1235] 1670 hem liken H₁XRCLB₂, W hym likeþ M

[1236] 1690 As] And B for to (forto) ride H₁ ... B₂

[1237] 1693 herd it] it herd A, Δ herd M

[1238] 1701 the om. AM

[1239] 1705 weie] werre B

[1240] 1706 go þan (þen) AM go þanne W

[1241] 1708 þe while H₁XE ... B₂, W my while G þat while M, Δ

[1242] 1738 that] which AJH₁ ... B₂

[1243] 1740 So þat I not H₁ ... B₂

[1244] 1752 that] it B

[1245] 1769 you] ȝe A ... B₂ (except G)

[1246] 1780 Bet B

[1247] 1805 knythode F

[1248] 1816 Namplus T (and so afterwards)

[1249] 1833 which] þat M ... B₂ feigned B₂, B

[1250] 1838 Namplus J, BT

[1251] 1850 The] This AJH₁ ... B₂ These M forþgon A, F forþ gon JC, SB

[1252] 1872 which J, B, F whiche AC, S

[1253] 1875 toþe A, F to þe JC, B &c.

[1254] 1892 king C, B

[1255] 1893 lust AJ, SB luste F

[1256] 1901 Prothefelay H₁G ... B₂, B

[1257] 1916 the deth] þe day X ... B₂

[1258] 1922 hir] his H₁ CB₂ this L

[1259] 1928 the om. H₁XGE, B

[1260] 1940 axeþ him H₁ ... B₂, W

[1261] 1944 beslain F

[1262] 1975 margin exagitaret SBΔΛ (Latin om. AdT)

[1263] margin optauit A

[1264] 1966 hardiesse AH₁XGECB₂ hardiest L

[1265] 1978 and om. MXGL, B, W

[1266] 1996 make BTΛ

[1267] 2008 in honde MX ... B₂, W

[1268] 2010 mad (maad) AJC, T made B, F

[1269] 2012 to om. B

[1270] 2015 hardiesce AC, F hardinesse J, SB

[1271] 2020 Bot] That H₁ ... B₂

[1272] 2034 the] þy (thi) H₁, BTΛ om. Ad

[1273] 2039 begete FH₃

[1274] 2045 Cenes L, BΛ seues M

[1275] 2052 margin propter om. H₁ ... B₂

[1276] 2055 margin armorum] amorum RCLB₂

[1277] 2073 da̅n̅teþ F daunteþ C, B danteþ AJ, S

[1278] 2088 hardiesse A, F hardinesse J, SB

[1279] 2118 hem SBT

[1280] 2135 ouerþis A, F ouer þis J, SB

[1281] 2136 of] in A ... B₂

[1282] 2153 margin Amozonie H₁ ... B₂ (except G), B

[1283] 2165 þe king H₁ ... B₂

[1284] 2166 of Amozoine H₁ ... RLB₂ and Amozoine C

[1285] 2175 as for] for his BT

[1286] 2186 margin Lavine] set vinc A se uine M

[1287] 2189 And gete] He gette (gete, get) X ... B₂ He gate H₁ And gat M, W

[1288] 2199 ff. margin Hic dicit--dissoluit om. B

[1289] 2218 faileþ H₁GRCLB₂, Δ

[1290] 2224 þe which al was X ... B₂ the wiche was alle H₁

[1291] 2227 gouernacioun AM

[1292] 2234 the om. H₁XECLB₂, Ad, WH₃ (to om. R)

[1293] 2241 as of] ȝit of H₁ ... B₂ of W

[1294] 2251 Eldemoder (elde moder) AJH₁ &c., SAd, FH₃ eldirmodir (eldermoder) L, Δ oldmoder M olde moder BT alder moder W

[1295] 2254 he B

[1296] 2259 wene best to H₁ ... B₂, W wene best for to M

[1297] 2278 aday J, F a day (a dai) AC, SB

[1298] 2295 ese] eek (ek) XG, BTΛ

[1299] 2300 the om. H₁E, BTΛ

[1300] 2307 thei] þough BT

[1301] 2311 areste] haue reste AM

[1302] 2324 awise F

[1303] 2325 as hier is ded BT

[1304] 2330 all the] alle (al) A ... CB₂

[1305] 2348 ff. margin Apostolus--scripta sunt om. S ... Δ

[1306] 2351 S has lost a leaf (ll. 2351-2530)

[1307] Latin Verses vii. 1 in] de B

[1308] 2373 margin et laboribus AM

[1309] 2377 al F aƚƚ J alle A, B

[1310] 2391 so] to BTΔ

[1311] 2397 lettre BT

[1312] 2407 Eldras H₁ ... B₂, Λ

[1313] 2414 and rime AJMX ... B₂

[1314] 2433 Herconius H₁XGECLB₂, BΛ Hercenius R Berconius T, H₃

[1315] 2477 Is] The B

[1316] 2501 as it is set H₁ ... B₂

[1317] 2512 lefte F

[1318] 2524 many on F

[1319] 2531 S resumes The BT

[1320] 2539 margin qui membra] que membra F sencibiles] sanabiles H₁ ... B₂, Λ

[1321] 2534 ferste S ferst AJ, F

[1322] 2535 lapis] cleped BT

[1323] 2538 As] And H₁ ... B₂, Λ

[1324] 2555 aweie F

[1325] 2556 vice goth] filþe be H₁ ... B₂, Λ (line om. W)

[1326] 2562 to om. BT

[1327] 2565 thextremetes] extremites X ... B₂, B

[1328] 2569 ffor AM þe ston H₁ ... B₂

[1329] 2576 He] It S ... Δ

[1330] 2578 as] which A ... B₂

[1331] 2587 all weies (alweies) XGRCLB₂

[1332] 2609 Orcalan H₁ ... B₂

[1333] 2615 put AJ, S, F putte C, B

[1334] 2620 faile of þe beȝete H₁ ... B₂ fallen of b, T but þei faile ȝit of b. Δ

[1335] 2627 of om. M, BT, H₃

[1336] 2629 out] out of AMH₁

[1337] 2641 ffor B

[1338] 2642 as SBTΔ is Ad and A ... B₂, Λ, FWH₃

[1339] 2650 schal the wordes] schal þe worde S shal wordes W scholde þe wordes Ad scholde her wordes B

[1340] 2662 and þilke time so H₁ ... RLB₂ and þilke time also C at thilke t. also W at þilke tyme þo M

[1341] 2674 take AJ, S, F tak C, BT

[1342] 2676 hise A

[1343] 2681 take B

[1344] 2704 margin Accidia H₁E ... B₂, W

[1345] 2707 margin sopori fero MH₁ERL, Λ, WH₃ sopori sero XGCB₂, B

[1346] 2710 a doun C, B, F adoun AJ, S

[1347] 2711 S has lost two leaves (ll. 2711-3078)

[1348] 2743 shal F

[1349] 2744 wolde A

[1350] 2760 I am now H₁ ... B₂, Λ

[1351] 2773 times BT

[1352] 2788 mow F mowe AJ, B

[1353] 2792 a chaunce H₁ ... RLB₂, BT his chaunce C

[1354] 2796 wole or so] wolde so BT

[1355] 2802 bidt A, F bit J bid C, B

[1356] 2822 doun om. AM

[1357] 2826 to the] atte M, B

[1358] 2833 Departen] Depart(e) and H₁ ... B₂, BΛ

[1359] 2846 go now (gon now) M ... B₂

[1360] 2860 mai] might (miȝte) H₁ ... B₂ doth W

[1361] 2867 him A ... B₂ hem AdBTΔ, FWH₃

[1362] 2937 margin demersus AM

[1363] 2942 margin Quo facto om. A ... B₂

[1364] 2945 margin mortuus om. A ... B₂

[1365] 2954 thoghte] wolde H₁ ... B₂ wol L thought to W

[1366] 2955 monþes H₁ ... B₂, H₃

[1367] 2973 she Λ, Magd he A ... B₂, AdBTΔ, FWKH₃

[1368] 2984 so om. AM

[1369] 2992 the om. AM

[1370] 2994 betwen the] betwene A ... B₂, T (bitwen) betwen bothe H₃

[1371] 2997 Wherfor(e) AJMG ... B₂

[1372] 3023 many a XGL, AdBTΔ, WH₃

[1373] 3027 þe wise þat M ... CB₂ þis wise as BT, H₃

[1374] 3033 schulde BT, W

[1375] 3056 was AdBTΔ

[1376] 3058 vnto JH₁ ... B₂, Δ, WH₃

[1377] 3074 falsen AM

[1378] 3079 S resumes

[1379] 3082 hir BT

[1380] 3086 forth lepte] lepte forþ AM lepte L

[1381] 3129 Aman F

[1382] 3132 þe couenant BTΛ

[1383] 3138 For] And BTΛ

[1384] 3140 it] in H₁ ... B₂

[1385] 3141 that om. AM

[1386] 3142 walkyng H₁RCB₂ line om. T

[1387] 3153 ne om. H₁ ... B₂

[1388] 3154 Ha om. A ... B₂

[1389] 3159 mi F myn AJ, B

[1390] 3165 all S, F alle AJ, B

[1391] 3199 margin sua om. BT

[1392] 3202 margin ita quod AM

[1393] 3204 margin illa om. SBTΔ (Latin om. Ad)

[1394] 3206 margin dignaretur A ... B₂, Λ

[1395] 3190 þe AM

[1396] 3206 cilence S, F silence AJ, B

[1397] 3221 ben unborn] be vp (vppe) AM

[1398] 3233 Thi (Thy) A ... B₂, S ... Δ This FWKH₃

[1399] 3244 all] at S ... Δ

[1400] 3250 if that I] if I H₁ ... B₂

[1401] 3252 vigilie B

[1402] 3255 nyht (night) AC, B nyhte (nihte) J, S, F

[1403] 3259 of] or X ... B₂, W

[1404] 3263 S has lost a leaf (ll. 3263-3442)

[1405] 3288 in] at XGEC, BT

[1406] 3308 he] it H₁ ... B₂

[1407] 3322 Of þo turneþ (torneþ) M, Ad Of hem þat turneþ X Of hem þat turnen H₁G ... B₂

[1408] 3337 haþ AdBTΔ

[1409] 3341 Wiþ þo which(e) E ... B₂, AdT Wiþ þo þe whiche B

[1410] 3349 the om. H₁ ... B₂, AdTΔ, WH₃

[1411] 3355 Whan] ffor whan H₁E ... B₂

[1412] 3361 as] and BT he] it AM

[1413] 3366 telle H₁ ... B₂, W

[1414] 3370 no M, F the rest non (none)

[1415] Latin Verses ix. 1 Nil fortuna valet (rest of line blank) AM

[1416] 3397 margin poterit om. BT

[1417] 3401 tymes E, BT

[1418] 3427 gret JC, B grete A, F

[1419] 3437 no om. AM

[1420] 3443 S resumes folweth] falleþ SAdBΔ faileth TΛ

[1421] 3449 more þan is B, H₃ more þan hit L

[1422] 3459 o point BT, W

[1423] 3479 eny] my AM

[1424] 3484 my] me H₁RCLB₂, W (me bidde)

[1425] 3489 I dar AM

[1426] 3502 if þat H₁ ... B₂, W

[1427] 3529 margin Ciuitatem om. BT

[1428] 3531 hert sche BΛ sche (om. herte) T

[1429] 3535 king (kyng) JL, BT

[1430] 3560 manes F

[1431] 3576 sleplest F

[1432] 3586 Ȝit schal ... many a place J, S, FH₃ Ȝit schalt ... many a place AM Ȝit schal ... many place Ad, W Ȝit schal it ... mani place TΔ It (Hit) schal ... many a place H₁XGRCLB₂ It schal ... many place E, B

[1433] 3587 and] of H₁ ... B₂, B

[1434] 3596 syhe (sihe) AJ, SB syh F

[1435] 3612 wold(e) BT, W

[1436] 3622 O god þou wost þat it B O god þou wost it TΛ (wotest)

[1437] 3627 S has lost two leaves (ll. 3627--v. 274)

[1438] 3632 astounde AMR, T, W

[1439] 3638 and of] and eke of AM

[1440] 3656 Hir B be begrave] begraue A, Δ be graue MH₁ERLB₂, W

[1441] 3666 ek om. C, BTΛ

[1442] 3667 this] þat AdBTΛ

[1443] 3676 tho] þe JH₁ ... B₂, BΛ, W

[1444] 3678 aman F

[1445] 3687 despeir JMH₁XRLB₂, AdBTΔ, W vespeir H₃

Incipit Liber Quintus.

[Sidenote: =P. ii. 127=] [Sidenote: [AVARICE.]] i. Obstat auaricia nature legibus, et que Largus amor poscit, striccius illa vetat. Omne quod est nimium viciosum dicitur aurum, Vellera sicut oues, seruat auarus opes. Non decet vt soli seruabitur es, set amori[1446] Debet homo solam solus habere suam.

Ferst whan the hyhe god began This world, and that the kinde of man Was falle into no gret encress, For worldes good tho was no press,[1447] Bot al was set to the comune. Thei spieken thanne of no fortune Or forto lese or forto winne, [Sidenote: Hic in quinto libro intendit Confessor tractare de Auaricia, que omnium malorum radix dicitur, necnon et de eiusdem vicii speciebus: set primo ipsius Auaricie naturam describens Amanti quatenus amorem concernit super hoc specialius opponit.] Til Avarice broghte it inne; And that was whan the world was woxe Of man, of hors, of Schep, of Oxe, 10 And that men knewen the moneie. Tho wente pes out of the weie And werre cam on every side, Which alle love leide aside [Sidenote: =P. ii. 128=] And of comun his propre made, So that in stede of schovele and spade The scharpe swerd was take on honde; And in this wise it cam to londe, Wherof men maden dyches depe And hyhe walles forto kepe 20 The gold which Avarice encloseth. Bot al to lytel him supposeth, Thogh he mihte al the world pourchace; For what thing that he may embrace Of gold, of catel or of lond, He let it nevere out of his hond, Bot get him more and halt it faste, As thogh the world scholde evere laste. So is he lych unto the helle; For as these olde bokes telle,[1448] 30 What comth therinne, lasse or more, It schal departe neveremore: Thus whanne he hath his cofre loken, It schal noght after ben unstoken, Bot whanne him list to have a syhte[1449] Of gold, hou that it schyneth brihte, That he ther on mai loke and muse; For otherwise he dar noght use To take his part, or lasse or more. So is he povere, and everemore[1450] 40 Him lacketh that he hath ynowh: An Oxe draweth in the plowh, Of that himself hath no profit; A Schep riht in the same plit [Sidenote: =P. ii. 129=] His wolle berth, bot on a day An other takth the flees away: Thus hath he, that he noght ne hath,[1451] For he therof his part ne tath. To seie hou such a man hath good, Who so that reson understod, 50 It is impropreliche seid, For good hath him and halt him teid, That he ne gladeth noght withal, Bot is unto his good a thral, And as soubgit thus serveth he, Wher that he scholde maister be: Such is the kinde of thaverous. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Mi Sone, as thou art amerous, Tell if thou farst of love so.[1452] [Sidenote: Confessio Amantis.] Mi fader, as it semeth, no; 60 That averous yit nevere I was, So as ye setten me the cas: For as ye tolden here above, In full possession of love Yit was I nevere hier tofore, So that me thenketh wel therfore, I mai excuse wel my dede. Bot of mi will withoute drede, If I that tresor mihte gete, It scholde nevere be foryete, 70 That I ne wolde it faste holde, Til god of love himselve wolde That deth ous scholde parte atuo.[1453] For lieveth wel, I love hire so, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 130=] That evene with min oghne lif, If I that swete lusti wif Mihte ones welden at my wille, For evere I wolde hire holde stille: And in this wise, taketh kepe, If I hire hadde, I wolde hire kepe, 80 And yit no friday wolde I faste, Thogh I hire kepte and hielde faste.[1454] Fy on the bagges in the kiste! I hadde ynogh, if I hire kiste. For certes, if sche were myn, I hadde hir levere than a Myn Of Gold; for al this worldesriche Ne mihte make me so riche As sche, that is so inly good. I sette noght of other good; 90 For mihte I gete such a thing, I hadde a tresor for a king; And thogh I wolde it faste holde, I were thanne wel beholde. Bot I mot pipe nou with lasse, And suffre that it overpasse, Noght with mi will, for thus I wolde Ben averous, if that I scholde. Bot, fader, I you herde seie Hou thaverous hath yit som weie, 100 Wherof he mai be glad; for he Mai whanne him list his tresor se,[1455] And grope and fiele it al aboute,[1456] Bot I fulofte am schet theroute, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 131=] Ther as my worthi tresor is. So is mi lif lich unto this, That ye me tolden hier tofore, Hou that an Oxe his yock hath bore For thing that scholde him noght availe: And in this wise I me travaile;[1457] 110 For who that evere hath the welfare, I wot wel that I have the care, For I am hadd and noght ne have, And am, as who seith, loves knave. Nou demeth in youre oghne thoght, If this be Avarice or noght. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Mi Sone, I have of thee no wonder, Thogh thou to serve be put under With love, which to kinde acordeth: Bot, so as every bok recordeth,[1458] 120 It is to kinde no plesance That man above his sustienance Unto the gold schal serve and bowe, For that mai no reson avowe. Bot Avarice natheles, If he mai geten his encress Of gold, that wole he serve and kepe, For he takth of noght elles kepe, Bot forto fille hise bagges large;[1459] And al is to him bot a charge, 130 For he ne parteth noght withal, Bot kepth it, as a servant schal: And thus, thogh that he multeplie[1460] His gold, withoute tresorie [Sidenote: =P. ii. 132=] He is, for man is noght amended[1461] With gold, bot if it be despended To mannes us; wherof I rede A tale, and tak therof good hiede, Of that befell be olde tyde, As telleth ous the clerk Ovide. 140

[Sidenote: [TALE OF MIDAS.]] Bachus, which is the god of wyn,[1462] Acordant unto his divin[1463] [Sidenote: Hic loquitur contra istos Auaros. Et narrat qualiter Mida Rex Frigie Cillenum Bachi sacerdotem, quem rustici vinculis ferreis alligarunt, dissoluit, et in hospicium suum benignissime recollegit; pro quo Bachus quodcunque munus Rex exigere vellet donari concessit. Vnde Rex Auaricia ductus, ut quicquid tangeret in aurum conuerteretur, indiscrete peciit. Quo facto postea contigit quod cibos cum ipse sumere vellet, in aurum conuersos manducare non potuit. Et sic percipiens aurum pro tunc non posse sibi valere, illud auferri, et tunc[1464] ea que victui sufficerent necessaria iteratis precibus a deo mitissime postulauit.] A Prest, the which Cillenus hihte,[1465] He hadde, and fell so that be nyhte This Prest was drunke and goth astraied, Wherof the men were evele apaied[1466] In Frigelond, where as he wente. Bot ate laste a cherl him hente With strengthe of other felaschipe, So that upon his drunkeschipe 150 Thei bounden him with chenes faste, And forth thei ladde him als so faste Unto the king, which hihte Myde. Bot he, that wolde his vice hyde, This courteis king, tok of him hiede, And bad that men him scholde lede Into a chambre forto kepe, Til he of leisir hadde slepe. And tho this Prest was sone unbounde,[1467] And up a couche fro the grounde 160 To slepe he was leid softe ynowh; And whanne he wok, the king him drowh To his presence and dede him chiere, So that this Prest in such manere, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 133=] Whil that him liketh, there he duelleth: And al this he to Bachus telleth, Whan that he cam to him ayein. And whan that Bachus herde sein[1468] How Mide hath don his courtesie, Him thenkth it were a vilenie, 170 Bot he rewarde him for his dede, So as he mihte of his godhiede. Unto this king this god appiereth[1469] And clepeth, and that other hiereth: This god to Mide thonketh faire Of that he was so debonaire Toward his Prest, and bad him seie: What thing it were he wolde preie, He scholde it have, of worldes good. This king was glad, and stille stod, 180 And was of his axinge in doute, And al the world he caste aboute, What thing was best for his astat, And with himself stod in debat Upon thre pointz, the whiche I finde[1470] Ben lievest unto mannes kinde. The ferste of hem it is delit, The tuo ben worschipe and profit.[1471] And thanne he thoghte, ‘If that I crave Delit, thogh I delit mai have, 190 Delit schal passen in myn age: That is no siker avantage. For every joie bodily Schal ende in wo: delit forthi [Sidenote: =P. ii. 134=] Wol I noght chese. And if worschipe I axe and of the world lordschipe,[1472] That is an occupacion Of proud ymaginacion, Which makth an herte vein withinne; Ther is no certein forto winne, 200 For lord and knave al is o weie,[1473] Whan thei be bore and whan thei deie. And if I profit axe wolde, I not in what manere I scholde Of worldes good have sikernesse; For every thief upon richesse Awaiteth forto robbe and stele: Such good is cause of harmes fele. And also, thogh a man at ones Of al the world withinne his wones[1474] 210 The tresor myhte have everydel,[1475] Yit hadde he bot o mannes del[1476] Toward himself, so as I thinke, Of clothinge and of mete and drinke, For more, outake vanite, Ther hath no lord in his degre.’ And thus upon the pointz diverse[1477] Diverseliche he gan reherce What point him thoghte for the beste; Bot pleinly forto gete him reste 220 He can no siker weie caste. And natheles yit ate laste He fell upon the coveitise Of gold; and thanne in sondri wise [Sidenote: =P. ii. 135=] He thoghte, as I have seid tofore, Hou tresor mai be sone lore, And hadde an inly gret desir Touchende of such recoverir, Hou that he mihte his cause availe To gete him gold withoute faile. 230 Withinne his herte and thus he preiseth The gold, and seith hou that it peiseth Above al other metall most: ‘The gold,’ he seith, ‘may lede an host To make werre ayein a King;[1478] [Sidenote: Salomon. Pecunie obediunt omnia.] The gold put under alle thing, And set it whan him list above; The gold can make of hate love And werre of pes and ryht of wrong, And long to schort and schort to long; 240 Withoute gold mai be no feste, Gold is the lord of man and beste,[1479] And mai hem bothe beie and selle; So that a man mai sothly telle That al the world to gold obeieth.’ Forthi this king to Bachus preieth To grante him gold, bot he excedeth Mesure more than him nedeth. Men tellen that the maladie[1480] Which cleped is ydropesie 250 Resembled is unto this vice Be weie of kinde of Avarice: The more ydropesie drinketh,[1481] The more him thursteth, for him thinketh [Sidenote: =P. ii. 136=] That he mai nevere drinke his fille; So that ther mai nothing fulfille The lustes of his appetit: And riht in such a maner plit Stant Avarice and evere stod; The more he hath of worldes good, 260 The more he wolde it kepe streyte, And evere mor and mor coveite. And riht in such condicioun Withoute good discrecioun This king with avarice is smite, That al the world it myhte wite: For he to Bachus thanne preide, That wherupon his hond he leide,[1482] It scholde thurgh his touche anon Become gold, and therupon 270 This god him granteth as he bad. Tho was this king of Frige glad, And forto put it in assai[1483] With al the haste that he mai,[1484] He toucheth that, he toucheth this, And in his hond al gold it is, The Ston, the Tree, the Lef, the gras, The flour, the fruit, al gold it was.[1485] Thus toucheth he, whil he mai laste To go, bot hunger ate laste 280 Him tok, so that he moste nede[1486] Be weie of kinde his hunger fede. The cloth was leid, the bord was set, And al was forth tofore him fet, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 137=] His disch, his coppe, his drinke, his mete; Bot whanne he wolde or drinke or ete, Anon as it his mouth cam nyh, It was al gold, and thanne he syh[1487] Of Avarice the folie. And he with that began to crie, 290 And preide Bachus to foryive His gilt, and soffre him forto live And be such as he was tofore, So that he were noght forlore. This god, which herde of his grevance,[1488] Tok rowthe upon his repentance, And bad him go forth redily Unto a flod was faste by, Which Paceole thanne hyhte, In which as clene as evere he myhte 300 He scholde him waisshen overal,[1489] And seide him thanne that he schal Recovere his ferste astat ayein. This king, riht as he herde sein, Into the flod goth fro the lond, And wissh him bothe fot and hond,[1490] And so forth al the remenant, As him was set in covenant: And thanne he syh merveilles strange, The flod his colour gan to change, 310 The gravel with the smale Stones To gold thei torne bothe at ones, And he was quit of that he hadde, And thus fortune his chance ladde.[1491] [Sidenote: =P. ii. 138=] And whan he sih his touche aweie, He goth him hom the rihte weie[1492] And liveth forth as he dede er, And putte al Avarice afer, And the richesse of gold despiseth, And seith that mete and cloth sufficeth. 320 Thus hath this king experience Hou foles don the reverence To gold, which of his oghne kinde Is lasse worth than is the rinde To sustienance of mannes fode; And thanne he made lawes goode And al his thing sette upon skile: He bad his poeple forto tile Here lond, and live under the lawe, And that thei scholde also forthdrawe 330 Bestaile, and seche non encress Of gold, which is the breche of pes.[1493] For this a man mai finde write, Tofor the time, er gold was smite In Coign, that men the florin knewe, Ther was welnyh noman untrewe; Tho was ther nouther schield ne spere Ne dedly wepne forto bere; Tho was the toun withoute wal, Which nou is closed overal; 340 Tho was ther no brocage in londe, Which nou takth every cause on honde: So mai men knowe, hou the florin Was moder ferst of malengin [Sidenote: =P. ii. 139=] And bringere inne of alle werre, Wherof this world stant out of herre Thurgh the conseil of Avarice, Which of his oghne propre vice Is as the helle wonderfull; For it mai neveremor be full,[1494] 350 That what as evere comth therinne, Awey ne may it nevere winne. Bot Sone myn, do thou noght so, Let al such Avarice go, And tak thi part of that thou hast: I bidde noght that thou do wast, Bot hold largesce in his mesure; And if thou se a creature, Which thurgh poverte is falle in nede, Yif him som good, for this I rede 360 To him that wol noght yiven here, What peine he schal have elleswhere. [Sidenote: [THE PUNISHMENT OF TANTALUS.]] Ther is a peine amonges alle Benethe in helle, which men calle[1495] [Sidenote: Nota de pena Tantali, cuius amara sitis dampnatos torquet auaros.] The wofull peine of Tantaly, Of which I schal thee redely Devise hou men therinne stonde. In helle, thou schalt understonde,[1496] Ther is a flod of thilke office, Which serveth al for Avarice: 370 What man that stonde schal therinne,[1497] He stant up evene unto the chinne;[1498] Above his hed also ther hongeth A fruyt, which to that peine longeth, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 140=] And that fruit toucheth evere in on His overlippe: and therupon Swich thurst and hunger him assaileth, That nevere his appetit ne faileth. Bot whanne he wolde his hunger fede, The fruit withdrawth him ate nede, 380 And thogh he heve his bed on hyh, The fruit is evere aliche nyh, So is the hunger wel the more: And also, thogh him thurste sore And to the water bowe a doun,[1499] The flod in such condicioun Avaleth, that his drinke areche He mai noght. Lo nou, which a wreche, That mete and drinke is him so couth, And yit ther comth non in his mouth! 390 Lich to the peines of this flod Stant Avarice in worldes good: He hath ynowh and yit him nedeth, For his skarsnesse it him forbiedeth,[1500] And evere his hunger after more Travaileth him aliche sore, So is he peined overal. Forthi thi goodes forth withal, [Sidenote: [AVARICE.]] Mi Sone, loke thou despende, Wherof thou myht thiself amende 400 Bothe hier and ek in other place. And also if thou wolt pourchace[1501] To be beloved, thou most use Largesce, for if thou refuse [Sidenote: =P. ii. 141=] To yive for thi loves sake, It is no reson that thou take Of love that thou woldest crave. Forthi, if thou wolt grace have, Be gracious and do largesse, Of Avarice and the seknesse 410 Eschuie above alle other thing, And tak ensample of Mide king And of the flod of helle also, Where is ynowh of alle wo. And thogh ther were no matiere Bot only that we finden hiere, Men oghten Avarice eschuie; For what man thilke vice suie, He get himself bot litel reste. For hou so that the body reste, 420 The herte upon the gold travaileth, Whom many a nyhtes drede assaileth; For thogh he ligge abedde naked, His herte is everemore awaked,[1502] And dremeth, as he lith to slepe, How besi that he is to kepe His tresor, that no thief it stele. Thus hath he bot a woful wele. [Sidenote: [JEALOUSY OF LOVERS.]] And riht so in the same wise, If thou thiself wolt wel avise, 430 Ther be lovers of suche ynowe, That wole unto no reson bowe. If so be that thei come above, Whan thei ben maistres of here love, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 142=] And that thei scholden be most glad, With love thei ben most bestad, So fain thei wolde it holden al. Here herte, here yhe is overal, And wenen every man be thief, To stele awey that hem is lief; 440 Thus thurgh here oghne fantasie Thei fallen into Jelousie. Thanne hath the Schip tobroke his cable, With every wynd and is muable. [Sidenote: Amans.] Mi fader, for that ye nou telle, I have herd ofte time telle Of Jelousie, bot what it is Yit understod I nevere er this:[1503] Wherfore I wolde you beseche, That ye me wolde enforme and teche 450 What maner thing it mihte be. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Mi Sone, that is hard to me: Bot natheles, as I have herd, Now herkne and thou schalt ben ansuerd.[1504]

Among the men lacke of manhode In Mariage upon wifhode Makth that a man himself deceiveth, [Sidenote: Nota de[1505] Ialousia, cuius fantastica suspicio amorem quamuis fidelissimum multociens sine causa corruptum ymaginatur.] Wherof it is that he conceiveth That ilke unsely maladie,[1506] The which is cleped Jelousie: 460 Of which if I the proprete Schal telle after the nycete, So as it worcheth on a man,[1507] A Fievere it is cotidian, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 143=] Which every day wol come aboute, Wher so a man be inne or oute. At hom if that a man wol wone, This Fievere is thanne of comun wone Most grevous in a mannes yhe: For thanne he makth him tote and pryhe, 470 Wher so as evere his love go;[1508] Sche schal noght with hir litel too Misteppe, bot he se it al. His yhe is walkende overal; Wher that sche singe or that sche dance, He seth the leste contienance, If sche loke on a man aside Or with him roune at eny tyde, Or that sche lawghe, or that sche loure, His yhe is ther at every houre. 480 And whanne it draweth to the nyht, If sche thanne is withoute lyht, Anon is al the game schent; For thanne he set his parlement To speke it whan he comth to bedde, And seith, ‘If I were now to wedde,[1509] I wolde neveremore have wif.’[1510] And so he torneth into strif The lust of loves duete, And al upon diversete. 490 If sche be freissh and wel araied, He seith hir baner is displaied To clepe in gestes fro the weie:[1511] And if sche be noght wel beseie, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 144=] And that hir list noght to be gladd, He berth an hond that sche is madd And loveth noght hire housebonde; He seith he mai wel understonde, That if sche wolde his compaignie, Sche scholde thanne afore his ÿe 500 Schewe al the plesir that sche mihte. So that be daie ne be nyhte Sche not what thing is for the beste, Bot liveth out of alle reste; For what as evere him liste sein,[1512] Sche dar noght speke a word ayein, Bot wepth and holt hire lippes clos. Sche mai wel wryte, ‘Sanz repos,’ The wif which is to such on maried. Of alle wommen be he waried, 510 For with this Fievere of Jalousie[1513] His echedaies fantasie Of sorghe is evere aliche grene, So that ther is no love sene, Whil that him list at hom abyde. And whan so is he wol out ryde, Thanne hath he redi his aspie Abidinge in hir compaignie, A janglere, an evel mouthed oon, That sche ne mai nowhider gon, 520 Ne speke a word, ne ones loke, That he ne wol it wende and croke And torne after his oghne entente, Thogh sche nothing bot honour mente. [Sidenote: =P. ii. 145=] Whan that the lord comth hom ayein, The janglere moste somwhat sein; So what withoute and what withinne, This Fievere is evere to beginne, For where he comth he can noght ende, Til deth of him have mad an ende. 530 For thogh so be that he ne hiere Ne se ne wite in no manere Bot al honour and wommanhiede, Therof the Jelous takth non hiede,[1514] Bot as a man to love unkinde, He cast his staf, as doth the blinde,[1515] And fint defaulte where is non; As who so dremeth on a Ston Hou he is leid, and groneth ofte, Whan he lith on his pilwes softe. 540 So is ther noght bot strif and cheste; Whan love scholde make his feste, It is gret thing if he hir kisse: Thus hath sche lost the nyhtes blisse, For at such time he gruccheth evere[1516] And berth on hond ther is a levere, And that sche wolde an other were In stede of him abedde there; And with tho wordes and with mo Of Jelousie, he torneth fro 550 And lith upon his other side,[1517] And sche with that drawth hire aside, And ther sche wepeth al the nyht. Ha, to what peine sche is dyht, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 146=] That in hire youthe hath so beset The bond which mai noght ben unknet! I wot the time is ofte cursed, That evere was the gold unpursed, The which was leid upon the bok, Whan that alle othre sche forsok 560 For love of him; bot al to late Sche pleigneth, for as thanne algate Sche mot forbere and to him bowe, Thogh he ne wole it noght allowe. For man is lord of thilke feire, So mai the womman bot empeire, If sche speke oght ayein his wille; And thus sche berth hir peine stille. Bot if this Fievere a womman take, Sche schal be wel mor harde schake; 570 For thogh sche bothe se and hiere, And finde that ther is matiere, Sche dar bot to hirselve pleine, And thus sche suffreth double peine, [Sidenote: Confessor.] Lo thus, mi Sone, as I have write, Thou miht of Jelousie wite His fievere and his condicion, Which is full of suspecion. Bot wherof that this fievere groweth, Who so these olde bokes troweth, 580 Ther mai he finden hou it is: For thei ous teche and telle this, Hou that this fievere of Jelousie Somdel it groweth of sotie [Sidenote: =P. ii. 147=] Of love, and somdiel of untrust. For as a sek man lest his lust, And whan he may no savour gete, He hateth thanne his oughne mete, Riht so this fieverous maladie, Which caused is of fantasie, 590 Makth the Jelous in fieble plit To lese of love his appetit Thurgh feigned enformacion Of his ymaginacion. Bot finali to taken hiede, Men mai wel make a liklihiede Betwen him which is averous Of gold and him that is jelous Of love, for in on degre Thei stonde bothe, as semeth me. 600 That oon wolde have his bagges stille,[1518] And noght departen with his wille, And dar noght for the thieves slepe, So fain he wolde his tresor kepe; That other mai noght wel be glad, For he is evere more adrad[1519] Of these lovers that gon aboute, In aunter if thei putte him oute. So have thei bothe litel joye As wel of love as of monoie. 610 Now hast thou, Sone, at my techinge[1520] Of Jelousie a knowlechinge, That thou myht understonde this, Fro whenne he comth and what he is, [Sidenote: =P. ii. 148=] And ek to whom that he is lik. Be war forthi thou be noght sik Of thilke fievere as I have spoke, For it wol in himself be wroke. For love hateth nothing more, As men mai finde be the lore 620 Of hem that whilom were wise, Hou that thei spieke in many wise. [Sidenote: Amans.] Mi fader, soth is that ye sein. Bot forto loke therayein, Befor this time hou it is falle, Wherof ther mihte ensample falle To suche men as be jelous In what manere it is grevous, Riht fain I wolde ensample hiere. [Sidenote: Confessor.] My goode Sone, at thi preiere 630 Of suche ensamples as I finde, So as thei comen nou to mynde Upon this point, of time gon I thenke forto tellen on.

[Sidenote: [TALE OF VULCAN AND VENUS.]] Ovide wrot of manye thinges, Among the whiche in his wrytinges He tolde a tale in Poesie, Which toucheth unto Jelousie, Upon a certein cas of love. [Sidenote: Hic ponit exemplum contra istos maritos quos Ialousia maculauit. Et narrat qualiter Vulcanus, cuius vxor Venus extitit, suspicionem inter ipsam et Martem concipiens, eorum gestus diligencius explorabat: vnde contigit quod ipse quadam vice ambos inter se pariter amplexantes in lecto nudos inuenit, et exclamans omnem cetum deorum et dearum ad tantum spectaculum conuocauit: super quo tamen derisum pocius quam remedium a tota cohorte consecutus est.] Among the goddes alle above 640 It fell at thilke time thus: The god of fyr, which Vulcanus Is hote, and hath a craft forthwith Assigned, forto be the Smith [Sidenote: =P. ii. 149=] Of Jupiter, and his figure Bothe of visage and of stature Is lothly and malgracious, Bot yit he hath withinne his hous As for the likynge of his lif[1521] The faire Venus to his wif. 650 Bot Mars, which of batailles is The god, an yhe hadde unto this: As he which was chivalerous, It fell him to ben amerous,[1522] And thoghte it was a gret pite To se so lusti on as sche Be coupled with so lourde a wiht: So that his peine day and nyht He dede, if he hire winne myhte;[1523] And sche, which hadde a good insihte[1524] 660 Toward so noble a knyhtli lord, In love fell of his acord. Ther lacketh noght bot time and place, That he nys siker of hire grace: Bot whan tuo hertes falle in on, So wys await was nevere non, That at som time thei ne mete; And thus this faire lusti swete With Mars hath ofte compaignie. Bot thilke unkynde Jelousie, 670 Which everemor the herte opposeth,[1525] Makth Vulcanus that he supposeth That it is noght wel overal, And to himself he seide, he schal [Sidenote: =P. ii. 150=] Aspie betre, if that he may; And so it fell upon a day, That he this thing so slyhli ledde, He fond hem bothe tuo abedde Al warm, echon with other naked. And he with craft al redy maked 680 Of stronge chenes hath hem bounde,[1526] As he togedre hem hadde founde, And lefte hem bothe ligge so, And gan to clepe and crie tho Unto the goddes al aboute; And thei assembled in a route Come alle at ones forto se. Bot none amendes hadde he, Bot was rebuked hiere and there Of hem that loves frendes were; 690 And seiden that he was to blame,[1527] For if ther fell him eny schame, It was thurgh his misgovernance: And thus he loste contienance, This god, and let his cause falle; And thei to skorne him lowhen alle, And losen Mars out of hise bondes. Wherof these erthli housebondes[1528] For evere myhte ensample take, If such a chaunce hem overtake: 700 For Vulcanus his wif bewreide, The blame upon himself he leide,[1529] Wherof his schame was the more; Which oghte forto ben a lore [Sidenote: =P. ii. 151=] For every man that liveth hiere, To reulen him in this matiere. Thogh such an happ of love asterte, Yit scholde he noght apointe his herte With Jelousie of that is wroght, Bot feigne, as thogh he wiste it noght: 710 For if he lete it overpasse, The sclaundre schal be wel the lasse, And he the more in ese stonde. For this thou myht wel understonde, That where a man schal nedes lese, The leste harm is forto chese. Bot Jelousie of his untrist Makth that full many an harm arist, Which elles scholde noght arise; And if a man him wolde avise 720 Of that befell to Vulcanus, Him oghte of reson thenke thus, That sithe a god therof was schamed, Wel scholde an erthli man be blamed To take upon him such a vice. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Forthi, my Sone, in thin office Be war that thou be noght jelous, Which ofte time hath schent the hous. [Sidenote: Amans.] Mi fader, this ensample is hard, Hou such thing to the heveneward 730 Among the goddes myhte falle: For ther is bot o god of alle, Which is the lord of hevene and helle. Bot if it like you to telle [Sidenote: =P. ii. 152=] Hou suche goddes come aplace, Ye mihten mochel thonk pourchace, For I schal be wel tawht withal. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Mi Sone, it is thus overal With hem that stonden misbelieved, That suche goddes ben believed: 740 In sondri place sondri wise Amonges hem whiche are unwise Ther is betaken of credence; Wherof that I the difference In the manere as it is write Schal do the pleinly forto wite.

[Sidenote: [THE GODS OF THE NATIONS.]] ii. Gentibus illusis signantur templa deorum,[1530] Vnde deos cecos nacio ceca colit. Nulla creatori racio facit esse creatum Equiperans, quod adhuc iura pagana fouent.[1531]

[Sidenote: [i. BELIEF OF THE CHALDEANS.]] Er Crist was bore among ous hiere, Of the believes that tho were [Sidenote: Quia secundum Poetarum fabulas in huius libelli locis quam pluribus nomina et gestus deorum falsorum intitulantur, quorum infidelitas vt Cristianis clarius innotescat, intendit de ipsorum origine secundum varias Paganorum Sectas scribere consequenter. Et primo de Secta Chaldeorum tractare proponit.] In foure formes thus it was. Thei of Caldee as in this cas 750 Hadde a believe be hemselve, Which stod upon the signes tuelve, Forth ek with the Planetes sevene, Whiche as thei sihe upon the hevene. Of sondri constellacion In here ymaginacion With sondri kerf and pourtreture Thei made of goddes the figure. In thelementz and ek also Thei hadden a believe tho; 760 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 153=] And al was that unresonable: For thelementz ben servicable To man, and ofte of Accidence, As men mai se thexperience,[1532] Thei ben corrupt be sondri weie; So mai no mannes reson seie That thei ben god in eny wise. And ek, if men hem wel avise, The Sonne and Mone eclipse bothe, That be hem lieve or be hem lothe, 770 Thei soffre; and what thing is passible To ben a god is impossible. [Sidenote: Et nota[1533] quod Nembroth quartus a Noe ignem tanquam deum in Chaldea primus adorari decreuit.] These elementz ben creatures, So ben these hevenly figures, Wherof mai wel be justefied That thei mai noght be deified: And who that takth awey thonour Which due is to the creatour, And yifth it to the creature, He doth to gret a forsfaiture. 780 Bot of Caldee natheles[1534] Upon this feith, thogh it be les, Thei holde affermed the creance; So that of helle the penance, [Sidenote: [ii. BELIEF OF THE EGYPTIANS.]] As folk which stant out of believe, They schull receive, as we believe.[1535] [Sidenote: De Secta Egipciorum.[1536]] Of the Caldeus lo in this wise[1537] Stant the believe out of assisse: Bot in Egipte worst of alle The feith is fals, hou so it falle; 790 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 154=] For thei diverse bestes there Honoure, as thogh thei goddes were:[1538] And natheles yit forth withal Thre goddes most in special Thei have, forth with a goddesse,[1539] In whom is al here sikernesse. Tho goddes be yit cleped thus, Orus, Typhon and Isirus: Thei were brethren alle thre, And the goddesse in hir degre 800 Here Soster was and Ysis hyhte, Whom Isirus forlai be nyhte And hield hire after as his wif. So it befell that upon strif Typhon hath Isre his brother slain, Which hadde a child to Sone Orayn, And he his fader deth to herte So tok, that it mai noght asterte That he Typhon after ne slowh, Whan he was ripe of age ynowh. 810 Bot yit thegipcienes trowe[1540] For al this errour, which thei knowe, That these brethren ben of myht To sette and kepe Egipte upriht, And overthrowe, if that hem like. Bot Ysis, as seith the Cronique, Fro Grece into Egipte cam, And sche thanne upon honde nam To teche hem forto sowe and eere, Which noman knew tofore there. 820 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 155=] And whan thegipcienes syhe[1541] The fieldes fulle afore here yhe, And that the loud began to greine, Which whilom hadde be bareigne,-- For therthe bar after the kinde His due charge,--this I finde, That sche of berthe the goddesse Is cleped, so that in destresse The wommen there upon childinge To hire clepe, and here offringe 830 Thei beren, whan that thei ben lyhte. Lo, hou Egipte al out of syhte [Sidenote: [iii. BELIEF OF THE GREEKS.]] Fro resoun stant in misbelieve[1542] For lacke of lore, as I believe. [Sidenote: De Secta Grecorum.[1543]] Among the Greks, out of the weie As thei that reson putte aweie,[1544] Ther was, as the Cronique seith, Of misbelieve an other feith, That thei here goddes and goddesses, As who seith, token al to gesses 840 Of suche as weren full of vice, To whom thei made here sacrifice. The hihe god, so as thei seide, To whom thei most worschipe leide, [Sidenote: Nota qualiter Saturnus deorum summus appellatur.] Saturnus hihte, and king of Crete He hadde be; bot of his sete He was put doun, as he which stod In frenesie, and was so wod, That fro his wif, which Rea hihte, Hise oghne children he to plihte,[1545] 850 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 156=] And eet hem of his comun wone. Bot Jupiter, which was his Sone And of full age, his fader bond And kutte of with his oghne hond Hise genitals, whiche als so faste Into the depe See he caste; Wherof the Greks afferme and seie, Thus whan thei were caste aweie, Cam Venus forth be weie of kinde. And of Saturne also I finde 860 How afterward into an yle This Jupiter him dede exile,[1546] Wher that he stod in gret meschief. Lo, which a god thei maden chief! And sithen that such on was he, Which stod most hihe in his degre[1547] Among the goddes, thou miht knowe, These othre, that ben more lowe, Ben litel worth, as it is founde. [Sidenote: Iupiter deus deliciarum.] For Jupiter was the secounde, 870 Which Juno hadde unto his wif; And yit a lechour al his lif He was, and in avouterie He wroghte many a tricherie; And for he was so full of vices, Thei cleped him god of delices: Of whom, if thou wolt more wite, Ovide the Poete hath write. Bot yit here Sterres bothe tuo, Saturne and Jupiter also, 880 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 157=] Thei have, althogh thei be to blame, Attitled to here oghne name. [Sidenote: Mars deus belli.] Mars was an other in that lawe, The which in Dace was forthdrawe, Of whom the clerk Vegecius Wrot in his bok, and tolde thus, Hou he into Ytaile cam, And such fortune ther he nam, That he a Maiden hath oppressed, Which in hire ordre was professed, 890 As sche which was the Prioresse In Vestes temple the goddesse, So was sche wel the mor to blame.[1548] Dame Ylia this ladi name Men clepe, and ek sche was also The kinges dowhter that was tho, Which Mynitor be name hihte. So that ayein the lawes ryhte Mars thilke time upon hire that Remus and Romulus begat, 900 Whiche after, whan thei come in Age,[1549] Of knihthode and of vassellage Ytaile al hol thei overcome And foundeden the grete Rome; In Armes and of such emprise Thei weren, that in thilke wise Here fader Mars for the mervaile The god was cleped of bataille. Thei were his children bothe tuo, Thurgh hem he tok his name so, 910 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 158=] Ther was non other cause why: And yit a Sterre upon the Sky He hath unto his name applied, In which that he is signified. [Sidenote: Appollo deus Sapiencie.[1550]] An other god thei hadden eke, To whom for conseil thei beseke, The which was brother to Venus, Appollo men him clepe thus. He was an Hunte upon the helles, Ther was with him no vertu elles, 920 Wherof that enye bokes karpe, Bot only that he couthe harpe; Which whanne he walked over londe,[1551] Fulofte time he tok on honde, To gete him with his sustienance, For lacke of other pourveance. And otherwhile of his falshede He feignede him to conne arede[1552] Of thing which after scholde falle; Wherof among hise sleyhtes alle 930 He hath the lewed folk deceived, So that the betre he was received. Lo now, thurgh what creacion He hath deificacion, And cleped is the god of wit To suche as be the foles yit.[1553] [Sidenote: Mercurius deus Mercatorum et furtorum.[1554]] An other god, to whom thei soghte, Mercurie hihte, and him ne roghte What thing he stal, ne whom he slowh.[1555] Of Sorcerie he couthe ynowh, 940 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 159=] That whanne he wolde himself transforme, Fulofte time he tok the forme Of womman and his oghne lefte; So dede he wel the more thefte. A gret spekere in alle thinges He was also, and of lesinges An Auctour, that men wiste non An other such as he was on.[1556] And yit thei maden of this thief A god, which was unto hem lief, 950 And clepede him in tho believes[1557] The god of Marchantz and of thieves. Bot yit a sterre upon the hevene He hath of the planetes sevene. [Sidenote: Vulcanus deus Ignis.] But Vulcanus, of whom I spak, He hadde a courbe upon the bak, And therto he was hepehalt: Of whom thou understonde schalt, He was a schrewe in al his youthe, And he non other vertu couthe 960 Of craft to helpe himselve with, Bot only that he was a Smith With Jupiter, which in his forge Diverse thinges made him forge; So wot I noght for what desir Thei clepen him the god of fyr. [Sidenote: Eolus deus ventorum.[1558]] King of Cizile Ypolitus A Sone hadde, and Eolus He hihte, and of his fader grant He hield be weie of covenant 970 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 160=] The governance of every yle Which was longende unto Cizile, Of hem that fro the lond forein Leie open to the wynd al plein. And fro thilke iles to the londe Fulofte cam the wynd to honde: After the name of him forthi The wyndes cleped Eoli Tho were, and he the god of wynd.[1559] Lo nou, hou this believe is blynd! 980 The king of Crete Jupiter, [Sidenote: Neptunus deus maris.[1560]] The same which I spak of er, Unto his brother, which Neptune Was hote, it list him to comune Part of his good, so that be Schipe He mad him strong of the lordschipe[1561] Of al the See in tho parties;[1562] Wher that he wroghte his tyrannyes, And the strange yles al aboute[1563] He wan, that every man hath doute 990 Upon his marche forto saile; For he anon hem wolde assaile[1564] And robbe what thing that thei ladden, His sauf conduit bot if thei hadden. Wherof the comun vois aros In every lond, that such a los He cawhte, al nere it worth a stre, That he was cleped of the See The god be name, and yit he is With hem that so believe amis. 1000 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 161=] This Neptune ek was thilke also, Which was the ferste foundour tho Of noble Troie, and he forthi Was wel the more lete by. [Sidenote: Pan deus nature.] The loresman of the Schepherdes, And ek of hem that ben netherdes,[1565] Was of Archade and hihte Pan: Of whom hath spoke many a man; For in the wode of Nonarcigne,[1566] Enclosed with the tres of Pigne, 1010 And on the Mont of Parasie He hadde of bestes the baillie, And ek benethe in the valleie,[1567] Wher thilke rivere, as men seie, Which Ladon hihte, made his cours, He was the chief of governours Of hem that kepten tame bestes, Wherof thei maken yit the festes In the Cite Stinfalides. And forth withal yit natheles 1020 He tawhte men the forthdrawinge Of bestaile, and ek the makinge Of Oxen, and of hors the same, Hou men hem scholde ryde and tame: Of foules ek, so as we finde, Ful many a soubtiel craft of kinde He fond, which noman knew tofore. Men dede him worschipe ek therfore, That he the ferste in thilke lond Was which the melodie fond 1030 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 162=] Of Riedes, whan thei weren ripe, With double pipes forto pipe; Therof he yaf the ferste lore, Til afterward men couthe more. To every craft for mannes helpe He hadde a redi wit to helpe Thurgh naturel experience: And thus the nyce reverence Of foles, whan that he was ded, The fot hath torned to the hed, 1040 And clepen him god of nature, For so thei maden his figure. [Sidenote: Bachus deus vini.] An other god, so as thei fiele, Which Jupiter upon Samele Begat in his avouterie, Whom, forto hide his lecherie, That non therof schal take kepe, In a Montaigne forto kepe, Which Dyon hihte and was in Ynde, He sende, in bokes as I finde:[1568] 1050 And he be name Bachus hihte, Which afterward, whan that he mihte, A wastour was, and al his rente In wyn and bordel he despente. Bot yit, al were he wonder badde, Among the Greks a name he hadde; Thei cleped him the god of wyn, And thus a glotoun was dyvyn.[1569] [Sidenote: Esculapius deus medicine.[1570]] Ther was yit Esculapius A godd in thilke time as thus. 1060 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 163=] His craft stod upon Surgerie, Bot for the lust of lecherie, That he to Daires dowhter drowh, It fell that Jupiter him slowh: And yit thei made him noght forthi[1571] A god, and was no cause why. In Rome he was long time also A god among the Romeins tho; For, as he seide, of his presence Ther was destruid a pestilence, 1070 Whan thei to thyle of Delphos wente, And that Appollo with hem sente[1572] This Esculapius his Sone, Among the Romeins forto wone. And there he duelte for a while, Til afterward into that yle, Fro whenne he cam, ayein he torneth, Where al his lyf that he sojorneth Among the Greks, til that he deide. And thei upon him thanne leide 1080 His name, and god of medicine He hatte after that ilke line. [Sidenote: Hercules deus fortitudinis.[1573]] An other god of Hercules Thei made, which was natheles A man, bot that he was so strong, In al this world that brod and long So myhti was noman as he. Merveiles tuelve in his degre, As it was couth in sondri londes, He dede with hise oghne hondes 1090 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 164=] Ayein geantz and Monstres bothe, The whiche horrible were and lothe, Bot he with strengthe hem overcam: Wherof so gret a pris he nam, That thei him clepe amonges alle The god of strengthe, and to him calle. And yit ther is no reson inne, For he a man was full of sinne, Which proved was upon his ende, For in a rage himself he brende; 1100 And such a cruel mannes dede Acordeth nothing with godhede. [Sidenote: Pluto deus Inferni.[1574]] Thei hadde of goddes yit an other, Which Pluto hihte, and was the brother Of Jupiter, and he fro youthe[1575] With every word which cam to mouthe, Of eny thing whan he was wroth,[1576] He wolde swere his commun oth, Be Lethen and be Flegeton,[1577] Be Cochitum and Acheron, 1110 The whiche, after the bokes telle, Ben the chief flodes of the helle:[1578] Be Segne and Stige he swor also, That ben the depe Pettes tuo Of helle the most principal. Pluto these othes overal Swor of his commun custummance, Til it befell upon a chance, That he for Jupiteres sake[1579] Unto the goddes let do make 1120 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 165=] A sacrifice, and for that dede On of the pettes for his mede In helle, of which I spak of er, Was granted him; and thus he ther Upon the fortune of this thing The name tok of helle king. Lo, these goddes and wel mo Among the Greks thei hadden tho, And of goddesses manyon, Whos names thou schalt hiere anon, 1130 And in what wise thei deceiven The foles whiche here feith receiven.

[Sidenote: Nota, qualiter Sibeles Dearum[1580] Mater et origo nuncupatur.] So as Saturne is soverein Of false goddes, as thei sein, So is Sibeles of goddesses The Moder, whom withoute gesses The folk Payene honoure and serve, As thei the whiche hire lawe observe.[1581] Bot forto knowen upon this Fro when sche cam and what sche is, 1140 Bethincia the contre hihte, Wher sche cam ferst to mannes sihte; And after was Saturnes wif, Be whom thre children in hire lif Sche bar, and thei were cleped tho Juno, Neptunus and Pluto, The whiche of nyce fantasie The poeple wolde deifie. And for hire children were so,[1582] Sibeles thanne was also 1150 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 166=] Mad a goddesse, and thei hire calle The moder of the goddes alle. So was that name bore forth, And yit the cause is litel worth. [Sidenote: Iuno Dea Regnorum et diuiciarum.[1583]] A vois unto Saturne tolde Hou that his oghne Sone him scholde[1584] Out of his regne putte aweie; And he be cause of thilke weie, That him was schape such a fate, Sibele his wif began to hate 1160 And ek hire progenie bothe. And thus, whil that thei were wrothe, Be Philerem upon a dai In his avouterie he lai, On whom he Jupiter begat;[1585] And thilke child was after that Which wroghte al that was prophecied, As it tofore is specefied: So that whan Jupiter of Crete Was king, a wif unto him mete 1170 The Dowhter of Sibele he tok, And that was Juno, seith the bok.[1586] Of his deificacion After the false oppinion, That have I told, so as thei meene; And for this Juno was the queene[1587] Of Jupiter and Soster eke, The foles unto hire sieke, And sein that sche is the goddesse Of Regnes bothe and of richesse: 1180 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 167=] And ek sche, as thei understonde, The water Nimphes hath in honde To leden at hire oghne heste; And whan hir list the Sky tempeste, The reinbowe is hir Messager. Lo, which a misbelieve is hier! That sche goddesse is of the Sky I wot non other cause why. [Sidenote: Minerua Dea sapienciarum.] An other goddesse is Minerve, To whom the Greks obeie and serve: 1190 And sche was nyh the grete lay Of Triton founde, wher sche lay A child forcast, bot what sche was Ther knew noman the sothe cas. Bot in Aufrique sche was leid In the manere as I have seid, And caried fro that ilke place Into an Yle fer in Trace, The which Palene thanne hihte,[1588] Wher a Norrice hir kepte and dihte. 1200 And after, for sche was so wys[1589] That sche fond ferst in hire avis The cloth makinge of wolle and lyn,[1590] Men seiden that sche was divin, And the goddesse of Sapience Thei clepen hire in that credence. [Sidenote: Pallas Dea bellorum.[1591]] Of the goddesse which Pallas Is cleped sondri speche was. On seith hire fader was Pallant, Which in his time was geant, 1210 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 168=] A cruel man, a bataillous: An other seith hou in his hous Sche was the cause why he deide. And of this Pallas some ek seide That sche was Martes wif; and so Among the men that weren tho Of misbelieve in the riote The goddesse of batailles hote She was, and yit sche berth the name. Now loke, hou they be forto blame. 1220 [Sidenote: Ceres dea frugum.[1592]] Saturnus after his exil Fro Crete cam in gret peril Into the londes of Ytaile, And ther he dede gret mervaile, Wherof his name duelleth yit. For he fond of his oghne wit The ferste craft of plowh tilinge, Of Eringe and of corn sowinge, And how men scholden sette vines And of the grapes make wynes;[1593] 1230 Al this he tawhte, and it fell so, His wif, the which cam with him tho,[1594] Was cleped Cereres be name, And for sche tawhte also the same, And was his wif that ilke throwe, As it was to the poeple knowe, Thei made of Ceres a goddesse, In whom here tilthe yit thei blesse,[1595] And sein that Tricolonius Hire Sone goth amonges ous 1240 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 169=] And makth the corn good chep or dere, Riht as hire list fro yer to yeere; So that this wif be cause of this Goddesse of Cornes cleped is. [Sidenote: Diana Dea Moncium et Siluarum.[1596]] King Jupiter, which his likinge Whilom fulfelde in alle thinge, So priveliche aboute he ladde His lust, that he his wille hadde Of Latona, and on hire that Diane his dowhter he begat 1250 Unknowen of his wif Juno. And afterward sche knew it so,[1597] That Latona for drede fledde[1598] Into an Ile, wher sche hedde Hire wombe, which of childe aros. Thilke yle cleped was Delos;[1599] In which Diana was forthbroght, And kept so that hire lacketh noght. And after, whan sche was of Age, Sche tok non hiede of mariage, 1260 Bot out of mannes compaignie Sche tok hire al to venerie[1600] In forest and in wildernesse; For ther was al hire besinesse Be daie and ek be nyhtes tyde With arwes brode under the side And bowe in honde, of which sche slowh And tok al that hir liste ynowh Of bestes whiche ben chacable: Wherof the Cronique of this fable 1270 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 170=] Seith that the gentils most of alle Worschipen hire and to hire calle, And the goddesse of hihe helles, Of grene trees, of freisshe welles, They clepen hire in that believe, Which that no reson mai achieve. [Sidenote: Proserpina Dea Infernorum.] Proserpina, which dowhter was Of Cereres, befell this cas: Whil sche was duellinge in Cizile,[1601] Hire moder in that ilke while 1280 Upon hire blessinge and hire heste Bad that sche scholde ben honeste, And lerne forto weve and spinne, And duelle at hom and kepe hire inne. Bot sche caste al that lore aweie, And as sche wente hir out to pleie,[1602] To gadre floures in a pleine,[1603] And that was under the monteine Of Ethna, fell the same tyde That Pluto cam that weie ryde,[1604] 1290 And sodeinly, er sche was war, He tok hire up into his char. And as thei riden in the field, Hire grete beaute he behield, Which was so plesant in his ÿe, That forto holde in compainie He weddeth hire and hield hire so[1605] To ben his wif for everemo. And as thou hast tofore herd telle Hou he was cleped god of helle, 1300 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 171=] So is sche cleped the goddesse Be cause of him, ne mor ne lesse. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Lo, thus, mi Sone, as I thee tolde, The Greks whilom be daies olde Here goddes hadde in sondri wise, And thurgh the lore of here aprise The Romeins hielden ek the same. And in the worschipe of here name[1606] To every godd in special Thei made a temple forth withal, 1310 And ech of hem his yeeres dai Attitled hadde; and of arai The temples weren thanne ordeigned, And ek the poeple was constreigned To come and don here sacrifice; The Prestes ek in here office Solempne maden thilke festes. And thus the Greks lich to the bestes[1607] The men in stede of god honoure, Whiche mihten noght hemself socoure, 1320 Whil that thei were alyve hiere. And over this, as thou schalt hiere, [Sidenote: Nota, quod dii Montium Satiri vocantur.] The Greks fulfild of fantasie Sein ek that of the helles hihe The goddes ben in special, Bot of here name in general Thei hoten alle Satiri. [Sidenote: Oreades Nimphe Montium.] Ther ben of Nimphes proprely In the believe of hem also: Oreades thei seiden tho 1330 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 172=] Attitled ben to the monteines;[1608] [Sidenote: Driades Siluarum.] And for the wodes in demeynes To kepe, tho ben Driades;[1609] [Sidenote: Naiades fontium.] Of freisshe welles Naiades; And of the Nimphes of the See [Sidenote: Nereides Marium.[1610]] I finde a tale in proprete, Hou Dorus whilom king of Grece, Which hadde of infortune a piece,-- His wif forth with hire dowhtres alle,[1611] So as the happes scholden falle, 1340 With many a gentil womman there Dreint in the salte See thei were: Wherof the Greks that time seiden, And such a name upon hem leiden, Nereïdes that thei ben hote, The Nimphes whiche that thei note To regne upon the stremes salte. Lo now, if this believe halte! Bot of the Nimphes as thei telle,[1612] In every place wher thei duelle 1350 Thei ben al redi obeissant As damoiselles entendant To the goddesses, whos servise[1613] Thei mote obeie in alle wise; Wherof the Greks to hem beseke With tho that ben goddesses eke, And have in hem a gret credence. [Sidenote: Manes dii mortuorum.[1614]] And yit withoute experience Salve only of illusion, Which was to hem dampnacion, 1360 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 173=] For men also that were dede Thei hadden goddes, as I rede, And tho be name Manes hihten, To whom ful gret honour thei dihten, So as the Grekes lawe seith, Which was ayein the rihte feith. Thus have I told a gret partie; Bot al the hole progenie Of goddes in that ilke time To long it were forto rime. 1370 Bot yit of that which thou hast herd, Of misbelieve hou it hath ferd, Ther is a gret diversite. [Sidenote: Amans.] Mi fader, riht so thenketh me. Bot yit o thing I you beseche, Which stant in alle mennes speche, The godd and the goddesse of love, Of whom ye nothing hier above Have told, ne spoken of her fare, That ye me wolden now declare 1380 Hou thei ferst comen to that name.[1615] Mi Sone, I have it left for schame, Be cause I am here oghne Prest;[1616] [Sidenote: Qualiter Cupido et Venus deus et dea amoris nuncupantur.[1617]] Bot for thei stonden nyh thi brest[1618] Upon the schrifte of thi matiere, Thou schalt of hem the sothe hiere: And understand nou wel the cas. Venus Saturnes dowhter was, Which alle danger putte aweie Of love, and fond to lust a weie; 1390 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 174=] So that of hire in sondri place Diverse men felle into grace, And such a lusti lif sche ladde, That sche diverse children hadde, Nou on be this, nou on be that. Of hire it was that Mars beyat A child, which cleped was Armene; Of hire also cam Andragene, To whom Mercurie fader was: Anchises begat Eneas 1400 Of hire also, and Ericon Biten begat, and therupon, Whan that sche sih ther was non other, Be Jupiter hire oghne brother Sche lay, and he begat Cupide.[1619] And thilke Sone upon a tyde, Whan he was come unto his Age, He hadde a wonder fair visage, And fond his Moder amourous, And he was also lecherous: 1410 So whan thei weren bothe al one, As he which yhen hadde none To se reson, his Moder kiste; And sche also, that nothing wiste Bot that which unto lust belongeth, To ben hire love him underfongeth. Thus was he blind, and sche unwys: Bot natheles this cause it is, Why Cupide is the god of love, For he his moder dorste love. 1420 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 175=] And sche, which thoghte hire lustes fonde, Diverse loves tok in honde, Wel mo thanne I the tolde hiere:[1620] And for sche wolde hirselve skiere, Sche made comun that desport, And sette a lawe of such a port, That every womman mihte take What man hire liste, and noght forsake To ben als comun as sche wolde.[1621] Sche was the ferste also which tolde 1430 That wommen scholde here bodi selle; Semiramis, so as men telle, Of Venus kepte thilke aprise, And so dede in the same wise Of Rome faire Neabole, Which liste hire bodi to rigole; Sche was to every man felawe, And hild the lust of thilke lawe,[1622] Which Venus of hirself began; Wherof that sche the name wan, 1440 Why men hire clepen the goddesse Of love and ek of gentilesse, Of worldes lust and of plesance. Se nou the foule mescreance Of Greks in thilke time tho, Whan Venus tok hire name so. Ther was no cause under the Mone[1623] Of which thei hadden tho to done, Of wel or wo wher so it was, That thei ne token in that cas 1450 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 176=] A god to helpe or a goddesse. Wherof, to take mi witnesse, [Sidenote: Nota de Epistola Dindimi Regis Bragmannorum Alexandro magno directa, vbi dicit quod Greci tunc ad corporis conseruacionem pro singulis membris singulos deos specialiter appropriari credunt.] The king of Bragmans Dindimus[1624] Wrot unto Alisandre thus: In blaminge of the Grekes feith And of the misbelieve, he seith How thei for every membre hadden A sondri god, to whom thei spradden Here armes, and of help besoghten. Minerve for the hed thei soghten, 1460 For sche was wys, and of a man The wit and reson which he can Is in the celles of the brayn, Wherof thei made hire soverain. Mercurie, which was in his dawes A gret spekere of false lawes, On him the kepinge of the tunge Thei leide, whan thei spieke or sunge. For Bachus was a glotoun eke, Him for the throte thei beseke, 1470 That he it wolde waisshen ofte With swote drinkes and with softe. The god of schuldres and of armes Was Hercules; for he in armes The myhtieste was to fihte, To him tho Limes they behihte.[1625] The god whom that thei clepen Mart[1626] The brest to kepe hath for his part, Forth with the herte, in his ymage That he adresce the corage. 1480 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 177=] And of the galle the goddesse, For sche was full of hastifesse[1627] Of wraththe and liht to grieve also, Thei made and seide it was Juno. Cupide, which the brond afyre[1628] Bar in his hond, he was the Sire[1629] Of the Stomak, which builleth evere, Wherof the lustes ben the levere. To the goddesse Cereres,[1630] Which of the corn yaf hire encress 1490 Upon the feith that tho was take, The wombes cure was betake; And Venus thurgh the Lecherie, For which that thei hire deifie, Sche kept al doun the remenant[1631] To thilke office appourtenant. [Sidenote: [ORIGIN OF IDOL-WORSHIP.]] Thus was dispers in sondri wise The misbelieve, as I devise, [Sidenote: Nota de prima ydolorum cultura, que ex tribus precipue Statuis exorta est; quarum prima fuit illa, quam in filii sui memoriam quidam princeps nomine Cirophanes a sculptore Promotheo fabricari constituit.] With many an ymage of entaile, Of suche as myhte hem noght availe; 1500 For thei withoute lyves chiere Unmyhti ben to se or hiere Or speke or do or elles fiele; And yit the foles to hem knele, Which is here oghne handes werk. Ha lord, hou this believe is derk, And fer fro resonable wit! And natheles thei don it yit: That was to day a ragged tre, To morwe upon his majeste 1510 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 178=] Stant in the temple wel besein. How myhte a mannes resoun sein That such a Stock mai helpe or grieve? Bot thei that ben of such believe And unto suche goddes calle, It schal to hem riht so befalle, And failen ate moste nede.[1632] Bot if thee list to taken hiede And of the ferste ymage wite, Petornius therof hath write[1633] 1520 And ek Nigargorus also; And thei afferme and write so, That Promotheüs was tofore And fond the ferste craft therfore, And Cirophanes, as thei telle, Thurgh conseil which was take in helle,[1634] In remembrance of his lignage[1635] Let setten up the ferste ymage. Of Cirophanes seith the bok, That he for sorwe, which he tok 1530 Of that he sih his Sone ded, Of confort knew non other red, Bot let do make in remembrance A faire ymage of his semblance And sette it in the market place,[1636] Which openly tofore his face Stod every dai to don him ese. And thei that thanne wolden plese The fader, scholden it obeie, Whan that they comen thilke weie. 1540 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 179=] [Sidenote: Secunda Statua fuit illa, quam ad sui patris Beli culturam Rex Ninus fieri et adorari decreuit. Et sic de nomine Beli postea Bel et Belzebub ydolum accreuit.] And of Ninus king of Assire I rede hou that in his empire He was next after the secounde Of hem that ferst ymages founde. For he riht in semblable cas Of Belus, which his fader was Fro Nembroth in the rihte line, Let make of gold and Stones fine A precious ymage riche After his fader evene liche; 1550 And therupon a lawe he sette, That every man of pure dette With sacrifice and with truage Honoure scholde thilke ymage: So that withinne time it fell, Of Belus cam the name of Bel, Of Bel cam Belzebub, and so The misbelieve wente tho. [Sidenote: Tercia Statua fuit illa, que ad honorem Apis Regis Grecorum sculpta fuit, cui postea nomen Serapis imponentes, ipsum quasi deum Pagani coluerunt.] The thridde ymage next to this Was, whan the king of Grece Apis 1560 Was ded, thei maden a figure In resemblance of his stature. Of this king Apis seith the bok That Serapis his name tok, In whom thurgh long continuance Of misbelieve a gret creance Thei hadden, and the reverence Of Sacrifice and of encence To him thei made: and as thei telle, Among the wondres that befelle, 1570 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 180=] Whan Alisandre fro Candace Cam ridende, in a wilde place Undur an hull a Cave he fond;[1637] And Candalus, which in that lond Was bore, and was Candaces Sone, Him tolde hou that of commun wone The goddes were in thilke cave. And he, that wolde assaie and have[1638] A knowlechinge if it be soth, Liht of his hors and in he goth, 1580 And fond therinne that he soghte: For thurgh the fendes sleihte him thoghte, Amonges othre goddes mo That Serapis spak to him tho, Whom he sih there in gret arrai. And thus the fend fro dai to dai The worschipe of ydolatrie Drowh forth upon the fantasie Of hem that weren thanne blinde And couthen noght the trouthe finde. 1590 Thus hast thou herd in what degre Of Grece, Egipte and of Caldee The misbelieves whilom stode;[1639] And hou so that thei be noght goode Ne trewe, yit thei sprungen oute, Wherof the wyde world aboute His part of misbelieve tok. Til so befell, as seith the bok, That god a poeple for himselve Hath chose of the lignages tuelve, 1600 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 181=] Wherof the sothe redely, As it is write in Genesi, I thenke telle in such a wise That it schal be to thin apprise. [Sidenote: [iv. BELIEF OF THE JEWS.]] [Sidenote: De Hebreorum seu Iudeorum Secta, quorum Sinagoga, ecclesia Cristi superueniente, defecit.] After the flod, fro which Noë Was sauf, the world in his degre Was mad, as who seith, newe ayein, Of flour, of fruit, of gras, of grein, Of beste, of bridd and of mankinde, Which evere hath be to god unkinde: 1610 For noght withstondende al the fare, Of that this world was mad so bare And afterward it was restored, Among the men was nothing mored Towardes god of good lyvynge, Bot al was torned to likinge After the fleissh, so that foryete Was he which yaf hem lif and mete, Of hevene and Erthe creatour. And thus cam forth the grete errour, 1620 That thei the hihe god ne knewe, Bot maden othre goddes newe, As thou hast herd me seid tofore: Ther was noman that time bore,[1640] That he ne hadde after his chois A god, to whom he yaf his vois. Wherof the misbelieve cam Into the time of Habraham:[1641] Bot he fond out the rihte weie, Hou only that men scholde obeie 1630 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 182=] The hihe god, which weldeth al, And evere hath don and evere schal, In hevene, in Erthe and ek in helle;[1642] Ther is no tunge his miht mai telle. This Patriarch to his lignage Forbad, that thei to non ymage Encline scholde in none wise, Bot here offrende and sacrifise With al the hole hertes love Unto the mihti god above 1640 Thei scholden yive and to no mo: And thus in thilke time tho Began the Secte upon this Erthe,[1643] Which of believes was the ferthe. Of rihtwisnesse it was conceived, So moste it nedes be received[1644] Of him that alle riht is inne,[1645] The hihe god, which wolde winne A poeple unto his oghne feith. On Habraham the ground he leith, 1650 And made him forto multeplie Into so gret a progenie, That thei Egipte al overspradde.[1646] Bot Pharao with wrong hem ladde In servitute ayein the pes, Til god let sende Moïses To make the deliverance; And for his poeple gret vengance He tok, which is to hiere a wonder. The king was slain, the lond put under, 1660 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 183=] God bad the rede See divide, Which stod upriht on either side[1647] And yaf unto his poeple a weie, That thei on fote it passe dreie[1648] And gon so forth into desert: Wher forto kepe hem in covert, The daies, whan the Sonne brente,[1649] A large cloude hem overwente, And forto wissen hem be nyhte, A firy Piler hem alyhte. 1670 And whan that thei for hunger pleigne, The myhti god began to reyne Manna fro hevene doun to grounde, Wherof that ech of hem hath founde His fode, such riht as him liste; And for thei scholde upon him triste, Riht as who sette a tonne abroche, He percede the harde roche,[1650] And sprong out water al at wille, That man and beste hath drunke his fille: 1680 And afterward he yaf the lawe To Moïses, that hem withdrawe Thei scholden noght fro that he bad. And in this wise thei be lad, Til thei toke in possession[1651] The londes of promission, Wher that Caleph and Josuë The Marches upon such degre Departen, after the lignage That ech of hem as Heritage 1690 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 184=] His porpartie hath underfonge. And thus stod this believe longe, Which of prophetes was governed; And thei hadde ek the poeple lerned Of gret honour that scholde hem falle; Bot ate moste nede of alle Thei faileden, whan Crist was bore. Bot hou that thei here feith have bore,[1652] It nedeth noght to tellen al, The matiere is so general: 1700 Whan Lucifer was best in hevene And oghte moste have stonde in evene, Towardes god he tok debat; And for that he was obstinat, And wolde noght to trouthe encline, He fell for evere into ruine: And Adam ek in Paradis, Whan he stod most in al his pris After thastat of Innocence, Ayein the god brak his defence 1710 And fell out of his place aweie: And riht be such a maner weie The Jwes in here beste plit,[1653] Whan that thei scholden most parfit Have stonde upon the prophecie,[1654] Tho fellen thei to most folie, And him which was fro hevene come, And of a Maide his fleissh hath nome, And was among hem bore and fedd, As men that wolden noght be spedd 1720 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 185=] Of goddes Sone, with o vois Thei hinge and slowhe upon the crois. Wherof the parfit of here lawe Fro thanne forth hem was withdrawe, So that thei stonde of no merit, Bot in truage as folk soubgit Withoute proprete of place Thei liven out of goddes grace, Dispers in alle londes oute. And thus the feith is come aboute, 1730 That whilom in the Jewes stod, Which is noght parfihtliche good. To speke as it is nou befalle, Ther is a feith aboven alle, In which the trouthe is comprehended, Wherof that we ben alle amended.

[Sidenote: [THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.]] [Sidenote: De fide Cristiana, in qua perfecte legis complementum, summi misterii sacramentum, nostreque saluacionis fundamentum infallibiliter[1655] consistere credimus.] The hihe almyhti majeste, Of rihtwisnesse and of pite, The Sinne which that Adam wroghte, Whan he sih time, ayein he boghte, 1740 And sende his Sone fro the hevene To sette mannes Soule in evene,[1656] Which thanne was so sore falle[1657] Upon the point which was befalle, That he ne mihte himself arise.[1658] Gregoire seith in his aprise,[1659] It helpeth noght a man be bore, If goddes Sone were unbore; For thanne thurgh the ferste Sinne, Which Adam whilom broghte ous inne, 1750 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 186=] Ther scholden alle men be lost; Bot Crist restoreth thilke lost, And boghte it with his fleissh and blod. And if we thenken hou it stod Of thilke rancoun which he payde, [Sidenote: Gregorius. O necessarium Ade peccatum![1660] O felix culpa, que talem ac tantum meruit habere redemptorem!] As seint Gregoire it wrot and sayde, Al was behovely to the man: For that wherof his wo began Was after cause of al his welthe, Whan he which is the welle of helthe, 1760 The hihe creatour of lif, Upon the nede of such a strif So wolde for his creature[1661] Take on himself the forsfaiture And soffre for the mannes sake. Thus mai no reson wel forsake That thilke Senne original Ne was the cause in special Of mannes worschipe ate laste, Which schal withouten ende laste. 1770 For be that cause the godhede Assembled was to the manhede[1662] In the virgine, where he nom Oure fleissh and verai man becom Of bodely fraternite; Wherof the man in his degre Stant more worth, as I have told, Than he stod erst be manyfold, Thurgh baptesme of the newe lawe, Of which Crist lord is and felawe. 1780 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 187=] And thus the hihe goddes myht,[1663] Which was in the virgine alyht, The mannes Soule hath reconsiled, Which hadde longe ben exiled. So stant the feith upon believe, Withoute which mai non achieve To gete him Paradis ayein: Bot this believe is so certein, So full of grace and of vertu, That what man clepeth to Jhesu 1790 In clene lif forthwith good dede,[1664] He mai noght faile of hevene mede, Which taken hath the rihte feith; For elles, as the gospel seith, Salvacion ther mai be non. And forto preche therupon Crist bad to hise Apostles alle, The whos pouer as nou is falle On ous that ben of holi cherche, [Sidenote: Iacobus. Fides sine operibus mortua est.[1665]] If we the goode dedes werche;[1666] 1800 For feith only sufficeth noght,[1667] Bot if good dede also be wroght. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Now were it good that thou forthi, Which thurgh baptesme proprely Art unto Cristes feith professed, Be war that thou be noght oppressed [Sidenote: Nota hic contra istos qui iam lollardi dicuntur.[1668]] With Anticristes lollardie. For as the Jwes prophecie[1669] Was set of god for avantage, Riht so this newe tapinage 1810 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 188=] Of lollardie goth aboute To sette Cristes feith in doute. The seintz that weren ous tofore, Be whom the feith was ferst upbore, That holi cherche stod relieved, Thei oghten betre be believed Than these, whiche that men knowe Noght holy, thogh thei feigne and blowe Here lollardie in mennes Ere. Bot if thou wolt live out of fere, 1820 Such newe lore, I rede, eschuie, And hold forth riht the weie and suie, As thine Ancestres dede er this: So schalt thou noght believe amis. [Sidenote: Incepit Jhesus facere et docere.] Crist wroghte ferst and after tawhte, So that the dede his word arawhte;[1670] He yaf ensample in his persone, And we the wordes have al one, Lich to the Tree with leves grene, Upon the which no fruit is sene. 1830 [Sidenote: Nota quod, cum Anthenor Palladium Troie a templo Minerue abstulit, Thoas ibidem summus sacerdos auro corruptus oculos auertit, et sic malum quasi non videns scienter fieri permisit.] The Priest Thoas, which of Minerve The temple hadde forto serve, And the Palladion of Troie Kepte under keie, for monoie, Of Anthenor which he hath nome,[1671] Hath soffred Anthenor to come And the Palladion to stele, Wherof the worschipe and the wele Of the Troiens was overthrowe. Bot Thoas at the same throwe, 1840 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 189=] Whan Anthenor this Juel tok, Wynkende caste awei his lok For a deceipte and for a wyle: As he that scholde himself beguile, He hidde his yhen fro the sihte, And wende wel that he so mihte Excuse his false conscience. I wot noght if thilke evidence Nou at this time in here estatz[1672] Excuse mihte the Prelatz, 1850 Knowende hou that the feith discresceth And alle moral vertu cesseth, Wherof that thei the keies bere, Bot yit hem liketh noght to stere Here gostliche yhe forto se[1673] The world in his adversite; Thei wol no labour undertake To kepe that hem is betake. Crist deide himselve for the feith, Bot nou our feerfull prelat seith, 1860 ‘The lif is suete,’ and that he kepeth, So that the feith unholpe slepeth, And thei unto here ese entenden And in here lust her lif despenden, And every man do what him list. Thus stant this world fulfild of Mist, That noman seth the rihte weie: The wardes of the cherche keie Thurgh mishandlinge ben myswreynt, The worldes wawe hath welnyh dreynt 1870 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 190=] The Schip which Peter hath to stiere, The forme is kept, bot the matiere Transformed is in other wise. Bot if thei weren gostli wise, And that the Prelatz weren goode, As thei be olde daies stode, It were thanne litel nede Among the men to taken hiede Of that thei hieren Pseudo telle,[1674] Which nou is come forto duelle, 1880 To sowe cokkel with the corn, So that the tilthe is nyh forlorn, Which Crist sew ferst his oghne hond.[1675] Nou stant the cockel in the lond, Wher stod whilom the goode grein, For the Prelatz nou, as men sein, Forslowthen that thei scholden tile. And that I trowe be the skile, Whan ther is lacke in hem above, The poeple is stranged to the love 1890 Of trouthe, in cause of ignorance; For wher ther is no pourveance Of liht, men erren in the derke.[1676] Bot if the Prelatz wolden werke Upon the feith which thei ous teche, Men scholden noght here weie seche Withoute liht, as now is used: Men se the charge aldai refused, Which holi cherche hath undertake. [Sidenote: Gregorius. Quando Petrus cum Judea, Andreas cum Achaia, Thomas cum Yndea, et Paulus cum gente venient, quid dicemus nos moderni, quorum fossum talentum pro nichilo computabitur?] Bot who that wolde ensample take, 1900 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 191=] Gregoire upon his Omelie Ayein the Slouthe of Prelacie Compleigneth him, and thus he seith: ‘Whan Peter, fader of the feith, At domesdai schal with him bringe Judeam, which thurgh his prechinge[1677] He wan, and Andrew with Achaie Schal come his dette forto paie, And Thomas ek with his beyete Of Ynde, and Poul the routes grete 1910 Of sondri londes schal presente,[1678] And we fulfild of lond and rente, Which of this world we holden hiere, With voide handes schul appiere, Touchende oure cure spirital, Which is our charge in special, I not what thing it mai amonte Upon thilke ende of oure accompte, Wher Crist himself is Auditour, Which takth non hiede of vein honour.’ 1920 Thoffice of the Chancellerie Or of the kinges Tresorie Ne for the writ ne for the taille[1679] To warant mai noght thanne availe; The world, which nou so wel we trowe,[1680] Schal make ous thanne bot a mowe: So passe we withoute mede, That we non otherwise spede, Bot as we rede that he spedde, The which his lordes besant hedde 1930 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 192=] And therupon gat non encress. Bot at this time natheles, What other man his thonk deserve, The world so lusti is to serve, That we with him ben all acorded, And that is wist and wel recorded Thurghout this Erthe in alle londes Let knyhtes winne with here hondes, For oure tunge schal be stille And stonde upon the fleisshes wille. 1940 It were a travail forto preche The feith of Crist, as forto teche The folk Paiene, it wol noght be; Bot every Prelat holde his See With al such ese as he mai gete Of lusti drinke and lusti mete,[1681] Wherof the bodi fat and full Is unto gostli labour dull And slowh to handle thilke plowh. Bot elles we ben swifte ynowh 1950 Toward the worldes Avarice; And that is as a sacrifice,[1682] Which, after that thapostel seith,[1683] Is openly ayein the feith Unto thidoles yove and granted: Bot natheles it is nou haunted, And vertu changed into vice, So that largesce is Avarice, In whos chapitre now we trete. [Sidenote: Amans.] Mi fader, this matiere is bete 1960 [Sidenote: =P. ii. 193=] So fer, that evere whil I live I schal the betre hede yive Unto miself be many weie: Bot over this nou wolde I preie To wite what the branches are[1684] Of Avarice, and hou thei fare Als wel in love as otherwise. [Sidenote: Confessor.] Mi Sone, and I thee schal devise In such a manere as thei stonde,[1685] So that thou schalt hem understonde.[1686] 1970

(LIBRI QUINTI §§ iii--xiii in sequenti volumine continentur)

LINENOTES:

[1446] Latin Verses i. 5 dicet AM ... B₂

[1447] 4 þer was G, AdB

[1448] 30 Wher in it moste nedes dwelle H₁ ... B₂

[1449] 35 asyhte F

[1450] 40 ouermore, B

[1451] 47 that he] þat þat A

47 f. ffor he þer of his part ne taþ Bot kepeþ to anoþer þat he haþ

So H₁ ... B₂ with some variations (þat for Bot C it hath for he haþ H₁)

[1452] 59 farst F fare A ... B₂, Ad ... Δ

[1453] 73 departe AMH₁ om. Ad

[1454] 82 To holde hir whil my lif may laste H₁ ... B₂ line om. T

[1455] 103 fiele] seche A ... B₂

[1456] 104 fulofte I A ... B₂ ofte I H₁

[1457] 110 wise] þing A ... B₂

[1458] 120 acordeþ XE ... B₂

[1459] 129 fulle AM

[1460] 133 that he] he to H₁ ... B₂

[1461] 135 He is] He as H₁ ... B₂

[1462] 141 the om. AMB₂, T

[1463] 142 his] þis A ... B₂

[1464] 160 margin tunc] tantum BT om. G, Δ

[1465] 143 the] is AM

[1466] 146 payed CB₂, AdB

[1467] 159 tho] þus BT

[1468] 168 that om. B

[1469] 173 þe king A ... B₂

[1470] 185 þe poyntes whiche H₁, BT, W

[1471] 188 Tho XGERCB₂, B They H₁

[1472] 196 the world] worldes A ... B₂, Λ

[1473] 201 is al AM

[1474] 210 þis world H₁ ... B₂

[1475] 211 myhte om. H₁ ... B₂ (hadde for have H₁)

[1476] 212 a mannes H₁ ... B₂, Ad, W

[1477] 217 the] þo GEC þese (þeis) AdBTΔ

[1478] 235 þe king BT

[1479] 242 the om. AMH₁XRLB₂

[1480] 249 telleþ AM

[1481] 253 dropesie (dropseie) AM

[1482] 268 þer vpon B

[1483] 273 put AJ, F putte C, BT

[1484] 274 He touched (toucheþ) al þat by him lay H₁ ... B₂, Λ (toucheþ H₁GC touchit B₂ touche X)

[1485] 278 al] as AM

[1486] 281 him most(e) AJMG ... B₂

[1487] 288 al] as AMXERLB₂

[1488] 295 þis SBT

[1489] 301 waisshen F waisschen B wasshen (waschen) AJ, S

[1490] 306 wyssh (wissh) SB wisshe AJ, F

[1491] 314 change AM

[1492] 316 hom] þanne (þan) H₁ ... B₂, Λ

[1493] 332 bruche AM

[1494] 350 befull F

[1495] 364 Benethe] Grieueþ C &c.

[1496] 368 And for no drede now wol I wonde H₁ ... B₂, Λ

[1497] 371 ffor what man stonde B ffor what man þat stonde T

[1498] 372 unto] to H₁ ... B₂, BTΔ, W vp to Λ

[1499] 385 a doun J, F adoun A, B

[1500] 394 forbiedeþ J, S, F forbedeþ A, B The more he haþ þe more he greedeþ H₁ ... B₂, Λ (dredeþ for greedeþ R)

[1501] 412 tak SB take AJ, F

[1502] 424 everemore] ouercome AM ... B₂, Λ

[1503] 448 vnderstod (vnderstood) AJ, B vnderstode S, F er this] þis AM ... L I wis B₂

[1504] 454 Now om. A ... B₂

[1505] 458 margin de om. AMXRCLB₂, Δ

[1506] 459 ilke] þilke AM

[1507] 463 on] in H₁ ... B₂

[1508] 471 as om. H₁ ... B₂, Δ

[1509] 486 I] it AM

[1510] 487 neveremore] neuer B neu_er_more more T

[1511] 493 fro] by (be) H₁ ... B₂, B

[1512] 505 liste] lust to B

[1513] 511 his H₁ ... B₂, W

[1514] 534 Wher of H₁G ... B₂ Wher_e_ þ_at_ X

[1515] 536 as doth] and as G, B

[1516] 545 at om. AM

[1517] 551 his] þat B

[1518] 601 bagge BT

[1519] 606 euere more AJ, F eueremore SB

[1520] 611 at] of B

[1521] 649 Al AM ... B₂

[1522] 654 auerous BTΛ

[1523] 659 And sche þan þoughte how sche mighte B Grete it was and sore he sight Λ line om. T

[1524] 660 As sche BTΛ

[1525] 671 apposeþ AM, W

[1526] 681 him AMECLB₂

[1527] 691 that] how þat H₁XRCLB₂ how GE

[1528] 698 þe BT

[1529] 702 he leide] is leid(e) H₁ ... B₂ was leyed W

[1530] Latin Verses ii. 1 Mentibus H₁ ... B₂, BTΛ, W

[1531] 4 Equiperans A Equipans J, B, F

[1532] 764 experience H₁ ... B₂, Δ

[1533] 773 ff. margin Et nota--decreuit om. BT

[1534] 781 of] as E ... B₂ os X

[1535] 786 And wol (woln) non oþer maner leue H₁ ... B₂ (whi for wol R)

[1536] 787 margin De Secta Egipciorum om. B

[1537] 787 lo] so B om. ME

[1538] 792 thogh om. AMH₁B₂, Δ

[1539] 795 forth] feiþ L seþ C seintis B₂

[1540] 811 þegipcienes (þe Egipcienes) YGEC, BΔ þe Egipcianis X thegipciens (þe Egipciens) AJMH₁RB₂, SAdT, FWH₃ egipcens L

[1541] 821 as in 811 but Egipcienes Y þegipciens L

[1542] 833 Fro] Of A ... B₂

[1543] 835 margin De Secta Grecorum] De secta egipciorum B om. E

[1544] 836 that om. XRCLB₂

[1545] 850 he to plihte (toplighte &c.) J, SAdBTΔ, FWH₃ al to plyhte (alto plight &c.) AM ... B₂

[1546] 862 dede him H₁ ... B₂, Δ, W

[1547] 866 hihe A, S, F hih BT

[1548] 893 he BT

[1549] 901 Whiche A, S Which J, B, F

[1550] 915 margin Sciencie A

[1551] 923 whane F

[1552] 928 feigneþ B

[1553] 936 be the] beþ þe AMXE ... B₂ ther beth H₁ ben (om. the) J, Δ, W

[1554] 937 f. margin Mercurius--furtorum om. X ... CB₂, H₃ Mercurius deus lat_ro_nu_m_ L Mercurie deus H₁

[1555] 939 stal] dide (dede) H₁ ... B₂

[1556] 948 ōn F

[1557] 951 tho] þe X ... B₂, Ad

[1558] 967 margin Eolus deus ventorum om. B

[1559] 979 Tho] They (þai &c.) H₁ ... B₂, B

[1560] 981 margin Neptunus deus maris om. X ... B₂ Iubiter deus deliciarum H₁

[1561] 986 mad J, S, F made AC, B

[1562] 987 tho] þe H₁ ... B₂

[1563] 989 al om. BT

[1564] 992 wold(e) hem H₁ ... B₂, Δ he wolde hem M

[1565] 1006 ben om. AM

[1566] 1009 Nonarigne (Nouarigne, Nonareigne &c.) H₁ ... B₂, B Nonartigne (Nonartyne) M, WH₃

[1567] 1013 benethe in] beneþe (by neþe, benethen &c.) H₁ ... B₂, BT beneþin A

[1568] 1050 sende] sayde B line om. T

[1569] 1058 a glotoun] þe glotoun B

[1570] 1059 margin Esculapius deus medicine om. B

[1571] 1065 thei om. AMXRCLB₂

[1572] 1072 him AM ... CB₂, BT, WH₃

[1573] 1083 margin Hercules &c. om. B.

[1574] 1103 margin Pluto &c. om. AH₁XE ... B₂ (ins. later M), B

[1575] 1105 fro] for H₁, BT of W

[1576] 1107 euery H₁ ... B₂

[1577] 1109 fflagetoun AMH₁, W fflogetoun GECLB₂, B

[1578] 1112 of the helle] of helle AM ... B₂, AdBΔΛ, W

[1579] 1119 Iupiteres (Iubiteres &c.) MYXGERC, SB Iupiters (Iubiters) AJLB₂, FH₃ Iupiter (Iubiter) H₁, AdTΔ, W

[1580] 1134 margin dearum JY, S ... Δ, FH₃ deorum AM ... B₂, W

[1581] 1138 the om. H₁ ... B₂, Δ, W lawes H₁ ... B₂

[1582] 1149 here (her) B, W his C

[1583] 1155 f. margin Iuno &c. om. AM ... B₂ et diuiciarum om. BT

[1584] 1156 him om. B

[1585] 1165 Iupiter he SAdΔ

[1586] 1172 was om. H₁ ... B₂ as seiþ H₁ ... B₂

[1587] 1176 And om. BT

[1588] 1199 Palon(e) H₁ ... B₂

[1589] 1201 after þat for sche was w. AM ... B₂

[1590] 1203 The] To H₁E ... B₂

[1591] 1207 margin Pallas &c. om. C, BT

[1592] 1221 margin Ceres dea frugum om. JH₁ ... B₂ Saturnus dea frugum B

[1593] 1230 grape AM ... B₂, Δ

[1594] 1232 the om. AM, W

[1595] 1238 her tilþes B

[1596] 1245 margin et Siluarum om. AM

[1597] 1252 And] Bot (But) SAdBTΔΛ

[1598] 1253 ledde BT

[1599] 1256 was cleped BTΛ

[1600] 1262 al to] vnto B

[1601] 1279 Whil sche was] Which was H₁ ... B₂

[1602] 1286 hir om. H₁ ... B₂

[1603] 1287 To gedre ARCLB₂ To gedres M

[1604] 1290 Than BTΛ þe weie H₁E ... B₂

[1605] 1297 hield] tok(e) H₁ ... B₂

[1606] 1308 in om. AM for H₁ ... B₂

[1607] 1318 to bestes ER, BTΔ, W

[1608] 1331 Attitred AMXRB₂

[1609] 1333 tho] þer H₁ ... B₂

[1610] 1336 margin Nereides Marium om. B

[1611] 1339 forth om. AM ... B₂

[1612] 1349 the om. AM ... B₂

[1613] 1353 goddes BΛ, W goddesse AM ... B₂

[1614] 1358 margin Manes &c. om. B

[1615] 1381 comen ferst AM came first W

[1616] 1383 here] hire (hir) JL, Ad, W ȝour(e) X ... CB₂

[1617] 1383 ff. margin Qualiter &c. om. H₁ ... B₂

[1618] 1384 þe brest A ... B₂, Ad, H₃

[1619] 1405 lay] haþ AM

[1620] 1423 telle X, B, W

[1621] 1429 a comun AM all comyn X

[1622] 1438 hild J, F hield SB huld A

[1623] 1447 no] þe AM ... B₂

[1624] 1453 Bragmas AM ... B₂, H₃

[1625] 1476 tho] þe H₁XGCLB₂, AdB, W

[1626] 1477 whom that] þe whom B whom H₁B₂, TΔ, W

[1627] 1482 hastifesse J, S, F hastifnesse A hastiuesse B

[1628] 1485 of fire H₁E ... B₂, Δ, WH₃

[1629] 1486 Bar] Bereþ (Berþ) XG But AME ... B₂

[1630] 1489 To] Lo AMH₁XG

[1631] 1495 kept J, B, F kepte A

[1632] 1517 ate] at here (atte her) AM ... B₂ at hor W

[1633] 1520 Petornius A, S, F Petronius J, B

[1634] 1526 which om. E ... B₂ þ_at_ W to helle E ... B₂

[1635] 1527 hir(e) E ... B₂ (her R)

[1636] 1535 sette SB set AJ, F

[1637] 1573 Vndur A, F Vnder J, S, B

[1638] 1578 And he] He AM ... B₂

[1639] 1593 mysbelieue H₁E ... B₂

[1640] 1624 bore] bifore BT

[1641] 1628 habraham F rest Abraham (J defective here) so also l. 1650

[1642] 1633 and erþe E ... B₂, Ad

[1643] 1643 the Secte] þat secte S ... Δ this secte W to sette AMH₁X this] þe AM ... B₂

[1644] 1646 And alle mysbelieue weyued E ... B₂, Λ (misbelieues RLB₂)

[1645] 1647 is] was E ... B₂

[1646] 1653 al om. XE ... B₂

[1647] 1662 on] in BT

[1648] 1664 on fote (foote) passen ECLB₂, B on fete p. R on fote myght p. W in fote it p. X

[1649] 1667 The daies] Be (By) daies S ... Δ A dayes W

[1650] 1678 perced(e) þo þe RCLB₂, Λ, W

[1651] 1685 toke (tooke) C, SB tok (took) A, F

[1652] 1698 lore MH₁XGLB₂, AdBT, W (hath lore H₁L, W)

[1653] 1713 Iwes F Iewes A, SB

[1654] 1715 stonde AC, B stond F

[1655] 1743 margin ineffabiliter ... creditur B

[1656] 1742 Which mannes soule haþ set in euene S ... Δ

[1657] 1743

And haþ his grace reconciled ffro which þe man was ferst exiled And in himself so sore falle

So S ... Δ (inserting a couplet between 1742 and 1743)

[1658] 1745 auise E ... B₂

[1659] 1746 margin Gregorius. Nichil nobis nasci profuit, nisi redimi profuisset SBΔ (proficit for profuit B)

[1660] 1756 ff. margin O certe necessarium Ade peccatum etc_etera_ B O felix--redemptorem om. SBΔ(AdT) The note stands at l. 1746 in H₃

[1661] 1763 wolde he AdB

[1662] 1772 to] wiþ BT

[1663] 1781-1793 Thurgh vertu of his hihe myht Which in Marie was alyht To begge mannes soule aȝein And þis belieue is so certein So full of grace and of vertu That what man clepeþ to Jhesu In clene lif forþwiþ good dede He mai noght faile of heuene mede 1790* So þat it stant vpon belieue That euery man mai wel achieue Which taken haþ &c. SAdBTΔ

[1664] 1791 forþwiþ F forþ wiþ AJ, B

[1665] 1800 f. margin Iacobus &c. om. S ... Δ

[1666] 1800 þe goode dede JE ... B₂ (þo C) the goodenesse (þe goodnesse) H₁X goode dedes G

[1667] 1801 f.

ffor feiþ . bot if þer be good dede Thapostel seiþ is worþ no mede SAdBTΔ

[1668] 1807 f. margin Nota hic--dicuntur om. BΔ(AdT), W Nota contra istos qui lollardi dicuntur S Nota contra lollardos C

[1669] 1808 Iwes F Iewes AJ, SB

[1670] 1826 his dede þe BT his dede his Λ, W

[1671] 1835 Anthenor AJ, SB Antenor F

[1672] 1849 estatz F estates J astatz (astates) A, SB

[1673] 1855 goodly (goodlich) BT

[1674] 1879 Pseudo telle] Pheudo telle E Pfeudo t. C hem telle Λ om. T

[1675] 1883 sew A, S, F siew B

[1676] 1893 erren] crepen E ... B₂, Λ

[1677] 1906 f.

Which haþ conuert wiþ his prechinge And whan þat Andrew E ... B₂, Λ

(conuerted ... teching L conuer E)

[1678] 1911 schal] to B

[1679] 1923 no writ ... þe taile A no writ ... no t. YE ... B₂ to write ... to taile B

[1680] 1925 which now we see and trowe E ... B₂, Λ

[1681] 1946 and] of YEC, BT

[1682] 1952 as a sacrifice] a good s. E ... B₂

[1683] 1953 þat after E ... B₃

[1684] 1965 the] þo E ... L

[1685] 1969 a om. BT, W

[1686] 1970 hem om. BT wel Ad

NOTES

PROLOGUS

Latin Verses. i. 1 f. The author acknowledges his incapacity for higher themes, as at the beginning of the first book. The subject of the present work is a less exalted one than that of those which preceded it.

3 f. Qua tamen &c. The couplet may be translated, ‘Yet in that tongue of Hengist in which the island of Brut sings, I will utter English measures by the aid of Carmentis.’

5 f. Ossibus ergo carens &c. That is, ‘Let the evil tongue be far away.’ The reference is to Prov. xxv. 15, ‘A soft tongue breaketh the bone,’ taken here in a bad sense: cp. iii. 463 ff.

7. ‘Moved by the example of these wise men of old.’ For this use of ‘ensampled’ cp. Traitié, xv. l. 4,

‘Pour essampler les autres du present.’

13. Who that al &c. ‘If one writes of wisdom only’: a common form of expression in Gower’s French and English both; see note on Mirour, 1244. In English we have ‘who that,’ ‘who so (that)’ or ‘what man (that),’ sometimes with indic. and sometimes with subjunctive: cp. Prol. 460, 550, i. 383, 481, ii. 88, iii. 971, 2508, &c. See also note on l. 460.

writ, present tense, syncopated form.

16. if that ye rede, ‘if ye so counsel me,’ i.e. if you approve, equivalent to the ‘si bon vous sembleroit’ of the Mirour, l. 33.

24. The marginal note is wanting in F and S, and may perhaps have been added after the year 1397, when Henry became Duke of Hereford, cp. ‘tunc Derbie comiti,’ or even later, for in the Cron. Tripertita Gower calls him Earl of Derby at the time of his exile, using the same expression as here, ‘tunc Derbie comiti.’ Caxton, followed by Berthelet, gives the following: ‘Hic in primis declarat Ioannes Gower quam ob causam presentem libellum composuit et finaliter compleuit, An. regni regis Ric. secundi 16.’

31. That is, compared with what it was in former time: cp. l. 133.

41. write ... stode: subjunctive. For the subjunctive in indirect question cp. ii. 1243, 1943, iii. 708, 771, &c.

43. as who seith, i.e. ‘as one may say,’ a qualification of what follows, ‘a gret partie’: the phrase is a common one, e.g. i. 1381, ‘as who seith, everemo,’ 2794, ii. 696, ‘as who seith, ded for feere,’ &c.

46. schewen, used absolutely, ‘set forth their histories.’

52. a burel clerk, ‘a man of simple learning,’ esp. ‘a layman’; cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, B 3145, D 1872: ‘burel’ was a coarse cloth.

54. tok, ‘took place,’ ‘existed’: cp. Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1562,

‘And if so be that pees herafter take.’

So ‘prendre’ in French, e.g. Mir. 831,

‘Le mariage devoit prendre.’

72. the god, so 198, ii. 594; cp. ‘the vertu,’ 116, ‘the manhode,’ 260, ‘the man,’ 546, 582, ‘The charite,’ 319, &c.

74. ended, ‘continued to the end.’

77 ff. Apparently a reference to the treatise on the duties of a ruler contained in the seventh book: ‘I shall make a discourse also with regard to those who are in power, marking the distinction between the virtues and the vices which belong to their office.’

81 ff. ‘But as my wit is too small to correct the faults of every one, I send this book unto my own lord Henry of Lancaster ... to be amended at his command.’ For ‘upon amendement to stonde’ cp. ii. 583. The suggestion of amendment at the hands of the author’s patron is of course a mere compliment, like that paid by Chaucer to Gower at the conclusion of Troilus, but it gives a modest appearance to the general censure.

It is not likely that the expression ‘upon amendement’ refers to the change made in this part of the text, to which the author would hardly have called attention thus. Also, unless we explain as above, the meaning would seem to be ‘as my wit is too small to admonish every one, I send my work as now revised to my own lord Henry of Lancaster,’ a much too pointed application of the coming admonitions.

It is hardly needful to add that ‘to tellen every man his tale’ is not a reference to the Canterbury Tales, as some have supposed.

* * * * *

24*-92*. For this variation see the Introduction. The text of B, which is here followed, is as good as any other, but none of the copies which give the passage are thoroughly good in spelling, and the text has in this respect been slightly normalized. A and E are here defective, and J, which is the best available MS., has eccentricities of spelling (‘Richardus,’ ‘wyche,’ ‘hyt,’ ‘hys,’ ‘aftur,’ ‘resonabul,’ ‘ȝef,’ ‘be heste,’ ‘be ginne,’ &c.), which make it rather unsuitable as a basis for the text. It will be found however that J and B mutually correct each other to a great extent, and we have also MGRCL as additional witnesses of a respectable character. Thus in regard to some of the variations in spelling from B we have as follows:--

24* bok J

25 belongeþ MC

27* euere JML

31* Preiende G Preiend MCL

36* betyde (betide) GCL

40* be JML

43* f. nyh: syh (sih) JL

47* f. seid: leyd J

49* besinesse J

51* boke JM

52* myhte loke J

53* f. wrytinge: comandinge J

55* herte JMGCL

59* wiþoute GC

62* non JGC

65* handleþ JMGL

66* preye (preie) JMGCL heuene JMG

69* befalle J

75* bit JMCL

80 longe JML

82* bok J

87* begynneþ (beginneþ) ML

89* f. bok: tok J

92* begynne MCL.

34* ff. A very loosely constructed sentence. It means apparently, ‘I consider how it befell, as a thing destined then to come to pass, namely that as on Thames I came rowing by boat &c., I chanced to meet my liege lord.’ The disorder in which the clauses are thrown together is a feature which we shall notice elsewhere in our author’s style. ‘The toun of newe Troye’ is of course London, supposed to have been founded by Brut of Troy, whence was derived ‘Britain,’ the ‘insula Bruti’ of the opening lines.

52*. loke, ‘examine’: cp. ii. 733, vi. 1959.

65*. There is here a corruption which affects all the existing copies. The various readings are given in the critical notes, and evidently ‘outkrong’ is that which has most support. I conjecture that the author wrote ‘onwrong,’ i.e. ‘awrong,’ which being an unusual word suffered corruption at the hand of the first transcriber, the ‘w’ being mistaken, as it easily might be, for ‘tk’: cp. Chaucer, H. of Fame, ii. 403, where ‘tokne’ is apparently a corruption of ‘towne.’

66*. the hevene king, ‘the king of hevene.’ Gower regularly writes the final ‘e’ in ‘hevene,’ ‘evene,’ ‘evere,’ ‘nevere,’ &c. The preceding syllable is of course syncopated in pronunciation.

69*. what befalle, ‘whatsoever may befall’: cp. iii. 325, ‘what it were.’

75*. bit, i.e. ‘biddeth.’

85*. The true reading is probably ‘listen pleie,’ which is preferable both as regards form and construction: cp. iv. 3147, ‘whan the wommen listen pleie.’ The readings are as follows: ‘listen pleye’ J, ‘lusten pleie’ M, ‘luste pley’ B₂; the rest mostly ‘lust to pleye.’ The verb seems usually to be followed by a preposition when used impersonally, as i. 147, 1403, and otherwise more generally not, as i. 2741, iv. 3147, but there are exceptions both ways, e.g. iv. 907 and iii. 111, iv. 3187.

90*. Cp. 54 ff.

92*. for to newe. This is the reading of the better MSS., and ‘schewe’ is probably the correction of a copyist who did not understand it. The word ‘newe’ means here ‘produce,’ but in l. 59 ‘neweth’ is intransitive and means ‘comes into being.’

* * * * *

Latin Verses, ii. 2. vertit in orbe, ‘turns round,’ as upon her wheel.

4. Cp. 111 f.

11. ‘And thus those regions which were once the strongest fall into decay throughout the world, and have no centre of rest there.’ (The first ‘que’ is the relative, for ‘quae.’) It is possible however that ‘per orbem’ may refer again to Fortune’s wheel, cp. 138 ff., where the sense of this couplet seems to be expressed, and in that case the meaning is, ‘fall into decay as they turn upon the wheel.’

116. the vertu: for this French use of the article, which is often found in Gower, see note on l. 72.

122 ff. ‘And in witness of that I take the common voice of every land, which may not lie.’ This appeal to the common voice, the ‘commune dictum,’ is characteristic of our author, who repeats the proverb ‘Vox populi vox dei’ several times in various forms, e.g. Mirour, 12725. For the use of ‘that’ in such expressions cp. l. 907, and iv. 2040.

133. to loke &c., ‘when we look on all sides’: cp. 31, i. 1060, 2278, &c.

139. blinde fortune. ‘Fortune’ must here be taken as a proper name, and hence the definite form of adjective: cp. i. 3396, ‘wyse Peronelle,’ ii. 588, 2721, ‘of grete Rome,’ ii. 2304, ‘false Nessus,’ iii. 2100, ‘false Egiste,’ &c.

143. upon a weer, i.e. in doubt or distress: cp. iii. 1148, and Chaucer, House of Fame, 979,

‘Tho gan I wexen in a wer.’

144 ff. ‘And especially if the power of the rulers of the world be not kept upright by good counsel in such wise that’ &c.

152. heved, always a monosyllable in the metre: the word also appears as ‘hefd’ i. 199, and frequently as ‘hed.’

154. her trowthe allowe, ‘approve of their loyalty,’ i.e. accept it.

155. ‘And welcome them with all his heart.’ For the position of the conjunction cp. 521, 756, 759, 1014, i. 854, 863, &c., and note on Mirour, 415. Mr. Liddell points out to me that the same usage occurs frequently in the ME. Palladius.

156 (margin). The quotation is from Ecclus. xxxii. 24, ‘Fili, sine consilio nihil facias.’ This book is often cited as Solomon in the Mirour.

162. A truce with both France and Scotland was made for three years in 1389, but peace was not finally concluded till 1396.

166 f. Cp. Praise of Peace, 190.

172. at alle assaies, ‘in every way’: cp. ii. 2447.

Latin Verses. iii. 1. Iohannes: St. John the Evangelist, who is mentioned either as the teacher of brotherly love or because his Gospel contains the exhortations to St. Peter, ‘Feed my sheep,’ ‘Feed my lambs.’

2. ista, ‘this.’

3. bina virtute, perhaps charity and chastity, cp. 464 ff.

4. inculta, nominative in spite of metre, so auaricia in l. 8.

8. tepente, ‘being lukewarm,’ that is, held in a lukewarm manner.

196 (margin). Roberti Gibbonensis, Robert of Geneva, elected pope in opposition to Urban VI, under the title of Clement VII.

198. the god, see note on l. 72.

204. Simon, i.e. Simon Magus, whence simony has its name: cp. 442 ff., Mirour, 18451 ff., and Vox Clamantis, iii. 249, 1217, &c.

207 ff. The reference is to Lombard bankers employed as intermediaries in obtaining Church preferment. The ‘letter’ referred to is the papal provision, or perhaps the letter of request addressed to the pope in favour of a particular person: cp. Vox Clam. iii. 1375 f.,

‘Littera dum Regis papales supplicat aures, Simon et est medius, vngat vt ipse manus.’

210. provende, equivalent to prebend, and in fact ‘prebende’ is a var. reading here. Littré quotes from Wace,

‘Cil me dona et Diez li rende À Baiex une provende,’

and from Rutebeuf,

‘Qui argent porte a Rome, assés tot provende a.’

212. ‘The authority of the Church’ (symbolized by the key) ‘did not then lie at the mercy of armed bands or depend upon the issue of battle.’ For ‘brigantaille,’ meaning bands of irregular troops, cp. Mir. 18675.

218. defence, ‘prohibition’: cp. iv. 1026, v. 1710, and Chaucer, Troil. iii. 138, ‘if that I breke your defence.’

220. ‘was then no charge of theirs,’ i.e. did not come under their authority: ‘baillie’ means the charge or government of a thing, as Trait. xi. 19, ‘Le duc q’ot lors Ravenne en sa baillie,’ hence a thing placed in a person’s charge.

221. The vein honour: the definite form is rather less regularly used by Gower in adjectives taken from French than in others, e.g. iii. 889, ‘For with here fals compassement’; but on the other hand, i. 864, ‘the pleine cas,’ ii. 412, ‘And thurgh his false tunge endited,’ and 824, ‘This false knyht upon delay.’

246. is went: cp. iii. 878 and Chaucer, Cant. Tales, E 1013, F 567.

247. here lawe positif: the ‘lex positiva’ is that which is not morally binding in itself, but only so because imposed by (ecclesiastical) authority: cp. Vox Clam. iii. 227 ff. This is naturally the sphere within which Church dispensations of all kinds take effect.

248. Hath set. Apparently ‘set’ is intransitive, ‘Since their positive law hath set itself to make,’ &c. There is no good authority for reading ‘hire.’.

252. There is hardly another instance of ‘but’ for ‘bot’ in F, and the form ‘right’ for ‘riht’ in the preceding line is very unusual.

260. the manhode, i.e. human nature: see note on l. 72. For ‘thenkth’ see note on 461.

263. withholde, ‘retained as her servant.’

268. in the point &c., i.e. so soon as it is collected. The allusion is to the circumstances of the campaign of the Bishop of Norwich in 1385; cp. Vox Clam. iii. 373 (margin), and see Froissart (ed. Lettenhove), vol. x. p. 207.

278. That scholde be &c., i.e. the papacy, which by reason of the schism has become a cause of war and strife.

289. Gregoire. The reference is to such passages as Regula Pastoralis, i. cap. 8, 9. The quotation in the margin at l. 298 is loosely taken from the Homilies on the Gospel (Migne, Patrol. vol. 76. p. 1128), ‘Mercenarius quippe est qui locum quidem pastoris tenet, sed lucra animarum non quaerit: terrenis commodis inhiat, honore praelationis gaudet, temporalibus lucris pascitur, impensa sibi ab hominibus reverentia laetatur.’ The idea expressed by ‘non vt prosint sed vt presint’ often occurs in Gregory’s writings, e.g. Reg. Past. ii. cap. 6, ‘nec praeesse se hominibus gaudent sed prodesse.’

299. manie: the final ‘e’ counts as a syllable and the preceding vowel is absorbed; see note on 323: but ‘many’ is also used as the plural.

305. Cp. Vox Clam. iii. 1271, ‘In cathedram Moysi nunc ascendunt Pharisei,’ and see Rom. de la Rose, 11809 ff. (ed. Méon), English version, 6889 ff.

311. is noght foryete, an impersonal use, ‘there is no forgetting’: cp. 338.

323. Here ‘studie’ is reduced by elision to the value of a monosyllable: see note on Mirour, 296. The rule applies to substantives like ‘accidie,’ ‘Mercurie,’ ‘chirie,’ adjectives like ‘manie’ (l. 299), and verbs like ‘studie,’ ‘carie,’ ‘tarie.’

329. If Ethna brenne &c. What is meant is the fire of Envy, which is often compared to that of Etna, ii. 20, 2337, &c.

338 f. The verb is used impersonally, ‘there is cause for us all to be sorry.’

348. ‘it causeth this new sect to be brought in.’ The subject must be supplied from the previous clause.

366 f. That is, the various claimants to the papacy are supported in various lands by national partiality or interest.

380 f. ‘They use no other reasoning than this as to the peril of religion.’

383. his world, i.e. his fortune, cp. 1081, i. 178, &c.

388 f. That is, the right cause has no defence but in the rule of personal inclination and interest, the principle expressed by ‘Where I love, there I hold.’

407 ff. This is a charge against those who hold office in the Church of deliberately throwing temptation in the way of their people, in order to profit by the fines which may be imposed for breaches of morality and discipline. The meaning is fully illustrated by parallel passages in the Mirour de l’omme, 20161 ff., and the Vox Clamantis, iii. 195; cp. Chaucer, Pers. Tale, 721. The sentence here is a little disorderly and therefore obscure: ‘Men say that they drive forth their flock from the smooth meadow into the briars, because they wish to seize and by such ill-treatment take away the wool which shall remain upon the thorns, torn out by the briars,’ &c. The archdeacon’s court is chiefly referred to.

416. chalk for chese, cp. ii. 2346: it is a proverbial expression still current.

430. ‘We see the lot drawn amiss’: for ‘merel’ cp. Mir. 23496.

434. Hebr. v. 4.

452. in audience, ‘in public assembly’: cp. ii. 2556.

454. a chirie feire, taken as an emblem of delights which are transitory: cp. vi. 890 f.,

‘And that endureth bot a throwe, Riht as it were a cherie feste.’

460. understode, past subj. with indefinite sense: cp. i. 383, ii. 88, iii. 971, iv. 2597, 2728, vi. 1474. ‘Whoso understood their words, to him it seems likely,’ &c., instead of ‘to him it would seem likely’; cp. l. 520.

461. The distinction between ‘thinke’ and ‘thenke’ is completely lost in Gower’s usage: ‘thenke’ is the regular form for both, but ‘thinke’ is admitted equally for both in rhyme, as v. 213, 254.

480. ‘For fear that (On the chance that) I may say wrong.’ The subject is a delicate one and the author shows similar caution when dealing with it in the Mirour.

492. as of, ‘as regards’: cp. i. 557, iii. 1479, &c.

* * * * *

Latin Verses. iv. 4. velle, used as a noun, ‘will’: so ‘de puro velle’ in the lines at the beginning of the second book.

* * * * *

509 f. ‘Which with great difficulty man shall restrain, if he shall restrain it ever.’

521. For the position of ‘and’ see note on 155.

525. stonde upon: cp. 214.

529. som men: ‘som’ is uninflected in this expression: on the other hand we have ‘somme clerkes,’ l. 355.

546. the man, so 582: see note on 72.

550 f. ‘If any one thinks otherwise, look at the people of Israel’: ‘Behold’ is 2nd sing. imperative. The unusual form ‘Irael’ is given by the best MSS. here and elsewhere, and we must suppose that it proceeds from the author.

558. stonde full: perhaps a reference to 503 ff., or a metaphor from the tides.

567 (margin). The quotation is from Cons. Phil. ii. Pr. 4: ‘Quam multis amaritudinibus humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa est.’ The constant references to Fortune and her wheel may probably be suggested by Boethius, e.g. ii. Pr. 1.

578. i.e. till the end of all things.

585 ff. This vision of Nebuchadnezzar, which our author takes as his guide to universal history, is made the subject of illustration in those MSS. which have miniatures at or near the beginning of the Confessio Amantis.

618. Fel doun: cp. iii. 2492, ‘That have I herd the gospell seith.’

668. hol: see note on 683.

676. ‘And he kept himself in this condition undisturbed,’ the subject being supplied from l. 671, ‘Was in that kinges time tho.’ For omission of pronoun cp. Prol. 348, i. 1895, 2083, 2462, &c. However, the fall of the Empire took place not in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar but of Belshazzar (see l. 685).

683. Here and in 693 the best MSS. have ‘put’ for ‘putte,’ and this entire suppression of the inflexional syllable in cases where it is lost to the metre by elision is sufficiently well-attested to justify us in accepting it as an occasional practice of the author, both in the case of verbs and adjectives; cp. 668, 739, &c. It is especially common with this particular verb, e.g. i. 1578, 1807, 3213, ii. 93, 1021, &c., where ‘put’ is used for infinitive as well as for the preterite. Much more rarely in cases where there is no elision, as i. 732. On the other hand, we have ‘putte’ pret. before an elision, l. 1069, i. 2797, ‘pute’ inf. i. 462, iv. 1641.

702. In the marginal summary here F gives ‘Imparatoris,’ and sometimes in other places where the word is fully written, as i. 1417, ii. 593, 2506, 3201. However, ‘Imperator’ is also found in various places of the same MS., as vii. 2416, and the contracted form ‘Imꝑator’ has in this edition been written out so.

725. Of that honour which tok, i.e. ‘of such honour that he took.’

738. so vileins: a clear case of French plural of the adjective, used here for the sake of the rhyme.

739. fals: see notes on 221, 683.

745 ff. It is hardly necessary to point out that our author’s history is here incorrect. Charlemagne was not called in against the Emperor Leo, who died in the year before he was born, but against the Lombards by Adrian I, and then against the rebellious citizens of Rome by Leo III, on which latter occasion he received the imperial crown. The authority here followed is the Trésor of Brunetto Latini, pp. 84-88 (ed. 1863).

756. Of Rome and: cp. ll. 759, 766, and note on 155.

761. doth restore, i.e. ‘causeth to be restored.’

772 ff. Here again the story is historically inaccurate, but it is not worth while to set it straight.

786 ff. The meaning seems to be, ‘But this after all is what we might expect, for prosperity (they say) seldom endures.’

795. hath no felawe ‘hath no supporter or champion’: cp. Praise of Peace, 266, ‘And in this wise hath charite no brother.’

809. The punctuation follows F.

823. expondeth. This form occurs also in ll. 663, 873, as a reading of F. The French terminations ‘-on,’ ‘-oun,’ had the same sound and rhymed together, and the same is true of ‘-ance,’ ‘-aunce.’ Probably on the same principle therefore ‘expondeth’ may stand for ‘expoundeth,’ and rhyme with ‘foundeth’: cp. viii. 235 f. On the other hand, in i. 2867 we have expo_u_nde, founde. It maybe noted that ‘exponde’ is the form used in the French works, e.g. Mir. 22192, Trait. xi. 20, where it rhymes with Rosemonde, responde, immonde. As a rule in the Mirour this class of words is given without ‘u,’ but in one stanza we have ‘responde,’ ‘monde,’ ‘blo_u_nde’ in rhyme together, 8681 ff.

836. Cit: this is the true reading; the word occurs also Mir. 7197.

843. now with that beforn, ‘the present with the past,’ ‘now’ being used as a substantive.

850. the sothe seie: this is the reading of the third recension; the others have ‘the soth schal seie.’ Either text is admissible, for ‘soth’ is used as a substantive, but ‘the sothe’ is usually preferred, as in l. 834, and i. 981, iii. 765.

858. Cp. ii. 3490.

881. writ: syncopated present, ‘writeth.’ The reference is to 1 Cor. x. 11.

891. Statue: a dissyllable in Gower and Chaucer (equivalent to ‘statwe’), and here reduced to one syllable by elision: cp. Cant. Tales, A. 975. The longer form ‘stature’ occurs vi. 1524.

900. these clerkes: demonstrative for definite article, as in French; cp. i. 608, and see note on Mir. 301.

905. See l. 965. Perhaps here ‘cause of’ means ‘because of,’ as ‘whos cause’ for ‘because of which’ 1040; but I suspect rather an inversion of order, for ‘Man is cause of al this wo.’

907. that in tokne, cp. 122.

910 ff. This matter of the corruption of all creation through man’s fall is discussed at length both in the Mirour, 26605 ff., and in the Vox Clamantis, vii. 509 ff.

945 ff. This is one of Gower’s favourite citations: it occurs also Mir. 26869, Vox Clam. vii. 639. It is quoted here from Moralia, vi. 16 (Migne, Patr. vol. 75, p. 740): ‘Homo itaque, quia habet commune esse cum lapidibus, vivere cum arboribus, sentire cum animalibus, discernere cum angelis, recte nomine universitatis exprimitur.’ In the Mirour it is given as from the Homilies; see Hom. in Ev. xxix. 2. The passage is also quoted in the Roman de la Rose, 19246 ff. (ed. Méon),

‘Il a son estre avec les pierres, Et vit avec les herbes drues, Et sent avec les bestes mues,’ &c.

947. the lasse world, i.e. a microcosm: cp. Vox Clam. vii. 645,

‘Sic minor est mundus homo, qui fert singula solus.’

The saying is attributed to Aristotle in Mirour, 26929.

953. That is, the stones have existence and so hath he, this being the only point in common.

955. as telleth the clergie, ‘as learning informs us.’

975. The which, resumed by ‘He’ in 978: for, i.e. ‘since.’

979. That is, the opposite elements in his constitution (‘complexioun’) are so much at variance with one another.

985. ‘Without separation of parts.’

995. also, a repetition of ‘yit over this,’ 991.

1013. sende, pret., cp. i. 851, 992, 1452, &c. (but ‘sente’ in rhyme i. 3095, ii. 613, v. 1072), so ‘bende’ ii. 2235.

1047. That is, there can be no conciliation of the discord.

1055 ff. Cp. Ovid, Fasti, ii. 83 ff.

1066. commun: this form, as well as ‘commune,’ occurs in the Mirour.

1085. The horse side: cp. i. 1536, 2301, &c.

After 1088 the Sidney Coll. MS. (Δ) has the following lines,

‘So were it gode at þis tide þat eueri man vpon his side besowt and preied for þe pes wiche is þe cause of al encres of worschep and of werldis welþe of hertis rest of soule helþe withouten pes stant no þing gode forthi to crist wiche sched his blode for pes beseketh alle men Amen amen amen amen.’

These were printed by Caxton, and after him by Berthelet, with some slight variations of spelling, and the reading ‘and soules helthe’ for ‘of soule helþe.’ No other MS. contains them, so far as I know, except Hatton 51, which is copied from Caxton’s edition. If we read ‘So were it good as at þis tide,’ and correct the spelling throughout, the lines will be such as Gower might have written, and I rather suspect that they may have been contained in the Stafford MS. (S), to which Δ is nearly allied. S has lost a leaf here, on which ample room for them could have been found, the number of lines missing being only 156, while the number for a full leaf is 184. The authority of S would be conclusive in their favour.

LIB. I.

After setting forth in the Prologue the evils of the existing state of society and tracing them for the most part to lack of love and concord between man and man, the author now deliberately renounces the task of setting right the balance of the world, an undertaking which he has not shrunk from in former years, but recognizes now as too great for his strength. He proposes to change the style of his writings and to deal with something which all may understand, with that emotion of love which Nature has implanted both in man and beast, which no one is able to keep within rule or measure, and which seems to be under the dominion of blind chance, like the gifts of fortune.

Latin Verses. i. 7 f. Cp. the lines ‘Est amor in glosa pax bellica, lis pietosa,’ &c., which follow the Traitié.

10. of thing is, i.e. ‘of thing which is’: cp. ii. 1393, ‘Withinne a Schip was stiereles,’ so iii. 219, v. 298 &c., and Mirour, 16956.

21. natheles: as in Prol. 36, this seems to mean here ‘moreover,’ or perhaps ‘in truth,’ rather than ‘nevertheless.’

37. That is, ‘Wheresoever it pleases him to set himself,’ ‘him’ serving a double function.

50. went: present tense, ‘goes.’

62. I am miselven &c. Note, however, that the author guards himself in the margin with ‘quasi in persona aliorum, quos amor alligat, fingens se auctor esse Amantem.’

88. jolif wo, cp. ‘le jolif mal sanz cure,’ Bal. xiii. 24.

98 ff. The construction is broken off, and then resumed in a new form: cp. i. 2948, iii. 1595, 2610, iv. 3201, v. 1043, 1339, &c.

116. other: this must be regarded as a legitimate plural form beside ‘othre’: cp. iv. 1183, and see Morsbach, Schriftsprache, p. 23. On the other hand, ‘othre’ is sometimes used as singular, e.g. l. 481, ii. 283.

178. Mi world, i.e. ‘my fortune’: cp. Prol. 383.

196. The idea of ‘Genius’ is taken from the Roman de la Rose, where Genius is the priest of Nature, ‘Qui célébroit en sa chapelle,’ and she confesses to him, 16487 ff. (ed. Méon).

205. Benedicite: the regular beginning of a confessor’s address to his penitent.

213. Cp. Rom. de la Rose, 16927 f. (of Nature confessing to Genius),

‘Qui dit par grant dévocion En plorant sa confession.’

225. my schrifte oppose, ‘question me as to my confession,’ cp. the use of ‘opponere’ in the margin here and 299, 708, &c.

232. tome. This is Gower’s usual form of combination where the accent is to be thrown on the preposition. We have also ‘byme,’ ii. 2016, &c., tome, l. 294, ii. 3160, &c., ‘untome,’ iii. 99, ‘tothe,’ iv. 1875. In such cases, as is seen below, l. 294, the final syllable becomes weak and subject to elision.

279. remene, ‘bring back,’ from Fr. ‘remener’: cp. ‘demenen.’

299 ff. See note on Mir. 16597.

320. The punctuation is here determined by that of F, which has a stop after ‘love.’ Otherwise the meaning might be, ‘And doth great mischief to love,’ the conjunction being transposed, as often.

333 ff. The story is from Ovid, Metam. iii. 138 ff.

350. cam ride. For this use of the infin. see New Engl. Dict., ‘come,’ B. i. 3. f.: so ‘thei comen ryde,’ iv. 1307.

367. For the use of ‘hire’ as a dissyllable in the verse, cp. 872, 1667: on the other hand, 884, 887, 939, 1673, &c.

383. That is, if a man gave heed to the matter, he would see that it was, &c.: cp. Prol. 460.

389. Ovid, Metam. iv. 772 ff. This, however, is not Gower’s only authority, for he mentions details, as for example the names of Medusa’s sisters, which are not given by Ovid. The confusion which we find here between the Graeae and the Gorgons appears in Boccaccio, De Gen. Deorum, x. 10, which possibly our author may have seen; but I suspect he had some other authority. The names which Gower gives as Stellibon and Suriale are properly Stheno (Stennio in Boccaccio) and Euryale.

422. Mercurie: see note on Prol. 323. Mercury’s sword is not mentioned either by Ovid or Boccaccio.

431. gan enbrace, ‘placed on his arm’; see the quotations in New Engl. Dict. under ‘embrace v. 1,’ e.g. K. Alis. 6651, ‘His scheld enbraceth Antiocus.’

452. To tarie with, ‘with which to vex’: cp. i. 2172, ii. 283, 1081, v. 925, &c., and Cant. Tales, F 471, ‘To hele with youre hurtes hastily.’

463 ff. Cp. Mirour, 15253. The legend is founded upon Psalm lviii. 4 f. (Vulg. lvii. 5 f.), ‘Furor illis secundum similitudinem serpentis; sicut aspidis surdae et obturantis aures suas, quae non exaudiet vocem incantantium,’ &c. (Hence the genitive form ‘Aspidis’ in our author.) The moral application is connected with the Gospel precept, ‘Be ye wise as serpents,’ to which reference is made in the Mirour. The serpent’s method of stopping his ears was perhaps first suggested by Augustine, In Ps. lvii, who is followed by Isid. Etym. xii. 4, but there is nothing in these authorities about the carbuncle. The authority for this is perhaps the Trésor, p. 191.

481. an othre thing: for ‘othre’ cp. i. 1496, ii. 511.

who that recordeth, ‘if a man calls it to mind’: see note on Prol. 13.

483. tale of Troie, i.e. Guido di Colonna, Hist. Troiana, lib. 32 (o2, ed. Argent. 1494), which is here followed. Benoît mentions the Sirens, but does not describe their form nor state that Ulysses stopped his men’s ears.

492 ff. This manner of piling up consecutive clauses is observable in the author’s French style, and the use of relatives like ‘wherof,’ ‘which’ (l. 771) to introduce them is parallel to that of ‘Dont,’ ‘Par quoy,’ &c. in the French: e.g. Mir. 219 ff.,

‘Et tant luy fist plesant desport, Dont il fuist tant enamouré, Que sur sa fille,’ &c.

Cp. Mir. 681.

527. ‘plus quam mille ex eis interfecimus,’ Guido, Hist. Troi., lib. 32.

532. hiere, subjunctive: cp. ii. 252, iii. 665, &c.

574. othre thing: plural no doubt, but we have also ‘othre (other) thinges,’ i. 2464, iv. 1183.

Latin Verses. v. i. que Leone. This position of ‘que’ is quite common in our author’s Latin writings: see the lines after the Praise of Peace, ll. 10, 49, 50, &c.

8. sub latitante, ‘lurking underneath,’ ‘sub’ being an adverb. The best copies have the words separate.

577. applied, ‘assigned’; cp. iv. 2607, v. 913, vii. 1100.

585. seid, ‘named.’

595. feigneth conscience, that is, makes pretence as to his feeling, or state of mind, (‘As thogh it were al innocence’): cp. iii. 1504, ‘Mi conscience I woll noght hyde.’ The explanation suggested in the New Engl. Dict. that ‘conscience’ stands for ‘conscientiousness’ or ‘rightful dealing,’ will hardly do, and the word does not seem to be used early in this sense.

599. the vein astat: see note on Prol. 221.

608. these ordres, i.e. ‘the orders’ (of religion): so ‘these clerkes,’ Prol. 900.

where he duelleth, that is, the hypocrite, standing for Hypocrisy in general.

623. religioun, the members of the religious orders, as distinguished from the rest of the clergy.

626. It scheweth, ‘it appears’: cp. Prol. 834.

636. devolte apparantie: the words are pure French, and the French feminine form is as naturally used for the adjective, as in the ‘seinte apparantie’ of Mir. 1124. We cannot apply the English rule of the definite adjective to such combinations as this: cp. note on Prol. 221. However, ‘devoute’ in l. 669 seems to be the plural form.

637. set, present tense: so ll. 650, 707, &c.

648. these othre seculers, ‘the men of the world also.’

650. ‘He makes no reckoning in his account.’

695. As he which &c.; that is simply, ‘feigning to be sick,’ so iv. 1833, ‘As he who feigneth to be wod’; cp. vii. 3955. The expression ‘as he which,’ ‘as sche which,’ is very commonly used by Gower in this sense; cp. i. 925, 1640, &c., and Mir. 27942, ‘Comme cil q’est tout puissant,’ ‘being all-powerful.’

698. Cp. iv. 1180, ‘And thus mi contienance I pike.’ It means ‘he makes many a pretence.’

709. Entamed, ‘wounded’: used in a similar moral sense in Mir. 25161, ‘Car Covoitise les entame.’

713. As forto feigne, i.e. ‘as regards feigning’: so l. 723, ‘as to my ladi diere.’

718 ff. For the form of sentence, which is a favourite one with our author in all his three languages, but especially perhaps in Latin, cp. Mirour, 18589 ff.,

‘Unques le corps du sainte Heleine Serchant la croix tant ne se peine, Qe nous ovesque nostre Court, Assetz n’y mettons plus du peine,’ &c.

Vox Clam. i. 263 ff.,

‘In Colchos tauri, quos vicit dextra Iasonis, Non ita sulphureis ignibus ora fremunt, Quin magis igne boues isti,’ &c.

So also Bal. vii. 23, xviii. 8, xxx. 10; Vox Clam. i. 355, 449, 499, &c.; Conf. Am. i. 1259, 1319, &c.

733. ‘For I shall not declare this in my defence, that’ &c.; a somewhat different use of the word from that which we find in the quotations given by the New Engl. Dict., ‘Excuse v.’ i. 1. d.

761 ff. The story of Mundus and Paulina is historical, related by Josephus, Ant. xviii. 66 ff., and after him by Hegesippus, ii. 4, from whom it was taken by Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Hist. vii. 4, and also doubtless, directly or indirectly, by Gower. It is told in verse by Godfrey of Viterbo, Pantheon, xv, but it is certain that this was not Gower’s source.

771. Which: for this use of the relative in a consecutive clause, which is very common in our author’s style, see note on 492, and cp. 801.

773. thilke bore frele kinde. Human nature is described as frail from birth, and by its weakness causing blindness of the heart.

776 f. ‘And such were the fortunes of this tale of which I would speak,’ i.e. this was the passion which determined its course.

816. his thonk pourchace, ‘win their gratitude towards himself.’

833. ‘In which a false heart was concealed,’ an instance of inverted order, for which cp. ii. 565,

‘Whiche as he wot is puyson inne.’

872. hire, cp. 367.

894. which stod thanne upon believe, ‘which then was thought to be possible.’

938. homward, i.e. ‘goes towards home’; cp. iii. 1021, 2451.

940 ff. In Hegesippus the address is as follows: ‘Beata Paulina concubitu dei. Magnus deus Anubis cuius tu accepisti mysteria. Sed disce te sicut diis ita et hominibus non negare, quibus dii tribuant quod tu negaveras: quia nec formas suas dare nobis nec nomina dedignantur. Ecce ad sacra sua deus Anubis vocavit et Mundum, ut tibi iungeret. Quid tibi profuit duritia tua, nisi ut te xx milium quae obtuleram defraudaret compendio? Imitare deos indulgentiores, qui nobis sine pretio tribuunt quod abs te magno pretio impetrari nequitum est. Quod si te humana offendunt vocabula, Anubem me vocari placuit, et nominis huius gratia effectum iuvit.’ It must be allowed that our author has improved upon this offensive prolixity.

987. sche may ther noght, ‘she hath no power in the matter’: cp. 725, ‘there I lye noght.’

1006. Citezeine. Gower uses several of these feminine forms of substantives. Besides ‘citezeine’ we have cousine, ii. 1201, capiteine, v. 1972, enemie, v. 6753, anemie, viii. 1355 (all of which also occur in the Mirour), and occasionally adjectives, as ‘veine’ (gloire), i. 2677 ff., (vertu) ‘sovereine,’ ii. 3507, ‘seinte’ (charite), iv. 964, ‘soleine,’ v. 1971, and probably ‘divine,’ ii. 3243, ‘gentile,’ viii. 2294.

1013 ff. ‘questioni subicit, confessos necat.’ Our author here expands his original.

1040. Whos cause, ‘for the sake of which.’

1051. put, pres. tense, ‘putteth.’

1067. menable, ‘fit to guide,’ the ship; cp. ii. 1123, ‘A wynd menable fro the londe.’ The word occurs several times in our author’s French, as Mirour, 3676, 11882, 17392. The meaning in English is not always the same, the word being, like others of this form, sometimes active and sometimes passive: cp. ‘deceivable’ (ii. 1698, 2202). Here and in the passage quoted the meaning is ‘leading,’ ‘fit to guide’: elsewhere it stands for ‘easily led,’ ‘apt to be guided,’ as in iii. 390 and the French examples.

1068. ‘tobreken’ is the reading of JH₁XGL, SBΔ, W, and is evidently required by the sense.

1077 ff. Here Gower mainly follows Benoît de Sainte-More (Roman de Troie, 25620 ff.), but he was of course acquainted also with Guido (Historia Troiana, lib. 27: m 5, ed. Argent. 1494). The name Epius is from Benoît, for Guido has ‘Apius’: on the other hand, Guido and not Benoît describes the horse as made of brass. In speaking of the discussion about pulling down a portion of the walls, and of the walls themselves as built by Neptune, 1146, 1152 ff., our author is certainly drawing from Benoît. Some points of the story and many details are original.

Of hem that &c., ‘As regards those who have such deceit in their hearts,’ i.e. hypocrites: cp. 956, ‘O derke ypocrisie.’

1102. The MS. can hardly be right in punctuating after ‘Togedre.’

1129 f. So Lydgate, perhaps with this passage in his mind,

‘Makynge a colour of devocion Through holynesse under ypocrisie.’

Tale of Troye, bk. iv.

1133. trapped. ‘In quo construentur quedam clausure sic artificiose composite, quod’ &c. Hist. Troiana, m 4 v^o. Gower does not say that men were contained within, though this is stated by his authorities, of whom Benoît places Sinon inside the horse, while Guido finds room there for a thousand armed men. The ‘twelve’ wheels seem to be due to Gower, as also the picturesque touch, ‘And goth glistrende ayein the Sunne.’

1146 ff. Cp. Roman de Troie, 25814 ff. (ed. Joly),

‘Et quant ço virent Troien, Conseil pristrent que des terralz Abatroient les granz muralz, Les biax, les granz, que Neptunus Ot fet, M. anz aveit et plus, Et qu’ Apollo ot dedié.’

1165. crossen seil, ‘set their sails across (the mast).’

1172. Synon. The reading of F may be right, for ‘Simon’ is the form of the name given in many copies of Guido. Here however the whole of the second recension and the better copies of the first give ‘Synon,’ and a copyist’s alteration would be towards the more familiar name.

1225. lok. In l. 1703 we have ‘loke’ for the imperative, which must be regarded as more strictly correct.

Latin Verses. vi. 1 f. olle Fictilis ad cacabum, a proverb derived from Ecclus. xiii. 3, ‘Quid communicabit cacabus ad ollam? quando enim se colliserint confringetur.’

6. The elephant was supposed to have no joints.

1262 f. That I ... ne bowe more. For the form of expression see note on 718. Pauli makes the text here quite unintelligible by reproducing an error of Berthelet’s edition and adding to it another of his own.

1293. A proverbial expression like that in vi. 447, ‘For selden get a domb man lond.’

1328. retenue, ‘engagement of service’: cp. Bal. viii. 17,

‘Q’a vous servir j’ai fait ma retenue.’

1354. the decerte Of buxomnesse, i.e. ‘the service of obedience.’ For both the spelling and meaning of ‘decerte’ cp. Mir. 10194,

‘Qe ja ne quiert ou gaign ou perte Du siecle avoir pour sa decerte.’

1407 ff. The ‘Tale of Florent’ is essentially the same as Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale,’ but the details are in many ways different. According to Chaucer the hero of the adventure is a knight of Arthur’s court and the occasion of his trouble a much less creditable one than in the case of Florent. In Chaucer’s tale the knight sees a fairy dance of ladies in the forest before he meets his repulsive deliverer, and she gets from him a promise that he will grant her next request if it lies in his power, the demand of marriage being put off until after the question has been successfully solved by her assistance. The rather unseasonable lectures on gentilesse, poverty, and old age are not introduced by Gower. On the other hand, Chaucer’s alternative, ‘Will you have me old and ugly but a faithful wife, or young and fair with the attendant risks?’ is more pointed and satisfactory than the corresponding feature in Gower’s tale. Finally, Chaucer has nothing about the enchantment by which the lady had been transformed.

It is tolerably certain that neither borrowed the story from the other, though there are a few touches of minute resemblance which may suggest that one was acquainted with the other’s rendering of it: see ll. 1587, 1727.

We cannot point to the precise original of either; but a very similar story is found in The Weddynge of Sir Gawene and Dame Ragnell, published in the collection of poems relating to Gawain edited by Sir F. Madden (Bannatyne Club, 1839) and contained in MS. Rawlinson C. 86. In this ballad Arthur’s life is spared by a strange knight who meets him unarmed in the forest, on condition of answering his question, ‘What do women love best,’ at the end of twelve months. He is assisted by Dame Ragnell, who demands in return to be married to Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain accepts the proposal from loyalty to his lord, and the rest is much as in Gower’s version. It should be noted that the alternative of day or night appears in the ballad and was a feature of the original story, which Chaucer altered.

The Percy fragment of The Marriage of Sir Gawain, also printed in Sir F. Madden’s volume, is the same story as we have in the other ballad. The name Florent and that of the Emperor Claudius are probably due to Gower, who is apt to attach to his stories names of his own choosing: cp. Lucius and Dionys (Conf. Am. v. 7124*, Mir. 7101).

Shakespeare refers to Gower’s story in the line,

‘Be she as foul as was Florentius’ love.’

Tam. of the Shr. i. 2. 69.

1427. his oghne hondes: cp. iii. 2011, 2142; v. 1884, 5455 (‘seide his oghne mouth’).

1509. schape unto the lere, ‘prepared for the loss’ (O. E. lyre).

1521. par aventure, or ‘per aventure’ as given by J. The former of the two words is as usual contracted in F.

1536. his horse heved, ‘his horse’s head’: cp. Prol. 1085, iv. 1357, &c. The word ‘heved,’ also written ‘hefd,’ ‘hed,’ is a monosyllable as regards the metre.

1541. Florent be thi name: cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, B 3982, ‘dan Piers be youre name.’

1556. ‘I ask for nothing better (to be imposed) as a task.’

1587. Have hier myn hond: so in Chaucer, ‘Have heer my trouthe,’ D 1013.

1662. This is one of the closest parallels with the ballad,

‘And she that told the nowe, sir Arthoure, I pray to god I maye se her bren on a fyre.’

Weddynge of Syr Gawene, 475.

1676. what: cp. the use of ‘quoy’ in French, e.g. Mir. 1781.

1677. caste on his yhe, ‘cast his eye upon.’

1714. ‘He must, whom fate compels.’ The words ‘schal,’ ‘scholde’ are regularly used by Gower to express the idea of destiny, e.g. iii. 1348, iv. 92, 377.

1722. ‘Placing her as he best could.’

1727. Bot as an oule &c. So in Chaucer,

‘And al day after hidde him as an owle, So wo was hym, his wyf looked so foule.’

D 1081 f.

1767. tok thanne chiere on honde, ‘began to be merry.’

1771. And profreth him ... to kisse, i.e. offers to kiss him: cp. v. 6923, ‘Anon he profreth him to love.’

1886. til it overthrowe, i.e. till it fall into calamity, ‘overthrowe’ being intransitive, as 1962.

1888. Hadde I wist: cp. ii. 473, iv. 305.

1895. And is, i.e. ‘And he is,’ the pronoun being frequently omitted: cp. Prol. 348, 676, i. 2083, 2462, ii. 258, 624, 2071, 2985, iii. 1063, &c.

1917 f. A proverbial expression: cp. Lydgate, Secrees of the Philosophres, 459, ‘Yit wer me loth ovir myn hed to hewe.’

1934. ne schal me noght asterte, ‘shall not escape me,’ in the sense of letting a fault be committed by negligence in repressing it: cp. i. 722.

1967. unbende, 1st sing. pret., ‘I unbent (my bow).’ For the form cp. ‘sende,’ Prol. 1013.

1980 ff. The example of Capaneus is probably from Statius. The medieval romances (e.g. the French Roman de Thèbes) do not represent Capaneus as slain by a lightning stroke. The impious speech alluded to here, ‘Primus in orbe deos fecit timor!’ is Statius, Theb. iii. 661, and the death of Capaneus, Theb. x. 827 ff.

2007. it proeveth, i.e. ‘it appears’: cp. Prol. 926.

2021 ff. This story was probably taken by Gower from the Vita Barlaam et Josaphat, cap. vi (Migne, Patrol. vol. 74. p. 462 f.). The incidents are the same, but amplified with details by Gower, who has also invented the title of the king. In the original he is only ‘magnus quidam et illustris rex.’ The story is found in several collections, as Gesta Romanorum, 143, Holkot, 70, see Gesta Romanorum, ed. Oesterley.

2030. ride amaied: cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, C 406, and Skeat’s note.

2049. par charite. Rather perhaps ‘per charite,’ following J. F and A both have the contracted form. So also ‘per chance,’ ‘per chaunce,’ in ll. 2225, 2290, 3203, and ‘per aventure,’ l. 2350.

2073. was the same ... which, cp. viii. 3062*.

2078. This line, which would more naturally follow the next, seems to be thrown in parenthetically here.

2106. So also ii. 895, 2670.

2172. to tendre with, ‘whereby to soften’: cp. i. 452, ‘To tarie with a mannes thoght,’ and ii. 283.

2176. sihe: the mixture of past with present tenses is common in Gower.

2214 ff. ‘O stulte ac demens, si fratris tui, cum quo idem tibi genus et par honos est, in quem nullius omnino sceleris tibi conscius es, praeconem ita extimuisti, quonam modo mihi reprehensionis notam idcirco inussisti, quod Dei mei praecones, qui mortem, ac Domini, in quem me multa et gravia scelera perpetrasse scio, pertimescendum adventum mihi quavis tuba vocalius altiusque denuntiant, humiliter ac demisse salutarim?’ Barl. et Jos. cap. vi.

2225. See note on 2049.

2236. obeie, ‘do obeisance to’: cp. v. 1539.

2275 ff. The tale of Narcissus is no doubt from Ovid, Met. iii. 402 ff., but the account of his death is different from that which we find there. Ovid relates that he pined away gradually, and that his body was not found, but in place of it a flower.

2290. par chance: see note on 2049.

2316 f. Cp. Bocc. Gen. Deorum, vii. 59, ‘existimans fontis Nympham.’ By the margin we find that the nymph here meant is Echo, who is represented by Ovid as having wasted away for love of Narcissus and as giving an answer now to his cries.

2317. as tho was faie, ‘as then was endued with (magic) power,’ ‘faie’ being an adjective, as in ii. 1019, v. 3769.

2320. of his sotie, to be taken with what follows.

2340 ff. I know of no authority for this manner of his death.

2343-2358. This pretty passage is a late addition, appearing only in the third recension MSS. and one other copy, so far as I know. According to Ovid, the nymphs of the fountains and of the woods mourned for Narcissus,

‘Planxere sorores Naides, et sectos fratri posuere capillos; Planxerunt Dryades, plangentibus assonat Echo,’

but when they desired to celebrate his obsequies, they found nothing there but a flower.

2350. par aventure: see note on 2049.

2355 ff. This application of the story, founded on the fact that the narcissus blooms in early spring, seems to be due to our author: cp. ii. 196, iii. 1717.

2377. a place, equivalent to ‘aplace,’ which we find in l. 1888, i.e. ‘on place,’ ‘into place.’ We might read ‘aplace’ here also, for though the words were at first written separately in F, there seems to have been an intention of joining them afterwards. However, such separations are often found elsewhere, as ‘a doun,’ iv. 2710, v. 385; ‘a ferr’; i. 2335; ‘a game,’ viii. 2319; and most MSS. have ‘a place’ here.

2398. The reading of F, ‘Which elles scholde haue his wille,’ is a possible one, but the preservation of final ‘e’ before ‘have’ used unemphatically, as here, would be rather unusual. Instances such as l. 2465, ‘a werre hadde,’ are not to the point, and in l. 2542, where there is a better example, ‘Of such werk as it scholde have,’ the word ‘have’ is made more emphatic by standing in rhyme.

Latin Verses. ix. 2. cilens. Such forms of spelling are not uncommon in Gower’s Latin: cp. ‘cenatore,’ v. 4944 (margin).

2410. wynd. The curious corruption ‘hunt,’ which appears in one form or another in all the copies of the unrevised first recension, must have been one of the mistakes of the original copyist. The critical note here should be, ‘hunt(e) H₁YX ... C hante L haunt B₂,’ and the actual reading in L is, ‘Haþ þilke errour hante in his office,’ which seems due to a marginal note having been incorporated in the text.

2411. Which, for ‘that’ in consecutive sense, answering to ‘thilke,’ see note on l. 492. In this case it does not even stand as the subject of the verb, for we have ‘he overthroweth.’

2421. tok. This is second person singular, and we might rather expect ‘toke,’ which in fact is the reading of some good copies: cp. ii. 234, iii. 2629, viii. 2076.

2443. daunger. See note on Balades, xii. 8. The name represents the influences which are unfavourable to the lover’s suit, and chiefly the feelings in the lady’s own mind which tend towards prudence or prompt her to disdain. The personification in the Roman de la Rose is well known. There Danger is the chief guardian of the rose-bush, and has for his helpers Malebouche, who spreads unfavourable reports of the lover, with Honte and Paour, who represent the feelings in the lady’s mind which lead her to resist his advances: see Roman de la Rose, 2837 ff., Chaucer, Leg. of G. Women, B 160, Troilus, ii. 1376. Danger, however, also stands without personification for scornfulness or reluctance in love, and so the adjective ‘dangereus’ Rom. de la Rose, 479 (Eng. ‘dangerous,’ Cant. Tales, D 1090, ‘Is every knight of his so dangerous?’).

In the Confessio Amantis the principal passages relating to Danger as a person are iii. 1537 ff. and v. 6613 ff. Such expressions also frequently occur as ‘hire daunger,’ iv. 2813; ‘thi Daunger,’ iv. 3589; ‘make daunger,’ ii. 1110; ‘withoute danger,’ iv. 1149: cp. Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 384.

For the references to Danger in Lydgate see Dr. Schick’s note on Temple of Glas, 156 (E. E. T. S.).

2459 ff. The story of Alboin and Rosemund is related by Paulus Diaconus, Gest. Langob. ii. 28, and after him by many others. This historian declares that he has himself seen the cup made of a skull from which the queen was invited to drink. According to him, Helmichis, the king’s foster-brother and shield-bearer, plotted with Rosemunda against the king and induced her to gain the support of one Peredeus by the device of substituting herself for her waiting-maid. In some versions of the story this Peredeus was omitted. For example, in the Pantheon of Godfrey of Viterbo (xvii), where the story is related first in prose and then in verse, he is only slightly mentioned in the prose account and not at all in the verse, Helmegis being substituted for him in both as the object of the queen’s artifice. It seems probable that Gower followed this author, with whose book we know he was acquainted (viii. 271). The name of the waiting-maid, Glodeside, seems to have been supplied by our author, who took it no doubt from ‘Glodosinda,’ the name of Alboin’s former wife. Helmege the king’s ‘boteler’ is the ‘Helmegis pincerna regis’ of the Pantheon, and some expressions correspond closely, as 2474 (margin), ‘ciphum ex ea gemmis et auro circumligatum ... fabricari constituit,’ with the line ‘Arte scyphum fieri statuens auroque ligari.’

The tale is well told by Gower, but he alters the final catastrophe, so as not to lengthen the story unnecessarily and divert attention from his principal object, which has to do with Alboin’s punishment for boasting and not with the fate of the adulterous pair. He is responsible for most of the details: in the Pantheon the story occupies only sixty lines of Latin verse and is rather meagre in style. Compare, for example, the following with the account given by Gower of the holding of the banquet, the cruel boast of Alboin, and the feelings of the queen (2495-2569),

‘Ipse caput soceri, quem fecerat ense necari, Arte scyphum fieri statuens auroque ligari, Vina suae sponsae praecipit inde dari. Femina nescisset quod testa paterna fuisset, Vina nec hausisset, nisi diceret impius ipse, “Testa tui patris est, cum patre, nata, bibe.” Dum bibit immunda data vina gemens Rosimunda, Pectora pessumdat, lacrymae vehementer inundant, Occisique patris res fit amara satis.’

2485 (margin). Bibe cum patre tuo: these are the exact words of the prose account in the Pantheon.

2504. There is a stop after ‘ordeine’ in F, therefore ‘sende’ should be taken as a past tense rather than as infinitive dependent on ‘let.’

2533. ‘And took a pride within his heart.’

2548. The punctuation is that of the MSS.

2569. had mad. The use of ‘had’ for ‘hadde’ in a position like this, where it is followed by a consonant (or of ‘hadde’ with the value of a monosyllable in such a position), is most unusual in Gower’s verse. If there were a little more authority for it, we might read ‘hath,’ as given by J: cp. iv. 170, where many of the best copies read ‘Had mad’ for ‘Hath mad.’ It is possible that the author meant here ‘hath had mad’ (‘had’ being past participle), but I cannot quote any clear example of this form of speech at so early a date.

2642 ff. Here Gower departs from the authorities and winds up the story abruptly. According to the original story, Longinus the prefect of Ravenna conspired with Rosemunda to poison Helmichis; and he, having received drink from her hand and feeling himself poisoned, compelled her to drink also of the same cup.

2677. veine gloire. The adjective here adopts the French feminine form, as we have it in this very combination in the Mirour, e.g. l. 1219. On the other hand, where the words are separated, as l. 2720, the uninflected form is used. See note on l. 1006.

Latin Verses. x. 5. strigilare fauellum, ‘to curry favel.’

2684. ‘Heaven seems no gain to him.’ The forms ‘þinken’ and ‘þenken’ are identified by Gower under ‘þenken’; but ‘þinke’ is sometimes used in rhyme, and indifferently for either, e.g. v. 213, 254.

2701. unavised, adv., ‘in a foolish fashion.’

2703 ff. Cp. Mir. 27337 ff., where the author pleads guilty to these crimes, as the lover also does below.

2705 (margin). Ecclus. xix. 27, ‘Amictus corporis et risus dentium et ingressus hominis enunciant de illo.’

2706 f. the newe guise of lusti folk, i.e. the latest fashion for men of pleasure.

2713 f. This is one of the cases in which the third recension reading has been introduced over erasure into the text of F: cp. Prol. 336, iv. 1321, 1361, vii. Lat. Verses after ll. 1640 and 1984.

The original lines are given in the foot-note in accordance with S. They were altered perhaps to avoid repetition of 2681 f.

2745. songe, so here in F and A, elsewhere ‘song.’

2746. Wherof: cp. l. 498.

2764. hire good astat. For the loss of inflexion cp. ii. 2341, ‘his slyh compas.’

2769. whiche: often treated as a monosyllable in the verse, as ii. 604, iv. 1498, &c., but cp. l. 2825.

2787. Prol. 585 ff.

2795. bere: pret., as shown both by sense and rhyme.

2801. good. The original reading was ‘godd,’ which perhaps may be thought better, but the alteration may have been made by the author to avoid a repetition of the same word that he had used in l. 2796. The meaning is, ‘he did not remember that there was anything else of worth except himself.’

2830. And fedden hem, i.e. ‘And that they fed themselves,’ &c.; cp. 2833, ‘and seide.’

2883. sein: so ii. 170, iii. 757, in rhyme always.

2890. Written in F ‘vnder the þe kinges,’ as if to make a distinction, but ‘þee’ in the next line.

2939. The punctuation after ‘godd’ is on the authority of F: otherwise it would be better to take ‘with godd and stonde in good acord’ together.

2951. He let it passe &c. The preceding sentence is broken off, and a new one begins which takes no account of the negative: see note on i. 98. This seems better than to make ‘it’ refer to his pride, for ‘mynde’ can hardly mean anything here but memory.

3032. ‘He found the same gentleness in his God.’

3050. can no love assise, ‘can adapt no love to his liking.’

3067 ff. The tale of the Three Questions is one of which I cannot trace the origin, notwithstanding the details of name and place which are given at the end, viz. that the king was of Spain and was called Alphonso, that the knight’s name was Pedro and his daughter’s Petronilla. A reference to the second and third questions occurs in the Mirour de l’omme, 12601 ff.

3153. herd you seid: so v. 1623, 7609, ‘herd me told.’ This form of expression, for ‘herd you seie,’ ‘herd me telle,’ may have sprung from such a use of the participle as we have in v. 3376, ‘Sche hadde herd spoke of his name’: cp. the use of participle for infinitive with ‘do’ in ii. 1799 and Chaucer, Cant. Tales, A 1913, ‘Hath Theseüs doon wroght,’ E 1098, ‘Hath doon yow kept.’

3203. par chaunce: see note on 2049.

3246. ansuerde. This seems to be a plural form of the participle, used here for the rhyme: so iv. 1810, v. 6789.

3296. leste: elsewhere ‘lest’; cp. 3106, 3313. Here we have ‘leste’ A, F, ‘lest’ JC, B. The form ‘moste’ is undoubtedly used for ‘most’ (adv.) i. 307.

3308. reprise, ‘trouble,’ as we have ‘paine et reprise’ in Mirour, 3968.

3365 f. lete That I ne scholde be: cp. iv. 454. In both cases ‘lete’ is the past participle of ‘leten’ (lǣtan), and not from ‘letten,’ meaning ‘hinder.’ In these expressions ‘lete’ means ‘left’ in the sense of ‘omitted’ (like ‘lete Of wrong to don,’ vii. 2726), and in this usage is naturally followed by a negative: cp. v. 4465, ‘I wol noght lete, What so befalle of mi beyete, That I ne schal hire yive and lene.’ The same phrase occurs with the past participle ‘let’ (meaning ‘hindered’) in ii. 128, and the sense is nearly the same.

3369 ff. Several corrections have been made by the author in this passage, either to make the verse run more smoothly, as 3369 ‘it mot ben holde’ for ‘mot nede be holde,’ 3374 ‘mad a Pier’ for ‘an Erl hier,’ 3412 ‘vice be received’ for ‘vice schal be received,’ or to improve the sense and expression, as 3381 ‘maide’ for ‘place,’ 3396 ‘wyse Peronelle’ for ‘name Peronelle,’ 3414 ‘worth, and no reprise’ for ‘worthy, and no prise,’ 3416 ‘If eny thing stond in contraire’ for ‘And it is alway debonaire,’ an awkward parenthesis. It should be noted that Λ (the Wollaton copy of the second recension) here goes with the unrevised first recension, whereas B agrees with the revised form, except in ll. 3369, 3381.

3381. the maide asterte, ‘escape the influence of the maiden.’

3442 f. The hellish nature of Envy consists in the fact that it wrongs both itself and others without cause, that is without having any further object to gain. It rejoices in evil for the sake of the evil itself and not for any advantage to be won from it. Cp. ii. 3132 ff.

LIB. II.

11. if it be so, equivalent to ‘is it so,’ from the form ‘I ask if it be so.’

20. Ethna: cp. Mirour, 3805 ff.,

‘Ly mons Ethna, quele art toutdiz, Nulle autre chose du paiis Forsque soy mesmes poet ardoir; Ensi q’ Envie tient ou pis En sentira deinz soy le pis.’

The idea is that Envy, like Mount Etna, burns within itself continually, but is never consumed: cp. Ovid, Met. xiii. 867 (in the tale which follows below of Acis and Galatea),

‘Uror enim, laesusque exaestuat acrius ignis, Cumque suis videor translatam viribus Aetnam Pectore ferre meo.’

83. Write in Civile. ‘Civile’ is certainly the Civil Law, for so we find it in Mirour, 15217, 16092, &c., and also personified in Piers Plowman. The reference here has puzzled me rather, but the following, I believe, is the explanation of it, strange as it may seem at first sight.

In the Institutions of Justinian, i. 7, ‘De lege Furia Caninia sublata,’ we read that this law, which restricted the power of owners of slaves to manumit them by will, was repealed ‘quasi libertatibus impedientem et quodammodo invidam.’ It seems that medieval commentators upon this, reading ‘canina’ for Caninia in the title of the law, explained the supposed epithet by reference to the adjective ‘invidam’ used in the description of it, and conceived the law to have been called ‘canina’ because it compelled men to imitate the dog in the manger by withholding liberty from those for whom they no longer had any use as slaves. In Bromyard’s Summa Predicantium we find the following under the head of ‘Invidia’: ‘Omnes isti sunt de professione legis Fusie canine. Ille enim Fusius inventor fuit legis cuius exemplum seu casus est iste. Quidam habet fontem quo non potest proprium ortum irrigare ... posset tamen alteri valere sine illius nocumento; ipse tamen impedit ne alteri prosit quod sibi prodesse non potest, ad modum canis, sicut predictum est: a cuius condicione lex canina vocata est inter leges duodecim tabularum, que quia iniqua fuit, in aliis legibus correcta est, sicut patet Institut. lib. i. de lege Fusia canina tollenda.’

It seems likely then that Gower took the fable from some comment on this passage of the Institutions.

88. who that understode, ‘if a man understood,’ subjunctive: see notes on Prol. 13, 460.

104 ff. From Ovid, Met. xiii. 750 ff., where it is told at greater length. The circumstance, however, of Polyphemus running round Etna and roaring with rage and jealousy before he killed Acis, is added by Gower, possibly from a misunderstanding of l. 872. It is certainly an improvement.

128. it myhte noght be let &c. See note on i. 3365.

196. as he whilom &c. This suggestion is due to our author: cp. i. 2355 ff.

252. who overthrowe, Ne who that stonde. The verbs are probably singular and subjunctive: cp. iii. 665.

258. And am: cp. note on i. 1895.

261. Cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, G 746 ff., where the Ellesmere MS. has in the margin ‘Solacium miseriorum’ &c. The quotation does not seem to be really from Boethius.

265 f. ‘When I see another man labour where I cannot achieve success.’ For this use of ‘to’ cp. Prol. 133, &c.

283. to hindre with, ‘whereby to hinder’: cp. i. 452, 2172.

291 ff. This story, as Prof. Morley points out, is to be found among the fables of Avian, which were widely known. Gower has amplified it considerably. The fable is as follows:

xxii. ‘Iuppiter, ambiguas hominum praediscere mentes, Ad terram Phoebum misit ab arce poli. Tunc duo diversis poscebant numina votis, Namque alter cupidus, invidus alter erat; His sese medium Titan scrutatus utrumque Obtulit et, “Precibus Iuppiter aecus,” ait, “Praestandi facilis; nam quae speraverit unus, Protinus haec alter congeminata feret.” Sed cui longa iecur nequiit satiare cupido, Distulit admotas in sua dona preces, 10 Spem sibi confidens alieno crescere voto, Seque ratus solum munera ferre duo. Ille ubi captantem socium sua praemia vidit, Supplicium proprii corporis optat ovans; Nam petit extincto iam lumine degat ut uno, Alter ut hoc duplicans vivat utroque carens. Tum sortem sapiens humanam risit Apollo, Invidiaeque malum rettulit ipse Iovi, Quae dum proventis aliorum gaudet iniquis, Laetior infelix et sua damna cupit.’ 20

l. 6. Iuppiter aecus Lachmann vt peteretur codd.

309. Now lowde wordes &c., i.e. Now with loud words, &c.; cp. vii. 170.

317. That on, ‘The one.’

323 (margin). maculauit. Du Cange has, ‘Maculare, Vulnerare, vel vulnerando deformare.’

389. Malebouche, cp. Roman de la Rose, 2847 ff., Mirour de l’omme, 2677 ff.

390. pyl ne crouche, ‘pile nor cross,’ cross and pile being the two sides of a coin, head and tail.

399 f. The meaning of ‘heraldie’ is rather uncertain here. Probably it stands for ‘office of herald,’ and the passage means, ‘Holding the place of herald in the court of liars’; but the New Engl. Dict. apparently takes it in the sense of ‘livery,’ comparing the French ‘heraudie,’ a cassock, and an eighteenth-century example in English. In this case we must understand the lines to mean ‘wearing the livery of those who lie,’ that is, being in their service.

401 ff. Cp. Mirour, 3721 ff.

404. fals, see note on Prol. 221. Just below (l. 412) we have ‘his false tunge.’

413 ff. Cp. Mirour, 2893 ff.,

‘La hupe toutdis fait son ny, Et l’escarbud converse auci, Entour l’ordure et la merdaille; Mais de ces champs qui sont flori N’ont garde: et par semblance ensi Malvoise langue d’enviaille,’ &c.

447. ‘That many envious tale is stered,’ ‘many’ being a monosyllable for the metre before the vowel, as frequently in the expression ‘many a,’ and ‘envious’ accented on the penultimate syllable. For the use of ‘many’ by itself in the singular cp. ii. 89, iv. 1619, &c.

473. That is, she is on her guard against doing that of which she might afterwards repent. For ‘hadde I wist’ cp. i. 1888.

510 f. I myhte noght To soffre &c. A very unusual construction.

547 ff. ‘I cannot find that I have spoken anything amiss by reason of envy,’ &c.

565. ‘In which he knows that there is poison’: for the arrangement of words cp. i. 833.

583. ‘To be amended’: cp. Prol. 83.

587 ff. The tale of Constance is Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Tale, and the story was derived by the two authors from the same source, Nicholas Trivet’s Anglo-Norman chronicle. The story as told by him has been printed for the Chaucer Society from MS. Arundel 56, with collation of a Stockholm copy (Originals and Analogues, 1872). The quotations in these Notes, however, are from the Bodleian MS., Rawlinson B. 178.

Gower has followed the original more closely than Chaucer, but he diverges from it in a good many points, as will be seen from the following enumeration:

(1) Gower says nothing of the proficiency of Constance in sciences and languages, on which Trivet lays much stress. (2) He abridges the negotiations for marriage with the Souldan (620 ff.). (3) He does not mention the seven hundred Saracens with whom the Souldan’s mother conspired. (4) He brings Constance to land in Northumberland in the summer instead of on Christmas day (732). (5) He omits the talk between Constance and Hermyngeld which leads to the conversion of the latter (cp. 752 ff.). (6) According to Trivet the blind man who received his sight was one of the British Christians who had remained after the Saxon conquest, and he went to Wales to bring the bishop Lucius. (7) The knight who solicited Constance had been left, according to Trivet, in charge during Elda’s absence, and planned his accusation against her for fear she should report his behaviour to Elda on his return (cp. 792 ff.). (8) The words spoken when the felon knight was smitten are not the same. Gower moreover makes him confess his crime and then die, whereas in the French book he is put to death by the king (cp. 879 ff.). (9) The reasons for Domilde’s hatred of Constance are omitted by Gower. (10) Trivet says that Domilde gave the messenger a drugged potion on each occasion (cp. 952 ff., 1008 ff.). (11) The communication to Constance of the supposed letter from the king, and her acceptance of her fate, are omitted by Gower. (12) The prayers of Constance for herself and her child upon the sea and her nursing of the child are additions made by Gower (1055-1083). (13) According to Trivet, Constance landed at the heathen admiral’s castle and was entertained there, going back to her ship for the night. Then in the night Thelous came to her, and professing to repent of having denied his faith, prayed that he might go with her and return to a Christian country. So they put out at sea, and he, moved by the devil, tempted her to sin. She persuaded him to look out for land, with a promise of yielding to his desires on reaching the shore, and while he is intent on this occupation, she pushes him overboard (cp. 1084-1125). (14) The vengeance of king Alle on his mother is related by Trivet immediately after this, by Gower later. According to Trivet he hewed her to pieces (cp. 1226-1301). In the ballad of Emaré the mother is condemned to be burnt, but her sentence is changed to exile. (15) Gower omits the entry of king Alle into Rome and the incident of his being seen by Constance as he passed through the streets. (16) Trivet says that when Morice took the message to the Emperor, the latter was struck by his resemblance to his lost daughter. (17) Gower adds the incident of Constance riding forward to meet her father (1500 ff.). (18) According to Trivet, Constance returned to Rome because of the illness of her father (cp. 1580 ff.).

These differences, besides others of detail, show that Gower treated the story with some degree of freedom.

Before Trivet was known as the common source for Chaucer and Gower, Tyrrwhitt suggested that Chaucer’s tale was taken from Gower. Chaucer in fact criticizes and rejects one feature of the tale which occurs in Gower’s version of it, namely the sending of ‘the child Maurice’ to invite the Emperor. This incident however comes from Trivet, and it is probably to him that Chaucer refers.

It has been argued however in recent times from certain minute resemblances in detail and forms of expression between Chaucer’s tale and Gower’s, that Chaucer was acquainted with Gower’s rendering of the story as well as with Trivet’s (E. Lücke in Anglia, vol. xiv); and the same line of reasoning has been employed by others, e.g. Dr. Skeat in his edition of Chaucer, to prove that Gower borrowed to some extent from Chaucer. It seems probable that Chaucer’s tale of Constance was written earlier than Gower’s, and it is likely enough that Gower was acquainted with his friend’s work and may have conveyed some expressions from it into his own. Lücke adduces twenty-seven instances, more than half of them trivial or unconvincing, but amounting on the whole to a tolerably strong proof that one of the two poets was acquainted with the other’s story. The most convincing of the parallels are the following: Gower, ‘Let take anon this Constantine’ 706, Chaucer, ‘And Custance have they take anon’ Cant. Tales, B 438; Gower, ‘lich hir oghne lif Constance loveth’ 750, Chaucer, ‘loved hire right as hir lif’ B 535; Gower, ‘yif me my sihte’ 765, Chaucer, ‘yif me my sighte again’ B 560, Trivet, ‘qe tu me facetz le signe de la croiz sur mes eux enveugles’ f. 34; Gower, ‘The king with many another mo Hath christned’ 907, Chaucer, ‘The kyng and many another in that place converted was’ B 685; Gower, ‘to kepe his wif’ 925, Chaucer, ‘his wyf to kepe’ B 717; Gower, ‘goth to seke Ayein the Scottes for to fonde The werre’ 928 ff.; Chaucer, ‘whan he is gon To Scotlondward, his fomen for to seke’ B 717 f.; Gower, ‘The time set of kinde is come, This lady hath hir chambre nome’ 931 f. Chaucer, ‘She halt hire chambre abiding Cristes wille. The tyme is come’ B 721 f. These resemblances of phrase are such as we might expect to find if Gower had read Chaucer’s story before writing his own. In all essentials he is independent, and it is surely not necessary to suppose, as Dr. Skeat does, that a quarrel between them was caused by such a matter as this.

590. Tiberius Constantinus was Emperor (at Constantinople) for four years only, 578-582; his wife’s name was Anastasia. He selected Maurice of Cappadocia to succeed him, and gave him his daughter in marriage. The romance related by Trivet seems to have no historical foundation, but it was during the reign of Maurice that the mission went from Rome for the conversion of the English, and this may have had something to do with the story that Maurice himself was partly of English origin. Trivet himself mentions the historical form of the story, but pretends that he finds a different account in the old Saxon chronicles, ‘les aunciens croniques des Sessouns,’ or ‘l’estoire de Sessons.’

594. the god: cp. Prol. 72. We find both ‘god’ and ‘godd’ as forms of spelling, so ‘rod’ and ‘rodd,’ ‘bed’ and ‘bedd.’ Here ‘godd’ has been altered in F by erasure.

613. Both Chaucer and Gower make the Souldan send for the merchants, whereas in Trivet they are brought before him on accusation: but in fact here Gower agrees in essentials with Trivet, while Chaucer invents a quite different occasion for the interview.

653. Betwen hem two, ‘by themselves together’: cp. 752, 3517, iii. 1466.

684. Hire clos Envie: see note on Prol. 221. The metaphor here may be from spreading a net, or perhaps it means simply she displayed her secret envy.

693 f. Compare Chaucer’s development of the idea with examples, Cant. Tales, B 470 ff.

709. withoute stiere: Chaucer says ‘a ship al steereles’ where Trivet has ‘sanz sigle et sanz naviroun,’ or ‘sanz viron’ (MS. Rawl.): but either ‘viron’ or ‘naviron’ might stand for the oar with which the ship was steered.

709 ff. Note the free transposition of clauses for the sake of the rhymes. The logical order would be 709, 711, 710, 713, 712.

711. for yeres fyve. Trivet says ‘pur treis aunz,’ but he keeps her at sea nevertheless for nearly five.

736. gon, plural, ‘he and his wife go’: cp. 1152.

749 ff. In the MSS. the paragraph begins at ‘Constance loveth,’ l. 751.

752. ‘They speaking every day together alone,’ an absolute use: cp. 1723. For ‘betwen hem two’ cp. 653.

762. Punctuated after ‘hire’ in F.

771. Thou bysne man. The word ‘bysne’ is taken from the original story. Trivet says she spoke in the Saxon language and said, ‘Bisne man, en Ihesu name in rode yslawe haue þi siht’ (MS. Rawl. f. 34).

785. As he that. The reference is to the king, so that we should rather expect ‘As him that,’ but the phrase is a stereotyped one and does not always vary in accordance with grammatical construction: cp. 1623. We find however also ‘As him which,’ iii. 1276.

791. ‘The time being appointed moreover’: an absolute use of the participle.

831. ‘trencha la gowle Hermigild’: therefore the fact that Gower and Chaucer agree in saying that he cut her throat has no special significance.

833. The reading ‘that dier,’ or ‘that diere,’ was apparently a mistake of the original copyist. It appears in all the unrevised copies of the first recension and also in B. Λ however has the corrected reading.

857. After, ‘In accordance with.’

880 ff. Here Chaucer follows the original more closely than Gower, as also just above, ‘him smoot upon the nekke boon.’ The words of the miraculous voice are given in Latin by Trivet, ‘Aduersus filiam matris ecclesie ponebas scandalum: hoc fecisti et tacui’ (‘et non tacui’ Rawl. Stockh.). Chaucer has (B 674 ff.),

‘And seyde, “Thou hast desclaundred gilteles The doughter of holy chirche in heigh presence: Thus hastou doon and yet holde I my pees.”’

895. This line occurs several times, e.g. i. 2106, ii. 2670.

905. Lucie, apparently to be pronounced ‘Lucíe.’ Such names usually appear either in the Latin forms ‘Lucius,’ ‘Tiberius,’ ‘Claudius,’ ‘Virginius,’ or with accent on the antepenultimate syllable ‘Tibérie,’ ‘Mercúrie,’ the ‘i’ not being counted as a syllable.

947. What the right name really is we can hardly say for certain. The printed text of the French gives ‘Domulde’ or ‘Domilde,’ the Rawlinson MS. has ‘Downilde,’ and Chaucer makes it ‘Donegild.’

964. which is of faierie. In the French book the letter states that the queen has been transformed since the king’s departure into the likeness of another creature and is an evil spirit in woman’s form.

994 f. ‘comaunda qe sanz nul countredit feissent sa femme sauvement garder’ f. 34 v^o.

1001. I punctuate after ‘Knaresburgh’ on the authority of F.

1010. The manuscript has a stop after ‘drunke’ and this seems best.

1020. Here we have apparently one of the original corruptions of the author’s text.

1046 ff. The original has only ‘grant duel et grant dolour demeneient.’

1081. To rocke with: cp. i. 452.

1110. if sche him daunger make, ‘if she resist his desire’: see note on i. 2443.

1123. menable: see note on i. 1067.

1132. er it be falle And hath &c.; that is, ‘until it be so come that it hath,’ &c.

1152. scholden: note the plural verb after ‘I forth with my litel Sone’: cp. 736.

1163. Trivet adds ‘qar issit l’apelerent les Sessoneis’ f. 35 v^o.

1164. for noght he preide &c., ‘for none of his prayers to be told,’ &c.

1173. The stop after ‘Romeward’ is on the authority of F, with which A agrees. We can say either, ‘He was coming from Barbarie towards Rome, and was going home,’ or ‘He was coming from Barbarie, and was going home towards Rome’; but the latter perhaps is the more natural.

1191. made sche no chiere. This must mean here, ‘she gave no outward sign of her thought.’ Usually ‘to make cheer’ means to be cheerful.

1243. what child that were, subjunctive in indirect question: cp. 1943, iii. 708, 771, &c. See note on Prol. 41.

1259. alle well: ‘wel’ seems to be a substantive.

1275. as seith the bok. The ‘book’ only says ‘ia tut enflammé de ire.’

1285. I schal be venged: cp. v. 6766. The first and second recensions have ‘It schal.’

1300. was after sunge. The French book does not say this. It seems probable that Gower was acquainted with ballads on the subject, such as that of Emaré, printed in Ritson’s Metrical Romances, ii. 204 ff. It is to be noted that Emaré is taken from a Breton lay:

‘Thys ys of Brytayne layes, That was used by olde dayes Men callys playn the garye.’

1317. According to Trivet he came especially to get absolution for having killed his mother, and Chaucer follows him here.

1329. In help to ben his herbergour. This seems to mean that the question was asked with a view to helping to provide a lodging for the king. The expression is rather obscure however.

1351. seknesse of the See. This is absurd here, but not so in the original story. Constance attributes her weakness to the effects produced by her long wanderings at sea, ‘se acundut par feblesce de sa cervele que lui avint en la mere’ f. 36.

1369. sihe, subjunctive, ‘so that the king might see him.’

1381 f. Cp. viii. 1702 ff.

1393. ‘a ship which was,’ cp. i. 10.

1405 f. See note on 1163. Trivet speaks here only of the name of Moris.

1423 f. Gower’s more usual form would be, ‘Desireth not the heaven so much, that he ne longeth more,’ as i. 718, &c.

1464 ff. The connexion of this remark is clearer in the original story, which says that Constance told her husband, if the Emperor should refuse his prayer, to ask ‘pur l’amur q’il avoit al alme sa fille Constaunce’; because she knew that he denied no one who prayed in this form.

1586 ff. after that, ‘according as’: cp. Prol. 544, iii. 1074. The book says in fact with much apparent accuracy that Alla died nine months after his return, that Constance returned to Rome half a year after, ‘pur la novele qe ele oit de la maladie son pere,’ that on the thirteenth day after her arrival the Emperor died in the arms of his daughter, and she followed him in a year, the date being St. Clement’s day of the year 585. It is further stated that Elda, who had accompanied Constance to Rome, died at Tours on his way back to England.

1599. the wel meninge of love. In spite of the variations there can hardly be a doubt about the true reading here. The word is clearly ‘meninge’ both in F and S, and the change to ‘whel’ was suggested no doubt by the misreading ‘meuinge.’ For the expression cp. iii. 599, ‘To love and to his welwillinge.’

1613 ff. Gower apparently pieced together this story of Demetrius and Perseus from several sources, for it does not seem to occur in any single authority precisely as he gives it. The first part, which has to do with the false accusation brought against Demetrius and its consequences, agrees with the account given in Justin, Epitome, lib. xxxii. The story of the daughter of Paulus Emilius and her little dog is told by Valerius Maximus, Mem. i. 5. 3. Finally, the details of the defeat of Perseus seem to be taken from the account of a catastrophe which about the same time befell the Basternae, a Thracian tribe allied with Perseus, who according to Orosius (iv. 20), when crossing the Danube in winter with large numbers of men and horses, were almost annihilated by the breaking of the ice. The same author mentions that after the defeat and capture of Perseus his son exercised the craft of a brass-worker at Rome.

It is possible of course that Gower had before him some single account in which these elements were already combined. In Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Hist. v. 65 f., we find first the catastrophe of the Basternae, taken from Orosius, then the Macedonian war from Justin and Orosius, with the incident of the dog inserted from Valerius.

1631 (margin). testibus que iudicibus, ‘witnesses and judges,’ a common use of the conjunction in Gower’s Latin: cp. ‘Celsior est Aquila que Leone ferocior,’ Latin Verses after i. 574.

1633. dorst, so here in the best MSS. for ‘dorste.’

1711. apparant, for ‘heir apparant,’ which was the original reading of the first recension: cp. Mirour, 5580,

‘Car d’autre bien n’est apparant.’

1723. livende his father: for this absolute use cp. 752.

1757. upon depos, that is, having his power given to him as a temporary charge. See the examples in the New Engl. Dict.

1778. And he. ‘As he’ is an error which crept into the third recension. The interchange of ‘As’ with ‘And’ in Gower MSS. is very common.

1793 f. ‘For such an omen of an hound was most like to him,’ the words being transposed for the sake of the metre.

1799. do slain. This is apparently past participle by attraction for infinitive: cp. i. 3153, iv. 249, 816.

1817 ff. This incident is not related of the army of Perseus in any history, so far as I know: see note on 1613.

Latin Verses. iv. 7 f. As punctuated in F the couplet runs,

‘Quod patet esse fides in eo, fraus est que politi Principium pacti, finis habere negat.’

This does not seem to give any sense. The text may be translated thus: ‘What appears to be faith in him is in fact fraud, and the end of the smooth covenant disowns the beginning’ (lit. ‘denies that it has the beginning’).

1921. it scheweth, ‘there appeareth’: cp. iii. 809.

1943. how it were: subjunctive of indirect question; cp. 1243.

1950. of love, and. The punctuation is that of F.

2016. byme: see note on i. 232.

2018. For this I weene, ‘the other cause is because I ween,’ &c.

2025. Forwhy and, ‘provided that’: the same line occurs again in v. 2563. Compare the use of ‘for why that’ in Le Morte Arth. 389 (Roxb.), ‘Thou shalt haue yiftis good, For why þat thou wilte dwelle wyth me,’ quoted in the New Engl. Dict.

2066. of his oghne hed. It may be questioned whether ‘hed’ is not here from an O. E. ‘*hǣd,’ a collateral form of ‘hád,’ like the termination ‘-hed’ for ‘-hod.’ See New Engl. Dict., ‘hede.’ In that case, ‘of his oghne hed’ would mean ‘about his own condition.’ The rhyme with ‘red’ is no guide to us.

2071. Bot hield, i.e. ‘But I held’; see note on i. 1895.

2098 ff. With this attack on the Lombards compare Mirour de l’omme, 25429 ff. It is the usual popular jealousy of foreign rivals in trade.

2122. Fa crere, ‘make-believe,’ the art by which they acquired credit in business. The form ‘crere’ is used in Gower’s French, e. g. Mirour, 4474.

2124. hem stant no doute, ‘they have no fear,’ ‘they are sure’: cp. iii. 1524, v. 7244. In v. 2118, ‘which stant of him no doute,’ we have a somewhat different form of the expression: cp. iii. 2536.

2157 ff. The story is mainly taken from Ovid, Metam. ix. 101 ff., but probably Gower was acquainted also with the epistle, Deianira Herculi, and he has (naturally enough) supposed that what is there said of Hercules and Omphale, the exchange of clothes &c., referred to the relations of Hercules and Iole: see 2268 ff. ‘The kinges dowhter of Eurice’ is no doubt derived from the expression ‘Eurytidosque Ioles’: cp. Traitié, vii. 2. Ovid’s account of the death of Hercules is very much shortened by our author, and not without good reason.

2160. That is, ‘it befell him to desire,’ &c.

2297. Ovid, Met. ix. 229 ff.

2299. al of: so the first and second recension copies generally, and also W. The sense seems to require it, rather than ‘of al,’ given by FH₃.

2341. his slyh compas: a clear case of the loss of inflexion in the adjective, notwithstanding that it is a native English stem. The same word occurs in the definite form in l. 2374 ‘with his slyhe cast.’

2346. chalk for chese: cp. Prol. 416.

2366. axeth no felawe, ‘requires none to share it.’

2392. The metre requires the form ‘bote,’ which is etymologically correct, and is given in the best MSS.

2403. Me roghte noght: pret. subjunctive, ‘I should not care.’

2423. I wolde: cp. iii. 78. We should expect the negative ‘I nolde,’ as in i. 2750 f.,

‘I wol noght say That I nam glad on other side.’

The conditional clause thrown in has broken the thread of the sentence.

2430. tant ne quant: so Mirour de l’omme, 3654, 23358.

2437. A man to ben, cp. vi. 57.

2447. in a wayt: so given by the best copies, cp. 2999, but ‘upon await’ iii. 955, 1016.

2451 ff. In the MSS. the paragraph is marked as beginning with the next line, ‘At Troie how that,’ the line before being insignificant. As to the first story referred to in the text, Gower may have known it from Hyginus (Fab. cvi), or from Ovid, Her. Ep. iii. The example of Diomede and Troilus had been popularized by Chaucer, who had the name ‘Criseide’ from Boccaccio’s ‘Griseida.’ In Benoît and Guido the name is ‘Briseida,’ but Boccaccio was aware that Briseis was a different person (Gen. Deorum, xii. 52).

2459 ff. The name Geta was taken by Gower from the Geta of Vitalis Blesensis, a dramatic piece in Latin elegiacs founded on Plautus, in which Geta takes the place of Sosia: see Wright’s Early Mysteries, &c., pp. 79-90. It may be suspected that our author himself modified the story in order to make it more suitable for his purpose by substituting a mortal friend for Jupiter. We may note that he has also reversed the part played by Amphitryon.

2501 ff. I cannot indicate the source of this tale.

2537. As thei. The sense seems to require this reading, which is found however in only two MSS., so far as I know, and those not the best. It appears as a correction in Berthelet’s second edition.

2550. which that him beclipte. Either this means ‘who was encompassing him,’ that is pressing upon his borders, referring to the Caliph of Egypt, or ‘which encircled his territory,’ referring to what follows, ‘in a Marche costeiant.’ In the latter case we should have a very bold inversion of clauses for the sake of rhyme, but hardly more so than in 709 ff.

2558. unto Kaire. It is evident that the author conceives this as the capital not of Egypt but of Persia: cp. 2648.

2578. hair. The form of the word is accommodated to the rhyme: so iv. 1252.

2642. Upon hire oth &c., inverted order, ‘how it was a token that she should be his wife upon her oath,’ i.e. in accordance with her oath.

2670. The same line occurs also i. 2106, ii. 895.

2680. tome, i.e. ‘leisure,’ ‘opportunity,’ from the adjective ‘tom,’ empty. The reading ‘come’ is due probably to the misunderstanding of a rather unusual word, but the rhyme ‘Rome: come’ (past partic.) is not an admissible one (cp. K. Fahrenburg in Archiv für neuere Sprachen, vol. 89, p. 406, who of course is not aware of the corruption).

2803. The account of Boniface VIII which was most current in England is that which we find given in Rishanger’s Chronicle and repeated by Higden and Walsingham. It is as follows, under the year 1294:--

Papa cedit.

‘Coelestinus Papa se minus sufficientem ad regendam Ecclesiam sentiens, de consilio Benedicti Gaietani cessit Papatui, edita prius constitutione super cessione Pontificum Romanorum.

Supplantatio Papae.

‘In vigilia Natalis Domini apud Neapolim in Papam eligitur Benedictus Gaietanus.... De quo praedecessor eius Coelestinus, vir vitae anachoriticae, eo quod eum ad cedendum Papatui subdole induxisset, prophetavit in hunc modum, prout fertur: “Ascendisti ut vulpes, regnabis ut leo, morieris ut canis.” Et ita sane contigit; nam ipsum Papam ut Papatui cederet et ut Papa quilibet cedere posset, constitutionem edere fecit; quam quidem postmodum ipsemet Papa effectus revocavit. Deinde rigide regens generosos quosdam de Columpna Cardinales deposuit; Regi Francorum in multis non solum obstitit, sed eum totis viribus deponere insudavit. Igitur Senescallus Franciae, Willelmus de Longareto, vir quidem in agibilibus admodum circumspectus, et fratres de Columpna praedicti, foederatis viribus Bonifacium Papam comprehenderunt et in equum effrenem, versa facie ad caudam, sine freno posuerunt; quem sic discurrere ad novissimum halitum coegerunt, ac tandem fame necaverunt.’

It remains to be asked where Gower found the story of the speaking-trumpet by means of which Celestin was moved to his abdication, why he supposed that the capture of Boniface took place near Avignon, and whence came such additional details as we have in l. 3028.

As to the first, it was certainly a current story, because we find it repeated by later writers, as Paulus Langius, Chron. Citiz., ann. 1294, ‘Per fistulam etiam frequentius noctu in cubili per parietem missam, velut coelica vox esset, loquebatur ei: “Celestine, Celestine, renuncia papatui, quia aliter saluari non poteris, nam vires tuas excedit.”’

As to the death of Boniface, it was commonly reported that he had been starved in prison, the fact being that after the episode of his captivity he refused to take food, and the biting of his hands was observed as a symptom of extreme vexation, ‘saepe caput muro concussit et digitos momordit,’ ‘per plures dies ira feruidus manus sibi arrodere videbatur,’ &c. Ciacon. Vita Pont. p. 655.

2837 f. cp. Prol. 329.

2875. of such prolacioun,’with so prolonged a note.’

2889. hedde: cp. v. 1254.

2966. Lowyz. This of course is a mistake historically.

2985. And seiden. For omission of pronoun cp. i. 1895.

2995. de Langharet. We find this form of the name, or something equivalent, in the English Chronicles quoted, and also in Villani. The true name was apparently ‘de Nogaret.’

3001. at Avinoun. This is quite unhistorical, and the precise mention of ‘Pontsorge’ (or as our author first wrote it, ‘Poursorge’) seems to point to the use of some particular form of the story, which cannot at present be indicated.

3033 ff. This saying is sometimes given in the form of a prophecy, and attributed to the predecessor of Boniface, whose resignation he was said to have procured: see the passage quoted on l. 2803.

3037. to the houndes like, ‘after the likeness of the hound’: cp. i. 2791, ‘to his liche.’ The form ‘like’ would hardly be admissible here as an adjective for ‘lik.’

3056. This prophecy no doubt was current among the many attributed to the Abbot Joachim, but I do not find it exactly in the form here given. The quotation of it in the margin of F is in a different hand from that of the text and of the heading ‘Nota de prophecia’ &c. The omission of the Latin altogether in some manuscripts, as AdT, W, has no special significance for this passage.

3081 f. ‘He shall not be able to abstain from hindering him.’

3095. This saying, which is here attributed to Seneca, and which appears also in the Mirour de l’omme in a slightly different form, 3831 ff., may be based really upon the well-known passage of Dante, Inf. xiii. 64.

Latin Verses. vi. 4. Dumque, for ‘Dum,’ as sometimes in the Vox Clamantis.

ethnica flamma: see note on l. 20.

3122 ff. Cp. Mirour, 3819 ff.

3160. See note on i. 232.

3187. The Latin books referred to are the current lives of Saint Silvester, the substance of which is reproduced in the Legenda Aurea. Gower tells the story in considerably better style than we have it there, with amplifications of his own, especially as regards the reflections of Constantine, 3243 ff., and the preaching of Silvester to the Emperor, 3383 ff. There are some variations in detail from the current account which may or may not point to a special source. For example, in the Life of Silvester we are told that the Emperor met the lamenting mothers as he was riding up to the Capitol to take his bath of blood, and in all forms of the legend that I have seen the mountain where Silvester lay in hiding was Soracte (or Saraptis) and not Celion. The name may however have been altered by Gower for metrical reasons, as was sometimes his habit; see note on i. 1407 (end).

3210. of Accidence. ‘Accidentia’ in its medical sense is explained as ‘affectus praeter naturam’: cp. v. 763.

3243 ff. These reflections, continued to l. 3300, are an expanded and improved form of the rather tasteless string of maxims given in the legend, the most pointed of which is that with which our author concludes, ‘Omnium se esse dominum comprobat, qui servum se monstraverit pietatis.’

3260. his oghne wone. This appears to mean ‘according to his own habits,’ like ‘his oghne hondes’ (i. 1427), ‘his oghne mouth’ (v. 5455), for ‘with his own hands,’ &c.

3507. vertu sovereine: a clear case of the French feminine inflexion, which must have been a very natural variation in such expressions as this; cp. i. 2677. In French as in English our author would feel at liberty to adapt the form to the rhyme or metre: so we have ‘sa joye soverein’ Mir. 4810, but ‘ma sovereine joie’ Bal. ix. 7.

3517. betwen ous tweie, i.e. ‘together’; cp. l. 653.

LIB. III.

4. ther nis on. Note the repetition of the negative from the clause above.

71. the leng the ferre, i.e. ‘the lengere the ferre.’

78. mihte I, for ‘ne mihte I’: cp. ii. 2423.

83. redy to wraththe: cp. ii. 3444, ‘redi to the feith.’

143 ff. The story is from Ovid, Her. Ep. xi. It is that which is referred to by Chaucer, Cant. Tales, B 77,

‘But certeinly no word ne writeth he Of thilke wikke ensample of Canacee, That loved hir owene brother synfully.’

(Note that the name ‘Canace’ is used by Gower so as to rhyme with ‘place.’)

In spite of the character of the subject, it must be allowed that Gower tells the story in a very touching manner, and he shows good taste in omitting some of Ovid’s details, as for example those in Ep. 39-44. The appeal of Canace to her father as given by Gower is original, and so for the most part is the letter to her brother and the picturesque and pathetic scene of her death. On the whole this must be regarded as a case in which our author has greatly improved upon his authority. Lydgate obviously has Gower’s story before him when he introduces the tale (quite needlessly) into his Fall of Princes. It may be noted that in Ovid also the catastrophe is given as a consequence of ungoverned anger:

‘Imperat, heu! ventis, tumidae non imperat irae.’

172. lawe positif: see note on Prol. 247. Gower’s view is that there is nothing naturally immoral about an incestuous marriage, but that it is made wrong by the ‘lex positiva’ of the Church. This position he makes clear at the beginning of the eighth book, by showing that in the first ages of the world such marriages must have been sanctioned by divine authority, and that the idea of kinship as a bar to marriage had grown up gradually, cousins being allowed to marry among the Jews, though brother and sister might not, and that finally the Church had ordered,

‘That non schal wedden of his ken Ne the seconde ne the thridde.’ viii. 147 f.

If attacked by Chaucer with regard to the subject of this story, he would no doubt defend himself by arguing that the vice with which it dealt was not against nature, and that the erring brother and sister were in truth far more deserving of sympathy than the father who took such cruel vengeance. Notwithstanding his general strictness in matters of morality, Gower was something of a fatalist, cp. the recurring phrases of 1222, 1348, 1677, iv. 1524, &c., and he repeatedly emphasizes the irresistible character of the impulses of nature in love; cp. i. 17 ff., 1051 ff., 2621, vi. 1261 ff., and here l. 161 (margin), ‘intollerabilem iuuentutis concupiscenciam.’

219. ‘the child which was,’ cp. i. 10.

253 f. Ovid, Her. Ep. xi. 96,

‘Et iubet ex merito scire quid iste velit.’

279 ff. This letter is for the most part original. That which we have in Ovid is mainly narrative.

292. If that &c. The point of this as it occurs in Ovid depends upon the fact that her child has already been exposed and, as she conceives, torn by wild beasts, and she entreats her brother if possible to collect his remains and lay them by her,--a very natural and pathetic request. Gower has chosen for the sake of picturesque effect in this scene to make the exposure of the child come after the death of the mother, and he should therefore perhaps have omitted the reference to the child’s burial.

300 f. Ovid, Her. Ep. xi. 3, 4,

‘Dextra tenet calamum, strictum tenet altera ferrum, Et iacet in gremio charta soluta meo.’

315. The word ‘baskleth’ is perhaps a genuine alternative reading.

331. ‘Of such a thing done as that was.’ We must not be tempted by the correction ‘tho’ for ‘that.’

352. A fatalistic maxim which is often repeated, e.g. i. 1714, ‘nede he mot that nede schal.’

355. The revision of this line for the third recension may indicate a preference for throwing back the accent of ‘nature’ in the English fashion: so ii. 1376, but ‘natúre’ ll. 175, 350.

361 ff. This is from Ovid, Met. iii. 324 ff. Gower has chosen to omit the sequel of the story, which was that after seven years Tiresias saw the same snakes again, and by striking them a second time recovered his former sex. This being so, he is obliged to make a separate story (736 ff.) of the dispute between Jupiter and Juno, which gave Ovid occasion for mentioning the incident of the snakes.

382. Wherof,’ In regard to which.’

390. menable, ‘apt to be led’; see note on i. 1067. For the variations of reading cp. ii. 1599, and below, 519.

417. ‘Cheste’ is that form of contention which expresses itself in angry words. Gower seems to have taken it to be connected with the verb ‘chide,’ see 443, 492, 534, 552 ff.

431. Cp. Mirour, 4146 ff.,

‘ly sage auci Ce dist, que deinz le cuer de luy Folie buylle tresparmy, Comme du fontaine la liquour.’

The reference is to Proverbs xv. 2, ‘os fatuorum ebullit stultitiam.’

436. oppose, ‘inquire.’

463 ff. See note on the Latin verses at the beginning of the Prologue, 5 f.

479. That is, rather than sing such a creed, I would choose to be unlearned and know no creed at all.

487. Upon hirself, i.e. upon her authority.

515. balketh. A ‘balk’ is a ridge left unploughed, and ‘to balk’ in ploughing is to leave a ridge either between two furrows or in the furrow itself, the plough being permitted to pass over a piece of ground without breaking it. Here it is referred to as an accident arising either from not ploughing straight or not keeping the ploughshare regularly at the proper depth. From this idea of leaving out something come most of the other meanings of the verb: see New Engl. Dict.

544. Hire oghte noght be. For this impersonal use with the simple infinitive cp. 704.

545. For I, i.e. ‘For that I’: cp. 820, &c.

585. This expression, which Pauli for some reason calls an ‘obscene proverb,’ seems to be nearly equivalent to the saying about the bird that fouls his own nest (cp. Mirour, 23413), and refers apparently to recriminations between the owl and the stock upon which he sits, on the matter of cleanliness. The application is to the case of the man who quarrels with his own performances, and naturally has the worst of it himself.

626. ‘World’ seems to be the true reading here, though ‘word’ stood in the earlier form of text. The meaning is ‘that state of things shall never be permitted by me.’ The use of ‘world’ is like that which we have in i. 178, where ‘mi world’ means ‘my condition’: cp. Prol. 383, 1081. The verb ‘asterte’ is used in the sense of escaping notice and so being allowed to pass or to happen: cp. i. 1934,

‘Bot that ne schal me noght asterte, To wene forto be worthi,’ &c.

Cp. i. 722.

The expression ‘that word schal me nevere asterte’ is a more ordinary one (and therefore more likely to have been introduced by a copyist), but it gives no satisfactory sense here.

641 ff. The story was a hackneyed one, and occurs in many places. It is shortly told by Jerome, Adv. Jovin. i. 48.

665. what labour that sche toke. The verb is subjunctive, either because the form of speech is indirect, cp. 708, or because the expression is indefinite.

699. Cp. Mirour, 4185 ff., where after telling the same story the author roundly declares that he shall not follow the example.

704. Him oghte ... bere: cp. 544, 1666.

708. how that it stode: subjunctive of indirect speech, under rhyme influence: cp. ii. 1243 and l. 771 below, and see note on Prol. 41.

736. Met. iii. 316 ff. We have here the rest of the story which was referred to above, 361 ff. The point of the incident as told by Ovid is (perhaps purposely) missed by Gower, who does not mention the reason why Tiresias was selected as judge.

737. That is, according to the religious belief which then prevailed.

762. ‘And yet the other state would have pleased him better, to have had’ &c.

771. what he mene: for the subjunctive cp. 708.

782. of olde ensample: for ‘olde’ in this expression cp. 1683; but ‘of old time,’ i. 1072, ‘an old ensample,’ iv. 75.

783. This is from Ovid, Met. ii. 542 ff. The Cornide of Gower’s story is Coronis. The story is told at greater length by Chaucer as the Manciple’s Tale.

818 ff. From Ovid, Fasti, ii. 585 ff.

889. fals: see note on Prol. 221.

918. F alone gives ‘overmor,’ but it is probably what the author intended, though his first editions had the common variation ‘evermor.’ S is here defective.

957. sleth, ‘strikes.’

971. who so rede: subjunctive because indefinite; cp. 2508 and note on Prol. 460.

973 ff. This story may be found in Benoît’s Roman de Troie, 27551 ff. and in Guido, lib. 32 (n 3 v^o, ed. Argent.). We must note however that for the classical Nauplius we find in Gower ‘Namplus,’ whereas in Benoît and Guido both it is ‘Naulus’: therefore it would seem that our author had before him also some other form of the story, where he found the name ‘Nauplius’ or ‘Nauplus,’ which he read ‘Nanplus’ or ‘Namplus.’ Perhaps this may have been Hyginus, Fab. cxvi. Elsewhere Gower usually follows Benoît rather than Guido, but here several expressions occur which seem to be suggested by Guido’s form of the story: see notes on 1030 and 1063. Also Gower says nothing of the incident of rocks being hurled down on the Greeks (Rom. de Troie, 27795 ff.), which is also omitted by Guido.

1002. The name which appears here and in the Latin margin as ‘Namplus,’ with no important variation of reading, is quite clearly ‘Nauplus’ in iv. 1816 ff.

1021. Homward, i.e. going towards home: cp. 2451.

1030 f. Hist. Troiana, n 4, ‘qui necesse habebant per confinia regni sui transire.’

1036. it sihe, ‘might see it.’

1049. ten or twelve. Guido says two hundred. Benoît does not specify the number of ships, but says that ten thousand men were lost. Gower has judiciously reduced the number.

1063. Cp. Hist. Troiana, n 4 v^o, ‘fugiunt et se immittunt in pelagus spaciosum.’

1065. ‘what’ for ‘war,’ which appears in the unrevised form of the first recension, must be an error of the original scribe: on the other hand, ‘tyme’ for ‘dai’ proceeded no doubt originally from the author and was altered in order to make the verse run more smoothly.

Latin Verses. iv. 1. et sit spiritus eius Naribus: a reference to Isaiah ii. 22, ‘Quiescite ergo ab homine, cuius spiritus in naribus eius est.’ The same passage is quoted in Mirour, 4754, and it is evident there that the ‘breath in the nostrils’ was understood by our author to stand for fury of anger.

1113. war hem wel, ‘let them beware.’

1158. The contest in the heart between Wit and Reason on the one hand and Will and Hope on the other is quite in the style of the Roman de la Rose, where Reason and the Lover have an endless controversy (2983 ff.). Though the agencies are clearly personified here, the author has not assigned capital letters to their names.

1166. out of retenue, ‘out of my service.’

1173. jeupartie, ‘discord,’ one side being matched against the other. The first reading was ‘champartie,’ which may have proceeded from the author. It is clear that this word was used by Lydgate in the sense of ‘rivalry’ or ‘contest’ in the phrase ‘holde champartie,’ and this may either have come from the idea of partnership, implying division of power and so rivalry, as in Chaucer, Cant. Tales, A 1949, or from the legal sense, with which Gower and Lydgate would doubtless be acquainted, meaning partnership for a contentious purpose. There seems no sufficient reason for supposing (with the New Engl. Dict.) that Lydgate’s use was founded on a misunderstanding of Chaucer.

1183. and til. Caxton and Berthelet both have ‘tyl that’ for ‘and til,’ and one is tempted to suggest that ‘and til’ was meant to stand for ‘until.’

1201 ff. The story of the visit of Alexander to Diogenes was a common one enough, and it is hardly worth while to investigate its source for Gower. He probably here combined various materials into one narrative, for the usual form of the story as given by Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Hist. iii. 68 f., and in the Gesta Romanorum, does not include the conversation about the Reason and the Will. This may have been derived from Walter Burley, De Vita Philosophorum, cap. l., ‘Dum Alexander rex coram Diogene transiret, Diogenes tanquam illum spernens non respexit; cui dixit Alexander, “Quid est Diogenes quod me non respicis, quasi mei non indigeas?” Cui ille, “Ad quid necesse habeo servi servorum meorum?” Et Alexander, “Numquid servorum tuorum servus sum?” Ait, “Ego prevaleo cupiditatibus meis refrenans illas et subiciens mihi illas ut serviant: tibi autem cupiditates prevalent, et servus earum efficeris, earum obtemperans iussioni: servus igitur es servorum meorum.”’ Burley gives the other part of the conversation separately.

The incident of the messenger sent to inquire and of the answer which he brought back is no doubt due to Gower, as also the idea of the ‘tun’ being set on an axle and adapted for astronomical observations.

1212. The ‘dolium’ was of course popularly regarded as a wooden cask.

1222. ‘As fate would have it’: see note on 172 (end), and cp. 1442.

1224. the Sonne ariste, i.e. the rising of the sun: so iv. 1285, ‘and that was er the Sonne Ariste.’

1310. to schifte, ‘to dispose of.’ In Burley, ‘rogo ne auferas quod dare non potes.’

1331 ff. The tale of Pyramus and Thisbe is from Ovid, Met. iv. 55-166. Chaucer has taken it from the same source in the Legend of Good Women. When we compare the results, we find that in this instance it is Chaucer who has followed his authority closely, while Gower gives a paraphrase in his own language and with several variations of detail. He says, for example, that the lovers themselves made the hole in the wall through which they conversed; he omits Ninus’ tomb; he speaks of a lion, not a lioness; he says that Thisbe hid herself in a bush (not a cave), and that then the lion slew and devoured a beast before drinking at the spring; he cuts short the speech of Pyramus before killing himself; he represents that Pyramus was slain at once instead of living until Thisbe came; he invents an entirely new speech for Thisbe; and he judiciously omits, as Chaucer does also, the mention of the mulberry-tree and its transformation.

In short, Gower writes apparently from a general recollection of the story, while Chaucer evidently has his Ovid before him and endeavours to translate almost every phrase, showing thereby his good taste, for Ovid tells the story well.

The following points in Ovid (among others) are reproduced by Chaucer and not by Gower: l. 56, ‘quas Oriens habuit’; 58, ‘Coctilibus muris’; 59, ‘Notitiam primosque gradus vicinia fecit’ (which Chaucer misunderstands, however); 62, ‘Ex aequo captis ’ &c.; 64, ‘Quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis’; 65, ‘Fissus erat tenui rima,’ &c.; 68, ‘Quid non sentit amor?’; 73-77, the speeches of the lovers to the wall; 81 f., ‘Postera nocturnos aurora’ &c.; 85, ‘Fallere custodes’; 87, ‘Neve sit errandum’ &c.; 94, ‘adopertaque vultum’; 97, ‘leaena’; 99, ‘ad lunae radios’; 100, ‘in antrum’; 105, ‘vestigia vidit in alto Pulvere’ &c.; 108, ‘Una duos nox, inquit, perdet amantes,’ and the rest of this speech; 117 f., ‘Utque dedit notae lacrimas,’ &c.; 122, ‘Non aliter quam cum vitiato fistula plumbo Scinditur’; 130, ‘Quantaque vitarit narrare pericula gestit’; 133, ‘tremebunda videt pulsare cruentum Membra solum’; 134 f., ‘oraque buxo’ &c.; 140, ‘Vulnera supplevit’ &c.; 145, ‘oculos iam morte gravatos’; 148 ff., the speech of Thisbe, except the reference to the mulberry-tree.

Gower’s rendering of the story is inferior to that of Chaucer, as might be expected, but nevertheless it is simple and pathetic. It has even some points of superiority, as 1386 f., the passage of Thisbe through the town at night; 1400, ‘with his blodi snoute’; 1411, the terror of Thisbe when concealed in the bush; and finally 1486 ff., where instead of deliberately resolving on death and inflicting it with calm resolution, she is more naturally represented as overcome by a sudden impulse in the midst of her mourning and killing herself almost without consciousness of what she did.

1348. as it scholde be: cp. 1222, ‘As thing which scholde so betyde.’

1356. All the best copies have ‘miht’ or ‘might’ here: cp. 1440. The distinction, however, between ‘miht’ (= mayest) and ‘mihte’ is usually well preserved by our author.

1394. In haste and: so ll. 1396, 1415. On the other hand, in 1430 we have a stop after ‘folhaste’ (in F), while 1447 remains doubtful.

1442. as it schal betide, cp. 1222.

1448. For sche, a reference to the ‘folhaste’ of the previous line. It was his haste that destroyed him, for if he had waited but a little he would have seen her come.

1466 f. ‘If it be only by this mishap which has befallen my love and me together.’ For the use of ‘betwen’ see note on ii. 653. The position of ‘Only’ is affected by metrical requirements: see note on ii. 709.

1473. oure herte bothe, ‘the hearts of us both.’ The singular ‘herte’ is given by the best copies of each recension.

1496. Bewar: thus written several times in F, e.g. 1738. Here A also has ‘Bewar.’

1524. him stant of me no fere: cp. ii. 2124.

1537. Daunger: see note on i. 2443.

1593 ff. The construction of the sentence is interrupted, but the sense is clear: ‘For if I, who have given all my will and wit to her service, should in reward thereof be suffered to die, it would be pity.’ For this kind of irregularity cp. i. 98, 2948, &c.

1605. The reading ‘in such,’ though given by both S and F, must be wrong.

1630. overthrewe. The verb no doubt is intransitive, as often, e.g. i. 1886, 1962, and below, l. 1638.

1666. him oghte have be: cp. 704.

1685 ff. Ovid, Met. i. 453-567. Gower cuts the story short.

1701. Ovid, Met. i. 470,

‘Quod facit auratum est et cuspide fulget acuta.’

(Merkel alters ‘auratum’ to ‘hamatum,’ but this is certainly wrong.)

1704. Note that the final syllable of ‘Daphne’ is subject to elision here and in 1716: so ‘Progne’ v. 5574, &c.

1718 ff. The suggestion is Gower’s own, as in other similar cases, e.g. i. 2355.

1743. ‘And it is to be desired that a man,’ &c.

1757 ff. This story is chiefly from Benoît, Roman de Troie, 28025 ff. Guido omits many details which are given by Gower. Note that in l. 28025, where Joly’s edition has ‘Samas,’ Guido and Gower both have ‘Athemas.’ Our author has treated his materials freely and tells the story at greater length. The speech which he assigns to Nestor is for the most part original.

1885 ff. The tale of Orestes is from Benoît de Sainte-More, Rom. de Troie, 27925-27990, 28155-28283, and 28339-28402. Guido omits the visit of Orestes to Athens to obtain help for his expedition, the portion of the oracle which bad him tear away his mother’s breasts, and the name of Menetius (or Menesteus), who defended Orestes, and Gower’s details are in general more in accordance with those of Benoît. A few exceptions may be found, however. For example, Gower says that Agamemnon was murdered as he lay in bed (1915), Guido, ‘dum suo soporatus dormiret in lecto,’ but Benoît only, ‘L’ont la premiere nuit ocis.’ Again, Guido calls Idomeneus ‘consanguineum eius,’ and Gower says, ‘So as he was of his lignage,’ of which Benoît says nothing. No doubt Gower was acquainted with both, and preferred the French because he perceived it to be better.

1911. ‘To set her love in place where it cannot be secure.’

2022 f. Cropheon ... Phoieus. The names are given as ‘Trofion’ and ‘Florentes’ by Benoît (Joly’s text), ‘Troiesem’ (‘Croeze’ MS.) and ‘Forensis’ by Guido. They are originally derived from a misunderstanding of a passage in Dictys, Bell. Troi. vi. 3, ‘armatus cum praedicta manu ad Strophium venit: is namque Phocensis, cuius filia,’ &c.

2055 ff. This speech is introduced by Gower.

2112 f.

‘Li un dient qu’il a fet dreit, Et li autre que non aveit.’

Rom. de Troie, 28275.

2145. Menesteüs. This is a more correct form of the name than the ‘Menetius,’ which we have in Joly’s text of Benoît.

2148. of the goddes bede. Here we perhaps have Guido rather than Benoît.

2173. Egiona. The name is properly Erigona, and so it is given by Benoît. The moralization on her fate, 2183 ff., is due to our author, and it is rather out of place, considering the circumstances of the story.

2346. the trew man. In F we have ‘trew,’ altered apparently from ‘trewe,’ which is the usual and the more correct form: ‘the trew man to the plowh’ means the labourer who truly serves the plough.

2358. This is simply a repetition of 2355, ‘thei stonde of on acord.’ ‘As of corage’ means as regards their feeling or inclination: for this use of ‘as’ cp. Prol. 492, i. 557, &c.

2363 ff. A very common story, found shortly in Augustine, Civ. Dei, iv. 4, and repeated in the Gesta Romanorum and many other books. Gower has expanded it after his own fashion.

2424 f. ‘that men set their hearts to make gain by such wrong doing.’

2451. homward, i.e. ‘going homeward.’ The word included something of a verbal sense, as we see in i. 938, iii. 1021: so also ‘toward’ in l. 2643.

2458. the world mistimed. The verb ‘mistime’ means properly ‘to happen amiss,’ with the suggestion that it is by the fault of the person concerned. Gower uses it here transitively for ‘to manage amiss,’ while in vi. 4 ‘was mystymed’ means ‘came unhappily about.’

2508. what man ... rede: for the subjunctive see note on Prol. 460.

2536. ‘Hardly have any fear’: see note on ii. 2124.

2555. Acastus was king of Iolcos. He purified Peleus, as some say of the murder of Eurytion, but according to others of that of Phocus: cp. Bocc. Gen. Deorum, xii. 50, ‘ad Magnetas abiit, ubi ab Achasto fraterna caede purgatus est.’

2563 f. Alcmaeon, son of Amphiaraus, was purified by Achelous, whom our author here takes for a priest.

2599 ff. This anecdote is told also in the Mirour, 5029-5040, and there also it is ascribed to Solinus. I do not find it, however, in his book.

2608 ff. For the irregularity of this sentence cp. 1593 ff.

2639 ff. The story is taken from Benoît (Rom. de Troie, 6497-6590), as we may see at once from the name ‘Theucer,’ which Guido gives rather more correctly as ‘Theutran.’ Also ll. 2674-2680, Roman de Troie, 6545-6553, have nothing corresponding to them in Guido. Guido here certainly referred to a copy of the so-called Dares, where the name occurs in its classical form ‘Teuthras.’ He is particularly interested in the story on local grounds, being concerned to show that the ‘Messe’ which he found in Benoît might be connected with the name of his place of residence, Messina, and that the events related occurred actually in Sicily. Accordingly he speaks of certain columns popularly called ‘columns of Hercules,’ which existed in his own time in Sicily, ‘ex parte Barbarorum,’ i.e. on the south coast, and takes them as evidence of the connexion of Hercules with the island, and hence of the probability that this story (which in the original has to do with Hercules, though Gower has excluded him from it) had its scene in Sicily. Dares, he admits, says nothing of this, and his reference to Dares is here in more precise form than usual, ‘in suo codice’ according to the Bodleian MS., though the printed editions give ‘in suo opere’ (MS. Add. A. 365, f. 50 v^o).

He says of the place where these columns are, ‘qui locus dicitur adhuc columpnarum,’ and adds that the emperor Frederic II has established a town there, and that the place is now called ‘terra nova.’ This is obviously identical with the modern Terranova, founded by Frederic II near the site of the ancient Gela. It seems probable that Guido may have been himself a native of this place or of its immediate neighbourhood, and that he chose to call himself after its former designation, ‘Columpna’ or ‘Columpnae,’ instead of by the new name which had come into use during his own lifetime[AN].

2643. His Sone. This is a mistake on the part of Gower. Both Benoît and Guido state quite clearly that Telephus was the son of Hercules, and that it was to Hercules that the obligation was due which is referred to in 2690 ff. Perhaps the copy of the Roman de Troie which Gower used had ‘Thelefus fu filz Achilles’ for ‘Thelefus fu filz Hercules,’ in l. 6506.

2756. We should rather have expected ‘That I fro you wol nothing hele.’

LIB. IV.

9. Cp. Mirour, 5606,

‘Lachesce dist, Demein, Demein.’

38. Thou schalt mowe: cp. ii. 1670, where we have ‘mow’ for ‘mowe.’

60. a fin. This is a French expression, which appears repeatedly in the Mirour as ‘au fin.’

77 ff. The only definite indication of sources here is the reference (such as it is) to Ovid, Her. Ep. vii., contained in ll. 104-115.

92. as it be scholde, cp. iii. 1348.

104 ff. This picture seems to be constructed partly from a misreading or misunderstanding of Ovid, Her. Ep. vii. 1 f.,

‘Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abiectus in herbis Ad vada Maeandri concinit albus olor.’

It is difficult to see how our author translated these lines, but the result, which must have been chiefly due to his imagination, is rather creditable to him. Chaucer gives the true sense in the Legend of Good Women, 1355 ff.,

‘Ryght so,’ quod she, ‘as that the white swan Ayenst his deth begynneth for to synge. Ryght so to yow I make my compleynynge.’

128. such a lak of Slowthe, ‘such a fault of Sloth.’

137. That is, to put all the slothful in mind (of their duty).

147 ff. The general idea of this is taken from the letter of Penelope to Ulysses, Ovid, Her. Ep. i, but this is not closely followed in details, and it will be noticed that Gower represents the letter as sent while the siege of Troy still continued, and apparently he knows nothing of the great length of the wandering afterwards: cp. 226 ff.

170. The reading ‘Had’ for ‘Hath’ is given by many MSS., including F. We find ‘Hath’ in the following, H₁C, SAdTΔ, W, and it must certainly be the true reading.

196 ff. Ovid, Her. Ep. i. 2, ‘Nil mihi rescribas, attamen ipse veni.’

234. Robert Grosteste’s reputation for learning in the sciences earned for him, as for his contemporary Roger Bacon, the character of a student of magic. In the metrical life of Grosteste by Robert of Bardney (Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 333) one chapter is ‘De aeneo capite quod Oxoniae fecit Grosthede ad dubia quaeque determinanda.’ This author says only that by some accident the head fell and was broken, and that its inventor thereupon abandoned the study of forbidden sciences.

Naudé in his Apologie pour les grands hommes soupçonnez de Magie classes ‘Robert de Lincolne’ and Albertus Magnus together as supposed makers of speaking images, but the former only on the authority of Gower, with whom he had been made acquainted by Selden.

242 f. That is, he lost all that he had done from the time when he first began to work; an inversion of clauses for the sake of the rhyme: cp. ii. 709 ff.

249. kept: more properly ‘kepe,’ but the infinitive is attracted into the form of the participle ‘wold,’ much as the participle of the mood auxiliary in modern German takes the form of the infinitive: see note on ii. 1799.

305. hadde I wist, cp. i. 1888, ii. 473. It is the exclamation of those who fall into evil by neglect of proper precaution. The same sentiment is expressed more fully in l. 899,

‘Ha, wolde god I hadde knowe!’

345. dar. This form stands as plural here and l. 350.

371 ff. The story of Pygmalion is from Ovid, Metam. x. 243-297.

377. ‘Being destined to the labours of love’; cp. note on iii. 143 (end).

415. how it were, i.e. ‘how so ever it were’: cp. l. 1848.

448. a solein tale, ‘a strange tale.’ This word ‘solein’ (or ‘soulein’), which English etymologists in search for the origin of ‘sullen’ report as hardly to be found in French, occurs repeatedly in the Mirour de l’omme in the sense of ‘alone,’ ‘lonely.’ For the meaning here assigned to it we may compare the modern use of the word ‘singular,’ which in Gower’s French meant ‘lonely.’ There is no authority for Pauli’s reading ‘solempne,’ and it gives neither sense nor metre.

451 ff. The tale of Iphis is from Ovid, Metam. ix. 666-797, abbreviated and altered with advantage.

453 ff. The authority of the MSS. is strongly in favour of ‘grete: lete’ in these lines, and this reading is certainly right. We must take ‘lete’ as the past participle of the strong verb ‘leten’ (from ‘lǣtan’), meaning ‘leave,’ ‘omit,’ and ‘grete’ as accommodated to the rhyme. The negative construction following rather suggests ‘let,’ meaning ‘hindered’ as ii. 128 ff., but the rhyme ‘let: gret’ would be an impossible one. See note on i. 3365 and cp. l. 1153.

585. And stonde, i.e. ‘And I stonde’: cp. i. 1895, &c., and below, l. 697.

624. on miself along, so below l. 952, ‘It is noght on mi will along,’ and Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1001,

‘On me is nought along thyn yvel fare.’

The use of ‘on’ for ‘of’ in this phrase is still known in some dialects.

647 ff. For the Ring of Forgetfulness here spoken of see Petrus Comestor, Exodus vi., where it is related that Moses in command of the Egyptians captured the chief city of the Ethiopians by the help of Tarbis, daughter of their king, and married her in recompense of her services. Then, wishing to return to Egypt and being detained by his wife, ‘tanquam vir peritus astrorum duas imagines sculpsit in gemmis huius efficaciae, ut altera memoriam, altera oblivionem conferret. Cumque paribus anulis eas inseruisset, alterum, scilicet oblivionis anulum, uxori praebuit, alterum ipse tulit; ut sic pari amore sic paribus anulis insignirentur. Coepit ergo mulier amoris viri oblivisci, et tandem libere in Aegyptum regressus est’ (Migne, Patrol. vol. 198, p. 1144). Cp. Godfr. Viterb., Pantheon, v. (p. 115).

731 ff. Partly from Ovid, Her. Ep. ii. and Rem. Am. 591-604; but there was probably some other source, for our author would not find anything in Ovid about the transformation into a tree. Many of the details seem to be of his own invention, and he is probably responsible for the variation which makes the visit of Demophon to Thrace take place on the way to Troy instead of on the return. Chaucer’s form of the story in the Legend of Good Women is quite different.

733. F is here followed in punctuation.

776. a Monthe day: Ovid, Her. Ep. ii. 3 f.,

‘Cornua cum lunae pleno semel orbe coissent, Litoribus nostris ancora pacta tua est.’

782. Cp. Ovid, Ars Am. ii. 354,

‘Exarsit velis acrius illa datis.’

787 ff. Except the idea of a letter being sent, Gower takes little here from Ovid.

816 ff. This passage seems mostly of Gower’s invention, partly perhaps on the suggestion of the story of Hero and Leander in Ovid, Her. Ep. xix. 33 ff. See Bech in Anglia, v. 347.

do set up. Apparently ‘set’ is the participle, cp. ii. 1799.

833. al hire one. This idea is emphasized by Ovid, Rem. Am. 591 f.

869. This piece of etymology is perhaps due to our author, who usually adds something of his own to the stories of transformation which he relates; see note on i. 2355. Lydgate says that Phyllis hanged herself upon a filbert-tree, but he perhaps took the notion from Gower:

‘Upon the walles depeint men myght se Hou she was honged upon a filbert tre.’

Temple of Glas, 88.

See the note in Dr. Schick’s edition, E.E.T.S. 1891.

893. Cp. Mirour, 5436,

‘Lors est il sage apres la mein,’

of which this line is an exact reproduction.

904. pleith an aftercast. This looks like a metaphor from casting dice, but it is difficult to see the exact application. It means of course here that he is always too late in what he says and does.

914. come at thin above, i.e. attain to success: cp. Mirour, 25350,

‘Car lors est Triche a son dessus.’

964. See note on i. 2677.

979 ff. The story may probably enough be taken from Ovid, Metam. ii. 1-324, but if so it is much abbreviated.

which is the Sonne hote, ‘which is called the Sun’; cp. ii. 131 f. Possibly, however, ‘hote’ may be the adjective, with definite termination for the sake of the rhyme. There would be no objection to rhyming with it the adverb of the same form.

1030 ff. The moral drawn by Gower from the story of Phaeton is against going too low, that is abandoning the higher concerns of love owing to slothful negligence. The next story is against aiming too high and neglecting the due claims of service.

1035 ff. Ovid, Metam. viii. 183-235.

1090 f. Cp. Mirour, 5389 ff.

1096. who as evere take: so ‘what man’ is very commonly used with subjunctive, iii. 2508 &c., but the uncertainty of the construction is shown by ‘And thinkth’ in the next line. See notes on Prol. 13, 460.

1108 ff. Cp. Mirour, 5395 ff.

1131. A superfluous syllable, such as we have at the pause in this line, is very unusual in Gower’s verse; but cp. v. 447.

1153. lete I ne mai, ‘I may not neglect’: see note on i. 3365.

1180. Cp. i. 698, ‘And many a contenance he piketh.’ It means here perhaps ‘thus I keep up a pretence (for staying).’

1245 ff. A somewhat similar story to this is to be found in Andreas Capellanus, De Amore, to which my attention was first called by Mr. Archer. This book (written about 1220) gives imaginary colloquies between different kinds of persons, to illustrate the ways of courtship, ‘Plebeius loquitur plebeiae,’ ‘Plebeius nobili,’ ‘Nobilis plebeiae,’ ‘Nobilis nobili.’ In this last occurs the story of a squire who saw the god of love leading a great company of ladies in three bands, the first well mounted and well attended, the second well mounted but attended by so many that it was a hindrance rather than a help, and the third in wretched array with lame horses and no attendance. The meaning of the sight is explained to the squire by one of these last, and he is taken to see the appropriate rewards and punishments of each band. He relates what he has seen to his mistress in order to make her more ready to accept his suit (pp. 91-108, ed. Trojel, 1892).

There are some expressions which resemble those which Gower uses, as ‘quarum quaelibet in equo pinguissimo et formoso et suavissime ambulante sedebat’ (p. 92), cp. 1309 f.,

‘On faire amblende hors thei sete That were al whyte, fatte and grete.’

And again, ‘domina quaedam ... habens equum macerrimum et turpem et tribus pedibus claudicantem,’ cp. 1343 ff. The story, however, is different in many ways from that of Gower. For other similar stories see the article in Romania for January 1900 on the ‘Purgatory of Cruel Beauties’ by W. A. Neilson.

The tale of Rosiphelee is well told by Gower, and in more than one passage it bears marks of having been carefully revised by the author. The alteration of 1321 f. is peculiarly happy, and gives us one of the best couplets in the Confessio Amantis.

1285. the Sonne Ariste: cp. iii. 1224. The capital letter was perhaps intended to mark ‘Ariste’ as a substantive.

1307. comen ryde: cp. i. 350.

1309. ‘hors’ is evidently plural here: so i. 2036 and often.

1320. long and smal, i.e. tall and slender. Adjectives used predicatively with a plural subject take the plural inflection or not according to convenience. Thus in Prol. 81 we have ‘Bot for my wittes ben to smale’ in rhyme with ‘tale.’

1323. beere. This is pret. plur., as 1376: the same form for pret. subj. 2749.

1330. For pure abaissht: cp. Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 656, ‘And with that thought for pure ashamed she Gan in hir hed to pulle.’ The parallel, to which my attention was called by Prof. M^cCormick, suggests the idea that ‘abaissht’ is a participle rather than a noun, and the use of the past participle with ‘for’ in this manner occurs several times in Lydgate, e.g. ‘for unknowe,’ ‘meaning from ignorance,’ Temple of Glas, 632, ‘for astonied,’ 934, 1366, and so with an adjective, ‘for pure wood’ in the English Rom. of the Rose, 276. See Dr. Schick’s note on Lydgate, Temple of Glas, 632.

1422. That I ne hadde, ‘I would that I had’: cp. v. 3747,

‘Ha lord, that he ne were alonde!’

‘to late war’ is in a kind of loose apposition to the subject.

1429. swiche. Rather perhaps ‘swich,’ as ii. 566 f., v. 377. Most MSS. have ‘such.’

1432 ff. warneth ... bidd. The singular of the imperative seems to be freely interchanged with the plural in this form of address.

1454 (margin). The author dissociates himself personally from the extreme doctrines enunciated in the text, as at first he took care to remind his readers that the character of a lover was for him only an assumed one (i. 63 ff. margin).

1490. and longe er that sche changeth &c. This is a puzzling sentence, and we are not helped by the punctuation of the MSS., which for the most part have a stop after ‘herte.’ I can only suppose that it means ‘and is long before she changes her heart in her youth to marriage.’ We can hardly make ‘longe’ a verb, ‘and may be eager until she changes,’ because of the lines which follow.

1505 ff. Judges xi. Our author has expanded the story so far as regards the mourning for the virginity of Jephthah’s daughter, that being the point with which he was particularly concerned here.

1516. ‘Whether it be of man or woman.’

1537 ff. In the original this is different, ‘Heu me, filia mea, decepisti me et ipsa decepta es: aperui enim os meum ad Dominum, et aliud facere non potero.’ Gower deals freely here as elsewhere with the narrative, especially in the matter of speeches.

1563. fourty daies: in the original ‘duobus mensibus.’

1632 ff. Cp. Mirour, 11694.

1649. as me thenketh ... That, equivalent to ‘me thinketh ... That,’ either ‘as’ or ‘That’ being redundant.

1659. The best MSS. give ‘heþen’ here, not ‘heþene.’

1693 ff. Roman de Troie, 18385 ff. In the medieval Tale of Troy it is the love of Polyxena which serves as motive for the withdrawal of Achilles from the war.

1723. which I travaile fore. We have here rather a remarkable instance of emphasis thrown on the preposition, with a modification of form for the sake of the rhyme: cp. ii. 565.

1741. On whether bord, i.e. on which tack: technical terms of the sea occur several times in the Confessio Amantis, e.g. v. 3119, 7048, viii. 1983.

1810. made: cp. Prol. 300.

1815 ff. Gower seems to have dealt rather freely with this story. The usual form of it gives Palamedes, not Nauplius, as the person who came to fetch Ulysses, and makes Ulysses yoke a horse and an ox together in a plough as a sign of madness: see Hyginus, Fab. xcv. As to the name of Nauplus, see notes on iii. 973, 1002.

1833. That is, ‘feigning to be mad,’ not ‘like one who feigns to be mad’: see note on i. 695.

1847 ff. ‘He thought to try if he were mad or no, however it might please Ulysses,’ that is, whether it pleased him or not. ‘Hou’ seems to be for ‘How so evere’: cp. l. 415.

1875. tothe, written so when the emphasis falls on the preposition, see note on i. 232.

1901 ff. Ovid, Her. Ep. xiii.

1927. F has a stop after ‘londeth,’ thus throwing the clause, ‘and was the ferste there Which londeth,’ into a parenthesis.

1935 ff. 1 Sam. xxviii., where the witch is called ‘mulier pythonem habens.’

1968 ff. The story of the education of Achilles by Chiron, as we have it here, is apparently taken, directly or indirectly, from Statius, Achill. ii. 121 (407) ff.,

‘Nunquam ille imbelles Ossaea per avia damas Sectari, aut timidas passus me cuspide lyncas Sternere, sed tristes turbare cubilibus ursos Fulmineosque sues, et sicubi maxima tigris Aut seducta iugis fetae spelunca leaenae. Ipse sedens vasto facta exspectabat in antro, Si sparsus magno remearem sanguine; nec me Ante nisi inspectis admisit ad oscula telis.’

2014 ff. The argument is to the effect that Prowess, which is acknowledged to be the virtue opposed to Sloth, see Mirour, 10136 &c., must show itself partly in the spirit of warlike boldness, ‘the corage of hardiesce,’ leading to such undertakings as those of which the Lover had disputed the necessity.

2040. And that, i.e. ‘And as to that’: cp. Prol. 122.

2045 ff. The fight between Hercules and Achelous is related in detail by Ovid, Metam. ix. 31-88. Some parts of this seem to be reproduced by Gower, but the details are not very exactly copied. For the story generally he had some other authority, whence he got for example the names ‘Oënes’ and ‘Calidoyne.’

It is to be noted that Gower gives ‘Achelons’ instead of Achelous, as he does also in the Traitié, vii. 5, where the story is shortly told in the same way as here, and there we find ‘Achelontis’ in the margin as the genitive case. He ought to have been preserved from the mistake by the occurrence of the name in Ovid’s verse.

2054. For these two pillars cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, B 3307 f., but Gower supposes them to have been both set up in the ‘desert of India,’ ‘El grant desert d’Ynde superiour’ as he has it in Traitié, vii. 1, whereas according to Chaucer one was set up in the East and the other in the West, to mark the extreme bounds of the world.

2123 f. Such forms of spelling as ‘sleighte,’ ‘heighte’ are unusual with our author, but cp. vii. 1121, 1227 f.

2135. For the stories of ‘Pantasilee’ and Philemenis we may refer to the Roman de Troie, 23283 ff. and 25663-25704.

2200 ff. From this question arises the inevitable discussion of the nature of ‘gentilesse’ and how far it depends upon birth, riches or personal merit. Gower accepts only the last qualification, and argues for it after the fashion of John Ball, though he was neither a Lollard nor a social revolutionist: cp. Mirour, 23389 ff. For the general subject cp. Dante, Convito, iv. 10, Roman de la Rose, 18807 ff. (ed. Méon), Chaucer, Cant. Tales, D 1109, ff.

To Gower we must grant the merit of clearness and conciseness in handling the well-worn theme.

2208 f. Cp. Dante, Convito, iv. 3.

2305 ff. ‘And love is of profit also as regards women, so that they may be the better “affaited.”’

2314. make it queinte, ‘behave gently’: cp. ‘make it tough,’ Chaucer, Troilus, v. 101. For the meaning of ‘queinte’ see the quotations in Godefroy’s Dictionary under ‘cointe.’

2325. 1 John iii. 14.

2342. This is from Job v. 7.

2396 ff. Many of these names are unknown to me, and Warton’s conjectures on the subject are very wild, but some points may be illustrated from Godfrey of Viterbo. For example, as regards the first we find,

‘Septem quas legimus Cham primus scripserat artes.’

Pantheon, iii. (p. 88).

2401. Godf. Vit., Pantheon, vi. (p. 133), ‘Tunc Cadmus Graecas literas sedecim fecit.’

2410. Termegis. The word is a dissyllable for the metre. Probably this name stands for Termegistus (i.e. Trismegistus), and in that case we must throw the accent upon the final syllable and pass lightly over the preceding one.

2418 ff. I suspect that ‘Poulins’ means Apollo or Apollinis: cp. Pantheon, vi. (p. 133), ‘Apollo etiam citharam condidit et artem medicinalem invenit.’

2421. Zenzis, i.e. Zeuxis, who is referred to in the _Rom. de la Rose_ (for example) as the chief of painters, 16387 ff. (ed. Méon).

2422. Cp. Godf. Vit, Panth. v. (p. 121),

‘Tunc et Prometheus, qui filius est Atlantis Dat statuas hominis humano more meantes.’

2427. ‘Jadahel’ is the Jabal (or Jebal) of the Bible (Gen. iv. 20). Godfrey of Viterbo calls him by the same name and makes the same statement about his hunting and fishing:

‘In mundo Iadahel posuit tentoria primus, Venator prior ipse fuit feritate ferinus, Primus et invalidis retia mersit aquis.’

Panth. ii. (p. 77).

2439 ff. Godf. Vit., Panth. iv. (p. 98),

‘Saturnus statuit super aequora vela moueri, Denarios posuit commercia rite mereri. . . . . . . . . . . . Aedificans Sutrium dum vivit ibi dominatur, Triticeum semen primus in urbe serens.’

2462 ff. For the seven bodies and four spirits of Alchemy cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, G 818 ff. Mercury, it will be noticed, is reckoned both as a body and as a spirit, but some authorities called this a spirit only and reckoned six metallic bodies.

2476. after the bok it calleth, ‘according as the book calls it.’

2488 ff. Cp. 2565 ff.

2501. The seven forms are those enumerated in 2513 ff., viz. distillation, congelation, solution, descension, sublimation, calcination, fixation.

2522. Cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, G 862 f.

2533. Thre Stones. According to some authors, as Hortulanus (MS. Ashmole 1478, iv.), there was but one stone, the Elixir, which had vegetable, animal and mineral qualities or functions; but in Lydgate, Secrees of the Philosophres, l. 530 (E.E.T.S.), we have,

‘And of stones, specially of three, Oon mineral, another vegetatyff,’ &c.;

and the editor quotes from Rosarium Philosophorum, ‘Tres sunt lapides et tres sales sunt, ex quibus totum magisterium consistit, scilicet mineralis, plantalis et animalis.’ In the Secreta Secretorum, however, the stone seems to be one only, see the chapter ‘De lapide animali vegetabili.’

2597. who that it knewe: cp. ii. 88, and see note on Prol. 460.

2606. Hermes, i.e. Hermes Trismegistus, to whom the invention of the science was attributed.

on the ferste, ‘the very first,’ cp. vi. 1481. It may be questioned, however, whether the theory put forward by C. Stoffel in Englische Studien, xxvii. 253 ff., is the correct explanation of this expression, which survived to Elizabethan times (Shaksp., Cymb. i. 6. 165, ‘he is one the truest mannered’). He takes ‘on’ in the sense of the Latin ‘unus’ in ‘iustissimus unus,’ to mean ‘alone,’ ‘above all.’ It is perhaps more likely that the usual explanation, which regards it as an elliptical expression for ‘one who was the first,’ is correct, especially in view of such expressions as ‘two the first,’ ‘three the noblest,’ &c., which also occur in the fourteenth century. The use of ‘on’ (‘oon’) for ‘a person’ is common enough, as in the expressions ‘so good on,’ ‘so worthi on,’ ii. 1217, 1240, and ‘Oon Theloüs,’ ii. 1092. We find a similar expression in Gower’s French, e.g. Mirour, 2462.

2608. A work by Geber, ‘Super Artem Alkemie,’ in six books, translated from Arabic into Latin, may be found in MS. Ashmole 1384. It seems to treat in a practical and systematic manner of the method of transmutation of metals into gold.

2609. ‘Ortolan’ is the Englishman John Garland, called Hortulanus, for which name see the note in MS. Ashmole 1471 iv. prefixed to an English translation of his ‘Commentary on the Smaragdine Table of Hermes.’

Morien is said to have been a hermit in the mountains near Jerusalem. The two ‘books of Morien’ in the form of dialogues between him and Kalid the son of Gesid may be read in Latin (translated from Arabic) in MS. Digby 162.

2610. A short treatise of Avicen on Alchemy may be found in MS. Ashm. 1420.

2624. the parfite medicine. The inflexion is perhaps in imitation of the definite form of the English adjective, as in vii. 2168, 4994, while in l. 2522, where the accent is thrown back, we have ‘the parfit Elixir.’ It is possible, however, that this is a case of the French feminine form such as we have in i. 2677, ii. 3507, iv. 964, cp. i. 636. So perhaps ii. 3243, ‘O thou divine pourveance,’ and viii. 23, ‘O thou gentile Venus.’

2637. Carmente: cp. Godf. Vit., Panth. vi. (p. 135).

2641. Dindymus here means the grammarian Didymus, a follower of the school of Aristarchus and a very voluminous writer on Greek language and literature. Our author here classes Aristarchus and Didymus with Donatus, and supposes them all to be concerned with the Latin tongue.

2648. Tullius with Cithero. It is apparent from this passage, which has been differently given without any authority in the printed editions, that Gower supposed Tullius and Cicero to be two different persons. There would have been reason to suspect this from the passage in the seventh book where he refers to the debate on the death sentence of the Catiline conspirators, speaking of Tullius as his authority for the rules of rhetoric there illustrated, and ‘Cithero’ as the consul, without any hint that they are the same person (vii. 1588 ff.). In Gower’s French works Tullius (Tulles) is the only name used. The form Cithero (or Scithero) is used also by Chaucer, Cant. Tales, F 722.

2738 ff. Cp. Mirour, 5185 ff.

2749. beere, past tense subjunctive, cp. 1323.

2756 ff. Gower seems to be exceptionally well informed on the subject of the Fates and their separate functions.

2792. This casting with the dice would not be for ordinary gambling, but for divining characters and telling fortunes in matters of love. Each combination produced by the three dice thrown would have a certain meaning determined beforehand, as we see by the piece called The Chaunces of the Dyse in the Bodleian MSS. Fairfax 16 and Bodl. 638. For example, the throw of six, four and ace is there explained by the following stanza:

‘O mekenesse of vertu principal, That may be founde in eny creature! In this persone of kunnynge ordinal Is ful assembled, I yow dar assure, The lorde of vertu and al vices cure, Perfit beaute grounded without envye, Assured trust withoute gelousye.’

And similarly there is a stanza, complimentary or otherwise, for each possible throw.

2813. Hire daunger: see note on i. 2443.

2855. whi ne were it, ‘would it were’: cp. the expression ‘that he ne were,’ vii. 3747, &c.

2895 f. Apparently he means that his dreams were of no such harmless things as sheep and their wool, or perhaps not of business matters, alluding to wool as the staple of English commerce.

2901 ff. Cp. Roman de la Rose, 2449-2479.

2905. I ne bede nevere awake: cp. Romaunt of the Rose, 791, ‘Ne bode I never thennes go.’ It means apparently ‘I should desire never to awake’ (‘I should not pray ever to awake’).

2924. in my wrytinges. The author forgets here that he is speaking in the person of the Confessor.

2927 ff. This is from Ovid, Metam. xi. 266-748, where the story is told at great length. Gower follows some parts of it, as the description of the House of Sleep and its surroundings, very closely.

Chaucer tells the story in the Book of the Duchess, but he has not been so successful in reproducing it as Gower. It is here introduced only as an illustration of the truth of dreams, but with its description of the House of Sleep it is very appropriate also in other respects to the subject of Somnolence, which is under discussion.

2928. Trocinie, from the adjective ‘Trachinia,’ in such expressions as ‘Trachinia tellus,’ Metam. xi. 269.

2973. The reading of all the best MSS. in this line is ‘he’: (S however is defective). We cannot doubt that the author meant to write ‘sche,’ for in what follows he regularly refers to Iris as female; but the mistake apparently escaped his notice, and we must regard the reading ‘she’ in the two copies in which I have found it as an unauthorized correction. Chaucer makes the messenger male, but does not name him.

2977-3055. This passage very happily follows Ovid, Met. xi. 589-645. Our author gives all the essential features, but rearranges them freely and adds details of his own.

2996. Metam. xi. 608,

‘Ianua, ne verso stridores cardine reddat, Nulla domo tota.’

3009 ff. Metam. xi. 602 ff.,

‘saxo tamen exit ab imo Rivus aquae Lethes, per quem cum murmure labens Invitat somnos crepitantibus unda lapillis.’

3015 ff. Metam. xi. 610 ff.,

‘At medio torus est ebeno sublimis in antro, Plumeus, unicolor, pullo velamine tectus, Quo cubat ipse deus membris languore solutis. Hunc circa passim varias imitantia formas Somnia vana iacent,’ &c.

3044. ‘Ithecus’ is a misreading of ‘Icelos,’ as ‘Panthasas’ in l. 3049 of ‘Phantasos.’

3061 ff. Here Gower has made a real improvement in the story by employing the two other ministers of Sleep, whose functions have been described, to represent the scene of the tempest and the wreck, while Morpheus plays the part of Ceyx in the same scene. Ovid introduces the characters of Icelos and Phantasos, but makes no use of them, sending Morpheus alone to relate what has taken place, instead of representing it in action, as it would more naturally appear in a dream.

3159. mi herte: more usually ‘min herte’ as 3139, and so generally before ‘h,’ whether aspirated or not, e.g. 3561; but ‘for mi housebondes were,’ vii. 4813, (with ‘myn housebonde’ below, 4829).

3187 ff. This seems to be for the most part original. A hint may have been given by the lines of Ovid in which it is suggested that Aurora might have used a somewhat similar prayer:

‘At si quem manibus Cephalum complexa teneres, Clamares, Lente currite, noctis equi.’

Amor. i. 13, 39.

3222. The sun enters Capricorn on Dec. 21.

3273. that he arise: so 3374, ‘Til it be dai that I arise,’ and v. 3422, ‘Til dai cam that sche moste arise.’

The verb seems here to be attracted into the subjunctive by the indefinite meaning of ‘Til.’ In the other passages the mood is uncertain.

3317 ff. Ovid, Metam. i. 588-723, much abbreviated. It was, however, Jupiter who turned Io into a cow.

3386. for thou thee schalt avise, ‘in order that thou mayest consider.’

3414. that I nere of this lif, ‘would that I were out of this life.’ For ‘that I nere’ cp. note on 1422. For ‘of this lif’ cp. vii. 2883, ‘whan he were of dawe.’

3438 f. ‘And yet he (Obstinacy) cannot support his own cause by any argument but by headstrong wilfulness.’

For the expression ‘of hed’ we may compare the Latin expression quoted by Du Cange ‘de testa esse,’ explained ‘esse obstinatum’ (Ital. ‘essere di testa’), and the French adjective ‘testu,’

‘Car fol estoient et testu,’ &c.

Froissart says of Pope Urban VI that after his election ‘il s’en outrecuida et enorguilli, et volt user de poissance et de teste,’ which is translated by Berners, ‘he waxed proude and worked all on heed.’ We find also the Latin adjective ‘capitosus’ used by Gower in the margin at the beginning of the Cronica Tripertita, and the adverb ‘capitose,’ meaning ‘in a headstrong manner,’ in Walsingham, Hist. Anglica, e.g. ‘Regem contra regni consuetudinem Cancellarium deposuisse capitose,’ vol. ii. p. 70 (Rolls Series).

The usual way of reading the sentence has been to punctuate after ‘skile’ and to take ‘bot of hed’ with the next line, ‘but he wastes away in his condition’ (‘hed’ from a supposed ‘hǣd’ akin to the suffix ‘-hed’ or ‘-hede’). This word perhaps occurs Conf. Am. ii. 2066, but it would give no very good sense here, and it is doubtful whether it would be rhymed with ‘ded.’ The suffix ‘-hed’ ‘-hede’ apparently has ‘ẹ’ in Gower’s rhymes. Again, if so marked a break in the middle of the line were intended, the Fairfax MS. would almost certainly have had a stop to indicate it, as in 3423, 3431, 3458, 3459, 3484, 3485, to quote instances only from the same page of the MS.

For the use of ‘avowe’ in this sense, cp. v. 124.

3515 ff. The story is based upon Ovid, Metam. xiv. 698-761. Our author, however, has reversed the position of the lover and his mistress. In Ovid Anaxarete is a high-born maid of the race of Teucer, while Iphis is ‘humili de stirpe creatus.’ Moreover, the story is considerably developed by Gower, to whom belong the speech of Iphis, the whole account of the grief and self-condemnation of Araxarathen, the details of the funeral and the tomb, and finally the very successful epitaph. Ovid says that she saw from a window the body of Iphis being carried by for burial, and was forthwith turned into stone, and that as witness of the truth of his tale a statue may still be seen at Salamis. There is nothing said about remorse on her part, rather the opposite is implied.

3516. Our author supposes this to be the same as the person mentioned in iii. 2645 ff. (who is really Teuthras king of Mysia). This is Teucer son of Telamon, founder of Salamis in Cyprus.

3520 f. These lines are transposed for the sake of the rhyme. It means ‘on a maid of low estate compared with his’: cp. ii. 709, and below, l. 3616.

3542. Punctuated in accordance with F.

3589. Thi Daunger, ‘thy unwillingness to love’: see note on i. 2443.

3658 f. Naturally the expression of Ovid,

‘Veneris quoque nomine templum Prospicientis habet,’

was not understood.

LIB. V.

18. it cam to londe, wherof, ‘the occasion arose, whence,’ &c.

22. him supposeth: the verb is used impersonally, like ‘him thenketh.’ Probably the confusion between ‘thinke’ and ‘thenke’ gave rise to this expression.

29 ff. So below, 348 ff.: cp. Mirour, 7585 ff.

47 f. This seems, as it stands at present, to be an application of the instances to the case of the avaricious man, ‘Thus he so possesses his wealth that he in truth possesses nothing,’ (‘that’ for ‘so that’). The original couplet however, as read by all the unrevised class of manuscripts, applies to the case of the sheep, and we may take it so also in its revised form (‘Thus’ being answered by ‘that’).

49 ff. Cp. Mirour, 7645 ff.,

‘L’en dist, mais c’est inproprement, Qe l’averous ad grant argent; Mais voir est que l’argent luy a: En servitude ensi le prent,’ &c.

65. nevere hier. Note that there is no elision before ‘hier.’

81 f. ‘And yet, though I held her fast (as a miser his hoard), my life would be a perpetual feast, even on Fridays.’ If he possessed the treasure, his avarice would not allow him to let it go, and yet he would not keep it unused, as a miser does his gold. So later, 93, ‘Though I should hold it fast, I should so be doing that which I were bound to do.’

95. pipe, ‘be content’: perhaps from the idea of a bird-catcher piping or whistling for birds, but failing to snare them.

127-136. Note the repetition of the word ‘gold’ in an emphatic position.

141 ff. Ovid, Metam. xi. 85-147, freely treated as usual. The debate of Midas as to which of three things he should prefer (ll. 180-245) is all due to our author. In Ovid he chooses without hesitation.

143. Cillenus, i.e. Silenus.

154 f. Gower attributes the action of the king to pure courtesy, Ovid to the fact that Midas recognized in Silenus a fellow-mystic.

249 ff. Cp. Mirour, 7603 ff.

272 ff. Ovid, Metam. xi. 106,

‘Laetus abit gaudetque malo Berecyntius heros: Pollicitique fidem tangendo singula temptat. Ilice detraxit virgam, virga aurea facta est: Tollit humo saxum, saxum quoque palluit auro’: &c.

298. See note on i. 10.

315-332. This is an expansion of Metam. xi. 146 f.,

‘Ille perosus opes silvas et rura colebat, Panaque montanis habitantem semper in antris.’

363 ff. The punishment referred to is certainly more appropriate for avarice than for the offence committed by Tantalus: cp. Hor. Sat. i. 1. 68. The story of Tantalus is alluded to several times in Ovid, as Metam. iv. 458, and told by Hyginus, Fab. lxxxii. Perhaps our author rather followed Fulgentius, Mythol. ii. 18, who quotes from Petronius,

‘Divitis haec magni facies erit, omnia late Qui tenet, et sicco concoquit ore famem.’

Cp. Mirour, 7621 ff.,

‘Dame Avarice est dite auci Semblable au paine Tantali,’ &c.

370. This seems to mean that it serves for the punishment of the avaricious; but from what follows in 391 ff. we gather that the pains of avarice in this life also are to be compared with this particular pain of hell, and so the application is made in the Mirour, 7621-7632.

388. which a wreche, ‘what a punishment.’

418. suie: cp. Prol. 460.

447. For the superfluous syllable at the pause in the middle of this line cp. iv. 1131.

496. berth an hond: equivalent to ‘berth on hond,’ l. 546.

519. Count ‘evel’ as a monosyllable for the verse; so regularly, e. g. iii. 1272, vii. 2773.

526. janglere. The final ‘-e’ is not pronounced here.

558 f. the gold ... The which was leid upon the bok. The gold in question is that which is laid upon the service-book in payment of the marriage fees: ‘and the Man shall give unto the Woman a Ring, laying the same upon the book with the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk.’ Marriage Service.

564. ‘though he will not praise it,’ i.e. he gives her no credit for it: cp. Prol. 154.

635 ff. Ovid, Ars Am. ii. 561-592, but the original is not very closely followed.

665. Cp. iii. 1362 ff.

729 ff. From this arises the very ill-advised digression of ll. 747-1970 about the various forms of Religion. There is no more reason why this should come in here than anywhere else, indeed if the question of false gods was to be raised at all, it ought to have come in as an explanation of the appearance of Venus and Cupid in the first book. Many stories have been told, for example those of Acteon, of the Gorgons, of Tiresias, of Phoebus and Daphne, of Phaeton, of Ceix, of Argus, and of Midas, which required the explanation quite as much as this one, and the awkwardness of putting it all info the mouth of the priest of Venus is inexcusable.

The main authority followed in this account of the religions of Chaldea, Egypt, and Greece is the Vita Barlaam et Josaphat, cap. xxvii. (Migne, Patrol. vol. 73, p. 548 ff.), but Gower adds much to it, especially as regards the gods and goddesses of Greece.

763. of Accidence: cp. ii. 3210.

774. hevenly: so Prol. 918, but ‘hevenely’ i. 834, 3136, the second syllable in that case being syncopated, as regularly in ‘hevene.’ So also in the case of ‘evermore’ and ‘everemore’ as compared with ‘evere.’

782. les, that is, ‘falsehood.’

798. Isirus, i.e. Osiris.

811. thegipcienes. This must be the true reading for the sake of the metre, both here and in l. 821, though the best copies fail to give it. A similar case occurs in l. 1119, but there the authority for ‘Jupiteres’ is made much stronger by the accession of S.

897. Mynitor, i.e. Numitor.

899 f. that Remus and Romulus. For the position of ‘that’ cp. 1166, 1249.

925. To gete him with: cp. i. 452.

1004. wel the more lete by, ‘much the more esteemed’: cp. Piers Plowman, A vi. 105, ‘to lete wel by thyselve,’ and xi. 29: also with ‘of,’ v. 5840; cp. Piers Plowm. iv. 160, ‘Love let of hire lighte and lewte yit lasse,’ Orm. 7523, ‘uss birrth ... lætenn wel off othre menn.’

1009. Nonarcigne. The name is taken no doubt from the adjective ‘Nonacrinus’ (from Nonacris), used as in Ovid, Met. i. 690, where it occurs in the story of Pan and Syrinx, told by Mercury to lull Argus to sleep: cp. Conf. Am. iv. 3345 ff.

1040. Cp. Prol. 118.

1043 ff. The sentence is interrupted and then begun again at l. 1051: see note on i. 98.

1063. That he, i.e. ‘In that he.’ Gower has here mistaken his authority, which says ‘post autem eum propter Tyndarei Lacedaemonii filium a Jove fulmine percussum interiisse narrant.’ Vita Barl. et Jos. xxvii.

1071. Delphi and Delos are very naturally confused in the medieval Tale of Troy and elsewhere; but Delos is mentioned correctly enough below, 1256.

1097. no reason inne: cp. i. 3209.

1163. Philerem, presumably Philyra, but there is no authority for making her the mother of Jupiter.

1249. that: cp. 899. Apparently it means, ‘that Diane of whom I am to speak.’ The necessities of rhyme are responsible for these forms of speech.

1276. ‘Which may not attain to reason.’

1323. The paragraph is made to begin here in the MSS. with what is, strictly speaking, its second line, because it is marked by a proper name which indicates its subject, the first line being a mere formal introduction. So also below, 1453: cp. ii. 2451.

1337. The name ‘Dorus’ seems to have been suggested by that of Doris, mother of the Nereids.

1389. alle danger, that is, all reluctance or coyness.

1397. Armene, i.e. Harmonia.

1398. Andragene Androgynus or Hermaphroditus.

1428. noght forsake To ben, i.e. ‘not refuse to be.’

1449. ‘whether it was of weal or wo’; ‘wher’ for ‘whether.’

1453. See note on 1323.

As for the letters said to have been exchanged between Alexander and the king of the Bragmans (or Brahmins), we find them at length in the Historia Alexandri Magni de Preliis, which was the source of most of the current stories about Alexander. The passage referred to is as follows: ‘Tot deos colis quot in tuo corpore membra portas. Nam hominem dicis paruum mundum, et sicut corpus hominis habet multa membra, ita et in celo dicis multos deos existere. Iunonem credis esse deum cordis, eo quod iracundia nimia mouebatur. Martem vero deum pectoris esse dicis, eo quod princeps extitit preliorum. Mercurium deum lingue vocas, ex eo quod plurimum loquebatur. Herculem deum credis brachiorum, eo quod duodecim virtutes exercuit preliando. Bachum deum gutturis esse putas, eo quod ebrietatem primus inuenit. Cupidinem esse deam dicis, eo quod fornicatrix extitit; tenere dicis facem ardentem, cum qua libidinem excitat et accendit, et ipsam deam iecoris etiam existimas. Cererem deam ventris esse dicis, et Venerem, eo quod fuit mater luxurie, deam genitalium membrorum esse profers’ (e 2, ed. Argent. 1489).

Cp. the English alliterative Wars of Alexander, E.E.T.S., 1886, ll. 4494 ff. There is no mention of Minerva in either of these.

1520 ff. The usual account is to the effect that Ninus set up the first idol: see below, 1541. What we have here seems to be taken from Fulgentius, Mythol. ii. 9, where the authorities here cited, Nicagoras and Petronius, are quoted. The passage is apparently corrupt, and our author obviously did not quite understand it: ‘Et quamvis Nicagoras in Disthemithea libro quem scripsit, primum illum formasse idolum referat, et quod vulturi iecur praebeat livoris quasi pingat imaginem: unde et Petronius Arbiter ait,

“Qui vultur iecor intimum pererrat”’ &c.

From the same author, Mythol. i. 1, he got the story about Syrophanes, who set up an image of his dead son, to which offerings were made by those who wished to gain his favour.

1541. Cp. Godfr. Vit., Panth. iv. (p. 102), whose account agrees very nearly with what we have here, though he represents this image as the first example of an idol, under the heading, ‘Quare primum idolum in mundo et quo tempore fuit.’ Cp. Guido, Hist. Troiana, lib. x (e 5, ed. Argent. 1494).

1559. Godf. Vit, Panth. iv. (p. 112): ‘His temporibus apud Egyptios constructum est idolum magnum in honorem Apis, Regis Argivorum; quidam tamen dicunt in honorem Ioseph, qui liberavit eos a fame; quod idolum Serapis vocabatur, quasi idolum Apis.’

1571 ff. Hist. Alexandri, f 1 v^o, ed. Argent. 1489: ‘Exiens inde Alexander cum Candeolo profecti sunt iter diei vnius, et venerunt ad quandam speluncam magnam et hospitati sunt ibi. Dixitque Candeolus, “Omnes dii concilium in ista spelunca concelebrant.” Cum hoc audisset Alexander, statim fecit victimas diis suis, et ingressus in speluncam solus vidit ibi caligines maximasque nubes stellasque lucentes, et inter ipsas stellas quendam deum maximum,’ &c.

Cp. the English alliterative Wars of Alexander, ll. 5387 ff.

1624. herd me seid: see note on i. 3153.

1636. There is a stop after ‘Forbad’ in F. The meaning is that he gave a prohibition commanding them not to bow to an image.

1677. Riht as who sette: the verb apparently is subjunctive.

1746 ff. What purports to be the original passage is quoted in the margin of the second recension.

1747. For the form of expression cp. vi. 56 f.,

‘O which a sorwe It is a man be drinkeles!’

1756 ff. The substance of this is to be found in Gregory, In i. Reg. viii. 7f. (Migne, Patrol. vol. 79. p. 222): ‘Et quidem, nisi Adam peccaret, Redemptorem nostrum carnem suscipere nostram non oporteret.... Si ergo pro peccatoribus venit, si peccata deessent, eum venire non oporteret.... Magna quippe sunt mala quae per primae culpae meritum patimur, sed quis electus nollet peiora perpeti, quam tantum Redemptorem non habere?’

1781 ff. Note that here twelve lines are replaced in the second recension by ten, one of the couplets (or the substance of it) having been inserted earlier, after l. 1742.

1826. ‘So that his word explained his deed’: ‘arawhte’ from ‘arechen’ (āreccan).

1831 ff. Roman de Troie, 25504-25559.

1848-1959. With this compare Prol. 193-498.

1865. ‘And they do every man what he pleases,’ the verb being plural.

1879. Pseudo: cp. Mirour, 21625 ff.,

‘Il estoit dit grant temps y a Q’un fals prophete a nous vendra, Q’ad noun Pseudo le decevant; Sicomme aignel se vestira, Et cuer du loup il portera. O comme les freres maintenant A Pseudo sont bien resemblant!’

So also Vox Clam. iv. 787 f.,

‘Nomine sunt plures, pauci tamen ordine fratres; Vt dicunt aliqui, Pseudo prophetat ibi.’

It seems that the word ‘pseudopropheta,’ used Rev. xix. 20 and elsewhere, was read ‘Pseudo propheta,’ and ‘Pseudo’ was taken as a proper name. This was combined with the idea of the wolf in sheep’s clothing suggested by Matt. vii. 15, ‘Attendite a falsis prophetis,’ &c., and the application was made especially to the friars.

1888. ‘And this I am brought to believe by the argument that where those above neglect their duty, the people are ignorant of the truth, (as they now are).’

1900 ff. Cp. Mirour, 20065 ff., and Vox Clamantis, iii. 903. The reference is to Gregory, Hom. in Evang. xvii. (Migne, Patrol. vol. 76, p. 1148): ‘Ibi Petrus cum Iudaea conversa, quam post se traxit, apparebit: ibi Paulus conversum, ut ita dixerim, mundum ducens. Ibi Andreas post se Achaiam, ibi Iohannes Asiam, Thomas Indiam in conspectum sui regis conversam ducet.... Cum igitur tot pastores cum gregibus suis ante aeterni pastoris oculos venerint, nos miseri quid dicturi sumus, qui ad Dominum nostrum post negotium vacui redimus?’

1919. Cp. Mirour, 16662, ‘U q’il ert mesmes auditour.’ The metaphor from rendering accounts in the Exchequer is especially appropriate here for the prelates.

1930. his lordes besant hedde: Matt. xxv. 18.

1944. every Prelat holde, ‘let every Prelate hold.’

1952 ff. Coloss. iii. 5, ‘avaritiam, quae est simulacrorum servitus.’

END OF VOL. II

OXFORD PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART, M.A. PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In some unpublished papers kindly communicated to me by Miss Bateson.

[B] Froissart, Chron., ed. K. de Lettenhove, vol. xv. p. 167.

[C] B. ten Brink, Geschichte der Engl. Litt. ii. 141.

[D] This date has hitherto been omitted from the text of the printed editions.

[E] The last two lines, which contain the mention of the earl of Derby, are omitted in some MSS. of the first recension, and this may be an indication that the author circulated some copies without them. A full account of the various recensions of the poem is given later, under the head of ‘Text.’

[F] The term ‘epilogue’ is used for convenience to designate the conclusion of the poem after viii. 2940, but no such designation is used by the author: similarly ‘preface’ means here the opening passage of the Prologue (ll. 1-92).

[G] ‘Minoris etatis causa inde excusabilem pronuncians.’

[H] Dr. Karl Meyer, in his dissertation John Gower’s Beziehungen zu Chaucer und König Richard II (1889), takes account of these various notes of time, having made himself to some extent acquainted with the MSS., but his conclusions are in my opinion untenable.

[I] This has been equally the procedure of Prof. Hales on the one hand, who endeavours to throw back the composition of the first recension to an extravagantly early period, and of Dr. Karl Meyer on the other, who wishes to bring down the final form of the book to a time later than the deposition of Richard II. The theory of the latter, that the sixteenth year of King Richard is given as the date of the original completion of the poem, and not of the revised preface, is sufficiently refuted by the date ‘fourteenth year’ attached to the rewritten epilogue.

[J] For the connexion between this and the Confessio Amantis see L. Bech in Anglia, v. 313 ff.

[K] Lydgate apparently did not take Chaucer’s censure very seriously, for he quite needlessly introduced the tale of Canace into his Falls of Princes, following Gower’s rendering of it.

[L] See for example the picture of Nebuchadnezzar transformed into an ox, ‘Tho thoghte him colde grases goode,’ &c. (i. 2976 ff.), the account of the jealous husband, who after charging his wife quite unreasonably with wishing she had another there in his stead, turns away from her in bed and leaves her to weep all the night, while he sleeps (v. 545 ff.), and the description of the man who entertains his wife so cheerfully on his return home with tales of the good sport that he has had, but carefully avoids all reference to the occurrence which would have interested her most (v. 6119 ff.).

[M] The reading in the Latin note at the beginning of ‘quarto <decimo>’ for ‘sexto decimo’ is probably due to a mistake, for we find ‘sextenthe’ in the text of l. 25. It may be noted that the MS. mentioned by Pauli as containing the rewritten preface and also the Chaucer verses (New Coll. 326) is a hybrid, copied from two different manuscripts.

[N] for King Richard’s sake, to whom my allegiance belongs and for whom I pray. It chanced that as I rowed in a boat on the flowing Thames under the town of New Troy, I met my liege lord, and he bad me come from my boat into his barge, and there he laid upon me a charge to write some new thing which he himself might read. Thus I am the more glad to write, and I have the less fear of envious blame. A gentle heart praises without malice, but the world is full of evil tongues and my king’s command shall nevertheless be fulfilled. Though I have long been sick, yet I will endeavour to write a book which may be wisdom to the wise and play to those who desire to play. But the proverb says that a good beginning makes a good end: therefore I will here begin the prologue of my book, speaking partly of the former state of the world and partly of the present.

[O] Adieu, for I must go from thee. And greet Chaucer well, as my disciple and my poet, who has filled the land with the songs which he made for my sake. And bid him in his later age make his testament of love, as thou hast made thy shrift.’

And so enveloped in a starry cloud, Venus was taken to her place above, and I turned homeward with my beads in hand. (2940*-2970*.)

To God, the Creator of all things, I pray for my worthy king Richard the Second, in whom has always been found Justice mingled with Pity. In his person it may be shown what a king should be, especially in that he sought no vengeance through cruelty. Though evil came upon the land, yet his estate was kept safe by the high God, as the sun is ever bright in himself, though the air be troubled. He sought love and peace and accord, not only here at home, but abroad also, following Christ’s way, and therefore are we bound to serve him, and his name shall be ever remembered. (2971*-3035*.)

I, his subject, helpless with old age and sickness, desire to do him some pleasure, and therefore I present to him this poor book, made both for profit and for sport, and I ask that I may be excused for lack of curious skill. I have written, as I best might, in rude plain words.

And now that I am feeble and old, my Muse bids me rest and write no more of love. He who has achieved what he desired may fitly do his service to love in songs and sayings; but if a man fail, it is otherwise: therefore I take now my final leave of love. But that love which stands confirmed by charity, which brings no repentance and charges not the conscience, this may God send us, that in heaven our joy may be without end. (3036*-3114*.)

[P] The difference in the MS. usually consists only in the line drawn over the final on. So also often in the case of the words discussed below, chaunce, daunce, enchaunte, &c.

[Q] Very seldom sh in F, as Prol. 938, i. 2171, i. 1458.

[R] M. Konrath in Archiv für die neueren Sprachen, 89, p. 153 ff.

[S] In other cases, as with the group broke, loke, spoke, wroke (past participles), and ȝoke (subst.), there are no rhyme-words with ǭ from ā by which a distinction can be established.

[T] Archiv für n. Sprachen, 89, p. 392. As I sometimes have occasion to criticize statements in this paper, I take the opportunity here of acknowledging its merit, as the only careful study lately attempted of Gower’s language.

[U] According to ten Brink, nede ought to be regarded as an uncertain rhyme because of the O. E. nēades beside nīedes, but Gower never rhymes it with open ē.

[V] This latter rule explains Chaucer’s use of the inflected forms faire, fresshe, &c., in ‘fresshe Beaute,’ ‘gode, faire White,’ ‘fresshe May,’ &c.

[W] This is a regular use in Chaucer also, e.g. Cant. Tales, E 1749:

‘Fulfild of alle beautee and plesaunce,’

but it has not always been clearly recognized.

[X] In the Praise of Peace however the MS. has here for hire, ll. 108, 329, cp. 254. F has hire for here once accidentally, iii. 901.

[Y] In a few cases, as Prol. 543, i. 183, 1280, v. 3393, vi. 2062, the grammatically correct form has been printed in the text from less good MSS. and against the combined authority of F and S. On a review of the whole subject this does not now seem to me satisfactory.

[Z] Prof. Lounsbury’s criticism on the rhyme of vii. 5103 f., as given in Pauli’s edition, is quite sound, and Prof. Skeat’s defence of it will not do. Gower never rhymes a past participle in -ed with a weak preterite, though he sometimes drops the -e of the preterite before a vowel. The rhyme was good enough for Chaucer, however, as Prof. Lounsbury’s examples abundantly prove.

[AA] Except in the case of these imperative forms the 2nd pers. plur. is quite consistently used by the Lover in his shrift, and the 2nd pers. sing. by the Confessor in reply.

[AB] The copies which have this conclusion have also the preface in which Richard is mentioned as the occasion of the author’s undertaking, but this preface is found also in combination with the other conclusion.

[AC] Berthelette used a manuscript (not now existing) which in this respect, as in many others, resembled B.

[AD] It may be noted that the four second recension MSS. which contain the author’s Latin note about his books (‘Quia vnusquisque,’ &c.), viz. BTΛP₂, agree in a form of it which is different both from that which is given by first recension copies and that which we find in F, and is clearly intermediate between the other two, the first form fully excusing Richard II for the troubles of his reign and the third entirely condemning him, while this makes no mention of his merits or demerits, but simply prays for the state of the kingdom. It is noticeable that the second recension form definitely substitutes Henry for Richard as the patron of the Confessio Amantis, though in one at least of the copies to which it is attached this substitution has not been made in the text of the poem.

[AE] e.g. ii. 193, 365 ff., iii. 168, 1241, iv. 283, 1321, v. 1252, &c.

[AF] For the explanation of the use of letters to designate MSS. the reader is referred to the list of MSS. given later. It should be noted that AJM and FWH₃ represent in each case a group of about seven MSS., and H₁ ... B₂ one of nearly twenty. We observe in the examples given that B and A are sometimes found either separately or together on the side of the H₁ ... B₂ group, and that the same is true occasionally of W, while on the other hand some MSS. of the H₁ ... B₂ group are apt to pass over to the other side in a certain part of the text and support what we call the revised reading.

[AG] S is defective in one of these places and Ad in another, but a reckoning of the lines contained in the missing leaves proves that the facts were as stated.

[AH] They do not, however, contain the additions above mentioned, at Prol. 495, 579, i. 1403, 2267, &c.

[AI] It is doubtful, however, whether the special connexion between B and T extended over the whole book. It seems rather to begin about iii. 1500. The question about the relative position of these two MSS. would be easier of solution if it were not that T is defective up to ii. 2687, that is as regards the part where the connexion of B with the first recension is most apparent. The fact is that until about the middle of the third book B is found usually in accord with the ERCLB₂ group, and though it sometimes in these first books presents the characteristic second recension reading, as ii. 193, 365 ff., iii. 168, at other times it departs from it, as i. 1881, 2017.

[AJ] K belongs to the beginning and H₃ to the middle of the fifteenth century.

[AK] In the case of most of these passages the text proves them to be taken from Caxton’s edition. Thus in Prol. 497 both editions omit ‘to,’ Prol. 583 both omit ‘propre,’ i. 2248 both have ‘Vnder graue’ for ‘Vnder the grene,’ in 2354 ‘other’ for ‘thilke,’ and in 2372 ‘in me’ for ‘I me.’

[AL] These lines have never been printed in any edition before the present, though published separately by K. Meyer in his John Gower’s Beziehungen, &c., 1889, and by Prof. Easton of the University of Pennsylvania in his Readings in Gower, 1895. There are a large number of sound emendations from the Brit. Museum MSS. suggested in this latter book, but the author had no clear idea of the principles on which the text should be constructed.

[AM] The following will serve as examples of those omitted:

iii. 367 tawh B

422 vngood lieste A

618 is (for it) A

652 softe softe B

658 sely sely B

739 marg. litigabant B

864 artow B

923 he (for hem) B

iv. 635 f. betake ... þurghsott A

650 wedde A

1105 no wol no B

1229 herte B

1239 þo (for þou) A, &c.

[AN] On inquiry in the locality I find that Terranova, which has always had a column for its emblem, claims Guido as a native: see Memorie Gelesi by Sign. S. D. Navarra, Terranova 1896, pp. 72 f.