BOOK II.

PROSE 1. 13. _to begyle_; copied in Troil. iv. 2, 3:--

'---- y-thonked be Fortune, That semeth trewest whan she wol bigyle.'

22. _myn entree_: 'de nostro adyto.' But Chaucer has translated 'adyto' as if it were 'aditu.' He translates _aditum_ by _entree_ in Bk. i. Pr. 6, l. 55. _Adyto_ is 'sanctuary.'

28. _Com_, i. e. let (it) come; imperative: 'Adsit igitur rhetoricae suadela dulcedinis.'

32. _moedes_, moods, strains; 'modos.' _prolaciouns_, utterances.

35. Compare Chaucer's poem on Fortune; and see the long note at the beginning of the Notes to that poem.

45. _use hir maneres_; rather, make the best of her conduct: 'utere moribus.' _agrysest_, shudderest at, dreadest.

48. _She hath forsaken_: 'Reliquit enim te, quam non relicturam nemo umquam poterit esse securus.'

51. The MSS. usually agree in this clause. Chaucer's gloss is due to an obscure note in MS. C., viz. 'vel quam non relictam, secundum alios libros.' Other notes occur there, but do not help us.

68. _floor_: 'intra fortunae aream.' We say 'area' or 'domain.'

77. _amonges_, at various times, from time to time, now and then; see New E. Dict., s.v. _Among_, B. 2.

83. _cesede_, would cease; copied in Troil. i. 848:--

'For if hir wheel stinte any-thing to torne, Than cessed she Fortune anoon to be.'

METRE 1. 3. _Eurype_, Euripus; a narrow channel, with a strong current; especially that between Boeotia and Euboea. This use of the word is here seen to be far older in English than the quotation from Holland's Pliny in the New E. Dict.

8. _so hard_: 'Ultroque gemitus, dura quos fecit, ridet.'

9. _laugheth_, laughs at; 'ridet.' It is impossible to accept the reading _lyssheth_ in C. There seems to be no such word. It probably arose from the attempt of the scribe to represent the guttural sound of _gh_, because we actually find him writing _neysshebour_ for _neighbour_ twice, viz. in Bk. ii. Pr. 3. 24, and in Pr. 7. 57. This passage is imitated in Troil. iv. 7: 'Than laugheth she and maketh him the mowe.'

PROSE 2. 1. Compare Chaucer's 'Fortune'; l. 25, &c.

4. _every-dayes_, daily: 'cottidianis querelis.'

37. _I torne_: 'Rotam uolubili orbe uersamus.'

39. _Worth up_, climb up: 'Ascende.' Cf. P. Plowman, B. vii. 91; Wars of Alexander, 2878, 2973.

42. _Cresus_, Croesus; see note to Monk. Tale, B 3917.

47. _Perciens_, Persians. But Chaucer is here wrong. The Lat. text has 'Persi regis,' i. e. king Perseus. Perseus, or Perses III, was the last king of Macedonia, who was defeated by L. Æmilius Paulus in a decisive battle fought near Pydna, in June, B.C. 168. 'When brought before Æmilius [here, Paulus], he is said to have degraded himself by the most abject supplications; but he was treated with kindness by the Roman general;' Smith, Class. Dict. See Livy, xl. 57; xli. 53; xliv. 32; &c.; Plutarch, Life of Æmilius.

51. _Tragedie._ Cf. the definition in the Monk. Prol. B 3163; and note to Anelida, 320.

53. _in Greke._ These two words are not in the original, but the following quotation is given in Greek: [Greek: duo tous pithous, ton men hena kakôn, ton de heteron kalôn]. Some MSS. add: 'duo dolia quidem malum alterum bonum.' From Homer, Iliad, xxiv. 527:

[Greek: doioi gar te pithoi katakeiatai en Dios oudei,] [Greek: dôrôn, hoia didôsi, kakôn, heteros de eaôn.]

Cf. notes to Wyf of Bathes Prol. D 170, and to Leg. of Good Women, 195.

54. _in the entree_: 'in Iouis limine': [Greek: en Dios oudei].

61. _realme_: 'intra commune omnibus regnum locatus.'

METRE 2. 1. _hielde_, pour: 'Tantas fundat opes, nec retrahat manum Pleno copia cornu.'

8. _as fool-large_, like one that is foolishly lavish: 'Multi prodigus auri.'

11. _other gapinges_: 'Alios pandit hiatus.' Some MSS. have _Altos_, but Chaucer evidently read _Alios_, as in MS. C.

13. _to any ... ende_; rather, 'within a prescribed boundary'; 'Certo fine retentent.'

PROSE 3. 22. _princes._ These were, in particular, Festus and Symmachus. Boethius married Rusticiana, the daughter of Symmachus. Hence the allusion to his _fadres-in-lawe_ (socerorum) just below, in l. 26; where the right sense is _parents-in-law_. See Stewart's Essay, p. 24.

23. _leef_: 'delectusque in affinitatem principum ciuitatis, quod pretiosissimum propinquitatis genus est, priùs carus, quam proximus esse coepisti.' Hence _the whiche thing_ really refers back to _affinitee_, which is hardly obvious in the E. version.

40. _whan thou_: 'cùm in Circo duorum medius consulum circumfusae multitudinis exspectationem triumphali largitione satiasti.'

43. _gave thou wordes_: 'Dedisti ... uerba fortunae.'

48. _privee_, a man of private station, not of noble rank: 'priuato.' The reference is to the election of his two sons as consuls in one day.

55. _Art thou_: 'An tu in hanc uitae scenam nunc primum subitus hospesque uenisti.' Thus _shadwe or tabernacle_ is meant to translate _scenam_.

60. _laste day_; quoted in Chaucer's 'Fortune,' l. 71; see note to the line.

61. _and also_, i. e. even to such Fortune as abides and does _not_ desert the man: 'fortunae ... etiam manentis.'

62. _thar recche_; it is absolutely necessary to insert _thee_ after _thar_; i. e. And therefore, what, do you suppose, need you care? _yif thou_, i. e. whether thou.

METRE 3. 10. _the fairnesse_: 'Iam spinis abeat decus.'

13. _over-whelveth_, turns over: 'Verso concitat aequore.' _whelveth_ is the right form, as noted by Stratmann; it occurs in MS. Ii. 1. 38, and in the black-letter editions. It occurs again in Palladius on Husbandry, i. 161: 'For harme ... may ... perchaunce the _overwhelve_,' i.e. for perhaps harm may overthrow thee. And again, in the same, i. 781: '_overwhelve_ hit upsodowne,' i.e. turn it (the land) right over.

16. _tomblinge_, fleeting, transitory; 'caducis.'

18. _nis_, is; we must disregard the second negative.

PROSE 4. 3. _ne be comen_, is not come; i.e. did not come. It refers to past time.

5. _For in alle_: 'Nam in omni aduersitate fortunae infelicissimum genus est infortunii, fuisse felicem.' This famous sentence has been several times copied. See, e.g., Troil. iii. 1625-8; Dante, _Inferno_, v. 121-3; Tennyson, _Locksley Hall_, 76.

8. _But that thou_, i.e. 'but the fact that thou.' _abyest_, sufferest: 'falsae opinionis supplicium luis.'

12. _For al be it_: 'Nam si te hoc inane nomen fortuitae felicitatis mouet.'

20. _Symacus_, Symmachus. There were several distinguished men of this family. Q. Aurelius Symmachus was a statesman and author in the latter half of the fourth century. The one here referred to is Q. Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, who had been consul under Odoacer in 485, and was involved in the fate of Boethius, being put to death by Theodoric in 525, shortly after the execution of Boethius in 524. He had two daughters, Rusticiana and Galla, of whom the former married Boethius. See Procopius, de Bello Gothico, lib. i., and several Epistles in Cassiodorus, viz. lib. iv. epist. 22, 37, 66.

25. _thy wyf_; i. e. Rusticiana, daughter of Symmachus; for there is no proof that Boethius was twice married (Stewart, p. 24). She survived the capture of Rome by the Goths under Totila, A.D. 546. 'The riches of Rusticiana, the daughter of Symmachus and widow of Boethius, had been generously devoted to alleviate the calamities of famine. But the barbarians were exasperated by the report, that she had prompted the people to overthrow the statue of the great Theodoric; and the life of that venerable matron would have been sacrificed to his memory, if Totila had not respected her birth, her virtues, and even the pious motive of her revenge.'--Gibbon, Rom. Empire, ch. 43.

31. _two sones_; the two spoken of just above (Pr. iii. l. 35), as being both made consuls together. This was in 522.

_conseilours_, i.e. of consular rank: 'consulares.'

40. _thyne ancres_. Hence the line, 'Yit halt thyn ancre.' Fortune, l. 38.

52. _thy delices_: 'delicias tuas.' The sense here intended is 'effeminacy,' or 'unmanly weakness.'

56. _ful anguissous_, very full of anxieties: 'Anxia enim res,' &c. Repeated in Troilus, iii. 816, q.v.

68. _for alwey_, &c. Very obscure. Chaucer seems to mean--'for always, in every man's case, there is, in something or other, that which (if he has not experienced it) he does not understand; or else he dreads that which he has already experienced.' The Latin is clearer: 'inest enim singulis, quod inexpertus ignoret, expertus exhorreat.'

79. _nothing [is] wrecched_. The insertion of _is_ completes the sense: 'adeo nihil _est_ miserum, nisi cùm putes.' Observe '_nis a wrecche_' in Chaucer's own gloss (l. 81); and see l. 25 of 'Fortune.'

83. _by the agreabletee_, by means of the equanimity: 'aequanimitate tolerantis.' Not having the word 'equanimity' at command, Chaucer paraphrases it by 'agreeabletee or egalitee,' i. e. accommodating or equable behaviour. Cf. l. 92.

86. _The swetnesse_, &c. Cf. Troilus, iii. 813-5; and Man of Lawes Tale, B 421-2, and note.

89. _withholden_, retained: 'retineri non possit.' _that_, so that.

107. _sheweth it wel_, it is plain: 'manifestum est.'

110. _either he woot_, &c.; copied in Troilus, iii. 820-833.

115. _lest he lese that ... it_, lest he lose that which. MS. A. _omits_ 'it'; but the phrase is idiomatic.

119. _this is to seyn that men_, that is to say that, in such a case, men, &c.

120. _lost_, loss. This form of the sb. occurs elsewhere; as in Gower, i. 147 (goth to _lost_); and in P. Plowman, C. vii. 275; &c. See Stratmann.

131. _it ne maketh_, it does not make men miserable.

METRE 4. 7. _lause_, loose; Icel. _lauss_: 'solutae.' Usually _loos_, as in Cant. Ta. A 4064, 4352.

8. _forthy if thou_: 'Fugiens periculosam Sortem sedis amoenae, Humili domum memento Certus figere saxo.' Chaucer's translation is hardly correct; _sortem_ and _sedis_ must be taken in close connection. 'Avoiding the perilous condition of a fair (and exposed) situation, take care to found thy house securely on a low-lying (and sheltered) rock.'

12. _weleful_: 'Felix robore ualli Duces serenus aeuum.' _palis_, stockade, rampart; as before, Bk. i. Pr. 3. 56, Pr. 5. 22.

PROSE 5. 10. _to hem that despenden it_; rather, by spending it; Lat. 'effundendo.' So again, in l. 11, _to thilke folke that mokeren it_ answers to the Lat. gerund 'coaceruando.'

11. _mokeren it_, hoard it. Perhaps related to O.F. _mucier_; see _Curmudgeon_ in my Etym. Dict. See _mokereres_, misers, below.

15. _stenteth to ben had_, ceases to be possessed: 'desinit possideri.'

16. _large_, lavish; 'largiendi usu desinit possideri.'

18. _as of that_, as regards that hoard.

19. _a voys al hool_, a voice not yet dispersed: 'uox ... tota.'

32. _yif it wanteth_, if it lacks: 'carens animae motu atque membrorum compage.'

35. _of the laste_: 'postremae aliquid pulcritudinis.' Perhaps it means 'of the lowest kind of beauty.' Mr. Stewart, in his Essay, p. 225, reads _postremo_, for which I find _no_ authority. MS. C. has _postreme_.

36. _through the distinccioun_: 'suique distinctione.'

40. _Why sholde it nat_, &c. In some editions, this passage is not marked as being assigned to Boethius. In others, it is.

85. _ostelments_, furniture, household goods: 'supellectilis.' O.F. _ostillement_, _oustillement_, furniture; cf. mod. F. _outil_, a word of doubtful origin. Cf. l. 94.

90. _subgit_; as if for 'suppositis'; but the Lat. text has 'sepositis,' i.e. separate, independent.

92. _beest_, animal: 'diuinum merito rationis animal.'

97. _of the lowest_, &c., 'by means of vilest things.'

101. _yif that al_, &c., 'if all the good possessed is more valuable than the thing possessing it.'

105. _and certes_: 'quod quidem haud immerito cadit.'

111. _it cometh_: 'it arises from some defect in them.'

121. _Gabbe I of this_, do I lie concerning this?

125. _weneth._ The texts have _and weneth_; but I suppress _and_ to make sense, and to make the translation agree with the Latin. 'Atqui diuitiae possidentibus persaepè nocuerunt, cùm pessimus quisque, eóque alieni magis auidus, quidquid usquam auri gemmarumque est, se solum qui habeat dignissimum putat.'

128. _way-feringe_; MS. A, _way-faryng_. Both forms, _feringe_ and _faring(e)_ occur; see Stratmann. _Feringe_ = A. S. _f[=e]rende_, from the weak verb _f[=e]ran_, to go, travel; whilst _faringe_ = A. S. _farende_, from the strong verb _faran_, to go. _F[=e]ran_ (= _*f[=o]rian_) is derived, with vowel-mutation, from the stem _*f[=o]r_, appearing in _f[=o]r_, the pt. t. of _faran_.

130. _singe_, &c. Doubtless from Juvenal, Sat. x. 22; see Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 1191, and the note.

METRE 5. Largely imitated in Chaucer's poem called 'The Former Age,' which see. See also the Notes to the same.

5. _They ne coude_, they knew not how: 'Non Bacchica munera norant Liquido confundere melle.'

6. _piment_, usually spiced wine; here, wine mixed with honey. See Rom. of the Rose, 6027, and the note. _clarree_, wine mixed with honey and spices, and then strained till it is clear; clarified wine. See Rom. of the Rose, 5967, 6026; Former Age, 16; Kn. Tale, A 1471. Chaucer uses these two words here in conjunction, for the simple reason that he was thinking of the parallel passage in the French Rom. de la Rose, which is imitated from the present passage in Boethius. Ll. 8418-9 are:--

'Et de l'iaue simple bevoient Sans querre _piment_ ne _claré_.'

7. _ne they coude_: 'Nec lucida uellera Serum Tyrio miscere ueneno.' Hence the _Seriens_ are the _Seres_, or Chinese; and _the venim of Tyrie_ should rather be _the venim of Tyre_, but Chaucer follows the adjectival form in the original, both here and in Bk. iii. Met. 4, l. 2. _Venim_ is not the right word here; 'ueneno' merely means 'dye.' The reference is to the _murex_ or purple shell-fish. See Vergil, Aen. iv. 262: '_Tyrio_que ardebat _murice_ laena'; and Georg. ii. 465: '_alba_ nec Assyrio _fucatur lana ueneno_.'

13. _gest ne straungere_: 'hospes.' Cf. Former Age, 21.

17. _armures_, defensive armour: 'arma.' The usual reading is _arua_, i. e. fields; but more than six MSS. have _arma_, and Chaucer's copy had the same; as appears from MS. C.

18. _For wherto_: 'for to what purpose, or what sort of madness of enemies would first take up arms, when they saw but cruel wounds (as the result) and no rewards for the blood that was shed?'

22. _But the anguissous_: 'Sed saeuior ignibus Aetnae Feruens amor ardet habendi.'

24. _Allas!_ &c. Cf. Former Age, 27-32. _the gobetes or the weightes of gold_: 'Auri ... pondera.'

26. _He dalf_: 'Pretiosa pericula fodit.'

PROSE 6. 8. _the imperie of consulers_, consular rank: 'consulare imperium.' The reference is to the creation of Decemviri; see Livy, iii. 32.

20. _so requerable_, in such request: 'expetibilis.'

29. _into the ... body_: 'in secreta quaeque.'

32. _the whiche I clepe_, by which I mean; so again below, l. 39.

35. _a thought_, a mind; 'mentem firma sibi ratione cohaerentem.'

36. _a free man_; Anaxarchus of Abdera, B.C. 323. The _tyraunt_ was Nicocreon, king of Cyprus. See Valerius Maximus, iii. 3.

44. _But what_: 'Quid autem est, quod in alium quisquam facere possit, quod sustinere ab alio ipse non possit?'

47. _Busirides_, Busiris (gen. case, _Busiridis_), a king of Egypt, who sacrificed all strangers on his altars. But Hercules, coming to Egypt, slew him and abolished the custom. See Vergil, Georg. iii. 5; Ovid, Tr. iii. 11. 39. In the Monkes Tale, B 3293, Chaucer calls him _Busirus_.

49. _Regulus_; M. Regulus, taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, B.C. 255. The story of his embassy to Rome is well known.

63. _may I._ It is necessary to insert _I_ (only found in the black-letter editions) to complete the sense. 'Quod quidem de cunctis fortunae muneribus dignius existimari potest.'

71. _as of wil_, i.e. when it can: 'ultro.'

80. _reproeved_, disproved: 'redarguuntur.'

METRE 6. 2. _Nero._ Cf. Monkes Tale, B 3653-84.

4. _his brother_; Britannicus, poisoned by Nero; Tacitus, Annal. xiii. 16; Suetonius, Nero, 33.

8. _domesman_, judge; see Monk. Ta. B 3680, and note.

15. _septem triones_, properly, the seven chief stars in the Lesser Bear; also sometimes used of the seven bright stars in the Greater Bear. The leading star in the Lesser Bear is the pole-star; and as that remains fixed in the north, the whole constellation came to signify the north. Hence, in the Monk. Ta. B 3657, we are told that Nero ruled over 'Both Est and West, South and _Septemtrioun_'; see note to that line.

18. _Nothus_, Notus, the south wind; see below. _scorkleth_, scorches; MS. A has _scorchith_. The Prompt. Parv. has: 'Scorkelyn, _ustulo_, _ustillo_'; and 'Scorklyd, _ustillatus_.' As Mr. Bradley notes, it is a variant of _scorknen_ or _scorpnen_. The orig. Icel. verb is _skorpna_, to become shrivelled, allied to _skorpinn_, shrivelled. This is a pp. form as if from _*skerpa_, pt. t. _*skarp_; cf. _skera_, pt. t. _skar_, pp. _skorinn_. The adj. _skarpr_ means 'sharp,' whence the weak verb _skerpa_, to sharpen. The sense of the primitive verb _*skerpa_ was, doubtless, 'to cut'; and _scorklen_ is, lit., 'to cause to be cut about,' when used as a transitive verb; hence, 'to shrivel up,' from the appearance of plants 'cut' with frost or parched with heat.

21. _Allas!_

'Heu grauem sortem, quoties iniquus Additur saeuo gladius ueneno!'

More correctly, 'lordshippe to venimous crueltee.' MS. C has 'gladius, i. potestas exercendi gladium'; and 'ueneno, i. venenose crudelitati.'

PROSE 7. 3. _I have wel desired_: 'materiam gerendis rebus optauimus, quo ne uirtus tacita consenesceret.'

10. _drawen to governaunce_: 'allicere,' i. e. allure (simply).

18. _a prikke_, a point; cf. Parl. of Foules, 57; Troil. v. 1815; Ho. Fame, 907. From Ptolemy, Syntaxis, lib. i. cap. 6; cf. Macrobius, In Somnium Scipionis, lib. ii. c. 9.

23. _Tholomee_, Ptolemy; viz. in the beginning of book ii. of his Megale Syntaxis. See the same in Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 68.

28. _wel unnethe_, scarcely, hardly at all: 'uix angustissima inhabitandi hominibus area relinquetur.'

34. _And also sette_: 'Adde, quod hoc ipsum breuis habitaculi septum plures incolunt nationes.'

38. _defaute ... marchaundise_; Lat. only: 'tum conmercii insolentia.'

41. _Marcus Tullius_, i.e. Cicero, in his Somnium Scipionis, which originally formed part of the sixth book of the De Republica. See cap. vi. of that work, and Note to Parl. Foules, 31.

43. _Caucasus_; mentioned again in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 1140.

45. _Parthes_, Parthians.

59. _hath the wrecched_: 'scriptorum inops deleuit obliuio.'

69. _ended_: 'definitum.' We now say 'finite.'

73. _endeles_: 'interminabilem.' We now say 'infinite.'

77. _were thought_, were considered in comparison with eternity.

89. _This rather man_, this former man, the former.

95. _seyde_: 'Iam tandem, inquit, intelligis me esse philosophum? Tum ille nimium mordaciter, Intellexeram, inquit, si tacuisses.' This story is alluded to in Piers Plowman; see my note to that poem, C. xiv. 226.

108. _despyseth it_; cf. Troilus, v. 1821-7.

METRE 7. 1. _with overthrowing thought_: 'mente praecipiti.'

3. _shewinge_, evident, open to the view: 'Latè patentes ... plagas.'

7. _dedly_, mortal, perishable: 'mortali iugo.'

8. _ferne_, distant: 'remotos.' This is important, as settling the sense of 'ferne halwes' in the Prologue to the Tales, l. 14.

13. _Fabricius_, the conqueror of Pyrrhus; censor in B.C. 275. _Brutus_, the slayer of Cæsar.

14. _Catoun_, Cato of Utica (B.C. 95-46).

17. _Liggeth_, lie ye; 'Iacetis.' The imperative mood.

20. _cruel_; Lat. 'sera,' which Chaucer has taken as 'seua.' 'Cum sera uobis rapiet hoc etiam dies.' _thanne is_: 'Iam uos secunda mors manet.'

PROSE 8. 2. _untretable_, not to be treated with, intractable, inexorable: 'inexorabile.'

7. _unpleyten_, unplait, explain: 'explicare.'

17. _windinge._ Read _windy_, i.e. unstable; Lat. 'uentosam.' Caxton's edition has _wyndy_, which proves the point. So also other old black-letter editions.

23. _aspre_: 'haec aspera, haec horribilis fortuna.'

26. _visages_, faces. See Notes to the poem on Fortune.

METRE 8. 1. It begins 'Quòd mundus stabile fide Concordes uariat uices; Quòd pugnantia semina Foedus perpetuum tenent.' The whole of this metre reappears in Troilus, iii. 1744-1764.

6. _hath brought_, hath led in, introduced: 'duxerit.'

_greedy to flowen_; the Lat. text merely has _auidum_; 'Ut fluctus auidum mare Certo fine coerceat.' The Lat. _fluctus_ answers to 'hise flodes.'

7. _ende_, boundary: 'fine.'

8. _termes or boundes_, borders: 'terminos.'

10. _Love_: 'Et caelo imperitans amor.' On this passage is founded one in the Knightes Tale, A 2991-3.

11. _slakede_, were to relax. The last lines are:--

'Et quam nunc socia fide Pulcris motibus incitant, Certent soluere machinam. Hic sancto populos quoque Iunctos foedere continet: Hic et coniugii sacrum Castis nectit amoribus: Hic fidis etiam sua Dictat iura sodalibus. O felix hominum genus, Si uestros animos amor, Quo caelum regitur, regat!'