BOOK III.

PROSE 1. 3. _streighte_, pp., i.e. stretched; 'adrectis ... auribus.' The form _streight-e_ is plural.

6. _so_, i.e. so much. Better 'how much'; Lat. _quantum_.

8. _unparigal_, unequal; 'imparem.'

11. _nat only that_, it is not only the case that. It would be clearer if _that_ were omitted.

12. _agrisen_, filled with dread; pp., with short _i_, of _agrysen_. Cf. _agryseth_, Bk. i. Met. 6, l. 7.

15. _ravisshedest_, didst greedily receive; 'rapiebas.'

32. _for the cause of thee_, for thy sake; 'tui caussa.'

33. _but I wol_, &c.; 'sed quae tibi caussa notior est, eam prius designare uerbis atque informare conabor.'

METRE 1. 2. _hook_, sickle; 'falce.'

4. _Hony_; cf. Troilus, i. 638, iii. 1219.

6. _Nothus_, Notus, the South wind. _ploungy_, stormy, rainy; 'imbriferos.'

9. _bigin_, do thou begin; imperative; 'incipe.'

PROSE 2. 2. _streite sete_, narrow (retired) seat; 'in angustam sedem.'

3. _cures_, endeavours; 'omnis mortalium cura.'

7. _over that_, beyond it; 'ulterius.'

8. _sovereyn good_; 'omnium summum bonorum.'

11. _out of ... good_; 'extrinsecus.'

28. _mesuren_, &c.; 'Plurimi uerò boni fructum gaudio laetitiâque metiuntur.'

34. _is torned_; a bad translation of 'uersatur,' i.e. 'resides.'

38. _merinesse_, enjoyment; 'iocunditatis.'

50. _for which_, on which account; 'quare.'

55. _Epicurus._ See Cant. Tales, Prol. 336-8, where this is quoted; and see Merch. Ta. E 2021; Troil. iii. 1691; 'Epicurus ... sibi summum bonum uoluptatem esse constituit.'

57. _birefte awey._ But the Lat. text has precisely the opposite sense: 'quod caetera omnia iocunditatem animo uideantur adferre.' For _adferre_ [MS. C _afferre_], Chaucer has given us the sense of _auferre_.

58. _studies_, i.e. endeavours; 'studia.' _corage_; 'animus.'

59. _al be it_, &c.; 'et si caligante memoria.'

60. _not_, knows not; 'uelut ebrius, domum quo tramite reuertatur, ignorat.' See Cant. Tales, A 1262.

67. _that ... it_: 'qui quod sit optimum, id etiam ... putant.'

75. _forsake_, deny; 'sequestrari nequit.'

77. _be anguissous_, i.e. 'be _neither_ full of anxiety.' The _neither_ is implied in the following _ne_; 'non esse anxiam tristemque.' It is clearer if we supply _nat_, as in the text.

83. _Than is it good_, then it is the _summum bonum_.

86. _lovinge_, as if translating _diligendo_, which occurs in many MSS.; but the better reading is 'deligendo,' i.e. selecting.

METRE 2. 1. _with slakke ... strenges_; 'fidibus lentis.'

2. _enclineth and flitteth_; 'flectat.' _flitteth_ here means 'shifts.'

3. _purveyable_, with provident care; 'prouida.'

6. _of the contre of Pene_; 'Poeni leones'; lions of North Africa, supposed to be extremely ferocious.

8. _sturdy_, cruel, hard; 'trucem ... magistrum.'

13. _and hir mayster_: 'Primusque lacer dente cruento Domitor rabidas imbuit iras.'

15. _Iangelinge_, garrulous; 'garrula.' This passage is imitated twice in the Cant. Tales, F 607-617, H 163-174.

17. _pleyinge bisinesse_; 'ludens cura.'

19. _agreables_; this form of the pl. adj. is only used in the case of words of French origin. Examples are not very common; cf. _reverents_ below, Bk. iii. Met. 4, l. 6; and _delitables_, C. T. F 899.

26. _by privee path_, by an unseen route; 'secreto tramite.' Alluding to the apparent passage of the sun below the horizon and, as it were, underneath the world. Cf. Troil. iii. 1705.

27. _Alle thinges_: 'Repetunt proprios quaeque recursus.'

PROSE 3. 1. _beestes_, animals; 'animalia.' Chaucer always uses _beest_ for 'animal.'

15. _fals beautee_, a false beauty; 'falsa ... beatitudinis species.' But 'species' may simply mean 'semblance.'

17. After _axe_, Caxton and Thynne insert _the_, i.e. thee; 'te ipsum.'

24. _thee lakked_: 'uel aberat quod abesse non uelles, uel aderat quod adesse noluisses.' This sentence much impressed Chaucer. He again recurs to it in the Complaint to Pite, 99-104; Parl. Foules, 90, 91; and Complaint to his Lady, 47-49. This fact helps to prove the genuineness of the last-named poem.

36. _No._ Observe the use of _no_ after a sentence containing _nis nat_. If there had been no negative in the preceding sentence, the form would have been _Nay_. Such is the usual rule.

40, 41. _maken_, cause, bring it about. _bihighten_, promised.

48. _foreyne ... pletinges_; 'forenses querimoniae.' But _forenses_ means 'public.'

69. _be fulfild ... and axe any thing_; rather paraphrastic; 'aliquid poscens opibus expletur.' _fulfild_ here means 'plentifully supplied,' not 'completely satisfied,' whereas in the very next line it means 'completely satisfied.'

71. _I holde me stille, and telle nat_, I say nothing about; 'Taceo.' Seven E. words for one of Latin.

74. _what may ... be_, why is it; 'quid est quod,' &c.

METRE 3. 1. After _river_, Caxton and Thynne insert _or a gutter_; Lat. 'gurgite.'

2. _yit sholde it never_. This gives quite a false turn to the translation, and misses the sense intended. I quote the whole Metre.

'Quamuis fluente diues auri gurgite Non expleturas cogat auarus opes, Oneretque baccis colla rubri litoris; Ruraque centeno scindat opima boue: Nec cura mordax deserit superstitem, Defunctumque leues non comitantur opes.'

3. _rede see_; lit. 'red shore.' However, the Red Sea is alluded to. Chaucer's translation of _baccis_ by 'stones' is not happy; for 'pearls' are meant. Cf. Horace, Epod. viii. 14; Sat. ii. 3. 241. Pliny praises the pearls from the Red Sea; Nat. Hist. lib. xii. c. 18.

PROSE 4. 9. _postum_, short for _apostume_, i.e. imposthume. _boch_, botch, pustule. Lat. _struma_. Catullus is the well-known poet, and the allusion is to his lines addressed to himself (Carm. 52):--

'Quid est, Catulle, quid moraris emori? Sella in curuli struma Nonius sedet.'

14. _Certes, thou_, &c. Rather involved. 'Tu quoque num tandem tot periculis adduci potuisti, ut cum Decorato gerere magistratum putares, cùm in eo mentem nequissimi scurrae delatorisque respiceres?' _With_ is used for _by_: 'by so many perils' is intended. See Chaucer's gloss.

16. _Decorat_, Decoratus. He seems to have been in high favour with king Theodoric, who wrote him a letter which is preserved in Cassiodorus, lib. v. 31. It is clear that Boethius thought very ill of him.

32. _that he is despysed_, i.e. _because_ he is despised. The argument is, that a wicked man seems the more wicked when he is despised by a very great number of people; and if he be of high rank, his rank makes him more conspicuous, and therefore the more generally contemned. The MSS. vary here; perhaps the scribes did not see their way clearly. See the footnote.

35. _and ... nat unpunisshed_; 'Verùm non impunè.'

40. _comen by_, arise from; 'per has umbratiles dignitates non posse contingere.' See Chaucer's Balade on Gentilesse, l. 5.

42. _many maner_, a mistranslation: 'Si quis multiplici consulatu functus.'

46. _to don his office_, to perform its function. Cf. Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 1144.

50. _that wenen_, i.e. (folk or people) who suppose.

56. _provostrie_, i.e. the prætorship; 'praetura.'

57. _rente_, income; 'et senatorii census grauis sarcina.'

58. _the office_; this alludes to the _Praefectus annonae_, once an honourable title. It was borne by Augustus, when emperor.

64. _by the opinioun of usaunces_; 'opinione utentium.' Chaucer's phrase seems to mean 'by estimation of the mode in which it is used.' He should have written 'by the opinioun of hem that usen it.'

66. _of hir wille_, of their own accord (as it were); 'ultro.'

68. _what is it_; 'quid est, quòd in se expetendae pulcritudinis habeant, nedum aliis praestent?'

METRE 4. Cf. Monkes Tale, B 3653-60.

2. _Tirie_, Tyre; lit. 'Tyrian,' the adjectival form; 'Tyrio superbus ostro.' So above, Bk. ii. Met. 5, l. 8.

3. _throf he_, he flourished (lit. throve); 'uigebat.'

6. _reverents_, the pl. form of the adj. See above, Bk. iii. Met. 2, l. 19. _unworshipful_, &c.; 'indecores curules.'

PROSE 5. 1. _regnes_, kingdoms; _familiaritees_, friendships.

2. _How elles_, why not? 'Quidni?' _whan_, whenever.

4. _kinges ben chaunged._ This is the subject of Chaucer's Monkes Tale. Examples are certainly numerous. In the time of Boethius (470-524), they were not wanting. Thus Basiliscus, emperor of the East, had a reign which Gibbon describes as 'short and turbulent,' and perished miserably of hunger in 476; and Odoacer was killed by Theodoric in 493; see Gibbon's History.

13. _upon thilke syde that_, on whichever side.

14. _noun-power ... undernethe_; 'impotentia subintrat.' _nounpower_, lack of power, occurs in P. Plowman, C. xx. 292; see my note.

17. _A tyraunt_; Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily, who caused a sword to be hung by a slender thread over the head of his favourite Damocles, to teach him that riches could not make happy the man whose death was imminent. See Cicero, Tuscul. v. 21. 6; Horace, Carm. iii. 1. 17; Persius, Sat. iii. 40. And see Ch. Kn. Tale, A 2029.

27. _seriaunts_, serjeants (satellite), different from _servauntes_ (seruientium) below. The difference is one of use only; for the form _seriaunt_, E. _serjeant_, represents the Lat. _seruientem_, whilst _servaunt_, E. _servant_, represents the O. F. pres. part. of the O. F. verb _servir_; which comes to much about the same thing.

30. _what_, why; _what ... anything_ answers to Lat. 'quid.'

33. _in hool_, &c., whether that power is unimpaired or lost; Lat. 'incolumis ... lapsa.'

34. _Nero_; see note to Monkes Tale, B 3685.

35. _Antonius_, a mistake for _Antoninus_, as in the Lat. text. By Antoninus is meant the infamous emperor Caracalla, on whom Septimius Severus had conferred the title of Antoninus. Papinianus was a celebrated Roman jurist, who was put to death at the command of Caracalla; see Gibbon, Roman Empire, ch. vi.

39. _Senek_, Seneca; see Tacitus, Annal. xiv.

41. _But whan_; 'Sed dum ruituros moles ipsa trahit, neuter, quod uoluit, effecit.' I.e. neither Papinian nor Seneca found it possible to forego their position.

48. _Certes, swiche folk_; see Monkes Ta. B 3434-5.

50. _pestilence_; see Merch. Ta. E. 1784, and 1793-4.

METRE 5. 1. For _corage_, Caxton and Thynne have _corages_, but this may be an alteration due to the Latin which they quote as a heading: 'Qui se uolet esse potentem, _Animos_,' &c.

5. _Tyle_; 'ultima Thule.' Supposed to be Iceland, or one of the Shetland Islands.

PROSE 6. 3. _tragedies_; see note to Cant. Ta. B 3163.

3, 4. _O glorie._ The original has: [Greek: ô doxa doxa myrioisi dê brotôn, ouden gegôsi bioton ônkôsas megan]. See Euripides, Andromache, 319. For this, MS. C. gives, as the Latin equivalent--'o gloria, gloria, in milibus hominum nichil aliud facta nisi auribus inflatio magna'; an interpretation which Chaucer here follows.

24. _gentilesse._ See remarks (in the notes) on Chaucer's Balade of Gentilesse.

METRE 6. 8. _For yif thou loke your_; the change from _thy_ to _your_ is due to the Latin: 'Si promordia _uestra_ Auctoremque Deum _spectes_.'

9. _forlived_, degenerate; 'degener.' In Prose 6 (above), l. 37, _outrayen or forliven_ translates 'degenerent.'

PROSE 7. 1. _delices_; 'uoluptatibus.' The MSS. so confuse the words _delices_ and _delyts_ that it is hardly possible to say which is meant, except when the Lat. text has _deliciae_. Both E. words seem to correspond to _uoluptates_.

12. _Iolitee_: intended to translate 'lasciuiam,' a reading of some MSS.; MS. C. has this reading, glossed 'voluptatem.' Most MSS. read _lacunam_, i.e. void, want. _were_, would be; 'foret.'

14. _that children_: 'nescio quem filios inuenisse tortores.'

15. _bytinge_; 'mordax.' _anguissous_: 'anxium.'

16. _or_, ere; in fact, Caxton has _ere_, and Thynne, _er_.

18. _Euripidis_; in the gen. case, as in the Lat. text. The reference is to Euripides, Andromache, 418: [Greek: pasi d' anthrôpois ar' ên psychê, tekn'; hostis d' aut' apeiros ôn psegei, hêsson men algei, dystychôn d' eudaimonei].

METRE 7. 3. _he fleeth_: 'Fugit et nimis tenaci Ferit icta corda morsu.' As to the use of _flyes_ for 'bees,' see note to Parl. Foules, 353.

PROSE 8. 1. _that thise weyes_: 'quin hae ad beatitudinem uiae deuiae quaedam sint.'

8. _supplien_, supplicate, beg: 'danti supplicabis.'

11. _awaytes_, snares: 'subiectorum insidiis obnoxius periculis subiacebis.' _anoyously_; a mistranslation of 'obnoxius,'; see above.

12. _destrat_, distracted: 'distractus.'

16. _brotel_, brittle, frail: 'fragilissimae.'

28. _of the somer-sesoun_: 'uernalium.' So elsewhere, _somer-sesoun_ really means the spring. Cf. P. Plowman, line 1.

_Aristotle._ The reference is not known; but the belief was common. It is highly probable that the fable about the lynx's sharp sight arose from a confusion with the sharp sight of Lynceus; and it is Lynceus who is really meant in the present passage; 'Lynceis oculis.' Cf. Horace, Sat. i. 2. 90:

--'ne corporis optima Lyncei Contemplere oculis.'

METRE 8. 5. _ginnes_, snares: 'laqueos.'

7. _Tyrene_; 'Tyrrhena ... uada'; see Vergil, Aen. i. 67.

14. _echines_: 'uel asperis Praestent echinis litora.'

PROSE 9. 10. _thorugh a litel clifte_: 'rimulâ.'

14. _misledeth it and transporteth_: 'traducit.'

16. _Wenest thou_: 'An tu arbitraris, quod nihilo indigeat, egere potentia?'

38. _Consider_: 'Considera uero, ne, quod nihilo indigere, quod potentissimum, quod honore dignissimum esse concessum est, egere claritudine, quam sibi praestare non possit, atque ob id aliqua ex parte uideatur abiectius.'

53. _This is a consequence_: 'Consequitur.'

69. _they ne geten hem_: 'nec portionem, quae nulla est, nec ipsam, quam minimè affectat, assequitur.'

77. _that power forleteth_: 'ei, quem ualentia deserit, quem molestia pungit, quem uilitas abicit, quem recondit obscuritas.' Hence _that_ means 'whom,' and refers to the man.

95. _that shal he not finde._ This is turned into the affirmative instead of the interrogative form: 'sed num in his eam reperiet, quae demonstrauimus, id quod pollicentur, non posse conferre?'

119. _norie_, pupil; Lat. 'alumne.'

136. _that lyen_: 'quae autem beatitudinem mentiantur.'

142. _in Timeo_; 'uti in Timaeo Platoni.' Here Chaucer keeps the words _in Timaeo_ without alteration, as if they formed the title of Plato's work. The passage is: [Greek: all' ô Sôkrates, touto ge dê pantes hosoi kai kata brachy sôphrosynês metechousin epi pasê hormê kai smikrou kai megalou pragmatos theon aei pou kalousin] (27 C).

METRE 9. 3. _from sin that age hadde biginninge_, since the world began: 'ab aeuo.' _thou that dwellest_: cf. Kn. Tale, A 3004.

5. _necesseden_, compelled, as by necessity: 'pepulerunt.'

6. _floteringe matere_: 'materiae fluitantis'; see below, Pr. xi. 156.

8. _beringe_, &c.; see Leg. of Good Women, 2229, and note.

13. _Thou bindest_: 'Tu numeris elementa ligas.'

14. _colde._ Alluding to the old doctrine of the four elements, with their qualities. Thus the nature of fire was thought to be _hot_ and _dry_, that of water _cold_ and _moist_, that of air _cold_ and _dry_, that of earth _hot_ and _moist_. Cf. Ovid, Met. i. 19:--

'Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis, Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus. Hanc Deus et melior litem Natura diremit ... Dissociata locis concordi pace ligauit.'

Sometimes the four elements are represented as lying in four layers; the earth at the bottom, and above it the water, the air, and the fire, in due order. This arrangement is here alluded to. Cf. Kn. Ta. A 2992.

18. _Thou knittest_, &c.

'Tu triplicis mediam naturae cuncta mouentem Connectens animam per consona membra resoluis. Quae cum secta duos motum glomerauit in orbes, In semet reditura meat mentemque profundam Circuit, et simili conuertit imagine caelum. Tu caussis animas paribus uitasque minores Prouehis, et leuibus sublimes curribus aptans In caelum terramque seris, quas lege benigna Ad te conuersas reduci facis igne reuerti. Da pater angustam menti conscendere sedem, Da fontem lustrare boni, da luce reperta In te conspicuos animi defigere uisus.'

24. _cartes_, vehicles; the bodies which contain the souls.

34. _berer_: 'uector, dux, semita, terminus idem.'

PROSE 10. 8. _for that veyn_, in order that vain, &c.

11. _ne is_, exists. We should now drop the negative after 'deny.' _nis right as_, is precisely as.

12. _is proeved_: 'id imminutione perfecti imperfectum esse perhibetur.'

14. _in every thing general_: 'in quolibet genere.'

21. _descendeth_: 'in haec extrema atque effeta dilabitur.' Cf. Kn. Ta. 3003-10.

31, 2. _that nothing nis bettre_, i.e. than whom nothing is better. So below (l. 70) we have--'that nothing nis more worth.'

32. _nis good_, is good. The _ne_ is due to the preceding 'douted.'

39. _for as moche_: 'ne in infinitum ratio procedat.'

51. _this prince_; Caxton and Thynne have _the fader_; Lat. 'patrem.'

62. _feigne_: 'fingat qui potest.'

88. _thanne ne may_: 'quare neutrum poterit esse perfectum, cum alterutri alterum deest.' Thus we must read _may_ (sing.), not _mowen_ (pl.).

98. _Upon thise thinges_, besides this: 'Super haec.'

100. _porismes_: '[Greek: porismata]'; corollaries, or deductions from a foregoing demonstration.

101. _as a corollarie_: 'ueluti corollarium.' _Corollary_ is derived from _corolla_, dimin. of _corona_, a garland. It meant money paid for a garland of flowers; hence, a gift, present, gratuity; and finally, an additional inference from a proposition. Chaucer gives the explanation _mede of coroune_, i.e. gift of a garland.

106. _they ben maked iust_: these four words must be added to make sense; it is plain that they were lost by the inadvertence of the scribes. Lat. text: 'Sed uti iustitiae adeptione _iusti_, sapientiae sapientes fiunt, ita diuinitatem adeptos, Deos fieri simili ratione necesse est.'

165. _the soverein fyn_; Lat. text: 'ut summa, cardo, atque caussa.' Chaucer seems to have taken _summa_ to be the superl. adjective; and _fyn_, i.e. end, is meant to represent _cardo_.

METRE 10. 8. _Tagus_; the well-known river flowing by Toledo and Lisbon, once celebrated for its golden sands; see Ovid, Am. i. 15. 34; Met. ii. 251, &c.

10. _Hermus_, an auriferous river of Lydia, into which flowed the still more celebrated Pactolus. 'Auro turbidus Hermus;' Verg. Georg. ii. 137.

_rede brinke_: 'rutilante ripa.'

_Indus_; now the Sind, in N. W. India.

11. _that medleth_: 'candidis miscens uirides lapillos'; which Chaucer explains as mingling _smaragdes_ (emeralds) with _margaretes_ (pearls); see footnote on p. 80.

17. _that eschueth_: 'Vitat obscuras animae ruinas.'

PROSE 11. 3. _How mochel_; i.e. at what price will you appraise it: 'quanti aestimabis.'

24. _The thinges thanne_: 'Quae igitur, cùm discrepant, minimè bona sunt; cùm uero unum esse coeperint, bona fiunt: nonne haec ut bona sint, unitatis fieri adeptione contingit?'

55. _non other_; i.e. no other conclusion: 'minimè aliud uidetur.'

63. _travaileth him_, endeavours: 'tueri salutem laborat.'

71. _thar thee nat doute_, thou needst not doubt.

81. _What woltow_: 'Quid, quod omnes, uelut in terras ore demerso trahunt alimenta radicibus, ac per medullas robur corticemque diffundunt?' (_maryes_, marrows.)

91. _renovelen and puplisshen hem_: 'propagentur.'

92. _that they ne ben_, that they are; the superfluous _ne_ is due to the _ne_ preceding.

110. _But fyr_: 'Ignis uero omnem refugit sectionem.'

112. _wilful_: 'de uoluntariis animae cognoscentis motibus.'

123. _som-tyme_: 'gignendi opus ... interdum coërcet uoluntas.'

128. _And thus_: 'Adeò haec sui caritas.'

142. _for yif that that oon_: 'hoc enim sublato, nec esse quidem cuiquam permanebit.'

156. _floteren_, fluctuate, waver; 'fluitabunt'; see above, Met. ix. 6.

161. _for thou hast_: 'ipsam enim mediae ueritatis notam mente fixisti.'

163. _in that_, in that thing which: 'in hoc ... quod.'

METRE 11. 2. _mis-weyes_, by-paths: 'nullis ... deuiis.'

_rollen and trenden_: 'reuoluat.' Chaucer here uses the causal verb _trenden_, to revolve, answering to an A.S. form _*trendan_, causal of a lost verb _*trindan_. The E. _trund-le_ is from the same strong verb (pp. _*getrunden_).

'Longosque in orbem cogat inflectens motus, Animumque doceat quidquid extra molitur Suis retrusum possidere thesauris.'

7. Cf. Troilus, iv. 200.

8. _lighten_, i.e. shine: 'Lucebit.'

10. _Glosa._ This gloss is an alternative paraphrase of all that precedes, from the beginning of the Metre.

32. _Plato_. From Plato's Phaedo, where Socrates says: [Greek: hoti hêmin hê mathêsis ouk allo ti ê anamnêsis tynchanei ousa] (72 E).

PROSE 12. 18. _Wendest_, didst ween: 'Mundum, inquit, hunc â Deo regi paullo antè minimè dubitandum putabas.' Surely Chaucer has quite mistaken the construction. He should rather have said: 'Thou wendest, quod she, a litel her-biforn that men ne sholden nat doute,' &c.

19. _nis governed_, is governed; the same construction as before. So also _but-yif there nere_ = unless there were (l. 25).

28. _yif ther ne were_: 'nisi unus esset, qui quod nexuit contineret.'

30. _bringe forth_, bring about, dispose, arrange: 'disponeret.'

_so ordenee_: 'tam dispositos motus.'

38. _that thou_: 'ut felicitatis compos, patriam sospes reuisas.'

55. _a keye and a stere_: 'ueluti quidam clauus atque gubernaculum.' Here Chaucer unluckily translates _clauus_ as if it were _clauis_.

63. _ne sheweth_: 'non minùs ad contuendum patet'; i.e. is equally plain to be seen.

67. _by the keye_: 'bonitatis clauo'; see note to l. 55.

73. _It mot nedes be so_: 'Ita, inquam, necesse est; nec beatum regimen esse uideretur, si quidem detrectantium iugum foret, non obtemperantium salus.' The translation has here gone wrong.

87. _softely_, gently, pleasurably: 'suauiter.'

91. _so at the laste_: 'ut tandem aliquando stultitiam magna _lacerantem_ sui pudeat.' Another common reading is _latrantem_, but this was evidently not the reading in Chaucer's copy; MS. C. has _lacerantem_.

97. _the poetes._ See Ovid, Met. i. 151-162; Vergil, Georg. i. 277-283.

116. _Scornest thou me_: 'Ludisne, inquam, me, inextricabilem labyrinthum rationibus texens, quae nunc quidem, qua egrediaris, introeas; nunc uerò qua introieris, egrediare; an mirabilem quemdam diuinae simplicitatis orbem complicas?'

117. _the hous of Dedalus_; used to translate 'labyrinthum.' See Vergil, Aen. vi. 24-30, v. 588. No doubt Boethius borrowed the word _inextricabilis_ from Aen. vi. 27.

125. _for which_: 'ex quo neminem beatum fore, nisi qui pariter Deus esset, quasi munusculum dabas.' Here _munusculum_ refers to _corollarium_, which Chaucer translates by 'a mede of coroune'; see above, Pr. x. 101.

132. _by the governements_: 'bonitatis gubernaculis.'

135. _by proeves in cercles and hoomlich knowen_: 'atque haec nullis extrinsecus sumptis, sed altero ex altero fidem trahente insitis domesticisque probationibus.' Chaucer inserts _in cercles and_, by way of reference to arguments drawn from circles; but the chief argument of this character really occurs later, viz. in Bk. iv. Pr. vi. 81.

143. _Parmenides_, a Greek philosopher who, according to Plato, accompanied Zeno to Athens, where he became acquainted with Socrates, who was then but a young man. Plato, in his Sophistes, quotes the line of Parmenides which is here referred to: [Greek: pantothen eukyklou sphairas enalinkion onkô]. This the MSS. explain to mean: 'rerum orbem mobilem rotat, dum se immobilem ipsa conseruat.' The Greek quotation is corruptly given in the MSS., but is restored by consulting Plato's text (244 E); hence we do not know what reading Boethius adopted. It can hardly have been the one here given, which signifies that God is 'like the mass of a sphere that is well-rounded on all sides.' Perhaps he took the idea of God's immobility from the next two verses:--

[Greek: messothen isopales pantê, to gar oute ti meizon] [Greek: oute bebaioteron pelei.]

i.e. 'equidistant from the centre in all directions; for there is nothing greater (than Him), and nothing more immoveable.'

152. _Plato._ From Plato's Timaeus, 29 B: [Greek: hôs ara tous logous hônper eisin exêgêtai, toutôn autôn kai syngeneis ontas]. Chaucer quotes this saying twice; see Cant. Tales, A 741-2, H 207-210.

METRE 12. 3. _Orpheus._ This well-known story is well told in Vergil, Georg. iv. 454-527; and in Ovid, Met. x. 1-85.

_Trace_, Thrace; as in Cant. Ta. A 1972.

4. _weeply_, tearful, sorrowful: 'flebilibus.'

5. _moevable_ should precede _riveres_; 'Silvas currere, mobiles Amnes stare coegerat.' Chaucer took these two lines separately.

12. _hevene goddes_, gods of heaven: 'superos.'

'Illic blanda sonantibus Chordis carmina temperans Quicquid praecipuis deae Matris fontibus hauserat, Quod luctus dabat impotens, Quod luctum geminans amor Deflet Taenara commouens, Et dulci ueniam prece Umbrarum dominos rogat.'

16. _laved out_, drawn up (as from a well). The M. E. _laven_, to draw up water, to pour out, is from the A. S. _lafian_, to pour; for which see Cockayne's A. S. Leechdoms, ii. 124, ii. 74, iii. 48. It is further illustrated in my Etym. Dict., s. v. _Lavish_, its derivative. No doubt it was frequently confused with F. _laver_, to wash; but it is an independent Teutonic word, allied to G. _laben_. In E. Friesic we find _lafen sük_ or _laven sük_, to refresh oneself. It is curious that it appears even in so late an author as Dryden, who translates Lat. _egerit_ (Ovid, Met. xi. 488) by _laves_, i.e. bales out. And see _laven_ in Mätzner.

16. _Calliope._ Orpheus was son of Oeagrus, king of Thrace, and of Calliope, chief of the Muses; cf. Ovid, Ibis, 484.

17. _and he song._ This does not very well translate the Latin text; see note to l. 12.

21. _of relesinge_: 'ueniam'; i.e. for the release (of Eurydice).

22. _Cerberus_, the three-headed dog; cf. Verg. Georg. iv. 483; Aen. vi. 417; Ovid, Met. iv. 449.

23. _Furies_; the Eumenides; cf. Verg. Georg. iv. 483; Ovid, Met. x. 46.

26. _Ixion_, who was fastened to an ever-revolving wheel; see Georg. iv. 484; iii. 38; Ovid, Met. iv. 460.

_overthrowinge_, turning over: 'Non Ixionium caput Velox praecipitat rota.'

27. _Tantalus_, tormented by perpetual thirst; Ovid, Met. x. 41; iv. 457.

29. _Tityus_: 'Vultur dum satur est modis Non traxit Tityi iecur.' Cf. Verg. Aen. vi. 595-600; Ovid, Met. iv. 456. And see Troilus, i. 786-8.

34. _But we wol_: 'Sed lex dona coërceat.'

37. _But what_; quoted in Kn. Tale, A 1164.

42. _and was deed_: 'occidit.' The common story does not involve the immediate death of Orpheus.

49. _loketh_, beholds: 'uidet inferos.' The story of Orpheus is excellently told in King Alfred's translation of Boethius, cap. xxxv. §6.