BOOK IV.

The following scheme gives some notion of the relationship of the contents of this book to the Filostrato, but Chaucer constantly expands and adds to the original, and not unfrequently transposes the order of the text.

TROILUS: BOOK IV. FILOSTRATO.

1-10. Bk. III. st. 94. 29-35. Bk. IV. st. 1. 47-110. " 2-10. 127-166. " 12-16. 211-217. " 17. 218-385. " 22, 23, 26-46. 393-406. " 47, 48. 414-451. " 49, 50. 459-497. " 52, 54, 56-58. 501-787. " 60-89, 92, 93, 88-91. 799-821. " 95, 96. 848-925, 939-946. " 98-109 (l. 1). 1089-1095, 1108-1260. " 109 (l. 4)-127. 1310-1400. " 131-136. 1422-1446. " 137-140. 1464-1542, 1555-1694. " 141-167.

1. In the Proem, ll. 1-3 correspond to Fil. iii. st. 94, ll. 1-3; and ll. 8 and 10 to the same stanza, ll. 4 and 7. The rest is original.

3. Cf. Boethius, lib. ii. Pr. 1: 'Intelligo ... illius [Fortunae] ... cum his, quos eludere nititur, blandissimam familiaritatem.'

5. _hent and blent_, for _hendeth and blendeth_, catches and blinds.

6, 7. Cf. Boethius, lib. ii. Met. 2: 'Ultroque gemitus, dura quos fecit [Fortuna], ridet.' Whence, in Le Roman de la Rose, 8076-9, the passage which Chaucer here imitates; _the mowe_ = F. _la moe_.

22. _Herines_ i. e. Furies; used as the pl. of _Erynis_ or _Erinnys_; see note to Compl. to Pite, 92. Their names (see l. 24) were Megaera, Alecto, and Tisiphone. Bell's remark, that Chaucer found these names in Boccaccio, does not seem to be founded on fact. He more likely found them in Vergil, who has _Erinnys_, Æn. ii. 336, 573; vii. 447, 570; _Alecto_, id. vii. 324, 341, 405, 415, 445, 476; _Megæra_, id. xii. 846; _Tisiphone_, vi. 571, x. 761. But I suppose that, even in Chaucer's time, MS. note-books existed, containing such information as the names of the Furies. Chaucer even knew that some (as Æschylus) considered them to be the daughters of Night.

25. _Quiryne_, Quirinus. Ovid, Fasti, ii. 476, tells us that Quirinus was Romulus; and just above, ii. 419, that Romulus and Remus were sons of Mars.

29. _Ligginge ... The Grekes_, while the Greeks lay.

32. _Hercules Lyoun_, Hercules' lion, the lion of Hercules; alluding to the lion's skin which Hercules wore. Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon, lib. i. 263, has 'Herculeo ... leoni;' and Chaucer seems to have read this author, or at any rate his first book; see Leg. of Good Women, l. 1457, and the note. However, Chaucer shews his knowledge of the story clearly enough in his tr. of Boethius, Bk. iv. Met. 7. The reference is, simply, to the sign Leo. The sun was in this sign during the latter part of July and the former part of August; but we are further told that he was in the 'breast' of Leo, and therefore near the very bright star Regulus, called in Arabic _Kalbalased_, or the Lion's Heart, which was situated almost on the zodiac, and (at that time) near the 20th degree of the sign. This gives the date as being the first week in August.

41. _in the berd_, in the beard, i. e. face to face.

47. _shour_, assault, attack; see note to Bk. iii. 1064.

50-4. From Boccaccio. The right names are Antenor, Polydamas, Menestheus or Mnestheus, Xanthippus, Sarpedon, Polymnestor, Polites, Riphaeus, all mentioned by Boccaccio, who probably took them from Guido delle Colonne. But Boccaccio omits 'Phebuseo,' and I do not know who is meant. Several of these names may be found in the allit. Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson; as Antenor and his son Polydamas, at ll. 3947, 3954; Xanthippus, king of Phrygia, l. 6107; Sarpedon, prince of Lycia, l. 5448; and in Lydgate's Siege of Troy, Bk. ii. capp. 16, 20. Polymestor, or Polymnestor, was king of the Thracian Chersonese, and an ally of the Trojans. Polites was a son of Priam (Æneid. ii. 526). Mnestheus is repeatedly mentioned in Vergil (Æn. v. 116, &c.), and is also called Menestheus (id. x. 129); he is a different person from Menestheus, king of Athens, who fought on the other side. For Riphaeus, see Verg. Aen. ii. 339. The Ital. forms are Antenorre, Polidamas, Monesteo, Santippo, Serpedon, Polinestorre, Polite, Rifeo. Observe that Monostéo, Riphéo, Phebuséo rime together, with an accent on the penultimate.

62. _thassege_, for _the assege_, the siege; Barbour has _assege_, siege, in his Bruce, xvii. 270, xx. 8; pl. _assegis_, xx. 12. MS. H. wrongly has _thessage_. See l. 1480 below.

64. _Calkas_, Calchas; see Bk. i. 66, 71.

79. _This town to shende_, i. e. (it will be best for you) to despoil this town.

86. _resport_, regard. This strange word is certified by its reappearance in l. 850, where it rimes to _discomfórt_. It is given in Roquefort, but only in a technical sense. It was, doubtless, formed from O. F. _esport_, deportment, demeanour, regard (Godefroy), by prefixing _re-_; and means 'demeanour towards,' or (here) simply 'regard,' as also in l. 850. The etymology is from Lat. _re-_, _ex_, and _portare_. Cf. F. _rapport_, from _re-_, _ad_, and _portare_.

96. _in hir sherte_, in her smock only; i.e. without much rich clothing; 'as she was.'

99. 'For because I saw no opportunity.'

112. _as yerne_, as briskly as possible, very soon; so in l. 201.

120-4. Laomedon, father of Priam, founded Troy. Apollo and Poseidon (Neptune) had been condemned for a while to serve him for wages. But Laomedon refused them payment, and incurred their displeasure.

133. Antenor had been taken prisoner by the Greeks; see Lydgate, Siege of Troye, Bk. iii. ch. 24. Lydgate's version is that Antenor was to be exchanged for Thoas, king of Calydon; and, at the request of Chalcas, it was arranged that Antenor should be exchanged for both Thoas and Criseyde (see l. 138); to which Priam consented.

_withoute more_, without further ado; cf. l. 376.

143. _parlement_; here Boccaccio has _parlamento_, i.e. a parley. Chaucer gives it the English sense.

168. 'The love of you both, where it was before unknown.'

197. From Juvenal, Sat. x. ll. 2-4:--

'pauci dignoscere possunt Vera bona atque illis multum diuersa, remota Erroris nebula.'

Cf. Dryden's translation and Dr. Johnson's poem on the Vanity of Human Wishes.

198, 9. _what is to yerne_, what is desirable. _offence_, disappointment.

203. _mischaunce_; because Antenor contrived the removal from Troy of the Palladium, on which the safety of the city depended. Cf. Lydgate, Siege of Troye, Bk. iv. ch. 34; or the account by Caxton, quoted in Specimens of English from 1394-1579, ed. Skeat, p. 89.

210. _here and howne._ The sense of this phrase is not known; but, judging by the context, it seems to mean--'thus said every one, such was the common rumour.' It has been explained as 'thus said _hare_ and _hound_,' i.e. people of all sorts; but the M. E. form of _hare_ is _hare_ (A. S. _hara_), and the M. E. form of 'hound' never appears as _howne_, which, by the way, is evidently dissyllabic. In the absence of further evidence, guesswork is hardly profitable; but I should like to suggest that the phrase may mean 'gentle and savage.' The M. E. _here_, gentle, occurs in Layamon, 25867; and in Amis and Amiloun, 16 (Stratmann); from A. S. _h[=e]ore_. _Houne_ answers, phonetically, to an A. S. _H[=u]na_, which may mean a Hun, a savage; cf. Ger. _Hüne_.

225. From Dante, Inf. iii. 112:--

'Come d'autunno si levan le foglie L'una appresso dell' altra infin che 'l ramo Rende alla terra tutte le sue spoglie.'

239. This stanza follows Boccaccio closely; but Boccaccio, in his turn, here imitates a passage in Dante, Inf. xii. 22:--

'Qual è quel toro che si slaccia in quella C'ha ricevuto già 'l colpo mortale, Che gir non sa, ma qua e là saltella.'

251, 2. Almost repeated in the Clerk Ta. E 902, 3; see note to the latter line, and cf. Gower, Conf. Amant. ii. 14--'Right as a lives creature She semeth,' &c.

263. In MS. H., _thus_ is glossed by 'sine causa.'

272. Accent _misérie_ on _e_; 'Nella miseria;' Inf. v. 123.

279. _combre-world_, encumbrance of the world, a compound epithet. It is used by Hoccleve, in his lament for Chaucer, De Regim. Principum, st. 299. 'A _cumber-world_, yet in the world am left;' Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. ii. 25.

286. _gerful_, changeable; see note to Kn. Ta. A 1536.

300. _Edippe_, Oedipus, king of Thebes, who put out his own eyes on finding that he had slain his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta; Statius, Theb. i. 46.

302. Rossetti thus translates Fil. iv. st. 34: 'O soul, wretched and astray, Why fliest thou not out of the most ill-fortuned body that lives? O soul brought low, part from the body, and follow Chryseis.'

305. _unneste_, glossed in H. by 'go out of thi nest;' correctly.

318. Read _my_, not _the_ or _thy_; Rossetti thus translates Fil. iv. st. 36: 'O my Chryseis, O sweet bliss of the sorrowing soul which calls on thee! Who will any more give comfort to _my_ pains?'

330. _unholsom_; Boccaccio has _insano_, Fil. iv. st. 38. 'I think it pretty clear that B. means _insane_ in our ordinary sense for that word; but Chaucer's _unholsom_ is no doubt founded on B.'s epithet, and is highly picturesque.'--Rossetti.

356, 7. Nearly repeated in Man of Lawes Ta. B 608, 9. See l. 882.

381. 'As certainly do I wish it were false, as I know it is true.'

392. _propretee_, his own indefeasible possession; see Boethius, Bk. ii. Pr. 2. 9 (p. 27), 61 (p. 28).

407. Pandarus took his morality from Ovid; cf. Amorum lib. ii. 4. 10-44: 'Centum sunt causae, cur ego semper amem;' &c.

413. _heroner_, a large falcon for herons; _faucon for rivere_, a goshawk for waterfowl. See note to Sir Thopas, B 1927.

414, 5. From Boccaccio, who does not, however, give the name of the author of the saying. The remark 'as Zanzis writeth' is Chaucer's own. It is quite clear that _Zanzis_ in this passage is the same as the _Zanzis_ in the Physiciens Tale, C 16; and he is no other than Zeuxis the painter. I do not suppose that Chaucer had any special reason for assigning to him the saying, but his name was as useful as that of any one else, and the medieval method of reference is frequently so casual and light-hearted that there is nothing to wonder at. Besides, we are distinctly told (l. 428) that Pandarus was speaking _for the nonce_, i.e. quite at random. The real author is Ovid: 'Successore nouo uincitur omnis amor;' Remed. Amor. 462.

460. _pleyen raket_, play at rackets, knocking the ball forwards and backwards; alluding to the rebound of the ball after striking the wall.

461. _Netle in, dokke out_ means, as Chaucer says, first one thing and then another. The words are taken from a charm for curing the sting of a nettle, repeated whilst the patient rubs in the juice from a dock-leaf. The usual formula is simply, 'in dock, out nettle,' for which see Brockett's Glossary of North-Country Words, s. v. _dockon_ (dock); but Chaucer is doubtless correct. He refers to a fuller form of words, given in Notes and Queries, 1st Ser. iii. 368:--

'Nettle in, dock out--Dock in, nettle out; Nettle in, dock out--Dock rub nettle out.'

Akermann's Glossary of Wiltshire Words gives a third formula, as follows:--

'Out 'ettle, in dock--Dock shall ha' a new smock; 'Ettle zhan't ha' narrun.'

i.e. nettle shan't have ne'er one. See also N. and Q. 1st Ser. iii. 205, 368; xi. 92; Athenæum, Sept. 12, 1846; Brand, Pop. Antiq. iii. 315.

In the Testament of Love, Bk. i., the present passage is quoted in the following form: 'Ye wete wel, lady, eke (quod I) that _I haue not playde racket, nettyl in, docke out_, and with the wethercocke waued;' ed. 1550, fol. cccv. col. 2. This shews that the text is correct.

462. 'Now ill luck befall her, that may care for thy wo.'

481-3. _gabbestow_, liest thou. Ll. 482, 3 are a reproduction of Pandarus' own saying, in Bk. iii. 1625-8.

493. Deficient in the first foot; read--'I | that liv'd' | &c.

497. _formely_; Cm. _formaly_; for _formelly_, i.e. formally.

503. From Boethius, Bk. i. Met. 1. 13, 14 (p. 1).

506. Troilus speaks as if dead already. 'Well wot I, whilst I lived in peace, before thou (death) didst slay me, I would have given (thee) hire;' i.e. a bribe, not to attack me.

520. _alambyk_, alembic; i.e. a retort, or vessel used in distilling; in Cant. Ta. G 794, MS. E. has the pl. _alambikes_, and most other MSS. have _alembikes_. The word was afterwards split up into _a lembick_ or _a limbeck_; see Macb. i. 7. 67. Chaucer took this from Le Rom. de la Rose, 6406-7:--

'Je vois maintes fois que tu plores Cum alambic sus alutel.'

556. 'Then think I, this would injure her reputation.'

583. 'But if I had so ardent a love, and had thy rank.'

588. Cf. the phrase 'a nine days' wonder.' Lat. _nouendiale sacrum_; Livy, i. 31.

600. 'Audentes Fortuna iuuat;' Æneid. x. 284; 'Fortes Fortuna adiuuat'; Terence, Phormio, i. 4. 26.

602. 'Unhardy is unsely;' Reves Ta. A 4210.

603. For _litel_, MS. H. and Thynne have _lite_. It makes no difference, either to the sense or the scansion.

607. _for ferd_, for fear (H2. _for drede_; Thynne, _for feare_). Properly _for ferde_, as in Ho. Fame, 950; but often shortened to _for ferd_. _Ferde_ or _ferd_ is tolerably common as a sb., but some scribes hardly understood it. Hence MSS. Cl. and H. have _of-fered_, i.e. greatly frightened.

618. Cf. Kn. Ta. A 1163-8; and the notes.

622. 'Boldly stake the world on casts of the dice.' Cf. Cant. Tales, B 125, C 653, and the notes.

627. Nearly repeated in Kn. Tale, A 1010.

630. 'The devil help him that cares about it.'

659-61. From Boccaccio, Fil. iv. st. 78; cf. Æneid. iv. 188.

683. 'And expected to please her.' _For pitous Ioye_ represents 'pietosa allegrezza,' Fil. iv. st. 80.

684. 'Dear enough at a mite;' cf. note to L. G. Wom. 741.

692. _on every syde_; 'd'ogni partito;' Fil. iv. 81. I suppose it means, literally, 'on every side;' Troy being subject to attacks at various points.

708-14. Certainly genuine; found also in Fil. iv. 84.

716. Deficient in the first foot.

735. Dr. Furnivall says that MSS. Cl., H., and others have here misplaced a stanza, meaning that ll. 750-6 should have come next, as shewn by Boccaccio's text. But only MS. Cm. has such an order, and it is quite certain that the other MSS. are right. The order in Boccaccio's text furnishes no real guide, as Chaucer often transposes such order; and it is odd that only this _one_ instance should have been noted. It is better to consider the order in MS. Cm. as wrong, and to say that it transposes the text by placing ll. 750-6 after l. 735, and gives a somewhat different version of ll. 750-2.

736. _ounded_, waved, wavy; see Ho. Fame, 1386, and note. Cf. 'Tear my bright hair,' &c.; Shak. Troilus, iv. 2. 112.

750. Cf. note to l. 735. MS. Cm., which inserts this stanza after l. 735, begins thus:--

'The salte teris from hyre ey[gh]yn tweyn Out ran, as schour of Aprille ful swythe; Hyre white brest sche bet, and for the peyne,' &c.

762. This line, giving the name of Criseyde's mother, is not in Boccaccio (Fil. iv. stt. 89-93). I do not know where Chaucer found the form _Argyve_; in Statius, Theb. ii. 297, _Argia_ is the name of the wife of Polynices, and Ch. calls her _Argyve_; see Bk. v. l. 1509 below.

769, 70. _by-word_, proverb: 'plants without a root soon die.'

782. _ordre_, order. She will pass her life in mourning and abstinence, as if she had entered a religious order.

790. _Elysos_, Elysium. It looks as if Chaucer was thinking of Vergil's 'Elysios ... campos;' Georg. i. 38; for the story of Orpheus and Eurydice occurs in Georg. iv. 453-527. Cf. Ovid, Met. x. 1-85.

829. _cause causinge_, the primary cause. '_Causa causans_, a primary or original cause; _causa causata_, a secondary or intermediate cause;' New E. Dict., s. v. _Causa_.

831. _Wher_, short for _whether_; as in Cant. Ta. B 3119, &c.

836. 'Extrema gaudii luctus occupat;' Prov. xiv. 13. See note to Man of Lawes Ta. B 421.

842. The first foot is deficient: 'Peyn | e tor | ment,' &c.

843. 'There is no misery that is not within my body.'

850. _resport_, regard; see note to l. 86 above.

865. Compare the similar lines in Kn. Ta. A 1400, 1.

866. _men_, weakened form of _man_, takes a sing. verb.

870. _Bi-trent_, winds round; see note to iii. 1231.

884. _into litel_, within a little, very nearly.

887. _fawe_, gladly; cf. Cant. Ta. D 220.

907. _bane_, destruction; see Kn. Ta. A 1097, 1681.

927. 'Be to him rather a cause of the _flat_ than of the _edge_,' i.e. of healing rather than of harming. A curious allusion which is fully explained by reference to the Squieres Tale, F 156-165. See also note to the same, F 238.

947-1085. This passage is not in Boccaccio, but some of it is in Boethius; see below.

963-1078. A considerable portion of this passage is copied, more or less closely, from Boethius, lib. v. Pr. 2 and Pr. 3. The correspondences are all pointed out below. Chaucer's own prose translation should be compared. For example, the word _wrythen_ (l. 986) appears in that also (Bk. v. Pr. 3. 15).

963-6. 'Quae tamen ille, ab aeterno cuncta prospiciens, prouidentiae cernit intuitus, et suis quaeque meritis praedestinata disponit;' Boeth. v. Pr. 2 (end).

968. _grete clerkes_; such as Boethius, Saint Augustine, and bishop Bradwardine; see Non. Pr. Ta. B 4431, 2.

974-80. 'Nam si cuncta prospicit Deus, neque falli ullo modo potest, euenire necesse est, quod prouidentia futurum esse praeuiderit. Quare si ab aeterno non facta hominum modo, sed etiam consilia uoluntatesque praenoscit, nulla erit arbitrii libertas;' Boeth. v. Pr. 3. 981-7 (_continued_): 'neque enim uel factum aliud ullum, uel quaelibet existere poterit uoluntas, nisi quam nescia falli prouidentia diuina praesenserit. Nam si res aliorsum, quam prouisae sunt, detorqueri ualent, non iam erit futuri firma praescientia.' 988-994 (_continued_): 'sed opinio potius incerta: quod de Deo credere nefas iudico.'

996. I.e. who have received the tonsure.

997-1001. 'Aiunt enim, non ideo quid esse euenturum, quoniam id prouidentia futurum esse prospexerit: sed è contrario potius, quoniam quid futurum est, id diuinam prouidentiam latere non posse;' Boeth. v. Pr. 3. 1002-1008 (_continued_): 'eoque modo necessarium hoc in contrariam relabi partem. Neque enim necesse est contingere, quae prouidentur; sed necesse esse, quae futura sunt, prouideri.' 1009-1015 (_continued_): 'Quasi uero, quae cuiusque rei caussa sit, praescientiane futurorum necessitatis, an futurorum necessitas prouidentiae, laboretur.' 1016-1022 (_continued_): 'At nos illud demonstrare nitamur, quoquo modo sese habeat ordo caussarum, necessarium esse euentum praescitarum rerum, etiam si praescientia futuris rebus eueniendi necessitatem non uideatur inferre.'

(The negative in l. 1016 is remarkable, but Chaucer's prose rendering presents the same form. Surely he has taken _nitamur_ as if it were _uitamus_.)

1023-9. (_continued_): 'Etenim si quispiam sedeat, opinionem quae eum sedere coniectat ueram esse necesse est: atque è conuerso rursus, (1030-6) si de quopiam uera sit opinio, quoniam sedet, eum sedere necesse est. In utroque igitur necessitas inest: in hoc quidem sedendi, at uerò in altero ueritatis.' 1037-1047 (_continued_): 'Sed non idcirco quisque sedet, quoniam uera est opinio; sed haec potius uera est, quoniam quempiam sedere praecessit. Ita cùm caussa ueritatis ex altera parte procedat, inest tamen communis in utraque necessitas. Similia de prouidentia futurisque rebus ratiocinari patet.' 1051-78 (_continued_): 'Nam etiam si idcirco, quoniam futura sunt, prouidentur; non uero ideo, quoniam prouidentur eueniunt: nihilo minus tamen à Deo uel uentura prouideri, uel prouisa euenire necesse est: quod ad perimendam arbitrii libertatem solùm satis est. Iam uero quam praeposterum est, ut aeternae praescientiae temporalium rerum euentus caussa esse dicatur? Quid est autem aliud arbitrari, ideo Deum futura, quoniam sunt euentura, prouidere, quam putare quae olim acciderunt, caussam summae illius esse prouidentiae? Ad haec, sicuti cum quid esse scio, id ipsum esse necesse est: ita cum quid futurum noui, id ipsum futurum necesse est. Sic fit igitur, ut euentus praescitae rei nequeat euitari.'

1094. _ferd_, fared; not the pp. of _faren_ (l. 1087), but of the weak verb _feren_ (A. S. _f[=e]ran_). The correct pp. of _faren_ is _faren_. See Stratmann.

1105. 'A man may offer his neck soon enough when it (i. e. his head) must come off.'

1136. 'Beyond the nature of tears.'

1139. Myrrha, daughter of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, who was changed into a myrrh-tree; Ovid, Met. x. 298. The tree wept tears of myrrh; id. x. 500.

1146. _hir-e_ (MS. Cl. _here_), their, is here dissyllabic. _unswelle_, cease to swell, as in Bk. v. 214.

1147. 'All hoarse, and exhausted with shrieking.' _forshright_ is the pp. of _forshriken_, to shriek excessively. Bell wrongly has _for shright_; but _shright_ is not a noun. The Ital. has 'con _rotta_ voce,' with broken voice; Fil. iv. st. 116.

1153. 'Being always on the point of departing.'

1162. 'Whether it was sad for him.'

1174. Cf. 'And _bisily_ gan,' &c.; Prol. A 301.

1179. _preignant_ (F. _preignant_, _pregnant_, Cotgrave), catching hold of tightly, hence, forcible; pres. part. of _prendre_, to seize. Quite distinct from _pregnant_ when representing Lat. _praegnans_.

1181. _woon_, hope, resource. This answers to Early E. _w[=a]n_ (see Stratmann), and is allied to Icel. _ván_, hope, expectation; cf. Icel. _væna_, to hope for, to ween. The word is monosyllabic, and the long _o_ is 'open,' as shewn by its riming with _noon_, _goon_, from A. S. _n[=a]n_, _g[=a]n_. Bell quite fails to explain it, and Morris suggests 'remedy,' without assigning any reason. It is common in Rob. of Gloucester, with similar rimes, and does not mean 'custom' or 'habit' or 'manner,' as suggested in Mr. Wright's Glossary, nor has it any connection with M. E. _wone_, custom, which was dissyllabic, and had a short vowel in the former syllable; but it means, as here, 'hope' or 'resource.' For example: 'tho he ne sey other _won_' = when he saw nothing else to be done; Rob. Glouc. ed. Hearne, p. 12; ed. Wright, l. 275. 'And flowe in-to hor castles, vor hii nadde other _won_,' i. e. no other resource; id. p. 19, ed. Hearne, l. 442. This is one of the rather numerous words in Chaucer that have not been rightly understood.

1185. _twighte_, plucked; pt. t. of _twicchen_.

1188. 'Where the doom of Minos would assign it a place.' Boccaccio here uses the word _inferno_ (Fil. iv. 120) to denote the place where Troilus' soul would dwell; which Rossetti explains to mean simply Hades. Chaucer's meaning is the same; he is referring to Æneid. vi. 431-3.

1208. Atropos is the Fate who cuts the thread of life; see note to v. 7.

1237. _a forlong wey_, two minutes and a half, to speak exactly; see note to C. T., A 3637.

1241. Either _slayn_ is here expanded into _slayen_, or the pause after this word does duty for a syllable, in the scansion.

1242. _ho_, stop, cease; see Kn. Ta. A 1706.

1244. _ther-e_ is here made into a dissyllable.

1245. _morter_, mortar. The Century Dict. quotes from Dugdale's Hist. of St. Paul's (ed. Ellis), p. 27: 'A _mortar_ was a wide bowl of iron or metal; it rested upon a stand or branch, and was filled either with fine oil or wax, which was kept burning by means of a broad wick [at funerals or on tombs].' It was named from its similarity in shape to the _mortar_ in which things were pounded. I remember the word in common use; it came to denote what is now called a _night-light_, and the word _night-light_ seems to have nearly displaced it. In this modern contrivance, the old 'mortar' is sometimes represented by a paper casing. The term was frequently applied, not merely to the saucer which held the grease, but to the light itself, which sometimes took the shape of a short candle. Cotgrave explains F. _mortier_ as 'a kind of small chamber-lamp.' Instead of _morter_, MS. Cm. has _percher_, which meant a kind of wax candle placed upon a branch or bar called a _perche_ (perch).

1295. 'About that (there) is no question.' Cf. l. 1694.

1374. _wether_, sheep. I. e. it is advisable to give the wolf a limb of a sheep, in order to save the rest.

1377. _grave_, incise, make an impression upon.

1380. _moble_ (H., H2. _moeble_), movable property; cf. F. _meubles_.

1404. 'Whilst he is making his divination; and I will make him believe.' Ll. 1401-14 are due to a passage in Guido; see allit. Destruction of Troy, 8101-40.

1406. _amphibologyes_, ambiguities. A more correct form is _amphiboly_, from Gk. [Greek: amphibolia]; see New E. Dict. The ambiguous character of the old oracular responses is well known.

1411. 'When he started away from Delphi for fear.' Cf. l. 607.

1422. See note to Book i. 463.

1425. _the selve wit_, the same opinion.

1435. _clere_, clear of woe, free, light. MS. H. has _chere_.

1453. 'The bear has one opinion, and his leader another.'

1456. Repeated in Kn. Ta. A 2449; see note.

1459. 'With eyes like Argus;' i. e. seeing everywhere. Argus had a hundred eyes; Ovid, Met. i. 625.

1483. _fere_, frighten, terrify; as in Bk. ii. 124.

1505. 'To lose the substance, for the sake of something accidentally representing it;' as when the dog dropped the piece of meat, in his anxiety to get the shadow (or reflected image) of it. As to the famous words _substance_ and _accident_, see note to Pard. Ta. C 539.

1525. _go we_, let us go; also written _gowe_, P. Plowm. B. Pr. 226.

1538-40. Juno caused Athamas, the husband of Ino, to run mad. As Ovid tells the story, Juno descended into hell, and crossed the Styx, in order to persuade the fury Tisiphone to haunt Athamas. Hence the mention of the Styx was readily suggested. See Ovid, Met. iv. 416-561, esp. l. 434. Styx was not, as Chaucer says, 'the pit of hell,' but a river that flowed through it.

1544. _Satiry and Fauny_, Satyri and Fauni, Satyrs and Fauns. Chaucer was probably thinking of Ovid, Met. vi. 392-4, where the _Fauni_, _Satyri_, and _Nymphae_ are described as 'ruricolae, siluarum numina.' For _halve goddes_, we now say _demigods_.

1548. _Simois_, a river of Troas; Æneid. i. 100.

1560. _laye_, would lie; subj. The _e_ is elided.

1562. _take_, take place, be made. Thynne has _be take_, but _be_ clogs the line, and is not in the MSS.

1584. 'Vincit qui patitur;' see Frank. Ta. F 773.

1585. 'He who will have what he wants must give up what he likes.' Such seems to be the sense intended. _Leef_ means 'dear.' One of Heywood's proverbs is--'Nought lay down, nought take up;' and very similar to this is--'Nothing venture, nothing have.' For the second _leef_, MS. H. has _lyfe_, a reading adopted by Bell and Morris. This takes all point out of the saying, and does not seem applicable to the case. Ll. 1587 and 1588 repeat the saying in another form, and confirm the reading in the text. Cf. Boeth. Bk. ii. Pr. 4. 98.

1591, 2. _Lucina_, i. e. Diana, or the moon; cf. Kn. Ta. A 2085. 'Before the moon pass out of the sign of Aries beyond that of Leo.' In order to this, the moon would have to pass wholly through Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and Leo, thus traversing a distance represented by about 4 signs, or a third part of the whole zodiac: this would take up about the third part of 28 days, or more than 9 days. This brings us, as Criseyde says, to the 10th day (l. 1595). Such a method of counting is natural enough to those that watch the moon's course; and lovers are generally credited with taking a special interest in that luminary; cf. l. 1608. In the sequel, a good deal turns upon this 'tenth day.' Cf. ll. 1320, 1328, 1685; V. 239, 642, 681, 1103, 1206.

1608. _Cynthia_, i. e. Diana, the moon; Ovid, Met. ii. 465.

1612. 'To lose one opportunity, in order to gain another.'

1620. _pure_, very; as in Kn. Ta. A 1279.

1628. 'Who can hold a thing that tries to get away?'

'An eel and woman, A learned poet says, unless by th' tail And with thy teeth thou hold, will either fail.' The Two Noble Kinsmen, A. iii. sc. 5. l. 49.

1645. 'Res est solliciti plena timoris amor;' Ovid, Her. i. 12.

1667-73. In Boccaccio, a stanza of a similar character is assigned to Troilus, not to Criseyde.

1677. _poeplish_; Boccaccio (Fil. iv. st. 165) has _popolesco_, which Rossetti translates by 'low-bred.' Florio's Ital. Dict. has: '_popolesco_, popular, of the common people.'

1682. _fórtun-è_ is trisyllabic.