iii. 34), but the acts of sacrilege were committed by him in various

places. The golden mantle was taken from the statue of Zeus at Olympia, and the beard from that of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, the justification in this latter case being that Apollo, the father of Aesculapius, was always represented without a beard. Those who repeated the anecdote in the Middle Ages naturally missed this point. We may note that Dyonis is the name given in the _Mirour_.

* * * * *

7213 ff. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 2779 ff.

7235 ff. _Rom. de Troie_, 3029 ff. Gower has judiciously cut short the architectural details.

7275. _Esionam_: see note on l. 6719.

7307. _in his yhte_, ‘in his possession.’ For the substance of these lines cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 2915-2950.

7372. _schape ye_, imperative, for _schapeth_; so ‘Sey ye’ in l. 7435.

7377. _Strong thing_, i. e. a hard thing to bear. This is apparently a translation of the French ‘fort,’ which was very commonly used in the sense of ‘difficult’: see the examples in Godefroy’s Dictionary, e. g. ‘forte chose est de çou croire,’ ‘fors choses est a toi guerroier ancontre moi.’

7390 ff. ‘Ten men have been seen to deal with a hundred and to have had the better.’

7400. _Rom. de Troie_, 3842, ‘L’autrier ès kalendes de Mai,’ &c. The word ‘ender’ is an adjective meaning ‘former,’ originally perhaps an adverb. It is used only in the expressions ‘ender day’ and ‘ender night.’ The combination ‘enderday’ occurs in i. 98.

7420. _Rom. de Troie_, 3889 f.,

‘Cascune conseilla à mei Privéement et en segrei,’ &c.

7451 ff. For Cassandra as the Sibyl cp. Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 214 (ed. 1584).

7497 f.

‘Molt est isnele Renommée, Savoir fist tost par la contrée,’ &c.

_Rom. de Troie_, 4299 ff.

7555 ff. The further incidents of the embarkation and of the voyage home, _Rom. de Troie_, 4505-4832, are omitted.

7576 f. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 4867 ff.

7591 ff. This incident is related in the _Rom. de Troie_, 17457 ff. The occasion was an anniversary celebration at the tomb of Hector, and though the temple of Apollo is not actually named here by Benoît, it has been previously described at large as Hector’s burial place.

7597 ff. The scene in Chaucer’s _Troilus_, i. 155 ff., is well known. He took it from Boccaccio.

7612. In the treatment of Avarice Gower has departed entirely from the plan of fivefold division which he follows in the first three books, as throughout in the _Mirour_. In the sixth book he deliberately declines to deal with more than two of the branches of Gule (vi. 12f.), and the treatment of Lechery is also irregular.

7651. _here tuo debat_, i. e. the strife of those two.

7716. _the Cote for the hod_: that is, he gets a return larger than the amount that he gave; a different form of the expression from that which we have in l. 4787.

7719. _hors_: probably plural in both cases.

7724. ‘If a man will go by the safe way.’

7736 ff. This saying is not really quoted from Seneca, but from Caecilius Balbus, _Nug. Phil._ xi. It must have been in Chaucer’s mind when he wrote ‘Suffice unto thy good, though it be smal,’ that is, ‘Adapt thy life to thy worldly fortune.’

7830 f. I take this to mean, ‘And suddenly to meet his flowers the summer appears and is rich.’ For the meaning of ‘hapneth’ see the examples in the _New English Dictionary_.

7838. _be war_: written as one word in F and afterwards divided by a stroke.

LIB. VI.

_Latin Verses._ i. 6. _ruit_ seems to be transitive, ‘casts down.’

i. 7. Rather involved in order: ‘on the lips which Bacchus intoxicates and which are plunged in sleep.’

4. _mystymed_, ‘unhappily produced.’ In other places, as i. 220, iii. 2458, the word seems to mean to order or arrange wrongly. The OE. ‘mistīmian’ means to happen amiss.

7. _dedly_, ‘mortal,’ i. e. subject to death.

34. _wext_, ‘he waxeth’: for the omission of the pronoun see note on i. 1895 and cp. ll. 149, 213, 367, below.

57. For the form of expression cp. i. 380, ii. 2437, and below, l. 106.

59. _sterte_ is for ‘stert,’ pres. tense.

70. _in vers_, that is ‘in order.’ The word ‘vers’ is given in Godefroy’s Dictionary with the sense ‘state,’ ‘situation’; e. g. _Rom. de la Rose_, 9523 ff.,

‘Malement est changies li vers, Or li vient li gieus si divers, Qu’el ne puet ne n’ose joer.’

71 f. Cp. _Mirour_, 8246 f.

84. _the jolif wo_: cp. i. 88, vii. 1910, and _Balades_, xii. 4, ‘Si porte ades le jolif mal sanz cure.’

105. _of such a thew_, ‘by such a habit’ (i. e. of love), to be taken with ‘dronkelew.’

144. _hovedance_, ‘court dance’: see _New Eng. Dictionary_.

145. _the newefot_: written thus as one word in S and F: it must be regarded as the name of some dance.

160. _it am noght I_: cp. Chaucer, _Leg. of G. Women_, 314, ‘sir, hit am I,’ _Cant. Tales_, A 1736, &c.

188. _holde forth the lusti route_: perhaps simply, ‘continue to be with the merry company.’ See ‘forth’ in the Glossary.

218. _vernage_: the same wine that is called ‘gernache’ or ‘garnache’ in the _Mirour de l’Omme_, ‘vernaccia’ in Italian, but whether a wine of Italy or Greece seems uncertain.

221. _at myn above_: see note on iv. 914.

239. _the blanche fievere_: cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, i. 916, with Skeat’s note.

249. Cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, i. 420, ‘For hete of cold, for cold of hete, I dye.’

253. _of such reles_: this seems to men ‘of such strength,’ and ‘relais’ perhaps has a somewhat similar sense in _Mirour_, 3021,

‘C’est droit qu’il sente le relais De la tempeste et de l’orage.’

As in the modern ‘relay,’ the idea of ceasing or of relaxation may be accompanied by the notion of fresh vigour taking the place of exhaustion, and so the word may stand simply for strength or freshness.

If this explanation is not admissible, we must suppose that ‘reles’ means here the power of relaxing or dissolving.

285 f. Cp. _Rom. de la Rose_, 4326 f.,

‘C’est la soif qui tous jors est ivre, Yvrece qui de soif s’enyvre.’

290. _liste_: perhaps pret. subjunctive; so l. 606, and ‘leste,’ 357.

296. _be the bend_, i. e. ‘by the band,’ at his girdle.

311 f. ‘This for the time alleviates the pain for him who has no other joy.’ ‘As for the time yit’ means simply ‘for the time,’ cp. ll. 738, 893.

321. For ‘men’ with singular verb cp. ii. 659, v. 5510, 6045, vii. 1352, and Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, A 149, &c.

330 ff. Cp. viii. 2252 ff. and. _Traitié_, xv. 2. The poet referred to in the margin is perhaps Homer, who is quoted in the _Rom. de la Rose_ as authority for an arrangement somewhat similar to that described here:

‘Jupiter en toute saison A sor le suel de sa maison, Ce dit Omers, deus plains tonneaus; Si n’est viex hons ne garçonneaus, N’il n’est dame ne damoisele, Soit vielle ou jone, laide ou bele, Qui vie en ce monde reçoive, Qui de ces deus tonneaus ne boive. C’est une taverne planière, Dont Fortune la tavernière Trait aluine et piment en coupes’ &c. 6836 ff. (ed. Méon).

Gower has applied the idea especially to the subject of love, and has made Cupid the butler instead of Fortune. The basis in Homer is _Il._ xxiv. 527 ff.,

δοιοὶ γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν Διὸς οὔδει, κ.τ.λ.

360. _trouble_ is properly an adjective, cp. v. 4160. The corrupt reading ‘chere’ for ‘cler’ has hitherto obscured the sense.

399 ff. This story of Bacchus is told by Hyginus, _Poet. Astr._ ii, under the heading ‘Aries.’

437. _a riche temple._ This was the temple of Jupiter Ammon.

439. ‘To remind thirsty men’ of the power of prayer.

485 ff. The story is from Ovid, _Metam._ xii. 210 ff.

502 f. _thilke tonne drouh, wherof_, &c., ‘drew such wine for them that by it,’ &c. See note on i. 771 and cp. ll. 618 and 1249 of this book.

537. I do not know what authority is referred to.

598. _unteid_, ‘set free,’ so ‘wandering abroad.’

609. The name of this second branch of Gluttony has not been mentioned before.

632 f. ‘so long as he has wealth by which he may be provided with the means.’ For the use of ‘founde’ cp. v. 2690 and Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, C 537, ‘How gret labour and cost is thee to fynde!’ (addressing the belly).

640. _for the point of his relief_, ‘in order to please him,’ so below ‘he is noght relieved,’ l. 678.

656. _toke_, subjunctive, ‘how he should take it.’

662. After this line a couplet is inserted by Pauli from the Harleian MS. 7184 (H₃),

To take metes and drinkes newe, For it shulde alwey eschewe.’

The lines are nonsense and have no metre. They come originally from K, the copyist of which apparently inserted them out of his own head, to fill up a space left by the accidental omission of two lines (645 f.) a little above in the same column. He was making his book correspond column for column with the copy, and therefore discovered his mistake when he reached the bottom, but did not care to draw attention to it by inserting what he had omitted.

663. ‘Physique’ is apparently meant for the Physics of Aristotle, and something very like this maxim is to be found there, but the quotation, ‘Consuetudo est altera natura,’ is actually taken from the _Secretum Secretorum_ (ed. 1520, f. 21).

664. The transposition after this line of the passage ll. 665-964, which occurs in MSS. of the second recension, is not accidental, as we see by the arrangements made afterwards for fitting in the passage (l. 1146). The object apparently was to lay down the principle ‘Delicie corporis militant aduersus animam,’ illustrated by the parable of Dives and Lazarus, before proceeding to the discussion of ‘Delicacie’ in the case of love, and this is perhaps the more logical arrangement; but the alteration, as it is made, involves breaking off the discussion here of the ill effects of change, and resuming it after an interval of nearly two hundred lines.

674. _Avise hem wel_, i. e. ‘let them take good heed.’

683. ‘Without regard to her honour’: cp. _Balades_, xxii. 4, ‘Salvant toutdis l’estat de vostre honour.’

709. _abeched_, from the French ‘abechier,’ to feed, used properly of feeding young birds. The word ‘refreched’ is conformed to it in spelling.

728. The reading of Pauli, ‘I say I am nought gilteles,’ just reverses the sense. Berthelette has the text right here.

738. _for a time yit_: cp. 311, ‘As for the time yit,’ and 893, ‘As for the while yit.’

770. ‘Without wrinkle of any kind,’ cp. _Mirour_, 10164, ‘Car moult furont de noble grein’; or perhaps ‘Without the smallest wrinkle,’ ‘grein’ being taken to stand for the smallest quantity of a thing: cp. ii. 3310.

778. Cp. Chaucer, _Book of the Duchess_, 939 ff.

785. _schapthe._ For this form, which is given by S and F, cp. the word ‘ssepþe,’ meaning ‘creature’ or ‘form,’ which occurs repeatedly in the _Ayenbite of Inwyt_.

800. ‘And if it seemed so to all others.’ The person spoken of throughout this passage as ‘he,’ ‘him,’ is the eye of the lover. This seems to itself to have sufficient sustenance by merely gazing on the beloved object, and if it seemed so to all others also, that is, to the other senses, the eye would never cease to feed upon the sight: but they, having other needs, compel it to turn away.

809. _as thogh he faste_: the verb seems to be pret. subjunctive, as ‘syhe’ down below.

817. _tireth._ This expresses the action of a falcon pulling at its prey: cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, i. 787, ‘Whos stomak foules tiren everemo.’ The word is used in the same sense also in the _Mirour_, 7731.

845. _mi ladi goode_, ‘my lady’s goodness.’

857. Lombard cooks were celebrated, and there was a kind of pastry called ‘pain lumbard,’ _Mirour_, 7809.

879. The romance of Ydoine and Amadas is one of those mentioned at the beginning of the _Cursor Mundi_. It has been published in the ‘Collection des poètes français du moyen âge’ (ed. Hippeau, 1863). Amadas is the type of the lover who remains faithful through every kind of trial.

891. _a cherie feste_: cp. Prol. 454. It is an expression used for pleasures that last but a short time: cp. Audelay’s Poems (Percy Soc. xiv) p. 22,

‘Hit fallus and fadys forth so doth a chere fayre’

(speaking of the glory of this world).

893. Cp. 311, 738.

897. _he_, i. e. my ear.

908. _me lacketh_: the singular form is due perhaps to the use of the verb impersonally in many cases.

961. _excede_, subjunctive, ‘so as to go beyond reason.’

986 ff. This story furnishes a favourable example of our author’s style and versification. It is told simply and clearly, and the verse is not only smooth and easy, but carefully preserved from monotony by the breaking of the couplet very frequently at the pauses: see 986, 998, 1006, 1010, 1016, &c.

995. We have remarked already upon Gower’s fatalism, iii. 1348, &c. Here we may refer also to ll. 1026, 1613, 1702, for further indications of the same tendency.

1059. _is overronne_, that is, ‘has passed beyond.’

1110. _descryve_, apparently ‘understand,’ ‘discern,’ perhaps by that confusion with ‘descry’ which is noted in the _New Engl. Dictionary_.

1149 f. These two lines are omitted without authority by Pauli.

1176. That is, though they had rendered no services for which they ought to be so distinguished.

1180. _sojorned_: the word is used in French especially of a horse kept in stable at rack and manger and refreshed for work: see _Mirour_, Glossary.

1216. ‘So that that pleasure should not escape him.’

1245. _out of feere_, ‘without fear.’

1262. _unwar_, here ‘unknown’: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 427, ‘The unwar wo or harm that comth behinde.’

1295. Originally geomancy seems to have been performed, as suggested in this passage, by marks made in sand or earth, then by casual dots on paper: see the quotations under ‘geomancy’ in the _New Engl. Dictionary_. Gower here mentions the four recognized kinds of divination, by the elements of earth, water, fire, and air.

1306 ff. It is practically certain that Gower was acquainted with the treatise ascribed to Albertus Magnus, called _Speculum Astronomiae_ or _De libris licitis et illicitis_ (_Alberti Magni Opera_, v. 655 ff.), since he seems to follow it to a great extent not only here, but also in his list of early astronomers (vii. 1449 ff.). There are however some things here which he must have had from other sources; for there is no mention in the above-mentioned treatise of ‘Spatula,’ ‘Babilla,’ ‘Cernes,’ ‘Honorius.’

1312. _comun rote_, that is, apparently, ‘common custom.’ The word ‘rote’ is used also below, l. 1457, where it appears to mean ‘condition.’ It must be the same as that which appears in the phrase ‘by rote,’ and it is difficult to believe that it can be the French ‘route,’ as is usually said. The rhyme here and in l. 1457, as well as those in Chaucer (with ‘cote,’ ‘note’), show that the ‘o’ had an open sound, and this would be almost impossible from French ‘ou.’ The expression ‘par routine’ or ‘par rotine’ is given by Cotgrave as equivalent to the English ‘by rote,’ but I am not aware of any use of such an expression in French as early as the fourteenth century. Many of the examples of the phrase ‘by rote’ seem to have to do with singing or church services (cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 1712, _Piers Plowmans Crede_, 379), and Du Cange gives a quotation in which ‘rotae’ seems to mean ‘chants’ or ‘hymns’ (‘rota,’ 6). From such a sense as this the idea of a regular order of service, and thence of ‘custom,’ ‘habit,’ might without much difficulty arise.

1314 ff. The following passage from the _Spec. Astronomiae_, cap. 10, gives most of the names and terms which occur in these lines: ‘Ex libris vero Toz Graeci est liber de stationibus ad cultum Veneris, qui sic incipit: _Commemoratio historiarum_ ... Ex libris autem Salomonis est liber de quatuor anulis, quem intitulat nominibus quatuor discipulorum suorum, qui sic incipit: _De arte eutonica et ideica_, &c. Et liber de nouem candariis.... Et alius paruus de sigillis ad dæmoniacos, qui sic incipit: _Caput sigilli gendal et tanchil_.’

1316. _Razel._ ‘Est autem unus liber magnus Razielis, qui dicitur liber institutionum,’ &c. In MS. Ashmole 1730 there is a letter to Dr. Richard Napier from his nephew at Oxford, speaking of a book of Solomon in the University Library called _Cephar Raziel_, that is, he explains, ‘Angelus magnus secreti Creatoris,’ of which he proposes to make a copy, having obtained means of entering the library at forbidden hours. Again, in MS. Ashmole 1790 there is a description of this book.

1320. ‘cui adiungitur liber Beleni de horarum opere,’ _Spec. Astron._ p. 661. The seal of Ghenbal is the ‘sigillum gendal,’ mentioned in the former citation.

1321 f. _thymage Of Thebith._ Thebith (or Thebit) stands for Thabet son of Corah, a distinguished Arabian mathematician, to whom were attributed certain works on astrology and magic that were current in Latin. Thus we find _Thebit de imaginibus_ very commonly in MSS., and a _Liber Thebit ben Corat de tribus imaginibus magicis_ was printed in 1559 at Frankfort. In this latter book the author says, ‘Exercentur quoque hae imagines in amore vel odio, si fuerit actor earum prouidus et sapiens in motibus coeli ad hoc utilibus.’ Thebith is mentioned several times in the _Spec. Astronomiae_, e. g. p. 662, ‘Super istis imaginibus reperitur unus liber Thebith eben Chorath,’ &c. We must take ‘therupon’ in l. 1321 to mean ‘moreover,’ for it is not to be supposed that the image of Thebith was upon the seal of Ghenbal.

1338. The ‘Naturiens’ are those who pursue the methods of astrology, as opposed to those who practise necromancy (‘nigromance’) or black magic.

1356. _He bede nevere_: see note on v. 4455.

1359. _red_, originally written ‘rede’ in F, but the final letter was afterwards erased. See Introduction, p. cxiv.

1371 f. The rhyme requires that ‘become,’ ‘overcome’ shall either be both present or both preterite (subjunctive), and ‘wonne’ seems to decide the matter for preterite. The only difficulty is ‘have I’ for ‘hadde I’ in l. 1370, the latter being required also by the sense (for the reference is to the former time of youth), but not given by the MSS. ‘So that I wonne’ means ‘Provided that I won.’

1391 ff. This story is from the _Roman de Troie_, 28571-28666, 29629-30092. Guido does not differ as to the main points, but there are several details given by Gower from Benoît which are not found in Guido. In particular the ensign carried by Telegonus is mentioned by Guido only in telling of the dream of Ulysses. Some of the passages which tend to show that Benoît was our author’s authority are noted below.

1408. _al the strengthe of herbes_: a poem _De Viribus Herbarum_ passed in the Middle Ages under the name of Macer.

1422. The mention of ‘nedle and ston’ in this connexion is a rather daring anachronism, for which of course Gower is responsible.

1424. _Cilly._ Benoît says ‘les isles d’Oloi,’ and Guido ‘in Eolidem insulam,’ but Sicily has been mentioned shortly before.

1438 f. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 28594 ff. Guido does not mention it.

1441. ‘S’el sot des arz, il en sot plus,’ _Rom. de Troie_, 28641.

1445 ff. Benoît says nothing of this, but the story of the adventures of Ulysses was to some extent matter of common knowledge in the Middle Ages. Gower may have had it from Ovid, _Metam._ xiv. 277 ff. Guido says in a general way that Circe was in the habit of transforming those who resisted her power into beasts.

1457. _into such a rote_, that is, ‘into such a habit’ (or ‘condition’): see note on l. 1312.

1467. _toswolle bothe sides_, ‘with both her sides swollen’: cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 28660 f.,

‘Et si li lesse les costez Toz pleins, ço quit, de vif enfant.’

1474. _understode_: subj., see note on Prol. 460.

1481. _on of al the beste_, see note on iv. 2606.

1513 f. _margin._ This quotation is not from Horace, but from Ovid, _Pont._ iv. 3. 35. Cp. _Mirour_, 10948, where the same quotation occurs and is attributed as here to ‘Orace.’

1524. The form ‘stature’ is required by the metre here, and is given by the best MSS. of the second and third recensions. In Prol. 891, where ‘statue’ occurs, it is reduced to a monosyllable by elision, and so it is in Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, A 975, 1955. The forms ‘statura,’ ‘stature,’ are found with this sense in the Latin and French of the time.

1541 ff.

‘Et si me disoit: Hulixes Saiches, ceste conjuncions, Cist voloir, ceste asembloisons, Que de moi et de toi desirres, Ce sunt dolors et mortex ires.’

_Rom. de Troie_, 29670 ff.

The prediction, however, that one of the two would have his death by reason of their meeting comes later, 29699, whereas Guido combines the materials here much in the same way as Gower.

1552 ff. This idea of a pennon embroidered with a device is Gower’s own conception, constructed from the not very clear or satisfactory account of the matter given by his authority here and later, 29819 ff. The fact is that Benoît did not understand the expression used in the Latin book (the so-called ‘Dictys Cretensis’) which he was here following, the passage being probably corrupt in his copy, and consequently failed to make it intelligible to his readers. The original statement (made with reference to the ensign carried afterwards by Telegonus) is, ‘Ithacam venit gerens manibus quoddam hastile, cui summitas marinae turturis osse armabatur, scilicet insigne insulae eius in qua genitus erat.’ The meaning apparently is that his spearhead was made of a sea-turtle’s shell. Benoît, in recounting the vision, says that the figure which appeared bore upon the steel head of his lance a crown worked of the bone of a sea-fish,

‘Portoit une coronne ovrée D’os de poisson de mer salée.’ 29687 f.

Then afterwards, in telling of the departure of Telegonus to seek his father, he says that, to show of what country he was, he bore on the top of his lance the sign of a sea-fish worked like a tower,

‘En semblance de tor ovrée.’ 29822.

Guido apparently was not able to make much of this, and after saying, in the account of the dream, that at the top of the lance there appeared ‘quedam turricula tota ex piscibus artificiose composita’ (Bodl. MS. Laud 645, with variants ‘craticula,’ MS. Add. 365, ‘curricula,’ printed editions), he subsequently omitted mention of the recognisance.

1561 f. _A signe it is ... Of an Empire._ Benoît has,

‘Que c’iert d’ampire conoissance Et si aperte demostrance Que por ce seroient devis,’ &c. 29695 ff.,

which may perhaps mean, ‘that it was the cognisance of a kingdom and a sign that they should be divided.’ In Guido, however, it is ‘hoc est signum impie disiunccionis’ (MS. Laud 645 and printed text), or ‘hoc est signum impii et disiunccionis’ (MS. Add. 365).

1567 f. Cp. 2296 ff.

1603 ff. For the order of the clauses here cp. ii. 709, iv. 3520 ff.

1622 ff. _That_, for ‘Til that’; cp. iv. 3273, v. 3422.

1636. ‘And he made himself ready forthwith.’ For the omission of the pronoun even where the subject is changed cp. v. 3291, 4590.

1637 ff. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 29824 ff. Guido says nothing about it.

1643. That is, ‘to avoid espial and wrong suspicions.’

1656. _Rom. de Troie_, 29801 f.,

‘A Hulyxes, qui fut ses druz, Mande par lui v. c. saluz.’

Guido says nothing about this.

1660. _Nachaie_, a mistake for ‘Acaie,’

‘Tant qu’il vint droit en Acaie’;

and this again seems to be from ‘Ithaca.’

1685. _and welnyh ded_: cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 29906 f. Guido says only ‘et ab illis est grauiter vulneratus.’

1689. Gower has judiciously reduced the number from fifteen (_Rom. de Troie_, 29902).

1696. _for wroth_, that is, ‘by reason that he was wroth’: see note on iv. 1330. We can hardly take ‘wroth’ as a substantive.

1701. ‘Se il ne fust un poi guenchiz,’ _Rom. de Troie_, 29939.

1707. _With al the signe_, ‘together with the signe,’ like the French ‘ove tout’; cp. _Mirour_ 4 (note).

1745 f. _Rom. de Troie_, 30022 ff. Guido omits this.

1769 ff. For this repetition cp. 2095 ff.

1785. The ‘Cronique imperial’ is evidently the story itself, and not any particular book in which it is to be found.

1789 ff. The authority which is mainly followed by our author for this story is the Anglo-Norman _Roman de toute Chevalerie_, by Eustace (or Thomas) of Kent. The beginning of this, including all that we have to do with here, has been printed by M. Paul Meyer in his book on the Alexander romances, ‘Bibliothèque française du moyen âge’ vol. iv. pp. 195-216. Gower was acquainted, however, also with the Latin _Historia Alexandri de Preliis_, and has made use of this in certain places, as (1) in the account of Philip’s vision (2129-2170) where he probably found the French unintelligible, and (2) in the story of the death of Nectanabus (2289 ff.), of which the Latin authority certainly gives the more satisfactory account.

The following are some of the points in which Gower agrees with the _Roman de toute Chevalerie_ against the two Latin versions of the story, viz. the _Historia de Preliis_ and the _Res Gestae Alexandri_ of Valerius: (1) the celebration by Olympias of the festival of her nativity, when she rides out on a white mule and is first seen by Nectanabus, ll. 1823-1880; (2) the omission of the sealing of the queen’s womb by Nectanabus, this being introduced only in Philip’s vision; (3) the question of the queen as to how she shall procure further interviews with the god, and the answer of Nectanabus, ll. 2109 ff.; (4) the circumstances connected with the egg from which the serpent was hatched, ll. 2219 ff. The English metrical Romance of Alexander, printed by Weber, is also taken from the _Roman de toute Chevalerie_, and consequently the details of it are for the most part the same as those in Gower. It is certain, however, that Gower does not follow this. It would be quite contrary to his practice to follow an English authority, and apart from this there are many small matters here in which he agrees with the French as against the English, e. g. the name Nectanabus, which is Neptanabus in the English (Anectanabus in the _Hist. de Preliis_), the mention of the _nativity_ of Olympias as the occasion of her festival, ‘Grant feste tint la dame de sa nativité,’ the use of the word ‘artemage,’ l. 1957, the incident of the dragon being changed into an eagle, l. 2200; and such points of correspondence as may seem to suggest a connexion between the two English writers, as in ll. 1844 f., 2231 f., are also to be found in the French. The English alliterative Romance of Alexander follows the _Hist. de Preliis_, and consequently it agrees with Gower in the two passages which have been referred to above.

1798. The sentence is broken off and finished in a different manner. See note on i. 98, and cp. vii. 3632.

1811. _Thre yomen_, &c. This is an addition by Gower. According to the original story Nectanabus was alone, and this would evidently be the better for his purpose.

1828. _list._ This may be present tense, ‘it pleases.’ Loss of the final _e_ in the preterite would hardly occur except before a vowel: see Introduction, p. cxv. The French original lays stress here on the extravagant desire that women have to display themselves.

1831. _At after_, i. e. ‘After,’ used especially of meals, cp. l. 1181, and Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 1445, F 918 ‘at after diner,’ E 1921 ‘At after mete,’ F 302, 1219 ‘At after soper,’ for which references, as for many others elsewhere, I am indebted to Prof. Skeat’s very useful Glossary.

1844 f. The French has

‘E tymbres e tabours ont e leur corns corné,’ 130,

and later

‘Plus de mil damoisels ount le jur karolé, 140.

The English version of the second line,

‘There was maidenes carolying,’

comes very near to Gower.

1924. _Bot if I sihe_, ‘unless I should see,’ pret. subj.

1943 ff. This promise is not in the French.

1959 ff. The astrological terms in these lines are due to Gower. The original says that Nectanabus laid the image in a bed with candles lighted round it, bathed it in the juice of certain herbs, and said his charms over it.

1997. _such thing ... Wherof_: cp. ll. 502, 2398.

2005 f.

‘Nectanabus idunc ses karectes fina.’

2062. _putte him._ We should rather read ‘put him’ with S and F: see Introduction, p. cxvi. The French romance here grotesquely represents Nectanabus as making up a disguise for himself with a ram’s head and a dragon’s tail, which he joins together with wax, ‘e puis dedens se mist.’ The Latin _Hist. de Preliis_ says simply that he changed himself into a dragon.

2074 ff. The French has,

‘Une pel de moton ouvec les cornes prist, Une coroune d’or sur les cornes assist.’

The punctuation after ‘tok’ is that of F, but I suspect that ‘in signe of his noblesse’ belongs really in sense to 2076 f., and refers rather to the crown than to the horns, in which case we ought to set a full stop after ‘bar.’

2113. _seth hire grone_, that is, in child-bed.

2128 ff. The French romance, following Valerius in the main, gives a rather confused account of Philip’s dream. Gower has turned from it to the _Historia de Preliis_.

2160. _Amphion._ The name apparently is got from ‘Antifon,’ which occurs below in connexion with the incident of the pheasant’s egg.

2182. _rampende._ The French has ‘mult fierement rampant.’

2199 ff. The transformation into an eagle is found in Valerius and the French romance, and not in the _Hist. de Preliis_. It may be noted, however, that the picturesque description which we have here of the eagle pruning himself and then shaking his feathers, so that the hall was moved as by an earthquake, is Gower’s own.

2219 ff. The Latin accounts say that a bird, according to Valerius a hen, came and laid an egg in Philip’s lap as he sat in his hall. The _Rom. de toute Chevalerie_ makes the incident take place out in the fields, and the bird, as here, is a pheasant. The expression used, ‘Un oef laissat chaïr sur les curs Phelippun,’ seems to mean that the egg was laid in Philip’s lap. There is nothing about the heat of the sun in the Latin versions.

2250 ff. These lines refer to the precautions taken by Nectanabus to secure that the child shall be born precisely at the right astrological moment: cp. _Rom. de toute Chevalerie_, 401-425. Gower has chosen to omit the details.

2274. _Calistre_, i. e. Callisthenes, who was reputed to be the author of the history of Alexander which Valerius translated.

2299 ff. The question of Alexander and the answer of Nectanabus is given as here in the _Hist. de Preliis_. In Valerius and the French romance Alexander throws Nectanabus down merely in order to surprise him, and the suggestion that Nectanabus knew that he should die by the hands of his son is not made till afterwards.

2368. _Zorastes._ The statement here about the laughter of Zoroaster at his birth is ultimately derived from Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ vii. 15. It is repeated by Augustine, with the addition ‘nec ei boni aliquid monstrosus risus ille portendit. Nam magicarum artium fuisse perhibetur inventor; quae quidem illi nec ad praesentis vitae vanam felicitatem contra suos inimicos prodesse potuerunt; a Nino quippe rege Assyriorum, cum esset ipse Bactrianorum, bello superatus est’ (_De Civ. Dei_, xxi. 14).

2381. ‘Like wool which is ill spun’: cp. i. 10.

2387. _Phitonesse_, cp. iv. 1937.

2411. _betawht To Aristotle_, ‘delivered over to Aristotle’: ‘betawht’ is the past partic. of ‘beteche,’ which occurs afterwards, vii. 4234, and in Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 2114, ‘Now such a rym the devel I beteche.’

2418. _Yit for a time_: to be taken as one phrase; cp. ‘for a while yit,’ &c., ll. 311, 738, 893.

LIB. VII.

The account given in the earlier part of this book of the parts of Philosophy, that is, of the objects of human knowledge, represents in its essentials the Aristotelian system. The division into ‘Theorique,’ ‘Rethorique,’ and ‘Practique’ is in effect the same as Aristotle’s classification of knowledge as Theoretical, Poetical, and Practical, and the further division of ‘Theorique’ into Theology, Physics, and Mathematics, and of ‘Practique’ into Ethics, Economics, and Politics, is that which is made by Aristotle. The statement of Pauli and others that this part of Gower’s work is ‘very likely borrowed’ from the _Secretum Secretorum_ is absolutely unfounded. This treatise is not in any sense an exposition of the Aristotelian philosophy, indeed it is largely made up of rules for diet and regimen with medical prescriptions. Gower is indebted to it only in a slight degree, and principally in two places, vii. 2014-2057, the discussion of Liberality in a king, and 3207*-3360*, the tale of the Jew and the Pagan.

The most important authority, however, for the earlier part of the seventh book has hitherto been overlooked. It is the _Trésor_ of Brunetto Latini. This book is very largely based upon Aristotle, with whose works Latini was exceptionally well acquainted, and it is from this that Gower takes his classification of the sciences, though in regard to the place of Rhetoric he does not quite agree with Latini, who brings it in under the head of ‘Politique,’ making Logic the third main branch of philosophy. Gower takes from the _Trésor_ also many of his physical and geographical statements and his reference to the debate on the conspiracy of Catiline. On the other hand his astronomy is for the most part independent of the _Trésor_, and so also is his method of dealing with the principles of Government, under the five points of Policy. Brunetto Latini does not treat of politics generally so much as of the practical rules to be observed by the Podestà of an Italian republic. It may be observed that Gower has drawn on the _Trésor_ also in the sketch of general history given in the Prologue (ll. 727-820). I refer to pages of the edition of Chabaille, 1863.

26 ff. ‘As to which Aristotle ... declares the “intelligences” under three heads especially.’ The meaning of ‘intelligences’ here and in l. 176, and of ‘intelligencias’ in the margin, l. 149, seems to be nearly the same as ‘sciences,’ that is to say, divisions or provinces of knowledge.

155. _Algorisme._ This stands properly for the decimal system of numeration, but the use of the word in the plural, l. 158, shows that Gower did not use it in this sense only. The association of the word ‘Algorismes’ below with the letters _a_, _b_, _c_ (‘Abece’) seems to suggest some kind of algebraical expression, but this is perhaps due to a misunderstanding by Gower of the word ‘abaque’ (or ‘abake’) in the _Trésor_, p. 6: ‘Et de ce sont li enseignement de l’abaque et de l’augorisme.’

183 ff. ‘Ce est la science par laquele li vii sage s’esforcierent par soutillece de geometrie de trover la grandeur dou ciel et de la terre, et la hautesce entre l’un et l’autre.’ _Trésor_, pp. 6, 7.

207 ff. Cp. _Trésor_, p. 15, ‘Cele matiere de quoi ces choses furent formées les desvance de naissance, non mie de tens, autressi comme li sons est devant le chant, ... et neporquant andui sont ensemble.’ Cp. pp. 104, 105.

216. _Ylem_, this is ‘hyle’ (Gr. ὕλη), the Aristotelian term for matter. For what follows cp. _Trésor_, p. 105.

245. This comparison of the movement of water within the earth to the circulation of blood in the veins, is taken from the _Trésor_, p. 115: ‘autressi comme li sangs de l’ome qui s’espant par ses vaines, si que il encherche tout le cors amont et aval.’

256 ff. Cp. _Trésor_, p. 117.

265 ff. This which follows about the Air seems to be partly independent of the _Trésor_, and the word ‘periferie’ is not there used. Aristotle divides the atmosphere into two regions only, that of ἀτμίς or moist vapour, corresponding to the first and second periferies here, and that of exhalation (ἀναθυμίασις) or fiery vapour, corresponding to the third, _Meteor._ i. 3.

283 f. ‘According to the condition under which they take their form.’ I suppose the word ‘intersticion’ to be taken from ‘interstitium,’ as used with a technical sense in astrology. Albumasar, for example, says, ‘Quicquid in hoc mundo nascitur et occidit ex quatuor elementis est compositum, tribus interstitiis educatum, scilicet principio, medio et fine, quae tria in illa quatuor ducta duodecim producunt.’ This is the cause, he says, why there are twelve signs of the zodiac, ‘Praesunt siquidem haec signa quatuor elementis eorumque tribus interstitiis.’ He then explains that the first ‘interstitium’ of each element is that condition of it which is favourable to production, growth and vigour, the second that which is stationary, and the third that which tends to decay and corruption, so that the word is almost equivalent to condition or quality. (Vincent of Beauvais, _Spec. Nat._ xv. 36.)

302. Cp. _Trésor_, p. 119, ‘mais li fors deboutemenz dou vent la destraint et chace si roidement que ele fent et passe les nues et fait toner et espartir.’

307 ff. Cp. _Trésor_, p. 120.

323 ff. _Trésor_, p. 120, ‘dont aucunes gens cuident que ce soit li dragons ou que ce soit une estele qui chiet.’ What follows about ‘exhalations’ is not from the _Trésor_.

334. _Assub._ This word is used in Latin translations of Aristotle as an equivalent of ‘stella cadens.’

339. _exalacion._ This stands for fiery vapour only, originally a translation of Aristotle’s ἀναθυμίασις.

351 ff. The names ‘Eges’ and ‘Daaly’ (l. 361), must be taken originally from Aristotle’s expression δαλοὶ καὶ αἶγες, which he says are names given by some people to various forms of fire in the sky, _Meteor._ i. 4. Our author simply repeated the terms after his authorities and without understanding them. In fact, ‘Eges’ stands for the same as the ‘Capra saliens’ of the preceding lines.

389. The idea of the four complexions of man, corresponding to the four elements, is not due to Aristotle, but we find it in the _Trésor_. The application to matters of love in ll. 393-440 is presumably Gower’s own.

405 f. Aristotle says on the contrary, οἱ μελαγχολικοὶ οἱ πλεῖστοι λάγνοι εἰσίν, _Probl._ 30.

437. _To thenke._ For this use of ‘may’ with the gerund cp. ii. 510, ‘I myhte noght To soffre.’

510. ‘While the flesh has power to act,’ that is during the life of the body.

521 ff. For the geography which follows cp. _Trésor_, pp. 151-153.

534. _the hevene cope_: cp. l. 1579, ‘under the coupe of hevene,’ where the spelling suggests the Latin ‘cupa,’ rather than ‘capa,’ as the origin of the word in this common phrase. The quality of the ‘o’ in Europe is perhaps doubtful.

536. _Begripeth_: used here as plural, cp. l. 1107: ‘calleth’ in l. 561 with ‘men’ (indef.) as the subject is not a case of the same kind.

545. _who that rede_: subj., cp. Prol. 460.

559. That is, presumably, double as much as either of the other two: cp. _Trésor_, p. 152, ‘car Asie tient bien l’une moitié de toute la terre.’

566. _Canahim_: a mistake for ‘Tanaim’ (or ‘Tanain’), see _Trésor_, p. 152, where the extent of Asia is said to be from the mouths of the Nile and the ‘Tanain’ (i. e. the Don) as far as the Ocean and the terrestrial Paradise.

593 ff. Cp. _Trésor_, p. 115.

597. Latini says that this is the explanation given by some people of the tides, but he adds that the astronomers do not agree with them (_Trésor_, p. 172).

611. Aristotle does in fact make of αἰθήρ a fifth element, of which the heaven and the heavenly bodies consist, but Gower takes this account of it and the name Orbis from the _Trésor_, p. 110, where also we find the comparison to the shell of an egg.

652 ff. ‘Sapiens dominabitur astris,’ an opinion which is developed in the _Vox Clamantis_, ii. 217 ff.

694. _Bot thorizonte_, ‘beyond the horizon’: so perhaps in the first text of v. 3306, ‘But of his lond’ stood for ‘Out of his lond.’ However, this use of ‘but’ is not clearly established in Southern ME. and perhaps the reading of the second recension, ‘Be thorizonte,’ may be right. As regards sense, one is much the same as the other: neither is very intelligible, unless ‘thorizonte’ means the ecliptic.

699. _thei_, that is the planets, not the signs.

725 ff. Cp. _Trésor_, p. 141.

831. _is that on_, i. e. ‘is one,’ or ‘is the first.’

853. The sun’s horses are named by Fulgentius, _Mythol._ ii, in the same order as we have here, ‘Erythreus, Actæon, Lampos, Philogeus.’ They are said there to represent four divisions of the day, Erythreus, for example, having his name from the red light of morning, and Philogeus from the inclination of the sun towards the earth at evening. Ovid gives a different set of names.

944. ‘In whatever degree he shall exercise his powers.’

978. _as it appendeth_, ‘as it is fitting,’ lit. ‘as it belongs’: cp. ‘appent,’ _Mir._ 1535.

979. _natheles._ This word is frequently used by Gower with no sense of opposition, meaning ‘moreover’ or something similar: cp. i. 21, vii. 3877, &c.

983. It may be observed that (in spite of this reference and that in l. 1043) our author’s statements about the number and arrangement of stars in the constellations of the zodiac do not at all correspond with those in the Almagest.

983 (margin). _produxit ad esse_, ‘brought forth into existence’: the infinitive is often used as a substantive in Gower’s Latin: e. g. Prol. _Lat. Verses_, iv. 4, v. 6.

989. _hot and drye._ According to the astrologers, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius preside over the element of fire, and are hot and dry by nature; Taurus, Virgo, Capricornus over that of earth, being dry and cold; Gemini, Libra, Aquarius preside over air, and are hot and moist; while Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are moist and cold, having dominion over water (Albumasar, cited by Vincent of Beauvais, _Spec. Nat._ xv. 36).

991 f. Aries and Scorpio are the ‘houses’ or ‘mansions’ of Mars, Taurus and Libra of Venus, Gemini and Virgo of Mercury, Cancer of the Moon, Leo of the Sun, Sagittarius and Pisces of Jupiter, Capricornus and Aquarius of Saturn.

1021. _somdiel descordant_: the hot and moist Libra is more in accordance with her nature: see 1111 ff.

1036 f. This statement and the others like it below, 1073, 1089, 1127, 1147, 1198, 1222, may be taken to indicate that the division of the signs was very uncertain in our author’s mind. It may be observed that the usual representation of Taurus in star-maps is with his head, not his tail, towards Gemini.

1085. _the risinge_: that is to say, Virgo is the ‘exaltation’ of Mercury, as well as one of his houses.

1100. For the sense of ‘applied’ cp. v. 913.

1115 f. Libra is the exaltation of Saturn.

1135. That is to say, Scorpio is the ‘fall’ of Venus, being the sign opposite to one of her houses, namely Taurus.

1155 f. Sagittarius is a house of Jupiter, and it is opposite to Gemini, which is one of the houses of Mercury.

1162. _The Plowed Oxe_, i. e. the ox that has ploughed the land.

1166. Then the swine are killed and the larder, or bacon-tub, comes into use.

1175. Capricorn is the ‘fall’ of the Moon, being opposite to her house, Cancer, as the next sign Aquarius is that of the Sun, see l. 1190.

1216. ‘Piscis’ is the reading of the MSS. here in text and margin, but ‘Pisces’ in l. 1253.

1229 ff. That is, Pisces is a house of Jupiter and the exaltation of Venus.

1239 ff. The reference is apparently to the _Introductorium_ of Albumasar, but the printed editions of this give an abbreviated text which does not help us here. A fuller translation of the original may be found in manuscript, e. g. MS. Digby 194, where something more or less corresponding to this may be found on f. 55, but the Arabic names of places make it difficult to follow.

1281 ff. This account of the fifteen stars with their herbs and stones is taken by Gower from a treatise called ‘Liber Hermetis de xv stellis et de xv lapidibus et de xv herbis, xv figuris,’ &c., which may be found in several manuscripts, e. g. MSS. Ashmole 341 (f. 123) and 1471 (f. 120 v^o): cp. l. 1437, where Hermes is mentioned as the authority. Some information as to the names of the stars here mentioned may be found in Ideler’s _Untersuchungen über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Sternnamen_, 1809.

1292 ff. ‘Et scias quod stelle fixe habent fortunia et infortunia quemadmodum et planete’ (_Lib. Herm._).

1317. ‘anabulla seu titimallum.’

1329. _Algol_, or Caput Algol, the Arabic ‘Ras el-ghûl’ (devil’s head), in Perseus.

1338. _Alhaiot_, probably for ‘Alhaioc,’ that is Capella, from the Arabic ‘El-‛aijûk.’

1343. ‘prassium seu marrubium.’

1345. _Canis maior_, ‘Alhabor,’ i. e. Sirius.

1356. _Canis minor_, ‘Algomeiza,’ i. e. Procyon.

1362. _Primerole_: in the _Liber Hermetis_ we have here ‘solsecium, quam elitropiam vocant.’

1364. _Arial_, apparently ‘Cor Leonis,’ i. e. Regulus.

1367. _Gorgonza_: ‘gregonza’ in MS. Ash. 341.

1375. ‘lappacium maius.’

1378. _gret riote_: ‘color huius niger est, faciens hominem iratum, animosum et audacem et mala cogitantem et maledicentem ... et faciens fugere demones et congregare.’

1379 ff. ‘Nona stella dicitur Atimet Alaazel, ... et est ex natura Veneris et Mercurii, et dicitur stella pulchritudinis et racionis,’ &c. The name ‘Atimet Alaazel’ is from the Arabic ‘El-simâk el-a‛zal,’ that is the star which we call Spica.

1385. _Salge_, Lat. ‘saluia.’

1387. ‘Decima vero stella Atimet Alrameth, et dicitur saltator, et est ex natura Martis et Iouis.’ This is the Arabic ‘El-simâk el-râmih,’ which we call Arcturus.

1393. _Venenas_: ‘Vndecima stella dicitur Benenais et est postrema de ii stellis que sunt in cauda urse maioris.’ In Arabic ‘Banat Na‛sh.’

1401. _Alpheta_, ‘Elfetah,’ from the Arabic ‘El-fak‛ah’ (the beggar’s dish), meaning the constellation which we call the Northern Crown. Here the name stands for the principal star of that constellation, Gemma.

1419. _Botercadent._ The Latin says ‘Vultur cadens,’ that is perhaps Vega; but ‘Botercadent’ would probably be a different star, namely that called in Arabic ‘Batn-Kaitos’ or Whale’s belly.

1426. _Tail of Scorpio_: in the Latin ‘Cauda Capricorni.’

1449 ff. These names of the chief authors of the science of astronomy seem to be partly taken from the treatise called _Speculum Astronomiae_ or _De libris licitis et illicitis_, cap. ii. (_Alberti Magni Opera_, v. 657): cp. note on vi. 1311 ff. The passage is as follows, under the heading ‘De libris astronomicis antiquorum’: ‘Ex libris ergo qui post libros geometricos et arithmeticos inueniuntur apud nos scripti super his, primus tempore compositionis est liber quem edidit Nembroth gigas ad Iohathonem discipulum suum, qui sic incipit: _Sphaera caeli_ &c., in quo est parum proficui et falsitates nonnullae, sed nihil est ibi contra fidem quod sciam. Sed quod de hac scientia vtilius inuenitur, est liber Ptolemaei Pheludensis, qui dicitur Graece Megasti, Arabice Almagesti, ... quod tamen in eo diligentiae causa dictum est prolixe, commode restringitur ab Azarchele Hispano, qui dictus est Albategni in libro suo.... Voluitque Alpetragius corrigere principia et suppositiones Ptolemaei,’ &c.

It would seem that, either owing to corruption of his text or to misunderstanding, our author separated the name ‘Megasti’ from its connexion with Ptolemy and the Almagest, and made of it a book called ‘Megaster,’ which he attributes to Nembrot.

1461. Alfraganus was author of a book called in Latin _Rudimenta Astronomica_.

1576 f. _out of herre ... entriketh_, that is, ‘involves (this world) in perplexity, so that it is disordered.’

1579. _coupe of hevene_, see note on l. 534.

1595 ff. The discussion in the Roman Senate on the fate of the accomplices of Catiline is here taken as a model of rhetorical treatment. The idea is a happy one, but it is borrowed from the _Trésor_, where Latini, after laying down the rules of rhetoric, illustrates them (pp. 505-517) by a report and analysis of the speeches in this debate, as they are given by Sallust. The ‘Cillenus’ mentioned below is D. Junius Silanus, who as consul-designate gave his opinion first. It is tolerably evident in this passage, as it is obvious in iv. 2647 ff., that Gower did not identify Tullius with Cicero, though Latini actually says, ‘Marcus Tullius Cicero, cils meismes qui enseigne l’art de rectorique, estoit adonques consule de Rome.’

1615 ff. Cp. _Trésor_, p. 509, ‘mais Jules Cesar, qui autre chose pensoit, se torna as covertures et as moz dorez, porce que sa matiere estoit contraire,’ &c.

1623. _after the lawe._ It may be observed as a matter of fact that the law was on the side of Caesar, and that this was his chief argument against the death penalty.

1706. _Fyf pointz._ The _Secretum Secretorum_ recommends to rulers the virtues of Liberality, Wisdom, Chastity, Mercy, Truth, and afterwards of Justice, but there is no very systematic arrangement there, nor in general does the treatment of the subject, except partly as regards Liberality, resemble Gower’s. It has been already observed that the treatment of Politics in the _Trésor_ is altogether different from that which we have here.

1783 ff. This story comes originally from 3 Esdras, ch. iii, iv. The names, however, of Arpaghes and Manachaz are not found in the text of that book, and the story of Alcestis, which Zorobabel tells, is of course a later addition, made no doubt by our author.

1809. ‘Having his mind so disposed.’

1856. _behelde_, an archaic form, used here for the rhyme.

1884 ff. 3 Esdr. iv. 29, ‘Videbam tamen Apemen filiam Bezacis, mirifici concubinam regis, sedentem iuxta regem ad dexteram,’ &c.

1961 f. ‘He that is true shall never rue,’ or some such jingle. Cp. Shaksp. _K. John_, v. 7,

‘Nought shall make us rue, If England to herself do rest but true.’

2000. _laste_, pret. ‘lasted’: cp. Prol. 672, iv. 2315.

2017 ff. This seems to be suggested by a passage in the _Secretum Secretorum_. ‘Reges sunt quattuor. Rex largus subditis et largus sibi, Rex auarus subditis et auarus sibi, Rex auarus sibi et largus subditis, Rex largus sibi et auarus subditis.’ This last is pronounced to be the worst, as the first is the best.

2031 ff. This refers to a passage in the _Secretum Secretorum_ (ed. 1520, f. 8), which runs thus in the printed edition: ‘Que fuit causa destructionis regni calculorum: vnde quia superfluitas expensarum superat redditus ciuitatum, et sic deficientibus redditibus et expensis reges extenderunt manus suas ad res et redditus aliorum. Subditi ergo propter iniuriam clamauerunt ad deum excelsum gloriosum, qui immittens ventum calidum afflixit eos vehementer, et insurrexit populus contra eos et nomina eorum penitus de terra deleuerunt.’

This is obviously corrupt, and it is evident that ‘calculorum’ stands for a proper name, which Gower read ‘Caldeorum,’ as it is in MS. Laud 708. Other Bodleian MSS. to which I have referred give ‘Saldeorum’ (Bodley 181), ‘cangulorum’ (Add. C. 12), ‘singulorum ’ (Laud 645), ‘Anglorum’ (Digby 170). ‘Nonne’ is the reading of the MSS. for ‘vnde,’ and it seems that ‘Que fuit’ &c. is also a question.

2039. So in the _Secretum Secretorum_ (shortly before the passage quoted above), ‘Debes igitur dona dare iuxta posse tuum cum mensura, hominibus indigentibus atque dignis.’

2050. _of ken_, here apparently ‘of quality.’

2061 ff. The basis of this story is to be found in Seneca, _De Beneficiis_, v. 24, ‘Causam dicebat apud divum Iulium ex veteranis quidam,’ &c., but there is no question there of an advocate; the veteran simply gains his case by recalling his personal services. The story appears in a form more like that of Gower in the _Gesta Romanorum_, 87 (ed. Oesterley), but the name Julius is not there mentioned, only ‘Quidam imperator.’ It may be observed also in general, that though many stories are common to the _Gesta Romanorum_ and the _Confessio Amantis_, there is no instance in which Gower can be proved to have used the _Gesta Romanorum_ as his authority. Indeed the tales are there so meagrely and badly told for the most part, that there would be little temptation to turn to it if any other book were available.

Such references as ‘dicitur in gestis Romanorum’ are not to this book but to Roman History.

Hoccleve tells this story much as we have it here, in his _Regement of Princes_, 3270 ff., e. g.

‘Han ye forgote how scharp it with yow ferde, Whan ye were in the werres of Asie? Maffeith, your lif stood there in jupartie; And advocat ne sente I non to yow, But myself put in prees and for yow faght,’ &c.

2115 ff. This anecdote is perhaps taken from the _Trésor_, where it occurs more appropriately as an example of hypocritical excuses for not giving, ‘Li Maistres dit: Après te garde de malicieus engin de escondire, si comme fist le rois Antigonus, qui dist à un menestrier qui li demandoit un besant, que il demandoit plus que à lui n’aferoit; et quant il li demanda un denier, il dist que rois ne devoit pas si povrement doner. Ci ot malicieus escondit; car il li pooit bien doner un besant, porce que il estoit rois, ou un denier, porce que il estoit menestrel. Mais Alixandres le fist mieulx; car quant il dona une cité à un home, cil li dist que il estoit de trop has afaire à avoir cité; Alixandres li respondit: Je ne pren pas garde quel chose tu dois avoir, mais quel chose je doi doner’ (p. 412). This may serve as a rather favourable example of Latini’s style.

2132. _is in manere_: cp. l. 4344. It seems to mean that the virtue of giving depends on the measure with which it is done: cp. _Praise of Peace_, 53.

2139. _To helpe with_: cp. i. 452, 2172, ii. 283, &c.

2194. _holden up his oil_: cp. l. 2584, ‘To bere up oil.’ The only other instance which I can quote of this expression is from Trevisa’s translation of the _Polychronicon_ (Rolls’ Series, vol. iii. p. 447, a reference which I owe to Dr. Murray), ‘There Alisaundre gan to boste ... and a greet deel of hem that were at the feste hilde up the kynges oyl.’ (In the Latin, magna convivantium parte assentiente.’) In all these cases it is used of flatterers, and ‘oil’ seems to stand in this phrase for ‘pride’ or ‘vainglory.’ I am disposed to think it is simply the French ‘oil,’ meaning ‘eye,’ and getting its present sense from such Biblical expressions as ‘oculi sublimium deprimentur,’ ‘oculos superborum humiliabis,’ ‘oculos sublimes, linguam mendacem’; but I can quote no examples of this meaning in French.

2217 ff. This story is based originally on an anecdote told by Valerius Maximus: ‘Idem Syracusis, cum holera ei lavanti Aristippus dixisset, Si Dionysium adulari velles, ista non esses, Immo, inquit, si tu ista esse velles, non adularere Dionysium’ (_Mem._ iv. 3). It has been repeated often in a short form.

2268. _the worldes crok_, that is, the crooked way of the world. See the quotations in the _New Engl. Dictionary_ under ‘crook,’ 12.

2279. _joutes_: see Godefroy’s Dictionary, where an instance is quoted of the use of this word in a French version of this very story.

2302. F punctuates after ‘pyke,’ and no doubt rightly so. The word ‘trewely’ corresponds to the Latin ‘certe’ in the margin above.

2355 ff. The Roman Triumph as here related was a commonplace of preachers and moralists, cp. Bromyard, _Summa Praedicantium_, T. v. 36, ‘Triumphus enim secundum Isidorum dicitur a tribus: quia triumphator Romanus cum victoria versus civitatem veniens tres honores habere debuit,’ &c. So l. 2366, ‘Of treble honour he was certein.’ It is also in the _Gesta Romanorum_, 30 (ed. Oesterley), but from neither of these could Gower have got his ‘Notheos’ (for Γνῶθι σεαυτόν).

2416 ff. This custom is spoken of in Hoccleve’s _Regement of Princes_ with a marginal reference to the _Vita Iohannis Eleemosynarii_, where it is in fact mentioned (Migne, _Patrol._, vol. 73, p. 354).

2527 ff. From 1 Kings xxii. It will be seen that the story is told rather freely as regards order of events, as if from memory.

2531 (margin). _organizate_, used in a musical sense.

2553. _Godelie_: the person meant is Athaliah.

2584. _bere up oil_: see note on l. 2194.

2660. _astraied._ See _New Engl. Dict._, under ‘astray,’ _verb_ and _adv._

2698 (margin). No manuscript here gives the reading ‘regiminis,’ so far as I know; but it is required by the sense, and the reading ‘regis’ might easily arise from the abbreviation of ‘regiminis,’ as we find it in some MSS. at l. 3106 (margin). Note that S is defective here, and J, Ad, K omit the Latin margin. Δ attempts an emendation.

2726 f. _lete Of wrong to don_, i. e. ‘abstain from doing wrong.’

2765 ff. From Godfrey of Viterbo (in _Monum. Germ. Hist._ xxii. p. 169), ‘Quando voluit rectores dare provinciis ... nomina eorum examinabat in populo, dicens: Si quis habet crimen contra eos, dicat et probet,’ &c. This passage is not contained in the earlier redactions of the _Pantheon_, and consequently we may conclude that Gower’s copy was one which contained the later additions: cp. notes on 4181 ff. and viii. 271 ff.

2771. _his name_, that is, his reputation: cp. 2774.

2780. _stod ... upon_, ‘rested upon,’ ‘was guided by.’

2783 ff. The saying by which this story is characterized, ‘malle locupletibus imperare quam ipsum fieri locupletem,’ is more properly attributed to M’. Curius Dentatus (Valerius Maximus, _Mem._ iv. 3. 5): but Fabricius also rejected gifts sent him by the Samnites.

2810. _bothe_: apparently both the men and their possessions.

2833 ff. This is probably Conrad II, of whom Godfrey of Viterbo says ‘nulli violatori pacis parcebat.’

2845 ff. Originally taken from Valerius Maximus, who tells it, however, with reference to Charondas, the supposed legislator of Thurii (_Mem._ vi. 5).

2864. _sete_: apparently a strong past participle formed from ‘sette’ by confusion with ‘sitte ‘: cp. ‘upsete’ rhyming with ‘misgete,’ viii. 244.

2883. _of dawe_: equivalent to ‘of this lif,’ iv. 3414.

2889 ff. This is a story which we find very often repeated (originally from Herodotus), e. g. Valerius Maximus, _Mem._ vi. 3, _Gesta Romanorum_, 29 (without mention of Cambyses by name), Hoccleve’s _Regement of Princes_, &c. In Δ we find added to the marginal Latin,

‘vnde versus, Sede sedens ista iudex inflexibilis sta, Sit tibi lucerna lux, lex, pellisque paterna, Qua resides natus pro patre sponte datus. A manibus reuoces munus, ab aure preces.’

It would seem that the last line should stand as the second.

2902. _Avise him_, ‘Let him consider.’

_flitte_, ‘turn aside,’ cp. iv. 214; but also intransitive, v. 7076.

2917 ff. Another often repeated story. The _Gesta Romanorum_ has it (169) with a reference to Trogus Pompeius (that is Justin, _Epit._ iii. 3). Gower makes the city Athens instead of Sparta (cp. 3089), and the god Mercury instead of Apollo.

3054 ff. This list of legislators is from the _Trésor_, p. 24, but the text which our author used seems to have been corrupt. The passage runs thus in the printed edition: ‘Moyses fu li premiers qui bailla la loi as Hebreus; et li rois Foroneus fu li premiers qui la bailla as Grezois; Mercures as Egypciens, et Solon à cels de Athenes; Ligurgus as Troyens; Numa Pompilius, qui regna après Romulus en Rome, et puis ses filz, bailla et fist lois as Romains premierement,’ &c. If we suppose ‘Solon’ to have been omitted in the MS., the passage might read (with changes of punctuation) nearly as we have it in Gower.

3092. _on the beste Above alle other_: cp. iv. 2606, &c.

3137 ff. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 13921, and see also ii. 3204 ff. (margin).

3144. _Troian_: so given in all MSS. for ‘Traian.’ So also in the _Mirour_, 22168, and in Godfrey of Viterbo, _Spec. Reg._ ii. 14 (_Mon. Germ. Hist._ xxii. p. 74).

3181 ff. Valerius Maximus, _Mem._ v. 6: but he does not mention the Dorians as the enemy against whom Codrus fought. However, the story was a common one: cp. _Gesta Romanorum_, 41.

3201. _lemes_: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, A 3886.

* * * * *

3149* f. The reference is to the Epistle of St. James ii. 13, ‘Iudicium enim sine misericordia illi qui non fecit misericordiam.’

3157*. That is, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’

3161* f. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 13918 ff., where the same is quoted.

3163* ff. Quoted also in the _Mirour_, 13925 ff.,and there also attributed to Tullius, but I cannot give the reference.

* * * * *

3210. _drawe_: the change to subjunctive marks this sentence as really conditional.

3215 ff. Valerius Maximus, _Mem._ v. 1. 9.

3217. _in jeupartie_, i. e. equally balanced, the result uncertain.

3267 ff. Justinian II is described by Gibbon as a cruel tyrant, whose deposition by Leontius was fully deserved, and who, when restored by the help of Terbelis, took a ferocious vengeance on his opponents: ‘during the six years of his new reign, he considered the axe, the cord, and the rack as the only instruments of royalty.’ Nothing apparently could be less appropriate than the epithet ‘pietous,’ which Gower bestows upon him.

3295 ff. This again was a very common story: cp. _Gesta Romanorum_, 48 (ed. Oesterley). Hoccleve tells it with a reference to Orosius, _Regement of Princes_, 3004 ff. Gower probably had it from Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 181 (ed. 1584), where Berillus is given for Perillus, as in our text. He takes ‘Phalaris Siculus’ as the tyrant’s name, and shortens it to Siculus.

3302. I take the preceding three lines as a parenthesis, and this as following l. 3298.

3341. ‘Dionys’ is a mistake for Diomede, or rather Diomedes is confused with the tyrant Dionysius.

3355 ff. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ i. 221 ff.

3359. _With othre men_, i. e. ‘by other men’: cp. viii. 2553.

3387 ff. This characteristic of the lion is mentioned by Brunetto Latini, _Trésor_, p. 224.

3417 ff. This story is told much as it appears in Justin, _Epit._ i. 8, and Orosius, _Hist._ ii. 7, but the name Spertachus (Spartachus) is apparently from Peter Comestor (Migne, _Patrol._. vol. 198, p. 1471), who gives this as the name of Cyrus in his boyhood. The same authority may have supplied the name ‘Marsagete,’ for the histories named above call Thamyris only ‘queen of the Scythians’; but Comestor omits the details of the story.

* * * * *

3207* ff. The tale of the Jew and the Pagan is from the _Secretum Secretorum_, where it is told as a warning against trusting those who are not of our faith. The differences are mainly as follows. No names of places are mentioned in the original; the ‘pagan’ is called ‘magus orientalis,’ and he rides a mule: the Jew is without provisions, and the Magian feeds him as well as allowing him to ride: the Jew is found not dead but thrown from the mule, with a broken leg and other injuries--there is no mention of a lion except in the entreaties of the Magian, ‘noli me derelinquere in deserto, ne forte interficiar a leonibus.’ The Magian is about to leave him to die, but the Jew pleads that he has acted only in accordance with his own law, and again appeals to the Magian to show him the mercy which his religion enjoins. Finally the Magian carries him away and delivers him safely to his own people. Probably our author thought that this form of the story unduly sacrificed justice to mercy, and therefore he killed his Jew outright.

3342* ff. Note the subjunctive after ‘who (that)’ here and in ll. 3349, 3355: see note on Prol. 460.

* * * * *

3418. The name ‘Spertachus’ is given in full by F in the Latin summary, l. 3426 (margin). In the English text the first syllable is abbreviated in most copies, but A has ‘Spartachus’ and H₃ ‘Spertachus.’

3539. _Pite feigned_: cp. l. 3835.

3581. The reference should be to Juvenal, _Sat._ viii. 269 ff.,

‘Malo pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis Aeacidae similis, Vulcaniaque arma capessas, Quam te Thersitae similem genuisset Achilles.’

Gower has here taken the point out of the quotation to a great extent, but it occurs in the _Mirour_, 23371 ff., in its proper form, though with the same false reference.

3627 ff. From the Book of Judges, ch. vii.

3632. For the anacoluthon cp. iv. 3201, vi. 1798, and note on i. 98.

3639. The reading of the second recension, ‘hem,’ seems clearly to be right here: ‘against those who would assail them.’

3640 ff. The meaning apparently is that each single division of the three which the enemy had was twice as large as Gideon’s whole army. The original text says nothing of the kind.

3752. _per compaignie_, ‘together.’

3820 ff. 1 Samuel xv.

3860 ff. 1 Kings ii.

3877. _natheles_, ‘moreover’: cp. 4242 and note on Prol. 39.

3884. _that_, for ‘to that’: cp. Prol. 122.

3891 ff. 1 Kings iii.

4011. _propre_, i. e. ‘in himself.’

4027 ff. 1 Kings xii.

4144. _can ... mai_, used in their original senses, the one implying knowledge and the other active power.

4181 ff. The person meant is Antoninus Pius, of whom his biographer Capitolinus says that he loved peace ‘eousque ut Scipionis sententiam frequentarit, qua ille dicebat, malle se unum civem servare quam mille hostes occidere’ (_Hist. August._ ed. 1620, p. 20). Godfrey of Viterbo, in the text given by Waitz (_Mon. Germ. Hist._ xxii. pp. 75, 163), regularly calls him Antonius, and probably Gower had the saying from this source. It is one of the later additions to the _Pantheon_: cp. note on 2765 ff.

4195. _is due To Pite._ This seems to mean ‘is bound by duty’ to show mercy.

4228. _His trouthe plight_, ‘the engagement of his faith.’ Here we have the word ‘plight’ from OE. ‘pliht,’ to be distinguished from ‘plit.’

4242. _natheles_: cp. l. 3877.

4245. _hihe_: note the definite form after the possessive genitive, as after a possessive pronoun.

4284. ‘And even if it should chance that he obtained any friendliness from her.’ For the use of ‘compainie’ cp. v. 4558.

4335. _Barbarus_: more properly Arbaces, but ‘Barbatus’ in the _Pantheon_ (p. 165, ed. 1584).

4361 ff. Cp. Justin, _Epit._ i. 7, where however the expedient is said to have been used (as related by Herodotus) after Cyrus had put down a revolt.

4406 ff. Numbers xxv.

4408. _Amalech_: Balak is meant.

4464 ff. This means apparently that the later time of life will be as a dark night which is not illuminated by any sunshine of dawn; but it is not very clearly expressed.

4469 ff. 1 Kings xi.

4515. That is, ‘Ahijah the Shilonite,’ called ‘Ahias Silonites’ in the Latin version.

4559 ff. (margin). The quotation is from the _Secretum Secretorum_: ‘O summe rex, studeas modis omnibus custodire et retinere calorem naturalem’ (ed. 1520, f. 25 v^{o}).

4574 f. Caracalla, son of Severus, is here meant. His name was Aurelius Antoninus, and he is called Aurelius Antonius in the _Pantheon_ (_Mon. Germ. Hist._ xxii. p. 166). Caracalla is called by Orosius ‘omnibus hominibus libidine intemperantior, qui etiam novercam suam Iuliam uxorem duxerit’ (_Hist._ vii. 18), and this character of him is repeated in the _Pantheon_.

4593 ff. This story is from Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 687-720. Gower’s rendering of it is remarkable for ease and simplicity of style: see especially ll. 4667-4685, 4701-4717.

4598. Neither Aruns nor Sextus is mentioned by name in Ovid, who speaks only of ‘Tarquinius iuvenis.’ Gower gives to Aruns the place of Sextus throughout this and the following story.

4623. _schette_, intransitive, equivalent to ‘were shut’: cp. iii. 1453.

4701 ff. The sacrifice at which this portent occurred is here brought into connexion with the capture of Gabii, a construction which is not unnaturally suggested by Ovid’s abrupt transition, l. 711.

4718 ff.

‘Consulitur Phoebus. Sors est ita reddita: Matri Qui dederit princeps oscula, victor erit.’ _Fasti_, ii. 713 f.

Ovid means that a message was sent to Delphi; but our author understands it differently.

4739 f. ‘Creditus offenso procubuisse pede’ (720).

4754 ff. This again is from Ovid, where it occurs as a continuation of the last story, _Fasti_, 721-852. Chaucer, who tells this story in the _Legend of G. Women_, 1680 ff., also follows Ovid, and more closely than Gower, e. g. 1761 ff., 1805 ff., 1830f.

4757. _unskilfully_, that is, ‘unjustly,’ without due ‘skile’ or reason.

4778 ff. ‘Non opus est verbis, credite rebus, ait’ (734).

4805 f. This is derived from a misunderstanding of _Fasti_, ii. 785,

‘Accipit aerata iuvenem Collatia porta.’

Cp. l. 4911 below. Both Chaucer and Gower make the tragedy occur at Rome, though Chaucer professes to have Livy before him.

4902. ‘audentes forsve deusve iuvat.’

4937. _To hire_: cp. v. 5724. It means here much the same as ‘by her.’

5062. _sche myhte it noght_, ‘sche could not help it.’

5088 ff.

‘Illa iacens ad verba oculos sine lumine mouit, Visaque concussa dicta probare coma.’ _Fasti_, ii. 845 f.

5093 ff. This latter part is added from other sources, perhaps from Livy.

5131 ff. Chaucer tells the story of Virginia as the Tale of the Doctor of Physic, professing to follow Livy, but actually taking his materials chiefly from the _Roman de la Rose_, 5613 ff., from which he transcribes also the reference to ‘Titus Livius.’ His story differs from that of Livy in many respects, and the changes are not at all for the better. For example, Chaucer does not mention the absence of Virginius in the camp, and he makes him kill his daughter at home and carry her head to Appius. Gower follows Livy, or some account drawn from Livy, without material alteration. It may be observed that Chaucer (following the _Rom. de la Rose_) uses the name ‘Apius’ alone for the judge, and ‘Claudius’ for the dependent, while Gower names them more correctly ‘Apius Claudius’ and ‘Marchus Claudius.’ On the subject generally reference may be made to Rumbaur’s dissertation, _Geschichte von Appius und Virginia in der engl. Litteratur_, Breslau, 1890.

5136. _Livius Virginius_, a mistake for ‘Lucius Virginius.’

5151. _Ilicius_, that is, Icilius.

5209. _til that he come_, ‘till he should come,’ the verb being pret. subjunctive.

5254 ff. The sentence is irregular in construction, but intelligible and vigorous: ‘but as to that command, like the hunted wild boar, who when he feels the hounds hard upon him, throws them off on both sides and goes his way, so (we may say) this knight,’ &c. The simile is due to Gower.

5261. _kepte_, ‘waited for.’

5307 ff. From the Book of Tobit, ch. vi-viii. The moral of the story is given by vi. 17, where Raphael says to Tobias, ‘Hi namque qui coniugium ita suscipiunt, ut Deum a se et a sua mente excludant, et suae libidini ita vacent sicut equus et mulus, quibus non est intellectus, habet potestatem daemonium super eos.’ This, however, is absent from the English version (which follows the LXX), as are also the precepts which follow, about nights to be spent in prayer by the newly married couple. The same is the case with the five precepts given to Sara by her parents, which are mentioned in the _Mirour_, 17701 ff.

5390. This line, written in F as follows,

‘Hov trewe · hou large · hou ioust · hov chaste,’

is enough to show that _v_ and _u_ are used indifferently in this kind of position: cp. movþe: couþe, 5285 f.

5408. _Do wey_, ‘Have done’: see _New English Dictionary_, ‘do,’ 52.

LIB. VIII.

We may suppose that our author had some embarrassment as regards the subject of his eighth book. It should properly have dealt with the seventh Deadly Sin and its various branches, that is, as the _Mirour de l’Omme_ gives them, ‘Fornicacioun,’ ‘Stupre,’ ‘Avolterie,’ ‘Incest,’ ‘Foldelit.’ Nearly all of these subjects, however, have already been treated of more or less fully, either in the fifth book, where branches of Avarice are spoken of with reference to the case of love, or in the seventh, under the head of Chastity as a point of Policy. Even the author’s commendation of Virginity, which might well have been reserved for this place, and which would have been rather less incongruous at the end than in the middle of the shrift, has already been set forth in the fifth book. There remained only Incest, and of this unpromising subject he has made the best he could, first tracing out the gradual development of the moral (or rather the ecclesiastical) law with regard to it, and then making it an excuse for the Tale of Apollonius (or Appolinus) of Tyre, which extends over the larger half of the book. The last thousand lines or so are occupied with the conclusion of the whole poem.

36. _upon his grace_, that is, free for him to bestow on whom he would.

44. Raphael is not named in Genesis.

48. _Metodre_, that is, Methodius, in whose _Revelationes_ it is written, ‘Sciendum namque est, exeuntes Adam et Evam de Paradiso virgines fuisse,’ so that ‘Into the world’ in l. 53 must mean from Paradise into the outer world.

62 ff. This is not found in Genesis, only ‘genuitque filios et filias,’ but Methodius says that the sisters of Cain and Abel were Calmana and Debora.

110. For the hiatus cp. _Mirour_, 12241,

‘De Isaäk auci je lis.’

158. _ne yit religion._ The seduction of one who was a professed member of a religious order was usually accounted to be incest: cp. _Mirour_, 9085 ff. and l. 175 below.

170. ‘I keep no such booth (or stall) at the fair,’ that is, ‘I do no such trade.’

244. _upsete_: see Introduction, p. cxix, and cp. vii. 2864.

271 ff. Gower tells us here that he finds the story in the _Pantheon_. That is true, no doubt: it is told there in the peculiar kind of verse with which Godfrey of Viterbo diversified his chronicle, and a most useful text of this particular story, showing the differences of three redactions, is given by S. Singer in his _Apollonius von Tyrus_, Halle, 1895, pp. 153-177. There is ample evidence that Gower was acquainted with the _Pantheon_, but it is not the case that he followed it in this story, as has been too readily assumed. Godfrey tells the tale in a much abbreviated form, and Gower unquestionably followed mainly the Latin prose narrative which was commonly current, though he thought the _Pantheon_, as a grave historical authority, more fit to be cited. The very first sentence, with its reference, ‘as seith the bok,’ is enough to indicate this, but a few more points may be mentioned here in which the story of the _Pantheon_ differs from Gower and from the prose _Historia Apollonii Tyrii_. (1) Godfrey of Viterbo does not say what was the problem proposed by Antiochus, nor does he mention the period of thirty days. (2) He gives no details of the flight of Apollonius or of the mourning of his people, and he does not mention the incident of Taliart (or Thaliarchus). (3) The name Pentapolim is not introduced. (4) There is no mention in the _Pantheon_ of the wooing of the daughter of Archistrates by three princes (or nobles) or of the bills which they wrote. (5) There is no mention of the nurse Lichorida being taken with Apollonius and his wife on shipboard, of the master of the ship insisting that the corpse should be thrown into the sea, or of the name of the physician, Cerimon. (6) The _Pantheon_ says nothing of the vow of Apollonius in ll. 1301-1306. (7) The name Theophilus is not given. (8) There is no mention of the tomb of Thaise (or Tharsia) being shown to Apollonius. (9) In the _Pantheon_ the punishment of Strangulio and Dionysia precedes the visit to Ephesus, and there is no mention of the dream which caused Apollonius to sail to Ephesus.

There are indeed some points in which Gower agrees with the _Pantheon_ against the _Historia_, for example in making the princess ask for Apollonius as her teacher on the very night of the banquet instead of the next morning, and in representing that Apollonius went to his kingdom after leaving his daughter at Tharsis (cp. E. Klebs, _Die Erzählung von Apollonius aus Tyrus_, Berlin, 1899). Perhaps however the most marked correspondence is where Gower makes the wife of Apollonius ‘Abbesse’ of Diana’s temple (l. 1849), which is evidently from Godfrey’s line, ‘Sic apud Ephesios velut abbatissa moratur’: cp. also l. 1194 ‘warmed ofte.’ These are both among the later additions to the _Pantheon_, and apparently were overlooked by Singer and Klebs when they pronounced that Gower probably knew only the earlier redaction: cp. notes on vii. 2765, 4181.

The Latin prose narrative has been printed in _Welseri Opera_, ed. 1682, pp. 681-704, and also in the Teubner series (ed. Riese, 1871, 1893). It is a translation from a Greek original, as is sufficiently indicated by the Greek words that occur in it, and by the Greek customs which it refers to or presupposes. Gower agrees with it pretty closely, but the story is not improved in his hands. It loses, of course, the Greek characteristics of which we have spoken, and several of the incidents are related by Gower in a less effective manner than in the original. For example, in the scene near the beginning between Antiochus and Apollonius, the king asks, ‘Nosti nuptiarum conditionem?’ and the young man replies, ‘Novi et ad portam vidi,’ to which there is nothing corresponding in Gower. Again, at a later stage of the story, when the three young nobles send in their proposals to the daughter of Archistrates, the original story makes her reply in a note which declares that she will marry only ‘the ship-wrecked man.’ The king innocently inquires of the three young men which of them has suffered shipwreck, and finally hands the note to Apollonius to see if he can make anything of it. This is much better managed than by Gower. On the other hand our author has done well in dispensing with the rudeness and boastfulness of Apollonius on the occasion when the king’s daughter plays the harp at the feast, and also in modifying the scenes at the brothel and excluding Athenagoras from taking part in them. The quotations given in the following notes are made from the Bodleian MS. Laud 247, a good copy of the twelfth century, which has a form of text more nearly corresponding to that which Gower used than that of any of the printed editions, and by means of which we can account for the names Thaise and Philotenne.

It can hardly be necessary to observe that the play of _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_, had another source besides Gower, and especially as regards its fourth and fifth acts. Marina is waylaid while going to visit the tomb of her old nurse, as in the original story, the scene of the pirates agrees more nearly with the original than with Gower, Lysimachus plays a part very like that which Gower took away from Athenagoras, and the scene between Cleon and Dionyza (iv. 4) seems to be suggested by the original. The story was current in English prose, as is well known.

386. _And seileth_: cp. v. 3291 and note.

395. _he moste_, ‘that he might,’ ‘ut sibi liceret,’ a common use of the word in older English (see examples in Bosworth and Toller’s Dictionary).

405 ff. (margin). The riddle as given in the Laud MS. is, ‘Scelere uehor. Materna carne uescor. Quero patrem meum matris mee uirum uxoris mee filiam, nec inuenio.’ Most copies have ‘fratrem meum’ for ‘patrem meum,’ but Gower agrees with the Laud MS. I do not attempt a solution of it beyond that of Apollonius, which is, ‘Quod dixisti scelere uehor, non es mentitus, ad te ipsum respice. Et quod dixisti materna carne uescor, filiam tuam intuere.’

484. _the Stwes._ For the spelling cp. ‘Jwes,’ v. 1713, 1808.

536. This is by no means in accordance with the original. Antiochus exclaims on hearing of the flight of Apollonius, ‘Fugere modo quidem potest, effugere autem quandoque me minime poterit,’ and at once issues an edict, ‘Quicunque mihi Apollonium contemptorem regni mei uiuum adduxerit, quinquaginta talenta auri a me dabuntur ei: qui uero caput eius mihi optulerit, talentorum c. receptor erit’ (f. 205 v^o), and he causes search to be made after him both by land and sea. The change made by Gower is not a happy one, for it takes away the motive for the flight from Tarsus, where Apollonius heard of this proscription.

542 ff. In the original Apollonius meets ‘Hellanicus’ at once on landing, and is informed by him of the proscription. He makes an offer to Strangulio to sell his wheat at cost price to the citizens, if they will conceal his presence among them. The money which he receives as the price of the wheat is expended by him in public benefits to the state, and the citizens set up a statue of him standing in a two-horse chariot (biga), his right hand holding forth corn and his left foot resting upon a bushel measure.

603. _ferketh_, ‘conveys,’ from OE. ‘fercian’: cp. Anglo-Saxon Chron. 1009, Hī fercodon ða scipo eft to Lundenne’ (quoted in Bosworth and Toller’s Dictionary).

624. ‘But with cable and cord broken asunder ... the ship’ &c., past participle absolute, as ii. 791, viii. 1830.

640. _forto mote To gete ayein._ Apparently this means ‘to wish to get again,’ a meaning derived from the phrase ‘so mot I,’ &c., expressing a wish. The infinitive is very unusual. For the gerund with ‘to’ which follows it cp. ii. 510, vii. 437, where we have this construction with ‘mai,’ ‘mihte.’

679. The account in the original story is here considerably different. Gower did not understand the Greek customs. ‘Et dum cogitaret unde uite peteret auxilium, uidit puerum nudum per plateam currentem, oleo unctum, precinctum sabana, ferentem ludos iuueniles ad gymnasium pertinentes, maxima uoce dicentem: Audite ciues, audite peregrini, liberi et ingenui, gymnasium patet. Apollonius hoc audito exuens se tribunario ingreditur lauacrum, utitur liquore palladio; et dum exercentes singulos intueretur, parem sibi querit et non inuenit. Subito Arcestrates rex totius illius regionis cum turba famulorum ingressus est: dumque cum suis ad pile lusum exerceretur, uolente deo miscuit se Apollonius regi, et dum currenti sustulit pilam, subtili ueiocitate percussam ludenti regi remisit’ &c. (f. 207 v^o).

The story proceeds to say that the king, pleased with the skill of Apollonius in the game of ball, accepted his services at the bath, and was rubbed down by him in a very pleasing manner. The result was an invitation to supper.

Gower agrees here with the _Pantheon_ in making the king a spectator only.

691. _Artestrathes._ The name is Arcestrates in the Laud MS.

706. _lefte it noght_, ‘did not neglect it.’

720 f. ‘Ingressus Apollonius in triclinium, contra regem adsignato loco discubuit.’ Gower apparently sets him at the head of the second table. For ‘beginne’ cp. _Cant. Tales_, Prol. 52, with Skeat’s note.

767 ff. In the original all applaud the performance of the king’s daughter except Apollonius, who being asked by the king why he alone kept silence, replied, ‘Bone rex, si permittis, dicam quod sentio: filia enim tua in artem musicam incidit, nam non didicit. Denique iube mihi tradi liram, et scies quod nescit’ (f. 208 v^o). Gower has toned this down to courtesy.

782. ‘ita stetit ut omnes discumbentes una cum rege non Apollonium sed Apollinem estimarent.’

866 ff. In the original this incident takes place when the king is in company with Apollonius. The king replies that his daughter has fallen ill from too much study, but he bids them each write his name and the sum of money which he is prepared to offer as dowry, and he sends the bills at once to the princess by the hand of Apollonius. She reads them, and then asks whether he is not sorry that she is going to be married. He says, ‘Immo gratulor,’ and she replies, ‘Si amares, doleres.’ Then she writes a note, saying that she wishes to have ‘the shipwrecked man’ as her husband, adding ‘Si miraris, pater, quod pudica uirgo tam inprudenter scripserim, scitote quia quod pudore indicare non potui, per ceram mandaui, que ruborem non habet.’ The king having read the note asks the young men which of them has been shipwrecked. One claims the distinction, but is promptly exposed by his companions, and the king hands the note to Apollonius, saying that he can make nothing of it. Apollonius reads and blushes, and the king asks, ‘Inuenisti naufragum?’ To which he replies discreetly, ‘Bone rex, si permittis, inueni.’ The king at last understood, and dismissed the three young men, promising to send for them when they were wanted.

901 ff. ‘cui si me non tradideris, amittis filiam tuam,’ but this is afterwards, in a personal interview.

930 ff. There is no mention of the queen in the original. The king calls his friends together and announces the marriage. The description of the wedding, &c., ll. 952-974, is due to Gower.

1003 ff. In the original story it is here announced to Apollonius that he has been elected king in succession to Antiochus; but this was regarded by our author as an unnecessary complication.

1037 ff. The details of the description are due to our author.

1054 ff. So far as the original can be understood, it seems to say that the birth of the child was brought about by the storm and that the appearance of death in the mother took place afterwards, owing to a coagulation of the blood caused by the return of fair weather.

1059-1083. This is all Gower, except 1076 f.

1089 ff. Apparently the meaning is that the sea will necessarily cast a dead body up on the shore, and therefore they must throw it out of the ship, otherwise the ship itself will be cast ashore with it. The Latin says only, ‘nauis mortuum non suffert: iube ergo corpus in pelago mitti’ (f. 211 v^o).

1101. The punctuation is that of F.

1128. _tak in his mynde_, ‘let him take thought’: cp. v. 3573, and l. 1420 below.

1165. _the wisest_: cp. Introduction, p. cxi.

1184 ff. In the original it is not Cerimon himself, but a young disciple of his, who discovers the signs of life and takes measures for restoring her. She has already been laid upon the pyre, and he by carefully lighting the four corners of it (cp. l. 1192) succeeds in liquefying the coagulated blood. Then he takes her in and warms her with wool steeped in hot oil.

1195. ‘began’ is singular, and the verbs ‘hete,’ ‘flacke,’ ‘bete’ are used intransitively: ‘to flacke’ means to flutter.

1219. ‘In short, they speak of nothing’: ‘as for an ende’ seems to mean the same as ‘for end’ or ‘for an end’ in later English: cp. _New English Dictionary_, ‘end.’

1248. This daughter is apparently an invention of Gower’s, who perhaps misread the original, ‘adhibitis amicis filiam sibi adoptauit,’ that is, he adopted her as his daughter.

1285. _his In_, ‘his lodging,’ in this case the house of Strangulio. Note the distinction made here by the capital letter between the substantive and the adverb: see Introduction, p. clix.

1293. _whiche_: note the plural, referring to Strangulio and his wife.

1295. The name here in the original is ‘Tharsia,’ given to her by her father’s suggestion from the name of the city, Tharsus, where she was left; but the Laud MS. afterwards regularly calls her Thasia.

1311 ff. This is not in accordance with the Latin prose story. He is there represented as telling Strangulio that he does not care, now that he has lost his wife, either to accept the offered kingdom or to return to his father-in-law, but intends to lead the life of a merchant. Here the expression is ‘ignotas et longinquas petens Egypti regiones.’ On the other hand the _Pantheon_ makes him proceed to his kingdom, apparently Antioch.

1337. _Philotenne_: the name in the Laud MS. is ‘Philothemia,’ but it is not distinguishable in writing from Philothenna. There is much variation as to this name in other copies.

1349 ff. Much is made in the original story of the death of this nurse and of the revelation which she made to Tharsia of her real parentage. Up to this time she had supposed herself to be the daughter of Strangulio. The nurse suspected some evil, and advised Tharsia, if her supposed parents dealt ill with her, to go and take hold of the statue of her father in the market-place and appeal to the citizens for help. After her death Tharsia visited her tomb by the sea-shore every day, ‘et ibi manes parentum suorum inuocabat.’ Here Theophilus lay in wait for her by order of Dionysiades.

1374. _cherles._ This is the reading of the best copies of each recension: cp. ‘lyves’ for ‘livissh’ i. e. living, ‘worldes’ for ‘worldly,’ ‘dethes’ for ‘dedly,’ iii. 2657, iv. 382, &c.

1376. _what sche scholde_, that is, what should become of her.

1391. _Scomerfare._ The first part of this word must be the French ‘escumerie,’ meaning piracy: see Du Cange under ‘escumator,’ e. g. ‘des compaignons du pays de Bretaigne, qui étaient venuz d’Escumerie.’

1393. _and he to go_, that is, ‘and he proceeded to go,’ a kind of historic infinitive: cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, ii. 1108, ‘And she to laughe,’ _Leg. of Good Women_, 653 ‘And al his folk to go.’ (In _Piers Plowman_, A. Prol. 33, ‘And somme murthes to make,’ quoted by Mätzner, it is more probable that ‘to make’ is dependent on ‘chosen.’) In addition to these instances we have the repeated use of ‘to ga’ in Barbour’s _Bruce_, e. g. viii. 251, ix. 263, which is much more probably to be explained in this way than as a compound verb. Cp. Skeat’s _Chaucer_, vol. vi. p. 403, with C. Stoffel’s note on _Troilus_, ii. 1108, which is there quoted.

1410. The Laud MS. has ‘leno leoninus nomine,’ but many copies give no name.

1420. _Lei doun_, ‘let him lay down’: cp. l. 1128.

1423. There is an interesting touch in the original here which would not be intelligible to Gower. When Tharsia is led into the house, the character of which she does not know, she is bidden to do reverence to a statue of Priapus which stands in the entrance hall. She asks her master whether he is a native of Lampsacus, and he explains to her that his interest in this matter is not local but professional.

1424 ff. There is much in the original about the visit of Athenagoras and of other persons, who are successively so far overcome by the tears and entreaties of Tarsia, as not only to spare her but to give her large sums of money, while at the same time they make a jest both of themselves and of one another for doing so.

1451 f. The rhyme is saved from being an identical one by the adverbial use of ‘weie’ in the second line, ‘mi weie’ being equivalent to ‘aweie.’

1513. In the original she is reproached by her husband for the deed, and this is the case in the play of _Pericles_ also.

1518. _of record_, ‘of good repute.’

1534 f. Cp. _Pericles_, iv. 4, ‘The fairest, sweetest, best lies here,’ but the rest of the epitaph compares unfavourably with Gower’s.

1567 ff. Here we have a curious lapse on the part of our author. He represents that the king had no sooner held his parliament and celebrated the sacrifice in memory of his wife, than he began to prepare for his voyage to Tharsis. The story requires however that at least fourteen years should elapse, and this, according to the original narrative, has been spent by Apollonius in travelling about as a merchant, a matter of which Gower says nothing. Probably the _Pantheon_, which is not very clear on the matter, is responsible for the oversight.

1587. ‘For she is continually changing with regard to him.’

1617. _besihe_, ‘attended to.’ The use of this verb was not very common in Gower’s time except in the participle ‘beseie,’ ‘besein.’ The verb means (1) look, see, (2) look to, attend to, (3) provide, arrange: hence the participle is quite naturally used in the sense of ‘furnished,’ ‘provided,’ and we have ‘unbesein of,’ l. 153, for ‘unprovided with.’ It is usually explained by reference to its first sense, as having regard necessarily to appearance. ‘Appearing in respect of dress, &c.,’ ‘Appearing as to accomplishments, furnished’ (so _New English Dictionary_), but it is more natural to take these meanings of the participle as from senses (2) (3) of the verb. It is doubtful whether even the phrase ‘well besein’ used of personal appearance means anything but ‘well furnished.’

1636. _fordrive_, ‘driven about’ by storms, actually and metaphorically.

1670 ff. Her song is given in the original; it is rather pretty, but very much corrupted in the manuscripts. It begins thus,

‘Per sordes gradior, sed sordis conscia non sum, Ut rosa in spinis nescit mucrone perire,’ &c.

1681 ff. Several of her riddles are given in the original story and he succeeds in answering them all at once. One is this,

‘Longa feror uelox formose filia silue, Innumeris pariter comitum stipata cateruis: Curro uias multas, uestigia nulla relinquens.’

The answer is ‘Nauis.’

She finally falls on his neck and embraces him, upon which he kicks her severely. She begins to lament, and incidentally lets him know her story. The suggestion contained in ll. 1702 ff., of the mysterious influence of kinship, is Gower’s own, and we find the same idea in the tale of Constance, ii. 1381 f.,

‘This child he loveth kindely, And yit he wot no cause why.’

1830. ‘And all other business having been left’: cp. ii. 791.

1890. _With topseilcole_: cp. v. 3119,

‘Bot evene topseilcole it blew.’

The word ‘topseilcole’ (written as one word in the best copies of each recension) does not seem to occur except in these two passages. It is evidently a technical term of the sea, and in both these passages it is used in connexion with a favourable wind. Morley quotes from Godefroy a use of the word ‘cole’ in French in a nautical sense, ‘Se mistrent en barges et alerent aux salandres, et en prisrent les xvii, et l’une eschapa, qui estoit a la cole.’ Unfortunately, however, it is uncertain what this means. The vessels in question were in port when they were attacked, and therefore ‘a la cole’ might reasonably mean with sails (or topsails) set, and so ready to start. A topsail breeze would be one which was fairly strong, but not too strong to allow of sailing under topsails, and this is rather the idea suggested by the two passages in Gower.

It should be noted that in F and in some other MSS. there is a stop after the word ‘topseilcole.’

1948. _forto honge and drawe_: the verbs are transitive, ‘that men should hang and draw them’ (i. e. pluck out their bowels).

1983. This must mean apparently ‘They had no need to take in a reef.’ The use of ‘slake’ with this meaning does not seem quite appropriate, but a sail or part of a sail is slackened in a certain sense when it is taken in, seeing that it is no longer subject to the pressure of the wind.

2055. _leng the lasse_: cp. iii. 71, ‘the leng the ferre.’ This form of the comparative is usual in such phrases, as Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, A 3872, ‘That ilke fruit is ever leng the wers,’ and perhaps also E 687, F 404, _Compl. unto Pite_, 95, where the MSS. gives ‘lenger.’ The form ‘leng’ is the original comparative adverb of ‘long.’

2077. _toward Venus_: cp. v. 6757. Here it means ‘on the side of Venus.’

2095. _sett_, imperative, like ‘set case,’ i. e. ‘suppose that.’ The reading ‘sith’ is certainly wrong.

2113. _his oghne dom._ The word ‘dom’ is used here in special reference to ‘kingdom’ in the line above. ‘Every man has a royal rule to exercise, that is the rule over himself.’

2124 f. ‘When he has not kept possession for himself of his own heart.’

2165. _And felt it_: we have here the elision-apocope in the case of a preterite subjunctive.

2194. _hath nothing set therby_, ‘accounted it as nothing.’

2198. _withholde_, ‘kept’ (in service).

2212 f. Cp. iii. 298, _Vox Clam._ ii. 1.

2217 ff. This ‘Supplication’ is a finished and successful composition in its way, and it may make us desire that our author had written more of the same kind. The poem _In Praise of Peace_, which is written in the same metre and stanza, is too much on a political subject to give scope for poetical fancy. The nearest parallel in style is to be found in some of the author’s French Balades.

2245. _Whom nedeth help_, ‘He to whom help is needful’: cp. Prol. 800, i. 2446.

2253 ff. Cp. vi. 330 ff.

2259 ff. Cp. _Balades_, xx.

2265. _Danger_: see note on i. 2443.

2288. Cp. i. 143 ff.

2312. _a Mile_: cp. iv. 689. It means apparently the time that it takes to go a mile: cp. Chaucer, _Astrol._ i. 16, ‘five of these degres maken a milewey and thre mileweie maken an houre.’

2319. _a game_, for ‘agame’: cp. Chaucer, _Troilus_, iii. 636, 648. More usually ‘in game,’ as l. 2871.

2341. _fulofte hath pleigned_: as for example in the _Planctus Naturae_ of Alanus de Insulis.

2365. ‘And I will consider the matter’: practically equivalent to a refusal of the petition, as in the form ‘Le Roy s’avisera.’

2367. _is noght to sieke_, ‘is not wanting’: cp. i. 924, ii. 44, &c.

2378. ‘In no security, but as men draw the chances of Ragman.’ To understand this it is necessary to refer to compositions such as we find in the Bodleian MSS., Fairfax 16, and Bodley 638, under the name of ‘Ragman (or Ragmans) Rolle.’ The particular specimen contained in these MSS. begins thus:

‘My ladyes and my maistresses echone, Lyke hit unto your humble wommanhede, Resave in gre of my sympill persone This rolle, which withouten any drede Kynge Ragman me bad [me] sowe in brede, And cristyned yt the merour of your chaunce. Drawith a strynge and that shal streight yow lede Unto the verry path of your governaunce.’

After two more stanzas about the uncertainty of Fortune and the chances of drawing well or ill, there follows a disconnected series of twenty-two more, each giving a description of the personal appearance and character of a woman, in some cases complimentary and in others very much the reverse, usually in the form of an address to the lady herself, e. g.

‘A smal conceyt may ryght enogh suffyse Of your beaute discripcion for to make; For at on word ther kan no wyght devyse Oon that therof hath lasse, I undertake,’ &c.

Apparently these stanzas are to be drawn for and then read out in order as they come, for the game ends with the last,

‘And sythen ye be so jocunde and so good, And in the rolle last as in wrytynge, I rede that this game ende in your hood.’

Evidently the same kind of game might be played by men with a view to their mistresses. It is much the same thing as the ‘Chaunces of the Dyse,’ where each stanza is connected with a certain throw made with three dice: cp. note on iv. 2792. The name ‘Ragman Rolle’ seems to be due to the disconnected character of the composition.

2407. _olde grisel_: cp. _Chaucer, To Scogan_, 35: ‘grisel’ means grey horse.

2415. _upon the fet_, that is, when the time comes for action. The rhyme with ‘retret’ shows that this is not the plural of ‘fot’: moreover, that is elsewhere regularly spelt ‘feet’ by Gower.

2428. _sitte_ for ‘sit’: cp. Introduction, p. cxiv.

2435. _torned into was_: the verb used as a substantive, cp. vi. 923.

2450 ff. The situation here has some resemblance to that in the Prologue of the _Legend of Good Women_, where the author has a vision of the god of Love coming to him in a meadow, as he lies worshipping the daisy, accompanied by queen Alcestis, and followed first by the nineteen ladies of the Legend, and then by a vast multitude of other women who had been true in love. The differences, however, are considerable. Here we have Venus and Cupid, the latter armed with a bow and blind (whereas Chaucer gives him two fiery darts and his eyesight), with two companies of lovers, both men and women, marshalled by Youth and Eld as leaders; and the colloquy with the poet has for its result to dismiss him with wounds healed from Love’s service, as one who has earned his discharge, while in the case of Chaucer it is a question of imposing penance for transgressions in the past and of enlisting him for the future as the servant of Love. The conception of the god of Love appearing with a company of true lovers in attendance may be regarded as the common property of the poets of the time, and so also was the controversy between the flower and the leaf (l. 2468), which Chaucer introduces as a thing familiar already to his readers. If our author had any particular model before him, it may quite as well have been the description in Froissart’s _Paradys d’Amours_ (ed. Scheler, i. 29 f.):

‘Lors regardai en une lande, Si vi une compagne grande De dames et de damoiselles Friches et jolies et belles, Et grant foison de damoiseaus Jolis et amoureus et beaus.

* * * * *

“Dame,” di je, “puis je sçavoir Qui sont ceuls que puis là veoir?” “Oil,” dit ma dame de pris; “Troïllus y est et Paris, Qui furent fil au roi Priant, Et cesti que tu vois riant, C’est Laiscelos tout pour certain,”’ &c.

and she proceeds to enumerate the rest, including Tristram and Yseult, Percival, Galehaus, Meliador and Gawain, Helen, Hero, Polyxena, and Medea with Jason.

I do not doubt that Gower may have seen the _Legend of Good Women_, but it was not much his practice to borrow from contemporary poets of his own country, however free he might make with the literature of former times or of foreign lands.

2461. _who was who_: cp. vii. 2001.

2468. Cp. Chaucer, _Leg. of G. Women_, 72, 188, &c.

2470. _the newe guise of Beawme_, that is, the new fashions of dress, &c., introduced from Bohemia by the marriage of Richard II in 1382.

2500 f. _which was believed With bele Ysolde_, ‘who was accepted as a lover by Belle Isolde.’ Apparently ‘believed’ is here used in the primary sense of the verb, from which we have ‘lief.’ For the use of ‘with’ cp. l. 2553. We may note here that the spelling ‘believe’ is regular in Gower, ‘ie’ representing ‘̄ẹ.’

2502. _Galahot_, i. e. Galahalt, called by Mallory ‘the haut prince.’

2504 ff. It may be noted that several of the lovers in the company of Youth are impenitent in their former faithlessness, as Jason, Hercules and Theseus, while Medea, Deianira and Ariadne are left to complain by themselves. Troilus has recovered Cressida, if only for a time. It is hard to say why Pyramus failed of Thisbe’s company, unless indeed she were unable to pardon his lateness (cp. 2582).

2515 ff. Cp. v. 7213 ff.

2553. _with Enee_: cp. vii. 3359 and l. 2501.

2573 ff. It is likely enough that this idea of Cleopatra’s death may have been a reminiscence of the _Legend of Good Women_, 696 ff. Chaucer apparently got it from some such account as that quoted by Vincent of Beauvais from Hugh of Fleury, ‘in mausoleum odoribus refertum iuxta suum se collocavit Antonium. Deinde admotis sibi serpentibus morte sopita est.’ From this to the idea of a grave full of serpents would not be a difficult step.

2582. _Wo worthe_: cp. l. 1334.

2663. I take ‘lay’ to mean ‘law,’ i. e. the arrangement of his company.

2687. Cp. iv. 2314.

2705 ff. An allusion to some such story as we have in the ‘Lay d’Aristote’ (Méon et Barbazan, iii. p. 96).

2713. The punctuation follows F.

2714 ff. This refers to the well-known story of Virgil and the daughter of the Emperor, who left him suspended in a box from her window.

2718. _Sortes._ It is impossible that this can be for ‘Socrates,’ with whose name Gower was quite well acquainted. Perhaps it stands for the well-known ‘Sortes Sanctorum’ (Virgilianae, &c.), personified here as a magician, and even figuring, in company with Virgil and the rest, as an elderly lover.

2799. Cp. i. 143 ff.

2823. _syhe_, subj., ‘should see.’

2828. _deface_: apparently intransitive, ‘suffer defacement’: cp. iv. 2844.

2833. _Outwith_, ‘outwardly’: so ‘inwith’ often for ‘within,’ ‘inwardly.’ Dr. Murray refers me to _Orm._ i. 165, ‘utenn wiþþ,’ and Hampole, _Prick of Conscience_, 6669, ‘outwith.’ The best MSS. have a stop after ‘Outwith.’

2904. _A Peire of Bedes_: the usual expression for a rosary: cp. _Cant. Tales_, Prol. 158 f.,

‘Of smal coral aboute hire arm she bar A peire of bedes gauded al with grene.’

2926 f. That is the _Speculum Hominis_ and the _Vox Clamantis_.

2931. _pernable._ The best MSS. have this, and it is obviously suitable to the sense: ‘Do not pursue when the game cannot be caught.’ From ‘prendre’ Gower uses ‘pernons,’ ‘pernetz,’ &c., in the _Mirour_.

2938. At this point begins a new hand in F, and for the rest of this leaf (f. 184) the text is written over an erasure (ll. 2938-2966). A note is written opposite l. 2938 for the guidance of the scribe, ‘now haue &c.’ It may be noted that l. 2940 has a coloured initial A as for the beginning of a paragraph, and this apparently belongs to the original writing, whereas in the first recension MSS. the paragraph begins at l. 2941. The next leaf (f. 185) is a substituted one, and the text is written still in the same hand.

The orthography of the new hand, in which ll. 2938-3146 are written, differs in some respects from the standard spelling which we have in the rest of the manuscript. The chief points of difference are as follows:

(1) _-id_ (_-yd_) termination almost always in the past participle, as _enclosid_, _turnyd_, _bewhapid_, _blessid_ (but _sterred_), _iþ_ frequently in the 3rd pers. sing. of verbs, _belongiþ_, _seruiþ_, _causiþ_ (but _secheþ_, _suieþ_), and _-in_ (_-yn_) in 3rd pers. pl., as _takyn_, _sechin_, _hierin_, _schuldyn_ (also _to lokyn_). (2) _-is_ (_-ys_) in the genit. sing, and in the plural of substantives, as _londis_, _mannys_, _bedis_, _lawis_, _wordis_ (but _þinges_, _myghtes_). (3) _-ir_ (_-yr_) termination, as _aftir_, _ouyr_, _wondir_ (but _siker_). (4) _y_ for _i_ (_I_) in many cases, especially as the pronoun of the first person (once _I_), also _ys_ (sometimes), _hym_, _wiþynne_. (5) _gh_ for _h_ in such words as _sigh_, _sighte_, _myghte_, _knyghthode_. (6) _ou_ for _o_ in _nought_, _brought_, _þoughte_, &c. (7) consonants doubled in _vppon_ and vowels in _maad_ (also _mad_), _book_, _goon_. (8) separation of words, as _in to_, _un to_, _hym self_, _þer fore_, _þer vpon_, _wher of_, _wiþ outen_.

It may be observed that something of the same tendency is observable at this point in the Stafford MS., but the differences appear in a much less marked manner, and chiefly in the terminations _-id_, _-iþ_, _-is_, _-ir_. S does not give _y_ for _I_, _ys_ for _is_, nor _myghte_, _sigh_, _nought_, _oughte_, _vppon_, _þer fore_, &c.

2974 (margin). _orat pro statu regni._ This marks exactly the stage reached in the second of the three versions which we have of Gower’s account of his own works (p. 480,) ‘vbi pro statu regni compositor deuocius exorat.’ The first completely excuses and the third utterly condemns the king, but the second makes no mention of him either for praise or blame, and that is the line taken in this form of the epilogue.

3012. _maintenue_, that is, ‘maintenance’ of quarrels by the lords on behalf of their followers: cp. _Mirour_, 23732 ff., where the same subject is dealt with.

3081. _beth_: see Introd. p. cxiv: but it is the reading of F only.

3114. _curiosite_, ‘artful workmanship’: cp. Chaucer, _Compleinte of Venus_, 81.

3147. Here, at the beginning of f. 186, the hand in F changes again and the rest of the manuscript, including the _Traitié_, the Latin poems and the author’s account of his books, is written in the hand which we have in the first leaf of the Prologue.

* * * * *

2955*. _his testament of love._ There is no reason to suppose that this is a reference to any particular work which Gower may have known that Chaucer had in hand. It may be a general suggestion that Chaucer should before his death compose some further work on love, which should serve as his last testimony (or last will and testament) on the subject, as the shrift of the present poem was our author’s leave-taking. To assume that the poem referred to must be the _Legend of Good Women_, and to argue from this that the _Confessio Amantis_ was written before the _Legend_ was given to the public, would be very rash. It is not likely that Usk’s _Testament of Love_ was known to Gower when he wrote this.

2991*. This quality of mercy, for which Richard is especially praised, seems to have been precisely the point in which he was afterwards most found wanting by our author, so that he finally earns the title of ‘crudelissimus rex.’ Matters had not gone so far as this when the second form of epilogue was substituted, in which these praises were simply omitted. Gower was then (in the fourteenth year of the reign) in a state of suspended judgement, expressed by the ‘orat pro statu regni’ of 2974 (margin). The subsequent events, and especially the treatment of the duke of Gloucester and his friends, finally decided his opinions and his allegiance, as we may see in the _Cronica Tripertita_.

3054* ff. See Prol. 83* ff.

3102*. _no contretaile_, ‘no retribution’ afterwards: cp. _Traitié_, vii. 3, ‘De son mesfait porta le contretaille.’

3104*. That is, it tends rather to set us free from evil consequences than to bring them upon us.

EXPLICIT, 5 f. The following copies of the first recension contain these last two lines, XERB₂Cath. Of the rest MH₁YGODAr.Ash. are imperfect at the end, N₂ omits the Explicit altogether, and I have no note as regards this point about Ad₂P₁Q. Of the seven which I note as having the ‘Explicit’ in four lines only, three are of the revised and four of the unrevised group. All copies of the second and third recensions have the last two lines, except of course those that are imperfect here.

QUAM CINXERE FRETA, &c. The ‘philosopher’ who was the author of this epistle is no doubt responsible also for the lines ‘Eneidos, Bucolis,’ &c. (printed in the Roxb. ed. of the _Vox Clamantis_, p. 427), in which our author is compared to Virgil, the chief difference being that whereas Virgil had achieved fame in one language only, Gower had distinguished himself in three. The writer in that case also is ‘quidam philosophus’ (not ‘quidam Philippus,’ as he is called in the printed copy), and I suspect that he was the ‘philosophical Strode’ who is coupled with Gower in the dedication of _Troilus_.

3. ‘tibi’ belongs to the next line, ‘siue satirus Poeta’ being taken together.

QUIA VNUSQUISQUE, &c. The form here given is found in no manuscript of the _Confessio Amantis_ except F and H₂ (copied from F), though some other third recension copies, as W and K, may probably have contained it. We have it, however, also in two manuscripts of the _Vox Clamantis_, the All Souls copy and that in the Hunterian Library at Glasgow.

It should be noted that whereas the first recension manuscripts regularly contain the Latin account of the author’s three books in immediate connexion with the _Confessio Amantis_, in the second recension it is made to follow the _Traitié_, and SΔ, which do not contain the _Traitié_, omit this also, while in F it comes later still, following the Latin _Carmen de multiplici viciorum pestilencia_. Thus the form which we have in F must be regarded as later than the accompanying text of the _Confessio Amantis_, from which it is separated in the MS. both by position and handwriting, and the words ‘ab alto corruens in foueam quam fecit finaliter proiectus est’ seem to indicate that it was written after the deposition of Richard II.

11 f. ‘Speculum hominis’ in all copies of the first recension. ‘Speculum meditantis’ over an erasure in the Glasgow MS. of the _Vox Clamantis_.

25 ff. Note the omission here (of nine words which are necessary to the sense) in every first recension copy except J. Similarly below all except J have ‘finem’ for ‘sentencie,’ obviously from a mistaken reading of a contraction (‘ſiē’). These must be original errors, only removed by later revision, the first no doubt due to dropping a line.

IN PRAISE OF PEACE.

The text of this poem is taken from the manuscript at Trentham Hall belonging to the Duke of Sutherland, which contains also the _Cinkante Balades_. Of this book a full description has been given in the Introduction to Gower’s French Works, pp. lxxix ff. The present poem is the first piece in the book (ff. 5-10 v^o), and is written in the same hand as the _Balades_ and _Traitié_, a hand which resembles that which appears in ff. 184, 185 of the Fairfax MS., though I should hesitate to say positively that it is the same. Evidently, however, the manuscript is contemporary with the author, and it gives us an excellent text of the poem. The date of its composition is doubtless the first year of king Henry IV, for the manuscript which contains it ends with some Latin lines (added in a different hand), in which the author speaks of himself as having become blind in the first year of king Henry IV and having entirely ceased to write in consequence of this.

As a composition it is not without some merit. The style is dignified, and the author handles his verse in a craftsmanlike manner, combining a straightforward simplicity of language with a smooth flow of metre and a well-balanced stanza, the verse being preserved from monotony by variety of pause and caesura. Some stanzas are really impressive, as those which begin with ll. 99, 127, 148. The divisions of the poem, indicated in the MS. by larger coloured initials, have hitherto escaped the notice of editors.

The poem was printed first in the collected edition of _Chaucer’s Works_, 1532, commonly called Thynne’s edition (ff. 375 v^{o}-378), and reprinted from this in the succeeding folio editions of Chaucer (e. g. 1561, f. 330 v^{o}, 1598, f. 330 v^{o}, 1602, f. 314). There was no attempt made in any of these to ascribe its authorship to Chaucer, Gower’s name being always given as the author. It has been published also by J. Wright in his _Political Poems and Songs_ (Rolls’ Series), the text being taken from the Trentham MS., and it has been included by Prof. Skeat in his interesting collection of poems which have been printed with Chaucer’s works (_Chaucerian and other Pieces_, pp. 205-216).

Thynne followed a manuscript which gave a fair text, but one much inferior to that of the Trentham copy, both in material correctness and in spelling, e. g.

‘Kyng Salomon whiche had at his askyng Of god | what thyng him was leuest craue He chase wysedom vnto gouernyng Of goddes folke | the whiche he wolde saue And as he chase it fyl him for to haue For through his wytte while y^t his reigne last He gate him peace and rest in to his last’

All the material variations of Thynne are given in the critical notes, but not his differences of spelling. Wright’s text is not to be trusted as a reproduction of the Trentham MS. He made several serious mistakes in copying from or collating it, and he has a good many trifling inaccuracies of spelling. The following are his worst errors:

l. 3 _om._ this 16 the _for_ thi 71 To stere peace (_following Thynne_) 108 _om._ doth tofalle _for_ to falle 136 than _for_ that 173 But aftirwards 202 _om._ worthi 211 any _for_ a 246 [good] _seeming to imply that it is not in the MS._ 263 Which heliples 278 reserved _for_ deserved 289 man _for_ king 292 [up] 306 begete _for_ be gete 356 Resteined _for_ Resceived 363 deleated _for_ debated 382 sese _for_ see. In addition to these rather gross blunders, he has about a hundred smaller deviations from the manuscript which he professes to follow, as, for example, 7 for to _for_ forto (_and so afterwards_) 16 him self _for_ himself (_and so afterwards_) 19 But 27 reqwest _for_ reqweste 39 might _for_ myht 56 shal _for_ schal 83 lefte _for_ left 84 not _for_ noght 90 charitie _for_ charite 98 Both _for_ Bothe 102 gone _for_ goon nygth _for_ nyght 110 dothe 112 I 120 Crists 155 fulfilled 172 wille 194 destruied 219 made 254 Ffirst chirche her silf 260 sick 280 life 287 made an end 319 found 355 Which 382 meschiefe and a good many more. He also omits in a very misleading manner the last lines of the rubric which follows the poem, ‘Et nunc sequitur epistola’ &c., as well as the ‘epistle’ itself, ‘Rex celi deus’; and he makes it appear that the lines ‘Henrici quarti’ &c. follow at once, whereas they are at the end of the MS. and in a different hand.

I think it worth while to specify these instances because Wright’s edition has been accepted by Prof. Skeat as an accurate reproduction of a manuscript which is not generally accessible, and if no notice were taken here of the readings given by Wright, it would still remain in doubt whether he or I represented the text more correctly. Especially in the cases where Wright has bracketed a word as not occurring in the manuscript, it might be supposed that his positive testimony was to be preferred.

Prof. Skeat has based his text on Thynne, making such alterations of spelling as seemed to him suitable, and giving the variants of Wright’s edition as those of the Trentham MS. Misled by Wright, he has accepted in his text the readings ‘reserved’ in l. 278, and ‘cese’ in l. 382.

The text given by the Trentham MS. is apparently quite free from material error, except as regards the word erased in l. 71, and the points of spelling which require correction are very few in number. The orthography is not quite in accordance with the standard spelling of the Fairfax and Stafford MSS., and in some respects resembles that of the third hand of F, on which we have commented in the note on _Confessio Amantis_, viii. 2938. Here however there is only a slight tendency to use _i_ for _e_ in weak terminations. We have _distourbid_ 153, _vndefendid_: _amendid_ 223 f., _handlid_ 321, _soeffrin_ 222, _folwiþ_ 23, _goddis_ 32, 84, _mannys_ 237, but elsewhere almost always the usual forms, as _affermed_, _cared_, _gouerned_, _aken_, _ledeþ_, _londes_, _mannes_. On the other hand the _-ir_ termination is used almost regularly, as _vndir_, _wondir_, _aftir_, _modir_ (but _vnder_ 286), and there is a tendency also to substitute _i_ for _e_ in other places also, as _first_, _chirche_ (also _ferst_, _cherche_), _wirche_, _dide_ (348), _proprite_, but _here_ for _hire_ 108, 329, cp. 254. For _I_ (pers. pronoun) we have regularly _y_; _gh_ usually for _h_ in such words as _right_, _myghti_, _knyght_, _light_, _highe_, _stigh_, but also _riht_, _rihtwisnesse_, _knyht_; _vppon_ for _vpon_, _schulde_ but also _scholde_. In addition to these points we may note the dropping of _-e_ several times in _euer_, _neuer_, which hardly ever occurs in the Fairfax MS., and also in _heuen_ 79, but we have also _euere_, _neuere_, _heuene_. The _-e_ of the weak preterite form is dropped before a vowel in _myht_ 39, _behight_ 41, _had_ 42, _mad_ 103, 345: _-e_ is inserted in some imperatives, as _Leie_ 122, _sette_ 124, _Lete_ 129, _putte_ 130, _þenke_ 162, _Beholde_ 276 (but _let_ 158, _Kep_ 367, 384, _draugh_ 384). As regards the use of _þ_ and _ȝ_ the Trentham MS. agrees with F.

There is no title in the manuscript, and Prof. Skeat calls the poem ‘The Praise of Peace,’ a title suggested by Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson. I have adopted a modification of this, ‘To King Henry the Fourth in Praise of Peace,’ expressing also the substance of that given by Thynne.

8 ff. The threefold claim of Henry IV is given in this stanza, as in Chaucer’s well-known Envoy, but the ‘conquest’ is here represented as a divine sanction.

50. _a place_, ‘into place’: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, v. 735, ‘Hou suche goddes come aplace.’

53. _in manere_, ‘in due measure’: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, vii. 2132, 4344.

55. _what aftirward betide_, ‘whatever may happen afterwards.’

71. The first word of the line is erased in the manuscript, only the initial S being left, with a space for five or six letters after it. The word which is suggested in the text is perhaps as likely as any other: for the form of it cp. ‘Maintene,’ l. 385. Thynne’s reading, ‘To stere peace,’ looks like a lame attempt on the part of a copyist to fill the gap.

78 ff. _Conf. Amantis_, iii. 2265 ff.

89. I write regularly ‘evere’ ‘nevere’ in accordance with Gower’s practice: so 126, 127, 148, 241, 301, 350, 365.

90. _alle charite._ The MS. has ‘al charite,’ but the metre and the grammatical usage both require ‘alle,’ as in l. 293 and elsewhere.

94. _wisemennes_: cp. ‘wisemen,’ _Conf. Amantis_, vii. 1792.

106 ff. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, iii. 2273 ff.

113. _Conf. Amantis_, iii. 2294 f.

115. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 444.

121. ‘Whose faith thou hast partly to guide.’

122. I correct the imperative form ‘Leie,’ and also ‘sette’ 124, ‘Lete’ 129, ‘putte’ 130, ‘thenke’ 162, ‘Beholde’ 276, as contrary to Gower’s practice and in several cases disturbing the metre.

150. Strictly speaking, we ought to have the subjunctive, ‘undirstode,’ but the rhyme will not allow.

155. So Prol. 88 f.,

‘The hyhe god him hath proclamed Ful of knyhthode and alle grace.’

157 f. ‘Peace with honour’ was a favourite thought of Gower’s, ‘pax et honor’ in the _Vox Clamantis_, vii. 1415.

174. ‘on earth peace, goodwill towards men.’

177 ff. ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.’

204. _waited_, ‘attended to.’

235. _devised_, ‘divided’: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, ii. 3264.

236 ff. ‘nevertheless the law stands so reasonably established by man’s wit, that they can stand firm without that’ (i. e. without the help of the Church).

266. Cp. Prol. 795, ‘The comun ryht hath no felawe,’ that is, none to take its part.

278 f. _deserved To him._ The reading is right. It means ‘earned by service rendered to him’: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, iv. 3577, ‘Thogh I no deth to the deserve.’

281 ff. For the nine worthies see Caxton’s Preface to Mallory’s _Morte d’Arthur_.

295 f. The question of winning a ‘chase’ at tennis is not one which is decided at once by the stroke that is made, but depends on later developments.

330 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, vii. 3161*.

337 ff. _Conf. Amantis_, ii. 3187 ff.

345. _at al_, ‘altogether.’

354. _the lieve of lothe_, ‘they who were now loved but had before been hated’ (by God).

356. I read ‘weren’ for the metre. However the case may be with Chaucer, there is no instance elsewhere in Gower of elision prevented by caesura. The cases that have been quoted are all founded on misreadings.

365 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, viii. 2988*.

379. _of pes_, ‘with regard to peace.’

382. _see the werre_, that is, ‘look to the war’: cp. ll. 137, 144, 281 ff. The reading ‘sese’ was invented by Wright.

REX CELI DEUS, &c. This piece is to a great extent an adaptation of the original version of _Vox Clamantis_, vi. cap. 18, as it stands in the Digby MS. The first eight lines are identically the same. Then follows in the _Vox Clamantis_,

‘Ipse meum iuuenem conseruet supplico Regem,’ &c.

Of the remainder, as we have it here, ll. 25 f., 31-33, 36-39, 41 f., 45-48 correspond with slight variations to lines in the _Vox Clamantis_ version, but the arrangement of them is different.

10. _Te que tuum regnum_, ‘Thee and thy kingdom,’ a quite common position of ‘que’ in Gower’s Latin. So below, ll. 49, 50, 53, and often elsewhere.

35. So also _Conf. Amantis_, vii, _after_ l. 1984.

GLOSSARY

AND

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

The general resemblance between Gower and Chaucer in the matter of language makes a comparison of their English vocabularies almost a matter of course. Chaucer’s word-list is naturally much more extensive than Gower’s, not only on account of the superior genius of the writer, but also because of the greater extent and variety of his work, Gower’s English work being less than half of Chaucer’s in amount, and consisting of verse only, while nearly a fourth part of Chaucer’s is prose. We find, however, that Gower has more than six hundred words which are not used by Chaucer. Most of these are comparatively new formations from French or Latin, but there is also among them a fair sprinkling of old-established English words, some of which no doubt were falling into disuse. Such words are, for example: adryh, aghte, anele, arecche, areche, arere _v._, beȝete, bysne, eldemoder, enderday, ferke, forȝifte, forlie, forworþe, frede, ȝeme, gladschipe, goodschipe, grede (gradde), griþ, heveneriche, kingesriche, lere (= loss), lich (= corpse), metrede, miele, mone (3), mull, orf, orped, rowe _v._ (= dawn), sawht, skiere, spire _v._, spousebreche, þarmes, tome _s._, tote, tyh (_pret._), tyt _adv._, wow, yhte.

Of the rest the following (among others) are words for which no authority earlier than Gower is cited in the _New English Dictionary_ (A-I): those for which Gower is the sole authority are printed in italics.

abeche, _ablaste_, abord, abroche _adv._, accidence, _agrope_, altemetrie, _apostazied_, apparantie, approbacion, artificier, aspirement, assignement, _assobre_, assote _v._, astraied, attempte _v._, _attitled_, avant _adv._, _avantance_, babe, baldemoine, balke _v._, baske, bass _adj._ (‘base’), bedawe, bederke, befole (‘befool’), belwinge, _bethrowe_, _bewympled_, bienvenue, bombard, brothell, _brygantaille_, calculacion, _caliphe_, carte (= writing), chacable, chace (at tennis), chance _v._, chevance, circumference, client, _coise_, cokard, cokerie (‘cookery’), compense, conclave, concordable, congelacion, congruite, contempt, contourbe, courbe _s._ and _adj._, decas, deificacion, delaiement, delate (= dilate), depos _s._, _desclos_ _adj._, desclose _v._, desobeie, desobeissance, dispers, distillacion, _doubtif_, drunkeschipe, _duistre_, effeminat _adj._, eloquent, enbrouderie (‘embroidery’), enclin, encluyed, encourtined, enfile, enheritance, _ensamplerie_, entendable, entendance, entendant, epitaphe, esmaie, espeir, espleit (‘exploit’), exalacion, excessif, excitacioun, _excusement_, expectant, faie _adj._, fieverous, fixacioun, flacke, folhaste, folhastif, forcacche, forge _s._, _forstormed_, forsueie, forthrere (= furtherer), froise, gaignage, gamme, genitals, godward, gule, hepe (= hook), heraldie, hovedance, injustice, interruption, intersticion, inthronize.

Of these nearly half are used in the English of the present day.

For the remainder of the alphabet I content myself with calling attention to the following, without venturing on any statement about their earlier use:

justificacion, liberal, liberalite, lien (= bond), lugge, mathematique, matrone, mechanique, mecherie, menable, mineral, moevement, multitude, oblivion, obstinacie, occupacion, original, passible, perjurie, philliberd (= filbert), piereles, pilage, pleintif _adj._, pointure, porte (= porthole), preparacion, presage, preserve, proclame, prophetesse, providence, purefie, raile _s._, recepcion, recreacion, relacion, renounce, reptil, resemblance, restauratif, revelen, riff (= reef of a sail), sale, salvage, scharnebud, scisme, sculpture, seintefic, solucion, specifie, sprantlen, spume, stacion, studious, substitucion, supplante, supporte, temprure, tenetz (= tennis), terremote, tonsure, transpose, trompette.

In matters of vocabulary my obligations are first and principally to the _New English Dictionary_, then to Prof. Skeat’s Chaucer Glossary, to Stratmann’s _Middle Engl. Dictionary_ (ed. Bradley), and to Halliwell’s _Dictionary of Archaisms_. With reference especially to Gower I may mention the dissertation by G. Tiete (Breslau, 1889).

The following Glossary is meant to include all the words used in Gower’s English Works, with their various forms of spelling and (where necessary) of inflexion, accompanied with such references as are required for verification of the forms given and for illustration of the different uses and meanings of the words. As a rule, when a word occurs more than once, at least two references are given, but this statement does not apply to inflexional forms. If a word presents any difficulty or is used in a variety of meanings, the number of references is proportionally increased. A complete set of references is given for proper names.

The _Confessio Amantis_ is referred to by P., i, ii, iii, &c., P. standing for the Prologue, and the Roman numerals for the successive books. PP. stands for the poem _In Praise of Peace_. Word-forms which are not found in the Fairfax MS., or only in the latter part of it, which is written by a different hand, are sometimes enclosed in parentheses. These are also used occasionally to indicate variation of spelling: thus =dissencioun (-on)= means that the word is spelt either with ‘-oun’ or ‘-on’ termination, =wher(e)= indicates that ‘wher’ and ‘where’ are alternative forms. In all cases where ‘y’ is used to represent ‘ȝ,’ that fact is indicated by ‘(ȝ)’ placed after the word when it occurs in its place, as =beyete (ȝ)=

The grammatical abbreviations are, _s._ substantive, _a._ adjective, _v._ verb, _v.a._ verb active, _v.n._ verb neuter, _v.a.n._ verb active and neuter, _3 s.pres._ 3rd person singular present tense, _pret._ past tense, _pp._ past participle, _def._ definite form of adjective, &c.

In many cases an explanation is given of the meaning of words for the convenience of readers, but no discussion as to their meaning or origin is admitted in the Glossary.

A.

=a=, _interj._ iv. 3622, _see_ =ha=.

=a=, =an=, _indef. art._ P. 18, 350, (= one) ii. 1169, 1261.

=a=, (= Fr. à), _in_ a dieu, a fin, _see_ =adieu=, =afyn=.

=a=, _in_ a day, a doun, a ferr, a game, a goddeshalf, a morwe, a nyht, a place, a swoune, _see_ =dai=, =doun=, =ferr=, &c.

=Aaron=, P. 437, ii. 3047.

=abaissht=, =abayssht=, _pp._ iv. 1330, vi. 2329.

=abak=, _adv._ iii. 481, vii. 4363, back.

=abandone=, =abandoune=, _v.a._ P. 766, ii. 1596, 2772, v. 5378, viii. 1834, let go, give up, devote.

=abate=, _v.a._ ii. 3171, vi. 2354, vii. 1639; _v.n._ =tabate=, ii. 809.

=Abbategnyh=, vii. 1458.

=abbesse=, _s._ viii. 1849.

=abbot=, _s._ ii. 3056.

=abece=, vii. 158, a, b, c.

=abeche=, _v.a._ vi. 709, feed.

=abedde=, _adv._ P. 602, i. 1781, 2599.

=abegge=, _v.a._ iii. 1828, v. 7522, pay for: _cp._ =abye=.

=abeie=, _see_ =abye=.

=Abel=, viii. 61, 72.

=abesse=, _v.a._ i. 2063, abase.

=abhominable=, _a._ ii. 3107, vii. 3337.

=abide=, =abyde(n)=, _v.n._ i. 859, 1535, 1599, 2909, 3201, ii. 1501, PP. 285, wait, remain; _v.a._ ii. 2594, 2626, iii. 1616, viii. 900, wait for, endure: _3 s.pres._ =abit=, =abitt=, iii. 201, 1658, _pret._ =abod=, i. 151, _imperat._ =abyd=, iv. 1777, _pp._ =abide=, vii. 2860.

=abie=, _see_ =abye=.

=ablaste=, _v.a.pret._ v. 3712, blew upon.

=able=, _a._ ii. 98, 3258, iv. 267, 2561.

=Abner=, ii. 3087.

=abord=, _adv._ ii. 1138, alongside (of a ship).

=aboute=, _adv._ P. 367, i. 403, ii. 1227, =abouten=, i. 2529, =aboutes=, vii. 2280, viii. 2460, round, round about; =come aboute=, =bringe a.=, i. 2629, ii. 1531, 2282, iv. 61, 259: _prep._ iv. 1356.

=above=, _adv._ P. 891, i. 467, 1610, 1860, 2491, iv. 1595, aloft, at advantage, before this; =hier above=, i. 1377; =from above=, i. 3278: _prep._ i. 810, =aboven=, P. 971, i. 2833: _as subst._ iv. 914, v. 2542, 7293, vi. 221, advantage.

=abregge=, _v.a._ vii. 1990, cut short.

=abreid=, _s._ iv. 588, start.

=abreide=, _v.a._ vii. 2882, upbraid.

=abreide=, _v.n.pret._ i. 155, 2851, ii. 3241, started.

=abroche=, _adv._ v. 1677, abroach.

=abrod=, _adv._ iv. 3102, v. 6891, abroad.

=absence=, _s._ ii. 1321, 1647.

=absent=, _a._ iv. 1797, vii. 5181.

=Absolon=, ii. 3093, viii. 217.

=absolucioun (-on)=, _s._ ii. 1317, iii. 596, viii. 2892.

=abstinence=, _s._ P. 327, vi. 634.

=abydinge=, _s._ vii. 502.

=abye=, =abie=, _v.a._ ii. 3022, iii. 221, v. 5541, =abeie=, iii. 306, _3 s.pres._ =abyth=, v. 5516, =abeith=, vi. 1378, _pret._ =aboghte=, ii. 2153, viii. 217, _pp._ =aboght=, i. 381, 2614, pay for: _cp._ =abegge=.

=acale=, _adv._ viii. 638, 847, acold.

=accept=, _a._ v. 6394, acceptable.

=acceptable=, _a._ vii. 4727, viii. 3035*.

=accidence=, _s._ ii. 3210, v. 763, _see notes_.

=accidie=, _s._ iv. 539, sloth.

=accioun=, _s._ ii. 388.

=accompte=, =accord=, _see_ =acompte=, =acord=.

=accuse=, _v.a._ P. 487, iii. 2377.

=accusement=, _s._ ii. 1703.

=Achab=, vii. 2529 ff., _genit._ =Achabbes=, vii. 2552.

=Achaie=, v. 1907.

=Achastus=, iii. 2555.

=achates=, vii. 1362, agate.

=Achelons=, iv. 2068.

=Acheron=, v. 1110.

=Achias=, vii. 4515 ff.

=achieve=, _v.a._ P. 92, i. 103, 700, 1257, ii. 1311, v. 1276, finish, attain to; =to ben achieved= (= to succeed), ii. 2360, _cp._ ii. 3091: _v.n._ ii. 372, v. 2043, succeed.

=Achilles=, ii. 2454, iii. 2642 ff., iv. 1694, 1800, 1970 ff., 2161, v. 2963 ff., 7591, viii. 2545, 2569, _acc._ =Achillem=, vii. 3583.

=Achilo=, iii. 2566.

=Achitofell=, ii. 3090.

=Acis=, ii. 131 ff.

=acold=, _adv._ iv. 247, vi. 1007.

=acompte=, _s._ ii. 1715, iv. 292, 1653, =accompte=, iv. 1062, 2243.

=acompte=, _v.a._ iii. 1104, 2281, v. 2014; _v.n._ vii. 2226, =tacompte=, i. 650.

=acord=, _s._ P. 1034, i. 849, 1789, =accord=, P. 85, iv. 2069; =in acord=, i. 1115; =of thin acord=, &c., i. 849, ii. 2536; =in on acord=, i. 2250.

=acordable=, _a._ v. 2930, in accord.

=acordant=, _a._ i. 455, 2436, iv. 1244: _adv._ iv. 498, v. 142, viii. 2371.

=acorde=, _v.n._ P. 358, 878, i. 388, ii. 105; =thei ben acorded=, ii. 630, =thus acorded= (_pp.absol._), i. 826; _refl._ i. 3386, vii. 3241: _2 s.pret._ =acordest=, iii. 2058, _pres. part._ =acordende=, ii. 1612, iii. 603: agree.

=acordement=, _s._ vii. 168.

=acquite=, _see_ =aquite=.

=acroche=, _v.a._ iii. 1047, v. 5624, take hold of, gain.

=acte=, _s._ P. 405.

=Acteon=, i. 336 ff.

=Acteos=, vii. 855.

=adaies=, _adv._ iii. 828, at this time; =now adaies=, =nou adayes=, &c., P. 171, iv. 1228, _cp._ ‘on daies nou,’ iv. 1731: _see also_ =aday=.

=Adam=, i. 3304, iv. 2224, v. 1707 ff., 6964, vi. 5, viii. 26 ff.

=adamant=, _s._ vii. 833, 1397.

=aday=, _adv._ v. 2463, =now= (=nou=) =aday=, i. 655, iv. 2616, viii. 151, _cp._ =a day=, vii. 438, =now a day=, ii. 444: _cp._ =adaies=.

=addre=, _see_ =eddre=.

=adieu=, viii. 2940, =a dieu=, ii. 2739, v. 3662.

=adoted=, _pp._ vi. 79, infatuated.

=adoun=, _adv._ i. 3280, =a doun=, iv. 2710, v. 385.

=adrad=, _a._ i. 157, 2748, ii. 479, 3489.

=adresce=, _v.a._ i. 1722, 2725, v. 1480, (_refl._) v. 5021, =adresse=, iii. 2336, arrange, prepare.

=Adriagne=, =Adriane=, v. 5332 ff., viii. 2556.

=Adrian= (1), P. 745.

=Adrian= (2), v. 4938 ff., _genit._ =Adrianes=, v. 5155.

=adryh=, _adv._ iv. 1330, aside.

=adverse=, _a._ iv. 3403.

=adverse=, _v.a._ ii. 1792, oppose.

=adversite=, _s.v._ 2232, vii. 3340*.

=advocat=, _s._ vii. 2067.

=aeremance=, _s._ vi. 1301, divination by air.

=afaite=, _see_ =affaite=.

=afer=, _adv._ v. 318, _see_ =ferr=.

=afered=, _a._ i. 2124, iv. 600, =a feerd=, v. 7150*.

=affaite=, _v.a._ ii. 464, 2851, iv. 3337, =afaite=, iv. 1157, v. 6852, _pp._ =affaited=, i. 1259, 1671, =afaited=, v. 2000: prepare, train.

=affeccioun (-on)=, _s._ i. 2858, vi. 1350, =thaffeccioun=, P. 366, inclination.

=afferme=, _v.a._ P. 189, ii. 2928, iv. 3421, v. 783, confirm, establish; _v.n._ v. 857, 2596, declare, affirm.

=affiche=, _v.a._ v. 2520.

=affile=, _v.a._ i. 678, iii. 516, iv. 3332, sharpen, prepare.

=afflyhte=, =afflihte=, =aflihte=, _v.n.pret._ i. 2185, ii. 766,