Part 43

557 f. ‘They determine that days are lawful for those things for which the dark form of night had often given furtive ways.’

568. _quod_: equivalent to ‘vt’; cp. ll. 600, 1610.

576. G reads ‘perstimulant’ with CED.

579 f. See Ovid, _Metam._ vi. 366 ff. Apparently ‘colonum’ is for ‘colonorum.’

603. _Toruus oester_: cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 25.

615 f. Cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 24, l. 21 f.

635. Cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 25, l. 15.

637 f. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 26,

‘Haec est illa dies qua nil nisi cauda iuvabit, Vel loca quae musca tangere nulla potest.’

652. _stramine_: probably an allusion to the name of Jack Strawe, as ‘tegula’ in the next couplet to Wat Tyler.

Cap. ix. _Heading_, l. 3. It seems to be implied that the jay, which must often have been kept as a cage-bird and taught to talk, was commonly called ‘Wat,’ as the daw was called ‘Jack,’ and this name together with the bird’s faculty of speech has suggested the transformation adopted for Wat Tyler.

716. There is no punctuation in S, but those MSS. which have stops, as CD, punctuate after ‘nephas’ and ‘soluit.’ The line is suggested by Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 44, ‘Solve nefas, dixit; solvit et ille nefas.’ There it is quite intelligible, but here it is without any clear meaning.

It may be observed here that the passage of Ovid in which this line occurs, _Fasti_, ii. 35-46, is evidently one of the sources of _Confessio Amantis_, v. 2547 ff.

749. _Sicut arena maris_: cp. Rev. xx. 8, to which reference is made below, ll. 765 ff.

762. ‘All that they lay upon us, they equally bear themselves.’ Apparently this is the meaning, referring to the universal ruin which is likely to ensue.

765-776. These twelve lines are taken with some alterations of wording and order from Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 228 (ed. 1584). In l. 765 the reference to the Apocalypse is to Rev. xx.

774. _forum_: apparently ‘law.’

783 ff: This well-known chapter was very incorrectly printed in the Roxburghe edition, owing to the fact that a leaf has here been cut out of S, and the editor followed D. Fuller, whose translation of the opening lines has often been quoted, had a better text before him, probably that of the Cotton MS.

810. It is difficult to see how this line is to be translated, unless we suppose that ‘fossa’ is a grammatical oversight.

821. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ i. 211, ‘Contigerat nostras infamia temporis aures.’

849 f. Adapted from _Amores_, iii. 9. 7 f., but not very happily.

855 ff. With this passage we may compare the description in Walsingham, vol. i. p. 454, ‘quorum quidam tantum baculos, quidam rubigine obductos gladios, quidam bipennes solummodo, nonnulli arcus prae vetustate factos a fumo rubicundiores ebore antiquo, cum singulis sagittis, quorum plures contentae erant una pluma, ad regnum conquaerendum convenere.’

868. The reading ‘de leuitate’ is given also by G.

869. _limpidiores._ The epithet is evidently derived from 1 Sam. xvii. 40, where the Vulgate has ‘et elegit sibi quinque limpidissimos lapides de torrente.’

876. ‘These fools boast that the earth has been wetted,’ &c.

871 ff. Cp. _Metam._ xi. 29 f.

879 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 37*. One of the charges against Sir Nicholas Brembre in 1388 was that he had designed to change the name of London to ‘New Troy.’

891. _siluis que palustribus_, ‘from the woods and marshes.’

904. Cp. Ovid, _Ars Amat._ iii. 577 f.

909. Cp. _Metam._ viii. 421.

919. Corpus Christi day, that is Thursday, June 13.

929 f. _via salua_: apparently meaning ‘Savoye,’ the palace of the duke of Lancaster in the Strand. In the next line ‘longum castrum’ looks like ‘Lancaster,’ but it is difficult to say exactly what the meaning is.

931. _Baptisteque domus._ This is the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem at Clerkenwell, which was burnt by the insurgents because of their hostility to Robert Hales, the Master of the Hospital, then Treasurer of the kingdom. Walsingham says that the fire continued here for seven days.

933-936. Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 439 ff., where the reference is to the burning of the temple of Vesta. Hence the mention of sacred fires, which is not appropriate here.

937. _Metam._ ii. 61.

939 f. _Metam._ i. 288 f.

941 ff. This accusation, which Gower brings apparently without thinking it necessary to examine into its truth (‘Est nichil vt queram,’ &c.), is in direct contradiction to the statements of the chroniclers, e.g. Walsingham, i. 456 f., Knighton, ii. 135; but it is certain that dishonest persons must have taken advantage of the disorder to some extent for their own private ends, however strict the commands of the leaders may have been, and it is probable that the control which was exercised at first did not long continue. The chroniclers agree with Gower as to the drunkenness.

943 f. Ovid, _Trist._ v. 6. 39 f.

951. Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 673.

953. _Metam._ xv. 665.

955 f. That is, the deeds of Friday (dies Veneris) were more atrocious than those of Thursday.

961 f. The construction of accusative with infinitive is here used after ‘Ecce,’ as if it were a verb, and ‘Calcas’ is evidently meant for an accusative case. It is probable that the names here given, Calchas, Antenor, Thersites, Diomede, Ulysses, as well as those which follow in ll. 985 ff., are meant to stand for general types, rather than for particular persons connected with the government. In any case we could hardly identify them.

997. _Vix Hecube thalami_, &c. This looks like an allusion to the princess of Wales, the king’s mother, whose apartments in the Tower were in fact invaded by the mob. Similarly in the lines that follow ‘Helenus’ stands for the archbishop of Canterbury.

1019 ff. The text of these five lines, as we find it in DTH₂, that is in its earlier form, was taken for the most part from the _Aurora_ of Petrus (de) Riga, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 88 v^o,

‘Non rannus pungens, set oliua uirens, set odora Ficus, set blanda uitis abhorret eos. Anticristus enim regit hos, nam spiritus almus, Nam lex, nam Cristus, non dominatur eis.’

He is speaking of the parable of Jotham in the Book of Judges.

1046. _Fasti_, ii. 228.

1073. _medioque_: written apparently for ‘mediaque.’

1076. _posse caret_, ‘is without effect.’

1081. Cp. _Tristia_, iv. 2. 5 f.

1094. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 122.

1141. _Metam._ vi. 559.

1143. Cp. _Metam._ vii. 603.

1161. _Metam._ vii. 602. Considering that the line is borrowed from Ovid, we cannot attach much importance to it as indicating what was done with the body of the archbishop.

1173. _ostia iuris_: cp. Walsingham, i. 457, ‘locum qui vocatur “Temple Barre,” in quo apprenticii iuris morabantur nobiliores, diruerunt.’

1188. Cp. Ovid, _Her._ iii. 4.

1189. _Metam._ v. 41.

1193 f. Cp. _Ars Amat._ ii. 373 f., where, however, we have ‘cum rotat,’ not ‘conrotat.’

1206. _Quam periturus erat_, ‘rather than that he should perish,’ apparently.

1209. Cp. _Metam._ v. 40.

1211. _Metam._ xiv. 408.

1215 f. A reference probably to the massacre of the Flemings.

1219 f. _Fasti_, iii. 509 f.

1221 f. Ovid, _Amores_, iii. 9. 11 f.

1224. Cp. _Her._ v. 68.

1253. Cp. _Metam._ vii. 599, ‘Exiguo tinxit subiectos sanguine cultros.’

1271. Perhaps ‘cessit’ is right, as in l. 1265, but the reading of C is the result of a correction, and the corrections of this manuscript are usually sound.

1279 f. If there is any construction here, it must be ‘Erumpunt lacrimae luminibus, que lumina,’ &c. For this kind of ellipse cp. l. 1501.

1283. Cp. _Her._ viii. 77.

1289. _Metam._ ix. 775.

Cap. xvi. _Heading_, l. 1. _quasi in propria persona_: cf. _Conf. Amantis_, i. 60, _margin_, ‘Hic quasi in persona aliorum quos amor alligat, fingens se auctor esse Amantem,’ &c. The author takes care to guard his readers against a too personal application of his descriptions.

1359. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ xiv. 198. In the lines that follow our author has rather ingeniously appropriated several other expressions from the same story of Ulysses and Polyphemus.

1363 f. _Ars Amat._ iii. 723 f.

1365. _Metam._ xiv. 206.

1369. _Metam._ xiv. 200.

1379 f. Cp. _Tristia_, v. 4. 33 f.

1385 f. _Her._ xx. 91 f.

1387. Cp. _Metam._ xiv. 120.

1395. Cp. _Metam._ iv. 723.

1397 f. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 3. 53 f.

1401 f. Cp. _Fasti_, v. 315 f.

1403. Cp. _Metam._ xv. 27.

1413 f. _Pont._ i. 3. 57 f.

1420. Cp. _Her._ iii. 24, used here with a change of meaning.

1424. Cp. _Ars Amat._ ii. 88, ‘Nox oculis pavido venit oborta metu.’

1425 f. _Pont._ i. 2. 45 f.

1429 f. Cp. _Pont._ i. 2. 49 f.

1433. _Metam._ iii. 709.

1442. Cp. _Her._ v. 14, where we have ‘Mixtaque’ instead of ‘Copula.’

1445 ff. Cp. _Metam._ xiv. 214-216.

1453. Adapted from _Metam._ iv. 263, ‘Rore mero lacrimisque suis ieiunia pavit.’ The change of ‘mero’ to ‘meo’ involves a tasteless alteration of the sense, while the sound is preserved.

1459. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 581.

1465. _Metam._ ii. 656. Our author has borrowed the line without supplying an appropriate context, and the result is nonsense. Ovid has

‘Suspirat ab imis Pectoribus, lacrimaeque genis labuntur obortae.’

1467 f. _Pont._ i. 2. 29 f.

1469. Cp. _Metam._ xiii. 539.

1473. Ovid, _Metam._ viii. 469.

1475. _Metam._ iv. 135, borrowed without much regard to the context.

1485. From Ovid, _Her._ xiv. 37, where however we have ‘calor,’ not ‘color,’ a material difference.

1496. _Her._ v. 46.

1497. The expression ‘verbis solabar amicis’ is from Ovid (_Fasti_, v. 237), but here ‘solabar’ seems to be made passive in sense.

1501 f. i.e. ‘cessat amor eius qui prius,’ &c., with a rather harsh ellipse of the antecedent. The couplet is a parody of Ovid, _Pont._ iv. 6. 23 f.,

‘Nam cum praestiteris verum mihi semper amorem, Hic tamen adverso tempore crevit amor.’

1503 f. Cp. _Tristia_, iii. i. 65 f.,

‘Quaerebam fratres, exceptis scilicet illis, Quos suus optaret non genuisse pater.’

1506. _Fasti_, i. 148, not very appropriate here.

1512. _Her._ xi. 82.

1514. Cp. _Her._ xiii. 86, ‘Substitit auspicii lingua timore mali.’

1517 f. Cp. _Her._ iii. 43 f.

1519. Cp. _Pont._ iii. 4. 75.

1521. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 11. 23.

1534. Cp. _Tristia_, v. 4. 4, ‘Heu quanto melior sors tua sorte mea est.’

1535 ff. Cp. _Tristia_, iii. 3. 39 ff.

1539 f. _Tristia_, iii. 3. 29 f.

1541. _scis quia_: ‘quia’ for ‘quod,’ cp. l. 1593; ‘puto quod,’ i. Prol. 15, &c.

1549. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 483.

1564. _Her._ xiv. 52.

1565 f. Cp. _Her._ x. 113 f. The lines are not very appropriate here.

1568. See note on l. 1420.

1569. Cp. _Metam._ iii. 396.

1571. Cp. _Metam._ xiv. 210.

1573. Cp. _Metam._ vii. 614.

1575. Cp. _Metam._ ix. 583.

1581. _Obice singultu_, that is, ‘Impediente singultu’: cp. _Cronica Tripertita_, ii. 3.

1585. _Metam._ xiv. 217.

1589. _Tristia_, i. 5. 45.

1593. _vidi quia_: cp. l. 1541.

1609. _quid agant alii_, ‘whatever others may do.’

1612. Cp. _Her._ xix. 52.

1615 f. It seems probable that this is a prayer to the Virgin Mary, whose name ‘Star of the Sea’ was used long before the fourteenth century, e.g.

‘Praevia stella maris de mundo redde procella Tutos: succurre, praevia stella maris,’

in an address to the Virgin by Eberhard (date 1212) in Leyser, _Poet. Med. Aevi_, p. 834, and the name occurs also in Peter Damian’s hymns (xi. cent.). For Gower’s use of the expression cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 29925, ‘O de la mer estoille pure,’ and later in this book, l. 2033, ‘Stella, Maria, maris.’ Here, however, we might translate, ‘Be thou a star of the sea going before me,’ taking it as a prayer to Christ.

1623. _Metam._ i. 265.

1627. _Extra se positus_, ‘beside himself.’

1630. _Fasti_, iv. 386.

1631. Cp. _Metam._ i. 282.

1635. Cp. _Metam._ i. 269.

1637. Cp. _Metam._ i. 270.

1653 ff. From this point to the end of the chapter the description is mostly taken from Ovid, _Metam._ xi. 480-523, many hexameters being appropriated without material change, e.g. ll. 480, 482, 484, 486, 488, 491, 492, 495, 499, 501, 516, 517, 519 f.

1689. The line is taken away from its context, and consequently gives no sense. In Ovid it is,

‘Ipse pavet, nec se qui sit status ipse fatetur Scire ratis rector.’--_Metam._ xi. 492.

1693. _Metam._ i. 292.

1695. From Peter Riga, _Aurora_, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 16 v^o.

1697-1700. Cp. _Aurora_, f. 15 v^o,

‘Fontes ingresso Noe corrumpuntur abyssi, Et de uisceribus terra fluenta uomit. Effundunt nubes pluuias, deciesque quaternis Sustinet inmensas archa diebus aquas.’

1717 f. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 689 f.

1719. Cp. _Metam._ iv. 706 f. Ovid has ‘praefixo,’ which is more satisfactory.

1721. Cp. _Metam._ iv. 690.

1727 f. _Tristia_, i. 11. 21 f.

1729. _Fasti_, iii. 593.

1735. _Metam._ xi. 539.

1739. Cp. _Metam._ xi. 515, ‘Rima patet, praebetque viam letalibus undis.’

1774. Cp. _Fasti_, ii. 98.

1775 f. Cp. _Amores_, ii. 11. 9 f.

1779 f. _Tristia_, v. 12. 5 f.

1781. _Metam._ xiv. 213.

1825. Cp. _Tristia_, ii. 179.

1832. _Tristia_, i. 5. 36.

1847 f. Cp. Ovid, _Pont._ iii. 7. 27 f. In the second line Ovid has ‘tumidis,’ for which there is no authority in Gower. Our author perhaps read ‘timidis’ in his copy of Ovid, or made the change himself, taking ‘timidis’ to mean ‘fearful.’

1879. ‘Perhaps that day would have been the last of confusion, even if,’ &c. This, by the context, would seem to be the meaning.

1898. Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 542.

1899 f. Cp. _Pont._ i. 3. 9 f.

1907 f. From Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 82 (ed. 1584).

1909. ‘But he who walked upon the sea,’ &c., that is, Christ.

1913. Cp. _Metam._ i. 328, ‘Nubila disiecit, nimbisque Aquilone remotis.’

1917. _Metam._ i. 329.

1919. Cp. _Metam._ i. 345.

1921. Cp. _Metam._ v. 286, where we have ‘nubila,’ as the sense requires. Here the MSS. give ‘numina’ without variation.

1923. Cp. _Metam._ ix. 795.

1925. _Metam._ i. 344.

1935. _Metam._ xiii. 440.

1939. _Metam._ xiii. 419.

1944. _Quam prius_: for ‘prius quam,’ as often.

1963 f. This alludes to the supposed reply made to Brutus (son of Silvius), when he consulted the oracle of Diana in the island of Leogecia, ‘Brute, sub occasum solis,’ &c., as told by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

1979 f. Ovid, _Pont._ iii. 8. 15 f.

1991 ff. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 11. 25 ff.

1997 f. _Tristia_, iii. 2. 25 f.

2001 f. Cp. _Her._ xi. 27 f.

2003 f. _Her._ xiv. 39 f.

2029 f. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 119 f.

2031 f. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 531 f.

2033 f. Cp. _Her._ ii. 123 f.

2037 f. _Pont._ iv. 3. 49 f.

2043. Cp. _Pont._ i. 4. 21. In Ovid we read ‘animus quoque pascitur illis,’ and this probably was what Gower intended to write.

2071 f. Cp. _Pont._ ii. 7. 9 f.

2074. _Pont._ ii. 7. 8.

2091. Cp. _Hist. Apollonii Tyrii_, xli, ‘Sicut rosa in spinis nescit compungi mucrone.’

2139. Cp. _Pont._ i. 5. 47.

2150. Cp. _Rem. Amoris_, 484.

LIB. II. PROLOGUS.

15. Cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 11, l. 41 (Rolls Series, 59, vol. i.).

41. Deut. xxxii. 13, ‘ut sugeret mel de petra oleumque de saxo durissimo.’

49 f. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 73 f.

51. The supposed mischief-maker is compared to Sinon, who gave a signal by fire which led to the destruction of Troy: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, i. 1172. I cannot satisfactorily explain ‘Excetra.’

57 f. From Neckam, _De Vita Monachorum_, p. 175 (ed. Wright, Rolls Series, 59, vol. ii.).

61. _De modicis ... modicum_: cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 16532.

64. Cp. Ovid, _Ars Amat._ ii. 166.

LIB. II.

With the general drift of what follows cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 529 ff.

1. _Incausti specie_, cp. _Conf. Amantis_, viii. 2212.

18. _nos_: meaning the people of England, as compared with those of other countries.

31 f. Cp. Ovid, _Tristia_, v. 8. 19 f.

33. _Tristia_, v. 5. 47.

41. Job v. 6, ‘Nihil in terra sine causa fit’: cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 26857.

59. This is the usual opposition of rose and nettle, based perhaps originally on Ovid, _Rem. Amoris_, 46: cp. _Conf. Amantis_, ii. 401 ff.

67 f. Cp. Boethius, _Consol. Phil._ 2 Pr. 4, ‘in omni adversitate fortunae infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem.’ So Dante, _Inf._ v. 121 ff.,

‘Nessun maggior dolore, Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria.’

117 ff. Cp. Ovid, _Her._ v. 109 ff. In l. 117 ‘siccis’ is substituted, not very happily, for ‘suci.’

138. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Latin Verses after ii. 1878,

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

163 f. Cp. Ovid, _Tristia_, v. 8. 15 f.

167 ff. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 5. 27 ff.

199 f. There seems to be no grammatical construction here.

239 ff. With this passage cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 27013 ff., where nearly the same examples are given. The classification is according to the nature of the things affected, first the heavenly bodies, then the elements of air, water, fire and earth, and finally living creatures. This arrangement is more clearly brought out in the _Mirour_.

259. Cp. _Mirour_, 27031, and note.

261. ‘And from the hard rocks of the desert,’ the conjunction being out of its proper place, as in i. 407, 847, ii. 249, &c.

267 f. Cp. _Mirour_, 27049 ff.

281 ff. See _Mirour de l’Omme_, 27073 ff.

282. _Congelat_, ‘took form.’ Probably the author had in his mind the phrase ‘congelat aere tacto,’ Ovid, _Metam._ xv. 415.

306. ‘num’ is here for ‘nonne’; cp. l. 320.

316. _Cumque_, for ‘Cum’: cp. l. 545, iii. 958, &c.

353 f. Cp. Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 9 (ed. 1584).

‘Ante creaturam genitor deus et genitura, Primaque natura, novit statuitque futura.’

357-359. These three lines are from the _Pantheon_, p. 9.

371-374. Taken with slight change from the _Pantheon_, p. 10.

377 f. From _Aurora_, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 7 v^o.

414. ‘That which the new star brings argues that he is God.’

423. That is, ‘Lux venit, vt obscurari possit tenebris,’ &c.

485. ‘Every one who thinks upon Jesus ought to resolve to lay aside,’ &c.

487. The MSS. give ‘benedicti,’ but it seems probable that ‘benedici’ was meant. The verb is commonly transitive in later Latin.

495 ff. Cp. Isaiah, xliv. 9-20.

531 f. Psalms, cxiii. 8.

619 ff. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ i. 74 ff.

LIB. III. PROLOGUS.

11 ff. The author characteristically takes care to point out that in his criticism of the Church he is expressing not his own private opinion, but the ‘commune dictum,’ the report which went abroad among the people, and the ‘vox populi’ has for him always a high authority. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18445 ff., 19057 ff., and see below, l. 1267 ff, iv. 19 f., 709 f.

With what is said in this Book of the condition of the Church and the clergy we may compare the author’s _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18421-20832.

25 f. Compare with this the author’s note on _Mirour de l’Omme_, 21266-78.

61. Cp. Ovid, _Pont._ iv. 14. 41.

64. Cp. _Pont._ iv. 9. 10.

67 f. Cp. _Tristia_, ii. 301 f.

82. Cp. _Pont._ ii. 2. 128.

LIB. III.

1-28. The form of these lines which stood originally in S is given by the Trinity College, Dublin, and the Hatfield MSS. The passage has been rewritten over erasure in CHG, and it must be left doubtful what text they had originally. From the fact that the erasure in G begins with the second line, it may seem more probable that the original text of this manuscript agreed with that which we have now in S, rather than with TH₂: for in the latter case there would have been no need to begin the erasure before l. 4. In CH the whole passage has been recopied (the same hand appearing here in the two MSS.) so that we can draw no conclusion about the point where divergence actually began. EDL have the same text by first hand. It will be noted that the lines as given by TH₂ make no mention of the schism of the Papacy.

11 ff. With this we may compare _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18769 ff.

22. _nisi_, for ‘nil nisi’: cp. l. 32.

41. Cp. Ovid, _Amores_, iii. 8. 55.

63. _Fasti_, i. 225.

65 f. Cp. _Fasti_, i. 249 f.

85-90. Chiefly from the _Aurora_ of Petrus (de) Riga, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 71,

‘Ollarum carnes, peponum fercula, porros, Cepas pro manna turba gulosa petit. Quosdam consimiles sinus ecclesie modo nutrit, Qui pro diuinis terrea uana petunt. . . . . . . Carnes ollarum carnalia facta figurant Que uelut in nostra carne libido coquit.’

It would seem that Gower read ‘Gebas’ (which has no meaning) for ‘Cepas’ and ‘preponunt,’ as in MS. Univ. Coll. 143, for ‘peponum,’ which is the true reading, meaning ‘melons’ or ‘pumpkins.’

115. Cp. _Metam._ xv. 173.

Cap. iii. _Heading_. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 288 (margin), where this is given as a quotation from Gregory.

141 f. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 18553.

167 f. From _Aurora_, f. 37.

175. _gregis ex pietate mouetur_, ‘is moved by pity for his flock.’

193 ff. With this passage compare _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 407-413, and _Mirour de l’Omme_, 20161 ff. In all these places a distinct charge is brought against the clergy, to the effect that they encourage vice, in order to profit by it themselves in money and in influence: ‘the prostitute is more profitable to them than the nun,’ as our author significantly says in the _Mirour_ (20149).

209 ff. Cp. _Mirour de l’Omme_, 20113 ff.

227 ff. For this attack on the ‘positive law’ of the Church cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 247, _Mirour_, 18469 ff. The ‘lex positiva’ is that which is enjoined not as of inherent moral obligation, but as imposed by Church discipline.

249 f. Cp. _Mirour_, 18997 ff. Apparently ‘nouo’ is an adverb, meaning ‘anew,’ ‘again’: cp. 284, 376.

265 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 18505 ff.

283 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 18637, _Conf. Amantis_, ii. 3486.

329 ff. With this chapter compare _Mirour_, 18649-18732.

375. The note which we find here in the margin of SCHGD refers to the crusade of the bishop of Norwich in Flanders in the year 1383, which probably took place soon after the completion of our author’s book. It is added in SCHG in what appears to be one and the same hand, possibly that of the author himself. If we may judge by the manner in which the campaign in question is referred to by contemporary chroniclers, it seems to have been considered a public scandal by many others besides Gower.

419. Gower uses ‘sublimo’ as an ablat. sing, in l. 701; therefore ‘sublimis’ may here be an ablative plural agreeing with ‘meritis.’

425 ff. Cp. _Aurora_, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 103,

‘Cogitat inde domum domino fundare, sed audit A domino, “Templi non fabricator eris. Es uir sanguineus, ideo templum mihi dignum Non fabricare potes, filius immo tuus.” Sanguineus uir signat eum qui, crimina carnis Amplectens, templum non ualet esse dei. Ecclesie sancte talis non erigit edem, Nec sacre fidei collocat ille domum.’

508. ‘And whosoever may sound trumpets, we ought to be silent’; cp. i. 1609.

531 f. _Aurora_, f. 75 v^o.

619 f. Ovid, _Pont._ ii. 5. 61 f.

623 f. _Pont._ ii. 6. 21 f.

641. See _Ars Amat._ ii. 417, where we find ‘semine,’ a reading which is required by the sense, but not given in the Gower MSS.

651. ‘The line of descent by right of his mother proclaims Christ to be heir of that land in which he was born.’ The author argues for crusades to recover the Holy Land, if there must be wars, instead of wars against fellow Christians, waged by one pope against the other under the name of crusades: cp. below, 945 ff.

676. _quo foret ipse vigil_, ‘where it ought to be watchful,’ a common use of the imperfect subjunctive in our author’s Latin: cp. ‘gestaret,’ 695, ‘lederet,’ 922, ‘medicaret,’ 1052.

815. What follows is spoken as in the person of the supreme pontiff: cp. _Mirour_, 18505-18792, where somewhat similar avowals are put into the mouth of a member of the Roman Court.

819 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 261,

‘The hevene is ferr, the world is nyh.’

835. Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 209.

955 f. I take this concluding couplet as a remark made by the author on the sentiments which he has just heard expressed by the representative of the Pope. It practically means that ‘Clemens’ is not a proper name for the Pope: it is in fact a ‘headless name’ and should rather be ‘Inclemens.’ Compare the address to Innocent III at the beginning of Geoffrey de Vinsauf’s _Poetria Nova_: