Part Ii. the Legend of Medea.

1580. From this line to l. 1655 Chaucer mainly follows the second book of Guido delle Colonne's Historia Troiana, which he epitomises. See Gower, C. A. ii. 236-258.

1581. 'Who is a devourer of love, and a very dragon'; with reference to the supposed insatiability of dragons.

1582. 'As matter always seeks to have a definite form, and may pass from one form into another.' Mr. Archer Hind refers me to Aristotle, Metaphysica, [LAMDA]. vii. 1072 b. 3:--[Greek: kinei de hôs erômenon, kinoumenon de talla kinei]. Bech shews that this is all from Guido, who has: 'Scimus enim mulieris animum semper uirum appetere, sicut appetit materia semper formam.... Sed sicut ad formam de forma procedere materiam notum est, sic mulieris concupiscentia dissoluta procedere de uiro ad uirum ... sine fine, cum sit quaedam profunditas sine fundo,' &c. Hence Lydgate, in his Troy-book, bk. i. c. 5 (fol. C 6, back) has:--

'For as nature by kyndly appetyte Kyndly seketh to sewen after fourme,' &c.

1590. Iaconitos, Iaconites. This is a clear proof that Chaucer follows Guido. At p. 12* of the alliterative Troy-book, ed. Panton and Donaldson, the following passage is quoted from Guido, lib. ii.: 'In insula igitur Colcos erat tunc temporis quaedam ciuitas nomine Iaconites, caput regni pro sua magnitudine constituta.' Further extracts from this Latin text are given by Horstmann, in his edition entitled 'Barbours Legendensammlung,' vol. ii. (Heilbronn, 1882), p. 221; where will also be found a parallel passage in a fifteenth-century poem which has wrongly been ascribed to Barbour. Hence Lydgate, in his Troy-book, bk. i. c. 5 (fol. C 3, back), says of the chief city of Colchos:--'And Iaconites tho it bare the name.'

1594. Read Preyíng; and drop the final e of moste.

1597. Compare the allit. Troy-book, ll. 388-391:--

'The kyng was full curtais, calt on a maiden, Bede his doughter come downe, and his dere heire, To sit by that semely, and solas to make. This mayden full mylde Medea was callid.'

1605. 'And in his mien as royal as a lion.'

1606. Famulere, familiar, affable. See Ch. Prol. 215.

1609. 'And, as Fortune owed her an evil mishap.'

1617. Cf. the Troy-book, l. 544:--

'That causes me with counsell to caste for your helpe, And put you in plite your purpos to wyn, In sound for to saile home, and your sute all.'

1620. Cf. the same, l. 554:--

'Now louely and leell, for your lefe speche I thanke you a thowsande tymes in my thro hert, That ye kythe me suche kyndnes withouten cause why; And here I put me full plainly in your pure wille, To do with me, damsell, as your desyre thynke.'

1631. Disioint, perilous situation, peril. Cf. Kn. Ta., A 2962. 'But sith I see I stonde in this disioint'; Shipman's Tale, B 1601.

1639. Cf. the Troy-book, 942; and 711:--

'Yow swiftly shall sweire vppon swete goddes, This couenaunt to kepe and for no case chaunge.'

'And swiftly he sware on that swete god, All tho couenaundes to kepe, and for no cause let, Whill hym lastes the lyffe; he laid on his hond.'

1653. Unwist of, unknown to. Cf. Troy-book, 987:--

'Then leuyt thai the lond, and no leue toke, Stale from the styth king stylle by night; With the maiden Medea and myche other goodes, Thai turne into Tessaile with-outen tale more.'

Here Chaucer ceases to follow Guido, except in ll. 1662-6.

1661. Her name was Creusa; cf. Ovid, Met. vii. 391-6; Horace, Epod. v. 64.

1662. Cf. the Troy-book, l. 718:--

'And thou hedis not the harme of that hend lady, Ne tentes not thy trouth that thou tynt has; Soche a maiden to mar that the most louet, That forsec hir fader and hir fre londe.'

1667. Vassalage, prowess; cf. Kn. Ta., A 3054. It is here used ironically. Trench refers us to Lydgate's Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 176:--

'And Catoun seith, is noon so greet encress Of wordly tresour, as for to live in pees, Which among vertues hath the vasselage.'

1670. Lettre, letter; i.e. the 12th letter in Ovid's Heroides; see l. 1678. Lines 1672-7 answer to lines 13, 14, and 19 in Ovid:--

'Cur mihi plus aequo flaui placuere capilli, et decor, et linguae gratia ficta tuae?... Quantum perfidiae tecum, scelerate, perîsset!'

1672. Why lyked me, why did it please me? But, in l. 1674, lyked is a personal verb.

V. THE LEGEND OF LUCRETIA.

Chaucer cites Ovid and Livy, and in l. 1873 again appeals to Livy as the authority. The story is in Livy, bk. i. c. 57-59; and in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 721-852. Chaucer doubtless appeals to Livy as being a professed historian, but the reader will find that, as a matter of fact, he follows mainly the account in Ovid from beginning to end, and sometimes almost word for word. Livy and Ovid were contemporary; the former was born B.C. 59, and died A.D. 17; the latter was born B.C. 43, and died A.D. 18. Gower also tells this story, and likewise follows Ovid and (near the end) Livy; C. A. iii. 251.

1680. Ovid tells the story of Lucretia under the date Feb. 22 (viii Kal. Martii), which was commemorated as 'Fuga Tarquinii Superbi,' and begins his account in the Fasti, ii. 685. Chaucer here borrows from Ovid's first line, viz.:--'Nunc mihi dicenda est regis fuga.'

Ll. 1680-1693 form Chaucer's own Prologue to the story.

1682. The 'last king' of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus, father of the Tarquinius Sextus whom Chaucer calls in l. 1698 'Tarquinius the yonge.' The word And, at the beginning of the line, though absolutely necessary to the sense, is preserved only in MS. Addit. 12524, a bad copy from a good type. It reads:--'And specially off the last king Tarquinius'; but no other MS. retains specially, and of course it makes the line too long.

1684. 'I do not tell the story for the sake of Tarquin's exile.'

1690. 'St. Augustin, commenting on the story in the milder and more rational spirit of Christian morality, while he admires the purity of Lucrece, blames her folly in committing the crime of self-murder as a punishment on herself for that of which she was really innocent. "Si adultera," he asks, "cur laudata? Si pudica, cur occisa?" See August. De Civitate Dei, c. xix.'--Bell.

1694. Here Chaucer begins his close copy of Ovid, Fast. ii. 721:--'Cingitur interea Romanis Ardea signis.' The original should be compared throughout. Ardea, capital of the Rutuli; in Latium.

1696. Wroghte, pt. t. 'The siege (or the besiegers) lay before the city long, and accomplished little'; G. L. Kittredge, Harvard Studies, p. 7.

1698. 'Tarquinius iuuenis'; i.e. Tarquinius Sextus.

1705. Colatyne. Chaucer found the name in Livy (or Augustine). Ovid merely has: 'cui dederat clarum Collatia nomen.' Livy has: 'ubi et Collatinus cenebat Tarquinius, Egerii filius.' Collatinus was the cousin of Sextus, and took his name from Collatia, an ancient town of the Sabines, in the neighbourhood of Rome.

1707. From Ovid: 'Non opus est uerbis, credite rebus, ait.'

1708. From Livy: 'paucis id quidem horis posse sciri, quantum ceteris praestet Lucretia sua.'

1711. 'That pleases me.' Ovid: 'Dicta placent'; l. 736.

1715. Cf. 'And knew the estres bet than dide this John'; C. T., A 4295 (Reves Tale); and see Kn. Ta., A 1971; also, in particular, the Romaunt of the Rose, 1448, where the F. text has l'estre (shewing where Ch. found the word); see vol. i. p. 153.

We may explain estres by 'inner premises' of a house or building. Godefroy's O. Fr. Dict. gives numerous examples. Cotgrave gives the verb estre, to be; whence the sb. estre, a being, substance, state; and then cites: 'les estres d'une maison, the inward conveyances, private windings and turnings within, entries into, issues out of, a house.' The word is very common in Old French, and not uncommon in Middle English. Gower even has the sing. estre in the sense of 'state'; C. A. i. 272. Cf. F. 'il sait tous les êtres de cette maison.'

For all this, the old editions turned the form into efters, and Bell follows them! Moreover, eftures is gravely quoted in Halliwell's Dictionary, with a reference to Sir T. Malory. The passage is:--'Pleaseth it you to see the eftures of this castle?' bk. xix. c. 7 (p. 444 in the Globe edition). Here eftures is a mere misprint (in Caxton's original edition) for estres, due to reading the long s as an f. Efters and Eftures are mere 'ghost-words,' the products of ignorance.

1716, 7. 'Tecta petunt; custos in fore nullus erat'; l. 738.

1720. Dischevele, with hair hanging loose. Malice, evil.

1721. 'Ante torum calathi lanaque mollis erat'; l. 742. Of course 'our book' means Ovid; yet Thynne reads 'saith Liui.'

1729. A fine line; but I think Chaucer has wholly misunderstood l. 752 of the original.

1732-9.

'Desinit in lacrimas, intentaque fila remittit, in gremium uultum deposuitque suum. Hoc ipsum decuit: lacrimae decuere pudicae, et facies animo dignaque parque fuit'; l. 755.

1740-3. 'Pone metum, ueni, coniux ait. Illa reuixit.'

1745-55. Six lines in Ovid; ll. 761-6.

1757. 'Iam dederat cantus lucis praenuntius ales'; l. 767.

1759-71. Twelve lines in Ovid; ll. 769-80.

1765. Al to-shake, wholly tossed about; see l. 962.

1771. 'Or a wicked inclination, with malice.' 'The original meaning (as of talento in Italian, talante in Spanish) was will, inclination, from talentum ([Greek: talanton]), balance, scales, and then inclination of balance.'--Trench, Select Glossary, s.v. Talent.

1773. 'Audentes Forsque deusque iuuant.' We say, 'Fortune favours the bold.' Cf. 'Audentes fortuna iuuat'; Verg. Æn. x. 284; 'Audentes deus ipse iuuat'; Ovid, Met. x. 586.

1774. 'Whatever the event may be, my resolve is taken.' Audebimus ultima, dixit'; l. 781.

1775. Girt, girdeth; pr. t. So rit, rideth, in l. 1776.

1780. Halke, corner, hiding-place; as in Sec. Non. Ta. G 311.

1781. Gan he stalke, he moved stealthily; as in Clerk. Ta. E 525. It is remarkable that Shakespeare uses the same word in his Lucrece, l. 365:--'Into the chamber wickedly he stalks.' Prof. Corson notices its use by Gower; see Pauli's edition, vol. i. pp. 72, 187; ii. 256, 346, 347, 353, 360.

1798. 'Parua sub infesto quum iacet agna lupo'; l. 800.

1800-3. Cf. Fast. ii. 801, 2:--

'Quid faciat? Pugnet? uincetur femina pugna; Clamet? at in dextra, qui uetet, ensis erat.'

1812-26. These lines are original, and breathe the spirit of chivalry.

1827-36. Eight lines in Ovid; 815, 816; 813, 814; 817-20.

1838-46. This passage is original.

1847-53. Compare Ovid, 829, 830. But Chaucer here follows Livy, who has: 'Dant ordine omnes fidem; consolantur aegram animi, auertendo noxam ab coacta in auctorem delicti; mentem peccare, non corpus; et unde consilium afuerit, culpam abesse.' Cf. Gower, C. A. iii. 261.

1856-60. Two lines in Ovid; 833, 834:--

'Tunc quoque, iam moriens, ne non procumbat honeste, respicit. Haec etiam cura cadentis erat.'

1861. Chaucer here tells the tale more succinctly. Ll. 1864-5 answer to ll. 849, 850 in Ovid; l. 1866 answers to l. 847 and l. 1869 to l. 852. The rest is, practically, all Chaucer's own.

1871. This canonisation of Lucretia is strikingly medieval. It was evidently suggested by the fact that Ovid gives her story under a particular date, so that she seemed to have her own day, like a saint. Cf. note to l. 1680.

1880. Probably the syllables That in Is- form the first foot of the line. Otherwise, Israel is dissyllabic.

1881. The reference must be to the Syro-phenician woman; Matt. xv. 28; Mark, vii. 29. But it may be feared that Chaucer was really thinking of the centurion; Matt. viii. 10; Luke, vii. 9. Read he ne as he n'.

1883, 4. As of, in the case of. Alday, always; F. toujours. 'Let whoever wishes (it) test them.'

VI. THE LEGEND OF ARIADNE.

For a remark upon the title, see note to l. 1966.

It is difficult to say whence Chaucer derived all of this Legend. The beginning is from Ovid, Metam. vii. 456-8, viii. 6-176; the main part of the story is like Plutarch's Life of Theseus, or some similar source; and the conclusion from Ovid's Heroides, epist. x. Further, ll. 2222-4 refer to Met. viii. 176-182. See also Hyginus, Fabulae, capp. xli-xliii; Æneid, vi. 20-30; and cf. Gower, C. A. ii. 302-311.

1886. 'O Minos, king of Crete, judge in the infernal regions, now comes thy lot, now comest thou into the ring (concourse).' In l. 1894 we again have mention of Minos, king of Crete; which looks as if Chaucer has confused the two kings of this name. The 'infernal judge' was, however, the grandfather of the second Minos; at least, such is the usual account. The mention of 'the lot' in connection with Minos looks as if Chaucer was thinking of Vergil's lines, Æn. vi. 431, 2:--

'Nec uero hae sine sorte datae, sine iudice sedes. Quaesitor Minos urnam mouet.'

Cf. also Æn. vi. 22:--'stat ductis sortibus urna.'

1889. Memóri-e has four syllables, and is accented on the second.

1895. Hadde, had, possessed; referring to Crete. This seems better than the reading wan (i.e. won), referring to Minos. Cf. Ovid, Her. x. 67:--'Non ego te, Crete, centum digesta per urbes.'

1896. Cf. Ovid, Met. vii. 456-8:--

'Bella parat Minos ... Androgeique necem iustis ulciscitur armis.'

Androgeus is again mentioned in Ovid, Her. x. 99; and in Vergil, Æn. vi. 20.

'There came certain of king Minos' ambassadors out of Creta, to ask a tribute, being now the third time that it was demanded; which the Athenians paid for this cause. Androgeus, the eldest son of king Minos, was slain by treason within the country of Attica: for which cause Minos, pursuing the revenge of his death, made very hot and sharp wars upon the Athenians, and did them great hurt.'--Shakespeare's Plutarch, p. 280.

1900. From this point to l. 1921 Chaucer follows Ovid, Met. viii. 6-176, but gives a mere outline of the story of Scylla. See note to l. 1908.

1902. Alcathoe, the citadel of Megara, and hence a name for Megara. It was named after Alcathous, founder of Megara; indeed, in Ovid, Met. viii. 8, it is called Alcathoi urbs; but Chaucer found the right form in Met. vii. 443.

1904. Nisus, Nisus, king of Megara; Met. viii. 8.

1908. Nisus' daughter was named Scylla. In order to gain the love of Minos, she cut off her father's purple hair, on which the safety of his kingdom depended; whereupon Nisus was changed into a sparrow-hawk, and Scylla into the bird ciris; Met. viii. 9-151. But Chaucer omits these details. Cf. Parl. of Foules, 292, and the note.

1922. Chaucer here leaves Ovid; this part of the story is partly given in Plutarch and Hyginus, but Chaucer seems to have filled in details from some source unknown to me.

1925. 'Whereupon the Athenians sent immediately unto him, and intreated him for peace: which he granted them, with condition that they should be bound to send him yearly, into Creta, seven young boys and as many young girls. Now thus far all the historiographers do very well agree, but in the rest not. And they which seem furthest off from the troth [including Chaucer] do declare, that when these young boys were delivered in Creta, they caused them to be devoured by the Minotaur within the labyrinth.'--Shakespeare's Plutarch, p. 280.

1928. The Minotaur was a monster, half bull and half man, dwelling in a labyrinth at Crete, constructed by Dædalus. He annually devoured the fourteen Athenian young people, as above said, till slain by Theseus. Cf. Ovid, Met. viii. 155.

1932. Every thridde yeer, every third year. This is due to Ovid's expression--'tertia sors annis domuit repetita nouenis' (Met. viii. 171), which Golding translates by--'The third time at the ninth yeares end the lot did chance to light On Theseus,' &c. But Hyginus (Fab. xli) says:--'Instituit autem ut anno unoquoque septenos liberos suos Minotauro ad epulandum mitterent.'

1944. Egeus, Ægeus, king of Athens; Met. vii. 402, 404.

1954. 'That thou wouldst be deeply indebted to any one who,' &c.

1960. 'Furthermore, after he [Theseus] was arrived in Creta, he slew there the Minotaur ... by the means and help of Ariadne: who being fallen in fancy with him, did give him a clue of thread, by the help wherof she taught him, how he might easily wind out of the turnings and crancks of the labyrinth.'--Shak. Plutarch, p. 283. Cf. Ovid, Met. viii. 172; Hyginus, Fab. xlii.

1962. Foreyne, outer chamber; belonging to the chambres grete, or set of larger rooms occupied by the daughters of the king. It seems to answer to the A.S. búr, mod. E. bower, explained in Murray's Dict. as 'an inner apartment, esp. as distinguished from the "hall," or large public room; also, esp. applied to a lady's private apartment; boudoir.' It is merely a peculiar use of our word foreign; the O. Fr. forain (fem. foraine) often meant 'outer,' as in the phrases une foraine rue, an outer (more retired) street; es tenebres forennes, into outer darkness; see Godefroy's F. Dict. I agree with Mätzner, that there is no sufficient reason for explaining the word in this passage by 'privy,' though it admittedly has that meaning also (as given in Levins).

1965. Maister-strete, principal street; as in Kn. Ta., A 2902.

1966. Most MSS. begin the line with Of Athenes, as in l. 2306. This would be a most extraordinary oversight, as the scene is laid in Crete, in the town of Gnossus. MS. T. substitutes 'In mochell myrthe'; and the old printed editions have 'Of the towne,' which scans badly, though 'Of thilke toune' would do well enough. We seem justified in rejecting the reading Of Athenes, because Chaucer distinctly mentions Athenes in ll. 1940, 1944, as being the place whence Theseus was sent 'unto the court of Minos'; l. 1949. Besides this, in l. 2122 Theseus calls Ariadne by the prospective title of 'duchess of Athens'; on which Ariadne playfully remarks that she and her sister are now 'assured to royal positions in Athens'; l. 2128. From all which it does not seem fair to charge the error upon Chaucer himself; and I therefore make the bold alteration suggested by MS. T., and supported by MS. Addit. 9832, which has 'In moche myrth.' In the title of the poem, Ariadne is called 'Adriane de Athenes,' but this is another matter, and has reference to l. 2122. She became 'duchess of Athens' in the right of her husband Theseus.

1969. Adrian or Adriane, the M.E. spellings of Ariadne: see Ho. Fame, 407; Prol. to Man of Law, B 67. Ariadne and Phædra were the daughters of Minos; Theseus took both of them away from Crete; and, on the voyage, deserted Ariadne for her sister.

1990. 'And make this sorrowful man come with him.'

1992. Quit, free, delivered. It seems to have been an understood thing, that if a captive Athenian should succeed in slaying the Minotaur, he should go free, and the tribute paid by the Athenians should be remitted. One account in Plutarch says that Minos himself 'chose Theseus, upon condition agreed between them; ... and that after the death of the Minotaur this tribute should cease.'--Sh. Plut. p. 282. One condition was, that the captives should be unarmed. This explains Phædra's plan, in l. 1994, for arming Theseus surreptitiously; cf. l. 2011.

1993. Taste, test. The word test was formerly used only as a sb., of a vessel in which gold or silver was tested; the place of the mod. E. verb to test was supplied by the M.E. tasten, and there can be little doubt that the words taste and test have been partially confused; see these words in my Etym. Dict., whence I quote the following: 'The M.E. tasten meant both to feel and to taste. "I rede thee, lat thyn hand upon it falle, And taste it wel, and stoon thou shalt it finde"; Ch. C. T. 15970 (G 502). "Every thyng Himseolf schewith in tastyng;" King Alisaunder, 4042.--F. taster, to taste or take an assay of; also to handle, feel, touch; Cotgrave. Cf. mod. F. tâter; Ital. tastare, "to taste, to assaie, to feele, to grope, to trye, to proofe, to touch"; Florio.'

1996. The former syllable of Fighten forms a foot by itself.

1997. 'Where he will have to descend.'

2002. Shal do, will be sure to do.

2004. Bell remarks that this resembles the stratagem by which Daniel destroyed the dragon at Babylon. 'Tulit igitur Daniel picem, et adipem, et pilos, et coxit pariter: fecitque massas, et dedit in os draconis, et diruptus est draco'; Dan. xiv. 26 (Vulgate).

2009. To-hepe, together; i.e. 'before they come to closer quarters.' Bell alters this, the reading of all the MSS. and old editions, to to kepe, which gives no sense; and Morris and Corson follow suit. Yet to-hepe, lit. 'to a heap,' but used adverbially in the precise sense of 'together,' is not a recondite expression. Morris explains it rightly elsewhere, viz. in Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. iv. pr. 6, l. 182, where 'y-medled to-hepe' means 'mixed together.' It is also in Troil. iii. 1764:--'that Love halt now to-hepe,' which Love now holds together. And yet again, in Ch. Astrolabe, pt. i. § 14. 5. See also P. Plowm. Crede, 727.

2012. The hous, i.e. the famous labyrinth. Crinkled, full of turns or 'cranks'; see note to l. 1960. Cf. Mid. Du. krunckel-winckel, or krinckel-winckel, 'crooked here and there'; Hexham (A.D. 1658); Du. krinkel, a winding, krinkelen or kronkelen, to wind about; all allied to E. crank, a twist, hence a twisted handle. Cf. Ovid, Met. viii. 173; Æn. vi. 27. And see Trevisa, tr. of Higden, i. 9.

2020. Read drede, dread; not stede, place. The Rime-indexes shew that, in the ending -ede in Chaucer, the former e is usually long (-[=e]de, -eede). However, st[)e]de, in the sense of 'stead' (A.S. st[)e]de), rimes once with dr[=e]de, in Ho. Fame, 829.

2028. Sit on his knee, kneels down. We also find to setten him on knees, to fallen on knees, to knelen on knees, he lay on kne, &c. See Mätzner, s.v. cneo, p. 442. 'On knes she sat adoun'; Lay le Freine, 159. Cf. Man of Lawes Tale, B 638.

2029. The righte; here used as a vocative case.

2037. Cf. Arcite's service as a page; Kn. Ta., A 1427.

2040. Nat but, only, merely; the familiar Northern E. nob-but. See l. 2091.

2041. Swinke, toil, labour hard. It is curious that this word should be obsolete. Perhaps no word that is now obsolete was once more common. It occurs in Chaucer, Langland, Gower, Spenser, &c.; but not in Shakespeare.

2044. 'Nor any one else, shall be able to espy me.'

2048. 'In order to have my life, and to retain your presence.' The sense is quite clear. The note in Corson--'presence seems to mean here presentiment or suspicion'--is due to some mistake.

2051. Only MS. C. retains now; and it would be better before is than after it.

2056. Yif, if; answering to than, then, in l. 2059.

2063. 'I pray Mars to do me such a favour.'

2064. Shames deeth, a death of shame; see l. 2072.

2065. Póvert occurs as a dissyllable, in Cant. Ta., C 441.

2066. Pronounce spirit nearly as spir't.

Go, walk about, roam. He prays that he may be punished by being made to walk as a ghost after death. A reference to the supposed restlessness of the spirits of wicked men; see Parl. of Foules, 80. But good spirits also 'walked' sometimes; Wint. Tale, iii. 3. 17.

2069. For which, for which cause, on which account. Go, may walk; the subjunctive mood.

2070. Other degree, i.e. a higher degree than that of page. He professes not to aspire to this, unless she vouchsafes to give it him.

2072. 'May I die by a death of shame.' The of depends on deye; cf. Man of Lawes Tale, B 819.

2075. A twenty, about twenty. A is here used as expressly an approximative result; as in 'an eight days,' Luke ix. 28; so 'a ten,' Squi. Tale, F 383. Only MS. C. retains a, but it is wanted for the metre.

2082. God shilde hit, God defend or forbid it.

2083. Leve, grant. We also find lene, to grant, give, but it is only used with a following case; whilst leve is only used with a following clause. Me is governed by befalle. 'And grant that such a case may never befall me,' i.e. for Theseus to be merely her page.

2086. And leve, and may He also grant.

2089. 'Yet it would be better'; followed by Then (= than) in l. 2092.

2094. The latter syllable of profit comes at the caesura, and is easily read quickly. We need not change unto into to, as in MS. A. only.

2096. To my, as for my.

2099. That, (I propose) that. Sone, Hippolytus. Yet, in l. 2075, Theseus was only 23 years old! Perhaps she proposes, in banter, a purely whimsical condition; cf. ll. 2102, 2120, 2127.

2100. Hoom-coming, arrival at home; cf. Kn. Tale, 26 (A 884).

2101. Fynal ende, definite settlement.

2105. To borwe, as a pledge; cf. Squi. Ta., F 596.

2107. To draw blood on oneself was a frequent mode of attestation. Cf. Wright's note on K. Lear, ii. I. 34; and note how Faustus stabs his arm in Marlowe's play; Act ii. sc. 1.

2120. Servant, devoted lover; the usual phrase. This asseveration of Theseus shews that he thought Ariadne immeasurably credulous.

2122. Of Athenes duchesse, (whom I hail as) duchess of Athens. That is, he promises her marriage. In l. 2127 Ariadne grows pleasant on the subject.

2128. 'And assured to the royalties (or regal attributes) of Athens'; i.e. we are secure of our future royal rank.

2130. And saved, and we have saved. Chaucer has be just above; so that he has changed the idiom.

2132. Emforth hir might, even-forth with her might, to the extent of her power; cf. Kn. Ta., 1377 (A 2235).

2134. 'It seems to me, no one ought to blame us for this; nor give us an evil name on this account.'

2145. Geeth, goeth, goes; A.S. g['æ]ð. For two more examples, see geð in Gloss. to Spec. of English, Part I.

2150. By, by help of, with the help of.

2151. Of, with. Gan hit charge, did load it. 'And they say, that having killed this Minotaur, he returned back again the same way he went, bringing with him those other young children of Athens [whom Chaucer forgets to mention], whom with Ariadne also he carried afterwards away.'--Sh. Plutarch, p. 283.

2155. Ennopye, Oenopia, another name for Ægina; which was on their way from Crete to Athens. Chaucer got the name from Ovid, Met. vii. 472, 473, 490; and introduces it naturally enough, because Æacus, then dwelling there, was an old ally of the Athenians; id. 485; cf. l. 2156 in our poem. Gilman suggests that Enope (i.e. Gerenia in Messenia) is meant, which is merely a wild guess.

2161. Woon, number. Originally, a hope; also, a resource, a store, a quantity; and hence gret woon = a great number. For examples, see w[=a]n in Stratmann; and cf. note to Troil. iv. 1181.

2163. Yle, island; usually said to be Naxos, on the supposition that it is not much out of the way in sailing from Gnossus in Crete to Attica. Chaucer has inadvertently brought Theseus to Ægina already; but we need not trouble about the geographical conditions. The description of the island is from Ovid, Her. x. 59:--'Uacat insula cultu'; &c.

2167. Lette, tarried; pt. t. of the weak verb letten; quite distinct from leet or l[=e]t (pt. t. of leten), which would not rime with set-te. This latter part of the story is nearly all from Ovid, Her. x.

Compare, e.g. ll. 4-6:--

'unde tuam sine me uela tulere ratem; In quo me somnusque meus male prodidit, et tu, pro facinus! somnis insidiate meis.'

2176. To his contre-ward, i.e. toward his country. Cf. 'To Thebes-ward'; Kn. Ta. 109 (A 967).

2177. A twenty devil way, in the way of twenty devils; i.e. in all sorts of evil ways or directions; cf. Can. Yem. Ta., G 782.

2178. His fader, king Ægeus (l. 1944). The story is that Theseus went to Crete in a ship with a black sail, in token of his unhappy fate. He had agreed to exchange this for a white sail, if his expedition was successful; but this he omitted to do. Hence Ægeus, 'seeing the black sail afar off, being out of all hope ever more to see his son again, took such a grief at his heart, that he threw himself headlong from the top of a cliff, and killed himself.'--Shak. Plutarch, p. 284.

2182. Atake, overtaken with sleep; cf. C. T. 6966 (D 1384).

2186. 'Perque torum moueo brachia; nullus erat'; Her. x. 12.

2189, 90.

'Alta puellares tardat arena pedes. Interea toto clamanti littore, Theseu!' id. 20.

2192. Suggested by Ovid; ll. 81-6.

2193. 'Reddebant nomen concaua saxa tuum'; id. 22. The Latin and English lines are alike beautiful.

2194. 'Luna fuit; specto, si quid, nisi littora, cernam'; id. 17.

2195-7. These three lines represent eight in Ovid; 25-32.

2198. This line answers to the first line in Ovid, Epist. x.

2200, 1. His meiny, its (complete) crew. Inne, within; A.S. innan.

'Quo fugis, exclamo, scelerate? Reuertere, Theseu; flecte ratem; numerum non habet illa suum'; id. 35.

2202.

'Candidaque imposui longae uelamina uirgae, scilicet oblitos admonitura mei'; id. 41.

2208-17. Paraphrased from Ovid; Her. x. 51-64.

2212. Answere of, answer for; 'redde duos.'

2214. Wher shal I become? Where shall I go to? the old idiom. We now say, 'what will become of me?' On this expression, see Bicome in my Gloss. to P. Plowman (Clar. Press Series).

2215. 'For even if a ship or boat were to come this way, I dare not go home to my country, for fear (of my father).'

The reading that bote none here come is nonsense, and expresses the converse of what is meant. The corresponding line in Ovid is--'Finge dari comitesque mihi, uentosque, ratemque'; 63.

2218. What, for what, why? See Cant. Ta., B 56, &c.

2220. Naso, Ouidius Naso. Her epistle, the epistle above quoted, the title of which is--'Ariadne Theseo.'

2223, 4. The story is that Bacchus took compassion on Ariadne, and finally placed her crown as a constellation in the heavens; see Ovid, Fasti, iii. 461-516; Met. viii. 178-182. This constellation is the Northern Crown, or Corona Borealis, which is just in the opposite side of the sky from Taurus. Ovid says--'qui medius nixique genu est anguemque tenentis,' Met. viii. 182. Here the holder of the snake is Ophiuchus; and Nixus genu or Engonasin ([Greek: en gonasin]) was a name for Hercules; see Hyginus, Poet. Ast. lib. ii. c. 6; lib. iii. c. 5; Ausonius, Eclog. iii. 2. The Northern Crown comes to the meridian with the sign Scorpio, not Taurus. We can only bring the sense right by supposing that in the signe of Taurus means when the sun is in that sign, viz. in April. In the nights of April, in our latitude, the Northern Crown is very conspicuous.

2227. Quyte him his whyle, repay him for his time, i.e. for the way in which he had spent his time; cf. Man of Law's Ta., B 584.

VII. THE LEGEND OF PHILOMELA.

Chaucer's Prologue ends at l. 2243. The tale is from Ovid, Met. vi. 424-605, with some omissions, and ends at l. 2382. Gower has the same story; C. A. bk. v. ed. Pauli, ii. 313.

2228. The words 'Deus dator formarum' are written after the title in MS. B.; and part of the first line corresponds to this expression. In MS. F. it appears as 'Deus dator formatorum,' which can hardly be right.

Corson has the following note:--'In these verses (2228-30) the Platonic doctrine of forms or ideas is expressed. For whatever knowledge Chaucer may have had of the philosophy of Plato, he was probably indebted to the Italian poets, with whom, especially Petrarch, Plato was a favourite.' Corson also quotes the following from Sir Wm. Hamilton:--'Plato agreed with the rest of the ancient philosophers in this--that all things consist of matter and form; and that matter of which all things were made, existed from eternity, without form; but he likewise believed that there are external forms of all possible things which exist, without matter; and to these eternal and immaterial forms he gave the name of ideas. In the Platonic sense, then, ideas were the patterns to which the Deity fashioned the phenomenal or ectypal world.' See also Spenser, Hymne in honour of Beautie, st. 5. And cf. l. 1582 above.

However, Chaucer here follows Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. iii. met. 9:--

... 'Tu cuncta superno ducis ab exemplo, pulcrum pulcerrimus ipse mundum mente gerens, similique in imagine formans.'

See Chaucer's version of the same, ll. 1-12. Cf. Le Rom. de la Rose, 16931-8, also copied from Boethius, who follows Plato.

2233. As for that fyn, with that particular object.

2236. Fro this world, i.e. from the centre of the universe; according to the old Ptolemaic system which made the earth the fixed centre of all things. The firste hevene, the first or outermost sphere, that of Saturn; see note to Complaint of Mars, 29.

2237. Understand al (everything) as the nom. case to corrumpeth; i.e. everything becomes corrupt, is infected.

2238. As to me, as for me, in my opinion.

2241. Yit last, still lasts, still endures.

2243. Read--The stóry of Térë-ús, &c.; the -y in story being rapidly slurred over.

2244. Here begins Ovid, Met. vi. 424:--'Threïcius Tereus.' Tereus was king of Thrace; and Ovid says he could trace his descent from Gradivus, i.e. Mars (l. 427).

Marte, Mars. Corson here notes that 'Marte is the ablative case of Mars, as Jove is of Jupiter.' It is worth while to say that this view is quite erroneous; for these forms did not arise in that way. Marte was formed from Martem, the accusative case, by dropping the final m; and, generally, the Romance languages formed most of their substantives from accusative cases, owing to the frequent use of that case, especially in the construction of the accus. with the infinitive, which in medieval Latin was very common. See Sir G. Cornewall Lewis' Essay on the Romance Languages, and Diez, Grammatik der Romanischen Sprachen, vol. ii. Thus the F. corps represents the Lat. acc. corpus, not the abl. corpore; as is sufficiently obvious.

2247. Read--Pán-di-ón-es. Pandion, a king of Athens, was father of Progne and Philomela. Cf. The Passionate Pilgrim, xxi. 395.

2249. The original Latin should be consulted, as Chaucer sometimes copies Ovid literally, and sometimes goes his own way.

'Non pronuba Iuno, non Hymenaeus adest illi, non Gratia lecto. Eumenides tenuere faces de funere raptas: Eumenides strauere torum: tectoque profanus incubuit bubo, thalamique in culmine sedit.'--428.

2253. Wond, wound; aboute the balkes wond, kept winding (flying in circular wise) round about the balks (or transverse beams beneath the roof). Three good MSS. read wond, which is the past tense of winden, to wind. Bell and others read wonde, explained by 'dwelt'; but this is open to two objections, viz. (1) the pt. t. of wonien to dwell, is woned or wonede, not wonde; and (2) an owl cannot dwell about a balk, but only on it. The pt. pl. woneden (three syllables) occurs in the Kn. Ta. 2069 (A 2927); and we learn from the Clerkes Tale, E 339, that the pp. woned rimes with astoned. Ovid, indeed, has incubuit and sedit; but that does not prove much; for Chaucer expresses things in his own manner at will.

2256. This original line refers to the medieval wedding-feasts, which sometimes lasted even forty days. See Havelok, l. 2344; and the note.

2259-68. From Ovid, Met. vi. 438-442.

2261. Saw not longe, had not seen for a long time.

2264. Moste, might. Ones, for once; lit. once.

2265. And come anoon, and return again soon.

2266. 'Or else, unless she might go to see her.'

2270. 'Caused his ships to be made ready.'

2270-8. From Ovid, Met. vi. 444-450. Chaucer next passes on to ll. 475, 483. Ll. 2288-2294 are abridged from ll. 451-471 of the Latin. Ll. 2295-2301 answer to ll. 495-501; ll. 2302-2307 to ll. 488, 489; but many touches are Chaucer's own, and he is seldom literal.

2282. Read lovede as lov'de; cf. preyde, 2294. This line is imitated in Kn. Ta. 338 (A 1196)--'For in this world he lovede no man so.'

2290, 1. 'And that there was none like her in (royal) array'; Met. vi. 451. Two so riche, twice as rich; cf. ten so wood, in l. 736.

2308. Cf. Ovid, Met. vi. 512.

2312, 3. 'If it might please her, or (even) if it might not please her.'

2318-22. Ovid has these images of the lamb (l. 527) and of the dove (529).

2335. This 'castle' answers to Ovid's 'custodia' (572).

2340. 'God avenge thee, and grant thee thy petition (for vengeance).'

2342-9. Cf. Ovid, Met. vi. 563-570.

2352. Stole, stool, frame for tapestry work. Hexham's Du. Dict. (1658) gives: 'Stoel-doeck, Tapistrie, or Hangings'; lit. stool-cloth. Cf. G. Weberstuhl, a loom; lit. weaver-stool. Radevore, a kind of serge; here, the material on which tapestry-work was executed. The only other example I have met with is in a poem beginning--'As ofte as syghes ben in herte trewe,' in the Tanner MS. 346, fol. 73. One stanza begins thus:--

'As ofte tymes as Penelapye Renewed her werk in the raduore, To saue her-selfe onely in honeste Vnto Vlixes, that she louyd so sore.'

(Another copy of these lines is in MS. Ff. 1. 6 in the Cambridge Univ. Library, fol. 11.)

Here raduore is clearly an error for radeuore or radevore, as the scansion shews. Urry's Glossary gives the following explanation: 'Ras in French means any stuff [it means serge or satin], as Ras de Chalons, Ras de Gennes; Ras de Vore or Vaur may be a stuff made at such a place.' On which Tyrwhitt remarks--'There is a town in Languedoc called La Vaur; but I know not that it was ever famous for tapestry.' Cotgrave gives: 'Ras, serge'; also 'Ras de Milain, the finest kind of bare serge, or a silke serge.' Littré cites ras de Châlons from Scarron, Virg. iv.; also 'bas de soye, raz de Millan et d'estame.' Ras, in fact, is the same as the Tudor-English word rash. The loss of the s in ras de Vore is regular, because s drops before d in Anglo-French, though it is preserved in ras when used alone. I find, on consulting the English Cyclopædia, that La Vaur, in the department of Tarn, produces silk and serge to this day; so that Urry is certainly right. The whole account in ll. 2350-72 is expanded from five lines in the Latin text, 576-580:--

'Stamina barbarica suspendit candida tela: purpureasque notas filis intexuit albis'; &c.

Observe that, in l. 2360, the stuff is called 'a stamin.'

2359. By that, by the time that.

2360. A stamin large, a large piece of stamine. Stamin or stamine is usually explained as a kind of woollen cloth. Cotgrave gives: 'Estamine, the stuffe tamine.' Godefroy gives both estamin, masc. and estamine, fem. explained by 'tissu léger de laine ou de coton.' Palsgrave has:--'Stamell, fyne worstede, estamine'; and--'Stamyne, estamine.' The Prompt. Parv. has:--'Stamyn, clothe, stamina.' Stamin was used as a material for shirts, and was worn by way of penance; Fosbrooke explains it as 'a shirt made of woollen and linen, used instead of a penitentiary hair-shirt.' 'Stamin habbe whoso wule,' whoso will may have a stamin; Ancren Riwle, p. 418. Chaucer uses it thus near the end of the Persones Tale (I 1052); 'Also in weringe of heyres or of stamin or of haubergeons on hir naked flesh for Cristes sake, and swiche manere penances.'

MSS. C. T. A. have stamyn, which seems the better form; the rest (like the printed editions) have stames, which may be an error for stamel, O.F. estamel, used in the same sense as O.F. estamine. Else it may answer to O.F. estame, 'laine peignée, tricot de laine' in Godefroy. The fact that Ovid's word is stamina is in favour of the spelling stamin. (Bell remarks that 'the printed copies read flames, which is nonsense.' He seems to have misread stames (with long s) as flames. The editions of 1532, 1550, and 1561 certainly have stames.)

2373-82. Abridged from Met. vi. 581-605. Ovid mentions the triennial festival to Bacchus.

2379. Compleint is a much better reading than the constreynte of the old editions.

2383. No charge, of no consequence; Squi. Ta., F 359.

2383-93. All Chaucer's own. The last line is characteristic: 'unless it happens to be the case that he cannot get another,' i.e. a new love. For non other, old editions have another!

2385. Here deserved is the usual Chaucerian form of the pt. tense. Prof. Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, i. 403) calls this a false form. But cf. wyped, lipsed (in -ed, not -ede); Prol. to C. T., 133, 264.

VIII. THE LEGEND OF PHYLLIS.

Gower tells the same story in his Confessio Amantis, bk. iv. (ed. Pauli, ii. 26); and it is likely that he and Chaucer derived it from the same source, whatever that may have been. A portion of the latter part, from l. 2496, is taken from Ovid, Heroides, Ep. ii. And see note to l. 2423.

2395. An allusion to Matt. vii. 16, and to Legend VI, above.

2398. Demophon, usually Demophoön, son of Theseus and Phædra, who, on his return from Troy, gained the love of Phyllis, daughter of Sithon, king of Thrace. Observe that Gower says that Demophoön was on his way towards Troy.

2400. 'Unless it were.'

2401. Observe that grac-e is dissyllabic, as in l. 2433.

2403. 'Now I turn to the effect (the pith) of what I have to say.'

2413. Him seems to stand alone in the first foot; for were, in this phrase, is usually monosyllabic; cf. Mancip. Prol., H 23. But it also occurs as a dissyllable, in which case the line is normal. Or else the -er in lever is dwelt on.

2416. 'And his rudder was broken by a wave.'

2420. For wood, as (if) mad, 'like mad.' For is not a prefix, but a separate word; as shewn by 'for pure wood,' Rom. Rose, 276; and see Ho. Fame, 1747. Posseth, pusheth, tosseth. Bech observes that ll. 2411-21 are from Vergil, Æn. i. 85-90, 102, 142.

2422. Chorus; so in Thynne's edition; the MSS. have Thorus (except T., which has Thora). Both Chorus and Thorus are unknown as sea-divinities; but I think I can guess Chaucer's authority, viz. Verg. Æn. v. 823-5:--

'Et senior Glauci chorus, Inousque Palaemon, Tritonesque citi, Phoreique exercitus omnis. Laeua tenent Thetis et Melite, Panopeaque uirgo.'

Here we find Thetis, chorus, Triton; whilst 'and they alle' answers to exercitus omnis. (So also Bech.) Chorus is used for Caurus, the north-east wind, in Chaucer's Boethius, bk. iv. met. 5. 17; but this is not the purpose.

2423. Lond, i.e. Thrace. Phyllis, as said above, was the daughter of Sithon, king of Thrace; but both Chaucer and Gower make her father's name to be 'Ligurgus,' i.e. Lycurgus. This substitution may have been suggested by Ovid, Her. ii. 111--'quae tibi subieci latissima regna Lycurgi.' He is the same as the Lycurgus in Statius, Theb. iv. 386; in Ovid, Met. iv. 22, and in Homer, vi. 130; and was king of the Edoni, a people of Thrace. This accounts also for the introduction into the Knight's Tale of 'Ligurge himself, the grete king of Thrace'; l. 1271 (A 2129). Prof. Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, ii. 232) has usefully pointed out that the immediate authority for making Lycurgus the father of Phyllis was Boccaccio's De Genealogia Deorum, lib. xi. c. 25, headed--'De Phyllidi Lycurgi filia.'

2425. On to sene, to look upon; cf. the parallel line, Kn. Ta., 177 (A 1035).

2427. Is y-wonne, is arrived. Cf. Æn. i. 173.

2434. Chevisaunce, borrowing; properly an agreement for borrowing money. See C. T. 13259, 13277, 13321 (B 1519, 1537, 1581); P. Plowman, B. 5. 249, and the note; and the Gloss. to Spenser.

2438. Rodopeya, the country near Rhodope, which was a mountain-range of Thrace, now a part of the Hæmus range. See l. 2498.

2448. 'As Reynard the fox doth, so (doth) the fox's son.' The line is incomplete, but the sense is clear. 'Reynard, which with us is a duplicate for fox, while in the French renard has quite excluded the older volpils, was originally not the name of a kind, but the proper name of the fox-hero, the vulpine Ulysses, in that famous beast-epic of the middle ages, Reineke Fuchs; the immense popularity of which we gather from many evidences, from none more clearly than this. Chanticleer is in like manner the name of the cock, and Bruin of the bear in the same poem.'--Trench, Eng. Past and Present. Reynard is from M.H.G. ragin-hart, strong in counsel; from ragin, counsel, and hart, strong.

2454. Agroted, surfeited, cloyed. A rare word; used also by Lydgate. See the New E. Dict.

2456. This is a hint that Chaucer was already getting tired of his task.

2477. In a month. So in Ovid; see l. 2503.

2485. With a corde, i.e. by hanging. Cf. Ovid, Her. ii. 141:--

'Colla quoque, infidis quae se nectenda lacertis praebuerant, laqueis implicuisse libet.'

2493. Hir soules, their souls; of Theseus and Demophoön.

2495. 'Although it be but a small part of the whole letter.' In fact, Chaucer gives us ll. 1-8 of Ovid's second Epistle (in the Heroides); and, from l. 2518 onward, sentences made up from ll. 26, 27, 43, 44, 49-52, 63-68, 73-78, and 134-137 of the same.

2496. Compare these lines with Ovid, Her. ii. 1-8:--

'Hospita, Demophoon, tua te Rhodopeïa Phyllis ultra promissum tempus abesse queror. Cornua quum Lunae pleno semel orbe coissent, litoribus nostris ancora pacta tua est. Luna quater latuit, toto quater orbe recrevit, nec uehit Actæas Sithonis unda rates. Tempora si numeres, bene quae numeramus amantes, non uenit ante suum nostra querela diem.'

Hostess-e is trisyllabic; MS. C. has--'Ostess-e thyn.'

2502. Highte, promised. But Chaucer seems to have mistaken the sense of Ovid's fourth line (in the note to l. 2496).

2508. 'Sithonis unda'; see note to l. 2496. Here Sithonis is an adj. (gen. Sithonidis), and means 'Sithonian,' i.e. Thracian; because Sithon or Sitho, her father, was king of Thrace. I substitute Sitho for the MS. spellings.

2518. See note to l. 2495 for references.

2521. For, because: 'quid feci, nisi non sapienter amaui?'

2529. May occupies the first foot of the line.

2534. She prays that the glory of having betrayed her will be the greatest glory he will ever attain to. 'Di faciant, laudis summa sit ista tuae!' (66).

2551. Mote ye, may ye. 'Ad tua me fluctus proiectam littora portent'; (135).

2556. And knew, i.e. and she knew.

2558. Read--'Such sórw' hath shé,' &c. Bell altered the second she in this line to he, without authority, and unnecessarily. The word besette does not mean 'served' or 'treated,' as those who keep this reading have to assert, but 'bestowed' or 'gave up,' and her means 'herself.' The sense is therefore--'Such sorrow hath she, because she so disposed of herself.' See Beset in the New E. Dict. § 7. Caxton has: 'Orgarus thought his doughter shol wel be maryed, and wel beset upon hym'; Chron. Eng. cxii.

2561. Trusteth, imp. pl. As in love, in the matter of love. This playful line is in the same spirit as l. 2393 above.

IX. THE LEGEND OF HYPERMNESTRA.

The story is told in Ovid, Her. xiv. But Chaucer has taken some of the details from Boccaccio, De Genealogia Deorum, lib. ii. c. 22. Cf. Hyginus, Fab. 168. See the Introduction.

2563. Danao, Danaus. Danaus and Ægyptus were twin brothers. Ægyptus had 50 sons, and Danaus 50 daughters. Danaus had reason to fear his nephews, and fled with his daughters to Argos. Thither he was followed by the sons of Ægyptus, who demanded his daughters in marriage, and promised faithful alliance. Danaus distributed his daughters amongst them, but to each of them gave a dagger, with which they were to kill their husbands on the bridal night. They all did so, except Hypermnestra, who saved her husband Lynceus. Thus the attempt of Danaus failed, and he was slain by Lynceus, in accordance with the destiny predicted for him.

It must be particularly noted that Chaucer makes Ægyptus and Danaus change places. According to him, Ægyptus was the father of the daughters, and consequently attempted the life of Lynceus; whilst Danaus was the father of the sons, and therefore of Lynceus.

2569. Lino; by which perverted name Lynceus is meant; Boccaccio has 'Lino seu Linceo' (dat. case).

2570. Egiste represents Boccaccio's Ægistus, i.e. Ægyptus.

2574. 'And caused (men) to call her,' i.e. had her named.

2575. Ypermistra, i.e. Hypermestra, a corrupter form of Hypermnestra; see the account in the Introduction. Note that the first syllable Y- forms the first foot in the line.

2576. Of her nativitee, by her horoscope; see l. 2584.

2577. Thewes, qualities. Craik has a long note on this word in his edition of Julius Cæsar. It merely comes to this, that thew must have meant strength or some excellent bodily quality in the first instance, and some excellent mental quality afterwards. Nevertheless it is remarkable that (with one exception in Layamon, 6361) the usual old sense is the latter; and the usual modern sense (notably in Jul. Cæs. i. 3. 81, 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 276) is the former. The A.S. form is þéaw. Craik's notion that this word was confused with A.S. þéoh, the thigh, is entirely out of the question, and gives no help.

2580. Wirdes, Fates; Lat. Parcæ; Gk. Moiræ. Corson shews that G. Douglas translates the Lat. fata by werdes in Æn. i. 18, and Parcæ by werd sisteris in the same, iii. 379. He also quotes from Holinshed's Hist. of Scotland--'the weird sisters, that is, as ye would say, the goddesses of destinie'; reproduced by Shakespeare in Macb. iv. 1. 136.

2582. The scansion suggests that Pitous-e, sad-de, are treated like French adjectives, the final e denoting the feminine gender. This is natural in the case of pitous-e, fem. of pitous, just as we have dispitous-e, Book of the Duch. 624; but the distinction is not often made in M.E. Sweet's A.S. grammar gives til-u as an occasional fem. form of the nom. of the indef. adjective; so that sæd-u might have been used. Wys-e is likewise dissyllabic, though the A.S. form was wís even in the feminine. But the definite forms of the M.E. adj. were sad-de, wys-e; and there may have been consequent confusion. In fact, Prof. Child gives a list of adjectives of this kind, being monosyllabic in A.S., but dissyllabic in Chaucer. He includes wise, but not sad, his examples being taken from the Canterbury Tales only, and thence only in clear cases. Dispitous-e occurs as a vocative case, in Troil. ii. 435.

2584. Here comes in the old belief in astrology. Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn, as here mentioned, are not the gods, but the planets; and each planet had (it was thought) its peculiar influence, which was stronger or weaker according to its position in the heavens at the time of birth of the person whom it affected. The influences of Venus and Jupiter were for good (see note to Troil. iii. 1417); whilst the influences of Mars and Saturn were evil. See further below.

2585. With is explained by Corson to mean 'by'; and such a sense is, of course, usual and common. For all that, it may here mean 'with.' The sense seems to me to be--'For, though the influence of the planet Venus gave her great beauty, she was (also) so compounded with a share of Jupiter,' &c. It does not make much difference, and the reader can choose.

2588. Thoughte her, it seemed to her.

2589. Rede Mars, red Mars, because the planet is reddish; see note to l. 533. Cf. Kn. Ta., 1111 (A 1969). As to the bad influence of Mars, compare the following:--

'Allas! thou felle Mars!' Kn. Ta. 701 (A 1559). 'Noght was foryeten by the infortune of Marte'; id. 1163 (A 2021). 'By manasyng of Mars'; id. 1177 (A 2035). ... 'that no wykkid planete, as Saturne or Mars' Treatise on the Astrolabe, ii. 4. 22 (p. 192, above).

2592. Venus was supposed to have much influence in repressing the evil influence of Mars, on account of their connection in mythology. See the Compleint of Mars. Moreover Mars is here said to be suppressed by 'the oppression of houses'; i.e. by the fact that he was in a 'house' or 'mansion,' which had such effect. The terms 'house' and 'mansion' are equivalent, and are names given to the signs of the zodiac. Every sign had a planet assigned to it, and was called the 'house' of that planet. When a planet was in its own house, its influence would be felt. The mansions of Mars were Aries and Scorpio. Besides this, each planet had a sign called its 'exaltation,' in which it had the greatest power of all. The 'exaltation' of Mars was Capricornus. Mars had also his positions of least influence; two of these, called his 'fall,' were the signs opposite to his mansions, viz. Libra and Taurus, and the third, called his 'depression,' was the sign opposite his exaltation, viz. Cancer. We may conclude that, at the period of taking Hypermnestra's horoscope, Mars was in Cancer, or else in Taurus or in Libra. Both Taurus and Libra were mansions of Venus; and, if Mars was in either of these, his evil influence would be kept under by her.

2594. Probably the whole of Chaucer's astrological talk was intended to shew why Hypermnestra disliked handling a knife in malice. He has made much of the weak influence of Mars, precisely because those who were born under his influence were very ready with a knife. See the note to the Kn. Ta., 1163 (A 2021), where the Compost of Ptolemeus is quoted to shew that a man born under Mars is apt to be 'a maker of swordes and knyves, and a sheder of mannes blode, ... and good to be a barboure and a blode-letter, and to draw tethe, and is peryllous of his handes.'

2597. 'She had too evil aspects of Saturn, which caused her to die in prison.' All the MSS. have To (= too, excessively), except T., which has Ryght bad. Thynne has Two, but there is no authority for this, nor does it give any sense. The evil influence of Saturn is spoken of at length in the Kn. Tale, 1596-1611 (A 2454-69). Note especially l. 1599, where Saturn says:--

'Myn is the prison in the derke cote, Myn is the strangling and hanging by the throte.'

2600. Here Egiste (see l. 2570) is turned into Egistes.

2602. 'For, at that time, no lineage was spared'; i.e. no consanguinity was considered as being a bar to marriage.

2603. Hem is in apposition with Danao and Egistes; 'it pleased these two.'

2604. Note the shifted accentuation--Ypérmistrá. Chaucer (except in l. 2660) entirely drops all mention of Hypermnestra's 49 sisters, and of Lynceus' 49 brothers. This is extremely judicious, as it concentrates the interest on the heroine.

2610. Chaucer is here thinking of Ovid, Her. xiv. 25:--

'Undique collucent praecinctae lampades auro. Dantur in inuitos impia tura focos. Uulgus "Hymen, Hymenaee" uocant.'

2624. 'He caused men to call his daughter'; he had his daughter called to him.

2629. 'Ever since the day when my shirt was first shaped for me.' The sense is--'ever since the day of my birth.' The shirt here refers, as Tyrwhitt remarks, to the linen in which a new-born babe is wrapped. See Kn. Ta., 708 (A 1566); and cf. Troil. iii. 733:--

'O fatal sustren, which, er any cloth Me shapen was, my destenee me sponne.'

2630. Supply I before had. Cf. note to l. 2580.

2634. After thy wyser, according to the advice of thy superior in wisdom.' Cf. 'Thenne doth we as the wise'; O. English Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 79, l. 228. 'And gif yow list nocht wirk eftir the wise'; G. Douglas, tr. of Vergil, Prol. to bk. vi. l. 15.

2637. Read Ne I as N'I. 'Nor would I advise thee to thy harm.'

2640. 'And, at the same time, I make protestation in this manner, viz. that, unless thou do as I shall direct thee.'

2653. 'I will not have any reservation.'

2655. Y-sene, visible; an adj., not a pp. See l. 1394; and Prol. to Cant. Tales, 592.

2660. Siker, secure. The use of the word is precisely like that in the well-known anecdote of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn. Meeting Bruce at the door of the Greyfriars' Church in Dumfries, he asked what tidings. 'Bad tidings,' answered Bruce, 'I doubt I have slain Comyn.' 'Doubtest thou?' said Kirkpatrick; 'I make sicker.' With these words, he and Lindsay rushed into the church and despatched the wounded Comyn. See Note K to Scott's Lord of the Isles, c. 1. st. 27, c. 2. st. 13.

2661. Biker, quarrel, altercation; also a skirmish, encounter.

2662. 'By him that I have (already) sworn by.' See l. 2642.

2666. Costrel, a flask, a kind of bottle. 'Costred, or costrelle, grete botelle, Onopherum, aristophorum'; Prompt. Parv.; see Way's note. 'A Costrelle, oneferum, &c., vbi a flakett'; Cath. Angl. p. 77; see Herrtage's note. See costa, costarez, costarium, costrelli, in Ducange; and coste, costeret, costerel, in Godefroy. In the Craven dialect, a costril is the little wooden barrel carried by reapers.

2671. 'Lest that the time may seem long to him.' Ovid alludes to the narcotic drink; Her. xiv. 42:--'quaeque tibi dederam uina, soporis erant.' Cf. Kn. Tale, 614 (A 1472).

2676. The line is too short in most MSS. Unless sone be supplied from MS. T., we shall have to scan the line by putting This (with a strong accent) alone in the first foot. Cf. l. 2711, and slur over the o in Lino before and.

2680. Cf. Her. xiv. 44:--'Erigor, et capio tela tremente manu.'

2681. Accent Zephírus on the i. From Her. xiv. 39:--

'Utque leui Zephyro graciles uibrantur aristae, frigida populeas ut quatit aura comas.'

2682. From Her. xiv. 34:--'Securumque quies alta per Argos erat.'

2683. 'Sanguis abit; mentemque calor corpusque reliquit'; Her. xiv. 37. And, in the next line--'frigida facta.'

2686. 'Ter male sublato decidit ense manus'; 46.

2690. From Her. xiv. 55, &c.:--

'Femina sum et uirgo, natura mitis et annis. Non faciunt molles ad fera tela manus.... Quid mihi cum ferro? Quo bellica tela puellae?'

2696. And me beshende, and bring myself to ruin, and perish. I know of only one other example of this rare word, viz. the example given by Murray from Cursor Mundi, l. 14838, where the Trinity MS. has: 'Allas! nu has he u bischent'; alas! now has he ruined you. But it is a perfectly legitimate compound from the M.E. shenden. All former editions give this line wrongly; they omit me, and read 'and be shende,' explained by 'and be destroyed.' Now, in the first place, this will not scan; and secondly, the idea of adding a final e to the pp. beshend (more correctly beshent) is a characteristic commentary on that ignorance of M.E. grammar which is only too common. Yet the final e must needs be added, for ende (in l. 2697) is essentially dissyllabic. Hence it follows, irresistibly, that shende is not a past participle; and we are driven to see that beshende is the infinitive mood of a compound verb.

2697. Nedes cost, by condition of necessity, i.e. necessarily; see Kn. Ta., 619 (A 1477), and the note.

2700. Supply he before hath; cf. note to l. 2630.

2705. Goter, gutter, channel for water. This is an addition. The original merely has (ll. 77, 78):--

'Quaerenti caussam, "Dum nox sinit, effuge," dixi; "dum nox atra sinit, tu fugis, ipsa moror."'

2708. Roggeth, shaketh. 'Roggyn, or mevyn, or scogghyn, rokkyn. Agito'; Prompt. Parv. See P. Plowman, B. xvi. 78; and ruggen in Stratmann. Cf. Icel. rugga, to rock a cradle. Prof. Napier tells me that the A.S. roccan, to rock, has been found in a gloss. Bell's edition has the singular and unauthorised reading jeggeth (sic).

2709. The rest of the story seems to be Chaucer's addition. Ovid merely has (ll. 83, 84):--

'Abstrahor a patriis pedibus; raptamque capillis (haec meruit pietas praemia) carcer habet.'

2710. Doon him bote, given him assistance.

2715. 'Her cruel father caused her to be seized,' lit. caused (men) to seize her.

2723. 'This tale is told for the following reason.' And here the MSS. break off, in the middle of the sentence.

NOTES TO THE TREATISE ON THE ASTROLABE.

The title 'Tractatus de Conclusionibus Astrolabii' is suggested by the wording of the colophon on p. 223. But a better title is, simply, 'Tractatus de Astrolabio,' or 'Treatise on the Astrolabe,' as the 'Conclusiones' only occupy the Second Part of the work; see p. 188. Indeed MS. F. has 'Tractatus Astrolabii'; see p. 233. MSS. B. and E. have the singular title--'Bred and mylk for childeren.'

PROLOGUE, l. 1. Lowis was at this time (1391) ten years old (see l. 18); he was therefore born in 1381, whence it is possible that his mother was the Cecilia de Chaumpaigne who, on May 1, 1380, released the poet from all liability de raptu meo. This is, of course, a mere conjecture. Probably Lowis died young, as nothing more is known concerning him.

5. philosofre; possibly Cicero. 'Haec igitur prima lex amicitiae sanciatur, ut ... amicorum causâ honesta faciamus'; Lælius, cap. xiii.

7. suffisaunt, sufficiently good. In the best instruments, the Almicanteras, or circles of altitude, were drawn at distances of one degree only; in less-carefully made instruments, they were drawn at distances of two degrees. The one given to his son by Chaucer was one of the latter; see