Part 111

578. i.e. till the end of all things.

585 ff. This vision of Nebuchadnezzar, which our author takes as his guide to universal history, is made the subject of illustration in those MSS. which have miniatures at or near the beginning of the Confessio Amantis.

618. Fel doun: cp. iii. 2492, ‘That have I herd the gospell seith.’

668. hol: see note on 683.

676. ‘And he kept himself in this condition undisturbed,’ the subject being supplied from l. 671, ‘Was in that kinges time tho.’ For omission of pronoun cp. Prol. 348, i. 1895, 2083, 2462, &c. However, the fall of the Empire took place not in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar but of Belshazzar (see l. 685).

683. Here and in 693 the best MSS. have ‘put’ for ‘putte,’ and this entire suppression of the inflexional syllable in cases where it is lost to the metre by elision is sufficiently well-attested to justify us in accepting it as an occasional practice of the author, both in the case of verbs and adjectives; cp. 668, 739, &c. It is especially common with this particular verb, e.g. i. 1578, 1807, 3213, ii. 93, 1021, &c., where ‘put’ is used for infinitive as well as for the preterite. Much more rarely in cases where there is no elision, as i. 732. On the other hand, we have ‘putte’ pret. before an elision, l. 1069, i. 2797, ‘pute’ inf. i. 462, iv. 1641.

702. In the marginal summary here F gives ‘Imparatoris,’ and sometimes in other places where the word is fully written, as i. 1417, ii. 593, 2506, 3201. However, ‘Imperator’ is also found in various places of the same MS., as vii. 2416, and the contracted form ‘Imꝑator’ has in this edition been written out so.

725. Of that honour which tok, i.e. ‘of such honour that he took.’

738. so vileins: a clear case of French plural of the adjective, used here for the sake of the rhyme.

739. fals: see notes on 221, 683.

745 ff. It is hardly necessary to point out that our author’s history is here incorrect. Charlemagne was not called in against the Emperor Leo, who died in the year before he was born, but against the Lombards by Adrian I, and then against the rebellious citizens of Rome by Leo III, on which latter occasion he received the imperial crown. The authority here followed is the Trésor of Brunetto Latini, pp. 84-88 (ed. 1863).

756. Of Rome and: cp. ll. 759, 766, and note on 155.

761. doth restore, i.e. ‘causeth to be restored.’

772 ff. Here again the story is historically inaccurate, but it is not worth while to set it straight.

786 ff. The meaning seems to be, ‘But this after all is what we might expect, for prosperity (they say) seldom endures.’

795. hath no felawe ‘hath no supporter or champion’: cp. Praise of Peace, 266, ‘And in this wise hath charite no brother.’

809. The punctuation follows F.

823. expondeth. This form occurs also in ll. 663, 873, as a reading of F. The French terminations ‘-on,’ ‘-oun,’ had the same sound and rhymed together, and the same is true of ‘-ance,’ ‘-aunce.’ Probably on the same principle therefore ‘expondeth’ may stand for ‘expoundeth,’ and rhyme with ‘foundeth’: cp. viii. 235 f. On the other hand, in i. 2867 we have expounde, founde. It maybe noted that ‘exponde’ is the form used in the French works, e.g. Mir. 22192, Trait. xi. 20, where it rhymes with Rosemonde, responde, immonde. As a rule in the Mirour this class of words is given without ‘u,’ but in one stanza we have ‘responde,’ ‘monde,’ ‘blounde’ in rhyme together, 8681 ff.

836. Cit: this is the true reading; the word occurs also Mir. 7197.

843. now with that beforn, ‘the present with the past,’ ‘now’ being used as a substantive.

850. the sothe seie: this is the reading of the third recension; the others have ‘the soth schal seie.’ Either text is admissible, for ‘soth’ is used as a substantive, but ‘the sothe’ is usually preferred, as in l. 834, and i. 981, iii. 765.

858. Cp. ii. 3490.

881. writ: syncopated present, ‘writeth.’ The reference is to 1 Cor. x. 11.

891. Statue: a dissyllable in Gower and Chaucer (equivalent to ‘statwe’), and here reduced to one syllable by elision: cp. Cant. Tales, A. 975. The longer form ‘stature’ occurs vi. 1524.

900. these clerkes: demonstrative for definite article, as in French; cp. i. 608, and see note on Mir. 301.

905. See l. 965. Perhaps here ‘cause of’ means ‘because of,’ as ‘whos cause’ for ‘because of which’ 1040; but I suspect rather an inversion of order, for ‘Man is cause of al this wo.’

907. that in tokne, cp. 122.

910 ff. This matter of the corruption of all creation through man’s fall is discussed at length both in the Mirour, 26605 ff., and in the Vox Clamantis, vii. 509 ff.