Part 113

98 ff. The construction is broken off, and then resumed in a new form: cp. i. 2948, iii. 1595, 2610, iv. 3201, v. 1043, 1339, &c.

116. other: this must be regarded as a legitimate plural form beside ‘othre’: cp. iv. 1183, and see Morsbach, Schriftsprache, p. 23. On the other hand, ‘othre’ is sometimes used as singular, e.g. l. 481, ii. 283.

178. Mi world, i.e. ‘my fortune’: cp. Prol. 383.

196. The idea of ‘Genius’ is taken from the Roman de la Rose, where Genius is the priest of Nature, ‘Qui célébroit en sa chapelle,’ and she confesses to him, 16487 ff. (ed. Méon).

205. Benedicite: the regular beginning of a confessor’s address to his penitent.

213. Cp. Rom. de la Rose, 16927 f. (of Nature confessing to Genius),

‘Qui dit par grant dévocion En plorant sa confession.’

225. my schrifte oppose, ‘question me as to my confession,’ cp. the use of ‘opponere’ in the margin here and 299, 708, &c.

232. tome. This is Gower’s usual form of combination where the accent is to be thrown on the preposition. We have also ‘byme,’ ii. 2016, &c., tome, l. 294, ii. 3160, &c., ‘untome,’ iii. 99, ‘tothe,’ iv. 1875. In such cases, as is seen below, l. 294, the final syllable becomes weak and subject to elision.

279. remene, ‘bring back,’ from Fr. ‘remener’: cp. ‘demenen.’

299 ff. See note on Mir. 16597.

320. The punctuation is here determined by that of F, which has a stop after ‘love.’ Otherwise the meaning might be, ‘And doth great mischief to love,’ the conjunction being transposed, as often.

333 ff. The story is from Ovid, Metam. iii. 138 ff.

350. cam ride. For this use of the infin. see New Engl. Dict., ‘come,’ B. i. 3. f.: so ‘thei comen ryde,’ iv. 1307.

367. For the use of ‘hire’ as a dissyllable in the verse, cp. 872, 1667: on the other hand, 884, 887, 939, 1673, &c.

383. That is, if a man gave heed to the matter, he would see that it was, &c.: cp. Prol. 460.

389. Ovid, Metam. iv. 772 ff. This, however, is not Gower’s only authority, for he mentions details, as for example the names of Medusa’s sisters, which are not given by Ovid. The confusion which we find here between the Graeae and the Gorgons appears in Boccaccio, De Gen. Deorum, x. 10, which possibly our author may have seen; but I suspect he had some other authority. The names which Gower gives as Stellibon and Suriale are properly Stheno (Stennio in Boccaccio) and Euryale.

422. Mercurie: see note on Prol. 323. Mercury’s sword is not mentioned either by Ovid or Boccaccio.

431. gan enbrace, ‘placed on his arm’; see the quotations in New Engl. Dict. under ‘embrace v. 1,’ e.g. K. Alis. 6651, ‘His scheld enbraceth Antiocus.’

452. To tarie with, ‘with which to vex’: cp. i. 2172, ii. 283, 1081, v. 925, &c., and Cant. Tales, F 471, ‘To hele with youre hurtes hastily.’

463 ff. Cp. Mirour, 15253. The legend is founded upon Psalm lviii. 4 f. (Vulg. lvii. 5 f.), ‘Furor illis secundum similitudinem serpentis; sicut aspidis surdae et obturantis aures suas, quae non exaudiet vocem incantantium,’ &c. (Hence the genitive form ‘Aspidis’ in our author.) The moral application is connected with the Gospel precept, ‘Be ye wise as serpents,’ to which reference is made in the Mirour. The serpent’s method of stopping his ears was perhaps first suggested by Augustine, In Ps. lvii, who is followed by Isid. Etym. xii. 4, but there is nothing in these authorities about the carbuncle. The authority for this is perhaps the Trésor, p. 191.

481. an othre thing: for ‘othre’ cp. i. 1496, ii. 511.

who that recordeth, ‘if a man calls it to mind’: see note on Prol. 13.

483. tale of Troie, i.e. Guido di Colonna, Hist. Troiana, lib. 32 (o2, ed. Argent. 1494), which is here followed. Benoît mentions the Sirens, but does not describe their form nor state that Ulysses stopped his men’s ears.

492 ff. This manner of piling up consecutive clauses is observable in the author’s French style, and the use of relatives like ‘wherof,’ ‘which’ (l. 771) to introduce them is parallel to that of ‘Dont,’ ‘Par quoy,’ &c. in the French: e.g. Mir. 219 ff.,

‘Et tant luy fist plesant desport, Dont il fuist tant enamouré, Que sur sa fille,’ &c.

Cp. Mir. 681.

527. ‘plus quam mille ex eis interfecimus,’ Guido, Hist. Troi., lib. 32.