Part 125

2430. tant ne quant: so Mirour de l’omme, 3654, 23358.

2437. A man to ben, cp. vi. 57.

2447. in a wayt: so given by the best copies, cp. 2999, but ‘upon await’ iii. 955, 1016.

2451 ff. In the MSS. the paragraph is marked as beginning with the next line, ‘At Troie how that,’ the line before being insignificant. As to the first story referred to in the text, Gower may have known it from Hyginus (Fab. cvi), or from Ovid, Her. Ep. iii. The example of Diomede and Troilus had been popularized by Chaucer, who had the name ‘Criseide’ from Boccaccio’s ‘Griseida.’ In Benoît and Guido the name is ‘Briseida,’ but Boccaccio was aware that Briseis was a different person (Gen. Deorum, xii. 52).

2459 ff. The name Geta was taken by Gower from the Geta of Vitalis Blesensis, a dramatic piece in Latin elegiacs founded on Plautus, in which Geta takes the place of Sosia: see Wright’s Early Mysteries, &c., pp. 79-90. It may be suspected that our author himself modified the story in order to make it more suitable for his purpose by substituting a mortal friend for Jupiter. We may note that he has also reversed the part played by Amphitryon.

2501 ff. I cannot indicate the source of this tale.

2537. As thei. The sense seems to require this reading, which is found however in only two MSS., so far as I know, and those not the best. It appears as a correction in Berthelet’s second edition.

2550. which that him beclipte. Either this means ‘who was encompassing him,’ that is pressing upon his borders, referring to the Caliph of Egypt, or ‘which encircled his territory,’ referring to what follows, ‘in a Marche costeiant.’ In the latter case we should have a very bold inversion of clauses for the sake of rhyme, but hardly more so than in 709 ff.

2558. unto Kaire. It is evident that the author conceives this as the capital not of Egypt but of Persia: cp. 2648.

2578. hair. The form of the word is accommodated to the rhyme: so iv. 1252.

2642. Upon hire oth &c., inverted order, ‘how it was a token that she should be his wife upon her oath,’ i.e. in accordance with her oath.

2670. The same line occurs also i. 2106, ii. 895.

2680. tome, i.e. ‘leisure,’ ‘opportunity,’ from the adjective ‘tom,’ empty. The reading ‘come’ is due probably to the misunderstanding of a rather unusual word, but the rhyme ‘Rome: come’ (past partic.) is not an admissible one (cp. K. Fahrenburg in Archiv für neuere Sprachen, vol. 89, p. 406, who of course is not aware of the corruption).

2803. The account of Boniface VIII which was most current in England is that which we find given in Rishanger’s Chronicle and repeated by Higden and Walsingham. It is as follows, under the year 1294:--

Papa cedit.

‘Coelestinus Papa se minus sufficientem ad regendam Ecclesiam sentiens, de consilio Benedicti Gaietani cessit Papatui, edita prius constitutione super cessione Pontificum Romanorum.

Supplantatio Papae.

‘In vigilia Natalis Domini apud Neapolim in Papam eligitur Benedictus Gaietanus.... De quo praedecessor eius Coelestinus, vir vitae anachoriticae, eo quod eum ad cedendum Papatui subdole induxisset, prophetavit in hunc modum, prout fertur: “Ascendisti ut vulpes, regnabis ut leo, morieris ut canis.” Et ita sane contigit; nam ipsum Papam ut Papatui cederet et ut Papa quilibet cedere posset, constitutionem edere fecit; quam quidem postmodum ipsemet Papa effectus revocavit. Deinde rigide regens generosos quosdam de Columpna Cardinales deposuit; Regi Francorum in multis non solum obstitit, sed eum totis viribus deponere insudavit. Igitur Senescallus Franciae, Willelmus de Longareto, vir quidem in agibilibus admodum circumspectus, et fratres de Columpna praedicti, foederatis viribus Bonifacium Papam comprehenderunt et in equum effrenem, versa facie ad caudam, sine freno posuerunt; quem sic discurrere ad novissimum halitum coegerunt, ac tandem fame necaverunt.’

It remains to be asked where Gower found the story of the speaking-trumpet by means of which Celestin was moved to his abdication, why he supposed that the capture of Boniface took place near Avignon, and whence came such additional details as we have in l. 3028.

As to the first, it was certainly a current story, because we find it repeated by later writers, as Paulus Langius, Chron. Citiz., ann. 1294, ‘Per fistulam etiam frequentius noctu in cubili per parietem missam, velut coelica vox esset, loquebatur ei: “Celestine, Celestine, renuncia papatui, quia aliter saluari non poteris, nam vires tuas excedit.”’

As to the death of Boniface, it was commonly reported that he had been starved in prison, the fact being that after the episode of his captivity he refused to take food, and the biting of his hands was observed as a symptom of extreme vexation, ‘saepe caput muro concussit et digitos momordit,’ ‘per plures dies ira feruidus manus sibi arrodere videbatur,’ &c. Ciacon. Vita Pont. p. 655.

2837 f. cp. Prol. 329.

2875. of such prolacioun,’with so prolonged a note.’

2889. hedde: cp. v. 1254.

2966. Lowyz. This of course is a mistake historically.

2985. And seiden. For omission of pronoun cp. i. 1895.

2995. de Langharet. We find this form of the name, or something equivalent, in the English Chronicles quoted, and also in Villani. The true name was apparently ‘de Nogaret.’

3001. at Avinoun. This is quite unhistorical, and the precise mention of ‘Pontsorge’ (or as our author first wrote it, ‘Poursorge’) seems to point to the use of some particular form of the story, which cannot at present be indicated.