Part 128

Cp. i. 722.

The expression ‘that word schal me nevere asterte’ is a more ordinary one (and therefore more likely to have been introduced by a copyist), but it gives no satisfactory sense here.

641 ff. The story was a hackneyed one, and occurs in many places. It is shortly told by Jerome, Adv. Jovin. i. 48.

665. what labour that sche toke. The verb is subjunctive, either because the form of speech is indirect, cp. 708, or because the expression is indefinite.

699. Cp. Mirour, 4185 ff., where after telling the same story the author roundly declares that he shall not follow the example.

704. Him oghte ... bere: cp. 544, 1666.

708. how that it stode: subjunctive of indirect speech, under rhyme influence: cp. ii. 1243 and l. 771 below, and see note on Prol. 41.

736. Met. iii. 316 ff. We have here the rest of the story which was referred to above, 361 ff. The point of the incident as told by Ovid is (perhaps purposely) missed by Gower, who does not mention the reason why Tiresias was selected as judge.

737. That is, according to the religious belief which then prevailed.

762. ‘And yet the other state would have pleased him better, to have had’ &c.

771. what he mene: for the subjunctive cp. 708.

782. of olde ensample: for ‘olde’ in this expression cp. 1683; but ‘of old time,’ i. 1072, ‘an old ensample,’ iv. 75.

783. This is from Ovid, Met. ii. 542 ff. The Cornide of Gower’s story is Coronis. The story is told at greater length by Chaucer as the Manciple’s Tale.

818 ff. From Ovid, Fasti, ii. 585 ff.

889. fals: see note on Prol. 221.

918. F alone gives ‘overmor,’ but it is probably what the author intended, though his first editions had the common variation ‘evermor.’ S is here defective.

957. sleth, ‘strikes.’

971. who so rede: subjunctive because indefinite; cp. 2508 and note on Prol. 460.

973 ff. This story may be found in Benoît’s Roman de Troie, 27551 ff. and in Guido, lib. 32 (n 3 v^o, ed. Argent.). We must note however that for the classical Nauplius we find in Gower ‘Namplus,’ whereas in Benoît and Guido both it is ‘Naulus’: therefore it would seem that our author had before him also some other form of the story, where he found the name ‘Nauplius’ or ‘Nauplus,’ which he read ‘Nanplus’ or ‘Namplus.’ Perhaps this may have been Hyginus, Fab. cxvi. Elsewhere Gower usually follows Benoît rather than Guido, but here several expressions occur which seem to be suggested by Guido’s form of the story: see notes on 1030 and 1063. Also Gower says nothing of the incident of rocks being hurled down on the Greeks (Rom. de Troie, 27795 ff.), which is also omitted by Guido.

1002. The name which appears here and in the Latin margin as ‘Namplus,’ with no important variation of reading, is quite clearly ‘Nauplus’ in iv. 1816 ff.

1021. Homward, i.e. going towards home: cp. 2451.

1030 f. Hist. Troiana, n 4, ‘qui necesse habebant per confinia regni sui transire.’

1036. it sihe, ‘might see it.’

1049. ten or twelve. Guido says two hundred. Benoît does not specify the number of ships, but says that ten thousand men were lost. Gower has judiciously reduced the number.

1063. Cp. Hist. Troiana, n 4 v^o, ‘fugiunt et se immittunt in pelagus spaciosum.’

1065. ‘what’ for ‘war,’ which appears in the unrevised form of the first recension, must be an error of the original scribe: on the other hand, ‘tyme’ for ‘dai’ proceeded no doubt originally from the author and was altered in order to make the verse run more smoothly.

Latin Verses. iv. 1. et sit spiritus eius Naribus: a reference to Isaiah ii. 22, ‘Quiescite ergo ab homine, cuius spiritus in naribus eius est.’ The same passage is quoted in Mirour, 4754, and it is evident there that the ‘breath in the nostrils’ was understood by our author to stand for fury of anger.

1113. war hem wel, ‘let them beware.’