Part 130

1685 ff. Ovid, Met. i. 453-567. Gower cuts the story short.

1701. Ovid, Met. i. 470,

‘Quod facit auratum est et cuspide fulget acuta.’

(Merkel alters ‘auratum’ to ‘hamatum,’ but this is certainly wrong.)

1704. Note that the final syllable of ‘Daphne’ is subject to elision here and in 1716: so ‘Progne’ v. 5574, &c.

1718 ff. The suggestion is Gower’s own, as in other similar cases, e.g. i. 2355.

1743. ‘And it is to be desired that a man,’ &c.

1757 ff. This story is chiefly from Benoît, Roman de Troie, 28025 ff. Guido omits many details which are given by Gower. Note that in l. 28025, where Joly’s edition has ‘Samas,’ Guido and Gower both have ‘Athemas.’ Our author has treated his materials freely and tells the story at greater length. The speech which he assigns to Nestor is for the most part original.

1885 ff. The tale of Orestes is from Benoît de Sainte-More, Rom. de Troie, 27925-27990, 28155-28283, and 28339-28402. Guido omits the visit of Orestes to Athens to obtain help for his expedition, the portion of the oracle which bad him tear away his mother’s breasts, and the name of Menetius (or Menesteus), who defended Orestes, and Gower’s details are in general more in accordance with those of Benoît. A few exceptions may be found, however. For example, Gower says that Agamemnon was murdered as he lay in bed (1915), Guido, ‘dum suo soporatus dormiret in lecto,’ but Benoît only, ‘L’ont la premiere nuit ocis.’ Again, Guido calls Idomeneus ‘consanguineum eius,’ and Gower says, ‘So as he was of his lignage,’ of which Benoît says nothing. No doubt Gower was acquainted with both, and preferred the French because he perceived it to be better.

1911. ‘To set her love in place where it cannot be secure.’

2022 f. Cropheon ... Phoieus. The names are given as ‘Trofion’ and ‘Florentes’ by Benoît (Joly’s text), ‘Troiesem’ (‘Croeze’ MS.) and ‘Forensis’ by Guido. They are originally derived from a misunderstanding of a passage in Dictys, Bell. Troi. vi. 3, ‘armatus cum praedicta manu ad Strophium venit: is namque Phocensis, cuius filia,’ &c.

2055 ff. This speech is introduced by Gower.

2112 f.

‘Li un dient qu’il a fet dreit, Et li autre que non aveit.’

Rom. de Troie, 28275.

2145. Menesteüs. This is a more correct form of the name than the ‘Menetius,’ which we have in Joly’s text of Benoît.

2148. of the goddes bede. Here we perhaps have Guido rather than Benoît.

2173. Egiona. The name is properly Erigona, and so it is given by Benoît. The moralization on her fate, 2183 ff., is due to our author, and it is rather out of place, considering the circumstances of the story.

2346. the trew man. In F we have ‘trew,’ altered apparently from ‘trewe,’ which is the usual and the more correct form: ‘the trew man to the plowh’ means the labourer who truly serves the plough.

2358. This is simply a repetition of 2355, ‘thei stonde of on acord.’ ‘As of corage’ means as regards their feeling or inclination: for this use of ‘as’ cp. Prol. 492, i. 557, &c.

2363 ff. A very common story, found shortly in Augustine, Civ. Dei, iv. 4, and repeated in the Gesta Romanorum and many other books. Gower has expanded it after his own fashion.

2424 f. ‘that men set their hearts to make gain by such wrong doing.’

2451. homward, i.e. ‘going homeward.’ The word included something of a verbal sense, as we see in i. 938, iii. 1021: so also ‘toward’ in l. 2643.

2458. the world mistimed. The verb ‘mistime’ means properly ‘to happen amiss,’ with the suggestion that it is by the fault of the person concerned. Gower uses it here transitively for ‘to manage amiss,’ while in vi. 4 ‘was mystymed’ means ‘came unhappily about.’

2508. what man ... rede: for the subjunctive see note on Prol. 460.

2536. ‘Hardly have any fear’: see note on ii. 2124.

2555. Acastus was king of Iolcos. He purified Peleus, as some say of the murder of Eurytion, but according to others of that of Phocus: cp. Bocc. Gen. Deorum, xii. 50, ‘ad Magnetas abiit, ubi ab Achasto fraterna caede purgatus est.’

2563 f. Alcmaeon, son of Amphiaraus, was purified by Achelous, whom our author here takes for a priest.