Part 140

1040. Cp. Prol. 118.

1043 ff. The sentence is interrupted and then begun again at l. 1051: see note on i. 98.

1063. That he, i.e. ‘In that he.’ Gower has here mistaken his authority, which says ‘post autem eum propter Tyndarei Lacedaemonii filium a Jove fulmine percussum interiisse narrant.’ Vita Barl. et Jos. xxvii.

1071. Delphi and Delos are very naturally confused in the medieval Tale of Troy and elsewhere; but Delos is mentioned correctly enough below, 1256.

1097. no reason inne: cp. i. 3209.

1163. Philerem, presumably Philyra, but there is no authority for making her the mother of Jupiter.

1249. that: cp. 899. Apparently it means, ‘that Diane of whom I am to speak.’ The necessities of rhyme are responsible for these forms of speech.

1276. ‘Which may not attain to reason.’

1323. The paragraph is made to begin here in the MSS. with what is, strictly speaking, its second line, because it is marked by a proper name which indicates its subject, the first line being a mere formal introduction. So also below, 1453: cp. ii. 2451.

1337. The name ‘Dorus’ seems to have been suggested by that of Doris, mother of the Nereids.

1389. alle danger, that is, all reluctance or coyness.

1397. Armene, i.e. Harmonia.

1398. Andragene Androgynus or Hermaphroditus.

1428. noght forsake To ben, i.e. ‘not refuse to be.’

1449. ‘whether it was of weal or wo’; ‘wher’ for ‘whether.’

1453. See note on 1323.

As for the letters said to have been exchanged between Alexander and the king of the Bragmans (or Brahmins), we find them at length in the Historia Alexandri Magni de Preliis, which was the source of most of the current stories about Alexander. The passage referred to is as follows: ‘Tot deos colis quot in tuo corpore membra portas. Nam hominem dicis paruum mundum, et sicut corpus hominis habet multa membra, ita et in celo dicis multos deos existere. Iunonem credis esse deum cordis, eo quod iracundia nimia mouebatur. Martem vero deum pectoris esse dicis, eo quod princeps extitit preliorum. Mercurium deum lingue vocas, ex eo quod plurimum loquebatur. Herculem deum credis brachiorum, eo quod duodecim virtutes exercuit preliando. Bachum deum gutturis esse putas, eo quod ebrietatem primus inuenit. Cupidinem esse deam dicis, eo quod fornicatrix extitit; tenere dicis facem ardentem, cum qua libidinem excitat et accendit, et ipsam deam iecoris etiam existimas. Cererem deam ventris esse dicis, et Venerem, eo quod fuit mater luxurie, deam genitalium membrorum esse profers’ (e 2, ed. Argent. 1489).

Cp. the English alliterative Wars of Alexander, E.E.T.S., 1886, ll. 4494 ff. There is no mention of Minerva in either of these.

1520 ff. The usual account is to the effect that Ninus set up the first idol: see below, 1541. What we have here seems to be taken from Fulgentius, Mythol. ii. 9, where the authorities here cited, Nicagoras and Petronius, are quoted. The passage is apparently corrupt, and our author obviously did not quite understand it: ‘Et quamvis Nicagoras in Disthemithea libro quem scripsit, primum illum formasse idolum referat, et quod vulturi iecur praebeat livoris quasi pingat imaginem: unde et Petronius Arbiter ait,

“Qui vultur iecor intimum pererrat”’ &c.

From the same author, Mythol. i. 1, he got the story about Syrophanes, who set up an image of his dead son, to which offerings were made by those who wished to gain his favour.

1541. Cp. Godfr. Vit., Panth. iv. (p. 102), whose account agrees very nearly with what we have here, though he represents this image as the first example of an idol, under the heading, ‘Quare primum idolum in mundo et quo tempore fuit.’ Cp. Guido, Hist. Troiana, lib. x (e 5, ed. Argent. 1494).

1559. Godf. Vit, Panth. iv. (p. 112): ‘His temporibus apud Egyptios constructum est idolum magnum in honorem Apis, Regis Argivorum; quidam tamen dicunt in honorem Ioseph, qui liberavit eos a fame; quod idolum Serapis vocabatur, quasi idolum Apis.’

1571 ff. Hist. Alexandri, f 1 v^o, ed. Argent. 1489: ‘Exiens inde Alexander cum Candeolo profecti sunt iter diei vnius, et venerunt ad quandam speluncam magnam et hospitati sunt ibi. Dixitque Candeolus, “Omnes dii concilium in ista spelunca concelebrant.” Cum hoc audisset Alexander, statim fecit victimas diis suis, et ingressus in speluncam solus vidit ibi caligines maximasque nubes stellasque lucentes, et inter ipsas stellas quendam deum maximum,’ &c.

Cp. the English alliterative Wars of Alexander, ll. 5387 ff.

1624. herd me seid: see note on i. 3153.

1636. There is a stop after ‘Forbad’ in F. The meaning is that he gave a prohibition commanding them not to bow to an image.

1677. Riht as who sette: the verb apparently is subjunctive.