BOOK I

.

METRE 1. In order to elucidate the English text, I frequently quote the original Latin, usually from the text of T. Obbarius, Jena, 1843. See further in the Introduction.

3. _rendinge_, Lat. 'lacerae'; rather rent, or tattered. The sense 'rending' occurs in Ovid, Met. viii. 880.

6. _that is to seyn._ The words in italics are not in the original, but were added by Chaucer as explanatory. Throughout the treatise, I print all such passages in italics.

8. _werdes_, 'weirds,' fate.

'Gloria felicis olim uiridisque iuuentae Solantur maesti nunc mea fata senis.'

12. _slake_, better _slakke_; cf. Cant. Ta. E. 1849. _empted_, 'effeto.' MS. C. has _emty_.

13. _in yeres ... swete_: 'dulcibus annis.'

14. _y-cleped_, invoked; 'uocata,' sc. 'mors.' Cf. Troilus, iv. 503.

16. _naiteth_, refuseth; 'negat.' Icel. _neita_, to say nay.

17. _lighte_, i.e. transitory; 'leuibus ... bonis.' The gloss 'sc. temporels' (in A) gives the right sense. _sc._ = scilicet, namely; the form _temporels_ is the French plural.

18, 19. _But now_:

'Nunc quia fallacem mutauit nubila uultum, Protrahit ingratas impia uita moras.'

The translation _unagreable dwellinges_ is an unhappy one.

22. _in stedefast degree_, in a secure position; 'stabili ... gradu.'

With regard to the last sentence, Mr. Stewart remarks, in his essay on Boethius, that Chaucer here 'actually reproduces the original Latin metre,' i.e. a hexameter and pentameter. The true M. E. pronunciation must, for this purpose, be entirely neglected; which amounts to saying that Chaucer must have been profoundly unconscious of any such intention.

PROSE 1. 2. _and markede_: 'querimoniamque lacrimabilem stili officio designarem.' Hence _markede_ is 'wrote down'; and _pointel_ refers to the _stilus_. Cf. Som. Tale, D 1742. _with office_, by the use (of).

6. _empted_, exhausted; 'inexhausti uigoris.' Of course the woman here described is _Philosophia_.

9. _doutous_; 'statura discretionis ambiguae.'

12. _heef_, heaved; A. S. _h[=o]f_. In Layamon, _hof_, _haf_, _heaf_. I put _heef_ for _hef_, because the _e_ is long.

13. _so that_: 'respicientiumque hominum frustrabatur intuitum.'

14. _delye_ (so in both MSS.) = _deli-[=e]_, O. F. _deliè_ (see Cotgrave), delicate, thin, slender, from Lat. _delicatus_, with the usual loss of _c_ between two vowels and before the accented syllable; Lat. 'tenuissimis filis.'

After _crafte_ it would have been better to insert _and_; Lat. 'indissolubili_que_ materiâ.' But some MSS., including C., omit _que_.

18. _as it is wont_: 'ueluti fumosas imagines solet.'

21. _a Grekissh P_; i.e. [PI]. _a Grekissh T_; i.e. [THETA], not [TAU]; the Greek [theta] being pronounced as _t_ in Latin. The reference is to [Greek: philosophia praktikê kai theôrêtikê]; in Latin, Philosophia Actiua et Contemplatiua; i. e. Practical (or Active) and Theoretical (or Contemplative) Philosophy. This is the same distinction as that between the _Vita Actiua_ and _Vita Contemplatiua_, so common in medieval literature; see note (3) to the Sec. Non. Tale, G 87; and note to P. Plowman, B. vi. 251.

26. _corven_, cut, cut away pieces from; Lat. 'sciderant.'

33. _cruel_, i. e. stern; 'toruis.'

34. _thise comune_: 'has scenicas meretriculas.'

39. _no-thing fructefyinge_; 'infructuosis.' Hence we may perhaps prefer to read _no-thing fructuous_, as in Caxton and Thynne.

41. _holden_: 'hominumque mentes assuefaciunt morbo, non liberant.'

45. _for-why_, because (very common); seldom interrogative.

47. _me_, from me; and, in fact, Caxton and Thynne read _from me_ or _fro me_. The forms _Eleaticis_, &c. are due to the Lat. text--'Eleaticis atque Academicis studiis.' He should rather have said--'scoles of Elea and of the Academie.' The _Eleatici philosophi_ were the followers of Zeno of Elea (Zeno Eleates, born about B. C. 488 at Elea (Velia) in Italy), and the favourite disciple of Parmenides (who is expressly mentioned in