Book VI
: [Greek: tên apseudeian ... misein, tên d' alêtheian stergein] (485 C).
120. _preisen_, appraise, judge of: 'aestimandum.'
131. _Canius_, better _Canus_, i.e. 'Julius Canus, whose philosophic death is described by Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, cap. xiv.'--Gibbon. He has already been mentioned above, Prose iii. l. 40.
132. _Germeynes sone_, the son of Germanicus. This Gaius Cæsar is better known as Caligula, the emperor who succeeded Tiberius.
143. _famileres_, friends, i.e. disciples, viz. Epicurus, in the De Ira Divina, cap. xiii (Stewart).
154. _Verone_, Verona; next to Ravenna, the favourite residence of Theodoric.
156. _his real maiestee_, high treason, lit. 'his royal majesty'; Lat. 'maiestatis crimen.' The king was intent upon repressing all freedom of speech.
167. _submittede_, subdued: 'summitteret.'
171. _present_, i.e. he would, even in such a case, have been allowed to appear in his defence, would have been called upon to confess his crime, and would have been condemned in a regular manner.
173. _fyve hundred_, nearly 500 miles. Boethius was imprisoned in a tower at Pavia.
176. _as who seith, nay_; i.e. it is said ironically. The senate well deserve that no one should ever defend them as I did, and be convicted for it.
181. _sacrilege_; glossed _sorcerie_: 'sacrilegio.' Sorcery or magic is intended. 'At the command of the barbarians, the occult science of a philosopher was stigmatised with the names of sacrilege and magic.'--Gibbon. See below, l. 196.
186. _Pictagoras_, Pythagoras. The saying here attributed to him is given in the original in Greek--[Greek: hepou theô]. Some MSS. add the gloss, _i. deo non diis seruiendum_. MS. C. has: _deo et non diis sacrificandum_.
188. _I_, i. e. for me. A remarkable grammatical use.
190. _right clene_: 'penetral innocens domus.'
193. _thorugh_, i. e. for. Caxton and Thynne read _for_.
195. _feith_: 'de te tanti criminis fidem capiunt.'
198. _it suffiseth nat only ... but-yif_, this alone is insufficient ... unless thou also, &c. _of thy free wille_: 'ultro.'
212. _good gessinge_, high esteem: 'existimatio bona.'
215. _charge_, burden, load: 'sarcinam.'
219. _by gessinge_, in men's esteem: 'existimatione.'
223. _for drede_: 'nostri discriminis terrore.'
METRE 5. 1. _whele_, sphere: 'orbis.' Not only were there seven spheres allotted to the planets, but there was an eighth larger sphere, called the sphere of fixed stars, and a ninth 'sphere of first motion,' or _primum mobile_, which revolved round the earth once in 24 hours, according to the Ptolemaic astronomy. This is here alluded to. God is supposed to sit in an immoveable throne beyond it.
3. _sweigh_, violent motion; the very word used in the same connexion in the Man of Lawes Tale, B 296; see note to that passage.
4. _ful hornes_, i. e. her horns filled up, as at full moon, when she meets 'with alle the bemes' of the Sun, i. e. reflects them fully.
7. _derke hornes_, horns faintly shining, as when the moon, a thin crescent, is near the sun and nearly all obscured.
'The bente mone with hir hornes pale;' Troil. iii. 624.
9. _cometh eft ayein hir used cours_, returns towards her accustomed course, i. e. appears again, as usual, as a morning-star, in due course. I think the text is incorrect; for _cometh_ read _torneth_, i. e. turns. Lat. text: 'Solitas iterum mutet habenas.' The planet Venus, towards one apparent extremity of her orbit, follows the sun, as an evening-star; and again, towards the other apparent extremity, precedes it as a morning-star. So Cicero, De Nat. Deorum, ii. 20. 53: 'dicitur Lucifer, cum antegreditur solem, cum subsequitur autem, Hesperus.'
11. _restreinest_, shortenest; the sun's apparent course being shorter in winter. Lat. 'stringis.'
13. _swifte tydes_, short times; viz. of the summer nights.
19. _Arcturus_, [alpha] Boötis, in the sign Libra; conspicuous in the nights of spring.
20. _Sirius_, [alpha] Canis Maioris, or the Dog-star, in the sign of Cancer; seen before sun-rise in the so-called dog-days, in July and August. It was supposed that the near approach of Sirius to the Sun caused great heat.
21. _his lawe_, i.e. '_its_ law'; and so again in _his propre_.
28. _on._ Caxton and Thynne rightly read _on_.
29. _derke derknesses_, obscure darkness: 'obscuris ... tenebris.' Not a happy expression.
31. _covered and kembd_: 'compta.' Cf. _kembde_ in Squi. Ta. F 560.
37. _erthes_, lands; the pl. is used, to translate 'terras.'
41. _bonde_, i.e. the chain of love; see Bk. ii. Met. 8. l. 15.
PROSE 5. 1. _borken out_, barked out; 'delatraui.' MS. A. changes _borken_ into _broken_. The glossaries, &c., all seem to miss this excellent example of the strong pp. of _berken_. _Borken_ appears as a pt. t. pl. in the King of Tars, l. 400. The A.S. pp. _borcen_ appears in the A.S. Leechdoms, ed. Cockayne, i. 170, l. 17.
14. _oo ... king._ The original is in Greek--[Greek: heis koiranos estin, heis basileus]: quoted from Homer, Iliad, ii. 204, with the change from [Greek: estô] to [Greek: estin].
18, 19. _thy citee_, i.e. the city of heaven; note the context.
22. _palis_, paling, rampart; 'uallo.' Clearer than _paleis_, as in A, which might mean palace; but both spellings occur in French.
25. _face_ (facies), the look of this prison.
31. _in comune good_, for the common good: 'in commune bonum.'
34. _thinges ... aposed_, accusations; 'delatorum.'
45. _thy wode Muse_: 'Musae saeuientis'; cf. Met. 5 above, l. 22.
51. _thilke passiouns_: 'ut quae in tumorem perturbationibus influentibus induruerunt.'
54. _by an esier touchinge_ refers to the preceding _mowen ... softe_: 'tactu blandiore mollescant.'
METRE 6. This Metre refers to the necessity of doing everything in its proper season.
2. 'When the sun is in Cancer'; i.e. in the month of June.
4. _lat him gon_, let him go and eat acorns.
6. _whan the feld_: 'Cùm saeuis Aquilonibus Stridens campus inhorruit.' _Chirkinge_, hoarse, rustling; alluding to the rustling of frozen grass in a high wind.
15. _And forthy_: 'Sic quod praecipiti uiâ Certum deserit ordinem, Laetos non habet exitus.'
PROSE 6. 10. _by fortunous fortune_: 'fortuitis casibus.' Not well expressed.
14. _the same ... thou_, thou didst sing the same thing. See Met. v. 22.
17. _owh!_ an exclamation of astonishment: Lat. 'papae.'
18. _why that thou_: 'cur in tam salubri sententiâ locatus aegrotes.'
20. _I not ... what_: 'nescio, quid abesse coniecto.'
22. _with whiche governailes_, by what sort of government.
28. _the strengthe_, the strength of the gaping stockade discloses an opening: 'uelut hiante ualli robore.' The corruption of _chyning_ to _schynyng_ in MS. A. makes sad nonsense of the passage.
42. _they may nat al_: 'sibique totum extirpare non possint.'
55. _or elles the entree_: 'uel aditum reconciliandae sospitatis inueni.'
56. _For-why, for_, Because, since. _for-thy_, therefore.
64. _the auctor ... of hele_: 'sospitatis auctori.'
65. _norisshinges_; perhaps better _norisshing_, as in Caxton and Thynne; 'fomitem,' i. e. furtherance.
71. _faster_, firmer, stronger: 'firmioribus.'
76. _to maken thinne and wayk_: 'attenuare.'
77. _meneliche_, moderate: 'mediocribus.'
METRE 7. 1. _yeten a-doun_, pour down; 'fundere.' Not _geten_, as in A.
2. _trouble_, turbid; 'Turbidus Auster.'
3. _medleth the hete_: 'Misceat aestum.' See above, Met. iv. l. 5.
5. _clere as glas_; cf. Knight's Tale, A 1958.
_withstande_: 'Mox resoluto Sordida caeno, Visibus obstat.'
7. _royleth_, wanders; 'uagatur.' Not 'rolls.'
11. _holden_, keep to; cf. 'Hold the hye wey'; Truth, l. 20. _weyve_: 'Gaudia pelle, Pelle timorem; Spemque fugato.'
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