Book iii

. st. 38.

1384. _the whyte_, silver coins; _the rede_, gold coins.

1389. _Myda_, Midas; see Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 951.

1391. _Crassus_; wantonly altered to _Cresus_ in Bell's edition, on the ground that the story is told of Croesus. But Chaucer knew better. M. Crassus, surnamed Dives (the Rich), was slain in battle against the Parthians, B. C. 53. Orodes, king of Parthia, caused molten gold to be poured into the mouth of his dead enemy, saying, 'Sate thyself now with that metal of which, in life, thou wast so greedy;' Cicero, Att. vi. 1. 14; Florus, iii. 11. 4.

1407. 'And to counterbalance with joy their former woe'.

1415. The cock is called a common astrologer (i. e. astronomer), because he announces to all the time of day; cf. Non. Pr. Ta. B 4043; Parl. Foules, 350. Translated from 'vulgaris astrologus;' Alanus.

1417, 9. _Lucifer_, the morning-star, the planet Venus. _Fortuna maior_, the planet Jupiter. Mars and Saturn were supposed to have an _evil_ influence; the Sun, Mercury, and Moon, had no great influence either way; whilst Jupiter and Venus had a _good_ influence, and were therefore called, respectively, _Fortuna maior_ and _Fortuna minor_. See G. Douglas, ed. Small, ii. 288. The MSS. have _that anoon_, (it happened) that anon; but this requires us to suppose so awkward an ellipsis that it is better to read _than_, answering to _whan_.

1428. _Almena_, Alcmena; a note in MS. H. has: 'Almena mater Herculis.' Alcmena was the mother of Hercules by Jupiter. Jupiter lengthened the night beyond its usual limit. Plautus has a play on the subject, called _Amphitruo_, as Jupiter personated Amphitryon.

1437-9. _ther_, wherefore; 'wherefore (I pray that) God, creator of nature, may bind thee so fast to our hemisphere,' &c. A similar construction occurs in l. 1456.

1453. _bore_, aperture, chink; 'for every chink lets in one of thy bright rays.' See New E. Dict.

1462. Engravers of small seals require a good light.

1464. _Tytan_, Titan, frequently used as synonymous with the sun; as in Ovid, Met. i. 10. Chaucer has confused him with _Tithonus_, the husband of Aurora, whom he denotes by _dawing_ in l. 1466, and by _morwe_ in l. 1469.

'Iamque, fugatura Tithoni coniuge noctem, Praeuius Aurorae Lucifer ortus erat.' Ovid, Heroid. xviii. 111.

1490. Read _wer-e_, in two syllables. _these worldes tweyne_ seems to mean 'two worlds such as this.'

1495. This somewhat resembles Verg. Ecl. i. 60-4.

1502. 'Even if I had to die by torture;' as in Bk. i. 674.

1514. _mo_, others; see note to Cler. Ta. E 1039.

1546. 'Desire burnt him afresh, and pleasure began to arise more than at first.' Cf. the parallel line in Leg. Good Wom. 1156: 'Of which ther gan to breden swich a fyr.' Yet Bell rejects this reading as being 'not at all in Chaucer's manner,' and prefers nonsense.

1577. 'Christ forgave those who crucified him.'

1600. Cf. Æneid. vi. 550:--

'Quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis Tartareus Phlegethon.'

1625. From Boethius, lib. ii. Pr. 4: 'Sed hoc est, quod recolentem uehementius coquit. Nam in omni aduersitate fortunae infelicissimum genus est infortunii, fuisse felicem.' Cf. Dante, Inf. v. 121; Tennyson, Locksley Hall--'That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.'

1634. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 8301-4; from Ovid, Art. Amat. ii. 13.

1642. _Ne I_, read _N'I_. _rakle_, behave rashly; it is plainly a _verb_, formed from the adj. _rakel_. Morris inserts _ben_ after _rakel_, to the ruin of the scansion. Cf. Norweg. _rakla_, to ramble, totter, be unsteady (Aasen); Swed. dial. _rakkla_, to rove (Rietz); Icel. _reka_, to drive.

1649. _I shal_, I owe; A. S. _ic sceal_.

1687. _comprende_, comprehend; F. _comprendre_. This is clearly the right form. In the Sq. Ta. F 223, though the MSS. have _comprehende_, it is obvious that _comprende_ is the real reading.

1703. _Pirous_, i. e. Pyroeis, one of the four horses that drew the chariot of the sun. The other three were Eöus, Æthon, and Phlegon; see Ovid, Met. ii. 153.

1705. 'Have taken some short cut, to spite me.'

1732. 'To the extent of a single knot.' It would not be necessary to explain this, if it were not for Bell's explanation of _knot_ as 'gnat.'

1734. _y-masked_, enmeshed; cf. A. S. _masc_, a mesh.

1744-68. Paraphrased from Boethius, lib. ii. Met. 8; but note that the lines italicised are transposed, and represent ll. 1744-1750:

'Quòd mundus stabili fide Concordes uariat uices, Quòd pugnantia semina Foedus perpetuum tenent, Quòd Phoebus roseum diem Curru prouehit aureo, Ut quas duxerit Hesperus Phoebe noctibus imperet, Ut fluctus auidum mare Certo fine coërceat, Ne terris liceat uagis Latos tendere terminos. _Hanc rerum seriem ligat, Terras ac pelagus regens, Et caelo imperitans Amor._ Hic si fraena remiserit, Quidquid nunc amat inuicem, Bellum continuò geret: Et quam nunc socia fide Pulcris motibus incitant, Certent soluere machinam. Hic sancto populos quoque Iunctos foedere continet: Hic et coniugii sacrum Castis nectit amoribus: Hic fidis etiam sua Dictat iura sodalibus. O felix hominum genus, Si uestros animos Amor Quo caelum regitur, regat!'

1764. _halt to-hepe_, holds together, preserves in concord. Bell and Morris have the corrupt reading _to kepe_. _To hepe_, to a heap, became the adv. _to-hepe_, together. It occurs again in Ch. Astrolabe,