# Chaucer's Works (ed. Skeat) Vol. V/Man of Law

>> The Text of the Tale of the Man of Lawe
NOTES TO GROUP B.
NOTES TO THE TALE OF THE MAN OF LAWE.
Introduction to the Man of Lawes Tale.
1. If, as Mr. Furnivall supposes, the time of the telling of the Canterbury Tales be taken to be longer than one day, we may suppose the Man of Lawes Tale to begin the stories told on the second morning of the journey, April 18. Otherwise, we must suppose all the stories in Group A to precede it, which is not impossible, if we suppose the pilgrims to have started early in the morning.
Hoste. This is one of the words which are sometimes dissyllabic, and sometimes monosyllabic; it is here a dissyllable, as in l. 39. See note to line 1883 below.
sey, i. e. saw. The forms of 'saw' vary in the MSS. In this line we find saugh, sauh, segh, sauhe, sawh, none of which are Chaucer's own, but due to the scribes. The true form is determined by the rime, as in the Clerkes Tale, E. 667, where most of the MSS. have say. A still better spelling is sey, which may be found in the House of Fame, 1151, where it rimes with lay. The A. S. form is sēah.
2. The ark, &c. In Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. ch. 7 (vol. iii. 194), is the proposition headed—'to knowe the arch of the day, that some folk callen the day artificial, from the sonne arysing til hit go to reste.' Thus, while the 'day natural' is twenty-four hours, the 'day artificial' is the time during which the sun is above the horizon. The 'arc' of this day merely means the extent or duration of it, as reckoned along the circular rim of an astrolabe; or, when measured along the horizon (as here), it means the arc extending from the point of sunrise to that of sunset. ronne, run, performed, completed.
3. The fourthe part. The true explanation of this passage, which Tyrwhitt failed to discover, is due to Mr. A. E. Brae, who first published it in May, 1851, and reprinted it at p. 68 of his edition of Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe. His conclusions were based upon actual calculation, and will be mentioned in due order. In re-editing the 'Astrolabe,' I took the opportunity of roughly checking his calculations by other methods, and am satisfied that he is quite correct, and that the day meant is not the 28th of April, as in the Ellesmere MS., nor the 13th of April, as in the Harleian MS., but the 18th, as in the Hengwrt ​ MS. and most others. It is easily seen that xviii may be corrupted into xxviii by prefixing x, or into xiii by the omission of v; this may account for the variations.
The key to the whole matter is given by a passage in Chaucer's 'Astrolabe,' pt. ii. ch. 29, where it is clear that Chaucer (who, however, merely translates from Messahala) actually confuses the hour-angle with the azimuthal arc; that is, he considered it correct to find the hour of the day by noting the point of the horizon over which the sun appears to stand, and supposing this point to advance, with a uniform, not a variable, motion. The host's method of proceeding was this. Wanting to know the hour, he observed how far the sun had moved southward along the horizon since it rose, and saw that it had gone more than half-way from the point of sunrise to the exact southern point. Now the 18th of April in Chaucer's time answers to the 26th of April at present. On April 26, 1874, the sun rose at 4h. 43m., and set at 7h. 12m., giving a day of about 14h. 30m., the fourth part of which is at 8h. 20m., or, with sufficient exactness, at half-past eight. This would leave a whole hour and a half to signify Chaucer's 'half an houre and more,' shewing that further explanation is still necessary. The fact is, however, that the host reckoned, as has been said, in another way, viz. by observing the sun's position with reference to the horizon. On April 18 the sun was in the 6th degree of Taurus at that date, as we again learn from Chaucer's treatise. Set this 6th degree of Taurus on the East horizon on a globe, and it is found to be 22 degrees to the North of the East point, or 112 degrees from the South. The half of this is at 56 degrees from the South; and the sun would seem to stand above this 56th degree, as may be seen even upon a globe, at about a quarter past nine; but Mr. Brae has made the calculation, and shews that it was at twenty minutes past nine. This makes Chaucer's 'half an houre and more' to stand for half an hour and ten minutes; an extremely neat result. But this we can check again by help of the host's other observation. He also took note, that the lengths of a shadow and its object were equal, whence the sun's altitude must have been 45 degrees. Even a globe will shew that the sun's altitude, when in the 6th degree of Taurus, and at 10 o'clock in the morning, is somewhere about 45 or 46 degrees. But Mr. Brae has calculated it exactly, and his result is, that the sun attained its altitude of 45 degrees at two minutes to ten exactly. This is even a closer approximation than we might expect, and leaves no doubt about the right date being the eighteenth of April. For fuller particulars, see Chaucer on the Astrolabe, ed. Brae, p. 69; and ed. Skeat (E.E.T.S.), preface, p. 1.
5. eightetethe, eighteenth. Mr. Wright prints eightetene, with the remark that 'this is the reading in which the MSS. seem mostly to agree.' This is right in substance, but not critically exact. No such word as eightetene appears here in the MSS., which denote the number by an abbreviation, as stated in the footnote. The Hengwrt MS. has xviijthe, and the Old English for eighteenth must have have been ​ eightetethe, the ordinal, not the cardinal number. This form is easily inferred from the numerous examples in which -teenth is represented by -tethe; see feowertethe, fiftethe, &c. in Stratmann's Old English Dictionary; we find the very form eightetethe in Rob. of Glouc., ed. Wright, 6490; and eighteteothe in St. Swithin, l. 5, as printed in Poems and Lives of Saints, ed. Furnivall, 1858, p. 43. Eighte is of two syllables, from A. S. eahta, cognate with Lat. octo. Eightetethe has four syllables; see A. 3223, and the note.
8. as in lengthe, with respect to its length.
13. The astrolabe which Chaucer gave to his little son Lewis was adapted for the latitude of Oxford. If, as is likely, the poet-astronomer checked his statements in this passage by a reference to it, he would neglect the difference in latitude between Oxford and the Canterbury road. In fact, it is less than a quarter of a degree, and not worth considering in the present case.
14. gan conclude, did conclude, concluded. Gan is often used thus as an auxiliary verb.
15. plighte, plucked; cf. shrighte, shrieked, in Kn. A. 2817.—M.
16. Lordinges, sirs. This form of address is exceedingly common in Early English poetry. Cf. the first line in the Tale of Sir Thopas.
18. seint Iohn. See the Squire's Tale, F. 596.
19. Leseth, lose ye; note the form of the imperative plural in -eth; cf. l. 37. As ferforth as ye may, as far as lies in your power.
20. wasteth, consumeth; cf. wastour, a wasteful person, in P. Plowm. B. vi. 154.—M. Hl. has passeth, i. e. passes away; several MSS. insert it before wasteth, but it is not required by the metre, since the e in time is here fully sounded; cf. A. S. tīma. Compare—
'The tyme, that passeth night and day, And restẽlees travayleth ay, And steleth from us so prively, ...... As water that doun runneth ay, But never drope returne may,' &c. Romaunt of the Rose, l. 369.
See also Clerkes Tale, E. 118.
21. what. We now say—what with. It means, 'partly owing to.'
22. wakinge; strictly, it means watching; but here, in our wakinge = whilst we are awake.
23. Cf. Ovid, Art. Amat. iii. 62-65:—
'Ludite; eunt anni more fluentis aquae. Nec quae praeteriit, cursu reuocabitur unda; Nec, quae praeteriit, hora redire potest. Utendum est aetate; cito pede labitur aetas.'
25. Seneca wrote a treatise De Breuitate Temporis, but this does not contain any passage very much resembling the text. I have no doubt that Chaucer was thinking of a passage which may easily have caught ​ his eye, as being very near the beginning of the first of Seneca's epistles. 'Quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per negligentiam fit. Quem mihi dabis, qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat? qui diem aestimet?... In huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit, ex qua expellit quicumque uult; et tanta stultitia mortalium est, ut, quae minima et uilissima sint, certe reparabilia, imputari sibi, quum impetrauere, patiantur; nemo se iudicet quidquam debere, qui tempus accepit, quum interim hoc unum est, quod ne gratus quidem potest reddere'; Epist. I.; Seneca Lucilio suo.
30. Malkin; a proverbial name for a wanton woman; see P. Plowman, C. ii. 181 (B. i. 182), and my note. 'There are more maids than Malkin'; Heywood's Proverbs.
32. moulen, lit. 'become mouldy'; hence, be idle, stagnate, remain sluggish, rot. See Mouldy in the Appendix to my Etym. Dict. 2nd ed. 1884; and cf. note to A. 3870.
33. Man of Lawe. This is the 'sergeant of the lawe' described in the Prologue, ll. 309-330. So have ye blis, so may you obtain bliss; as you hope to reach heaven.
34. as forward is, as is the agreement. See Prologue, A. 33, 829.
35. been submitted, have agreed. This illustrates the common usage of expressing a perfect by the verb to be and the past part. of an intransitive verb. Cf. is went, in B. 1730.—M.
36. at my Iugement, at my decree; ready to do as I bid you. See Prologue, A. 818 and 833.
37. Acquiteth yow, acquit yourself, viz. by redeeming your promise. holdeth your biheste, keep your promise. Acquit means to absolve or free oneself from a debt, obligation, charge, &c.; or to free oneself from the claims of duty, by fulfilling it.
38. devoir, duty; see Knightes Tale, A. 2598.
atte leste, at the least. Atte or atten is common in Old English for at the or at then; the latter is a later form of A. S. æt þām, where then (= þām) is the dative case of the article. But for the explanation of peculiar forms and words, the Glossarial Index should be consulted.
39. For ich, Tyrwhitt reads jeo = je, though found in none of our seven MSS. This makes the whole phrase French—de par dieux jeo assente. Mr. Jephson suggests that this is a clever hit of Chaucer's, because he makes the Man of Lawe talk in French, with which, as a lawyer, he was very familiar. However, we find elsewhere—
'Quod Troilus, "depardieux I assente";'—
and again—
'"Depardieux," quod she, "god leve al be wel";' Troilus and Cres. ii. 1058 and 1212;
and in the Freres Tale, D. 1395—
'"Depardieux," quod this yeman, "dere brother."'
It is much more to the point to observe that the Man of Lawe talks about law in l. 43. Cotgrave, in his French Dictionary, under par, gives—'De par Dieu soit, a [i. e. in] God's name be it. De par moy, by my means. De par le roy, by the king's appointment.' De par is a corruption of O.Fr. de part, on the part or side of; so that de par le roy means literally, 'as for the king,' i. e. 'in the king's name.' Similarly, de par Dieu is 'in God's name.' See Burguy, Grammaire de la Langue D'oil, ii. 359. The form dieux is a nominative, from the Latin deus; thus exhibiting an exception to the almost universal law in French, that the modern F. substantives answer to the accusative cases of Latin substantives, as fleur to florem, &c. Other exceptions may be found in some proper names, as Charles, Jacques, from Carolus, Jacobus, and in fils, from filius.
41. In the Morality entitled Everyman, in Hazlitt's Old Eng. Plays, i. 137, is the proverb—'Yet promise is debt.' Mr. Hazlitt wrongly considers that as the earliest instance of the phrase.—M. Cf. Hoccleve, De Regim. Principum, p. 64:—'And of a trewe man beheest is dette.'
holde fayn, &c.; gladly perform all my promise.
43. man ... another = one ... another. The Cambridge MS. is right.—M. 'For whatever law a man imposes on others, he should in justice consider as binding on himself.' This is obviously a quotation, as appears from l. 45. The expression referred to was probably proverbial. An English proverb says—'They that make the laws must not break them'; a Spanish one—'El que ley establece, guardarla debe,' he who makes a law ought to keep it; and a Latin one—'Patere legem quam ipse tulisti,' abide by the law which you made yourself. The idea is expanded in the following passage from Claudian's Panegyric on the 4th consulship of Honorius, carm. viii., l. 296.—
'In commune iubes si quid censesue tenendum, Primus iussa subi; tunc obseruantior aequi Fit populus, nec ferre negat cum uiderit ipsum Auctorem parere sibi.'
45. text, quotation from an author, precept, saying. Thus wol our text, i. e. such is what the expression implies.
47. But. This reading is given by Tyrwhitt, from MS. Dd. 4. 24 in the Cambridge University Library and two other MSS. All our seven MSS. read That; but this would require the word Nath (hath not) instead of Hath, in l. 49. Chaucer talks about his writings in a similar strain in A. 746, 1460; and at a still earlier period, in his House of Fame, 620, where Jupiter's eagle says to him:—
'And nevertheles hast set thy wit, Although that in thy hede ful lyte is, To make bokes, songes, dytees, In ryme, or elles in cadence, As thou best canst, in reverence Of Love, and of his servants eke'; &c.
can but lewedly on metres, is but slightly skilled in metre. Can = knows here; in the line above it is the ordinary auxiliary verb.
54. Ovid is mentioned for two reasons; because he has so many love-stories, and because Chaucer himself borrowed several of his own from Ovid.
made of mencioun; we should now say—'made mention of.'
55. Epistelles, Epistles. (T. prints Epistolis, the Lat. form, without authority. The word has here four syllables.) The book referred to is Ovid's Heroides, which contains twenty-one love-letters. See note to l. 61.
56. What, why, on what account? cf. Prologue, A. 184.
57. 'The story of Ceyx and Alcyone is related in the introduction to the poem which was for some time called "The Dreme of Chaucer," but which, in the MSS. Fairfax 16 and Bodl. 638, is more properly entitled, "The Boke of the Duchesse."'—Tyrwhitt. Chaucer took it from Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. xi. 'Ceyx and Alcyone' was once, probably, an independent poem; see vol. i. p. 63.
59. Thise is a monosyllable; the final e probably denotes that s was 'voiced,' and perhaps the i was long, pronounced (dhiiz).
59, 60. For eek, seek, read eke, seke. Here sek-e is in the infinitive mood. The form ek-e is not etymological, as the A.S. ēac was a monosyllable; but, as -e frequently denoted an adverbial suffix, it was easily added. Hence, in M.E., both eek and ek-e occur; and Chaucer uses either form at pleasure, ek-e being more usual. For examples of eek, see E. 1349, G. 794.
61. the seintes legende of Cupyde; better known now as The Legend of Good Women. Tyrwhitt says—'According to Lydgate (Prologue to Boccace), the number [of good women] was to have been nineteen; and perhaps the Legend itself affords some ground for this notion; see l. 283, and Court of Love, l. 108. But this number was never completed, and the last story, of Hypermnestra, is seemingly unfinished.... In this passage the Man of Lawe omits two ladies, viz. Cleopatra and Philomela, whose histories are in the Legend; and he enumerates eight others, of whom there are no histories in the Legend as we have it at present. Are we to suppose, that they have been lost?' The Legend contains the nine stories following: 1. Cleopatra; 2. Thisbe; 3. Dido; 4. Hypsipyle and Medea; 5. Lucretia; 6. Ariadne; 7. Philomela; 8. Phyllis; 9. Hypermnestra. Of these, Chaucer here mentions, as Tyrwhitt points out, all but two, Cleopatra and Philomela. Before discussing the matter further, let me note that in medieval times, proper names took strange shapes, and the reader must not suppose that the writing of Adriane for Ariadne, for example, is peculiar to Chaucer. The meaning of the other names is as follows:—Lucresse, Lucretia; Babilan Tisbee, Thisbe of Babylon; Enee, Æneas; Dianire, Deianira; Hermion, Hermione; Adriane, Ariadne; Isiphilee, Hypsipyle; Leander, Erro, Leander and Hero; Eleyne, Helena; Brixseyde, ​ Briseis (acc. Briseïda); Ladomea, Laodamia; Ypermistra, Hypermnestra; Alceste, Alcestis.
Returning to the question of Chaucer's plan for his Legend of Good Women, we may easily conclude what his intention was, though it was never carried out. He intended to write stories concerning nineteen women who were celebrated for being martyrs of love, and to conclude the series by an additional story concerning queen Alcestis, whom he regarded as the best of all the good women. Now, though he does not expressly say who these women were, he has left us two lists, both incomplete, in which he mentions some of them; and by combining these, and taking into consideration the stories which he actually wrote, we can make out the whole intended series very nearly. One of the lists is the one given here; the other is in a Ballad which is introduced into the Prologue to the Legend. The key to the incompleteness of the present list, certainly the later written of the two, is that the poet chiefly mentions here such names as are also to be found in Ovid's Heroides; cf. l. 55. Putting all the information together, it is sufficiently clear that Chaucer's intended scheme must have been very nearly as follows, the number of women (if we include Alcestis) being twenty.
1. Cleopatra. 2. Thisbe. 3. Dido. 4. and 5. Hypsipyle and Medea. 6. Lucretia. 7. Ariadne. 8. Philomela. 9. Phyllis. 10. Hypermnestra (unfinished). After which, 11. Penelope. 12. Briseis. 13. Hermione. 14. Deianira. 15. Laodamia. 16. Helen. 17. Hero. 18. Polyxena (see the Ballad). 19. either Lavinia (see the Ballad), or Oenone (mentioned in Ovid, and in the House of Fame). 20. Alcestis.
Since the list of stories in Ovid's Heroides is the best guide to the whole passage, it is here subjoined.
In this list, the numbers refer to the letters as numbered in Ovid; the italics shew the stories which Chaucer actually wrote; the asterisk points out such of the remaining stories as he happens to mention in the present enumeration; and the dagger points out the ladies mentioned in his Prologue to the Legend of Good Women.
01. Penelope Ulixi.*† 02. Phyllis Demophoonti.*† 03. Briseis Achilli.* 04. Phaedra Hippolyto. 05. Oenone Paridi. 06. Hypsipyle Iasoni;*† 12. Medea Iasoni.* 07. Dido Aeneae.*† 08. Hermione Orestae.* 09. Deianira Herculi.* 10. Ariadne Theseo.*† 11. Canace Macareo*† (expressly rejected). 13. Laodamia Protesilao.*† 14. Hypermnestra Lynceo.*† 15. Sappho Phaoni.​ 16. Paris Helenae; 17. Helena Paridi.*† 18. Leander Heroni; 19. Hero Leandro.*† 20. Acontius Cydippae; 21. Cydippe Acontio.
Chaucer's method, I fear, was to plan more than he cared to finish. He did so with his Canterbury Tales, and again with his Treatise on the Astrolabe; and he left the Squire's Tale half-told. According to his own account (Prologue to Legend of Good Women, l. 481) he never intended to write his Legend all at once, but only 'yeer by yere.' Such proposals are dangerous, and commonly end in incompleteness. To Tyrwhitt's question—'are we to suppose that they [i. e. the legends of Penelope and others] have been lost?' the obvious answer is, that they were never written.
Chaucer alludes to Ovid's Epistles again in his House of Fame, bk. i., where he mentions the stories of Phyllis, Briseis, Oenone (not mentioned here), Hypsipyle, Medea, Deianira, Ariadne, and Dido; the last being told at some length. Again, in the Book of the Duchesse, he alludes to Medea, Phyllis, and Dido (ll. 726-734); to Penelope and Lucretia (l. 1081); and to Helen (l. 331). As for the stories in the Legend which are not in Ovid's Heroides, we find that of Thisbe in Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. iv; that of Philomela in the same, bk. vi; whilst those of Cleopatra and Lucretia are in Boccaccio's book De Claris Mulieribus, from which he imitated the title 'Legend of Good Women,' and derived also the story of Zenobia, as told in the Monkes Tale. However, Chaucer also consulted other sources, such as Ovid's Fasti (ii. 721) and Livy for Lucretia, &c. See my Introduction to the Legend in vol. iii. pp. xxv., xxxvii.
With regard to the title 'seintes legend of Cupide,' which in modern English would be 'Cupid's Saints' Legend,' or 'the Legend of Cupid's Saints,' Mr. Jephson remarks—'This name is one example of the way in which Chaucer entered into the spirit of the heathen pantheism, as a real form of religion. He considers these persons, who suffered for love, to have been saints and martyrs for Cupid, just as Peter and Paul and Cyprian were martyrs for Christ.'
63. Gower also tells the story of Tarquin and Lucrece, which he took, says Professor Morley (English Writers, iv. 230), from the Gesta Romanorum, which again had it from Augustine's De Civitate Dei.
Babilan, Babylonian; elsewhere Chaucer has Babiloine = Babylon, riming with Macedoine; Book of the Duchesse, l. 1061.
64. swerd, sword; put here for death by the sword. See Virgil's Aeneid, iv. 646; and Chaucer's Legend of Good Women, 1351.
65. tree, put here, most likely, for death by hanging; cf. last line. In Chaucer's Legend, 2485, we find—
'She was her owne deeth right with a corde.'
The word may also be taken literally, since Phyllis was metamorphosed after her death into a tree; Gower says she became a nut-tree, and ​ derives filbert from Phyllis; Conf. Amant. bk. iv. Lydgate writes filbert instead of Phyllis; Complaint of Black Knight, l. 68.
66. The pleinte of Dianire, the complaint of Deianira, referring to Ovid's letter 'Deianira Herculi'; so also that of Hermion refers to the letter entitled 'Hermione Orestae'; that of Adriane, to the 'Ariadne Theseo'; and that of Isiphilee, to the 'Hypsipyle Iasoni.'
68. bareyne yle, barren island; of which I can find no correct explanation by a previous editor. It refers to Ariadne, mentioned in the previous line. The expression is taken from Ariadne's letter to Theseus, in Ovid's Heroides, Ep. x. 59, where we find 'uacat insula cultu'; and just below—
'Omne latus terrae cingit mare; nauita nusquam, Nulla per ambiguas puppis itura uias.'
Or, without referring to Ovid at all, the allusion might easily have been explained by observing Chaucer's Legend of Ariadne, l. 2163, where the island is described as solitary and desolate. It is said to have been the isle of Naxos.
69. Scan—The dreynt | e Lé | andér |. Here the pp. dreynt is used adjectivally, and takes the final e in the definite form. So in the Book of the Duchesse, 195, it is best to read the dreynte; and in the House of Fame, 1783, we must read the sweynte.
75. Alceste. The story of Alcestis—'that turned was into a dayesie'—is sketched by Chaucer in his Prologue to the Legend, l. 511, &c. No doubt he intended to include her amongst the Good Women, as the very queen of them all.
78. Canacee; not the Canace of the Squieres Tale, whom Chaucer describes as so kind and good as well as beautiful, but Ovid's Canace. The story is told by Gower, Confess. Amantis, book iii. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that Chaucer is here making a direct attack upon Gower, his former friend; probably because Gower had, in some places, imitated the earlier edition of Chaucer's Man of Lawes Tale. This difficult question is fully discussed in vol. iii. pp. 413-7.
81. 'Or else the story of Apollonius of Tyre.' The form Tyro represents the Lat. ablative in 'Apollonius de Tyro.' This story, like that of Canacee (note to l. 78), is told by Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. viii., ed. Pauli, iii. 284; and here again Chaucer seems to reflect upon Gower. The story occurs in the Gesta Romanorum, in which it appears as Tale cliii., being the longest story in the whole collection. It is remarkable as being the only really romantic story extant in an Anglo-Saxon version; see Thorpe's edition of it, London, 1834. It is therefore much older than 1190, the earliest date assigned by Warton. Compare the play of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
89. if that I may, as far as lies in my power (to do as I please); a common expletive phrase, of no great force.
90. of, as to, with regard to. doon, accomplish it.
92. Pierides; Tyrwhitt rightly says—'He rather means, I think, the ​ daughters of Pierus, that contended with the Muses, and were changed into pies; Ovid, Metam. bk. v.' Yet the expression is not wrong; it signifies—'I do not wish to be likened to those would-be Muses, the Pierides'; in other words, I do not set myself up as worthy to be considered a poet.
93. Metamorphoseos. It was common to cite books thus, by a title in the genitive case, since the word Liber was understood. There is, however, a slight error in this substitution of the singular for the plural; the true title being P. Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoseon Libri Quindecim. See the use of Eneydos in the Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4549; and of Judicum in Monk. Ta. B. 3236.
94. 'But, nevertheless, I care not a bean.' Cf. l. 4004 below.
95. with hawe bake, with plain fare, as Dr. Morris explains it; it obviously means something of a humble character, unsuited for a refined taste. This was left unexplained by Tyrwhitt, but we may fairly translate it literally by 'with a baked haw,' i. e. something that could just be eaten by a very hungry person. The expression I sette nat an hawe (= I care not a haw) occurs in the Wyf of Bathes Prologue, D. 659. Haws are mentioned as given to feed hogs in the Vision of Piers Plowman, B. x. 10; but in The Romance of William of Palerne, l. 1811, a lady actually tells her lover that they can live in the woods on haws, hips, acorns, and hazel-nuts. There is a somewhat similar passage in the Legend of Good Women, Prol. ll. 73-77. I see no difficulty in this explanation. That proposed by Mr. Jephson—'hark back'—is out of the question; we cannot rime bak with makë, nor does it make sense.
Baken was a strong verb in M. E., with the pp. baken or bake (A. S. bacen). Dr. Stratmann, apparently by mistake, enters this phrase under hawe, adj. dark grey! But he refrains from explaining bake.
96. I speke in prose, I generally have to speak in prose in the law courts; so that if my tale is prosy as compared with Chaucer's, it is only what you would expect. Dr. Furnivall suggests that perhaps the prose tale of Melibeus was originally meant to be assigned to the Man of Lawe. See further in vol. iii. p. 406.
98. after, afterwards, immediately hereafter. Cf. other for otherwise in Old English.—M.
Prologue to the Man of Lawes Tale.
99-121. It is important to observe that more than three stanzas of this Prologue are little else than a translation from the treatise by Pope Innocent III. entitled De Contemptu Mundi, sive de Miseria Conditionis Humanae. This was first pointed out by Prof. Lounsbury, of Yale, Newhaven, U.S.A., in the Nation, July 4, 1889. He shewed that the lost work by Chaucer (viz. his translation of 'the Wreched Engendring of Mankinde As man may in Pope Innocent y-finde,' mentioned in the Legend of Good Women, Prologue A, l. 414) is not lost altogether, ​ since we find traces of it in the first four stanzas of the present Prologue; in the stanzas of the Man of Lawes Tale which begin, respectively, with lines 421, 771, 925, and 1135; and in some passages in the Pardoner's Prologue; as will be pointed out.
It will be observed that if Chaucer, as is probable, has preserved extracts from this juvenile work of his without much alteration, it must have been originally composed in seven-line stanzas, like his Second Nonnes Tale and Man of Lawes Tale.
I here transcribe the original of the present passage from Innocent's above-named treatise, lib. i. c. 16, marking the places where the stanzas begin.
De miseria divitis et pauperis. (99) Pauperes enim premuntur inedia, cruciantur aerumna, fame, siti, frigore, nuditate; vilescunt, tabescunt, spernuntur, et confunduntur. O miserabilis mendicantis conditio; et si petit, pudore confunditur, et si non petit, egestate consumitur, sed ut mendicet, necessitate compellitur. (106) Deum causatur iniquum, quod non recte dividat; proximum criminatur malignum, quod non plene subveniat. Indignatur, murmurat, imprecatur. (113) Adverte super hoc sententiam Sapientis, 'Melius est,' inquit, 'mori quam indigere': 'Etiam proximo suo pauper odiosus erit.' 'Omnes dies pauperis mali'; (120) 'fratres hominis pauperis oderunt eum; insuper et amici procul recesserunt ab eo.'
For further references to the quotations occurring in the above passage, see the notes below, to ll. 114, 118, 120.
99. poverte = povértë, with the accent on the second syllable, as it rimes with herte; in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, it rimes with sherte. Poverty is here personified, and addressed by the Man of Lawe. The whole passage is illustrated by a similar long passage near the end of the Wyf of Bathes Tale, in which the opposite side of the question is considered, and the poet shews what can be said in Poverty's praise. See D. 1177-1206.
101. Thee is a dative, like me in l. 91.—M. See Gen. ii. 15 (A. S. version), where him þæs ne sceamode = they were not ashamed of it; lit. it shamed them not of it.
102. artow, art thou; the words being run together: so also seistow = sayest thou, in l. 110.
104. Maugree thyn heed, in spite of all you can do; lit. despite thy head; see Knightes Tale, A. 1169, 2618, D. 887.
105. Or ... or = either ... or; an early example of this construction.—M.
108. neighebour is a trisyllable; observe that e in the middle of a word is frequently sounded; cf. l. 115. wytest, blamest.
110. 'By my faith, sayest thou, he will have to account for it hereafter, when his tail shall burn in the fire (lit. glowing coal), because he helps not the needy in their necessity.'
114. 'It is better (for thee) to die than be in need.' Tyrwhitt says—'This saying of Solomon is quoted in the Romaunt of the Rose, ​ l. 8573—Mieux vault mourir que pauvres estre'; [l. 8216, ed. Méon.] The quotation is not from Solomon, but from Jesus, son of Sirach; see Ecclus. xl. 28, where the Vulgate has—'Melius est enim mori quam indigere.' Cf. B. 2761.
115. Thy selve neighebor, thy very neighbour, even thy next neighbour. See note to l. 108.
118. In Prov. xv. 15, the Vulgate version has—'Omnes dies pauperis mali'; where the A. V. has 'the afflicted.'
119. The reading to makes the line harsh, as the final e in come should be sounded, and therefore needs elision. in that prikke, into that point, into that condition; cf. l. 1028.
120. Cf. Prov. xiv. 20—'the poor is hated even of his neighbour'; or, in the Vulgate, 'Etiam proximo suo pauper odiosus erit.' Also Prov. xix. 7—'all the brethren of the poor do hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him'; or, in the Vulgate, 'Fratres hominis pauperis oderunt eum; insuper et amici procul recesserunt ab eo.' So too Ovid, Trist. i. 9. 5:—
'Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos, Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.'
Chaucer has the same thought again in his Tale of Melibeus (p. 227, B. 2749)—'and if thy fortune change, that thou wexe povre, farewel freendshipe and felaweshipe!' See also note to B. 3436.
123. as in this cas, as relates to this condition or lot in life. In Chaucer, cas often means chance, hap.
124. ambes as, double aces, two aces, in throwing dice. Ambes is Old French for both, from Lat. ambo. The line in the Monkes Tale—'Thy sys fortune hath turned into as' (B. 3851)—helps us out here in some measure, as it proves that a six was reckoned as a good throw, but an ace as a bad one. So in Shakespeare, Mids. Nt. Dream, v. 1. 314, we find less than an ace explained as equivalent to nothing. In the next line, sis cink means a six and a five, which was often a winning throw. The allusion is probably, however, not to the mere attempt as to which of two players could throw the highest, but to the particular game called hazard, in which the word chance (here used) has a special sense. There is a good description of it in the Supplemental volume to the English Cyclopaedia, div. Arts and Sciences. The whole description has to be read, but it may suffice to say here that, when the caster is going to throw, he calls a main, or names one of the numbers five, six, seven, eight, or nine; most often, he calls seven. If he then throws either seven or eleven (Chaucer's sis cink), he wins; if he throws aces (Chaucer's ambes as) or deuce-ace (two and one), or double sixes, he loses. If he throws some other number, that number is called the caster's chance, and he goes on playing till either the main or the chance turns up. In the first case he loses, in the second, he wins. If he calls some other number, the winning and losing throws are somewhat varied; but in all cases, the double ace is a losing throw. ​
Similarly, in The Pardoneres Tale, where hazard is mentioned by name (C. 591), we find, at l. 653—'Seven is my chaunce, and thyn is cinq and treye,' i. e. eight.
In Lydgate's Order of Fools, printed in Queen Elizabeth's Academy, ed. Furnivall, p. 81, one fool is described—
'Whos chaunce gothe nether yn synke or syse; With ambes ase encressithe hys dispence.'
And in a ballad printed in Chaucer's Works, ed. 1561, folio 340, back, we have—
'So wel fortuned is their chaunce The dice to turne[n] vppe-so-doune, With sise and sincke they can auaunce.'
The phrase was already used proverbially before Chaucer's time. In the metrical Life of St. Brandan, ed. T. Wright, p. 23, we find, 'hi caste an ambes as,' they cast double aces, i. e. they wholly failed. See Ambs-ace in the New E. Dict. Dr. Morris notes that the phrase 'aums ace' occurs in Hazlitt's O. E. Plays, ii. 35, with the editorial remark—'not mentioned elsewhere' (!).
126. At Cristemasse, even at Christmas, when the severest weather comes. In olden times, severe cold must have tried the poor even more than it does now.
'Muche myrthe is in may · amonge wilde bestes, And so forth whil somer lasteþ · heore solace dureþ; And muche myrthe amonge riche men is · þat han meoble [property] ynow and heele [health]. Ac beggers aboute myd-somere · bredlees þei soupe, And ȝut is wynter for hem wors · for wet-shood þei gangen, A-furst and a-fyngred [Athirst and ahungered] · and foule rebuked Of þese worlde-riche men · þat reuthe hit is to huyre [hear of it].' Piers Plowman, C. xvii. 10; B. xiv. 158.
127. seken, search through; much like the word compass in the phrase 'ye compass sea and land' in Matth. xxiii. 15.
128. thestaat, for the estaat, i. e. the estate. This coalescence of the article and substantive is common in Chaucer, when the substantive begins with a vowel; cf. thoccident, B. 3864; thorient, B. 3871.
129. fadres, fathers, originators; by bringing tidings from afar.
130. debat, strife. Merchants, being great travellers, were expected to pick up good stories.
131. were, should be. desolat, destitute. 'The E. E. word is westi; 'westi of alle gode theawes,' destitute of all good virtues; O. Eng. Homilies, i. 285.'—M.
132. Nere, for ne were, were it not. goon is, &c., many a year ago, long since. ​
The Tale of the Man of Lawe.
A story, agreeing closely with The Man of Lawes Tale, is found in Book II. of Gower's Confessio Amantis, from which Tyrwhitt supposed that Chaucer borrowed it. But Gower's version seems to be later than Chaucer's, whilst Chaucer and Gower were both alike indebted to the version of the story in French prose (by Nicholas Trivet) in MS. Arundel 56, printed for the Chaucer Society in 1872. In some places Chaucer agrees with this French version rather closely, but he makes variations and additions at pleasure. Cf. vol. iii. p. 409.
The first ninety-eight lines of the preceding Prologue are written in couplets, in order to link the Tale to the others of the series; but there is nothing to show which of the other tales it was intended to follow. Next follows a more special Prologue of thirty-five lines, in five stanzas of seven lines each; so that the first line in the Tale is l. 134 of Group B, the second of the fragments into which the Canterbury Tales are broken up, owing to the incomplete state in which Chaucer left them.
134. Surrie, Syria; called Sarazine (Saracen-land) by N. Trivet.
136. spycerye, grocery, &c., lit. spicery. The old name for a grocer was a spicer; and spicery was a wide term. 'It should be noted that the Ital. spezerie included a vast deal more than ginger and other "things hot i' the mouth." In one of Pegoletti's lists of spezerie we find drugs, dye-stuffs, metals, wax, cotton,' &c.—Note by Col. Yule in his ed. of Marco Polo; on bk. i. c. 1.
143. Were it, whether it were.
144. message, messenger, not message; see l. 333, and the note.
145. The final e in Rome is pronounced, as in l. 142; but the words the ende are to be run together, forming but one syllable, thende, according to Chaucer's usual practice; cf. note to l. 255. Indeed in ll. 423, 965, it is actually so spelt; just as, in l. 150, we have thexcellent, and in l. 151, themperoures.
151. themperoures, the emperor's. Gower calls him Tiberius Constantine, who was Emperor (not of Rome, but) of the East, A. D. 578, and was succeeded, as in the story, by Maurice, A. D. 582. His capital was Constantinople, whither merchants from Syria could easily repair; but the greater fame of Rome caused the substitution of the Western for the Eastern capital.
156. God him see, God protect him. See note to C. 715.
161. al Europe. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. Ln. is written the note 'Europa est tercia pars mundi.'
166. mirour, mirror. Such French words are frequently accented on the last syllable. Cf. minístr' in l. 168.
171. han doon fraught, have caused to be freighted. All the MSS. have fraught, not fraughte. In the Glossary to Specimens of English, I marked fraught as being the infinitive mood, as Dr. Stratmann ​ supposes, though he notes the lack of the final e. I have now no doubt that fraught is nothing but the past participle, as in William of Palerne, l. 2732—
'And feithliche fraught ful of fine wines,'
which is said of a ship. The use of this past participle after a perfect tense is a most remarkable idiom, but there is no doubt about its occurrence in the Clerkes Tale, Group E. 1098, where we find 'Hath doon yow kept,' where Tyrwhitt has altered kept to kepe. On the other hand, Tyrwhitt actually notes the occurrence of 'Hath don wroght' in Kn. Tale, 1055, (A. 1913), which he calls an irregularity. A better name for it is idiom. I find similar instances of it in another author of the same period,
'Thai strak his hed of, and syne it Thai haf gert saltit in-til a kyt.' Barbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, xviii. 167.
I. e. they have caused it (to be) salted. And again in the same, bk. viii. l. 13, we have the expression He gert held, as if 'he caused to be held'; but it may mean 'he caused to incline.' Compare also the following:—
'And thai sall let thame trumpit ill'; id. xix. 712.
I. e. and they shall consider themselves as evilly deceived.
In the Royal Wills, ed. Nichols, p. 278, we find:—'wher I have beforn ordeyned and do mad [caused to be made] my tombe.'
The infinitive appears to have been fraughten, though the earliest certain examples of this form seem to be those in Shakespeare, Cymb. i. 1. 126, Temp. i. 2. 13. The proper form of the pp. was fraughted (as in Marlowe, 2 Tamb. i. 2. 33), but the loss of final -ed in past participles of verbs of which the stem ends in t is common; cf. set, put, &c. Hence this form fraught as a pp. in the present instance. It is a Scandinavian word, from Swed. frakta, Dan. fragte. At a later period we find freight, the mod. E. form. The vowel-change is due to the fact that there was an intermediate form fret, borrowed from the French form fret of the Scandinavian word. This form fret disturbed the vowel-sound, without wholly destroying the recollection of the original guttural gh, due to the Swed. k. For an example of fret, we have only to consult the old black-letter editions of Chaucer printed in 1532 and 1561, which give us the present line in the form—'These marchantes han don fret her ships new.'
185. ceriously, 'seriously,' i. e. with great minuteness of detail. Used by Fabyan, who says that 'to reherce ceryously' all the conquests of Henry V would fill a volume; Chron., ed. Ellis, p. 589. Skelton, in his Garland of Laurell, l. 581, has: 'And seryously she shewyd me ther denominacyons'; on which Dyce remarks that it means seriatim, and gives a clear example. It answers to the Low Latin seriose, used in two senses; (1) seriously, gravely; (2) minutely, ​ fully. In the latter case it is perhaps to be referred to the Lat. series, not serius. A similar word, cereatly (Lat. seriatim), is found three times in the Romance of Partenay, ed. Skeat, with the sense of in due order; cf. Ceriatly and Ceryows in the New E. Dict.
In N. and Q. 7 S. xii. 183, I shewed that Lydgate has at least ten examples of this use of the word in his Siege of Troye. In one instance it is spelt seryously (with s).
190. This refers to the old belief in astrology and the casting of nativities. Cf. Prol. A. 414-418. Observe that ll. 190-203 are not in the original, and were doubtless added in revision. This is why this sowdan in l. 186 is so far separated from the repetition of the same words in l. 204.
197. Tyrwhitt shews that this stanza is imitated closely from some Latin lines, some of which are quoted in the margin of many MSS. of Chaucer. He quotes them at length from the Megacosmos of Bernardus Silvestris, a poet of the twelfth century (extant in MS. Bodley 1265). The lines are as follows, it being premised that those printed in italics are cited in the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. and Ln.:—
'Praeiacet in stellis series, quam longior aetas Explicet et spatiis temporis ordo suis, Sceptra Phoronei, fratrum discordia Thebis, Flamma Phaethontis Deucalionis aque. In stellis Codri paupertas, copia Croesi, Incestus Paridis, Hippolytique pudor. In stellis Priami species, audacia Turni, Sensus Ulixeus, Herculeusque uigor. In stellis pugil est Pollux et nauita Typhis, Et Cicero rhetor et geometra Thales. In stellis lepidum dictat Maro, Milo figurat, Fulgurat in Latia nobilitate Nero. Astra notat Persis, Ægyptus parturit artes, Graecia docta legit, praelia Roma gerit.'
See Bernardi Sylvestris Megacosmos, ed. C.S. Barach and J. Wrobel, Innsbruck, 1876, p. 16. The names Ector (Hector), &c., are too well known to require comment. The death of Turnus is told at the end of Vergil's Æneid.
207, 208. Here have, forming part of the phrase mighte have grace, is unemphatic, whilst han (for haven) is emphatic, and signifies possession. See han again in l. 241.
211. Compare Squieres Tale, F. 202, 203, and the note thereon.
224. Mahoun, Mahomet. The French version does not mention Mahomet. This is an anachronism on Chaucer's part; the Emperor Tiberius II. died A. D. 582, when Mahomet was but twelve years old.
228. I prey yow holde, I pray you to hold. Here holde is the infinitive mood. The imperative plural would be holdeth; see saveth, next line. ​
236. Maumettrye, idolatry; from the Mid. E. maumet, an idol, corrupted from Mahomet. The confusion introduced by using the word Mahomet for an idol may partly account for the anachronism in l. 224. The Mahometans were falsely supposed by our forefathers to be idolaters.
242. noot, equivalent to ne woot, know not.
248. gret-è forms the fourth foot in the line. If we read gret, the line is left imperfect at the cæsura; and we should have to scan it with a medial pause, as thus:—
That thém | peróur || —óf | his grét | noblésse ||
Line 621 below may be read in a similar manner:—
But ná | thelées || —thér | was gréet | moorning ||
253. 'So, when Ethelbert married Bertha, daughter of the Christian King Charibert, she brought with her, to the court of her husband, a Gallican bishop named Leudhard, who was permitted to celebrate mass in the ancient British Church of St. Martin, at Canterbury.'—Note in Bell's Chaucer.
255. ynowe, being plural, takes a final e; we then read th'ende, as explained in note to l. 145. The pl. inoȝhe occurs in the Ormulum.
263. alle and some, collectively and individually; one and all. See Cler. Tale, E. 941, &c.
273-87. Not in the original; perhaps added in revision.
277. The word alle, being plural, is dissyllabic. Thing is often a plural form, being an A. S. neuter noun. The words over, ever, never are, in Chaucer, generally monosyllables, or nearly so; just as o'er, e'er, ne'er are treated as monosyllables by our poets in general. Hence the scansion is—'Ov'r al | lë thing |,' &c.
289. The word at is inserted from the Cambridge MS.; all the other six MSS. omit it, which makes the passage one of extreme difficulty. Tyrwhitt reads 'Or Ylion brent, or Thebes the citee.' Of course he means brende, past tense, not brent, the past participle; and his conjecture amounts to inserting or before Thebes. It is better to insert at, as in MS. Cm.; see Gilman's edition. The sense is—'When Pyrrhus broke the wall, before Ilium burnt, (nor) at the city of Thebes, nor at Rome,' &c. Nat (l. 290) = Ne at, as in Hl. Ylion, in medieval romance, meant 'the citadel' of Troy; see my note to l. 936 of the Legend of Good Women. Tyrwhitt well observes that 'Thebes the citee' is a French phrase. He quotes 'dedans Renes la cite,' Froissart, v. i. c. 225.
295-315. Not in the original, and clearly a later addition. They include an allusion to Boethius (see next note).
295. In the margin of the Ellesmere MS. is written—'Vnde Ptholomeus, libro i. cap. 8. Primi motus celi duo sunt, quorum vnus est qui mouet totum semper ab Oriente in Occidentem vno modo super orbes, &c. Item aliter vero motus est qui mouet orbem stellarum currencium ​ contra motum primum, videlicet, ab Occidente in Orientem super alios duos polos.' The old astronomy imagined nine spheres revolving round the central stationary earth; of the seven innermost, each carried with it one of the seven planets, viz. the Moon, Venus, Mercury, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; the eighth sphere, that of the fixed stars, had a slow motion from west to east, round the axis of the zodiac (super alios duos polos), to account for the precession of the equinoxes; whilst the ninth or outermost sphere, called the primum mobile, or the sphere of first motion, had a diurnal revolution from east to west, carrying everything with it. This exactly corresponds with Chaucer's language. He addresses the outermost sphere or primum mobile (which is the ninth if reckoning from within, but the first from without), and accuses it of carrying with it everything in its irresistible westward motion; a motion contrary to that of the 'natural' motion, viz. that in which the sun advances along the signs of the zodiac. The result was that the evil influence of the planet Mars prevented the marriage. It is clear that Chaucer was thinking of certain passages in Boethius, as will appear from consulting his own translation of Boethius, ed. Morris, pp. 21, 22, 106, and 110. I quote a few lines to shew this:—
'O þou maker of þe whele þat bereþ þe sterres, whiche þat art fastned to þi perdurable chayere, and turnest þe heuene wiþ a rauyssyng sweighe, and constreinest þe sterres to suffren þi lawe'; pp. 21, 22.
'þe regioun of þe fire þat eschaufiþ by þe swifte moeuyng of þe firmament'; p. 110.
The original is—
'O stelliferi conditor orbis Qui perpetuo nixus solio Rapidum caelum turbine uersas, Legemque pati sidera cogis'; Boeth. Cons. Phil. lib. i. met. 5.
'Quique agili motu calet aetheris'; id. lib. iv. met. 1.
(See the same passages in vol. ii. pp. 16, 94).
To the original nine spheres, as above, was afterwards added a tenth or crystalline sphere; see the description in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray (E. E. T. S.), pp. 47, 48. For the figure, see fig. 10 on Plate V., in my edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe (in vol. iii.).
Compare also the following passage:—
'The earth, in roundness of a perfect ball, Which as a point but of this mighty all Wise Nature fixed, that permanent doth stay, Wheras the spheres by a diurnal sway Of the first Mover carried are about.' Drayton: The Man in the Moon.
299. crowding, pushing. This is still a familiar word in East ​ Anglia. Forby, in his Glossary of the East Anglian Dialect, says—'Crowd, v. to push, shove, or press close. To the word, in its common acceptation, number seems necessary. With us, one individual can crowd another.' To crowd a wheelbarrow means to push it. The expression 'crod in a barwe,' i. e. wheeled or pushed along in a wheelbarrow, occurs in the Paston Letters, A.D. 1477, ed. Gairdner, iii. 215.
302. A planet is said to ascend directly, when in a direct sign; but tortuously, when in a tortuous sign. The tortuous signs are those which ascend most obliquely to the horizon, viz. the signs from Capricornus to Gemini inclusive. Chaucer tells us this himself; see his Treatise on the Astrolabe, part ii. sect. 28, in vol. iii. The most 'tortuous' of these are the two middle ones, Pisces and Aries. Of these two, Aries is called the mansion of Mars, and we may therefore suppose the ascending sign to be Aries, the lord of which (Mars) is said to have fallen 'from his angle into the darkest house.' The words 'angle' and 'house' are used technically. The whole zodiacal circle was divided into twelve equal parts, or 'houses.' Of these, four (beginning from the cardinal points) were termed 'angles,' four others (next following them) 'succedents,' and the rest 'cadents.' It appears that Mars was not then situate in an 'angle,' but in his 'darkest (i. e. darker) house.' Mars had two houses, Aries and Scorpio. The latter is here meant; Aries being the ascendent sign, Scorpio was below the horizon, and beyond the western 'angle.'
Now Scorpio was 'called the house of death, and of trauaile, of harm, and of domage, of strife, of battaile, of guilefulnesse and falsnesse, and of wit'; Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. viii. c. 17. We may represent the position of Mars by the following table, where East represents the ascending sign, West the descending sign; and A., S., and C. stand for 'angle,' 'succedent,' and 'cadent house' respectively.
| East.— | Aries. 1. A. | Taurus. 2. S. | Gemini. 3. C. | Cancer. 4. A. | Leo. 5. S. | Virgo. 6. C. |
| West.— | Libra. 7. A. | Scorpio. 8. S. | Sagittarius. 9. C. | Capricornus. 10. A. | Aquarius. 11. S. | Pisces. 12. C. |
Again, the 'darkest house' was sometimes considered to be the eighth; though authorities varied. This again points to Scorpio.
'Nulla diuisio circuli tam pessima, tamque crudelis in omnibus, quam octaua est.'—Aphorismi Astrologi Ludovici de Rigiis; sect. 35. I may also note here, that in Lydgate's Siege of Troy, ed. 1555, fol. Y 4, there is a long passage on the evil effects of Mars in the 'house' of Scorpio.
305. The meaning of Atazir has long remained undiscovered. But by the kind help of Mr. Bensly, one of the sub-librarians of the Cambridge University Library, I am enabled to explain it. Atazir or atacir is the Spanish spelling of the Arabic al-tasir, influence, given at p. 351 of Richardson's Pers. Dict., ed. 1829. It is a noun derived from asara, a verb of the second conjugation, meaning to leave a mark ​ on, from the substantive asar, a mark; the latter substantive is given at p. 20 of the same work. Its use in astrology is commented upon by Dozy, who gives it in the form atacir, in his Glossaire des Mots Espagnols dérivés de l'Arabique, p. 207. It signifies the influence of a star or planet upon other stars, or upon the fortunes of men. In the present case it is clearly used in a bad sense; we may therefore translate it by 'evil influence,' i. e. the influence of Mars in the house of Scorpio. On this common deterioration in the meaning of words, see Trench, Study of Words, p. 52. The word craft, for example, is a very similar instance; it originally meant skill, and hence, a trade, and we find star-craft used in particular to signify the science of astronomy.
307. 'Thou art in conjunction in an unfavourable position; from the position in which thou wast favourably placed thou art moved away.' This I take to mean that the Moon (as well as Mars) was in Scorpio; hence their conjunction. But Scorpio was called the Moon's depression, being the sign in which her influence was least favourable; she was therefore 'not well received,' i. e., not supported by a lucky planet, or by a planet in a lucky position. weyved, pushed aside.
312. 'Is there no choice as to when to fix the voyage?' The favourable moment for commencing a voyage was one of the points on which it was considered desirable to have an astrologer's opinion. Travelling, at that time, was a serious matter. Yet this was only one of the many undertakings which required, as was thought, to be begun at a favourable moment. Whole books were written on 'elections,' i. e. favourable times for commencing operations of all kinds. Chaucer was thinking, in particular, of the following passage, which is written in the margins of the Ellesmere and Hengwrt MSS.: 'Omnes concordati sunt quod elecciones sint debiles nisi in diuitibus: habent enim isti, licet debilitentur eorum elecciones, radicem, i. [id est] natiuitates eorum, que confortat omnem planetam debilem in itinere.' The sense of which is—'For all are agreed, that "elections" are weak, except in the case of the rich; for these, although their elections be weakened, have a "root" of their own, that is to say, their nativities (or horoscopes); which root strengthens every planet that is of weak influence with respect to a journey.' This is extracted, says Tyrwhitt, from a Liber Electionum by a certain Zael; see MS. Harl. 80; MS. Bodley 1648. This is a very fair example of the jargon to be found in old books on astrology. The old astrologers used to alter their predictions almost at pleasure, by stating that their results depended on several causes, which partly counteracted one another; an arrangement of which the convenience is obvious. Thus, if the aspect of the planets at the time inquired about appeared to be adverse to a journey, it might still be the case (they said) that such evil aspect might be overcome by the fortunate aspect of the inquirer's horoscope; or, conversely, an ill aspect in the horoscope could be counteracted by a fit election of a time for action. A rich man would probably be fitted with a fortunate ​ horoscope, or else why should he buy one? Such horoscope depended on the aspect of the heavens at the time of birth or 'nativity,' and, in particular, upon the 'ascendent' at that time; i. e. upon the planets lying nearest to the point of the zodiac which happened, at that moment, to be ascending, i. e. just appearing above the horizon. So Chaucer, in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 4, (vol. iii. 191), explains the matter, saying—'The assendent sothly, as wel in alle nativitez as in questiouns and elecciouns of tymes, is a thing which that thise Astrologiens gretly observen'; &c. The curious reader may find much more to the same effect in the same Treatise, with directions to 'make roots' in pt. ii. § 44.
The curious may further consult the Epitome Astrologiae of Johannes Hispalensis. The whole of Book iv. of that work is 'De Electionibus,' and the title of cap. xv. is 'Pro Itinere.'
Lydgate, in his Siege of Thebes, just at the beginning, describes the astronomers as casting the horoscope of the infant Œdipus. They were expected
'to yeue a judgement, The roote i-take at the ascendent, Truly sought out, by minute and degre, The selfe houre of his natiuite, Not foryet the heauenly mansions Clerely searched by smale fraccions,' &c.
To take a different example, Ashmole, in his Theatrum Chemicum, 1652, says in a note on p. 450—'Generally in all Elections the Efficacy of the Starrs are (sic) used, as it were by a certaine application made thereof to those unformed Natures that are to be wrought upon; whereby to further the working thereof, and make them more available to our purpose.... And by such Elections as good use may be made of the Celestiall influences, as a Physitian doth of the variety of herbes.... But Nativities are the Radices of Elections, and therefore we ought chiefly to looke backe upon them as the principal Root and Foundation of all Operations; and next to them the quality of the Thing we intend to fit must be respected, so that, by an apt position of Heaven, and fortifying the Planets and Houses in the Nativity of the Operator, and making them agree with the thing signified, the impression made by that influence will abundantly augment the Operation,' &c.; with much more to the same effect. Several passages in Norton's Ordinall, printed in the same volume (see pp. 60, 100), shew clearly what is meant by Chaucer in his Prologue, ll. 415-7. The Doctor could 'fortune the ascendent of his images,' by choosing a favourable moment for the making of charms in the form of images, when a suitable planet was in the ascendent. Cf. Troil. ii. 74.
314. rote is the astrological term for the epoch from which to reckon. The exact moment of a nativity being known, the astrologers were supposed to be able to calculate everything else. See the last note.
332. Alkaron, the Koran; al is the Arabic article. ​
333. Here Makomete is used instead of Mahoun (l. 224). See Washington Irving's Life of Mahomet.
message, messenger. This is a correct form, according to the usages of Middle English; cf. l. 144. In like manner, we find prison used to mean a prisoner, which is often puzzling at first sight.
340. 'Because we denied Mahomet, our (object of) belief.'
360. 'O serpent under the form of woman, like that Serpent that is bound in hell.' The allusion here is not a little curious. It clearly refers to the old belief that the serpent who tempted Eve appeared to her with a woman's head, and it is sometimes so represented. I observed it, for instance, in the chapter-house of Salisbury Cathedral; and see the woodcut at p. 73 of Wright's History of Caricature and Grotesque in Art. In Peter Comestor's Historia Libri Genesis, we read of Satan—'Elegit etiam quoddam genus serpentis (vt ait Beda) virgineum vultum habens.' In the alliterative Troy Book, ed. Panton and Donaldson, p. 144, the Tempter is called Lyuyaton (i. e. Leviathan), and it is said of him that he
'Hade a face vne fourmet as a fre maydon'; l. 4451.
And, again, in Piers the Plowman, B. xviii. 355, Satan is compared to a 'lusarde [lizard] with a lady visage.' In the Ancren Riwle, p. 207, we are gravely informed that a scorpion is a kind of serpent that has a face somewhat like that of a woman, and puts on a pleasant countenance. To remember this gives peculiar force to ll. 370, 371. See also note to l. 404.
367. knowestow is a trisyllable; and the olde is to be read tholdè. But in l. 371, the word Makestow, being differently placed in the line, is to be read with the e slurred over, as a dissyllable.
380. moste, might. It is not always used like the modern must.
401. See Lucan's Pharsalia, iii. 79—'Perdidit o qualem uincendo plura triumphum!' But Chaucer's reference, evidently made at random, is unlucky. Lucan laments that he had no triumph to record.
404. The line is deficient at the beginning, the word But standing by itself as a foot. So also in A. 294, G. 341, &c. See Ellis's Early English Pronunciation, pp. 333, 649. (This peculiarity was pointed out by me in 1866, in the Aldine edition of Chaucer, i. 174.) For the sense of scorpioun, see the reference to the Ancren Riwle, in note to l. 360, and compare the following extracts. 'Thes is the scorpioun, thet maketh uayr mid the heauede, and enuenymeth mid the tayle'; Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 62. 'The scorpion, the whiche enoynteth with his tongue, and prycketh sore with his taylle'; Caxton, Fables of Æsop; Lib. iv. fable 3. Chaucer repeats the idea, somewhat more fully, in the Marchaunts Tale, E. 2058-2060. So also this wikked gost means this Evil Spirit, this Tempter.
421. Pronounce ever rapidly, and accent súccessour on the first syllable. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Pt. and Cp. is the following ​ note: 'Nota, de inopinato dolore. Semper mundane leticie tristicia repentina succedit. Mundana igitur felicitas multis amaritudinibus est respersa. Extrema gaudii luctus occupat. Audi ergo salubre consilium; in die bonorum ne immemor sis malorum.' This is one of the passages from Innocent's treatise de Contemptu Mundi, of which I have already spoken in the note to B. 99-121 above (p. 140). Lib. i. c. 23 has the heading—'De inopinato dolore.' It begins:—'Semper enim mundanae letitiae tristitia repentina succedit. Et quod incipit a gaudio, desinit in moerore. Mundana quippe felicitas multis amaritudinibus est respersa. Noverat hoc qui dixerat: "Risus dolore miscebitur, et extrema gaudii luctus occupat."... Attende salubrem consilium: "In die bonorum, non immemor sis malorum."'
This passage is mostly made up of scraps taken from different authors. I find in Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. ii. pr. 4—'Quam multis amaritudinibus humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa est'; which Chaucer translates by—'The swetnesse of mannes welefulnesse is sprayned with many biternesses'; see vol. ii. p. 34; and the same expression is repeated here, in l. 422. Gower quotes the same passage from Boethius in the prologue to his Confessio Amantis. The next sentence is from Prov. xiv. 13—'Risus dolore miscebitur, et extrema gaudii luctus occupat.' The last clause (see ll. 426, 427) is from Ecclesiasticus, xi. 27 (in the Vulgate version). Cf. Troil. iv. 836.
438. Compare Trivet's French prose version:—'Dount ele fist estorier vne neef de vitaile, de payn quest apele bisquit, & de peis, & de feues, de sucre, & de meel, & de vyn, pur sustenaunce de la vie de la pucele pur treis aunx; e en cele neef fit mettre la richesse & le tresour que Iempire Tiberie auoit maunde oue la pucele Constaunce, sa fille; e en cele neef fist la soudane mettre la pucele saunz sigle, & sauntz neuiroun, & sauntz chescune maner de eide de homme.' I. e. 'Then she caused a ship to be stored with victuals, with bread that is called biscuit, with peas, beans, sugar, honey, and wine, to sustain the maiden's life for three years. And in this ship she caused to be placed the riches and treasure which the Emperor Tiberius had sent with the maid Constance his daughter; and in this ship the Sultaness caused the maiden to be put, without sail or oar, or any kind of human aid.'
foot-hot, hastily. It occurs in Gower, ed. Pauli, ii. 114; in The Romaunt of the Rose, l. 3827: Octovian, 1224, in Weber's Met. Rom. iii. 208; Sevyn Sages, 843, in the same, iii. 34; Richard Coer de Lion, 1798, 2185, in the same, ii. 71, 86; and in Barbour's Bruce, iii. 418, xiii. 454. Compare the term hot-trod, explained by Sir W. Scott to mean the pursuit of marauders with bloodhounds: see note 3 H to the Lay of the Last Minstrel. We also find hot fot, i. e. immediately, in the Debate of the Body and the Soul, l. 481. It is a translation of the O. F. phrase chalt pas, immediately, examples of which are given by Godefroy.
449-62. Not in the original; perhaps added in revision. ​
451-62. Compare these lines with verses 3 and 5 of the hymn 'Lustra sex qui iam peregit' in the office of Lauds from Passion Sunday to Wednesday in Holy Week inclusive, in the Roman breviary.
This hymn was written by Venantius Fortunatus; see Leyser's collection, p. 168.
'Crux fidelis, inter omnes Arbor una nobilis: Silua talem nulla profert Fronde, flore, germine: Dulce ferrum, dulce lignum, Dulce pondus sustinent....
Sola digna tu fuisti Ferre mundi uictimam; Atque portum praeparare, Arca mundo naufrago, Quam sacer cruor perunxit, Fusus Agni corpore.'
See the translation in Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 97, part 2 (new edition), beginning—'Now the thirty years accomplished.'
We come still nearer to the original of Chaucer's lines when we consider the form of prayer quoted in the Ancren Riwle, p. 34, which is there given as follows:—'Salue crux sancta, arbor digna, quae sola fuisti digna portare Regem celorum et Dominum.... O crux gloriosa! o crux adoranda! o lignum preciosum, et admirabile signum, per quod et diabolus est victus, et mundus Christi sanguine redemptus.'
460. him and here, him and her, i. e. man and woman; as in Piers the Plowman, A. Pass. i. l. 100. The allusion is to the supposed power of the cross over evil spirits. See The Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris; especially the story of the Invention of the Cross by St. Helen, p. 160—'And anone, as he had made the [sign of the] crosse, þe grete multitude of deuylles vanyshed awaye'; or, in the Latin original, 'statimque ut edidit signum crucis, omnis illa daemonum multitudo euanuit'; Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, 2nd ed. p. 311. Cf. Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 429-431.
461. The reading of this line is certain, and must not be altered. But it is impossible to parse the line without at once noticing that there is some difficulty in the construction. The best solution is obtained by taking which in the sense of whom. A familiar example of this use of which for who occurs in the Lord's Prayer. See also Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, Sect. 265. The construction is as follows—'O victorious tree, protection of true people, that alone wast worthy to bear the King of Heaven with His new wounds—the White Lamb that was hurt with the spear—O expeller of fiends out of both man and woman, on whom (i. e. the men and women on whom) thine arms faithfully spread out,' &c. Limes means the arms of the cross, spread before a person to protect him. ​
464. see of Grece, here put for the Mediterranean Sea.
465. Marrok, Morocco; alluding to the Strait of Gibraltar; cf. l. 947. So also in Barbour's Bruce, iii. 688.
470-504. Not in the French text; perhaps added in revision.
474. Ther, where; as usual. knave, servant.
475. 'Was eaten by the lion ere he could escape.' Cf. l. 437.
480. The word clerkes refers to Boethius. This passage is due to Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6. 114-117, and 152-4; see vol. ii. pp. 117, 118.
491. See Revelation vii. 1-3.
497. Here (if that be omitted) As seems to form a foot by itself, which gives but a poor line. See note to l. 404.
500. Alluding to St. Mary the Egyptian (Maria Egiptiaca), who according to the legend, after a youth spent in debauchery, lived entirely alone for the last forty-seven years of her life in the wilderness beyond the Jordan. She lived in the fifth century. Her day is April 9. See Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art; Rutebuef, ed. Jubinal, ii. 106-150; Maundeville's Travels, ed. Halliwell, p. 96; Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, cap. lvi. She was often confused with St. Mary Magdalen.
508. Northumberlond, the district, not the county. Yorkshire is, in fact, meant, as the French version expressly mentions the Humber.
510. of al a tyde, for the whole of an hour.
512. the constable; named Elda by Trivet and Gower.
519. Trivet says that she answered Elda in his own language, 'en sessoneys,' in Saxon, for she had learnt many languages in her youth.
525. The word deye seems to have had two pronunciations; in l. 644 it is dye, with a different rime. In fact, Mr. Cromie's 'Ryme-Index' to Chaucer proves the point. On the one hand, deye rimes to aweye, disobeye, dreye, preye, seye, tweye, weye; and on the other, dye rimes to avoutrye, bigamye, compaignye, Emelye, genterye, lye, maladye, &c. So also, high appears both as hey and hy.
527. forgat hir minde, lost her memory.
531. The final e in plese is preserved from elision by the cæsural pause. Or, we may read plesen; yet the MSS. have plese.
533. Hermengild; spelt Hermyngild in Trivet; answering to A. S. Eormengild (Lappenberg, Hist. England, i. 285). Note that St. Hermengild was martyred just at this very time, Apr. 13, 846.
543. plages, regions; we even find the word in Marlowe's Tamburlaine, pt. i. act iv. sc. 4, and pt. ii. act i. sc. 1. The latter passage is—'From Scythia to the oriental plage Of India.'
552. 'Eyes of his mind.' Jean de Meun has the expression les yex de cuer, the eyes of the heart; see his Testament, ll. 1412, 1683.
578. Alla, i. e. Ælla, king of Northumberland, A.D. 560-567; the same whose name Gregory (afterwards Pope) turned, by a pun, into Alleluia, according to the version of the celebrated story about Gregory and the English slaves, as given in Beda, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. c. 1. ​
584. quyte her whyle, repay her time; i. e. her pains, trouble; as when we say 'it is worth while.' Wile is not intended.
585. 'The plot of the knight against Constance, and also her subsequent adventure with the steward, are both to be found, with some variations, in a story in the Gesta Romanorum, ch. 101; MS. Harl. 2270. Occleve has versified the whole story'; Tyrwhitt. See vol. iii. p. 410, for further information. Compare the conduct of Iachimo, in Cymbeline.
609. See Troil. iv. 357.
620. Berth hir on hond, affirms falsely; lit. bears her in hand. Chaucer uses the phrase 'to bere in hond' with the sense of false affirmation, sometimes with the idea of accusing falsely, as here and in the Wyf of Bathes Prologue, D. 393; and sometimes with that of persuading falsely, D. 232, 380. In Shakespeare the sense is rather—'to keep in expectation, to amuse with false pretences'; Nares's Glossary. Barbour uses it in the more general sense of 'to affirm,' or 'to make a statement,' whether falsely or truly. In Dyce's Skelton, i. 237, occurs the line—'They bare me in hande that I was a spye'; which Dyce explains by 'they accused me, laid to my charge that,' &c. He refers us to Palsgrave, who has some curious examples of it. E.g., at p. 450:—'I beare in hande, I threp upon a man that he hath done a dede or make hym beleve so, Ie fais accroyre ... I beare hym in hande he was wode, Ie luy metz sus la raige, or ie luy metz sus quil estoyt enragé. What crime or yuell mayest thou beare me in hande of'; &c. So also: 'Many be borne an hande of a faute, and punysshed therfore, that were neuer gylty; Plerique facinoris insimulantur,' &c.; Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. m. ii. ed. 1530. In Skelton's Why Come Ye Nat to Courte, l. 449, bereth on hand simply means 'persuades.'
631-58. Not in the original. A later insertion, of much beauty.
634. 'And bound Satan; and he still lies where he (then) lay.' In the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, Christ descends into hell, and (according to some versions) binds him with chains; see Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 401.
639. Susanne; see the story of Susannah, in the Apocrypha.
641. The Virgin's mother is called Anna in the Apocryphal Gospel of James. Her day is July 26. See Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, cap. cxxxi; Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, p. 4.
647. 'Where that he gat (could get) for himself no favour.'
660. 'For pitee renneth sone in gentil herte'; Knightes Tale, A. 1761. And see note to Sq. Tale, F. 479.
664. us avyse, deliberate with ourselves, consider the matter again. Compare the law-phrase Le roi s'avisera, by which the king refuses assent to a measure proposed. 'We will consider whom to appoint as judge.'
666. I. e. a copy of the Gospels in Welsh or British, called in the French prose version 'liure des Ewangeiles.' Agreements were ​ sometimes written on the fly-leaves of copies of the Gospels, as may be seen in two copies of the A. S. version of them.
669. A very similar miracle is recorded in the old alliterative romance of Joseph of Arimathea, l. 362. The French version has:—'a peine auoit fini la parole, qe vne mayn close, com poyn de homme, apparut deuant Elda et quant questoient en presence, et ferri tiel coup en le haterel le feloun, que ambedeus lez eus lui enuolerent de la teste, & les dentz hors de la bouche; & le feloun chai abatu a la terre; et a ceo dist vne voiz en le oyance de touz: Aduersus filiam matris ecclesie ponebas scandalum; hec fecisti, et tacui.' I. e. 'Scarcely had he ended the word, when a closed hand, like a man's fist, appeared before Elda and all who were in the presence, and smote such a blow on the nape of the felon's neck that both his eyes flew out of his head, and the teeth out of his mouth; and the felon fell smitten down to the earth; and thereupon a voice said in the hearing of all, "Against the daughter of Mother Church thou wast laying a scandal; this hast thou done, and I held my peace."' The reading tacui suggests that, in l. 676, the word holde should rather be held; but the MSS. do not recognise this reading.
697. hir thoughte, it seemed to her; thoughte is here impersonal; so in l. 699. The French text adds that Domulde (Donegild) was, moreover, jealous of hearing the praises of Constance's beauty.
701. Me list nat, it pleases me not, I do not wish to. He does not wish to give every detail. In this matter Chaucer is often very judicious; Gower and others often give the more unimportant matters as fully as the rest. Cf. l. 706; and see Squyeres Tale, F. 401.
703. What, why. Cf. Squyeres Tale, F. 283, 298.
716. Trivet says—'Puis a vn demy aan passe, vint nouele al Roy que les gentz de Albanie, qe sountz les Escotz, furent passes lour boundes et guerrirent les terres le Roy. Dount par comun counseil, le Roi assembla son ost de rebouter ses enemis. Et auant son departir vers Escoce, baila la Reine Constaunce sa femme en la garde Elda, le Conestable du chastel, et a Lucius, leuesqe de Bangor; si lour chargea que quant ele fut deliueres denlaunt, qui lui feisoient hastiuement sauoir la nouele'; i. e. 'Then, after half-a-year, news came to the king that the people of Albania, who are the Scots, had passed their bounds, and warred on the king's lands. Then by common counsel the king gathered his host to rebut his foes. And before his departure towards Scotland, he committed Queen Constance his wife to the keeping of Elda, the constable of the castle, and of Lucius, bishop of Bangor, and charged them that when she was delivered, they should hastily let him know the news.'
722. knave child, male child; as in Clerkes Tale, E. 444.
723. at the fontstoon, i. e. at his baptism; French text—'al baptisme fu nome Moris.'
729. to doon his avantage, to suit his convenience. He hoped, by going only a little out of his way, to tell Donegild the news also, and to receive a reward for doing so. Trivet says that the old ​ Queen was then at Knaresborough, situated 'between England and Scotland, as in an intermediate place.' Its exact site is less than seventeen miles west of York. Donegild pretends to be very pleased at the news, and gives the man a rich present.
736. lettres; so in all seven MSS.; Tyrwhitt reads lettre. But it is right as it is. Lettres is sometimes used, like Lat. literae, in a singular sense, and the French text has 'les lettres.' Examples occur in Piers Plowman, B. ix. 38; Bruce, ii. 80. See l. 744, and note to l. 747.
738. If ye wol aught, if you wish (to say) anything.
740. Donegild is dissyllabic here, as in l. 695, but in l. 805 it appears to have three syllables. Chaucer constantly alters proper names so as to suit his metre.
743. sadly, steadily, with the idea of long continuance.
747. lettre; here the singular form is used, but it is a matter of indifference. Exactly the same variation occurs in Barbour's Bruce, ii. 80:—
'And, among othir, lettres ar gayn To the byschop off Androwis towne, That tauld how slayn wes that baroun. The lettir tauld hym all the deid,' &c.
This circumstance, of exchanging the messenger's letters for forged ones, is found in Matthew Paris's account of the Life of Offa the first; ed. Wats, pp. 965-968.
748. direct, directed, addressed; French text 'maundez.'
751. Pronounce horrible as in French.
752. The last word in this line should rather be nas (= was not), as has kindly been pointed out to me; though the seven MSS. and the old editions all have was. By this alteration we should secure a true rime.
754. elf; French text—'ele fu malueise espirit en fourme de femme,' she was an evil spirit in form of woman. Elf is the A.S. ælf, Icel. álfr, G. alp and elfe; Shakespeare writes ouphes for elves. 'The Edda distinguishes between Ljósálfar, the elves of light, and Dökkálfar, elves of darkness; the latter are not elsewhere mentioned either in modern fairy tales or in old writers.... In the Alvismál, elves and dwarfs are clearly distinguished as different. The abode of the elves in the Edda is Álfheimar, fairy land, and their king the god Frey, the god of light. In the fairy tales the Elves haunt the hills; hence their name Huldufólk, hidden people; respecting their origin, life, and customs, see Íslenzkar þjóðsögur, i. 1. In old writers the Elves are rarely mentioned; but that the same tales were told as at present is clear'; note on the word álfr, in Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary. See also Keightley's Fairy Mythology, and Brand's Popular Antiquities. The word is here used in a bad sense, and is nearly equivalent to witch. In the Prompt. Parv. we find—'Elfe, spryte, Lamia'; and Mr. Way notes that these elves were often supposed to bewitch children, and to use them cruelly. ​
767. Pronounce ágreáble nearly as in French, and with an accent on the first and third syllables.
769. take, handed over, delivered. Take often means to give or hand over in Middle English: very seldom to convey or bring.
771. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. and Pt. is written—'Quid turpius ebrioso, cui fetor in ore, tremor in corpore, qui promit stulta, prodit occulta, cuius mens alienatur, facies transformatur? Nullum enim latet secretum ubi regnat ebrietas.' This is obviously the original of the stanza, ll. 771-777; cf. note to B. 99 above. There is nothing answering to it in Trivet, but it is to be found in Pope Innocent's treatise De Contemptu Mundi, lib. ii. c. 19—De ebrietate. Migne's edition has 'promittit multa' for 'promit stulta.' The last clause is quoted from Prov. xxxi. 4 in the Vulgate version; our English versions omit it. See B. 2384.
778. 'O Donegild, I have no language fit to tell,' &c.
782. mannish, man-like, i. e. harsh and cruel, not mild and gentle like a woman. But Chaucer is not satisfied with the epithet, and says he ought rather to call her 'fiend-like.' Perhaps it is worth while to say that in Gower's Conf. Amant., lib. vi., where Pauli (iii. 52) has 'Most liche to mannes creature,' the older edition by Chalmers has the form mannish. Lines 778-84 are not in the original.
789. 'He stowed away plenty (of wine) under his girdle,' i. e. drank his fill.
794. Pronounce constábl' much as if it were French, with an accent on a. In l. 808 the accent is on o. Lastly, in l. 858, all three syllables are fully sounded.
798. 'Three days and a quarter of an hour'; i. e. she was to be allowed only three days, and after that to start off as soon as possible. Tide (like tíð in Icelandic) sometimes means an hour. The French text says 'deynz quatre iours,' within four days.
801. croude, push; see ll. 296, 299 above; and note to l. 299.
813-26. Lines 813-819 are not in the French, and ll. 820-826 are not at all close to the original. The former stanza, which is due to Boeth. bk. i. met. 5. 22-30, was doubtless added in the revision.
827-33. The French text only has—'en esperaunce qe dure comencement amenera dieu a bon fyn, et qil me purra en la mere sauuer, qi en mere et en terre est de toute puissaunce.'
835. The beautiful stanzas in ll. 834-868 are all Chaucer's own; and of the next stanza, ll. 869-875, the French text gives but the merest hint.
842. eggement, incitement. The same word is used in other descriptions of the Fall. Thus, in Piers Plowman, B. i. 65, it is said of Satan that 'Adam and Eue he egged to ille '; and in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 241, it is said of Adam that 'thurgh the eggyng of Eue he ete of an apple.'
852. refut, refuge; see G. 75, and A. B. C. 14.
859. As lat, pray, let. See note to Clerkes Prologue, E. 7. ​
873. purchace, provide, make provision. So in Troilus, bk. ii. 1125, the line 'And of som goodly answere you purchace' means—and provide yourself with some kind answer, i. e. be ready with a kind reply.
875-84. Much abridged from the French text.
885. tormented, tortured. However, the French text says the messenger acknowledged his drunkenness freely. Examination by torture was so common, that Chaucer seems to have regarded the mention of it as being the most simple way of telling the story.
893. out of drede, without doubt, certainly; cf. l. 869. The other equally common expression out of doute comes to much the same thing, because doute in Middle-English has in general the meaning of fear or dread, not of hesitation. See Group E. 634, 1155; and Prol. A. 487.
894. pleinly rede, fully read, read at length. In fact, Chaucer judiciously omits the details of the French text, where we read that King Ælla rushed into his mother's room with a drawn sword as she lay asleep, roused her by crying 'traitress!' in a loud voice, and, after hearing the full confession which she made in the extremity of her terror, slew her and cut her to pieces as she lay in bed.
901. fleteth, floats. French text—'le quinte an de cest exil, come ele flotaunt sur le mere,' &c. Cf. fleet in l. 463.
905. The name of the castle is certainly not given in the French text, which merely says it was 'vn chastel dun Admiral de paens,' i. e. a castle of an admiral of the Pagans.
912. gauren, gaze, stare. See note to Squ. Tale, F. 190.
913. shortly, briefly; because the poet considerably abridges this part of the narrative. The steward's name was Thelous.
925. The word Auctor, here written in the margin of E., signifies that this stanza and the two following ones are additions to the story by the author. At the same time, ll. 925-931 are really taken from Chaucer's own translation of Pope Innocent's treatise De Contemptu Mundi; see further in the note to B. 99 above. Accordingly, we also find here, in the margin of E., the following Latin note:—'O extrema libidinis turpitudo, que non solum mentem effeminat, set eciam corpus eneruat. Semper sequũntur dolor et penitentia post,' &c. This corresponds to the above treatise, lib. ii. c. 21, headed 'De luxuria.' The last clause is abbreviated; the original has:—'Semper illam procedunt ardor et petulantia; semper comitantur fetor et immunditia; sequuntur semper dolor et poenitentia.'
932-45. These two stanzas are wholly Chaucer's, plainly written as a parallel passage to that in ll. 470-504 above.
934. Golias, Goliath. See I Samuel xvii. 25.
940. See the story of Holofernes in the Monkes Tale, B. 3741; and the note. I select the spelling Olofernus here, because it is that of the majority of the MSS., and agrees with the title De Oloferno in the Monkes Tale.
947. In l. 465, Chaucer mentions the 'Strait of Marrok,' i. e. Morocco, though there is no mention of it in the French text; so here he alludes ​ to it again, but by a different name, viz. 'the mouth of Jubalter and Septe.' Jubaltar (Gibraltar) is from the Arabic jabálu't tárik, i. e. the mountain of Tarik; who was the leader of a band of Saracens that made a descent upon Spain in the eighth century. Septe is Ceuta, on the opposite coast of Africa.
965. shortly, briefly; because Chaucer here again abridges the original, which relates how the Romans burnt the Sultaness, and slew more than 11,000 of the Saracens, without a single death or even wound on their own side.
967. senatour. His name was Arsemius of Cappadocia; his wife's name was Helen. Accent victorie on the o.
969. as seith the storie, as the history says. The French text relates this circumstance fully.
971. The French text says that, though Arsemius did not recognise Constance, she, on her part, recognised him at once, though she did not reveal it.
981. aunte. Helen, the wife of Arsemius, was daughter of Sallustius, brother of the Emperor Tiberius, and Constance's uncle. Thus Helen was really Constance's first cousin. Chaucer may have altered it purposely; but it looks as if he had glanced at the sentence—'Cest heleyne, la nece Constaunce, taunt tendrement ama sa nece,' &c., and had read it as—'This Helen ... loved her niece so tenderly.' In reality, the word nece means 'cousin' here, being applied to Helen as well as to Constance.
982. she, i. e. Helen; for Constance knew Helen.
991. to receyven, i. e. to submit himself to any penance which the Pope might see fit to impose upon him. Journeys to Rome were actually made by English kings; Ælfred was sent to Rome as a boy, and his father, Æthelwulf, also spent a year there, but (as the Chronicle tells us) he went 'mid micelre weorðnesse,' with much pomp.
994. wikked werkes; especially the murder of his mother, as Trivet says. See note to l. 894.
999. Rood him ageyn, rode towards him, rode to meet him; cf. l. 391. See Cler. Tale, E. 911, and the note.
1009. Som men wolde seyn, some relate the story by saying. The expression occurs again in l. 1086. On the strength of it, Tyrwhitt concluded that Chaucer here refers to Gower, who tells the story of Constance in Book ii. of his Confessio Amantis. He observes that Gower's version of the story includes both the circumstances which are introduced by this expression. But this is not conclusive, since we find that Nicholas Trivet also makes mention of the same circumstances. In the present instance the French text has—'A ceo temps de la venuz le Roi a Rome, comensca Moris son diseotisme aan. Cist estoit apris priuement de sa mere Constance, qe, quant il irreit a la feste ou son seignur le senatour,' &c.; i. e. At this time of the king's coming to Rome, Maurice began his eighteenth year. He was secretly instructed by his mother Constance, that, when he should go to the ​ feast with his lord the senator, &c. See also the note to l. 1086 below. Besides, Gower may have followed Chaucer.
1014. metes space, time of eating. This circumstance strikingly resembles the story of young Roland, who, whilst still a child, was instructed by his mother Bertha to appear before his uncle Charlemagne, by way of introducing himself. The story is well told in Uhland's ballad entitled 'Klein Roland,' a translation of which is given at pp. 335-340 of my 'Ballads and Songs of Uhland.'
'They had but waited a little while, When Roland returns more bold; With hasty step to the king he comes, And seizes his cup of gold.
"What ho, there! stop! you saucy imp!" Are the words that loudly ring. But Roland clutches the beaker still With eyes fast fixed on the king.
The king at the first looked fierce and dark, But soon perforce he smiled— "Thou comest," he said, "into golden halls As though they were woodlands wild,"' &c.
The result is also similar; Bertha is reconciled to Charlemagne, much as Constance is to Ælla.
1034. aught, in any way, at all; lit. 'a whit.'
1035. sighte, sighed. So also pighte, 'pitched'; plighte, 'plucked'; and shrighte, 'shrieked.' It occurs again in Troil. iii. 1080, iv. 714, 1217, v. 1633; and in the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1746.
1036. that he mighte, as fast as he could.
1038. 'I ought to suppose, in accordance with reasonable opinion.' Chaucer tells the story quite in his own way. There is no trace of ll. 1038-1042 in the French, and scarcely any of ll. 1048-1071, which is all in his own excellent strain.
1056. shet, shut, closed. Compare the description of Griselda in the Clerkes Tale, E. 1058-1061.
1058. Both twyes and owne are dissyllabic.
1060. all his halwes, all His saints. Hence the term All-hallow-mas, i. e. All Saints' day.
1061. wisly, certainly. as have, I pray that he may have; see note to l. 859 above. 'I pray He may so surely have mercy on my soul, as that I am as innocent of your suffering as Maurice my son is like you in the face.'
1078. After this line, the French text tells us that King Ælla presented himself before Pope Pelagius, who absolved him for the death of his mother. Pelagius II. was pope in 578-90.
1086. Here again, Tyrwhitt supposes Chaucer to follow Gower. But, in fact, Chaucer and Gower both consulted Trivet, who says ​ here—'Constaunce charga son fitz Morice del messager [or message].... Et puis, quant Morice estoit deuaunt lempereur venuz, oue la compaignie honurable, et auoit son message fest de part le Roi son pere,' &c.; i. e. 'Constance charged her son Maurice with the message ... and then, when Maurice was come before the emperor, with the honourable company, and had done his message on behalf of the king his father,' &c. Or, as before, Gower may have copied Chaucer.
1090. As he; used much as we should now use 'as one.' It refers to the Emperor, of course.
1091. Sente, elliptical for 'as that he would send.' Tyrwhitt reads send; but it is best to leave an expression like this as it stands in the MSS. It was probably a colloquial idiom; and, in the next line, we have wente. Observe that sente is in the subjunctive mood, and is equivalent to 'he would send.'
1107. Chaucer so frequently varies the length and accent of a proper name that there is no objection to the supposition that we are here to read Cústancë in three syllables, with an accent on the first syllable. In exactly the same way, we find Grísildis in three syllables (E. 948), though in most other passages it is Grisíld. We have had Cústance, accented on the first syllable, several times; see ll. 438, 556, 566, 576, &c.; also Custáncë, three syllables, ll. 184, 274, 319, 612, &c. Tyrwhitt inserts a second your before Custance, but without authority.
1109. It am I; it is I. It is the usual idiom. So in the A.S. version of St. John vi. 20, we find 'ic hyt eom,' i. e. I it am, and in a Dutch New Testament, A.D. 1700, I find 'Ick ben 't,' i. e. I am it. The Mœso-Gothic version omits it, having simply 'Ik im'; so does Wyclif's, which has 'I am.' Tyndale, A.D. 1526, has 'it ys I.'
1113. thonketh, pronounced thonk'th; so also eyl'th, B. 1171, Abyd'th, B. 1175. So also tak'th, l. 1142 below. of, for. So in Chaucer's Balade of Truth, l. 19, we have 'thank God of al,' i. e. for all things. See my notes to Chaucer's Minor Poems, vol. i. p. 552.
1123. The French text tells us that he was named Maurice of Cappadocia, and was also known, in Latin, as Mauritius Christianissimus Imperator. Trivet tells us no more about him, except that he accounts for the title 'of Cappadocia' by saying that Arsemius (the senator who found Constance and Maurice and took care of them) was a Cappadocian. Gibbon says—'The Emperor Maurice derived his origin from ancient Rome; but his immediate parents were settled at Arabissus in Cappadocia, and their singular felicity preserved them alive to behold and partake the fortune of their august son.... Maurice ascended the throne at the mature age of 43 years; and he reigned above 20 years over the east and over himself.'—Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, cap. xlv. He was murdered, with all his seven children, by his successor, Phocas the Usurper; Nov. 27, A.D. 600. His accession was in A.D. 582.
1127. The statement 'I bere it not in minde,' i. e. I do not remember it, may be taken to mean that Chaucer could find nothing about ​ Maurice in his French text beyond the epithet Christianissimus, which he has skilfully expanded into l. 1123. He vaguely refers us to 'olde Romayn gestes,' that is, to lives of the Roman emperors, for he can hardly mean the Gesta Romanorum in this instance. Gibbon refers us to Evagrius, lib. v. and lib. vi.; Theophylact Simocatta; Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus.
1132. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. is written—'A mane usque ad vesperam mutabitur tempus. Tenent tympanum et gaudent ad sonum organi,' &c. See the next note.
1135. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. is written—'Quis vnquam vnicam diem totam duxit in sua dilectione [vel delectatione] iocundam? quem in aliqua parte diei reatus consciencie, vel impetus Ire, vel motus concupiscencie non turbauerit? quem liuor Inuidie, vel Ardor Auaricie, vel tumor superbie non vexauerit? quem aliqua iactura vel offensa, vel passio non commouerit,' &c. Cp. Pt. insert inde before non turbauerit. This corresponds to nothing in the French text, but it is quoted from Pope Innocent's treatise, De Contemptu Mundi, lib. i. c. 22; see note to B. 99 above. The extract in the note to l. 1132 occurs in the same chapter, but both clauses in it are borrowed; the former from Ecclus. xviii. 26, the latter from Job, xxi. 12.
1143. I gesse, I suppose. Chaucer somewhat alters the story. Trivet says that Ælla died at the end of nine months after this. Half-a-year after, Constance repairs to Rome. Thirteen days after her arrival, her father Tiberius dies. A year later, Constance herself dies, on St. Clement's day (Nov. 23), A.D. 584, and is buried at Rome, near her father, in St. Peter's Church. The date 584, here given by Trivet, should rather be 583; the death of Tiberius took place on Aug. 14, 582; see Gibbon.