The following sketch gives a general notion of the relation of this Book to the Filostrato, though Chaucer often amplifies and transposes the material in a way that it would be tedious to particularise more minutely.

Troilus: Book V.	Filostrato.
ll. 1-7.	[Teseide, Bk. ix. st. 1.]
8-14.	[Teseide, Bk. ii. st. 1.]
15-91.	[Teseide, Bk. v. st. 1-13.
190-266.	Teseide, Bk."v. 14-21, 24-28.
280-295.	Teseide, Bk."v. 22.
323-336, 351-372.	Teseide, Bk."v. 29-32.
386-686.	Teseide, Bk."v. 33-38, 40-62, 67-71.
687-693.	[Teseide, Bk. vi. 1 (ll. 1-3), 6.
708-777.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 1 (l. 4)-8.
785-798, 820.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 10, 11.
799-805, 817.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 33; Bk. i. 28 (l. 8).
841-1001.	Teseide, Bk."vi. 9, 11-31.
1100-1274.	[Teseide, Bk. vii. 1-33.
1275-1309.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 37, 40-43, 48-50.
1310-1327.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 51, 52.
1335, 1336.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 74 (ll. 7, 8).
1338-1421.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 53-75.
1422-1444.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 76, 105, 77, 76.
1450-1456.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 84, 26.
1513-1521.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 27, 90.
1523-1554.	Teseide, Bk. "ii. 100-102, 104, 106.
1555-1589.	[Teseide, Bk. viii. 1-5.
1632-1701.	Teseide, Bk. "iii. 6-15.
1702-1768.	Teseide, Bk. "iii. 21, 17, 19-26.
1800-1806.	Teseide, Bk. "iii. 27.
1807-1827.	[Teseide, Bk. xi. 1-3.]
1828-1841.	Teseide, Bk. "i. 28, 29.
1863-1865.	[Dante, Par. xiv. 28-30.]

3. Parcas, Fates; the accusative case, as usual.

7. Lachesis, the Fate that apportions the thread of life; often represented with the spindle, though this is properly the attribute of Clotho alone. Clotho spins, Lachesis apportions, and Atropos cuts, the thread of life. Atropos has been mentioned above; Bk. iv. 1208, 1546. Statius mentions all three in lib. iii. of his Thebaid; Clotho at l. 556, Lachesis (Lachesim putri uacuantem saecula penso) at l. 642, and Atropos at l. 68.

8. For golden tressed, MS. Harl. 3943 has Auricomus tressed (!). Cf. 'Sol auricomus, cingentibus Horis;' Valerius Flaccus, Argonaut. iv. 92.

12, 13. sone of Hecuba, Troilus; hir, Criseyde.

15-9. Note that ll. 15, 17 rime on -Éde, with close e, but ll. 16, 18, 19 rime on -Ède, with open e. Cf. Anelida, 299-307.

22-6. Lines 22, 24 rime on -ore, with long close o; ll. 23, 25, 26 on -ore, with (original) short open o.

25. crop, shoot, upper part of a tree. more, root, still in use in Hants; A. S. more, moru; see P. Plowman, B. xvi. 5, C. xviii. 21.

53. 'Upon the report of such behaviour of his.'

65. So in Boccaccio: 'Con un falcone in pugno;' Fil. v. st. 10.

67. A mistranslation. Boccaccio's word is not valle, a valley, but vallo, a rampart. The first foot lacks a syllable.

71. Antenor was the Trojan, captured by the Greeks, who was restored to Troy in exchange for Thoas and Criseyde.

88. sone of Tydeus, i.e. Diomede, often called Tydides; as in Æneid. i. 97, 471, &c.

89. To know one's creed is very elementary knowledge.

90. by the reyne hir hente; Rossetti thinks Chaucer misunderstood di colei si piglia (Fil. v. 13), which might mean 'takes hold of her,' but really means 'takes a fancy to her.'

98. This resembles 'to take care of No. 1.'

101. make it tough, raise a difficulty, viz. by disparaging Troilus.

106. coude his good, knew what was good for him, knew what he was about. Bell says—'understood good manners.'

128. helply; we now say 'helpful,' i.e. serviceable. to my might, to the best of my power.

143. O god of love, one and the same god of love.

151. this, contracted form of this is. enseled, sealed up.

158. As paramours, as by way of love. Cf. l. 332.

180. See below (l. 530), and Man of Lawes Ta. B 697. We can read either brast (burst), or braste (would burst).

182. sye, to sink down; A. S. sigan; see si?en in Stratmann.

194. mewet, mute; as in the Court of Love, 148. Mewet, muwet, or muet is from the O. F. muËt, orig. dissyllabic, and answering to a Low Lat. diminutive type *mutettum. The E. word is now obsolete, being displaced by the simple form mute, borrowed directly from Lat. mutus, which in O. F. became mu. Mute is common in Shakespeare. Lydgate has: 'And also clos and muËt as a stone;' Siege of Thebes, pt. iii. § 8. In Merlin, ed. Wheatley, p. 172, we find 'stille and mewet as though thei hadde be dombe.'

The -e in mild-e is not elided; the A. S. milde is dissyllabic.

208. Cipryde, i.e. Cypris, or Venus; see note to Parl. Foules, 277.

212. The -ie in furie is rapidly slurred over. Ixion is accented on the first syllable. Ixion was bound, in hell, to an ever-revolving wheel; Georg. iii. 38; Æn. vi. 601.

249. as mete, as (for instance) dream; see l. 251.

283. 'Although he had sworn (to do so) on forfeit of his head.'

304. pÁlestrÁl, i.e. games consisting of wrestling-matches and similar contests; from Lat. palaestra; see Verg. Æn. iii. 280, 281; and G. Douglas, ed. Small, vol. iii. p. 52, l. 24. There is a description of such games, held at a funeral, in Statius, Theb. vi., which is imitated by Chaucer in the Knightes Tale; see note to A 2863. Vigile (l. 305) is the same as Chaucer's liche-wake; see note to A 2958.

306. He means that his steed, sword, and helm are to be offered up to Mars, and his shield to Pallas, at his funeral; cf. Kn. Ta. A 2889-2894.

319. Ascaphilo, a transposed form of Ascalaphus, whom Proserpine changed into an owl; Ovid, Met. v. 539. So also Adriane for Ariadne. Bell's note, that the form of Ascaphilo is Italian, and helps to prove that Chaucer here follows Boccaccio is misleading; for Boccaccio does not mention Ascalaphus.

321. Mercury was supposed to convey men's souls to Hades. See l. 1827 below, and note.

332. paramours, passionately; an adverb, as usual; cf. l. 158.

345. By freendes might, by constraint of their relatives.

350. hurt, for hurteth, hurts; present tense.

360. On dreams, cf. Non. Pr. Ta. B 4113-4129, 4280-4.

365-8. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 18709-12, q. v.

379. Lit. 'Well is it, concerning dreams, to these old wives;' i.e. these old women set a value on dreams.

387. Boccaccio has: 'a te stesso perdona,' i.e. spare thyself; Chaucer takes it literally—'forgive thyself.'

403. Sarpedon had been taken prisoner by the Greeks (iv. 52). Neither Boccaccio nor Chaucer explains how he had got back to Troy. See l. 431.

409. iouken, slumber; cf. P. Plowman, C. xix. 126. It was chiefly used as a term in falconry, and applied to hawks. In the Boke of St. Albans, fol. a 6, we are told that it is proper to say that 'your hauke Ioukith, and not slepith.' From O. F. joquier, jouquier; see Godefroy.

421. of fyne force, by very necessity.

451. I read 'piËtous,' as in MS. H., not 'pitous,' for the sake of the metre, as in Bk. iii. 1444; cf. pietee, id. 1033. Perhaps Chaucer was thinking of the Ital. pietoso. We also find the spelling pitevous, for which form there is sufficient authority; see Wyclif, 2 Tim. iii. 12, Titus ii. 12; Rob. of Glouc. ed. Wright, 5884 (footnote); cf. Mod. E. piteous. Chaucer's usual word is pitous, as in Cant. Ta. B 449, 1059, C 298, &c.

460. For, because; as frequently.

469. 'Fortune intended to glaze his hood still better.' To 'glaze one's hood' was to furnish a man with a glass hood, a jocular phrase for to mock or expose to attack; because a glass hood would be no defence at all. Chaucer himself admirably illustrates this saying in a passage which has already occurred above; see Bk. ii. 867.

478. her-e is dissyllabic; as in Ho. Fame, 980, 1014, 1885, 1912, &c.

479. congeyen us, bid us take leave, dismiss us.

484. 'Did we come here to fetch light for a fire, and run home again?' A man who borrows a light must hurry back before it goes out.

505. Hasel-wode, hazel-wood; an allusion to a popular saying, expressive of incredulity. See note to l. 1174 below. Not the same proverb as that in Bk. iii. 890.

541. 'O house, formerly called the best of houses.' Bell and Morris place the comma after houses.

552. As to kissing the door, see note to Rom. Rose, 2676.

601. Referring, probably, to Statius, Theb. i. 12—'Quod saeuae Iunonis opus.' But this refers to the wrath of Juno against Athamas rather than against Thebes.

642. 'Wherefore, if, on the tenth night, I fail (to have) the guiding of thy bright beams for a single hour,' &c.

655. Here Thynne's reading, Lucina, is obviously correct; see Bk. iv. 1591. By the common mistake of writing t for c, it became Lutina, and was then changed into Latona. But Latona was Lucina's mother.

664. Pheton, Phaethon; alluding to Ovid, Met. ii. 34, 47, &c.

744. Prudence is here represented with three eyes, to behold present, past, and future; but Creseyde had but two eyes, and failed to see what was to come. Cf. 'rerum fato Prudentia maior;' Georg. i. 416.

763. 'I call it felicity when I have what satisfies me;' cf. the parallel passage in Prol. A 338; and Boeth. Bk. iii. Pr. 2. 6-8.

769. knotteles; 'like a thread in which there is no knot.'

784. 'Nothing venture, nothing have.'

805. In Lydgate's Siege of Troye, we are told that Diomede brought 80 ships with him 'fro Calidonye and Arge;' Bk. ii. ch. 16, in the catalogue of the ships. The English alliterative Romance omits this passage. Arge is the town of Argos, ruled over by Diomede; Homer, Il. ii. 559. Calidoine is Calydon, in Ætolia, of which city Tydeus, father of Diomede, was king; see l. 934, and ll. 1513-5 below.

806. This description seems to be mainly Chaucer's own. It occurs again, much amplified, in Lydgate's Siege of Troy, Bk. ii. ch. 15, where it precedes the description of Priam. Boccaccio says that she had 'lucent eyes and an angelic face' (Fil. i. st. 28), with which cf. l. 816. He also describes her as 'Accorta, savia, onesta, e costumata,' which Rossetti translates by 'Discerning, wise, honourable, and high-bred' (Fil. i. 11); cf. ll. 820, 821.

827. Troilus is described by Guido delle Colonne; see the translations, in the alliterative Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson, l. 3922, and in Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. ii. ch. 16.

836. Troilus was second to Hector in prowess (Bk. ii. 158, 644), but not in courage (Bk. i. 474).

837. durring don, daring to do, courage; where durring is a sb. formed from durren, to dare. So in l. 840, to durre don is 'to dare to do.' It is quite a mistake to regard durring don as a compound word, as is usually done by such as are ignorant of Middle English grammar. Spenser borrowed the phrase, but may have misunderstood it. In the Globe edition of Spenser, derring-doe occurs with a hyphen, in Shep. Kal. Oct. l. 65, but as two words, in F. Q. ii. 4. 42, vi. 5. 37. In F. Q. ii. 7. 10, we find 'in der-doing armes,' which I leave to be explained by the omniscient critic.

852. See the parallel line, Squi. Ta. F 294; cf. Bk. iii. 674.

883. as who seyth, so to speak.

892. Manes, the departed spirits or shades of the dead. He means that even these will dread the Greeks. The idea that they are the 'gods of pain' is taken from Vergil, Æn. vi. 743; cf. Statius, Theb. viii. 84. Boccaccio merely has 'tra' morti in inferno'; Fil. vi. st. 16.

897. ambages, ambiguities; adapted from Boccaccio's 'ambage' (Fil. vi. st. 17), which Ch. has to explain.

911-938. These lines are fairly close to the original.

934. See note above, to l. 805. B. has: 'Di Calidonia e d' Argo;' Fil. vi. st. 24.

937. Tydeus, father of Diomede, is one of the chief heroes in the Thebaid of Statius, which describes the struggle between Eteocles and Polynices (called Polymites in l. 938) for the possession of Thebes. Tydeus and Polynices married sisters, the daughters of Adrastus, king of Argos; hence their alliance. For the death of Tydeus in battle, see the conclusion of Book viii of the Thebaid. See ll. 1480-1501 below.

971. Orcades, the Orkney islands, very remote from Rome; Juvenal, Sat. ii. 161. Inde, India, remote from Rome in the other direction; Vergil, Æn. vi. 794. Here the point of view is transferred from Rome to Troy.

975. She was a widow; Bk. i. 97. In l. 977, she lies boldly.

992. 'When I see what I have never seen yet (viz. Troy taken), perhaps I will do what I have never yet done (i.e. think of a second husband).'

1013. This incident is not in Boccaccio; but it occurs in Guido delle Colonne, which Chaucer must therefore have consulted. The alliterative Destruction of Troy duly records the circumstance, ll. 8092-4:—

1016. I.e. Venus was seen as 'the evening-star.'

1018, 9. Cynthea, i.e. the moon; Bk. iv. 1608. In Bk. iv. l. 1591, Criseyde had promised to return before the moon passed out of the sign Leo. This was now on the point of happening; the moon was leaving Leo, to pass into Virgo.

1020. Signifer, the 'sign-bearer,' the zodiac. 'This forseide hevenish zodiak is cleped the cercle of the signes;' Astrolabe, pt. i. § 21. The zodiac extended, north and south, to the breadth of 6 degrees on both sides of the ecliptic line, thus forming a belt 12 degrees wide. This included numerous bright stars, such as Regulus (a Leonis) and Spica Virginis (a Virginis), here called 'candles.' Chaucer may have found the word Signifer in Claudian, In Rufinum, i. 365.

1039. he wan, he took in battle. Thynne reads she; but he is right. Diomede got possession of Troilus' horse, and sent it to Criseyde; whereupon she said that Diomede might keep it for himself. Note that Chaucer refers us to 'the story' for this incident; by which he means the Historia Troiana of Guido. But Guido only goes as far as to say that Diomed sent Troilus' horse to Criseyde; the rest is Chaucer's addition. See the allit. Destruction of Troy, ll. 8296-8317; and Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. iii. ch. 26, ed. 1557, fol. R 4, back. Cf. Shak. Troilus, v. 5. 1: 'Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse, Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid.' The incidents of the 'broche' and 'pensel' are Chaucer's own; see Bk. iii. 1370-2.

1043. pencel, short for penoncel, a little pennon or banner; here it means that Diomede wore a sleeve of hers as a streamer on his helmet or arm. This was a common custom; cf. Shak. Troil. v. 2. 69, 169. 'Pensell, a lytel baner;' Palsgrave; and see P. Plowm. C. xix. 189.

1044. the stories elles-wher, i.e. in another part of Guido's Historia, viz. in Book xxv; see the allit. Destruct. of Troy, ll. 9942-9959, and Lydgate's Siege of Troye, Bk. iv. ch. 30, ed. 1557, fol. U 4.

1051. I cannot find this in Guido.

1062. 'My bell shall be rung;' my story shall be told.

1104. I.e. 'on the morrow of which.'

1107. Cf. 'laurigero ... Phoebo'; Ovid, Art. Am. iii. 389.

1110. 'Nisus' daughter,' i.e. Scylla, changed into the bird ciris, which some explain as a lark; see Leg. Good Wom. 1908, and note; Ovid, Met. viii. 9-151; Vergil, Georg. i. 404-9.

1114. noon, noon, mid-day; the time for dinner (see l. 1129, and Cant. Ta. E 1893). See my note to Piers Plowm. C. ix. 146.

1133. cape, gape; see Miller's Tale, A 3444, 3841 (footnotes).

1140, 1. yate, i.e. port-cullis. As nought ne were, as if there were no special reason for it. I.e. I will make them do it, without telling them why.

1151. Deficient in the first foot; hardly a good line.

1155. 'Think it not tedious to (have to) wait.'

1162. fare-cart, cart for provisions; cf. our phrase 'to enjoy good fare.' It might mean 'travelling-car,' but that is inapplicable. B. has simply 'carro;' Fil. vii. 8.

1163-9. Cf. Romeo's speech in Rom. v. 1. 1-11.

1174. 'The happiness which you expect will come out of the wood,' i.e. if it comes at all. A jocular form of expressing unlikelihood. There is evidently a reference to some popular song or saying; compare the Jeu de Robin in Toynbee's Specimens of Old French, p. 224. In the Rom. of the Rose, 7455, we have an allusion to a 'ioly Robin,' who was a gay dancer and a minstrel, and the exact opposite of a Jacobin friar. Shakespeare's clown in Twelfth Night (iv. 2. 78) sings of a 'jolly Robin' whose lady 'loves another.' And Ophelia sang 'bonny sweet Robin is all my joy;' Haml. iv. 5. 187.

1176. Another proverbial saying, ferne yere, last year; see fern, fÜrn, in Stratmann, and cf. A. S. fyrngearum frod, wise with the experience of past years, Phoenix, 219. Last year's snow will not be seen again.

1190. He persuades himself that the moon is to pass well beyond the end of the sign Leo; thus allowing another day.

1222. by potente, with a stick, or staff with a spiked end and crutch-like top; cf. Somp. Ta. D 1776. A potent, in heraldry, is a figure resembling the top of a crutch, consisting of a rectangle laid horizontally above a small square. See Rom. of the Rose, 368.

1274. 'Whereas I daily destroy myself by living.'

1313. rolleth, revolves; see Pard. Ta. C 838; Somn. Ta. D 2217.

1335. 'And for that which is defaced, ye may blame the tears.'

1354. 'I sigh with sorrowful sighs.' MS. Cm. has sikis I sike.

1368. 'I can only say that, being a receptacle for every sorrow, I was still alive.' cheste, box; like that of Pandora.

1372. 'Until I see the contents of your reply.'

1431. 'Bottomless promises;' i.e. that held nothing.

1433. See the parallel line, Kn. Ta. A 1838, and note.

1450. Sibille, the Sibyl, the prophetess; not here a proper name, but an epithet of Cassandra. Cf. Æneid. vi. 98.

1464. (Ll. 1457-1512 are not in Boccaccio.) The story of Meleager and the Calydonian boar-hunt is told at length in Ovid, Met. viii. 271, &c.; whence Chaucer doubtless took it; cf. l. 1469 with Met. viii. 282. The 'mayde,' in l. 1473, was Atalanta.

1480. Chaucer seems to be mistaken here. Tydeus, according to one account, was Meleager's brother; and, according to another, his half-brother. He does not tell us to what 'olde bokes' he refers.

1483. moder; his mother Althaea; see Ovid, Met. viii. 445.

Latin Lines: Argument of the 12 books of the Thebaid of Statius. These lines are placed, in the MSS., after l. 1498, interrupting the connection. I therefore insert them after l. 1484, which is certainly their proper place. Ll. 1485-1510 give a loose rendering of them. I subjoin an epitome, in a more intelligible form; but suppress many details not mentioned in Chaucer.

Book I. Polynices and Tydeus meet, and become allies.

II. Tydeus sets out on an embassy to Eteocles at Thebes, and escapes an ambush by the way (ll. 1485-1491). He spares MÆon, one of his 50 assailants, and sends him to Thebes with the news, whilst he himself returns to Argos instead of proceeding to Thebes (1492-3).

III. Maeon (also called Haemonides, as being the son of Haemon, Bk. iii. l. 42) returns to Thebes, and relates how Tydeus had slain 49 men out of 50. At Argos, Amphiaraus, the augur, had concealed himself, hoping to delay the war against Thebes, which he prophesied would be disastrous; but Capaneus forces him from his retirement, and war is resolved upon (1494).

IV. The seven chiefs set out against Thebes. The army suffers from thirst, but Hypsipyle, a Lemnian princess, appears, and shews them a river (1495).

V. Hypsipyle relates the story of 'the furies of Lemnos,' i.e. of the Lemnian women who killed all the men in the island except Thoas, her father, whom she saved. (See Leg. of Good Women, 1467, and note.) While she is speaking, a snake, sent by Jupiter, kills her infant, named Archemorus. The snake is killed by Capaneus (1497, 8).

VI. Description of the obsequies of Archemorus, and of the funeral games (1499).

VII. Description of the temple of Mars (see Knightes Tale). The allies arrive before Thebes, and the city is attacked. Amphiaraus is swallowed up by an earthquake (1500).

VIII. Tydeus is slain, after a great slaughter of his enemies (1501).

IX. Hippomedon, after great deeds of valour, is drowned in the river. Death of Parthenopaeus (1502, 3).

X. Capaneus is killed by lightning whilst scaling the walls of Thebes (1504, 5).

XI. Single combat between Eteocles and Polynices; both are slain (1506-8).

XII. Creon forbids the burial of the slain invaders. The wives of the six chieftains seek assistance from Theseus, king of Athens (see Knightes Tale). Argia, wife of Polynices, finds and burns her husband's body. Theseus slays Creon, and the Thebans open their gates to him (1509-10).

1485-1491. From the Thebaid, Bk. i (see above). felawe, comrade, brother-in-law. Polymites, Polynices. Ethyocles, Eteocles.

1492-8. From the same, Books ii-v. Hemonides, Haemonides, i.e. Maeon, son of Haemon. asterte, escaped. fifty; but he only slew 49, though attacked by 50. sevene; the seven chieftains, who went to besiege Thebes. holy serpent, the snake sent by Jupiter. welle, (apparently) the stream Langia, which refreshed the army (end of Bk. iv). The furies, the furious women of Lemnos, who killed all the males (but one) in the island.

1499-1505. From the same, Bks. vi-x. Archimoris, Archemorus, infant son of Hypsipyle; honoured by funeral games. Amphiorax, Amphiaraus; see Bk. ii. 105, and note to Anelida, 57. Argeyes, Argives, people of Argos. Ypomedon, Hippomedon; Parthonope, Parthenopaeus; see note to Anelida, 58. Cappaneus, Capaneus; see note to Anelida, 59.

1506-1512. From the same, Bks. xi, xii. Argyve, Argia, wife of Polynices; cf. Bk. iv. l. 762, above. brent, burnt; see Kn. Ta. A 990; but Statius says that the Thebans opened their gates to Theseus, who entered in triumph. I find nothing about any harm done to the city on this occasion.

1514. But Tydeus was Meleager's brother; see note to l. 1480.

1518. leef, leave it alone. Usually leve.

1523. seestow, seest thou; a general observation, not addressed to Cassandra in particular, but to every one at large.

1527. Alceste, Alcestis; see Leg. of Good Women, 432.

1528. but, except, unless. Yet Bell misunderstands it.

1530. housbonde; Admetus, king of Pherae, in Thessaly.

1545. smitted, smutted, disgraced; cf. l. 1546.

1548. fyn of the parÓdie, end of the period. Chaucer, not being a Greek scholar, has somewhat mistaken the form of the word; but, in MS. H., parodie is duly glossed by 'duracion,' shewing the sense intended. It is from the O. F. fem. sb. periÓde, or peryÓde, of which LittrÉ gives an example in the 14th century: 'Peryode est le temps et la mesure de la duracion d'une chose;' Oresme, ThÈse de Meunier. Chaucer, being more familiar with the prefix per- than with the Greek pe??-, has dropped the i; and the confusion between per- and par- is extremely common, because both prefixes were denoted, in contracted writing, by the same symbol. We may give up the old attempts at explaining the word otherwise, as we know that the glosses are usually due to the author. 'The end of the period of Hector's life was nigh at hand.'

Lydgate uses the word in the same sense, having caught it up from the present passage:—

Observe that parodye is here equated to terme.

1558. From Guido; according to whose account Hector, having taken a prisoner, was conveying him through the throng, when Achilles thrust him through with a spear in a cowardly manner, stealing up to him unperceived. See allit. Dest. of Troy, ll. 8649-8660; Lydgate, Siege of Troy, Bk. iii. ch. 27, fol. S 2, back; Shak. Troil. v. 6. 27, 8. 1.

1634. kalendes, an introduction to the beginning; see note to Bk. ii. 7.

1653. Lollius; this incident is in the Filostrato, viii. st. 8; I do not find it in Guido.

1669. word and ende, beginning and end; see note to Monk. Ta. B 3911; and note to Bk. ii. 1495.

1689. 'To present your new love with.'

1760. See note to Book i. 463.

1764. Here the story practically ends. Beyond this point, the lines taken from Boccaccio are less than twenty.

1771. Dares, i.e. Guido, who professes to follow Dares; see note to Book Duch. 1070.

1778. I.e. Chaucer was beginning to think of his Legend of Good Women.

1786. Here begins the Envoy (interrupted by ll. 1800-1827). Compare the last three lines of the Filostrato (ix. 8):—

1787. 'Whereas may God send power to him that wrote thee to take part in composing some "comedy," before he die.'

1789. 'Do not envy any (other) poetry, but be humble.'

1791. Imitated from the concluding lines of the Thebaid, xii. 816:—

The sense is—'And kiss their footsteps, wherever you see Vergil, &c. pass along.' The reading space is ridiculous; and, in l. 1792, the names VirgÍle, &c., are accented on the second syllable. Steppes means 'foot-prints,' Lat. uestigia; see Leg. Good Women, 2209.

1792. An important line. Chaucer, in this poem, has made use of Statius (see l. 1485), Ovid (in many places), Vergil (occasionally), and Homer (not at first hand). Lucan seems to be mentioned only out of respect; but see note to Bk. ii. 167. He is mentioned again in Boethius, Bk. iv. Pr. 6. 159.

1796. mismetre, scan wrongly. This shews that Chaucer was conscious of his somewhat archaic style, and that there was a danger that some of the syllables might be dropped.

1797. red, read (by a single person), songe, read aloud, recited in an intoned voice.

1802. thousandes is to be taken in the literal sense. On one occasion, according to Guido, Troilus slew a thousand men at once. See the allit. Destruction of Troy, 9878; Lydgate, Siege of Troy, fol. U 3, back, l. 7.

1806. So in Guido; see allit. Destr. of Troy, 10302-11; Lydgate, Siege of Troye, Bk. iv. ch. 31. Cf. l. 1558, and the note.

1807-1827. These three stanzas are from Boccaccio's Teseide, xi. 1-3, where, however, they refer to Arcita:—

holownesse translates 'concavitÀ.' For seventh, B. has 'ottava,' eighth. The seventh sphere is that of Saturn, from which he might be supposed to observe the motion of Saturn and of all the inferior planets. But surely eighth is more correct; else there is no special sense in 'holownesse.' The eighth sphere is that of the fixed stars; and by taking up a position on the inner or concave surface of this sphere, he would see all the planetary spheres revolving within it. (The 'spheres' were supposed to be concentric shells, like the coats of an onion.) The 'erratic stars,' or wandering stars, are the seven planets. As to the music of their spheres, see notes to Parl. Foules, ll. 59 and 61.

1810. in convers leting, leaving behind, on the other side. When, for example, he approached the sphere of Mars, it was concave to him; after passing beyond it, it appeared convex. Some modern editions of the Teseide read connessi (connected parts), but the right reading is conuessi (convex surfaces), for which Chaucer substitutes convers. See converse in the New E. Dictionary.

1815. Cf. Parl. Foules, 57. Boccaccio had in mind Cicero's Somnium Scipionis.

1825. sholden, and we ought; we is understood.

1827. sorted, allotted; Ital. 'sortio.'

1828-1837. Chiefly from Il Filostrato, viii. 28, 29.

1838-1862. These lines are Chaucer's own, and assume a higher strain.

1840. 'This lyf, my sone, is but a chery-feyre.'
Hoccleve, De Regim. Princ. ed. Wright, p. 47.

See four more similar comparisons in Halliwell's Dict., s. v. Cherry-fair.

1856. moral Gower. This epithet of Gower has stuck to him ever since; he moralises somewhat too much.

1857. Strode. Concerning this personage, Leland discovered the following note in an old catalogue of the worthies of Merton College, Oxford: 'Radulphus Strode, nobilis poeta fuit et versificavit librum elegiacum vocatum Phantasma Radulphi.' In the introduction to his edition of 'Pearl,' p. l., Mr. Gollancz says: 'This Ralph Strode is identical with the famous philosopher of that name whose philosophical works hold an important place in the history of medieval logic. He was also famous in his time as a controversialist with Wiclif, and from Wiclif MSS., still unprinted, it is possible to gain some insight into Strode's religious views.' He was, perhaps, related to the philosopher N. Strode, who is mentioned at the end of pt. ii. § 40 of the Treatise on the Astrolabe as being the tutor, at Oxford, of Chaucer's son Lewis.

1863-5. From Dante, Paradiso, xiv. 28-30:—