The complete works of John Gower, volume 1 : $b The French works
NOTES
MIROUR DE L’OMME
Table of Contents.—This table is written in a hand which differs somewhat from that of the text, and it has some peculiar forms of spelling, as ‘diable,’ ‘eyde,’ ‘por,’ ‘noet,’ ‘fraunchement,’ ‘fraunchise,’ ‘governaunce,’ ‘sount,’ ‘lesserount’: some of these forms are also found in the rubrics.
After the Table four leaves have been cut out, and the first leaf that we have of the text is signed a iiii. It is probable that the first of the lost leaves was something like f. 6 in the Glasgow MS. of the Vox Clamantis, which is blank on one side and has a picture and some verses on the other (being, as this is, a half-sheet left over after the Table of Contents), and that the text of the Mirour began with the first quire of eight (a i). If this is so, three leaves of the text are missing, probably containing forty-seven stanzas, i.e. 564 lines, an allowance of twelve lines of space being made for title and rubrics. The real subject of the book begins at l. 37 of the existing text, as will be seen by the rubric there, and what preceded was probably a prologue dealing with the vanity of worldly and sinful pleasures: see ll. 25-30.
1. Escoulte cea &c. This is addressed to lovers of sin and of the world, not to lovers in the ordinary sense, as we shall see if we read the first stanzas carefully.
2. perestes: see ‘perestre’ in Glossary. The 3rd pers. sing. ‘perest’ is fully written out in the MS. several times, e.g. 1760, 2546.
4. ove tout s’enfant, ‘together with her children,’ ‘s’enfant’ (for ‘si enfant’) being plural. For ‘ove tout’ cp. 27662,
where ‘l’enfant’ is singular. This shows that ‘ove tout’ should be combined, and not ‘tout s’enfant.’ For other adverbial uses of ‘tout’ see Glossary. ‘Ove’ counts always as a monosyllable in the verse, and so also ‘come’: see l. 28.
6. chapeal de sauls, the wreath of willow being a sign of mourning.
23. Changeast: pret. subjunctive for conditional, a very common use with our author.
25. porroit: conditional used for pret. subjunctive, cp. 170, 322, Bal. i. 3, &c.
28. come, also written ‘comme’ and ‘com,’ has always, like ‘ove,’ the value of a monosyllable in the metre.
31. l’amour seculer, ‘the love of the world.’
37. ore, counting as a monosyllable here, cp. 1775, &c., but as a dissyllable 4737, 11377, Bal. xxviii. 1.
39. fait anientir, ‘annihilates’: see note on 1135.
46. Que, ‘For.’
51. The reference is to John i. 3 f., ‘Omnia per ipsum facta sunt: et sine ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est. In ipso vita erat,’ &c. This was usually taken with a full stop after ‘nihil,’ and then ‘Quod factum est in ipso, vita erat.’ It was read so by Augustine, who seems to suggest the idea which is attributed below to Gregory, viz. that the ‘nothing’ which was made without God was sin. ‘Peccatum quidem non per ipsum factum est; et manifestum est quia peccatum nihil est,’ &c., Joann. Evang. i. 13. Gregory also held that sin was nothing: ‘Res quidem aliquid habet esse, peccatum vero esse nullum habet,’ i. Reg. Exp. v. 14, but I do not know whether he founded his opinion specially on this text. Pierre de Peccham expresses the same idea:
M.S. Bodl. 399, f. 21 vo.
65. de les celestieux, ‘from heaven,’ cp. 27120, and such expressions as ‘les infernalx’ just below.
74. tout plein, ‘a great number’: often written as one word ‘toutplein,’ so, for example, Bal. xxxvii. 2, Mir. 25276 &c.; divided as here l. 11021.
83. au droit divis, ‘rightly,’ an adverbial expression which is often used by our author to fill up a line: cp. 872 and Glossary under ‘devis.’
84. du dame Evein, ‘in the person of Eve’: ‘du’ for ‘de,’ see Glossary.
85. For this kind of repetition cp. 473 and Conf. Am. Prol. 60, ‘So as I can, so as I mai.’
89. The sentence is broken off and resumed under another form: cp. 997 ff., 17743, &c., and Conf. Am. vi. 1796 ff.
94. q’estoit perdue, ‘that which was lost.’ The form perdue is not influenced by gender but by rhyme.
100. For the position of ‘et’ see note on 415.
115. avoit, ‘there was,’ for ‘y avoit’: so used frequently.
116. luy, a form of ly, le, see Glossary.
118. n’en fuist mangant, ‘should not eat of them.’ This use of pres. participle with auxiliary instead of the simple tense is frequent not only with our author but in old French generally: see Burguy, Grammaire ii. 258.
131. a qui constance &c., because of her nature as a woman.
135. u que, ‘where’: sometimes combined into ‘uque,’ ‘uqe,’ e.g. Bal. xv. 3, but usually separate.
136. deable, also written ‘deble,’ and never more than a dissyllable in the metre.
139. en ton endroit, ‘for your part.’ Phrases composed with ‘endroit’ or ‘en droit’ are among the commonest forms of ‘fill up’ employed by our author: cp. note on l. 83, and see Glossary under ‘endroit.’
163. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 1610, ‘For what womman is so above.’
168. le fist ... forsjuger, ‘condemned him,’ see note on 1135.
170. serroit: conditional for subjunctive, cp. l. 25.
190. Ce dont, ‘the cause whereby.’
194. Note that the capital letters of ‘Pecché,’ ‘Mort,’ ‘Char,’ ‘Alme,’ ‘Siecle,’ indicating that they are spoken of as persons, are due to the editor.
217 ff. Tant perservoit ... dont il fuist &c. This use of ‘dont’ (instead of ‘que’), after such words as ‘tant,’ ‘si,’ &c., to introduce the consequence, is very common with our author, see 544, 657, &c., cp. 682. Compare the similar use of the relative in English, e.g. Conf. Am. i. 498. Here there is a second consecutive clause following, which is introduced by ‘Que’: ‘His daughter so kept him in pleasant mood and made him such entertainment that he was enamoured of her so much that,’ &c.
218. en son degré, ‘for her part’: cp. note on 139.
230. vont ... engendrant, equivalent to ‘engendrent,’ another instance of the use of pres. partic. with auxiliary verbs for the simple tense, which is common in old French: cp. 118, 440, 500, and the conclusion of this stanza, where we have ‘serray devisant’ and ‘est nomant’ for ‘deviserai’ and ‘nomme.’
238 ff. ‘As I will describe to you, (telling) by what names people call them and of the office in which they are instructed.’
253. celle d’Avarice, ‘that which is called Avarice.’ For this apposition with ‘de’ cp. 84, 14197.
276. grantment: corrected here and in 397 from ‘grantement,’ which would be three syllables. We have ‘grantment’ 8931.
296. Accidie. This counts as three syllables only in the metre, and it is in fact written ‘Accide’ in l. 255. A similar thing is to be observed in several other words with this ending, as ‘Vituperie’ 2967, ‘familie’ 3916, ‘contumelie’ 4067, ‘perjurie’ 6409, ‘encordie’ 6958, ‘remedie’ 10912, ‘pluvie’ 26716; and in general, when the accent fell on the antepenultimate, there was a tendency to run the -ie into one syllable. The accent, however, was variable (at least in Anglo-Norman) according to the exigences of metre, and in some cases where we should expect the above rule to apply we find the accent thrown on the penultimate and all the syllables fully sounded, as 2362,
301. ceos mals: equivalent to ‘les mals,’ so ‘cel homme’ 305, ‘celle Alme’ 667, ‘celle amorouse peigne’ Bal. iii. 1. This use of demonstrative for definite article is quite common.
305. pot, perhaps meant for subjunctive.
307. Cp. Bal. v. 3: ‘Si fuisse en paradis ceo beal Manoir.’
322. serroit, ‘he might be,’ conditional for subj.; cp. l. 25.
330. ‘And swore it mutually’: see note on 1135.
355. a son derere, ‘to his harm.’
364. porray, fut. for subj.
373. de sa partie, ‘for his part’: like ‘en son endroit,’ ‘en son degre,’ &c., ll. 139, 218, &c.
397. grantment: cp. l. 276.
407. Q’un messager &c. ‘So that he sent a messenger at once after him in great haste.’ This is better than taking ‘tramist’ as subjunctive (‘that he should send’ &c.), because of ‘Cil messager’ in the next stanza. For ‘que’ meaning ‘so that’ cp. 431, 485.
415. Depar le deable et. This position of the conjunction is characteristic of Gower’s English writing, e.g. Conf. Am. Prol. 155, 521, 756, &c., and it often occurs also in the present work: cp. 100, 1008, 2955, &c. ‘Depar le deable’ evidently is better taken here with ‘pria’ than with the preceding line. The words thus treated are ‘et,’ ‘mais,’ ‘car,’ ‘ainz’ (24646).
416. hastera: see note on 1184.
438. soiez, for ‘soies,’ 2 pers. singular; so 645.
440. Je t’en vois loer promettant, ‘I promise you payment for it’: ‘vois’ is for ‘vais,’ and this is a case of the construction noticed at l. 230, &c.
442. ne t’en soietz: the singular and plural of the second person are often interchanged by our author: cp. 25839 ff., 27935, 29604, &c.
454. Et si, ‘and also’; so 471.
488. se fist muscer, ‘hid himself’; see note on 1135.
492. Du, as usual for ‘de.’
500. vas tariant: cp. 230, 440, &c.
541. The rhyme of ‘scies’ with ‘malvoistés’ should be noted.
575. te lerra q’une haire, ‘will leave thee (nothing) but sackcloth.’ The negative is omitted as with ‘but’ in English.
581. Either ‘Makes vain encouragement,’ or ‘Encourages the foolish person.’
626. s’estuit: see note on 997.
637. si fuissetz avisée, ‘if you only knew!’
654. Fuissent ... reconfortant, ‘should encourage’: cp. 118.
658. en, ‘with regard to this.’
667. celle Alme, ‘the Soul’: cp. 301.
682. Par quoy, used like ‘dont’ to introduce the consequence: cp. 696, 743, and see note on 217, where the consecutive clauses are piled up much as they are here.
688. lessera, future used as in 416.
740. Du Char folie, ‘by reason of the wantonness of the Flesh’: ‘du’ belongs to ‘folie.’
761. de ton honour, ‘by means of the honour which you have to bestow.’
780. ‘So that you may have Man back again’: for this use of ‘dois’ see note on 1193.
799. c’il, for ‘s’il’: so ‘ce’ for ‘se’ 1147, ‘Ciriens’ for ‘Siriens’ 10314.
815. qui, ‘whom’: this form is quite freely used as an object of the verb; see Glossary.
865. en son degré: cp. l. 139, &c.
912. le: this is used (side by side with ‘luy,’ e.g. 921) as indirect object masculine or feminine, though ‘la’ is also found.
940. We must take ‘deesce’ as a dissyllable. The usual form is ‘duesse’ (‘dieuesce’ Bal. xx. 4).
943. ce buisson, i.e. ‘le buisson.’
948. This line occurs again 9453, and is practically reproduced Bal. xiii. 1:
It means here that the feasting was without limit. For the form of expression cp. 984.
987. As grans hanaps &c., i.e. ‘a emplir les grans hanaps.’ This kind of combination is not uncommon, e.g. 5492, ‘des perils ymaginer.’
988. par envoisure, ‘in gaiety’: ‘envoisure’ means properly ‘trick,’ ‘device,’ connected with such words as ‘voisdie,’ hence ‘pleasantry,’ ‘gaiety.’
992. les firont rejoïr, ‘delighted them’: see note on 1135.
997. s’estuit. In 613 and 15144 this means ‘was silent,’ from ‘s’esteire,’ and that sense will perhaps do for it here. However, the form ‘restuit’ below suggests ‘esteir,’ which presumably might be used reflexively, and ‘s’estuit’ would then mean ‘stood.’ This may be the sense also in 626.
1008. Cp. 415.
1015. luy, used for ‘ly,’ the def. article: see Glossary under ‘ly.’
1016. ‘Much resembled one another’: cp. such compounds as ‘s’entrecontrer,’ ‘s’entrasseurer,’ &c.
1027. le livre. What ‘book’ is our author following in his statement that the Deadly Sins are ‘hermafodrite,’ as he calls it? Or does this reference only apply to what follows about the meaning of the word?
1030. ‘If I lay upon them female names,’ but ‘enditer’ is employed in an unusual sense.
1061. au seinte ... quideroit, ‘should believe her to be a saint.’
1066. Tant plus come, ‘The more that,’ answered by ‘Tant plus’ in the next line.
1069. Apparently the meaning is that Hypocrisy in public separates herself from others and stands apart: for ‘singulere’ cp. 1513.
1081. 2 Kings xx. 12 ff.
1085. ‘According to the divination of the prophet,’ taking ‘devinant’ as a substantive, like ‘vivant,’ ‘pensant,’ &c.
1094. For this use of the verb cp. Trait. iv. 1, ‘qant plus resemblont amorouses.’
1100 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 604 f.,
1117. Matt. xxiii. 27.
1127. Probably Is. ix. 17.
1135. q’om fait despire, ‘which one abhors,’ the auxiliary use of ‘faire,’ which is very common in our author, like ‘do,’ ‘doth,’ in English: cp. 39, 168, 368, 488, 992, 1320, Bal. iv. 1, &c. In some places this auxiliary (again like the English ‘do’) takes the place of the principal verb, which is understood from a preceding clause, e.g. 3180, 10649. These uses are common in Old French generally, but perhaps more so in Anglo-Norman than in the Continental dialects.
1146. Bern. Serm. in Cant. xvi. 10.
1147. ce for ‘se’: see note on 799.
1180. boit: indicative for subjunctive to suit the rhyme; so ‘voit’ 1185, ‘fait’ 1401.
1184. qu’il serra poy mangant, ‘that he shall eat little,’ the future being used in command as in 416, 688. For the participle with auxiliary see note on l. 118.
1193. l’en doit loer: ‘should praise him’: an auxiliary use of ‘doit,’ which stands for ‘may’ in all senses: cp. 780, 3294, 6672, 17041, &c.
1194. Similar sayings of Augustine are quoted elsewhere by our author, e.g. 10411, 20547.
1244. qui lors prise, &c., ‘when one praises her, she thinks not that God can undo her by any means.’ This is probably the meaning: cp. such expressions as ‘qui bien guarde en son purpens’ 9055, ‘qui bien se cure’ 16541, &c. Compare the use of ‘who that’ in Gower’s English, e.g. Conf. Am. Prol. 460.
1261. laisse nient que, &c., ‘fails not to keep with him,’ &c.
1273. Job xxi. 12, 13: ‘Tenent tympanum et citharam, et gaudent ad sonitum organi. Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt.’
1280. Perhaps Is. v. 14.
1285. The passage is Jeremiah xlv. 5. ‘Ysaïe’ is a mistake for ‘Jeremie,’ which would suit the metre equally well and perhaps was intended by the author.
1291. There is nothing exactly corresponding to this in the book of Joel, but perhaps it is a general reference to the first chapter.
1317. Ecclus. xxv. 3. This book is sometimes referred to as ‘Salomon,’ and sometimes more properly as ‘Sidrac’: cp. 2509.
1326. Ps. li. 3, ‘Quid gloriaris in malitia, qui potens es in iniquitate?’
1335. Job xx. 6, 7.
1365. frise: a puzzling word. It ought to mean here ‘blows,’ or ‘blows cold,’ of the wind.
1375. ‘It is she who causes a man to be raised from a foot-page to great lordship.’
1389. ‘He plays them so false a turn’: ‘tresgeter’ came to be used especially of cheating or juggling, hence ‘tregetour.’
1400. Cp. 14473.
1401. fait: indic. for subj. in rhyme.
1416. Cp. 12780, ‘N’ad pas la langue au fil pendant.’
1446. Perhaps ‘pareill’ is here a substantive and means ‘equality.’
1447. qui, ‘whom.’
1460. est plus amant, i.e. ‘aime.’
1495 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 2409-2415, where the same idea of a wind of pride blowing away a man’s virtue is suggested under the head of ‘Avantance.’
1518. ‘Noli me tangere’ is perhaps originally from John xx. 17, but it has received a very different application.
1563. The story was that the hunter, having carried off the tiger’s cubs and being pursued, would throw behind him in the path of the animal a sphere of glass, the reflection in which was supposed by the tiger to be one of her lost cubs. This would delay her for a time, and by repeating the process the man would be able to ride away in safety with his booty: see Ambrose, Hex. vi. 4. The story is founded on that told by Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 25.
1575. Perhaps an inaccurate reminiscence of John viii. 49.
1585. The reference is to Job xi. 12, ‘Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tanquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat.’ The rest is due to our author.
1597. Ecclus. xxxvii. 3. ‘O praesumptio nequissima, unde creata es...?’ The rest is added by our author.
1618. Perhaps Bern. de Hum. Cond. 5, ‘Stude cognoscere te: quam multo melior et laudabilior es, si te cognoscis, quam si te neglecto cognosceres cursum siderum,’ &c.
1624. Matt. vii. 1, 2.
1627. Probably Is. xxix. 14, but it is not an exact quotation.
1645. Job xxx. 1, ‘Nunc autem derident me iuniores tempore.’
1648. Job xii. 4, ‘deridetur enim iusti simplicitas.’
1653. The reference is no doubt intended for the Elegies of Maximianus, but I think no such passage occurs in them. Perhaps our author was thinking of Cato, Distich. iii. 7,
1662. faisoit, singular for the rhyme, with the excuse of ‘chascun’ to follow.
1669. Perhaps Prov. xxiv. 9, ‘abominatio hominum detractor,’ or xvi. 5, ‘Abominatio Domini est omnis arrogans.’
1678. Ps. lix. (Vulg. lviii.) 8 (9), ‘Et tu, Domine, deridebis eos.’
1684 ff. It is suggested here that Malapert gets his name from discovering things which should be concealed, saying them ‘en apert’; but the word is rather from ‘apert’ in the sense of ‘bold’ ‘impudent,’ whence the modern English ‘pert.’
1688. serroit, ‘ought to be,’ a common use of the conditional: cp. 6915, 8941, &c., and Vox Clam. iii. 1052 and elsewhere, where the Latin imp. subj. is used in the same way.
1709 f. ‘All set themselves to listen what he will say.’
1711. si nuls soit, ‘if there be any.’
1717. Prov. ix. 7, ‘Qui erudit derisorem, ipse iniuriam sibi facit.’
1740. n’en dirroit plus avant, ‘would not go further in speaking of it,’ ‘avant’ being probably an adverb: cp. 1762.
1758. Boeth. de Cons. iii. Pr. 8. ‘Igitur te pulcrum videri non tua natura sed oculorum spectantium reddit infirmitas.’
1762 f. si par tout avant, &c., ‘if he could go on further and see the rest.’
1776. volt, used apparently for pret. subj., as 327; here in conditional sense.
1784. Aug. in Joann. Ev. i. 15, ‘Quid est quod te inflas, humana superbia?... Pulicibus resiste, ut dormias: cognosce qui sis.’
1790. Boeth. de Cons. iii. Pr. 3 ff.
1795. de nounstable, ‘instead of transient.’
1824. ‘Often you see evil come (upon him).’ The reference may be to Prov. xvi. 18, or to some similar saying.
1825. Zephaniah iii. 11.
1828. Perhaps Jer. xlviii. 29 ff.
1837. Luke xviii. 9 ff.
1848. par soy despisant: a characteristic use of the gerund for infinitive: cp. 6093.
1849. The references to Solinus in this book are mostly false. Many of the anecdotes may be found in Pliny, but not this. Isidore gives the etymology, but the original of the story here is perhaps Albertus Magnus de Animalibus (quoted by the Delphin editor on Plin. N. H. x. 3).
1868. Perhaps Ps. ci. 5. In any case the last lines of the stanza are an addition by our author to the quotation.
1883. fait a reprendre, ‘deserves to be blamed’: cp. 5055, 9687, 12238, &c., and see the examples quoted by Burguy, Grammaire, ii. 167 f.
1887. The story is told at length in Conf. Am. i. 2785 ff.
1912 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 2416 ff., but the parallel is not very close.
1942. parferroit. The contraction is thus written out in all parts of this verb, because ‘parfaire,’ ‘parfait,’ occur in full, e.g. 4413. Probably, however, there was fluctuation between ‘par’ and ‘per,’ as in ‘parfit,’ ‘parigal.’
1944. It would perhaps be difficult to say why Montpelliers should be a proverbially rich place, but Mr. Archer points out to me that such expressions as this are common in the chansons de geste, e.g. Chanson d’Antioche ii. 628, ‘Il n’y vousist mie estre pour l’or de Montpellier.’ Pavia is referred to in Mir. 7319 in the same way.
2022. frocke et haire, i.e. the outer and the inner garment of a monk or friar.
2037. Perhaps rather ‘Tout mal dirra’; but the text may be translated ‘he will curse continually.’
2067. l’en chastie, ‘may correct him for it’: but perhaps we should read ‘l’enchastie’ without separation; cp. 7917.
2090. Rom. v. 19.
2095. Moises: a dissyllable here, but elsewhere ‘Moïses,’ &c.
2101. Sol. Collect. 52, ‘[Monoceros] vivus non venit in hominum potestatem, et interimi quidem potest, capi non potest.’
2135 f. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 1240 ff.
2142. France is looked upon simply as a land which has revolted from its lawful sovereign, Edward III, who has the right ‘from his mother,’ 2148. This passage was apparently written before the death of Edward III.
2169. ‘Is delivered up in slavery to him.’
2184. Du permanable vilenie, to be taken with ‘mort,’ ‘death comes suddenly upon him bringing him to everlasting shame.’
2185. Is. xxxiii. 1. ‘Vae qui praedaris, nonne et ipse praedaberis? et qui spernis, nonne et ipse sperneris?’ &c.
2197. Deut. xxviii. 38 ff.
2209. Ezek. xvii. 19 ff.
2221. Prov. xvii. 5.
2224. Mal. ii. 10, ‘Numquid non pater unus omnium nostrum? numquid non Deus unus creavit nos? Quare ergo despicit unusquisque nostrum fratrem suum?’
2242. Greg. Moral. xxiii. 31, ‘Obstaculum namque veritatis est tumor mentis.’
2275. Luke xiii. 14. The person who protested was the ‘ruler of the synagogue,’ whom our author calls ‘un archeprestre,’ and the miracle was done upon a woman.
2281. Prov. xxix. 22, ‘qui ad indignandum facilis est, erit ad peccandum proclivior.’
2293. Prov. xxx. 13.
2301. Is. ii. 11, or v. 15.
2305. Danger: see note on Bal. xii. l. 8. Here Danger represents the spirit which rejects advances of friendship from motives of pride.
2323. fait ... appeller: see note on 1135.
2326. Cp. 2362, where we have ‘oi’ (monosyllable), as also 410.
2330. Numbers xiv. 30.
2341 ff. Numbers xvi.
2348. Que, ‘For.’
2351 f. que plus avant, &c., ‘so that by this he gave warning to the rest for the future’ (‘plus avant’).
2353 ff. Acts ix. 5. In this stanza the word ‘point’ occurs no less than six times in the rhyme. This is an extreme instance of a common case, any difference in the meaning or manner of employment being held both in French and English verse to justify the repetition of the same word as a rhyme. Here ‘point’ is the past participle of a verb in 2357 and is used as an adverb in 2356: in the other four cases it is simply the same substantive with differences of meaning.
2377. 1 Macc. iii. 13-24.
2384. 1 Macc. vi. 1-16.
2389. Deut. xxi. 18-21.
2405. Exod. xvii. 1-7.
2413. Deut. xxxii.
2425. 1 Macc. vii. 26-47.
2441. Perhaps Is. v. 20.
2443. 2 Kings xix (Is. xxxvii).
2449. Levit. xxiv. 16.
2452. Luke xxiii. 39 ff., but our author has characteristically reversed the story, giving us the supposed punishment of the blasphemer instead of the mercy shown to the penitent.
2462. C’est un des tous, &c. Cp. the expression in fourteenth-century English, ‘oon the beste’ &c.
2463. Rev. xiii. 1, 6 f.
2509. Ecclus. x. 12 (14). The references of our author to ‘Sidrac’ are to this book, ‘The wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach,’ but he also quotes from it under the name of Solomon, cp. 1317, and curiously enough the very next quotation, taken from the same chapter, is a case of this kind.
2513. Ecclus. x. 7, ‘Odibilis coram Deo est et hominibus superbia.’
2534. fait plus a redoubter: see note on l. 1883.
2538. a son passage, ‘at his death.’
2548. Ecclus. x. 17, ‘Sedes ducum superborum destruxit Deus, et sedere fecit mites pro eis.’
2587. Mal. i. 6.
2629. Haymo: Bishop of Halberstadt, ninth century. The reference is to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, i. 10, ‘Detractio est aliorum bene gesta opera vel in malum malitiose mutare, vel invidendo fallaci fraude diminuere,’ &c. (Migne. Patrol. cxvii. 377).
2653. Numbers xii. 1.
2665. Probably the reference is to Is. xiv. 13-15, but the beginning is loosely quoted: the latter part is closer, see verse 15, ‘ad infernum detraheris in profundum laci.’
2677 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. ii. 388 ff., where ‘Malebouche’ comes in as the attendant of ‘Detraccioun.’
2700. le meinz, ‘the less,’ cp. ‘ly pire’ 2760, ‘le plus’ 12347, ‘le meulx’ 14396.
2715. I do not understand this. By comparison with Conf. Am. ii. 394 ff. the passage should mean that he praises first, and then ends up with blame, which overcasts all the praise: cp. Chaucer, Persones Tale, 494 (Skeat). Perhaps we ought to read ‘primerement’ for ‘darreinement.’
2742. For the metre cp. 24625 and see Introduction, p. xlv.
2749. See du Cange under ‘fagolidori’ (Gr. φαγολοίδοροι), where the passage of Jerome is quoted, but the word is set down as probably a corruption of φιλολοίδοροι.
2761. Ps. x. 7 (Vulg. ix. 28).
2779. Ps. cxl. 3 (Vulg. cxxxix. 4).
2790. Ps. xxxviii. 20 (Vulg. xxxvii. 21), ‘Qui retribuunt mala pro bonis, detrahebant mihi, quoniam sequebar bonitatem.’
2799. Jer. xviii. 21 f.
2809. Ps. xxxi. 18 (Vulg. xxx. 19), cp. cxix. (Vulg. lxviii), 23.
2861. Jer. li. 1, but the passage is misunderstood.
2865. Rom. i. 30, ‘Detractores, Deo odibiles.’
2874. Bern. Int. Dom. xxiii. 49, ‘Detrahentes et audientes pari reatu detinentur.’
2893. The disgusting habits of the hoopoe in nesting are often referred to.
2894 ff. There is a close parallel to this in Conf. Am. ii. 413 ff.,
2908. Perhaps Prov. xxii. 1.
2917 ff. Luke xvii. 1, 2.
2923. Matt. xviii. 8, 9.
2931. Ps. l. (Vulg. xlix.) 20, but it is a very much expanded quotation.
2941. Deut. xxii. 13-19.
2955. See note on 415.
2959. Perhaps a general reference to Ezek. xviii.
2961. ne tient plait de, &c., ‘does not hold discourse of example of holy scripture.’
3109. Acts iv. 1.
3116. This line is too long, no doubt by inadvertence, having five measures instead of four. So in Bal. xxvii. the first line is of six measures instead of five. Both might easily be amended, if it were thought desirable: for example, here we might read
The word ‘prechement’ occurs 18092, and very probably this is what the author meant to write.
3133. Ps. vii. 16 (17).
3137. The reference is perhaps to Ecclus. xxvii. 25-29.
3145. The reference is Jeremiah xlv. 3.
3158. Cp. Conf. Am. ii. 222, ‘A vice revers unto this,’ where the author is speaking of the same thing as here.
3160. The MS. has ‘male,’ but perhaps the author meant to write ‘mal,’ for disregard of gender is common with him, while formal irregularity of metre is exceedingly rare. Compare, however, 10623, 10628. For the form of expression cp. 3467.
3180. fait, used here to supply the place of ‘escoulte.’ ‘As the fox listens for the hounds, so doth he for other men’s loss.’ See note on 1135.
3233. Par si q’, ‘provided that,’ cp. 20576.
3234 ff. This is the tale told in illustration of the vice of ‘Gaudium alterius doloris,’ in Conf. Am. ii. 291-364.
3240. ‘When the game was thus set between them.’ From this kind of expression comes ‘jeu parti,’ ‘jeupartie,’ meaning a set game or match between two parties, hence a risk or hazardous alternative: Engl. ‘jeopardy.’
3248. Ps. xxxviii. 16 (or xiii. 4).
3253. Ezek. xxv. 3 ff.
3265 ff. John xvi. 20.
3271 ff. This is an addition by our author, who is always unwilling to overlook the punishment of the wicked.
3277. Ecclus. xix. 5, ‘Qui gaudet iniquitate, denotabitur.’
3285. Matt. viii. 12, &c.
3294. doit supplanter, ‘may supplant’: see note on 1193.
3361. Cic. de Off. iii. 21.
3365. Conjecture, ‘trickery’: cp. 6389.
3367. ce que chalt: cp. 8905, 25269, 25712. Here and at 8905 it stands by itself, but in the other cases it is followed by ‘car,’ or ‘quant.’ It is apparently equivalent to ‘it matters not,’ or some such phrase.
3388. Ps. xli. 9 (Vulg. xl. 10): ‘magnificavit super me supplantationem’ is the Latin version.
3398. Ambicioun: evidently not ‘ambition’ in the ordinary sense, but the vice of those who go about prying into other people’s affairs, and playing the spy upon them with a view to some advantage for themselves.
3415. Perhaps Habakkuk ii. 8, 9: cp. 3601, where Habakkuk is certainly quoted as ‘Baruch.’
3445. Jer. iii. 24.
3453. cele, used for definite article, see note on 301.
3457. Prov. xi. 3 ff.
3467. A favourite form of expression with our author, cp. 3160, and Trait. ii. 1 ff.,
3487. Qui, ‘He whom.’
3531. Prov. xxvi. 22.
3533. affole, ‘wounds’ (Low Latin ‘fullare’), to be distinguished from ‘affoler’ meaning ‘to make foolish.’
3541. Ps. lv. 21 (Vulg. liv. 22), ‘Molliti sunt sermones eius super oleum, et ipsi sunt iacula.’
3553. Ecclus. xl. 21, ‘Tibiae et psalterium suavem faciunt melodiam, et super utraque lingua suavis.’
3559. Prov. xxix. 5.
3575. ‘His deeds change into sorrow that by which before he made them laugh’: luy for ly = les.
3584 ff. Cp. the Latin lines (beginning ‘Nil bilinguis aget’) which introduce the description of ‘Fals semblant’ in Conf. Am. ii. 1879, ‘Vultus habet lucem, tenebras mens’ &c.
3589. Ecclus. xxxvii. 20 (23) f., ‘Qui sophistice loquitur odibilis est: in omni re defraudabitur. Non est illi data a Domino gratia,’ &c.
3601. The quotation is from Habakkuk ii. 15 f.
3612 ff. Ps. cxx. 3, 4, of which these two stanzas are a much expanded version.
3637. Ecclus. xxviii. 15 ff.
3667. Perhaps Job v. 12.
3679. Micah ii. 1, ‘Vae, qui cogitatis inutile.’
3685. Jer. iv. 4, ‘ne forte egrediatur ut ignis indignatio mea, et succendatur, et non sit qui extinguat, propter malitiam cogitationum vestrarum.’
3721. Cp. Conf. Am. ii. 401,
The opposition of rose and nettle is common in our author, e.g. Bal. xxxvi. 3, xlviii. 1, Vox Clam. vii. 181.
3725. l’ille Colcos: cp. Trait. viii. 1, and Conf. Am. v. 3265: so also in Chaucer. Guido delle Colonne is the person mainly responsible for the idea.
3727. Medea la meschine, ‘Medea the maid.’ The word ‘meschine’ means ‘maidservant’ just above and in 5163, but it was also used generally for ‘girl,’ ‘young woman,’ as ‘meschin’ for ‘young man.’ The origin is said to be an Arabic word meaning ‘poor’ (cp. the meaning of ‘mesquin,’ ‘meschino,’ in modern French and Italian), hence ‘feeble,’ ‘delicate.’
3735. Rev. xii. 7, 10: ‘en oel’ stands apparently for ‘ante conspectum Dei.’
3747. The description of the basilisk is perhaps from Solinus, Collect. 27. He had it from Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 121.
3773. Prov. xiv. 30, ‘putredo ossium invidia.’
3781. Levit. xiii. 46.
3801. Hor. Epist. i. 2. 58, ‘Invidia Siculi non invenere tyranni Maius tormentum.’ Our author did not understand it quite rightly.
3805. Cp. Conf. Am. ii. 20, and Prol. 329. In all these passages the reference is to the fire of Envy as a heat that consumes itself, rather than anything outside itself.
3823. Cp. Conf. Am. ii. 3122 ff.
3831. Conf. Am. ii. 3095 ff., where the saying is attributed to Seneca: cp. Dante, Inf. xiii. 64.
3841. Perhaps Jerome, who says something of the kind: cp. Wisd. ii. 24.
3864. les faisont a despire, ‘hate them’: but the preposition with the infinitive in this kind of expression is unusual. As a rule ‘faisont a despire’ would mean ‘ought to be hated’: cp. 1883.
3882. pour poy du riens, ‘for a trifling matter,’ lit. ‘for little of matter’: cp. 4826.
3898. Ore voet, noun voet, i.e. ‘Ore voet, ore noun voet,’ but cp. 5470.
3913. The text is Ecclus. iv. 30 (35): see note on 1317.
3925. Prov. xxv. 28.
3958. Perhaps we ought rather to read ‘pour ton salu.’
3977. Exod. xxxii. 21, and other passages.
3997. Baruch iv. 6.
4021. Perhaps suggested by Ps. lxxviii. (Vulg. lxxvii.) 58 ff.
4067. Par contumelie: for the metre see note on 296, and cp. 4312, 4317.
4077. Cp. 4704.
4112. ‘Which flies free without caging.’
4117. Referred to also by Chaucer, Wyf of Bath, Prol. 278 ff., and Tale of Melibeus, 2276. It is a common enough saying, but not to be found in the Bible in this form: cp. Prov. xxvii. 15.
4129. Jer. viii. 17.
4141. Ecclus. xxv. 15 (22), ‘Non est caput nequius super caput colubri, et non est ira super iram mulieris.’
4147. Perhaps Prov. xv. 2, ‘os fatuorum ebullit stultitiam.’
4155. Ecclus. xxi. 29, ‘In ore fatuorum cor illorum.’
4168. This is related also Conf. Am. iii. 639 ff., and there too a doubt is expressed as to whether so much patience was altogether wise.
4189 ff. Ecclus. xxviii. 18 (22) ff.
4203. Ecclus. xxviii. 24 (28), ‘Sepi aures tuas spinis, linguam nequam noli audire.’
4213. James iii. 7, 8.
4219. Apparently a vague reference to Amos iv. 6, 9, ‘dedi vobis stuporem dentium ... Percussi vos in vento urente.’
4237. Zech. v. 5 ff.
4273. Rampone, ‘raillery,’ ‘mockery,’ cp. Ital. ‘rampognare.’
4285 ff. The idea seems to be this: ‘Contention wounded by wrath encamps in the heart in a tent of mockery, whence it issues forth through the mouth, and assisted by Slander and Defamation enlarges other men’s vices to their greatest extent, until its own wound becomes so foul that he dies who inhales its corruption.’
4369. Prov. xxvii. 6.
4381. Ecclus. xii. 16.
4387. Prov. vi. 16, 18.
4393. Cic. de Amic. 89, ‘odium, quod est venenum amicitiae.’
4453. Beemoth is here perhaps confused with Leviathan, which was regarded by some as a kind of serpent: see Isidore, Etym. viii. 27.
4462. le al: there is of course an elision, though not indicated in the text.
4477. 2 Macc. v. 17, &c.
4494. Note that in the forms ‘refusablez,’ ‘abhominablez,’ ‘delitablez,’ &c., the z is equivalent to s, and does not imply any accenting of the final syllable.
4542. ou, for ‘au,’ see Glossary.
4558. devant lez meins, ‘beforehand’: cp. 5436.
4561. survient. This and the other verbs rhyming with it in the stanza seem to be in the past tense, for ‘survint,’ ‘vint,’ ‘tint,’ &c. Other examples of this will be found elsewhere, e.g. 8585, 9816. The passage means: ‘When the fire from heaven fell on the sacrifice, it was Malignity that inspired the hatred of Abel in the heart of Cain, for which he was accursed.’ ‘Dont’ answers regularly to such expressions as ‘par tiele guise’: see note on 217.
4570. Ps. x. 15, ‘Contere brachium peccatoris et maligni.’
4605. Ps. xxii. 16 (Vulg. xxi. 17), ‘concilium malignantium obsedit me,’ &c.
4704. mestre Catoun: the author of the well-known Disticha, many of whose maxims tend to teach patience.
4717. Exod. xxi. 24 f.
4729. Exod. xxi. 26 f.
4741. Cp. Conf. Am. iii. 1095,
4750. le court sure, ‘runs upon him’; so 10763 and elsewhere.
4752. l’un ne lesse, ‘he fails not to attain one or the other,’ i.e. either the object of his violence, or his own destruction.
4753. Is. ii. 22, ‘Quiescite ergo ab homine, cuius spiritus in naribus eius est.’ This illustrates the meaning, otherwise rather obscure, of the Latin line after Conf. Am. iii. 1088 (introducing the subject of ‘Contek’), which is seen by this to be a reference to the above passage of Isaiah.
4769. come fist a Asahel, ‘as it did to Asahel’: see note on 1135. The reference is to 2 Sam. ii. 18 ff.
4826. Cp. 3882.
4837. Ecclus. xxii. 30, ‘Ante ignem camini vapor et fumus ignis inaltatur: sic et ante sanguinem maledicta et contumeliae et minae.’
4850. Cp. Conf. Am. iii. 453 ff.
4858. voit, used for vait, as 3 sing. pres. ind.
4864 ff. This kind of repetition is often used by our author, cp. 8294 ff., Vox Clam. iii. 11 ff., and Conf. Am. v. 2469 ff.
4870. ou giroun, ‘in the bosom’: ‘giro(u)n’ is properly the bend or fold of a cloak (sinus).
4897. 2 Sam. iv.
4906. Matt. xxvi. 52, Rev. xiii. 10.
4945. Ex. xxi. 14.
4962. 2 Sam. vii. 4 ff., but it is not quite accurately cited.
4973. Gen. ix. 6.
5005. Ezek. xxv. 12 f.
5018. Is. xiv. 12, ‘Corruisti in terram, qui vulnerabas gentes.’ The rest is hardly a quotation, though it may give the general sense.
5029 ff. The same thing is related with the same application in Conf. Am. iii. 2599-2616. There, as here, it is referred to Solinus, but this seems to be a mistaken reference.
5031. a diviser, ‘to describe’ (or ‘compare’), i.e. ‘to describe it, we may say that it has’ &c.: so, ‘pour deviser’ 11245, ‘au droit deviser’ 13204.
5055. faisont a redoubter: see note on 1883.
5059. fait periler, ‘imperils’: ainçois ... Que, ‘before that.’
5114 ff. Matt. v. 3, 5.
5126. D’Accidie: see note on 296.
5179. For the use of ‘lée’ in this phrase as a dissyllable cp. 15518, ‘ove lée chiere,’ 17122, 28337. When occurring in other connexions it seems to follow the usual rule, as in 28132, 28199, &c.
5190 f. Cp. Conf. Am. iv. 2739 f.,
The connexion is the same as here.
5205. On the subject of ‘Tirelincel’ cp. Waddington, Man. des Pech. 4078 ff.
5216. ‘Hold thy nurture so dear’ (as to think of it in this matter): ‘norreture’ is that which has to do with physical development, and ‘preu’ I take to represent the Latin ‘prope,’ which appears in this form among others: see Godefroy.
5252. Cp. 8130. To judge by Littré’s examples for the fourteenth-century usage of ‘bout,’ it would seem to be specially used of the top or bottom of a cask.
5257. Prov. xxvi. 14.
5266. Cato, Distich. i. 2:
5269. I do not know what passage is referred to.
5283. Jer. li. 39, ‘inebriabo eos, ut sopiantur et dormiant somnum sempiternum et non consurgant.’
5329. Ecclus. xli. 1, ‘O mors, quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem habenti in substantiis suis.’ The rest is our author’s addition.
5344. Deut. xxviii. 56 f.
5349. Cil homme tendre, equivalent to ‘l’omme tendre,’ so 5553, ‘celle alme peccheresse’: see note on 301.
5376. Luy dorra: usually in this form of expression (which is common alike in the French, Latin, and English of our author) a negative is used with the verb of the second clause, e.g. Bal. xviii. 2.
5377. ‘Peresce’ answers to ‘Ydelnesse’ in the Confessio Amantis.
5389 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. iv. 1090 f.,
5395 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. iv. 1108 ff.,
5436. apres la mein: cp. 4558 and Conf. Am. iv. 893: ‘Thanne is he wys after the hond,’ an exact translation of this line.
5437 ff. Cp. Vox Clam. iv. 877 ff.
5449. Prov. xx. 4.
5452. beguinage, equivalent to ‘beggerie’ (5800), as ‘beguyne’ (6898) is used for ‘beggar.’ The Beguins were mendicants.
5455. 2 Thess. iii. 10.
5458. le decré: the reference is probably to the Canon law; cp. 7480.
5492. des perils ymaginer. This form of expression, in which the preposition belonging to the infinitive is combined with the article of the object, occurs also 9339, 16303, and elsewhere. So also in other authors, as Rom. de la Rose 2875, ‘Or sunt as roses garder troi.’
5499. Prov. vii. 10-22.
5500. Qui, ‘whom.’
5572 f. ‘He who has growth in common with the trees’; an allusion to the text of Gregory quoted so often by our author: see 26869.
5580. apparant: I take this to mean ‘heir apparent,’ as in Conf. Am. ii. 1711.
5606. Cp. Conf. Am. iv. 9,
5622. The kissing of the ‘pax’ came after the prayer of consecration.
5645 ff. Matt. x. 22, and Luke ix. 62.
5659. Deut. xxv. 18.
5701 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. iv. 3389 ff., where, however, ‘Tristesce’ is described as developed from ‘Slowthe’ generally, not (as here) from ‘Lachesce’ in particular. ‘Tristesce’ is there synonymous with ‘Desesperance.’
5714. Prov. xxv. 20, ‘Sicut tinea vestimento et vermis ligno, ita tristitia viri nocet cordi.’ The English version is quite different.
5729 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. iv. 3432 ff.,
5758. Job vii. 16, ‘Desperavi: nequaquam ultra iam vivam.’
5762. Jer. xviii. 12 ff., ‘Qui dixerunt: Desperavimus: post cogitationes enim nostras ibimus ... Ideo haec dicit Dominus: Interrogate gentes: quis audivit talia horribilia?... Quia oblitus est mei populus meus,... ut fieret terra eorum in desolationem et in sibilum sempiternum: omnis qui praeterierit per eam obstupescet et movebit caput suum.’ This is a good example of our author’s method of dealing with a text.
5792. Cp. 8492.
5794. jure vent et voie: cp. 8685, ‘jure tout le monde.’
5822. Cp. Bal. vii. 2,
(speaking of a spring).
5839. Eccles. ii. 21, ‘Nam cum alius laboret in sapientia et doctrina et sollicitudine, homini otioso quaesita dimittit: et hoc ergo vanitas et magnum malum.’ I suspect we should read here
5845. Perhaps Ecclus. xxxiii. 29, ‘Multam enim malitiam docuit otiositas,’ the rest being added by our author.
5854. The reference is perhaps really to Ezek. xvi. 49.
5868. Matt. xii. 44 f.
5879. After this, one leaf has been cut out, which contained 190 lines and one rubric, ‘La quinte file de Accidie, q’est appellée Necgligence,’ or something to that effect.
6070. The author seems here to be speaking of the negligence shown by overseers of some kind, who do not efficiently superintend those under their authority.
6082. 2 Tim. ii. 12.
6102. ou pis, for ‘au pis,’ ‘in his heart’: cp. 7100.
6103. James i. 23 f.
6109. Prov. xxxi. 4, 5.
6115. Hos. iv. 6.
6226. ne serroit partie, ‘should not be a party interested in the suit.’ The conditional is used for subjunctive, as often.
6253 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 2015 ff.,
where the author is speaking, as here, of ‘Covoitise.’
6303. The ‘lot,’ as a measure of wine, is about half a gallon.
6313 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 2859 ff., where Coveitise has two especial counsellors, Falswitness and Perjurie.
6315. ‘Chalenge’ (Lat. calumnia) is a claim or accusation against a person in a court of law, usually in a bad sense.
6328. falt ... pour retenir, ‘it is necessary to retain’: ‘pour’ is often used by our author instead of ‘de’ or ‘a,’ representing perhaps the English ‘forto’: cp. ll. 7650, 10639, 29078, Bal. iv*. 1, xlv. 1, 2, &c.
6345. Mal. iii. 5, ‘et ero testis velox maleficis et adulteris et periuris et qui calumniantur mercedem mercenarii,’ &c.
6363. Jer. l. 33 ff. ‘Haec dicit Dominus exercituum: Calumniam sustinent filii Israel ... Gladius ad Chaldaeos, ait Dominus, et ad habitatores Babylonis,’ &c.
6386. Can this be Is. xix. 9, ‘Confundentur qui operabantur linum ... texentes subtilia’?
6389. Conjecture, cp. 3365.
6391. Luke xvi. 8.
6397. Ambrose tells the story, Hex. v. 8, of the crab and the oyster, ‘tunc clanculo calculum immittens, impedit conclusionem ostrei.’ I do not know the word ‘areine.’
6409. Perjurie: see note on l. 296.
6434. This was a charge commonly brought against swearers by the preachers of the day: cp. Chaucer, Pardoneres Tale, l. 12, &c., Persones Tale, 591 (Skeat).
6445. Cp. Matt. xxiii. 21 f.
6451. Probably Is. xlviii. 1.
6482. Zech. v. 1-4.
6496. si tresfalse noun, ‘except (what was) utterly false’: cp. 8853, Bal. xxiv. 1.
6498. Ps. lxiii. 11.
6499. Mal. iii. 5: cp. 6345.
6528. Perhaps Prov. i. 18, ‘moliuntur fraudes contra animas suas.’
6529. Levit. vi. 2-7.
6539. ‘Fails to do right at the risk of his soul,’ and not merely of his worldly goods, as by the old law.
6544. Cp. Bal. xlii. 3, where ‘fraude et malengin’ go together, as here.
6545 f. ‘It were well if they were caught in the snare, to be thrown far into the deep sea.’
6553 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 4396 ff., where the practice here mentioned is ascribed to ‘Usure.’
6556. au creance, ‘on credit,’ meaning apparently that they charge exorbitant prices when credit is given, cp. 7246, 7273 ff.
6561. Deut. xxv. 14.
6640. tout son propre adune, ‘gathers together everything for himself,’ i.e. appropriates everything.
6672. qu’il doit vivre, ‘that he should live’: for this use of ‘doit,’ cp. 1193.
6685 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 4917-4922.
6733. For this treatment of dame as a monosyllable in the metre, cp. 13514, 16579, and Bal. xix. 3, xx. 2, &c.
6745. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 1971 (for the form of expression).
6750. Matt. xix. 24.
6758. 1 Tim. vi. 10.
6760. Senec. Dial. xii. 13, ‘si avaritia dimisit, vehementissima generis humani pestis.’
6769. Prov. xxvii. 20.
6781. Conf. Am. vii. 2551.
6783 ff. 2 Chron. xxi. Our author is evidently familiar with every part of the Old Testament history.
6798. Ambros. Hex. vi. 24.
6841. Probably Ezek. xxii. 25.
6855. Job iv. 11, ‘Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet praedam.’ The English version is different.
6859. Prov. xi. 24.
6865. Is. xxxiii. 1.
6869. Jer. xxx. 16.
6877. This time ‘Baruch’ stands for Nahum, ii. 8 ff.
6886. Nahum ii. 10, ‘et facies omnium eorum sicut nigredo ollae.’
6925 ff. The same three that are mentioned here, Robbery, Stealth, and Sacrilege, are dealt with in the same order in the Confessio Amantis immediately after ‘Ravine’ (v. 6075 ff.), though not as dependent upon it.
6940 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 6089 ff.,
6958. m’encordie: see note on l. 296; but perhaps we should read ‘m’encorde,’ cp. l. 7574.
6967. ne fait pas a demander, ‘there is no need to ask’: an impersonal form of the construction noticed on l. 1883.
6987. Ps. lxii. 10.
6991. Prov. xxi. 7.
6999. Joshua vii.
7015. Ambros. Hex. v. 18, ‘Accipitres feruntur in eo duram adversum proprios fetus habere inclementiam, quod ubi eos adverterint tentare volatus primordia, nidis eiciunt suis,’ &c.
7025 f. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 6501-6516, a close parallel. ‘Stelthe’ (in the Latin margin ‘secretum latrocinium’) corresponds to ‘Larcine’ here.
7033 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 6517-6521.
7081. Gen. xxxi. 19 ff.
7093. This story is told Conf. Am. v. 7105*-7207* under the head of Sacrilege, with no essential difference except in the greater detail and in the name of the person involved. Here it is ‘Dyonis,’ apparently for convenience of rhyming, there Lucius.
d’Appollinis: the genitive form is also used in Conf. Am. v. 7109*,
7109. Conf. Am. v. 7186* ff.,
7153 ff. The distinctions of various kinds of Sacrilege, indicated in this stanza, are more fully developed Conf. Am. v. 7015* ff.: cp. Chaucer, Persones Tale, 801 ff. (Skeat).
7177 ff. The same examples occur in Conf. Am. v. 7007 ff., with the addition of Antiochus.
7181. 2 Kings xxv. 8 ff.
7193. Jer. l., li.
7209. Cp. Neh. x. 31, &c.
7215. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 4395, ‘Usure with the riche duelleth.’
7227 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 4387.
7249. Lev. xxv. 37, &c., Luke vi. 35.
7270. Qe, repeated from the line above.
7282. ou mein, apparently for ‘au meinz,’ ‘at least.’
7315. The reference seems to be a mistaken one.
7319. le tresor de Pavie, cp. l. 1944. Pavia no doubt has its reputation of wealth from having been the capital of the Lombard kingdom.
7379. Les lettres: cp. Conf. Am. Prol. 209.
7393 ff. Cp. Vox Clam. iii. 1233 ff.
7416. Poverte avoir, ‘that Poverty has.’
7429. Matt. xxi. 12.
7441. Rev. xi. 1.
7453. Ezek. vii. 12.
7454. Is. xxiv. 2.
7459. 2 Kings v. 20 ff.
7475. concordance: that is, what we should call a ‘harmony’ of the Gospels or other parts of the Bible.
7499. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 4678, and the marginal Latin.
7507. Probably we should read ‘tenont,’ or ‘tienont,’ for ‘tenoit’: cp. 8459.
7511. privé de son secroy, ‘privy to his secret counsels.’
7549. The reference is not really to the Psalter, but to the song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. 13.
7562. Ecclus. xxxi. 29, ‘Nequissimo in pane murmurabit civitas.’
7569. 2 Cor. ix. 6.
7587. ‘the right pit of helle,’ as they said in English. The same comparison is made Conf. Am. v. 29 ff. With these cp. Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus: ‘And therefore seith seint Austyn that the averous man is likned unto helle’ &c.
7597. I fear that this is a rendering of ‘Avaro autem nihil est scelestius,’ with additions by our author: Ecclus. x. 9.
7603 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 249 ff.
7609. Col. iii. 5, ‘avaritiam, quae est simulacrorum servitus.’
7611. 2 Kings xxi. 21 ff.
7621 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 363 ff., where the same comparison is made in fuller detail.
7640. The author referred to as ‘Marcial’ here and in ll. 15505, 15949, is in fact Godfrey of Winchester, popularly called by the name of the epigrammatist whom he not unhappily imitated. He was a native of Cambrai, and prior of St. Swithin’s in the twelfth century. His epigrams are repeatedly quoted under the name of Martial by Albertano of Brescia in the Liber Consolationis. They will be found in Wright’s Satirical Poets of the Twelfth Century (Rolls series). The reference here is to Ep. cxxxvi,
7645 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 49 ff., a very close parallel,
7650. Pour ... faire: cp. 6328.
7678. Perhaps Jer. xv. 13.
7694. Bern. Serm. Resurr. iii. 1, ‘Et vero magna abusio et magna nimis, ut dives esse velit vermiculus vilis, propter quem Deus maiestatis et Dominus sabaoth voluit pauper fieri.’
7728. farin: a form of ‘frarin’ (‘frerin’), ‘beggarly,’ hence ‘wretched.’
7731. For this use of ‘tire’ cp. Conf. Am. vi. 817.
7739. See note on 415.
7777. Job xv. 27, ‘Operuit faciem eius crassitudo, et de lateribus eius arvina dependet.’ Perhaps our author read ‘anima’ for ‘arvina,’ unless he was also thinking of xl. 15 (11).
7791. ces, for ‘les,’ see note on 301.
7825 ff. Cp. Chaucer, Pardoneres Tale, 76 ff.
7827. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 870 (margin), ‘Iupiter deus deliciarum.’
7883. allaita, apparently here ‘sucked (milk)‘: ‘he thinks not of the former time when he sucked the simple milk and longed for it.’
7896. ‘Nor will they hunt in that wood,’ that is, they will not share in the sport: ‘brosser,’ ‘bruisser,’ a term of the chase, meaning to ride or run through thick underwood, see Littré under ‘brosser,’ and New Eng. Dict. ‘brush.’
7940. ‘Martinmas beef’ was the meat salted in the autumn for the supply of the household during the winter, in times when keep for cattle in winter was hard to get.
7969. Cp. Trait. xv. 1 ff., ‘Car beal oisel par autre se chastie,’ a proverbial expression meaning that one should take example by others.
7972. The story is told in the same connexion Conf. Am. vi. 986 ff.
7993. 2 Pet. ii. 12 ff.
8049. Deut. xxxii. 15 ff.
8053. Is. xlvii. 8, 9.
8072. For the position of ‘et’ see note on 415.
8077. Job xx. 15 f. The preceding stanza is mostly the invention of our author.
8089. Job xx. 19 ff.
8103. Lam. iv. 5, ‘qui nutriebantur in croceis, amplexati sunt stercora.’ Our author misunderstood ‘in croceis.’
8138 f. Cp. Conf. Am. vi. 19-23.
8191. serroit governé, ‘should be ruled.’
8236. Gen. xix. 30 ff.
8246 ff. Cp. Conf. Am. vi. 71 f.,
8266. puis la mort, ‘after death,’ ‘puis’ used as a preposition.
8269. Is. v. 11.
8278. Prov. xxiii. 31 f., or Ecclus. xxxi. 32 ff.
8289. Jer. xxv. 15.
8294 ff. See note on 4864.
8376. ou = ‘ove.’
8403. The ‘sestier’ would be about a gallon and a half.
8459. I substitute devont for devoit: cp. 7507.
8482. superflual: the adjective form is used instead of the name ‘Superfluité’ for the sake of the rhyme.
8495. Some correction seems to be required. Perhaps read ‘Siqe’ for ‘Siq’il.’
8501. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 7755 f.,
8533. Senec. Ep. lx. 2, ‘Una silva elephantis pluribus sufficit: homo et terra et mari pascitur.’
8553. Cp. Conf. Am. vi. 60, ‘And seith, “Nou baillez ça the cuppe.”’
8559. 1 Cor. vi. 13.
8581 ff. This stanza is a repetition, with slight variations, of 8041-8052.
8815. conivreisoun. The dictionaries quote no examples of ‘conniver’ or ‘connivence’ earlier than the sixteenth century.
8853. si de vo teste noun, cp. 6496.
8869. The bird meant is no doubt the lapwing: see note on Trait. xii. l. 19.
8905. ce que chalt: cp. 3367.
8911. A reference to Wisd. iv. 3, ‘spuria vitulamina non dabunt radices altas,’ a text not unknown in English history.
8916. Matt. vii. 26.
8924. ‘Whereby she will deliver up her body free,’ i.e. since she gives presents as well as receiving them, she must be held not to sell herself, but to give herself away to her lover; and this, observes the author, is the worse alternative, because it impoverishes her husband.
8941. creroie, ‘ought to trust,’ see note on 1688.
8942. verroie, conditional for pret. subj.: see note on l. 25.
8952. Cp. Bal. xliii. 2, ‘Si es comun plus qe la halte voie’; also 9231 ff.
8984. soubgite et abandonnée, ‘as his subject and servant.’
9055. ‘If we consider well, we shall see that’ &c.: see note on 1244.
9068. The reference is to Job xxxi. 9-12. The verse quoted is ‘Ignis est usque ad perditionem devorans, et omnia eradicans genimina.’
9085. ‘Incest’ is here used in a much wider sense than belongs to the word in English. It includes the impure intercourse of those who are near of kin, as we see in ll. 9181 ff.; but the cases of it which are chiefly insisted on have to do with breach of the ecclesiastical vow of purity, and this not only where the confessor corrupts his penitent (who is his daughter in a spiritual sense), but also in general where monk, nun, or priest commits fornication.
9130 ff. ‘so that at last by reason of his inconstancy and habitual sin we see Incest throw off his vows and leave the order.’
9132. The ‘possessioners’ are the members of those religious orders which held property, as distinguished from the mendicant orders mentioned next.
9138. ses Abbes. If this is singular, the use of the subject form after a preposition is very harsh: it is ‘son Abbes’ (though subject) in l. 12115. Perhaps the monastic rent-collector is spoken of here generally, and as coming from a variety of monasteries.
9139. vois, the usual form for ‘vais,’ as 440, &c.
9143. irroit, see 1688.
9148. ly limitantz, ‘the limitour’: cp. Chaucer’s ironical reference to him at the beginning of the Wyf of Bath’s Tale.
9156. The woman’s husband passes for the father of the children.
9158. au dieu demeine, ‘in the possession of God.’
9168. ‘Than he who does (the same) as regards his neighbour’ (who is not under a religious vow).
9171. This is the case of the widow’s marriage to the Church, the vow of not marrying again, see 17827 ff. This was taken, for example, by Eleanor, sister of Henry III, who afterwards married Simon de Montfort. The vow of course would be dispensed with, and the relations here contemplated are probably those of marriage, notwithstanding the severity with which they are spoken of in ll. 9172-74: therefore the author is doubtful about the punishment of this offence in a future state, and suggests that the arrangements of human law, by which the wife would often suffer in property by such a marriage, may be a sufficient punishment. On this subject see Furnivall’s Fifty Earliest English Wills, E.E.T.S.
9229. en cest escrit, ‘in the scripture,’ cp. 9277: so ‘celle’ is used for the definite article, 9786 and elsewhere; see note on 301.
9230. The reference seems to be a general one to such passages as Jer. iii. 1 ff.
9240. en ton despit, ‘in hatred of thee.’
9265. El viele loy, e.g. Deut. xxiii. 17.
9281. Perhaps ‘burette’ is here the same as ‘birette,’ used for a lady’s head-covering, see Littré: usually it means a small phial, and ‘burettes’ might stand here for scent-bottles.
9292. For ‘mie’ without negative particle cp. 2589, and Bal. xliv. 1.
9311. au petit loisir seems to mean ‘in a small space of time,’ ‘loisir’ (‘leisour’) being ordinarily used in its modern sense, referring to restrictions of time: so in the phrase ‘par loisir’ 5693, and ‘a bon leisour’ 9222. In the next stanza, however, it has a somewhat different sense, ‘femme a son loisir faldra,’ 9315, meaning apparently ‘the woman shall not be at his (or her) own disposal’; and later (9322) ‘au bon loisir’ means ‘with ease.’
9314. sur luy, that is ‘on her’: cp. 2151, 9351.
9320. luy, here equivalent to ‘la’: cp. Bal. xxiii. 2.
9359. The reference probably is to Matt. v. 28, ‘Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’
9410. s’ordinaire: cp. 1477.
9496. ‘Compels hearts to love’: so ‘par destresce’ 5549, ‘by force.’
9553. 1 Cor. ii. 14, ‘Animalis autem homo non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei.’ Our author not unnaturally fails to understand ‘animalis.’
9557. Wisd. 1. 4, ‘in malevolam animam non introibit sapientia.’
tal: used here for the rhyme, but it is in fact the older Norman form, as in Rom. de Rou, 2270, quoted by Burguy, Gramm. i. 193.
9565. Nihil est enim tam mortiferum ingenio quam luxuria est: quoted as ‘Socrates’ by Caec. Balbus, p. 43 (ed. Woelfflin).
9579. Amos i. 5, ‘disperdam habitatorem de campo idoli et tenentem sceptrum de domo voluptatis.’ The English version is different.
9588. Que, ‘that which’: cp. 9646.
9591. climant. This is the reading of the MS., but possibly the author wrote ‘cliniant’ (for ‘cligniant’).
9601. I do not know the reference.
9611. ‘unto the enemy’s throat.’
9613. The sense of this line is repeated by the word ‘Luxure,’ 9616.
9616. Cic. de Off. i. 123, ‘luxuria ... cum omni aetati turpis, tum senectuti foedissima.’
9620. ‘Others will excuse themselves ill, but the old worse than the rest,—or rather, none will be able to excuse themselves at all’: this seems to be the meaning.
9656. serroit: note on 1688.
9671. la halte voie, &c., the high-way to hell: ‘remeine’ instead of ‘remeint’ for the rhyme.
9678. feis, 2 sing. pret.
9687. fait a loer, ‘she ought to be praised,’ see note on 1883.
9720. Qui corps, ‘whose body,’ cp. 3491.
9782. mes amis: the subject form of the possessive pronoun is used here, as ‘tes’ in Bal. iv*. 3.
9786. The slight alteration of ‘mettroit’ to ‘metteroit’ is required by the metre.
9816. tient may be preterite, though ‘tint’ occurs 3322: cp. 4561 ff.
9820. dont fuist a baniere, ‘whose leader she was.’
9889. Rev. xiii.
9907. ‘Seven heads, because he devotes himself to the seven sins.’
9956. ‘When she plays with the mouse’: ‘se fait juer’ is simply equivalent to ‘se jue,’ cp. 39, 1135, 1320, &c.
10071. De resoun, &c., explaining ‘le faisoit.’
10117. I take ‘pareies’ to be for ‘parées’ (past part.), as ‘journeies’ for ‘journées,’ see Introduction, p. xx.
10121. preies, i.e. ‘proies,’ the older form used for sake of the rhyme. For the meaning cp. Bal. xv. 4.
10125. les cornont, ‘play music to them’: for ‘les’ cp. 2416, &c.; ‘par leur journeies’ seems to mean ‘on their way.’
10140. That is, the meeting will not be one of like with like.
10176. oietz chançon flourie: cp. Bal. Ded. i. 3, ‘Ore en balade, u sont les ditz floriz.’
10176(R). Puisq ‘il ad dit, &c. We have the same form of expression in the heading of the Traitié.
10215. 2 Kings iv. 33.
10221. Luke vi. 12.
10233. Ps. cxlv. (Vulg. cxliv.) 18.
10239. Ps. xxxvii. (Vulg. xxxvi.) 7, ‘Subditus esto Domino, et ora eum,’ but there is nothing to explain ‘delacioun.’
10243. Dan. vi. 10.
10249. 1 Macc. iii. 44 ff., 2 Macc. viii. 1, and x. 25.
10262. Tobit iii. 7 ff.
10267. Tobit iii. 1 ff.
10273. 1 Sam. i.
10279. Luke vii. 38.
10286. Luke xxi. 36.
10297. James v. 16, ‘multum enim valet deprecatio iusti assidua.’
10301. Ex. xvii. 8 ff.
10306. ‘When he was a lowerer of his hands,’ the pres. part. being used as an adjective or substantive.
10311. 2 Chron. xx.
10324. There is nothing, so far as I know, corresponding with this reference. It is possible that the author may have mistaken the application of Jer. xxix. 7, where the Jews who are in captivity are bidden to pray for the peace of the city where they now dwell, namely Babylon. This occurs in close proximity with anticipations of an eventual return.
10335. Baruch i. 11.
10341. Puisqu’il. As ‘il’ for ‘ils’ is found in rhyme l. 25064, I have not altered it here: cp. 23922, 24635.
10347. The reference is not quite correct, for the decree of Cyrus was before the time of Ezra, though it did not take full effect until that time.
10358. 2 Macc. xii. 41-45.
10371. Ezra ix. f.
10374. del oïr, ‘in order to hear.’
10405. Isid. Sent. iii. 7. 8, ‘Pura est oratio quam in suo tempore saeculi non interveniunt curae; longe autem a Deo animus qui in oratione cogitationibus saeculi fuerit occupatus.’
10411. Aug. in Ps. cxviii., Serm. xxix. 1, ‘Clamor ad Dominum qui fit ab orantibus, si sonitu corporalis vocis fiat, non intento in Deum corde, quis dubitet inaniter fieri?’ Or Serm. lxxxviii. 12, ‘ne forte simus strepentes vocibus et muti moribus.’ Cp. 1194, 20547.
10441. Exod. xxiii. 15.
10450. ‘But he who bears himself humbly,’ &c. For this use of ‘qe’ cp. Bal. Ded. i. 1 ff.,
10453. 2 Chron. xxx f.
10467. Exod. xxxv.
10479. Num. xvi.
10498. I do not think that what follows will be found in Jerome. The classification of the seven deadly sins is of later date.
10505. ‘Lest Sloth should seize him’: the subjunctive was to be expected, but syntax gives way to rhyme.
10526 ff. Cp. Chaucer, Pers. Tale 133 ff. (Skeat), where there are six causes which ought to move a man to contrition; but they are not quite the same as those which we have here.
10553. Q’il n’en deschiece, ‘lest he should fall by reason of it.’
10554. 1 Cor. x. 12.
10574. Luke vi. 21, much expanded.
10605. solait, for ‘soloit,’ which is used as a present in several passages, 15405, 20419.
10612. 2 Cor. xii. 2.
10623. Here and in 10628 we have a pause after the first half of the verse, with a superfluous syllable: see Introduction, p. xlv.
10637. par semblance, ‘as it were,’ implying that ‘morir’ is metaphorical.
10639. pour despire: I take ‘pour’ to be dependent on ‘commence,’ and to be used as a variation of ‘de’: cp. 6328, 10664, 11520, &c.
10642. tant luy tarde, as in Mod. French, ‘so eager is he.’
10643. fait sentir, ‘feels’: see note on 1135.
10649. fait here, and in l. 10653, supplies the place of the verb ‘desire,’ like ‘doth’ or ‘does’ in English: see note on 1135.
10651. Cp. Conf. Am. v. 2238 ff., where, however, the connexion is different.
10669. ot, ‘there were’: so ‘ad’ is not uncommonly thus used for ‘il y a,’ e.g. 2174.
10707 ff. la chalandre. This bird, which seems to be a kind of lark, is mentioned also in Bal. xii. 1. Bozon, Contes Moralizés, p. 63, calls it ‘calabre,’ and says that if a man is ill, and they wish to know whether he will live or die, they may bring in this bird, and if it turns away from him, he will die. See M. Paul Meyer’s note on the passage.
10717. The story is probably taken from Solinus, who combines the story of the Arimaspians, as told by Herodotus and Pliny, with the account of the emeralds produced in the country: Collect. 15.
10718. ‘the land which is called Scythia.’
10747. Pour nostre essample. The idea that these things were done, not only related, for our example is merely an extension of the usual medieval view of Natural History.
10748. nous attrait, ‘teaches us,’ (‘brings before us’). For the various meanings of ‘attraire’ compare the following passages, 567, 1550, 14480, 16637, 17800, 21623, 23361.
St. Remigius does not, so far as I know, mention the story of the griffons and Arimaspians, but probably the following passage, where the truth is compared to a treasure, may be the one referred to: ‘Habemus namque magnum depositum fidei et doctrinae veritatis ... velut pretiosum multiplicem thesaurum divinitus nobis ad custodiendum commendatum: quem sine intermissione domino auxiliante delemus inspicere, extergere, polire atque excutere ac diligentissime servare, ne per incuriam et ignaviam nostram aut pulvere sordescat aut ... malignorum spirituum insidiis vel a nocturnis et occultis furibus effodiatur et deripiatur.’ (De tenenda Script. Verit. i. 1.)
10800. ‘And in it he rejoices’: ‘fait demener’ is equivalent to ‘demeine,’ and ‘demener ses joyes’ means ‘to rejoice,’ cp. 444, 5038, &c.
10801. Probably referring to Albertus Magnus de Animalibus, but I do not know the passage.
10813. This comparison does not appear to be in Isidore, though he gives much the same account as we have here of the origin of pearls. (Isid. Etym. xii. 6. 49). Isidore no doubt borrowed the story from Solinus (ch. 53), who had it indirectly from Pliny, N. H. ix. 54. In Bozon, Contes Moralizés, p. 41, we have the story with nearly the same application as here.
10882. ‘He who considers this’ &c.
10903. ‘That which pleases the one’ &c., the verb being used here with a direct object.
10909. Cp. Bal. xxx. 2, and Conf. Am. i. 515 ff.
10912. remedie: see note on 296.
10934. Prov. xxviii. 14.
10942. Cp. Bal. xx. 1.
10948. Ovid, Pont. iv. 3. 35. Cp. Conf. Am. vi. 1513, where the original Latin is quoted in the margin and attributed (as here) to ‘Oracius.’
10959. Perhaps a reminiscence of the line in Pamphilus, ‘Ex minima magnus scintilla nascitur ignis.’
10962. The quotation is really from Ovid, Rem. Am. 421, ‘Parva necat morsu spatiosum vipera taurum.’ It has perhaps been confused with Sen. Dial. i. 6. 8, ‘corpora opima taurorum exiguo concidunt volnere.’
10965. Ecclus. xix. 1, ‘qui spernit modica, paulatim decidet.’
10969. Ecclus. v. 4-9, ‘Ne dixeris: Peccavi, et quid mihi accidit triste?’ &c.
11004. ‘And it awaits them after their death.’
11018. 2 Kings xvii.
11020. Evehi stands for the Avites, who are ‘Hevaei’ in the Latin version.
11044. August. Ep. cxl. (De Grat. Nov. Test.) 21, and many other places.
11056. Probably Rom. viii. 15, with amplifications.
11065. Quiconque ait: there is an elision, though it is not indicated in the text.
11069. Esther iii ff.
11102. Matt. x. 28.
11114. Judith xi. 8, 9.
11126. Ps. xxv. (Vulg. xxiv.) 14, ‘Firmamentum est Dominus timentibus eum.’
11128. Ps. cxi. (Vulg. cx.) 5.
11137. Lev. xxvi. 2 ff.
11149. Lev. xxvi. 5.
11160. arestu, a past participle from the form ‘aresteir’, used here for the rhyme.
11177. Neh. i. 11.
11185. Tobit i. 10.
11191. Judith xvi. 19.
11197. Is. xix.
11203. ly futur, ‘they that should come after.’
11209. Deut. xxviii.
11221. Deut. xxviii. 58 ff.
11243. ‘There shall be no bodily fear by which’ &c.
11245. pour deviser, cp. 12852, so ‘a diviser’ 5031.
11305. Prov. xxiii. 34, amplified: ‘Et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari, et quasi sopitus gubernator, amisso clavo.’
11309. prist: this tense is for the sake of the rhyme instead of ‘prent.’
11332. Job iv. 13.
11343. Luke xv. 11.
11354. Tout quatre: for this use of ‘tout’ with numerals cp. 11570, ‘Ad tout quatre oils.’ It seems to be an adverb, as in the expression ‘ove tout’ ll. 4, 12240, &c., and has no particular meaning apparently.
11396. au fin que, ‘until.’
11404. This ‘Mestre Helemauns’ is Hélinand, the monk of Froidmont, whose Vers de la Mort were so popular in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The lines which are quoted here are quoted also in the Somme des Vices et des Vertus, with a slight difference of text. See M. Paul Meyer in Romania i. 365, where a preliminary list of the MSS. is given. Death is supposed to be the speaker here, ‘Do away your mockery and your boasting, for many a man who thinketh himself sound and strong hath me already hatching within him.’ The usual reading is ‘Laissiez vos chiffles’ (or ‘chifflois’), but ‘Ostez’ and ‘trufes’ are also found in the MSS.
11410. ‘Death has warned thee of his tricks,’ because in the preceding lines Death is supposed to be the speaker.
11412. atteins, ‘caught unawares.’
11434. a luy, ‘to her,’ so 626, 2151, &c.
11466. Dont here seems to stand for ‘que,’ as it does so commonly in a consecutive sense after ‘tant,’ ‘si,’ &c.
11504. Mais d’une chose, ‘except for one thing.’
11510. sentence, perhaps here ‘feeling of pain,’ ‘suffering.’
11520. Pour venir, after ‘assure,’ equivalent to ‘de venir’: see 6328.
11521. Ecclus. i. 22, 25, ‘Corona sapientiae, timor Domini ... Radix sapientiae est timere dominum.’
11535. Is. xxxiii. 6, ‘divitiae salutis sapientia et scientia: timor Domini ipse est thesaurus eius.’
11536. Ps. xiv. 4, ‘timentes autem Dominum glorificat.’
11540. Luke i. 50.
11548. Jer. x. 7, ‘Quis non timebit te, O Rex gentium? tuum est enim decus.’
11570. See note on 11354.
11572. Rev. iv. 6.
11600. That is, ‘everything depends, as it were, on the cast of the dice.’
11611. Ps. ci. (Vulg. c.) 7, ‘Non habitabit in medio domus meae qui facit superbiam.’
11616. ‘Which is a true child of Arrogance.’
11647. Rom. vi. 23.
11653. ly discret, i.e. Discretion.
11668. Eccles. iii. 19, ‘cuncta subiacent vanitati, et omnia pergunt ad unum locum.’
11671. Matt. xxiv. 35, &c.
11676. i.e, ‘His word of everlasting doctrine.’
11680. ‘Three things make me sure that the state of man’ &c., referring to what follows.
11685. Job xiv. 2.
11694. Cp. Conf. Am. iv. 1632 f.,
11721 ff. ‘But as for man,... by reason of sin which holds possession of his body, hell retains the soul for ever.’ For ‘celle’ see note on 301.
11724. fait a despire, ‘it is right to loathe’: see note on 1883.
11728. pour sa maisoun, like ‘de sa maisoun,’ ‘as regards his house.’ See 2 Kings xx.
11770. It is likely enough that Cassiodorus says something of this kind in his official letters, but it is hardly worth while to search for it. Expressions such as, ‘Multo melius proficitur, si bonis moribus serviatur,’ are common enough.
11822. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 299.
11846. John iv. 14: but it was said actually to the woman of Samaria, not to the disciples.
11848. au tiel exploit, ‘in such a manner’: properly ‘with such success (or result).’
11865. desjoint: so in Chaucer, Troilus iii. 496, ‘Or of what wight that stant in swich disjoynte.’
11866. je quidoie: cp. Conf. Am. v. 7666, ‘Til ate laste he seith, “I wende.”’
11898. Ps. cxli. (Vulg. cxl.) 3, ‘Pone, Domine, custodiam ori meo, et ostium circumstantiae labiis meis.’
11939. Perhaps the word is ‘enguarise.’
11978. Ecclus. xxxii. 14, ‘Ante grandinem praeibit coruscatio: et ante verecundiam praeibit gratia, et pro reverentia accedet tibi bona gratia.’
11989. 1 Tim. ii. 9.
11995. Ecclus. vii. 21, ‘gratia enim verecundiae illius super aurum.’
12003. Job iii. 25, ‘quod verebar accidit.’
12006. Ps. xliv. 15 (Vulg. xliii. 16), ‘Tota die verecundia mea contra me est.’
12025. Gen. ix. 22.
12038. doit: cp. 12669, and see note on 1193.
12044. Judith xii. 12 ff.
12056. Luke xii. 3.
12140. ne fais souffrir, ‘you do not endure.’
12161. Deut. xvii. 12.
12169. Eph. vi. 2 ff.
12180. demeine, an adjective, ‘thine own profit.’
12188. Ecclus. iv. 7, ‘presbytero humilia animam tuam, et magnato humilia caput tuum.’
12200. Perhaps Rom. x. 9 f.
12202. Heb. xi. 6.
12206. Heb. x. 38.
12209. Mark xvi. 16, 18.
12217 ff. Cp. Heb. xi.
12228. De Abraham: for the hiatus cp. 12241, ‘De Isaak,’ 27367, ‘De Ire,’ and Bal. xxxiv. 3, ‘De Alceone.’
12238. Eccles. iv. 17.
fait a loer: see note on 1883.
12240. ove tout, ‘together with,’ cp. l. 4.
12241. De Isaak: there is no elision, and ‘Isaak’ is a trisyllable. For the hiatus cp. 27367 ‘De Ire, Accidie et Gloutenie.’
12254. pour foy, equivalent apparently to ‘par foy’ 12293 ff., see Heb. xi. 23.
12289. Heb. xi. 33 ff.
12296. des ces lyons, i.e. de les lyons: see note on 301.
12303. 1 John v. 4 f.
12326. Eccles. iv. 12.
12331. du grein ou goute, ‘in any way whatsoever.’
12347. le plus, ‘the more,’ see note on 2700.
12350. The reference belongs apparently to the next line, ‘Him whom wind and sea obey,’ and presumably it is to Mark iv. 41; but, if so, there seems no reason for referring to St. Mark rather than to the Gospels generally.
12356. Ps. cxviii. 9.
12361. Seneca, Ep. lxxxviii. 29, ‘Fides sanctissimum humani pectoris bonum est, nulla necessitate ad fallendum cogitur, nullo corrumpitur praemio.’
12373. James ii. 14-20.
12406. Supply ‘porte’ from the next line: ‘he carries equally corn or beans.’
12409. Seneca, Ep. xxxvii. 4, ‘Si vis omnia tibi subicere, te subice rationi.’
12440. appara is future, cp. 1140; used here in the sense of command, ‘it shall not appear,’ ‘obeie’ above, and ‘requiere’ below, being subjunctive in imperative sense, ‘let a man obey,’ &c.
12448. Bed. in Luc. xi., ‘Clavis scientiae humilitas Christi est.’
12452. This is a reference to the series of maxims attributed to Ptolemy and prefixed in many MSS. and early printed editions to the Almagest. See the paper in Anglia xviii. pp. 133-140, by E. Flügel, who prints the whole set of sayings and shews that the Almagest references in the Roman de la Rose and in Chaucer are to these. We have here a reference to the ninth in order, ‘Qui inter sapientes humilior est, sapientior existit, sicut locus profundior magis abundat aquis aliis lacunis.’
12464 ff. Cp. Bal. xxxviii. 1.
12505. The adjective ‘vrais’ seems here to fill the place of an adverb.
12518. Ecclus. iii. 20.
12520. Prov. xvi. 19.
12528. compleindre le contraire, ‘bewail thy disobedience to it.’
12529. Luke xiv. 11.
12565 ff. The story may be found in the Legenda Aurea. St. Macarius was a recluse of Upper Egypt, who is described as ‘ingeniosus contra daemonis fallaciam.’ Several of his personal encounters with the devil are recorded in legend: cp. l. 20905.
12577. je te vois passant, ‘I surpass you’: ‘vois’ for ‘vais,’ as often.
12601. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 3103 ff.
12624. privé, substantive, ‘intimate friend.’
12628. The reference is to the ‘Benedicite,’ Dan. (Vulg.) iii. 58 ff.
12664. Perhaps 1 Pet. iii. 12.
12668. Ecclus. xv. 9, ‘Non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris.’
12669. Q’om doit, ‘that one should,’ &c., see note on 1193.
12674. Ps. li. 15, (Vulg. l. 17).
12681. Ps. lvi. 10, 11, (Vulg. lv. 11).
12685. The reference to Judith is wrong: it should be to Esther (Vulg.) xiii. 17, ‘ut viventes laudemus nomen tuum, Domine.’
12689. Ps. cxv. 17.
12696. plier, ‘turn away (from us).’
12697. The form ‘fas’ is presumably for the rhyme.
12709. Probably Ecclus. xliv. 1.
12725. ‘Vox populi, vox Dei.’
12727. See below on 12733. The Disticha of Dionysius Cato are supposed to be addressed to the author’s son.
12732. le puet celer avant, ‘can continue to conceal it,’ i.e. ‘can conceal it for ever.’
12733. Cato, Distich. ii. 16,
12754. 1 Cor. xi. 2, 17.
12775. Ainz que voir sciet, &c., ‘But what she truly knows in the matter,’ &c.
12780. Cp. 1416.
12835. Zephaniah iii. 19.
12850 f. en son affaire, ‘for his part’: ‘secretaire’ means ‘private adviser,’ ‘privy-councillor.’
12852. pour deviser, ‘to describe him,’ i.e. ‘if one would describe him rightly’: cp. 11245.
12855. cuillante: the participles are here inflected as adjectives; so ‘flairante,’ ‘fuiante,’ ‘considerante.’ Perhaps ‘bien parlante’ and ‘volante’ may be regarded as really adjectives; but, even so, the author would have had no scruple in saying ‘parlant,’ ‘volant,’ if it had been more convenient.
12856. de nature, ‘by nature.’
12865. ‘Solyns’ seems to be a false reference: the statement may be found in Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 23.
12877. Ps. lxxiv. (Vulg. lxxiii.) 21, ‘Ne avertatur humilis factus confusus: pauper et inops laudabunt nomen tuum.’
12885 f. ‘And (whereby) in this life neighbours are honourable each to other.’
12925. Luke xv. 8, ‘si perdiderit drachmam unam,’ &c.
12926. ert conjoÿs, ‘was rejoiced with,’ a transitive use which we find also in l. 12934, where ‘luy’ stands for direct object, as often. The form ‘conjoÿs’ here is an example of that sacrifice of grammar to rhyme which is so frequent.
13005. Du tiele enprise, &c., ‘for having accomplished such an enterprise.’
13008. ses amys: the old subject-form of the possessive, cp. ‘mes,’ ‘tes,’ 9782, Bal. iv*. 3.
13021. Cp. Conf. Am. ii. 1772 ff.
13026. ‘So that defeated and taken he led him away.’
13037. Tout fuist que, ‘albeit that’: apparently an imitation of the English expression.
13040. Rom. xii. 15.
13056. ‘Whom this example does not bring back to the path.’
13064. ‘Makes endeavour to supplant them,’ i.e. ‘la bonne gent.’
13122. Redrescer, ‘correct’ by punishment, as we see by the last lines of the stanza.
13129. Sen. de Benef. vii. 25.
13173. je m’en vois dessassentant, ‘I disagree.’
13178. Prov. xxvii. 6.
13204. au droit deviser, ‘to speak aright’: cp. 5031.
13264 ff. ‘For, simply because she loves God, no adversity of present pain can harm her.’
13301. ou balance, i.e. ‘au balance.’
13302. Cp. 25607.
13309. This is Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspa in the sixth century. The passage quoted is from Serm. iii. 6, ‘Caritas igitur est omnium fons et origo bonorum, munimen egregium, via quae ducit ad caelum,’ &c. He is cited also in l. 13861, but there I cannot give the reference.
13333. Greg. Hom. in Ezech. vii. It is a commentary on Ezek. xl.
13361. Cp. Isid. Etym. xvii. 7. 33, ‘Lignum vero iucundi odoris est, nec a tinea unquam exterminatur.’
13435. The philosopher here may be supposed to be Socrates, of whom the Middle Ages knew next to nothing except as a patient husband: cp. 4168.
13441. Phil. iv. 5, ‘Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus.’
13475 f. ‘And yet she does not omit to punish according to right.’
13485. Cato, Distich. i. 3,
13498 ff. ‘If anyone should take note of good and ill, he would often see experience of both’: that is, of endurance leading to honour, and of failure to endure leading to loss of honour. Perhaps we should read ‘en prenderoit,’ ‘take note of it, of the good and the evil,’ &c.
13503. en la fin: the MS. has ‘en fin,’ but a correction is required for the metre and ‘en la fin’ is used elsewhere, e.g. 15299.
13528. ‘who being spiritual renders good for evil,’ &c.
13537. Aug. Epist. clv. 15, and other places.
13514. Dame Pacience: see note on 6733.
13550. a soy mesmes, ‘for his own part,’ i.e. speaking of himself.
13554. a ce que soie, ‘in order that I might be.’
13578. Eph. iv. 15 f.
13586. dont sont tenant, ‘from whom they hold,’ in the feudal sense.
13606. Matt. v. 46.
13669. Sen. de Mor. 16, ‘Quod tacitum esse velis, nemini dixeris. Si tibi ipsi non imperasti, quomodo ab aliis silentium speras?’
13675. Petr. Alph. Disc. Cler. ii., ‘Consilium absconditum quasi in carcere tuo est retrusum; revelatum vero te in carcere suo tenet ligatum.’
13686. Ecclus. xiii. 1.
13695. ‘Pro amico occidi melius quam cum inimico vivere’: quoted as ‘Socrates’ in Caec. Balbus, Nug. Phil. p. 25 (ed. Woelfflin).
13713. Conf. Am. Prol. 109.
13717. Ecclus. vi. 15, ‘Amico fideli nulla est comparatio, et non est digna ponderatio auri et argenti contra bonitatem fidei illius.’
13732. Ambr. de Spir. Sanct. ii. 154, ‘Unde quidam interrogatus quid amicus esset, Alter, inquit, ego.’
13741. The reference no doubt is to 2 Tim. iii. 2, ‘Erunt homines seipsos amantes,’ &c. The explanation suggested by our author of the double word ‘se-ipsos’ is that these men would love themselves with a double love, that due to God and that due to their neighbour.
13779. ‘But it is a covetous bargain.’
13798. Conf. Am. Prol. 120 ff.
13805. 1 John iii. 14.
13853. Ps. cxxxiii. 1.
13893. qui descorde, ‘whosoever may be at variance.’
13897. paciente, ‘of Patience.’
13918. Cassiod. Var. xii. 13, ‘Pietas siquidem principum totum custodit imperium’: cp. l. 23059, and Conf. Am. vii. 3161*.
13921. The saying is thus quoted in the Liber Consolationis of Albertano: ‘Omnium etenim se esse verum dominum comprobat, qui verum se servum pietatis demonstrat.’ Cp. l. 23055, and Conf. Am. vii. 3137. The story connected with it is told in the Legenda Aurea, ‘De sancto Silvestro.’
13929. James ii. 13: cp. Conf. Am. vii. 3149*.
13947. ‘But it is never less worthy in consequence of this.’ The alteration to ‘n’est meinz vailable’ is not necessary, for ‘ja’ is sometimes used for ‘never’ without the negative particle, e.g. 10856.
13953. 1 Tim. iv. 8, ‘Pietas autem ad omnia utilis est.’ The original of ‘pietas’ is εὐσέβεια.
13964. dont elle est pure, ‘of which she is wholly composed.’
14014. ‘That I may not be bent by adversity,’ the reflexive verb in a passive sense.
14017. Ps. xxxvi. 39, &c.
14026. For ‘deinzeine’ see Skeat’s Etymol. Dict. under ‘denizen,’ where it is pointed out that ‘deinzein’ was a term legally used ‘to denote the trader within the privileges of the city franchise as opposed to “forein.”’ Here ‘la deinzeine’ is the inner part of man’s nature, the soul, as opposed to that which is without (‘forein’).
14042. Perhaps 1 Pet. i. 6, 7: cp. Ecclus. ii. 5.
14105. The adjective ‘regente’ seems to be used as a participle with ‘et corps et alme’ as object, ‘ruling both body and soul.’
14126. souleine. Genders of course are of no consequence in comparison with rhymes.
14134. ly autre seculer, ‘the secular priests also,’ those mentioned above being regular.
14143. See note on 5266.
14155. Matt. xxiv. 46.
14163. Matt. xxvi. 41. The interpretation here put upon the latter part of the verse is curious, and not authorised by the Latin: ‘Spiritus quidem promptus est, caro autem infirma.’
14172. ce que faire doit, ‘that which he ought to guard,’ ‘faire’ being used to supply the place of the verb, as so often: cp. 14133 f.
14197. celle de Peresce, i.e. the vice of indolence, cp. 253.
14209. Sen. Ep. lxxiv. 13, ‘magnanimitas, quae non potest eminere, nisi omnia velut minuta contempsit.’
14255. Apparently ‘honnesteté’ means here ‘honourable deed.’
14262. par chivallerie, ‘in warfare’: cp. 15111.
14296. Sen. Ep. lix. 18, ‘Quod non dedit fortuna, non eripit.’
14307. quelle part soit, for ‘quelle part que soit,’ ‘wherever,’ or ‘on whichever side’; so ‘combien’ in l. 14310 for ‘combien que,’ ‘however much.’
14343. Perhaps Sen. Ep. lxvii. 10, ‘constantia, quae deici loco non potest et propositum nulla vi extorquente dimittit.’
14365. 1 Cor. ix. 24, ‘omnes quidem currunt, sed unus accipit bravium.’
14392. Matt. x. 22.
14413. Cp. Prov. xxx. 8. There is nothing exactly like it in the book of Tobit.
14425. 2 Thess. iii. 10.
14434 f. cil qui serra, &c., ‘if a man be industrious, it will avail him much.’
14437. Ps. cxxviii. 2.
14440. A proverb, meaning that God helps those who help themselves.
14443. 1 Kings xix.
14449. The reference is to a dramatic love-poem in Latin elegiac verse with the title Pamphilus, or Pamphilus de Amore, which was very popular in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Pamphilus (or Panphylus) is the name of the lover who sustains the chief part, but others besides Gower have supposed it to be also the name of the author. The line referred to here is,
I quote from a copy of a rare fifteenth-century edition (without date or place, but supposed to have been printed about 1490 at Rome), in the Douce collection, Bodleian Library. It has the title ‘Panphylus de amore,’ and ends, ‘Explicit amorem per tractus (i.e. pertractans) Panphyli codex.’ The book is not without some merit of its own, though to a great extent it is an imitation of Ovid. It is quoted several times by Albertano of Brescia in his Liber Consolationis, and was evidently regarded as a serious authority: see Chaucer’s Tale of Melibee, which is ultimately derived from the Liber Consolationis. It is referred to also in the Frankeleins Tale, 381 f.,
14462. au labourer covient, ‘it is necessary to labour.’
14466. ‘Whoso wishes,’ &c., i.e. ‘if a man wishes’: see note on 1244.
14473. dispense, ‘deals favourably’: cp. l. 1400.
14496. le meulx: see note on 2700.
14551. Matt. vi. 33.
14568. The alteration of ‘contemplacioun’ to ‘contempler,’ used as a substantive as in l. 10699, is the simplest way of restoring the metre: but cp. 3116, and Bal. xxvii. 1.
14581. Isid. Diff. ii. 153.
14619. Rom. xii. 3, ‘Non plus sapere quam oportet sapere, sed sapere ad sobrietatem.’
14623. Bern. Serm. in Cant. xxxvi. 4, ‘Cibus siquidem indigestus ... et corrumpit corpus et non nutrit. Ita et multa scientia ingesta stomacho animae,’ &c.
14653. Bern. Serm. in Cant. xxxvi. 3, ‘Sunt namque qui scire volunt eo fine tantum ut sciant, et turpis curiositas est. Et sunt qui scire volunt ut sciantur ipsi, et turpis vanitas est.’
14670. A reference to the story of St. Jerome being chastised in a dream by an angel because he studied the style of his writing overmuch, and was becoming ‘Ciceronianus’ rather than ‘Christianus.’
14701. For the four bodily temperaments, cp. Conf. Am. vii. 393 ff.
14707. ‘If I be tempered so as to be phlegmatic’: cp. Bal. l. 2, ‘Ceo q’ainz fuist aspre, amour le tempre suef.’
14725. This refers to the so-called ‘Salvatio Romae,’ the story of which is told (for example) in the Seven Sages.
14730. fesoit avant, ‘he proceeded to make’: cp. 17310, 18466, 20537.
14757. An absolute construction, ‘with the sword of penitence in his hand.’
14769. en tiel devis, answered by ‘Dont,’ ‘in the manner by which,’ &c.
14776. I do not understand this. ‘Malgré le soen’ might perhaps mean ‘in spite of itself,’ as ‘malgré soen’ is sometimes used, but how about ‘de sa casselle’?
14797. 1 John iv. 1.
14812. Ecclus. xxxii. 24.
14833. It is needless to say that Boethius gives no such directions. They are the usual questions of the priest in enjoining penance, ‘Quis, quid, ubi, per quos, quotiens, quomodo, quando’: cp. Myrc’s Instructions for Parish Priests (E.E.T.S. 1868). The name of ‘Boece’ perhaps crept in by accident in the place of some other, because the writer had in his mind the quotation given at 14899.
14854. qu’il est atteins, ‘to which he has reached,’ i.e. ‘in which he is.’
14862. forain, here used in opposition to ‘benoit,’ ‘sacred,’ meaning that which is outside the consecrated limits.
14899. This is from Boethius, Cons. Phil. i. Pr. 4, ‘Si operam medicantis expectas, oportet ut vulnus detegas tuum.’
14901. Sicomme la plaie, &c. This seems to depend on ‘descoverir,’ ‘how large and grievous the wound is.’
14932. Y falt, ‘there is needed.’
14945 f. ‘According to the exact measure of the delight taken in the sin.’ I do not know the passage referred to.
14947. ‘But as to the meditation which intercession for sin makes,’ &c.
14951. Bern. Serm. de Div. xl. 5, ‘Tertius gradus est dolor, sed et ipse trina legatione connexus,’ &c.
14961. om doubteroit, ‘one ought to fear’: see note on 1688.
14973. ‘and has reflected with a tender heart.’ This position of ‘et’ is quite usual; see note on 415.
15088. qant ot fait le tour, &c., ‘when he had done the deed of denying his creator.’
15090. Matt. xxvi. 75.
15110. Job vii. 1, ‘Militia est vita hominis super terram.’ Not the same in A. V.
15194. These are the opening words of the Institutions of Justinian: ‘Iustitia est constans et perpetua voluntas ius suum cuique tribuens.’
15205. The sense of this might easily be got from Plato, but of course the citation is not at first hand.
15217. Civile is no doubt ‘la loy civile,’ referred to in 14138, 15194, &c. We find ‘Civile’ as here in l. 16092 in a connexion which leaves no doubt of its meaning, and again 22266. Civile, it will be remembered, is a personage in Piers Plowman.
15227. Cp. Trait. xviii. 3, ‘Deinz son recoi la conscience exponde.’
15241. Aug. de Mus. vi. 37, ‘Haec igitur affectio animae vel motus, quo intelligit aeterna, et his inferiora esse temporalia,... et haec appetenda potius quae superiora sunt, quam illa quae inferiora esse nouit, nonne tibi prudentia videtur?’
15253. Cp. Conf. Am. i. 463 ff.
15260. Matt. x. 16.
15266 ff. The use of the future in these lines is analogous to that noticed in the note on 1184, ‘We must extend,’ &c.
15326. cil Justice, ‘those judges.’
15336. en Galice: a reference to the shrine of St. James at Compostella and the rich offerings made there.
15337. This might be a reference to Aristotle, Eth. Nic. v. 3, but of course it is not taken at first hand.
15371. ‘Even though he should have to pay double the (usual) price,’ i.e. for the food that he gave to the poor in time of dearth.
15383 f. ‘He will not neglect by such payment to keep his neighbour from ruin.’
15396. tant du bienfait, ‘so many benefits,’ ‘du’ as usual for ‘de.’
15445. Tobit iv. 7.
15448. Prov. iii. 9.
15459. 1 Kings xvii.
15463. ‘As Elisha prophesied’: but it is in fact Elijah, not Elisha, of whom the story is told.
15470. Tobit xii. 12 ff.
15475. Acts x.
15486. Luke xxi. 2.
15500. du quoy doner. Here ‘du quoy’ is used like the modern ‘de quoi,’ and so elsewhere, e.g. 15819, and ‘quoy’ 15940; but sometimes we have ‘du quoy dont,’ e.g. 3339, where it seems to pass from an interrog. pron. into a substantive, and ‘quoy’ is used simply as a substantive in some passages, e.g. 1781, 12204, meaning ‘thing’: cp. the use of ‘what’ in English, Conf. Am. i. 1676.
15505. See note on l. 7640. The reference here is to Godfrey of Winchester, Ep. clxiv, ‘Si donas tristis, et dona et praemia perdis.’
15522. Prov. xxi. 13, ‘Qui obturat aurem suam ad clamorem pauperis, et ipse clamabit et non exaudietur.’
15529. 2 Cor. ix. 7.
15533. Sen. de Ben. ii. 1, ‘nulla res carius constat, quam quae precibus empta est.’
15538 f. The logical sequence is somewhat inverted: it means, ‘Hence a reluctant giver gets no reward, for his gift is bought at so high a price.’
15563. par sa ruine S’en vole means perhaps, ‘he precipitated himself from his place and flew away.’
15566. Is. lxvi. 1, 2: but the quotation is not exact.
15578. Job xxvii. 8; but, as in the quotation above from Isaiah, something is added to make a special application. The original is only, ‘Quae est enim spes hypocritae, si avare rapiat?’ with no mention of almsgiving.
15593. Jer. xii. 13, but again the quotation has its special application given by our author. The original is ‘Seminaverunt triticum et spinas messuerunt:... confundemini a fructibus vestris propter iram furoris Domini.’
15613. Ecclus. iii. 33.
15627. Matt. xxv. 14 ff. For the word ‘besant’ in this connexion cp. Conf. Am. v. 1930.
15650. Ecclus. xiv. 13 ff.
15662. Prov. xix. 17.
15665. Matt. xxv. 40, compared with x. 42.
15674. Tobit xii. 8.
15680. Ps. xli. 1.
15691. Is. lviii. 7 ff.
15711. Dan. iv. 24, ‘peccata tua eleemosynis redime, et iniquitates tuas misericordiis pauperum.’
15756. ‘is for a rich man to turn to poverty.’
15757. This story will be found in any Life of St. Nicholas.
15776. Prov. xxi. 14.
15788. Ecclus. xx. 32 f.
15793 ff. ‘This, in short, is a great charity,—he who has more knowledge or power, when he sees his neighbour in distress from a burden too heavy for him, ought to give him aid, and speedily,’ &c.
15801. Galat. vi. 2.
15808. Acts iii. 6.
15817. du petit poy: cp. Bal. xxviii, ‘Om voit sovent de petit poi doner.’
15821. lée: a form (properly fem.) of ‘let,’ from Lat. ‘latus,’ equivalent to ‘large,’ 15824, to be distinguished from ‘liet,’ ‘lée,’ from ‘laetus.’
15822. allegger, ‘allege as an excuse’ (allegare); to be distinguished from ‘allegger,’ ‘alleviate.’
15867. Matt. xix. 29.
15941. sur tiele gent et toy: apparently for ‘sur toy et tiele gent,’ ‘on thyself and on such people as thou shalt see most worthy of thy liberality.’
15949. See note on 7640. The reference here is to Godfrey of Winchester, Ep. cx.,