Chapter 58

‘Nought shall make us rue,If England to herself do rest but true.’

‘Nought shall make us rue,

If England to herself do rest but true.’

2000.laste, pret. ‘lasted’: cp. Prol. 672, iv. 2315.

2017 ff. This seems to be suggested by a passage in theSecretum Secretorum. ‘Reges sunt quattuor. Rex largus subditis et largus sibi, Rex auarus subditis et auarus sibi, Rex auarus sibi et largus subditis, Rex largus sibi et auarus subditis.’ This last is pronounced to be the worst, as the first is the best.

2031 ff. This refers to a passage in theSecretum Secretorum(ed. 1520, f. 8), which runs thus in the printed edition: ‘Que fuit causa destructionis regni calculorum: vnde quia superfluitas expensarum superat redditus ciuitatum, et sic deficientibus redditibus et expensis reges extenderunt manus suas ad res et redditus aliorum. Subditi ergo propter iniuriam clamauerunt ad deum excelsum gloriosum, qui immittens ventum calidum afflixit eos vehementer, et insurrexit populus contra eos et nomina eorum penitus de terra deleuerunt.’

This is obviously corrupt, and it is evident that ‘calculorum’ stands for a proper name, which Gower read ‘Caldeorum,’ as it is in MS. Laud 708. Other Bodleian MSS. to which I have referred give ‘Saldeorum’ (Bodley 181), ‘cangulorum’ (Add. C. 12), ‘singulorum ’ (Laud 645), ‘Anglorum’ (Digby 170). ‘Nonne’ is the reading of the MSS. for ‘vnde,’ and it seems that ‘Que fuit’ &c. is also a question.

2039. So in theSecretum Secretorum(shortly before the passage quoted above), ‘Debes igitur dona dare iuxta posse tuum cum mensura, hominibus indigentibus atque dignis.’

2050.of ken, here apparently ‘of quality.’

2061 ff. The basis of this story is to be found in Seneca,De Beneficiis, v. 24, ‘Causam dicebat apud divum Iulium ex veteranis quidam,’ &c., but there is no question there of an advocate; the veteran simply gains his case by recalling his personal services. The story appears in a form more like that of Gower in theGesta Romanorum, 87 (ed. Oesterley), but the name Julius is not there mentioned, only ‘Quidam imperator.’ It may be observed also in general, thatthough many stories are common to theGesta Romanorumand theConfessio Amantis, there is no instance in which Gower can be proved to have used theGesta Romanorumas his authority. Indeed the tales are there so meagrely and badly told for the most part, that there would be little temptation to turn to it if any other book were available.

Such references as ‘dicitur in gestis Romanorum’ are not to this book but to Roman History.

Hoccleve tells this story much as we have it here, in hisRegement of Princes, 3270 ff., e. g.

‘Han ye forgote how scharp it with yow ferde,Whan ye were in the werres of Asie?Maffeith, your lif stood there in jupartie;And advocat ne sente I non to yow,But myself put in prees and for yow faght,’ &c.

‘Han ye forgote how scharp it with yow ferde,

Whan ye were in the werres of Asie?

Maffeith, your lif stood there in jupartie;

And advocat ne sente I non to yow,

But myself put in prees and for yow faght,’ &c.

2115 ff. This anecdote is perhaps taken from theTrésor, where it occurs more appropriately as an example of hypocritical excuses for not giving, ‘Li Maistres dit: Après te garde de malicieus engin de escondire, si comme fist le rois Antigonus, qui dist à un menestrier qui li demandoit un besant, que il demandoit plus que à lui n’aferoit; et quant il li demanda un denier, il dist que rois ne devoit pas si povrement doner. Ci ot malicieus escondit; car il li pooit bien doner un besant, porce que il estoit rois, ou un denier, porce que il estoit menestrel. Mais Alixandres le fist mieulx; car quant il dona une cité à un home, cil li dist que il estoit de trop has afaire à avoir cité; Alixandres li respondit: Je ne pren pas garde quel chose tu dois avoir, mais quel chose je doi doner’ (p. 412). This may serve as a rather favourable example of Latini’s style.

2132.is in manere: cp. l. 4344. It seems to mean that the virtue of giving depends on the measure with which it is done: cp.Praise of Peace, 53.

2139.To helpe with: cp. i. 452, 2172, ii. 283, &c.

2194.holden up his oil: cp. l. 2584, ‘To bere up oil.’ The only other instance which I can quote of this expression is from Trevisa’s translation of thePolychronicon(Rolls’ Series, vol. iii. p. 447, a reference which I owe to Dr. Murray), ‘There Alisaundre gan to boste ... and a greet deel of hem that were at the feste hilde up the kynges oyl.’ (In the Latin, magna convivantium parte assentiente.’) In all these cases it is used of flatterers, and ‘oil’ seems to stand in this phrase for ‘pride’ or ‘vainglory.’ I am disposed to think it is simply the French ‘oil,’ meaning ‘eye,’ and getting its present sense from such Biblical expressions as ‘oculi sublimium deprimentur,’ ‘oculos superborum humiliabis,’ ‘oculos sublimes, linguam mendacem’; but I can quote no examples of this meaning in French.

2217 ff. This story is based originally on an anecdote told by Valerius Maximus: ‘Idem Syracusis, cum holera ei lavanti Aristippus dixisset, Si Dionysium adulari velles, ista non esses, Immo, inquit, si tu istaesse velles, non adularere Dionysium’ (Mem.iv. 3). It has been repeated often in a short form.

2268.the worldes crok, that is, the crooked way of the world. See the quotations in theNew Engl. Dictionaryunder ‘crook,’ 12.

2279.joutes: see Godefroy’s Dictionary, where an instance is quoted of the use of this word in a French version of this very story.

2302. F punctuates after ‘pyke,’ and no doubt rightly so. The word ‘trewely’ corresponds to the Latin ‘certe’ in the margin above.

2355 ff. The Roman Triumph as here related was a commonplace of preachers and moralists, cp. Bromyard,Summa Praedicantium, T. v. 36, ‘Triumphus enim secundum Isidorum dicitur a tribus: quia triumphator Romanus cum victoria versus civitatem veniens tres honores habere debuit,’ &c. So l. 2366, ‘Of treble honour he was certein.’ It is also in theGesta Romanorum, 30 (ed. Oesterley), but from neither of these could Gower have got his ‘Notheos’ (for Γνῶθι σεαυτόν).

2416 ff. This custom is spoken of in Hoccleve’sRegement of Princeswith a marginal reference to theVita Iohannis Eleemosynarii, where it is in fact mentioned (Migne,Patrol., vol. 73, p. 354).

2527 ff. From 1 Kings xxii. It will be seen that the story is told rather freely as regards order of events, as if from memory.

2531 (margin).organizate, used in a musical sense.

2553.Godelie: the person meant is Athaliah.

2584.bere up oil: see note on l. 2194.

2660.astraied.SeeNew Engl. Dict., under ‘astray,’verbandadv.

2698 (margin). No manuscript here gives the reading ‘regiminis,’ so far as I know; but it is required by the sense, and the reading ‘regis’ might easily arise from the abbreviation of ‘regiminis,’ as we find it in some MSS. at l. 3106 (margin). Note that S is defective here, and J, Ad, K omit the Latin margin. Δ attempts an emendation.

2726 f.lete Of wrong to don, i. e. ‘abstain from doing wrong.’

2765 ff. From Godfrey of Viterbo (inMonum. Germ. Hist.xxii. p. 169), ‘Quando voluit rectores dare provinciis ... nomina eorum examinabat in populo, dicens: Si quis habet crimen contra eos, dicat et probet,’ &c. This passage is not contained in the earlier redactions of thePantheon, and consequently we may conclude that Gower’s copy was one which contained the later additions: cp. notes on 4181 ff. and viii. 271 ff.

2771.his name, that is, his reputation: cp. 2774.

2780.stod ... upon, ‘rested upon,’ ‘was guided by.’

2783 ff. The saying by which this story is characterized, ‘malle locupletibus imperare quam ipsum fieri locupletem,’ is more properly attributed to M’. Curius Dentatus (Valerius Maximus,Mem.iv. 3. 5): but Fabricius also rejected gifts sent him by the Samnites.

2810.bothe: apparently both the men and their possessions.

2833 ff. This is probably Conrad II, of whom Godfrey of Viterbo says ‘nulli violatori pacis parcebat.’

2845 ff. Originally taken from Valerius Maximus, who tells it,however, with reference to Charondas, the supposed legislator of Thurii (Mem.vi. 5).

2864.sete: apparently a strong past participle formed from ‘sette’ by confusion with ‘sitte ‘: cp. ‘upsete’ rhyming with ‘misgete,’ viii. 244.

2883.of dawe: equivalent to ‘of this lif,’ iv. 3414.

2889 ff. This is a story which we find very often repeated (originally from Herodotus), e. g. Valerius Maximus,Mem.vi. 3,Gesta Romanorum, 29 (without mention of Cambyses by name), Hoccleve’sRegement of Princes, &c. In Δ we find added to the marginal Latin,

‘vnde versus,Sede sedens ista iudex inflexibilis sta,Sit tibi lucerna lux, lex, pellisque paterna,Qua resides natus pro patre sponte datus.A manibus reuoces munus, ab aure preces.’

‘vnde versus,

Sede sedens ista iudex inflexibilis sta,

Sit tibi lucerna lux, lex, pellisque paterna,

Qua resides natus pro patre sponte datus.

A manibus reuoces munus, ab aure preces.’

It would seem that the last line should stand as the second.

2902.Avise him, ‘Let him consider.’

flitte, ‘turn aside,’ cp. iv. 214; but also intransitive, v. 7076.

2917 ff. Another often repeated story. TheGesta Romanorumhas it (169) with a reference to Trogus Pompeius (that is Justin,Epit.iii. 3). Gower makes the city Athens instead of Sparta (cp. 3089), and the god Mercury instead of Apollo.

3054 ff. This list of legislators is from theTrésor, p. 24, but the text which our author used seems to have been corrupt. The passage runs thus in the printed edition: ‘Moyses fu li premiers qui bailla la loi as Hebreus; et li rois Foroneus fu li premiers qui la bailla as Grezois; Mercures as Egypciens, et Solon à cels de Athenes; Ligurgus as Troyens; Numa Pompilius, qui regna après Romulus en Rome, et puis ses filz, bailla et fist lois as Romains premierement,’ &c. If we suppose ‘Solon’ to have been omitted in the MS., the passage might read (with changes of punctuation) nearly as we have it in Gower.

3092.on the beste Above alle other: cp. iv. 2606, &c.

3137 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 13921, and see also ii. 3204 ff. (margin).

3144.Troian: so given in all MSS. for ‘Traian.’ So also in theMirour, 22168, and in Godfrey of Viterbo,Spec. Reg.ii. 14 (Mon. Germ. Hist.xxii. p. 74).

3181 ff. Valerius Maximus,Mem.v. 6: but he does not mention the Dorians as the enemy against whom Codrus fought. However, the story was a common one: cp.Gesta Romanorum, 41.

3201.lemes: cp. Chaucer,Cant. Tales, A 3886.

3149* f. The reference is to the Epistle of St. James ii. 13, ‘Iudicium enim sine misericordia illi qui non fecit misericordiam.’

3157*. That is, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’

3161* f. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 13918 ff., where the same is quoted.

3163* ff. Quoted also in theMirour, 13925 ff.,and there also attributed to Tullius, but I cannot give the reference.

3210.drawe: the change to subjunctive marks this sentence as really conditional.

3215 ff. Valerius Maximus,Mem.v. 1. 9.

3217.in jeupartie, i. e. equally balanced, the result uncertain.

3267 ff. Justinian II is described by Gibbon as a cruel tyrant, whose deposition by Leontius was fully deserved, and who, when restored by the help of Terbelis, took a ferocious vengeance on his opponents: ‘during the six years of his new reign, he considered the axe, the cord, and the rack as the only instruments of royalty.’ Nothing apparently could be less appropriate than the epithet ‘pietous,’ which Gower bestows upon him.

3295 ff. This again was a very common story: cp.Gesta Romanorum, 48 (ed. Oesterley). Hoccleve tells it with a reference to Orosius,Regement of Princes, 3004 ff. Gower probably had it from Godfrey of Viterbo,Pantheon, p. 181 (ed. 1584), where Berillus is given for Perillus, as in our text. He takes ‘Phalaris Siculus’ as the tyrant’s name, and shortens it to Siculus.

3302. I take the preceding three lines as a parenthesis, and this as following l. 3298.

3341. ‘Dionys’ is a mistake for Diomede, or rather Diomedes is confused with the tyrant Dionysius.

3355 ff. Cp. Ovid,Metam.i. 221 ff.

3359.With othre men, i. e. ‘by other men’: cp. viii. 2553.

3387 ff. This characteristic of the lion is mentioned by Brunetto Latini,Trésor, p. 224.

3417 ff. This story is told much as it appears in Justin,Epit.i. 8, and Orosius,Hist.ii. 7, but the name Spertachus (Spartachus) is apparently from Peter Comestor (Migne,Patrol.. vol. 198, p. 1471), who gives this as the name of Cyrus in his boyhood. The sameauthority may have supplied the name ‘Marsagete,’ for the histories named above call Thamyris only ‘queen of the Scythians’; but Comestor omits the details of the story.

3207* ff. The tale of the Jew and the Pagan is from theSecretum Secretorum, where it is told as a warning against trusting those who are not of our faith. The differences are mainly as follows. No names of places are mentioned in the original; the ‘pagan’ is called ‘magus orientalis,’ and he rides a mule: the Jew is without provisions, and the Magian feeds him as well as allowing him to ride: the Jew is found not dead but thrown from the mule, with a broken leg and other injuries—there is no mention of a lion except in the entreaties of the Magian, ‘noli me derelinquere in deserto, ne forte interficiar a leonibus.’ The Magian is about to leave him to die, but the Jew pleads that he has acted only in accordance with his own law, and again appeals to the Magian to show him the mercy which his religion enjoins. Finally the Magian carries him away and delivers him safely to his own people. Probably our author thought that this form of the story unduly sacrificed justice to mercy, and therefore he killed his Jew outright.

3342* ff. Note the subjunctive after ‘who (that)’ here and in ll. 3349, 3355: see note on Prol. 460.

3418. The name ‘Spertachus’ is given in full by F in the Latin summary, l. 3426 (margin). In the English text the first syllable is abbreviated in most copies, but A has ‘Spartachus’ and H₃ ‘Spertachus.’

3539.Pite feigned: cp. l. 3835.

3581. The reference should be to Juvenal,Sat.viii. 269 ff.,

‘Malo pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sisAeacidae similis, Vulcaniaque arma capessas,Quam te Thersitae similem genuisset Achilles.’

‘Malo pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis

Aeacidae similis, Vulcaniaque arma capessas,

Quam te Thersitae similem genuisset Achilles.’

Gower has here taken the point out of the quotation to a great extent, but it occurs in theMirour, 23371 ff., in its proper form, though with the same false reference.

3627 ff. From the Book of Judges, ch. vii.

3632. For the anacoluthon cp. iv. 3201, vi. 1798, and note on i. 98.

3639. The reading of the second recension, ‘hem,’ seems clearly to be right here: ‘against those who would assail them.’

3640 ff. The meaning apparently is that each single division of the three which the enemy had was twice as large as Gideon’s whole army. The original text says nothing of the kind.

3752.per compaignie, ‘together.’

3820 ff. 1 Samuel xv.

3860 ff. 1 Kings ii.

3877.natheles, ‘moreover’: cp. 4242 and note on Prol. 39.

3884.that, for ‘to that’: cp. Prol. 122.

3891 ff. 1 Kings iii.

4011.propre, i. e. ‘in himself.’

4027 ff. 1 Kings xii.

4144.can ... mai, used in their original senses, the one implying knowledge and the other active power.

4181 ff. The person meant is Antoninus Pius, of whom his biographer Capitolinus says that he loved peace ‘eousque ut Scipionis sententiam frequentarit, qua ille dicebat, malle se unum civem servare quam mille hostes occidere’ (Hist. August.ed. 1620, p. 20). Godfrey of Viterbo, in the text given by Waitz (Mon. Germ. Hist.xxii. pp. 75, 163), regularly calls him Antonius, and probably Gower had the saying from this source. It is one of the later additions to thePantheon: cp. note on 2765 ff.

4195.is due To Pite.This seems to mean ‘is bound by duty’ to show mercy.

4228.His trouthe plight, ‘the engagement of his faith.’ Here we have the word ‘plight’ from OE. ‘pliht,’ to be distinguished from ‘plit.’

4242.natheles: cp. l. 3877.

4245.hihe: note the definite form after the possessive genitive, as after a possessive pronoun.

4284. ‘And even if it should chance that he obtained any friendliness from her.’ For the use of ‘compainie’ cp. v. 4558.

4335.Barbarus: more properly Arbaces, but ‘Barbatus’ in thePantheon(p. 165, ed. 1584).

4361 ff. Cp. Justin,Epit.i. 7, where however the expedient is said to have been used (as related by Herodotus) after Cyrus had put down a revolt.

4406 ff. Numbers xxv.

4408.Amalech: Balak is meant.

4464 ff. This means apparently that the later time of life will be as a dark night which is not illuminated by any sunshine of dawn; but it is not very clearly expressed.

4469 ff. 1 Kings xi.

4515. That is, ‘Ahijah the Shilonite,’ called ‘Ahias Silonites’ in the Latin version.

4559 ff. (margin). The quotation is from theSecretum Secretorum: ‘O summe rex, studeas modis omnibus custodire et retinere calorem naturalem’ (ed. 1520, f. 25 vo).

4574 f. Caracalla, son of Severus, is here meant. His name was Aurelius Antoninus, and he is called Aurelius Antonius in thePantheon(Mon. Germ. Hist.xxii. p. 166). Caracalla is called by Orosius ‘omnibus hominibus libidine intemperantior, qui etiam novercam suam Iuliam uxorem duxerit’ (Hist.vii. 18), and this character of him is repeated in thePantheon.

4593 ff. This story is from Ovid,Fasti, ii. 687-720. Gower’s rendering of it is remarkable for ease and simplicity of style: see especially ll. 4667-4685, 4701-4717.

4598. Neither Aruns nor Sextus is mentioned by name in Ovid, who speaks only of ‘Tarquinius iuvenis.’ Gower gives to Aruns the place of Sextus throughout this and the following story.

4623.schette, intransitive, equivalent to ‘were shut’: cp. iii. 1453.

4701 ff. The sacrifice at which this portent occurred is here brought into connexion with the capture of Gabii, a construction which is not unnaturally suggested by Ovid’s abrupt transition, l. 711.

4718 ff.

‘Consulitur Phoebus. Sors est ita reddita: MatriQui dederit princeps oscula, victor erit.’Fasti, ii. 713 f.

‘Consulitur Phoebus. Sors est ita reddita: Matri

Qui dederit princeps oscula, victor erit.’Fasti, ii. 713 f.

Ovid means that a message was sent to Delphi; but our author understands it differently.

4739 f. ‘Creditus offenso procubuisse pede’ (720).

4754 ff. This again is from Ovid, where it occurs as a continuation of the last story,Fasti, 721-852. Chaucer, who tells this story in theLegend of G. Women, 1680 ff., also follows Ovid, and more closely than Gower, e. g. 1761 ff., 1805 ff., 1830f.

4757.unskilfully, that is, ‘unjustly,’ without due ‘skile’ or reason.

4778 ff. ‘Non opus est verbis, credite rebus, ait’ (734).

4805 f. This is derived from a misunderstanding ofFasti, ii. 785,

‘Accipit aerata iuvenem Collatia porta.’

Cp. l. 4911 below. Both Chaucer and Gower make the tragedy occur at Rome, though Chaucer professes to have Livy before him.

4902. ‘audentes forsve deusve iuvat.’

4937.To hire: cp. v. 5724. It means here much the same as ‘by her.’

5062.sche myhte it noght, ‘sche could not help it.’

5088 ff.

‘Illa iacens ad verba oculos sine lumine mouit,Visaque concussa dicta probare coma.’Fasti, ii. 845 f.

‘Illa iacens ad verba oculos sine lumine mouit,

Visaque concussa dicta probare coma.’Fasti, ii. 845 f.

5093 ff. This latter part is added from other sources, perhaps from Livy.

5131 ff. Chaucer tells the story of Virginia as the Tale of the Doctor of Physic, professing to follow Livy, but actually taking his materials chiefly from theRoman de la Rose, 5613 ff., from which he transcribes also the reference to ‘Titus Livius.’ His story differs from that of Livy in many respects, and the changes are not at all for the better. For example, Chaucer does not mention the absence of Virginius in the camp, and he makes him kill his daughter at home and carry her head to Appius. Gower follows Livy, or some account drawn from Livy, without material alteration. It may be observed that Chaucer (following theRom. de la Rose) uses the name ‘Apius’ alone for the judge, and ‘Claudius’ for the dependent, while Gower names them more correctly ‘Apius Claudius’ and ‘Marchus Claudius.’ On the subject generally reference may be made to Rumbaur’s dissertation,Geschichte von Appius und Virginia in der engl. Litteratur, Breslau, 1890.

5136.Livius Virginius, a mistake for ‘Lucius Virginius.’

5151.Ilicius, that is, Icilius.

5209.til that he come, ‘till he should come,’ the verb being pret. subjunctive.

5254 ff. The sentence is irregular in construction, but intelligible and vigorous: ‘but as to that command, like the hunted wild boar, who when he feels the hounds hard upon him, throws them off on both sides and goes his way, so (we may say) this knight,’ &c. The simile is due to Gower.

5261.kepte, ‘waited for.’

5307 ff. From the Book of Tobit, ch. vi-viii. The moral of the story is given by vi. 17, where Raphael says to Tobias, ‘Hi namque qui coniugium ita suscipiunt, ut Deum a se et a sua mente excludant, et suae libidini ita vacent sicut equus et mulus, quibus non est intellectus, habet potestatem daemonium super eos.’ This, however, is absent from the English version (which follows the LXX), as are also the precepts which follow, about nights to be spent in prayer by the newly married couple. The same is the case with the five precepts given to Sara by her parents, which are mentioned in theMirour, 17701 ff.

5390. This line, written in F as follows,

‘Hov trewe · hou large · hou ioust · hov chaste,’

is enough to show thatvanduare used indifferently in this kind of position: cp. movþe: couþe, 5285 f.

5408.Do wey, ‘Have done’: seeNew English Dictionary, ‘do,’ 52.

LIB. VIII.

We may suppose that our author had some embarrassment as regards the subject of his eighth book. It should properly have dealt with the seventh Deadly Sin and its various branches, that is, as theMirour de l’Ommegives them, ‘Fornicacioun,’ ‘Stupre,’ ‘Avolterie,’ ‘Incest,’ ‘Foldelit.’ Nearly all of these subjects, however, have already been treated of more or less fully, either in the fifth book, where branches of Avarice are spoken of with reference to the case of love, or in the seventh, under the head of Chastity as a point of Policy. Even the author’s commendation of Virginity, which might well have been reserved for this place, and which would have been rather less incongruous at the end than in the middle of the shrift, has already been set forth in the fifth book. There remained only Incest, and of this unpromising subject he has made the best he could, first tracing out the gradual development of the moral (or rather the ecclesiastical) law with regard to it, and then making it an excuse for the Tale of Apollonius (or Appolinus) of Tyre, which extends over the larger half of the book. The last thousand lines or so are occupied with the conclusion of the whole poem.

36.upon his grace, that is, free for him to bestow on whom he would.

44. Raphael is not named in Genesis.

48.Metodre, that is, Methodius, in whoseRevelationesit is written, ‘Sciendum namque est, exeuntes Adam et Evam de Paradiso virgines fuisse,’ so that ‘Into the world’ in l. 53 must mean from Paradise into the outer world.

62 ff. This is not found in Genesis, only ‘genuitque filios et filias,’ but Methodius says that the sisters of Cain and Abel were Calmana and Debora.

110. For the hiatus cp.Mirour, 12241,

‘De Isaäk auci je lis.’

158.ne yit religion.The seduction of one who was a professed member of a religious order was usually accounted to be incest: cp.Mirour, 9085 ff. and l. 175 below.

170. ‘I keep no such booth (or stall) at the fair,’ that is, ‘I do no such trade.’

244.upsete: see Introduction, p. cxix, and cp. vii. 2864.

271 ff. Gower tells us here that he finds the story in thePantheon. That is true, no doubt: it is told there in the peculiar kind of verse with which Godfrey of Viterbo diversified his chronicle, and a most useful text of this particular story, showing the differences of three redactions, is given by S. Singer in hisApollonius von Tyrus, Halle, 1895, pp. 153-177. There is ample evidence that Gower was acquainted with thePantheon, but it is not the case that he followed it in this story, as has been too readily assumed. Godfrey tells thetale in a much abbreviated form, and Gower unquestionably followed mainly the Latin prose narrative which was commonly current, though he thought thePantheon, as a grave historical authority, more fit to be cited. The very first sentence, with its reference, ‘as seith the bok,’ is enough to indicate this, but a few more points may be mentioned here in which the story of thePantheondiffers from Gower and from the proseHistoria Apollonii Tyrii. (1) Godfrey of Viterbo does not say what was the problem proposed by Antiochus, nor does he mention the period of thirty days. (2) He gives no details of the flight of Apollonius or of the mourning of his people, and he does not mention the incident of Taliart (or Thaliarchus). (3) The name Pentapolim is not introduced. (4) There is no mention in thePantheonof the wooing of the daughter of Archistrates by three princes (or nobles) or of the bills which they wrote. (5) There is no mention of the nurse Lichorida being taken with Apollonius and his wife on shipboard, of the master of the ship insisting that the corpse should be thrown into the sea, or of the name of the physician, Cerimon. (6) ThePantheonsays nothing of the vow of Apollonius in ll. 1301-1306. (7) The name Theophilus is not given. (8) There is no mention of the tomb of Thaise (or Tharsia) being shown to Apollonius. (9) In thePantheonthe punishment of Strangulio and Dionysia precedes the visit to Ephesus, and there is no mention of the dream which caused Apollonius to sail to Ephesus.

There are indeed some points in which Gower agrees with thePantheonagainst theHistoria, for example in making the princess ask for Apollonius as her teacher on the very night of the banquet instead of the next morning, and in representing that Apollonius went to his kingdom after leaving his daughter at Tharsis (cp. E. Klebs,Die Erzählung von Apollonius aus Tyrus, Berlin, 1899). Perhaps however the most marked correspondence is where Gower makes the wife of Apollonius ‘Abbesse’ of Diana’s temple (l. 1849), which is evidently from Godfrey’s line, ‘Sic apud Ephesios velut abbatissa moratur’: cp. also l. 1194 ‘warmed ofte.’ These are both among the later additions to thePantheon, and apparently were overlooked by Singer and Klebs when they pronounced that Gower probably knew only the earlier redaction: cp. notes on vii. 2765, 4181.

The Latin prose narrative has been printed inWelseri Opera, ed. 1682, pp. 681-704, and also in the Teubner series (ed. Riese, 1871, 1893). It is a translation from a Greek original, as is sufficiently indicated by the Greek words that occur in it, and by the Greek customs which it refers to or presupposes. Gower agrees with it pretty closely, but the story is not improved in his hands. It loses, of course, the Greek characteristics of which we have spoken, and several of the incidents are related by Gower in a less effective manner than in the original. For example, in the scene near the beginning between Antiochus and Apollonius, the king asks, ‘Nosti nuptiarum conditionem?’ and the young man replies, ‘Novi et ad portam vidi,’ to which there is nothing corresponding in Gower.Again, at a later stage of the story, when the three young nobles send in their proposals to the daughter of Archistrates, the original story makes her reply in a note which declares that she will marry only ‘the ship-wrecked man.’ The king innocently inquires of the three young men which of them has suffered shipwreck, and finally hands the note to Apollonius to see if he can make anything of it. This is much better managed than by Gower. On the other hand our author has done well in dispensing with the rudeness and boastfulness of Apollonius on the occasion when the king’s daughter plays the harp at the feast, and also in modifying the scenes at the brothel and excluding Athenagoras from taking part in them. The quotations given in the following notes are made from the Bodleian MS. Laud 247, a good copy of the twelfth century, which has a form of text more nearly corresponding to that which Gower used than that of any of the printed editions, and by means of which we can account for the names Thaise and Philotenne.

It can hardly be necessary to observe that the play ofPericles, Prince of Tyre, had another source besides Gower, and especially as regards its fourth and fifth acts. Marina is waylaid while going to visit the tomb of her old nurse, as in the original story, the scene of the pirates agrees more nearly with the original than with Gower, Lysimachus plays a part very like that which Gower took away from Athenagoras, and the scene between Cleon and Dionyza (iv. 4) seems to be suggested by the original. The story was current in English prose, as is well known.

386.And seileth: cp. v. 3291 and note.

395.he moste, ‘that he might,’ ‘ut sibi liceret,’ a common use of the word in older English (see examples in Bosworth and Toller’s Dictionary).

405 ff. (margin). The riddle as given in the Laud MS. is, ‘Scelere uehor. Materna carne uescor. Quero patrem meum matris mee uirum uxoris mee filiam, nec inuenio.’ Most copies have ‘fratrem meum’ for ‘patrem meum,’ but Gower agrees with the Laud MS. I do not attempt a solution of it beyond that of Apollonius, which is, ‘Quod dixisti scelere uehor, non es mentitus, ad te ipsum respice. Et quod dixisti materna carne uescor, filiam tuam intuere.’

484.the Stwes.For the spelling cp. ‘Jwes,’ v. 1713, 1808.

536. This is by no means in accordance with the original. Antiochus exclaims on hearing of the flight of Apollonius, ‘Fugere modo quidem potest, effugere autem quandoque me minime poterit,’ and at once issues an edict, ‘Quicunque mihi Apollonium contemptorem regni mei uiuum adduxerit, quinquaginta talenta auri a me dabuntur ei: qui uero caput eius mihi optulerit, talentorum c. receptor erit’ (f. 205 vo), and he causes search to be made after him both by land and sea. The change made by Gower is not a happy one, for it takes away the motive for the flight from Tarsus, where Apollonius heard of this proscription.

542 ff. In the original Apollonius meets ‘Hellanicus’ at once on landing, and is informed by him of the proscription. He makes an offer to Strangulio to sell his wheat at cost price to the citizens, if they will conceal his presence among them. The money which he receives as the price of the wheat is expended by him in public benefits to the state, and the citizens set up a statue of him standing in a two-horse chariot (biga), his right hand holding forth corn and his left foot resting upon a bushel measure.

603.ferketh, ‘conveys,’ from OE. ‘fercian’: cp. Anglo-Saxon Chron. 1009, Hī fercodon ða scipo eft to Lundenne’ (quoted in Bosworth and Toller’s Dictionary).

624. ‘But with cable and cord broken asunder ... the ship’ &c., past participle absolute, as ii. 791, viii. 1830.

640.forto mote To gete ayein.Apparently this means ‘to wish to get again,’ a meaning derived from the phrase ‘so mot I,’ &c., expressing a wish. The infinitive is very unusual. For the gerund with ‘to’ which follows it cp. ii. 510, vii. 437, where we have this construction with ‘mai,’ ‘mihte.’

679. The account in the original story is here considerably different. Gower did not understand the Greek customs. ‘Et dum cogitaret unde uite peteret auxilium, uidit puerum nudum per plateam currentem, oleo unctum, precinctum sabana, ferentem ludos iuueniles ad gymnasium pertinentes, maxima uoce dicentem: Audite ciues, audite peregrini, liberi et ingenui, gymnasium patet. Apollonius hoc audito exuens se tribunario ingreditur lauacrum, utitur liquore palladio; et dum exercentes singulos intueretur, parem sibi querit et non inuenit. Subito Arcestrates rex totius illius regionis cum turba famulorum ingressus est: dumque cum suis ad pile lusum exerceretur, uolente deo miscuit se Apollonius regi, et dum currenti sustulit pilam, subtili ueiocitate percussam ludenti regi remisit’ &c. (f. 207 vo).

The story proceeds to say that the king, pleased with the skill of Apollonius in the game of ball, accepted his services at the bath, and was rubbed down by him in a very pleasing manner. The result was an invitation to supper.

Gower agrees here with thePantheonin making the king a spectator only.

691.Artestrathes.The name is Arcestrates in the Laud MS.

706.lefte it noght, ‘did not neglect it.’

720 f. ‘Ingressus Apollonius in triclinium, contra regem adsignato loco discubuit.’ Gower apparently sets him at the head of the second table. For ‘beginne’ cp.Cant. Tales, Prol. 52, with Skeat’s note.

767 ff. In the original all applaud the performance of the king’s daughter except Apollonius, who being asked by the king why he alone kept silence, replied, ‘Bone rex, si permittis, dicam quod sentio: filia enim tua in artem musicam incidit, nam non didicit. Denique iube mihi tradi liram, et scies quod nescit’ (f. 208 vo). Gower has toned this down to courtesy.

782. ‘ita stetit ut omnes discumbentes una cum rege non Apollonium sed Apollinem estimarent.’

866 ff. In the original this incident takes place when the king is in company with Apollonius. The king replies that his daughter has fallen ill from too much study, but he bids them each write his name and the sum of money which he is prepared to offer as dowry, and he sends the bills at once to the princess by the hand of Apollonius. She reads them, and then asks whether he is not sorry that she is going to be married. He says, ‘Immo gratulor,’ and she replies, ‘Si amares, doleres.’ Then she writes a note, saying that she wishes to have ‘the shipwrecked man’ as her husband, adding ‘Si miraris, pater, quod pudica uirgo tam inprudenter scripserim, scitote quia quod pudore indicare non potui, per ceram mandaui, que ruborem non habet.’ The king having read the note asks the young men which of them has been shipwrecked. One claims the distinction, but is promptly exposed by his companions, and the king hands the note to Apollonius, saying that he can make nothing of it. Apollonius reads and blushes, and the king asks, ‘Inuenisti naufragum?’ To which he replies discreetly, ‘Bone rex, si permittis, inueni.’ The king at last understood, and dismissed the three young men, promising to send for them when they were wanted.

901 ff. ‘cui si me non tradideris, amittis filiam tuam,’ but this is afterwards, in a personal interview.

930 ff. There is no mention of the queen in the original. The king calls his friends together and announces the marriage. The description of the wedding, &c., ll. 952-974, is due to Gower.

1003 ff. In the original story it is here announced to Apollonius that he has been elected king in succession to Antiochus; but this was regarded by our author as an unnecessary complication.

1037 ff. The details of the description are due to our author.

1054 ff. So far as the original can be understood, it seems to say that the birth of the child was brought about by the storm and that the appearance of death in the mother took place afterwards, owing to a coagulation of the blood caused by the return of fair weather.

1059-1083. This is all Gower, except 1076 f.

1089 ff. Apparently the meaning is that the sea will necessarily cast a dead body up on the shore, and therefore they must throw it out of the ship, otherwise the ship itself will be cast ashore with it. The Latin says only, ‘nauis mortuum non suffert: iube ergo corpus in pelago mitti’ (f. 211 vo).

1101. The punctuation is that of F.

1128.tak in his mynde, ‘let him take thought’: cp. v. 3573, and l. 1420 below.

1165.the wisest: cp. Introduction, p. cxi.

1184 ff. In the original it is not Cerimon himself, but a young disciple of his, who discovers the signs of life and takes measures for restoring her. She has already been laid upon the pyre, and he bycarefully lighting the four corners of it (cp. l. 1192) succeeds in liquefying the coagulated blood. Then he takes her in and warms her with wool steeped in hot oil.

1195. ‘began’ is singular, and the verbs ‘hete,’ ‘flacke,’ ‘bete’ are used intransitively: ‘to flacke’ means to flutter.

1219. ‘In short, they speak of nothing’: ‘as for an ende’ seems to mean the same as ‘for end’ or ‘for an end’ in later English: cp.New English Dictionary, ‘end.’

1248. This daughter is apparently an invention of Gower’s, who perhaps misread the original, ‘adhibitis amicis filiam sibi adoptauit,’ that is, he adopted her as his daughter.

1285.his In, ‘his lodging,’ in this case the house of Strangulio. Note the distinction made here by the capital letter between the substantive and the adverb: see Introduction, p. clix.

1293.whiche: note the plural, referring to Strangulio and his wife.

1295. The name here in the original is ‘Tharsia,’ given to her by her father’s suggestion from the name of the city, Tharsus, where she was left; but the Laud MS. afterwards regularly calls her Thasia.

1311 ff. This is not in accordance with the Latin prose story. He is there represented as telling Strangulio that he does not care, now that he has lost his wife, either to accept the offered kingdom or to return to his father-in-law, but intends to lead the life of a merchant. Here the expression is ‘ignotas et longinquas petens Egypti regiones.’ On the other hand thePantheonmakes him proceed to his kingdom, apparently Antioch.

1337.Philotenne: the name in the Laud MS. is ‘Philothemia,’ but it is not distinguishable in writing from Philothenna. There is much variation as to this name in other copies.

1349 ff. Much is made in the original story of the death of this nurse and of the revelation which she made to Tharsia of her real parentage. Up to this time she had supposed herself to be the daughter of Strangulio. The nurse suspected some evil, and advised Tharsia, if her supposed parents dealt ill with her, to go and take hold of the statue of her father in the market-place and appeal to the citizens for help. After her death Tharsia visited her tomb by the sea-shore every day, ‘et ibi manes parentum suorum inuocabat.’ Here Theophilus lay in wait for her by order of Dionysiades.

1374.cherles.This is the reading of the best copies of each recension: cp. ‘lyves’ for ‘livissh’ i. e. living, ‘worldes’ for ‘worldly,’ ‘dethes’ for ‘dedly,’ iii. 2657, iv. 382, &c.

1376.what sche scholde, that is, what should become of her.

1391.Scomerfare.The first part of this word must be the French ‘escumerie,’ meaning piracy: see Du Cange under ‘escumator,’ e. g. ‘des compaignons du pays de Bretaigne, qui étaient venuz d’Escumerie.’

1393.and he to go, that is, ‘and he proceeded to go,’ a kind of historic infinitive: cp. Chaucer,Troilus, ii. 1108, ‘And she to laughe,’Leg. of Good Women, 653 ‘And al his folk to go.’ (InPiers Plowman, A. Prol. 33, ‘And somme murthes to make,’ quoted by Mätzner, it is more probable that ‘to make’ is dependent on ‘chosen.’) In addition to these instances we have the repeated use of ‘to ga’ in Barbour’sBruce, e. g. viii. 251, ix. 263, which is much more probably to be explained in this way than as a compound verb. Cp. Skeat’sChaucer, vol. vi. p. 403, with C. Stoffel’s note onTroilus, ii. 1108, which is there quoted.

1410. The Laud MS. has ‘leno leoninus nomine,’ but many copies give no name.

1420.Lei doun, ‘let him lay down’: cp. l. 1128.

1423. There is an interesting touch in the original here which would not be intelligible to Gower. When Tharsia is led into the house, the character of which she does not know, she is bidden to do reverence to a statue of Priapus which stands in the entrance hall. She asks her master whether he is a native of Lampsacus, and he explains to her that his interest in this matter is not local but professional.

1424 ff. There is much in the original about the visit of Athenagoras and of other persons, who are successively so far overcome by the tears and entreaties of Tarsia, as not only to spare her but to give her large sums of money, while at the same time they make a jest both of themselves and of one another for doing so.

1451 f. The rhyme is saved from being an identical one by the adverbial use of ‘weie’ in the second line, ‘mi weie’ being equivalent to ‘aweie.’

1513. In the original she is reproached by her husband for the deed, and this is the case in the play ofPericlesalso.

1518.of record, ‘of good repute.’

1534 f. Cp.Pericles, iv. 4, ‘The fairest, sweetest, best lies here,’ but the rest of the epitaph compares unfavourably with Gower’s.

1567 ff. Here we have a curious lapse on the part of our author. He represents that the king had no sooner held his parliament and celebrated the sacrifice in memory of his wife, than he began to prepare for his voyage to Tharsis. The story requires however that at least fourteen years should elapse, and this, according to the original narrative, has been spent by Apollonius in travelling about as a merchant, a matter of which Gower says nothing. Probably thePantheon, which is not very clear on the matter, is responsible for the oversight.

1587. ‘For she is continually changing with regard to him.’

1617.besihe, ‘attended to.’ The use of this verb was not very common in Gower’s time except in the participle ‘beseie,’ ‘besein.’ The verb means (1) look, see, (2) look to, attend to, (3) provide, arrange: hence the participle is quite naturally used in the sense of ‘furnished,’ ‘provided,’ and we have ‘unbesein of,’ l. 153, for ‘unprovided with.’ It is usually explained by reference to its first sense, as having regard necessarily to appearance. ‘Appearing in respect ofdress, &c.,’ ‘Appearing as to accomplishments, furnished’ (soNew English Dictionary), but it is more natural to take these meanings of the participle as from senses (2) (3) of the verb. It is doubtful whether even the phrase ‘well besein’ used of personal appearance means anything but ‘well furnished.’

1636.fordrive, ‘driven about’ by storms, actually and metaphorically.

1670 ff. Her song is given in the original; it is rather pretty, but very much corrupted in the manuscripts. It begins thus,

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