‘Ollarum carnes, peponum fercula, porros,Cepas pro manna turba gulosa petit.Quosdam consimiles sinus ecclesie modo nutrit,Qui pro diuinis terrea uana petunt......Carnes ollarum carnalia facta figurantQue uelut in nostra carne libido coquit.’
‘Ollarum carnes, peponum fercula, porros,Cepas pro manna turba gulosa petit.Quosdam consimiles sinus ecclesie modo nutrit,Qui pro diuinis terrea uana petunt......Carnes ollarum carnalia facta figurantQue uelut in nostra carne libido coquit.’
‘Ollarum carnes, peponum fercula, porros,Cepas pro manna turba gulosa petit.Quosdam consimiles sinus ecclesie modo nutrit,Qui pro diuinis terrea uana petunt......Carnes ollarum carnalia facta figurantQue uelut in nostra carne libido coquit.’
‘Ollarum carnes, peponum fercula, porros,
Cepas pro manna turba gulosa petit.
Quosdam consimiles sinus ecclesie modo nutrit,
Qui pro diuinis terrea uana petunt.
.....
Carnes ollarum carnalia facta figurant
Que uelut in nostra carne libido coquit.’
It would seem that Gower read ‘Gebas’ (which has no meaning) for ‘Cepas’ and ‘preponunt,’ as in MS. Univ. Coll. 143, for ‘peponum,’ which is the true reading, meaning ‘melons’ or ‘pumpkins.’
115. Cp.Metam.xv. 173.
Cap. iii.Heading. Cp.Conf. Amantis, Prol. 288 (margin), where this is given as a quotation from Gregory.
141 f. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 18553.
167 f. FromAurora, f. 37.
175.gregis ex pietate mouetur, ‘is moved by pity for his flock.’
193 ff. With this passage compareConf. Amantis, Prol. 407-413, andMirour de l’Omme, 20161 ff. In all these places a distinct charge is brought against the clergy, to the effect that they encourage vice, in order to profit by it themselves in money and in influence: ‘the prostitute is more profitable to them than the nun,’ as our author significantly says in theMirour(20149).
209 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 20113 ff.
227 ff. For this attack on the ‘positive law’ of the Church cp.Conf. Amantis, Prol. 247,Mirour, 18469 ff. The ‘lex positiva’ is that which is enjoined not as of inherent moral obligation, but as imposed by Church discipline.
249 f. Cp.Mirour, 18997 ff. Apparently ‘nouo’ is an adverb, meaning ‘anew,’ ‘again’: cp. 284, 376.
265 ff. Cp.Mirour, 18505 ff.
283 ff. Cp.Mirour, 18637,Conf. Amantis, ii. 3486.
329 ff. With this chapter compareMirour, 18649-18732.
375. The note which we find here in the margin of SCHGD refers to the crusade of the bishop of Norwich in Flanders in the year 1383, which probably took place soon after the completion of our author’s book. It is added in SCHG in what appears to be one and the same hand, possibly that of the author himself. If we may judge by the manner in which the campaign in question is referred to by contemporary chroniclers, it seems to have been considered a public scandal by many others besides Gower.
419. Gower uses ‘sublimo’ as an ablat. sing, in l. 701; therefore ‘sublimis’ may here be an ablative plural agreeing with ‘meritis.’
425 ff. Cp.Aurora, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 103,
‘Cogitat inde domum domino fundare, sed auditA domino, “Templi non fabricator eris.Es uir sanguineus, ideo templum mihi dignumNon fabricare potes, filius immo tuus.”Sanguineus uir signat eum qui, crimina carnisAmplectens, templum non ualet esse dei.Ecclesie sancte talis non erigit edem,Nec sacre fidei collocat ille domum.’
‘Cogitat inde domum domino fundare, sed auditA domino, “Templi non fabricator eris.Es uir sanguineus, ideo templum mihi dignumNon fabricare potes, filius immo tuus.”Sanguineus uir signat eum qui, crimina carnisAmplectens, templum non ualet esse dei.Ecclesie sancte talis non erigit edem,Nec sacre fidei collocat ille domum.’
‘Cogitat inde domum domino fundare, sed auditA domino, “Templi non fabricator eris.Es uir sanguineus, ideo templum mihi dignumNon fabricare potes, filius immo tuus.”Sanguineus uir signat eum qui, crimina carnisAmplectens, templum non ualet esse dei.Ecclesie sancte talis non erigit edem,Nec sacre fidei collocat ille domum.’
‘Cogitat inde domum domino fundare, sed audit
A domino, “Templi non fabricator eris.
Es uir sanguineus, ideo templum mihi dignum
Non fabricare potes, filius immo tuus.”
Sanguineus uir signat eum qui, crimina carnis
Amplectens, templum non ualet esse dei.
Ecclesie sancte talis non erigit edem,
Nec sacre fidei collocat ille domum.’
508. ‘And whosoever may sound trumpets, we ought to be silent’; cp. i. 1609.
531 f.Aurora, f. 75 vo.
619 f. Ovid,Pont.ii. 5. 61 f.
623 f.Pont.ii. 6. 21 f.
641. SeeArs Amat.ii. 417, where we find ‘semine,’ a reading which is required by the sense, but not given in the Gower MSS.
651. ‘The line of descent by right of his mother proclaims Christ to be heir of that land in which he was born.’ The author argues for crusades to recover the Holy Land, if there must be wars, instead of wars against fellow Christians, waged by one pope against the other under the name of crusades: cp. below, 945 ff.
676.quo foret ipse vigil, ‘where it ought to be watchful,’ a common use of the imperfect subjunctive in our author’s Latin: cp. ‘gestaret,’ 695, ‘lederet,’ 922, ‘medicaret,’ 1052.
815. What follows is spoken as in the person of the supreme pontiff: cp.Mirour, 18505-18792, where somewhat similar avowals are put into the mouth of a member of the Roman Court.
819 f. Cp.Conf. Amantis, Prol. 261,
‘The hevene is ferr, the world is nyh.’
‘The hevene is ferr, the world is nyh.’
‘The hevene is ferr, the world is nyh.’
‘The hevene is ferr, the world is nyh.’
835. Ovid,Fasti, v. 209.
955 f. I take this concluding couplet as a remark made by the author on the sentiments which he has just heard expressed by the representative of the Pope. It practically means that ‘Clemens’ is not a proper name for the Pope: it is in fact a ‘headless name’ and should rather be ‘Inclemens.’ Compare the address to Innocent III at the beginning of Geoffrey de Vinsauf’sPoetria Nova:
‘Papa, stupor mundi, si dixero Papanocenti,Acephalum nomen tribuam tibi: si caput addam,Hostis erit metri,’ &c.
‘Papa, stupor mundi, si dixero Papanocenti,Acephalum nomen tribuam tibi: si caput addam,Hostis erit metri,’ &c.
‘Papa, stupor mundi, si dixero Papanocenti,Acephalum nomen tribuam tibi: si caput addam,Hostis erit metri,’ &c.
‘Papa, stupor mundi, si dixero Papanocenti,
Acephalum nomen tribuam tibi: si caput addam,
Hostis erit metri,’ &c.
957 ff. It seems best to take what follows as, in part at least, a dialogue between the author and the representative of the pope, who has just spoken. Soon however the speech passes again entirely to the author. The Biblical reference here is to Revelation, xxii. 8 f. The same use is made of it in theMirour, 18736 ff.
1077-1080. These four lines are from theAurora, f. 44 vo.
1113 f. Ovid,Ars Amat.iii. 595 f. (where we have ‘sequatur’). The original application is to the effects of rivalry in stimulating the passion of lovers. For the use of ‘sequetur’ here, apparently as a subjunctive, compare l. 1946, ‘Inueniet tardam ne sibi lentus opem.’
1118-1124. These lines are almost entirely borrowed from theAurora, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 21 vo.
1124. In the Glasgow MS. ‘Est’ has been here altered to ‘Et.’
1145-1150. Almost verbatim fromAurora, f. 93 vo.
1169. S has here in the margin in a somewhat later hand than that of the text, ‘Notahicquattuor neccessaria episcopo.’
1171 f. Cp.Aurora, f. 44 vo,
‘Est olei natura triplex, lucet, cybat, unguit;Hec tria mitratum debet habere capud.’
‘Est olei natura triplex, lucet, cybat, unguit;Hec tria mitratum debet habere capud.’
‘Est olei natura triplex, lucet, cybat, unguit;Hec tria mitratum debet habere capud.’
‘Est olei natura triplex, lucet, cybat, unguit;
Hec tria mitratum debet habere capud.’
1183 f. Cp.Aurora, f. 44 vo,
‘Lux est exemplo, cibus est dum pascit egenos,Vnctio dum populis dulcia uerba ferit.’
‘Lux est exemplo, cibus est dum pascit egenos,Vnctio dum populis dulcia uerba ferit.’
‘Lux est exemplo, cibus est dum pascit egenos,Vnctio dum populis dulcia uerba ferit.’
‘Lux est exemplo, cibus est dum pascit egenos,
Vnctio dum populis dulcia uerba ferit.’
Gower is right in reading ‘serit,’ which is given in MS. Univ. Coll. 143, f. 13.
1206. Cp. l. 1376.
1213. Cp. Ovid,Ars Amat.iii. 655.
1215 f. Cp.Ars Amat.iii. 653 f.
1233. Cp.Ars Amat.ii. 279.
1247 ff. Cp.Mirour, 18793 ff.
1267.Vox populi, &c.: cp.Speculum Stultorum, p. 100, l. 4, and see also the note on iii. Prol. 11.
1271. Cp.Conf. Amantis, Prol. 304 ff. andMirour, 18805.
1313. With the remainder of this Book, treating of the secular clergy, we may compareMirour de l’Omme, 20209-20832.
1341. Cp.Mirour, 18889 ff.
1342.participaret, ‘he ought to share’: see note on l. 676.
1359 f. Cp.Conf. Amantis, i. 1258 ff.
1375 ff. Cp.Mirour, 20287 ff.
1376. The reading ‘vngat vt’ is given by the Digby MS. and seems almost necessary: cp. l. 1206.
1405.prece ruffi ... et albi, ‘by reason of the petition of the red and the white,’ that is, presumably, by the influence of gold and silver, ‘dominis’ in the next line being in a loose kind of apposition to a dative case suggested by ‘Annuit.’
1407. S has here in the margin, in a rather later hand, ‘contra rectores Oxon.’
1417. Eccles. iv. 10, ‘Vae soli, quia cum ceciderit, non habet sublevantem se.’
1432. The margin of S has here, in the same hand as at 1407, ‘Nota rectores et studentes Oxon.’
1443.formalis, that is, ‘eminent,’ from ‘forma’ meaning ‘rank’ or ‘dignity,’ but here also opposed to ‘materialis.’
1454. Originally the line was ‘Dum legit, inde magis fit sibi sensus hebes,’ but this was altered to ‘plus sibi sensus hebes est,’ with the idea apparently of taking ‘magis’ with ‘legit.’ This involves an awkward metrical licence, ‘hebes est’ equivalent to ‘hebest,’ and the original text stands in CEH as well as in TH₂. The expedient of the Roxburghe editor is quite inexcusable.
1493 ff. Cp.Mirour, 20314. The sporting parson was quite a recognized figure in the fourteenth century. Readers of Froissart will remember how when the capture of Terry in Albigeois was effected by stratagem, the blowing of the horn to summon the company in ambush was attributed by those at the gate to a priest going out into the fields, ‘Ah that is true, it was sir Francis our priest; gladly he goeth a mornings to seek for an hare.’
1498.fugat: used apparently as subjunctive also in l. 2078, but it is possible that ‘Nec fugat’ may be the true reading here.
1509 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 20313 ff.
1527.Est sibi missa, ‘his mass is over.’
1546. Apparently a proverbial expression used of wasting valuable things.
1549. If benefices went from father to son, little or nothing would be gained by those who go to Rome to seek preferment, for an heir would seldom fail.
1555 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 20497 ff. The priests here spoken of are the ‘annuelers,’ who get their living by singing masses for the dead, the ‘Annua seruicia’ spoken of below:
‘Et si n’ont autre benefice,Chantont par auns et par quartiersPour la gent mort.’Mirour, 20499.
‘Et si n’ont autre benefice,Chantont par auns et par quartiersPour la gent mort.’Mirour, 20499.
‘Et si n’ont autre benefice,Chantont par auns et par quartiersPour la gent mort.’Mirour, 20499.
‘Et si n’ont autre benefice,
Chantont par auns et par quartiers
Pour la gent mort.’Mirour, 20499.
1559. In theMirour,
‘Plus que ne firont quatre ainçois’ (20527).
‘Plus que ne firont quatre ainçois’ (20527).
‘Plus que ne firont quatre ainçois’ (20527).
‘Plus que ne firont quatre ainçois’ (20527).
1587-1590. Taken with slight change fromAurora, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 65 vo.
1591. ‘With the ancients it is possible to say “hic et hec sacerdos,”’ that is, ‘sacerdos’ is both masculine and feminine.
1693-1700. Adapted fromAurora, f. 65,
‘Omen in urbe malum bubo solis iubar odit,Escam uestigat nocte, ueretur aues:In quem forte gregis auium si lumina figant,Et clamando uolant et laniando secant.Incestus notat iste reos, qui corpore fediContra nature iura latenter agunt:Hos iusti quasi lucis aues discerpere querunt,Zelo succensi uerba seuera serunt.’
‘Omen in urbe malum bubo solis iubar odit,Escam uestigat nocte, ueretur aues:In quem forte gregis auium si lumina figant,Et clamando uolant et laniando secant.Incestus notat iste reos, qui corpore fediContra nature iura latenter agunt:Hos iusti quasi lucis aues discerpere querunt,Zelo succensi uerba seuera serunt.’
‘Omen in urbe malum bubo solis iubar odit,Escam uestigat nocte, ueretur aues:In quem forte gregis auium si lumina figant,Et clamando uolant et laniando secant.Incestus notat iste reos, qui corpore fediContra nature iura latenter agunt:Hos iusti quasi lucis aues discerpere querunt,Zelo succensi uerba seuera serunt.’
‘Omen in urbe malum bubo solis iubar odit,
Escam uestigat nocte, ueretur aues:
In quem forte gregis auium si lumina figant,
Et clamando uolant et laniando secant.
Incestus notat iste reos, qui corpore fedi
Contra nature iura latenter agunt:
Hos iusti quasi lucis aues discerpere querunt,
Zelo succensi uerba seuera serunt.’
(‘Conclamando’ for ‘Et clamando’ in MS. Univ. Coll. 143.)
1727 ff. Cp.Mirour, 20713 ff.
1759 ff. Cp.Mirour, 20725 ff.,
‘Ne sont pas un, je suis certeins,Ly berchiers et ly chapelleins,Ne leur pecché n’est pas egal,L’un poise plus et l’autre meinz,’ &c.
‘Ne sont pas un, je suis certeins,Ly berchiers et ly chapelleins,Ne leur pecché n’est pas egal,L’un poise plus et l’autre meinz,’ &c.
‘Ne sont pas un, je suis certeins,Ly berchiers et ly chapelleins,Ne leur pecché n’est pas egal,L’un poise plus et l’autre meinz,’ &c.
‘Ne sont pas un, je suis certeins,
Ly berchiers et ly chapelleins,
Ne leur pecché n’est pas egal,
L’un poise plus et l’autre meinz,’ &c.
1775.fierent, ‘ought to become’: cp. l. 1789.
1791-1794 are fromAurora, f. 93 vo, and the succeeding couplet is adapted from the same source, where we have,
‘De lino que fit per ephot caro munda notatur,Nam tales seruos Cristus habere cupit.’
‘De lino que fit per ephot caro munda notatur,Nam tales seruos Cristus habere cupit.’
‘De lino que fit per ephot caro munda notatur,Nam tales seruos Cristus habere cupit.’
‘De lino que fit per ephot caro munda notatur,
Nam tales seruos Cristus habere cupit.’
1797. Cp.Aurora, f. 46 vo,
‘Balteus ex bysso tunicam constringit honeste.’
‘Balteus ex bysso tunicam constringit honeste.’
‘Balteus ex bysso tunicam constringit honeste.’
‘Balteus ex bysso tunicam constringit honeste.’
1799 f. Cp.Aurora, f. 45 vo.
1801 f.
‘In medio tunice capitale ligat sibi presul,Vt capitis sensus non sinat ire uagos.’Aurora, f. 46.
‘In medio tunice capitale ligat sibi presul,Vt capitis sensus non sinat ire uagos.’Aurora, f. 46.
‘In medio tunice capitale ligat sibi presul,Vt capitis sensus non sinat ire uagos.’Aurora, f. 46.
‘In medio tunice capitale ligat sibi presul,
Vt capitis sensus non sinat ire uagos.’
Aurora, f. 46.
1807 f.
‘Aurum ueste gerit presul, cum splendet in illoPre cunctis rutilans clara sophia patris.’Aurora, f. 45.
‘Aurum ueste gerit presul, cum splendet in illoPre cunctis rutilans clara sophia patris.’Aurora, f. 45.
‘Aurum ueste gerit presul, cum splendet in illoPre cunctis rutilans clara sophia patris.’Aurora, f. 45.
‘Aurum ueste gerit presul, cum splendet in illo
Pre cunctis rutilans clara sophia patris.’
Aurora, f. 45.
1809 ff.
‘Ne tunice leuiter possit ruptura minari,Illius in gyro texilis ora micat:A grege ne presul se disrumpat, set honestusAd finem mores pertrahat, ista notant.’Aurora, f. 46.
‘Ne tunice leuiter possit ruptura minari,Illius in gyro texilis ora micat:A grege ne presul se disrumpat, set honestusAd finem mores pertrahat, ista notant.’Aurora, f. 46.
‘Ne tunice leuiter possit ruptura minari,Illius in gyro texilis ora micat:A grege ne presul se disrumpat, set honestusAd finem mores pertrahat, ista notant.’Aurora, f. 46.
‘Ne tunice leuiter possit ruptura minari,
Illius in gyro texilis ora micat:
A grege ne presul se disrumpat, set honestus
Ad finem mores pertrahat, ista notant.’
Aurora, f. 46.
1813 f. Cp.Aurora, f. 46 vo.
1815-1818.
‘Aaron et natis uestes texuntur, ut horumQuisque sacerdotis possit honore frui.Nam modo presbiteri, seu summi siue minores,Conficiunt Cristi corpus idemque sacrant.’Aurora, f. 45.
‘Aaron et natis uestes texuntur, ut horumQuisque sacerdotis possit honore frui.Nam modo presbiteri, seu summi siue minores,Conficiunt Cristi corpus idemque sacrant.’Aurora, f. 45.
‘Aaron et natis uestes texuntur, ut horumQuisque sacerdotis possit honore frui.Nam modo presbiteri, seu summi siue minores,Conficiunt Cristi corpus idemque sacrant.’Aurora, f. 45.
‘Aaron et natis uestes texuntur, ut horum
Quisque sacerdotis possit honore frui.
Nam modo presbiteri, seu summi siue minores,
Conficiunt Cristi corpus idemque sacrant.’
Aurora, f. 45.
1823 f.Aurora, f. 43 vo.
1841-1848. These eight lines are taken with insignificant changes from theAurora, f. 63 vo.
1853. The reference here given by Gower to theAuroraof Petrus (de) Riga has led to the tracing of a good many passages of theVox Clamantis, besides the present one, to that source.
1863-1884. These lines are almost entirely fromAurora, ff. 66 vo, 67. The arrangement of the couplets is somewhat different, and there are a few slight variations, which are noted below as they occur.
1866.eius: ‘illud,’Aurora, f. 67.
1868.tumet: ‘timet,’Aurora. (MS. Bodley 822), but Gower’s reading is doubtless the more correct.
1871.nimio: ‘magno,’Aurora.
1872.ipse: ‘esse,’Aurora.
1876.ligante: ‘trahente,’Aurora, f. 66 vo.
1878.tardat ad omne bonum: ‘ad bona nulla ualet,’Aurora.
1880.Lumina nec: ‘Nec faciem,’Aurora, f. 67.
1881 f.
‘Per pinguem scabiem succensa libido notatur;Feruet vel fetet corpus utroque malo.’Aurora, f. 67.
‘Per pinguem scabiem succensa libido notatur;Feruet vel fetet corpus utroque malo.’Aurora, f. 67.
‘Per pinguem scabiem succensa libido notatur;Feruet vel fetet corpus utroque malo.’Aurora, f. 67.
‘Per pinguem scabiem succensa libido notatur;
Feruet vel fetet corpus utroque malo.’
Aurora, f. 67.
1885 ff. Our author still borrows from the same source, though from a different part of it. We find these lines nearly in the same form in theAurora, f. 103,
‘Oza manus tendens accessit ut erigat archam,Set mox punita est arida facta manus.Hinc ideo dicunt meruisse necem, quia nocteTransacta cohitu coniugis usus erat.Declaratur in hoc quod si pollutus ad aramAccedas, mortis uulnere dignus eris.’
‘Oza manus tendens accessit ut erigat archam,Set mox punita est arida facta manus.Hinc ideo dicunt meruisse necem, quia nocteTransacta cohitu coniugis usus erat.Declaratur in hoc quod si pollutus ad aramAccedas, mortis uulnere dignus eris.’
‘Oza manus tendens accessit ut erigat archam,Set mox punita est arida facta manus.Hinc ideo dicunt meruisse necem, quia nocteTransacta cohitu coniugis usus erat.Declaratur in hoc quod si pollutus ad aramAccedas, mortis uulnere dignus eris.’
‘Oza manus tendens accessit ut erigat archam,
Set mox punita est arida facta manus.
Hinc ideo dicunt meruisse necem, quia nocte
Transacta cohitu coniugis usus erat.
Declaratur in hoc quod si pollutus ad aram
Accedas, mortis uulnere dignus eris.’
1891 f.
‘Namque superiectas sordes detergere pureNescit nostra manus, si tenet illa lutum.’Aurora, f. 103.
‘Namque superiectas sordes detergere pureNescit nostra manus, si tenet illa lutum.’Aurora, f. 103.
‘Namque superiectas sordes detergere pureNescit nostra manus, si tenet illa lutum.’Aurora, f. 103.
‘Namque superiectas sordes detergere pure
Nescit nostra manus, si tenet illa lutum.’
Aurora, f. 103.
1905-1908. These two couplets are fromAurora, f. 69 vo, where however they are separated by four lines not here given.
1911 ff. Cp.Aurora, f. 69 vo,
‘Radices non extirpat rasura pilorum,Set rasi crescunt fructificantque pyli.Sic licet expellas omnes de pectore motus,Non potes hinc penitus cuncta fugare tamen.Hec de carne trahis, quia semper alit caro pugnans;Intus habes cum quo prelia semper agas.’
‘Radices non extirpat rasura pilorum,Set rasi crescunt fructificantque pyli.Sic licet expellas omnes de pectore motus,Non potes hinc penitus cuncta fugare tamen.Hec de carne trahis, quia semper alit caro pugnans;Intus habes cum quo prelia semper agas.’
‘Radices non extirpat rasura pilorum,Set rasi crescunt fructificantque pyli.Sic licet expellas omnes de pectore motus,Non potes hinc penitus cuncta fugare tamen.Hec de carne trahis, quia semper alit caro pugnans;Intus habes cum quo prelia semper agas.’
‘Radices non extirpat rasura pilorum,
Set rasi crescunt fructificantque pyli.
Sic licet expellas omnes de pectore motus,
Non potes hinc penitus cuncta fugare tamen.
Hec de carne trahis, quia semper alit caro pugnans;
Intus habes cum quo prelia semper agas.’
Gower’s reading ‘pugnam’ in l. 1915 is probably right.
1937. Ovid,Rem. Amoris, 669.
1939.Tristia, iv. 6. 33 f.
1943 f.Rem. Amoris, 89 f.
1945 f. Cp.Rem. Amoris, 115 f.
1946.Inueniet: apparently meant for subjunctive; cp. l. 1114.
1947-1950.Rem. Amoris, 81-84.
1952. Cp.Her.xvii. 190.
1953.Rem. Amoris, 229.
1955 f.Rem. Amoris, 139 f.
1999 f.
‘Cum sale uas mittens in aquas Helyseus, easdemSanat, nec remanet gustus amarus aquis.’Aurora, f. 140.
‘Cum sale uas mittens in aquas Helyseus, easdemSanat, nec remanet gustus amarus aquis.’Aurora, f. 140.
‘Cum sale uas mittens in aquas Helyseus, easdemSanat, nec remanet gustus amarus aquis.’Aurora, f. 140.
‘Cum sale uas mittens in aquas Helyseus, easdem
Sanat, nec remanet gustus amarus aquis.’
Aurora, f. 140.
2001.Aurora, f. 60 vo.
2017-2020. FromAurora, f. 8.
2035-2040. FromAurora, f. 15 vo, but one couplet is omitted, and so the sense is obscured. After ‘sunt sine felle boni’ (l. 2038), the original has,
‘Cras canit hinc coruus, hodie canit inde columba;Hec vox peruersis, congruit illa bonis.Cras prauum cantant, dum se conuertere tardant,Set tales tollit sepe suprema dies.’
‘Cras canit hinc coruus, hodie canit inde columba;Hec vox peruersis, congruit illa bonis.Cras prauum cantant, dum se conuertere tardant,Set tales tollit sepe suprema dies.’
‘Cras canit hinc coruus, hodie canit inde columba;Hec vox peruersis, congruit illa bonis.Cras prauum cantant, dum se conuertere tardant,Set tales tollit sepe suprema dies.’
‘Cras canit hinc coruus, hodie canit inde columba;
Hec vox peruersis, congruit illa bonis.
Cras prauum cantant, dum se conuertere tardant,
Set tales tollit sepe suprema dies.’
The meaning is that the bad priests cry ‘Cras,’ like crows, and encourage men to put off repentance, while the others sing ‘Hodie,’ like doves, the words ‘cras’ and ‘hodie’ being imitations of the notes of the two birds. The expression ‘Cras primam cantant,’ in l. 2039, is not intelligible, and probably Gower missed the full sense of the passage.
2045. ‘sit’ has been altered in S from ‘fit.’
2049 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 20785 ff.
2071. Cp.Mirour, 20798.
2078.fugat: cp. l. 1498.
2097 f. Cp. iv. 959 and note.
LIB. IV.
The matter of this book corresponds to that of theMirour de l’Omme, ll. 20833-21780.
19 f. Cp. Lib. iii. Prol. 11.
34. ‘dompnus’ or ‘domnus’ was the form of ‘dominus’ which was properly applied as a title to ecclesiastical dignitaries, and it seems to have been especially used in monasteries. Ducange quotes John of Genoa as follows: ‘Domnus et Domna per syncopen proprie convenit claustralibus; sed Dominus, Domina mundanis.’ Cp. l. 323 of this book and also 327 ff.
57.humeris qui ferre solebat, ‘who used to bear burdens,’ as a labourer.
87. Cp. Godfrey of Viterbo,Pantheon, p. 74 (ed. 1584).
91.Pantheon, p. 74.
109 f. Cp. Ovid,Fasti, i. 205 f.
111.Ars Amat.ii. 475, but Ovid has ‘cubilia.’
112. Cp.Fasti, iv. 396, ‘Quas tellus nullo sollicitante dabat.’ Gower has not improved the line by his changes.
114.Fasti, iv. 400.
115.Metam.i. 104, but Ovid has of course ‘fraga.’
117. Cp.Metam.i. 106, ‘Et quae deciderant patula Iovis arbore glandes’: ‘patule glandes’ is nonsense.
119. Cp.Metam.i. 103.
128. A play on the word ‘regula’: ‘re’ has been taken away and there remains only ‘gula.’
145. Cp.Metam.viii. 830.
147.Metam.viii. 835.
151 ff. Cp.Metam.viii. 837 ff.
163. Cp.Ars Amat.iii. 647.
165 f. Cp.Conf. Amantis, Prol. 473 ff.
175.Ars Amat.iii. 503 f., but Ovid has ‘Gorgoneo saevius,’ for ‘commota lenius.’
177. Cp.Metam.viii. 465, ‘Saepe suum fervens oculis dabat ira ruborem.’ The reading ‘oculis’ is necessary to the sense and appears in one manuscript.
179. Cp. Ovid,Ars Amat.iii. 509.
215. ‘corrodium’ (or ‘corredium’) is the allowance made from the funds of a religious house for the sustentation of a member of it or of someone else outside the house: see Ducange under ‘conredium’ andNew Engl. Dict.‘corrody.’ Gower himself perhaps had in his later life a corrody in the Priory of Saint Mary Overey, of which he was a benefactor.
302. The reference is to Ecclus. xix. 27, ‘Amictus corporis et risus dentium et ingressus hominis enunciant de eo.’ Cp.Confessio Amantis, i. 2705, margin.
305-310.Aurora, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 65,
‘Est nigra coruus auis et predo cadaueris, illumQuem male denigrat ceca cupido notans......Sub uolucrum specie descripsit legifer illos,Quos mundanus honos ad scelus omne trahit.Hunc aliquem tangit qui religionis amictumSe tegit, ut cicius possit honore frui.’
‘Est nigra coruus auis et predo cadaueris, illumQuem male denigrat ceca cupido notans......Sub uolucrum specie descripsit legifer illos,Quos mundanus honos ad scelus omne trahit.Hunc aliquem tangit qui religionis amictumSe tegit, ut cicius possit honore frui.’
‘Est nigra coruus auis et predo cadaueris, illumQuem male denigrat ceca cupido notans......Sub uolucrum specie descripsit legifer illos,Quos mundanus honos ad scelus omne trahit.Hunc aliquem tangit qui religionis amictumSe tegit, ut cicius possit honore frui.’
‘Est nigra coruus auis et predo cadaueris, illum
Quem male denigrat ceca cupido notans.
.....
Sub uolucrum specie descripsit legifer illos,
Quos mundanus honos ad scelus omne trahit.
Hunc aliquem tangit qui religionis amictum
Se tegit, ut cicius possit honore frui.’
(MS. Univ. Coll. 143: ‘libido’ for ‘cupido,’ ‘amictu’ for ‘amictum,’ ‘maius’ for ‘cicius’).
311. Cp. Ovid,Ars Amat.iii. 249, ‘Turpe pecus mutilum,’ &c. The word ‘monstrum’ in Gower came probably from a corruption in his copy of Ovid.
327 ff. With this chapter compareMirour de l’Omme, 21133 ff. The capital letters of ‘Paciens,’ ‘Castus,’ ‘Luxus,’ &c. are supplied by the editor, being clearly required by the sense.
354.Apocapata, ‘cut short’: cp. ‘per apocapen,’ v. 820.
363 f. The habit described is that of the Canons of the order of St. Augustine.
395. Cp. Neckam,De Vita Monachorum, p. 175 (Rolls Series, 59, vol. ii),
‘Vovistis, fratres, vovistis; vestra, rogamus,Vivite solliciti reddere vota deo.
‘Vovistis, fratres, vovistis; vestra, rogamus,Vivite solliciti reddere vota deo.
‘Vovistis, fratres, vovistis; vestra, rogamus,Vivite solliciti reddere vota deo.
‘Vovistis, fratres, vovistis; vestra, rogamus,
Vivite solliciti reddere vota deo.
397.De Vita Monachorum, p. 176.
401.De Vita Monachorum, p. 178.
403 f.De Vita Monachorum, p. 177.
405-430. Most of this is taken from Neckam,De Vita Monachorum, p. 176.
425. Ovid,Ars Amat.ii. 465.
427.foret, ‘should be,’ i.e. ‘ought to be.’
431-446. Taken with slight alterations fromDe Vita Monachorum, pp. 187, 188.
442 f.De Vita Monachorum, p. 188.
449 Cp. Ovid,Fasti, ii. 85,
‘Saepe sequens agnam lupus est a voce retentus.’
‘Saepe sequens agnam lupus est a voce retentus.’
‘Saepe sequens agnam lupus est a voce retentus.’
‘Saepe sequens agnam lupus est a voce retentus.’
Our author has interchanged the sexes for the purpose of his argument, the man being represented as a helpless victim.
450. The subject to be supplied must be ‘agnus.’
451. Cp.Ars Amat.iii. 419.
453 f.Tristia, i. 6. 9 f.
461-466.De Vita Monachorum, p. 188.
469-490. Nearly the whole of this is taken from Neckam, p. 178.
537 f. Cp. Ovid,Rem. Amoris, 235 f.,
‘Adspicis ut prensos urant iuga prima iuvencos,Et nova velocem cingula laedat equum?’
‘Adspicis ut prensos urant iuga prima iuvencos,Et nova velocem cingula laedat equum?’
‘Adspicis ut prensos urant iuga prima iuvencos,Et nova velocem cingula laedat equum?’
‘Adspicis ut prensos urant iuga prima iuvencos,
Et nova velocem cingula laedat equum?’
575. Cp.Amores, iii. 4. 17.
587. ‘Genius’ is here introduced as the priest of Venus and in l. 597 in the character of a confessor, as afterwards in theConfessio Amantis. The reference to the ‘poets’ in the marginal note can hardly be merely to theRoman de la Rose, where Genius is the priest and confessor of Nature, but the variation ‘secundum Ouidium’ of the Glasgow MS. does not seem to be justified by any passage of Ovid. The connexion with Venus obviously has to do with the classical idea of Genius as a god who presides over the begetting of children: cp. Isid.Etym.viii. 88. The marginal note in S is written in a hand probably different from that of the text, but contemporary.
617 f. Cp.Ars Amat.ii. 649 f.,
‘Dum novus in viridi coalescit cortice ramus,Concutiat tenerum quaelibet aura, cadet.’
‘Dum novus in viridi coalescit cortice ramus,Concutiat tenerum quaelibet aura, cadet.’
‘Dum novus in viridi coalescit cortice ramus,Concutiat tenerum quaelibet aura, cadet.’
‘Dum novus in viridi coalescit cortice ramus,
Concutiat tenerum quaelibet aura, cadet.’
623.Spiritus est promptus, &c. Gower apparently took this text to mean, ‘the spirit is ready to do evil,andthe flesh is weak’: cp.Mirour, 14165.
624. Cp.Mirour, 16768.
637. For this use of ‘quid’ cp. that of ‘numquid,’ ii. Prol. 59, and v. 279.
648. Rev. xiv. 4, ‘Hi sequuntur agnum ... quocunque ierit.’
657 f. Apparently referring to Rev. xii. 14.
659. Cp. the Latin Verses afterConfessio Amantis, v. 6358.
681 f. Cp. Ovid,Pont.iv. 4. 3 f.
689 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 21266, margin.
699.fore: used here and elsewhere by our author for ‘esse’; see below, l. 717, and v. 763.
715.Acephalum.This name was applied in early times to ecclesiastics who were exempt from the authority of the bishop: see Ducange. The word is differently used in iii. 956, and by comparison with that passage we might be led to suppose that there was some reference here to the ‘inopes’ and ‘opem’ of the next line.
723 ff. Compare with this the contemporary accounts of the controversy between FitzRalph, archbishop of Armagh, and the Mendicant Friars, who are said to have bribed the Pope to confirm their privileges(Walsingham, i. 285), and the somewhat prejudiced account of their faults in Walsingham, ii. 13. The influence of the Dominican Rushook, as the king’s confessor was the subject of much jealousy in the reign of Richard II.
735 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 21469 ff.
736.sepulta: used elsewhere by Gower for ‘funeral rites,’ e.g. i. 1170. The meaning is that the friar claims to perform the funeral services for the dead bodies of those whose confessor he has been before death. Perhaps however we should take ‘sepulta’ here as equivalent to ‘sepelienda.’
769. Hos. iv. 8: cp.Mirour, 21397, where the saying is attributed to Zephaniah.
777 f. Cp. Ovid,Tristia, i. 9. 7 f.
781.Tristia, i. 9. 9.
784. Cp.Fasti, v. 354.
788. SeeMirour, 21625 ff. and note.
795. ‘Prioris’ in S, but it is evidently an adjective here.
813 ff. Cp.Mirour, 21499 ff.
847. The wording is suggested by 1 Cor. ix. 24, ‘ii qui in stadio currunt, omnes quidem currunt, sed unus accipit bravium.’
864.Titiuillus: see note in Dyce’s edition of Skelton, vol. ii. pp. 284 f.
869. Cp. Job ii. 4, ‘Pellem pro pelle, et cuncta quae habet homo, dabit pro anima sua.’
872.vltima verba ligant.As in a bargain the last words are those that are binding, so here the last word mentioned, namely ‘demon,’ is the true answer to the question.
874. ‘Men sein, Old Senne newe schame,’Conf. Amantis, iii. 2033.
903. Cp. Ovid,Metam.ii. 632, ‘Inter aves albas vetuit consistere corvum.’ Gower’s line seems to have neither accidence nor syntax.
953 f.Fasti, ii. 219 f.
959. A reference to Ps. lxxii. 5, ‘In labore hominum non sunt, et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur.’ The same passage is alluded to in Walsingham’s chronicle (i. 324), where reference is made to the fact that the friars were exempted from the poll-tax. The first half of this psalm seems to have been accepted in some quarters as a prophetic description of the Mendicants.
963. There is no variation of reading here in the MSS., but the metre cannot be regarded as satisfactory. A fifteenth (or sixteenth) century reader has raised a slight protest against it in the margin of S, ‘at metrum quomodo fiet.’
969. Cp. Ps. lxxii. 7, ‘Prodiit quasi ex adipe iniquitas eorum: transierunt in affectum cordis.’
971 ff. Cp.Mirour, 21517 ff.,
‘Mal fils ne tret son pris avant,Par ce qant il fait son avantQ’il ad bon piere,’ &c.
‘Mal fils ne tret son pris avant,Par ce qant il fait son avantQ’il ad bon piere,’ &c.
‘Mal fils ne tret son pris avant,Par ce qant il fait son avantQ’il ad bon piere,’ &c.
‘Mal fils ne tret son pris avant,
Par ce qant il fait son avant
Q’il ad bon piere,’ &c.
981 ff. Cp.Mirour, 21553 ff.
1059-1064. These six lines are taken without change fromAurora, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 65.
1072. ‘lingua’ was here the original reading, but was altered to ‘verba’ in most of the copies. H and G have ‘verba’ over an erasure.
1081. In G we have ‘adepcio’ by correction from ‘adopcio.’
1090.adheret: meant apparently for pres. subj. as if from a verb ‘adherare.’
1099 f. Cp.Aurora, f. 19 vo,
‘Sarra parit, discedit Agar; pariente fidelesEcclesia populos, dat synagoga locum.’
‘Sarra parit, discedit Agar; pariente fidelesEcclesia populos, dat synagoga locum.’
‘Sarra parit, discedit Agar; pariente fidelesEcclesia populos, dat synagoga locum.’
‘Sarra parit, discedit Agar; pariente fideles
Ecclesia populos, dat synagoga locum.’
1103.Odium: written thus with a capital letter in H, but not in the other MSS.
1143 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 21403 ff. and note.
1145 ff. These lines are partly from Neckam’sVita Monachorum, p. 192:
‘Porticibus vallas operosis atria, qualesQuotque putas thalamos haec labyrinthus habet......Ostia multa quidem, variae sunt mille fenestrae,Mille columnarum est marmore fulta domus.’
‘Porticibus vallas operosis atria, qualesQuotque putas thalamos haec labyrinthus habet......Ostia multa quidem, variae sunt mille fenestrae,Mille columnarum est marmore fulta domus.’
‘Porticibus vallas operosis atria, qualesQuotque putas thalamos haec labyrinthus habet......Ostia multa quidem, variae sunt mille fenestrae,Mille columnarum est marmore fulta domus.’
‘Porticibus vallas operosis atria, quales
Quotque putas thalamos haec labyrinthus habet.
.....
Ostia multa quidem, variae sunt mille fenestrae,
Mille columnarum est marmore fulta domus.’
Gower alters the first sentence by substituting ‘valuas’ for the verb ‘vallas.’ ‘It has folding-doors, halls, and bed-chambers as various and as many as the labyrinth.’
1161. ‘historia parisiensis’ in the MSS. I cannot supply a reference.
1175 f. FromDe Vita Monachorum, p. 193.
1189 ff. The reference is to theSpeculum Stultorum, where Burnel the Ass, after examining the rules of all the existing orders and finding them in various ways unsatisfactory to him, comes to the conclusion that he must found an order of his own, the rules of which shall combine the advantages of all the other orders. Members of it shall be allowed to ride easily like the Templars, to tell lies like the Hospitallers, to eat meat on Saturday like the Benedictines of Cluny, to talk freely like the brothers of Grandmont, to go to one mass a month, or at most two, like the Carthusians, to dress comfortably like the Praemonstratensians, and so on. What is said here by our author expresses the spirit of these rules rather than the letter.
1197 f. The text here gives the original reading, found in TH₂ and remaining unaltered in S. CHG have ‘et si’ written over an erasure, and in the next line ‘Mechari cupias’ is written over erasure in G, ‘Mechari cupias ordine’ in C, and ‘ordine’ alone in H. The other MSS. have no erasures.
1212. CHG have this line written over an erasure.
1214. Written over erasure in CHG, the word ‘magis’ being still visible in G as the last word of the line in the earlier text. The expression ‘Linquo coax ranis’ is said to have been used by Serlo on his renunciation of the schools: see Leyser,Hist. Poet.p. 443.
1215. The word ‘mundi’ is over erasure in CHG.
1221*-1232*. These lines are written over erasure in CHG.
1225.A planta capiti, ‘from foot to head’: more correctly, v. 116, ‘Ad caput a planta.’
LIB. V.
45.Architesis.It must be assumed that this word means ‘discord,’ the passage being a series of oppositions.
53.Est amor egra salus, &c. Compare the lines which follow our author’sTraitié, ‘Est amor in glosa pax bellica, lis pietosa,’ &c., and Alanus de Insulis,De Planctu Naturae, p. 472 (Rolls Series, 59, vol ii).
79 ff. There is not much construction here; but we must suppose that after this loose and rambling description the general sense is resumed at l. 129.
98.Nec patet os in eis: cp. Chaucer,Book of the Duchess, 942.
104.Nec ... vix: cp. l. 153 and vii. 12.
121 f. Cp. Ovid,Her.iv. 71 f.
123 f. Cp.Fasti, ii. 763.
165. FromMetam.vii. 826, but quoted without much regard to the sense. In the original there is a stop after ‘est,’ and ‘subito collapsa dolore’ is the beginning of a new sentence of the narrative.
169 f. Cp.Rem. Amoris, 691 f.
171. Cp.Her.iv. 161.
193. Cp.Her.v. 149. For ‘O, quia’ cp. i. 59.
209. Cp.Metam.x. 189.
213. Cp.Her.vii. 179. We have here a curious example of the manner in which our author adapts lines to his use without regard to the original sense.
221. Cp.Her.ii. 63.
257 ff. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 23920,Conf. Amantis, iv. 1634.
280.Numquid.This seems to be used here and in some other passages to introduce a statement: cp. ii. Prol. 59, iv. 637. Rather perhaps it should be regarded as equivalent to ‘Nonne’ and the clause printed as a question: so vii. 484, 892, &c. For ‘num’ used instead of ‘nonne’ cp. ii. 306.
299. S has in the margin in a later hand, ‘Nota de muliere bona.’ The description is taken of course from Prov. xxxi.
333. In the margin of S, as before, ‘Nota de muliere mala et eius condicionibus.’
341 ff. Cp. Neckam,De Vita Monachorum, p. 186.
359 f. Cp. Ovid,Ars Amat.iii. 289, 294. Presumably ‘bleso’ in l. 360 is a mistake for ‘iusso.’
361. Cp.Ars Amat.iii. 291.
367 f.Ars Amat.iii. 311 f.
376. Cp.Ars Amat.i. 598.
383 f. This reference to Ovid seems to be with regard to whatfollows about the art of preserving and improving beauty. Some of it is from theArs Amatoria, and some from Neckam,De Vita Monachorum. For ‘tenent,’ meaning ‘belong,’ cp. iii. 584.
399-402. Taken with slight changes fromArs Amat.iii. 163-166.
403. Cp.Metam.ii. 635.
405. Cp.Ars Amat.iii. 179.
407. Cp.Ars Amat.iii. 185.
413-416.De Vita Monachorum, p. 186.
421-428.De Vita Monachorum, p. 189.
450. The line (in the form ‘Illa quidem fatuos,’ &c.) is written over an erasure in the Glasgow MS.
454. ‘interius’ is written over an erasure in HG.
461.Vt quid, ‘Why.’
501. The reading ‘nos,’ which is evidently right, appears in CG as a correction of ‘non.’
510. ‘While one that is stained with its own filth flies from the field.’
520. Cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 23701 ff.
556. The neglect of the burden of a charge, while the honour of it is retained, is a constant theme of denunciation by our author: cp. iii. 116, and below, ll. 655 ff.
557 ff. With this account of the labourers cp.Mirour de l’Omme, 26425 ff. It is noticeable that there is nothing here about the insurrection.
593. Cp.Metam.vi. 318.
597. H punctuates here ‘salua. que.’
613. A quotation fromPamphilus: cp.Mirour, 14449.
659.maioris, ‘of mayor.’
693 f. Cp.Aurora, f. 36,