45
NOTES.
[In these Notes, attention is drawn chiefly to a few of the more difficult phrases and constructions. For explanation of difficult words see the Glossarial Index.]
1. 'When this wight foudn the weather to be such as he desired.' Cf. l. 922.
3. Oridrace. So in the MS.; it should rather have been Oxidrace. But the spelling of proper names is very corrupt in nearly all writings of the 14th century, and it is quite unnecessary to suppose that such a misspelling is to be laid upon the scribe. Even in the best MSS. of Chaucer, such names assume very singular forms, and we have no ground for supposing that the case would have been any different if Chaucer had written out his poems himself. Hence all such forms are best left as they stand, though it often happens that we can interpret them correctly by seeing through the disguise. Even in the Latin texts the spellings differ. We have Exidraces in the text of 1490 at the bottom of p. 1. In Julius Valerius (quoted in the Preface) we have "ad Oxydracontas iter suum dirigit."
4. There, i.e. where. Perhaps there are few things which cause more difficulty to a learner than his own inattention to the force of short words and particles of this kind. The whole force of a sentence frequently depends on them, and the right perception of their value is often the clue to an apparently difficult sentence. This hint is applicable to the whole poem, and to all other poems. Cf. ll. 8, 496, 525, &c.
5. By some mistake, the translater gives the converse sense to that implied by the Lat. 'nulla superbia.'
9. Syte, i.e. city, not site; Lat. 'ciuitates non habent.' Cf. selle, i.e. cell; Piers Plowman, C.i.5, footnote.
13. Cauus, caves; here put for 'the men of the caves.'
18. 'He commanded to be sent to the man with his letter,' Let sende, commanded (men) to send, i.e. to be sent; a common idiom in this and contemporary poems; cf. l. 21, 43. See note to l. 245.
20. Schamlese, shameless; because he was not ashamed to go naked.
22. Tid, quickly; inserted to make the line run better. All words and letters between square brackets are insertions.
