Roman de la Rose, 16161.
Hippocrates and Galen are meant; see note to Cant. Tales, C 306.
579. Y-worthe, (who am) become; pp. of worthen.
582. 'For all good fortune and I are foes,' lit. angry (with each other). Hence wroth-e is a plural form.
589. S and C were so constantly interchanged before e that Sesiphus could be written Cesiphus; and C and T were so often mistaken that Cesiphus easily became Tesiphus, the form in the Tanner MS. Further, initial T was sometimes replaced by Th; and this would give the Thesiphus of MS. F.
Sesiphus, i. e. Sisyphus, is of course intended; it was in the author's mind in connection with the story of Orpheus just above; see note to l. 569. In the Roman de la Rose, we have the usual allusions to Yxion
(l. 19479), Tentalus, i. e. Tantalus (l. 19482), Ticius, i. e. Tityus (l. 19506), and Sisifus (l. 19499).
But whilst I thus hold that Chaucer probably wrote Sesiphus, I have no doubt that he really meant Tityus, as is shewn by the expression lyth, i. e. lies extended. See Troil. i. 786, where Bell's edition has Siciphus, but the Campsall MS. has Ticyus; whilst in ed. 1532 we find Tesiphus.
599. With this string of contrarieties compare the Eng. version of the Roman de la Rose, 4706-4753. See p. [212], above.
614. Abaved, confounded, disconcerted. See Glossary.