I. e. Be present, O Mars the red, strong and fierce in thy arms (battle-array). For the words Be present, see l. 6.
2. Trace, Thrace. Cf. Kn. Tale, 1114-6 (A 1972-4). Chaucer was here thinking of Statius, Theb. lib. vii. 40, who describes the temple of Mars on Mount Hæmus, in Thrace, which had a frosty climate. In bk. ii, l. 719, Pallas is invoked as being superior to Bellona. Chaucer seems to confuse them; so does Boccaccio, in his De Genealogia Deorum.
6, 7. Partly imitated from Tes. i. 3:—
'E sostenete la mano e la voce
Di me, che intendo i vostri effecti dire.'
8-10. Imitated from Tes. i. 2:—
'Chè m' è venuta voglia con pietosa
Rima di scriver una storia antica,
Tanto negli anni riposta e nascosa,
Che latino autor non par ne dica,