Prose 4. [2]. Artow lyk. The original is partly in Greek. 'An ὄνος λύρας?' Some MSS. have: 'Esne ὄνος πρὸς λύραν?' And MS. C. has: 'Esne asinus ad liram?' In an edition of Boethius by Renatus Vallinus, printed in 1656, I find the following note: 'Ut et omnes veteres scripsere, Varro in satyra quæ Testamentum inscribitur apud Agellium, lib. iii. cap. xvi: Ii liberi, si erunt ὄνοι λύρας, exheredes sunto. Suidas ex Menandro, Lucianus, Martian. Capella, lib. viii., atque alii quos refert Erasmus, in eo adagio. Imo et apud Varronem id nominis satyra extitit.' It has clearly a proverbial reference to dullness of perception. Ch. quotes it again in his Troilus, i. 731, where he so explains it.
[3]. why spillestow teres, why do you waste tears; 'Quid lacrimis manas?' After these words occur, in the original, four Greek words which Chaucer does not translate, viz.: Ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ: i. e. speak out, do not hide them in your mind; quoted from Homer, Iliad i. 363.
With lines 3 and 4 compare Troilus, i. 857.
[7]. by him-self, in itself; 'per se.' Alluding to 'sharpnesse,' i. e. 'asperitas.'
[15]. enformedest, didst conform; 'formares.'
[17]. ordre of hevene; 'ad caelestis ordinis exemplar.' This refers to the words of Plato just at the end of the 9th book of The Republic: ἐν ὀυρανῷ ἴσως παράδειγμα ἀνάκειται. Cf. also the last lines of Book II of the present treatise.
[18]. confermedest (MS. A, enfourmedist), didst confirm; 'sanxisti.' The reading conformedest evidently arose from confusion with enformedest above, in l. 15.
[19]. mouth of Plato; referring to Book V (473 D) of the Republic: ἐὰν μὴ, ἢ ὁι φιλόσοφοι βασιλεύσωσιν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν, ἠ ὁι βασιλῆς τε νῦν λεγόμενοι κὶ δυνάσται φιλοσοφήσωσι γνησίως τε καὶ ἱκανῶς, καὶ τοῦτο ἐις ταὐτὸν ξυμπέσῃ, δύναμίς τε πολιτικὴ καὶ φιλοσοφία· τῶν δε νῦν πορευομένων χωρὶς ἐφ' ἑκάτερον ἁι πολλαὶ φύσεις ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀποκλεισθῶσιν, ὀυκ ἔστι κακῶν παῦλα ... ταῖς πόλεσι· δοκῶ δὲ, ὀυδὲ τῳ ἀνθρωπίνῳ γένει.
[24]. the same Plato; in the 6th Dialogue on the Republic.
[25]. cause, reason; 'caussam.' wyse, i.e. 'for wise men.'