[9]. laugheth, laughs at; 'ridet.' It is impossible to accept the reading lyssheth in C. There seems to be no such word. It probably arose from the attempt of the scribe to represent the guttural sound of gh, because we actually find him writing neysshebour for neighbour twice, viz. in Bk. ii. Pr. 3. 24, and in Pr. 7. 57. This passage is imitated in Troil. iv. 7: 'Than laugheth she and maketh him the mowe.'
Prose 2. [1]. Compare Chaucer's 'Fortune'; l. 25, &c.
[4]. every-dayes, daily: 'cottidianis querelis.'
[37]. I torne: 'Rotam uolubili orbe uersamus.'
[39]. Worth up, climb up: 'Ascende.' Cf. P. Plowman, B. vii. 91; Wars of Alexander, 2878, 2973.
[42]. Cresus, Croesus; see note to Monk. Tale, B 3917.
[47]. Perciens, Persians. But Chaucer is here wrong. The Lat. text has 'Persi regis,' i. e. king Perseus. Perseus, or Perses III, was the last king of Macedonia, who was defeated by L. Æmilius Paulus in a decisive battle fought near Pydna, in June, B.C. 168. 'When brought before Æmilius [here, Paulus], he is said to have degraded himself by the most abject supplications; but he was treated with kindness by the Roman general;' Smith, Class. Dict. See Livy, xl. 57; xli. 53; xliv. 32; &c.; Plutarch, Life of Æmilius.
[51]. Tragedie. Cf. the definition in the Monk. Prol. B 3163; and note to Anelida, 320.
[53]. in Greke. These two words are not in the original, but the following quotation is given in Greek: δύο τοὺς πίθους, τὸν μὲν ἕνα κακῶν, τὸν δὲ ἕτερον καλῶν. Some MSS. add: 'duo dolia quidem malum alterum bonum.' From Homer, Iliad, xxiv. 527:
δοιοὶ γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν Διὸς οὔδει,