[14]. noun-power ... undernethe; 'impotentia subintrat.' nounpower, lack of power, occurs in P. Plowman, C. xx. 292; see my note.
[17]. A tyraunt; Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily, who caused a sword to be hung by a slender thread over the head of his favourite Damocles, to teach him that riches could not make happy the man whose death was imminent. See Cicero, Tuscul. v. 21. 6; Horace, Carm. iii. 1. 17; Persius, Sat. iii. 40. And see Ch. Kn. Tale, A 2029.
[27]. seriaunts, serjeants (satellite), different from servauntes (seruientium) below. The difference is one of use only; for the form seriaunt, E. serjeant, represents the Lat. seruientem, whilst servaunt, E. servant, represents the O. F. pres. part. of the O. F. verb servir; which comes to much about the same thing.
[30]. what, why; what ... anything answers to Lat. 'quid.'
[33]. in hool, &c., whether that power is unimpaired or lost; Lat. 'incolumis ... lapsa.'
[34]. Nero; see note to Monkes Tale, B 3685.
[35]. Antonius, a mistake for Antoninus, as in the Lat. text. By Antoninus is meant the infamous emperor Caracalla, on whom Septimius Severus had conferred the title of Antoninus. Papinianus was a celebrated Roman jurist, who was put to death at the command of Caracalla; see Gibbon, Roman Empire, ch. vi.
[39]. Senek, Seneca; see Tacitus, Annal. xiv.
[41]. But whan; 'Sed dum ruituros moles ipsa trahit, neuter, quod uoluit, effecit.' I.e. neither Papinian nor Seneca found it possible to forego their position.
[48]. Certes, swiche folk; see Monkes Ta. B 3434-5.