[36]. Cacus; see the story in Ovid, Fasti, i. 543-86.
[39]. boor, the boar of Erymanthus; Ovid, Her. ix. 87. For scomes (lit. scums), Caxton and Thynne have vomes, for fomes (foams).
[40]. the whiche, 'which shoulders were fated to sustain (lit. thrust against) the high sphere of heaven.' Alluding to Hercules, when he took the place of Atlas.
[45]. nake, expose your unarmed backs (Lat. nudatis), like one who runs away. An unarmed man was usually said to be naked; as in Othello, v. 2. 258; 2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 234; &c.
BOOK V.
Prose 1. [3]. A mistranslation. 'Recta quidem exhortatio, tuaque prorsus auctoritate dignissima.'
[9]. assoilen to thee the. I prefer this reading, adopted from Caxton's edition, because the others make no sense. The original reading was to the the (= to thee the), as in MS. Ii. 1. 38, whence, by dropping one the, the reading to the in C. and Ed. MS. A. alters it to the to the, absurdly. The fact is, that to thee belongs to the next clause. 'Festino, inquit, debitum promissionis absoluere, uiamque tibi,' &c.
[14]. to douten, to be feared; 'uerendumque est.'
[28]. left, or dwellinge, left, or remaining (reliquus). 'Quis enim ... locus esse ullus temeritati reliquus potest?'
[31]. nothing: 'nihil ex nihilo exsistere.' Referring to the old saying:—'Ex nihilo nihil fit.'