[126]. and hoom, and (went) home.
[132, 133]. This is a curious statement, and Chaucer's object in making it is not clear. Boccaccio says expressly that she had neither son nor daughter (st. 15); and Benoît (l. 12977) calls her 'la pucele.'
[136]. som day, one day; used quite generally.
[138]. 'And thus Fortune wheeled both of them up and down again.' Alluding to the wheel of Fortune; see the Ballade on Fortune, l. 46, and note.
[145]. Troyane gestes, Trojan history; cf. the title of Guido delle Colonne's book, viz. 'Historia Troiana,' which Chaucer certainly consulted, as shewn by several incidents in the poem.
[146]. Omer, Homer; whose account was considered untrustworthy by the medieval writers; see Ho. Fame, 1477, and note. Dares, Dares Phrygius; Dyte, Dictys Cretensis; see notes to Ho. Fame, 1467, 1468. These three authors really mean Guido delle Colonne, who professed to follow them.
[153]. Palladion, the Palladium or sacred image of Pallas, on the keeping of which the safety of Troy depended. It was stolen from Troy by Diomede and Ulysses; see Æneid, ii. 166. But Chaucer doubtless read the long account in Guido delle Colonne.
[171]. Hence Henrysoun, in his Testament of Criseyde, st. 12, calls her 'the flower and A-per-se Of Troy and Greece.' Cf. 'She was a woman A-per-se, alon'; Romance of Partenay, 1148. Boccaccio's image is much finer; he says that she surpassed other women as the rose does the violet. On the other hand, l. 175 is Chaucer's own.
[172]. makelees, matchless, peerless; cf. A.S. gemaca.
[189]. lakken, to blame; see P. Pl. B. v. 132.