[463]. Fled-de is here a plural form, the pp. being treated as an adjective. Cf. sprad-de, iv. 1422; whet-te, v. 1760.
[464]. savacioun; Ital. 'salute.' Mr. Rossetti thinks that salute here means 'well-being' or 'health'; and perhaps savacioun is intended to mean the same, the literal sense being 'safety.'
[465]. fownes, fawns; see Book of the Duch. 429. It is here used, metaphorically, to mean 'young desires' or 'fresh yearnings.' This image is not in Boccaccio.
[470]. I take the right reading to be felle, as in Cm. Ed., with the sense 'destructive.' As it might also mean 'happened,' other MSS. turned it into fille, which makes a most awkward construction. The sense is: 'The sharp destructive assaults of the proof of arms [i.e. which afforded proof of skill in fighting], which Hector and his other brothers performed, not once made him move on that account only'; i.e. when he exerted himself, it was not for mere fighting's sake. Chaucer uses fel elsewhere; the pl. felle is in Troil. iv. 44; and see Cant. Ta. D 2002, B 2019. For preve, proof, see l. 690.
[473, 4]. riden and abiden (with short i) rime with diden, and are past tenses plural. l. 474 is elliptical: 'found (to be) one of the best, and (one of those who) longest abode where peril was.'
[483]. the deeth, i.e. the pestilence, the plague.
[488]. title, a name; he said it was 'a fever.'
[517]. daunce, i.e. company of dancers. Cf. Ho. Fame, 639, 640.
[530-2]. 'For, by my hidden sorrow, (when it is) blased abroad, I shall be befooled more, a thousand times, than the fool of whose folly men write rimes.' No particular reference seems to be intended by l. 532; the Ital. text merely has 'più ch' altro,' more than any one.
[557]. attricioun, attrition. 'An imperfect sorrow for sin, as if a bruising which does not amount to utter crushing (contrition); horror of sin through fear of punishment ... while contrition has its motive in the love of God;' New E. Dict.