[302]. Rossetti thus translates Fil. iv. st. 34: 'O soul, wretched and astray, Why fliest thou not out of the most ill-fortuned body that lives? O soul brought low, part from the body, and follow Chryseis.'
[305]. unneste, glossed in H. by 'go out of thi nest;' correctly.
[318]. Read my, not the or thy; Rossetti thus translates Fil. iv. st. 36: 'O my Chryseis, O sweet bliss of the sorrowing soul which calls on thee! Who will any more give comfort to my pains?'
[330]. unholsom; Boccaccio has insano, Fil. iv. st. 38. 'I think it pretty clear that B. means insane in our ordinary sense for that word; but Chaucer's unholsom is no doubt founded on B.'s epithet, and is highly picturesque.'—Rossetti.
[356, 7]. Nearly repeated in Man of Lawes Ta. B 608, 9. See l. 882.
[381]. 'As certainly do I wish it were false, as I know it is true.'
[392]. propretee, his own indefeasible possession; see Boethius, Bk. ii. Pr. 2. 9 (p. 27), 61 (p. 28).
[407]. Pandarus took his morality from Ovid; cf. Amorum lib. ii. 4. 10-44: 'Centum sunt causae, cur ego semper amem;' &c.
[413]. heroner, a large falcon for herons; faucon for rivere, a goshawk for waterfowl. See note to Sir Thopas, B 1927.
[414, 5]. From Boccaccio, who does not, however, give the name of the author of the saying. The remark 'as Zanzis writeth' is Chaucer's own. It is quite clear that Zanzis in this passage is the same as the Zanzis in the Physiciens Tale, C 16; and he is no other than Zeuxis the painter. I do not suppose that Chaucer had any special reason for assigning to him the saying, but his name was as useful as that of any one else, and the medieval method of reference is frequently so casual and light-hearted that there is nothing to wonder at. Besides, we are distinctly told (l. 428) that Pandarus was speaking for the nonce, i.e. quite at random. The real author is Ovid: 'Successore nouo uincitur omnis amor;' Remed. Amor. 462.