[852]. See the parallel line, Squi. Ta. F 294; cf. Bk. iii. 674.
[883]. as who seyth, so to speak.
[892]. Manes, the departed spirits or shades of the dead. He means that even these will dread the Greeks. The idea that they are the 'gods of pain' is taken from Vergil, Æn. vi. 743; cf. Statius, Theb. viii. 84. Boccaccio merely has 'tra' morti in inferno'; Fil. vi. st. 16.
[897]. ambages, ambiguities; adapted from Boccaccio's 'ambage' (Fil. vi. st. 17), which Ch. has to explain.
[911-938]. These lines are fairly close to the original.
[934]. See note above, to l. 805. B. has: 'Di Calidonia e d' Argo;' Fil. vi. st. 24.
[937]. Tydeus, father of Diomede, is one of the chief heroes in the Thebaid of Statius, which describes the struggle between Eteocles and Polynices (called Polymites in l. 938) for the possession of Thebes. Tydeus and Polynices married sisters, the daughters of Adrastus, king of Argos; hence their alliance. For the death of Tydeus in battle, see the conclusion of Book viii of the Thebaid. See ll. 1480-1501 below.
[971]. Orcades, the Orkney islands, very remote from Rome; Juvenal, Sat. ii. 161. Inde, India, remote from Rome in the other direction; Vergil, Æn. vi. 794. Here the point of view is transferred from Rome to Troy.
[975]. She was a widow; Bk. i. 97. In l. 977, she lies boldly.
[992]. 'When I see what I have never seen yet (viz. Troy taken), perhaps I will do what I have never yet done (i. e. think of a second husband).'