[343]. In accordance with the proverb—'Audi alteram partem.' See A. [325]. Cf. Seneca, Medea, 195.
[348]. 'And even if you were not an omniscient god.'
[352]. From the Rom. of the Rose; the E. version has (ll. 1050, 1):—
'Hir court hath many a losengere,
And many a traytour envious.'
Again repeated in Cant. Tales, B 4515-8.
[353]. Totelere (C. totulour), tattling; properly a sb., meaning 'tattler,' but here used in apposition, and, practically, as an adjective. Tyrwhitt explains it by 'whisperer.' Halliwell quotes 'Be no totiler' from MS. Bibl. Reg. 17 B. xvii. fol. 141. It clearly means a gossiping tattler, or tale-bearer.
The word is scarce, but we find a helpful passage in P. Plowman, B. xx. 297:—
'Of alle taletellers and tyterers in ydel.'
Here tyterers means gossipers, or retailers of tittle-tattle; and various readings give the forms titeleris (as printed by Wright) and tutelers (as printed by Crowley). The last form tuteler is clearly identical with Chaucer's totelere, spelt tutelere in MS. Arch. Selden B. 24.