[2134]. 'It seems to me, no one ought to blame us for this; nor give us an evil name on this account.'
[2145]. Geeth, goeth, goes; A.S. gǽð. For two more examples, see geð in Gloss. to Spec. of English, Part I.
[2150]. By, by help of, with the help of.
[2151]. Of, with. Gan hit charge, did load it. 'And they say, that having killed this Minotaur, he returned back again the same way he went, bringing with him those other young children of Athens [whom Chaucer forgets to mention], whom with Ariadne also he carried afterwards away.'—Sh. Plutarch, p. 283.
[2155]. Ennopye, Œnopia, another name for Ægina; which was on their way from Crete to Athens. Chaucer got the name from Ovid, Met. vii. 472, 473, 490; and introduces it naturally enough, because Æacus, then dwelling there, was an old ally of the Athenians; id. 485; cf. l. 2156 in our poem. Gilman suggests that Enope (i.e. Gerenia in Messenia) is meant, which is merely a wild guess.
[2161]. Woon, number. Originally, a hope; also, a resource, a store, a quantity; and hence gret woon = a great number. For examples, see wān in Stratmann; and cf. note to Troil. iv. 1181.
[2163]. Yle, island; usually said to be Naxos, on the supposition that it is not much out of the way in sailing from Gnossus in Crete to Attica. Chaucer has inadvertently brought Theseus to Ægina already; but we need not trouble about the geographical conditions. The description of the island is from Ovid, Her. x. 59:—'Uacat insula cultu'; &c.
[2167]. Lette, tarried; pt. t. of the weak verb letten; quite distinct from leet or lēt (pt. t. of leten), which would not rime with set-te. This latter part of the story is nearly all from Ovid, Her. x.
Compare, e.g. ll. 4-6:—
'unde tuam sine me uela tulere ratem;