[708]. Worthy for to leve, worthy to believe, worthy of belief.
[712]. Thyn owne book, i.e. the book you are so fond of, viz. Ovid's Metamorphoses, which Chaucer quotes so continually. Libraries in those days were very small (Cant. Ta. Prol. 294); but we may be almost certain that Chaucer had a copy of the Metamorphoses of his own. The reference here is to Ovid's description of the House of Fame, Metam. xii. 39-63. See Golding's translation of this passage in the Introduction.
[730]. This passage is founded on one in Boethius; cf. Chaucer's translation, bk. iii. pr. 11, ll. 98-110. Imitated also in Le Rom. de la Rose, 16963-9. Cf. Dante, Par. i. 109, which Cary thus translates:—
'All natures lean,
In this their order, diversely,' &c.
[738]. That practically goes with hit falleth doun, in l. 741. The sentence is ill-constructed, and not consistent with grammar, but we see what is meant.
[742]. By, with reference to (as usual in M. E). Cf. Dante, Purg. xviii. 28, which Cary thus translates:—
'Then, as the fire points up, and mounting seeks
His birth-place and his lasting seat,' &c.
[745]. At his large, unrestrained, free to move. Cf. at thy large, Cant. Ta., A 1283, 1292.