2086. thou mayst best, art best able to help, thou hast most power. Lucina was a title both of Juno and Diana; see Vergil, Ecl. iv. 10.
2112. Here paramours is used adverbially, like paramour in l. 1155. From Le Roman de la Rose, 20984:—'Jamès par amors n'ameroit.'
2115. benedicite is here pronounced as a trisyllable, viz. ben'cite. It usually is so, though five syllables in l. 1785. Cf. benste in Towneley Myst. p. 85. Cf. 'What, liveth nat thy lady, benedicite!' Troil. i. 780. Benedicite is equivalent to 'thank God,' and was used in saying graces. See Babees Book, pp. 382, 386; and Appendix, p. 9.
2125. This line seems to mean that there is nothing new under the sun.
2129. This is the 're Licurgo' of the Teseide, vi. 14; and the Lycurgus of the Thebaid, iv. 386, and of Homer, Il. vi. 130. But the description of him is partly taken from that of another warrior, Tes. vi. 21, 22. It is worth notice that, in Lydgate's Story of Thebes, pt. iii., king Ligurgus or Licurgus (the name is spelt both ways) is introduced, and Lydgate has the following remark concerning him:—
'And the kingdom, but-if bokes lye,
Of Ligurgus, called was Trace;
And, as I rede in another place,
He was the same mighty champion
To Athenes that cam with Palamon