197. Tyrwhitt shews that this stanza is imitated closely from some Latin lines, some of which are quoted in the margin of many MSS. of Chaucer. He quotes them at length from the Megacosmos of Bernardus Silvestris, a poet of the twelfth century (extant in MS. Bodley 1265). The lines are as follows, it being premised that those printed in italics are cited in the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. and Ln.:—
'Praeiacet in stellis series, quam longior aetas
Explicet et spatiis temporis ordo suis,
Sceptra Phoronei, fratrum discordia Thebis,
Flamma Phaethontis Deucalionis aque.
In stellis Codri paupertas, copia Croesi,
Incestus Paridis, Hippolytique pudor.
In stellis Priami species, audacia Turni,
Sensus Ulixeus, Herculeusque uigor.
In stellis pugil est Pollux et nauita Typhis,