Et Cicero rhetor et geometra Thales.
In stellis lepidum dictat Maro, Milo figurat,
Fulgurat in Latia nobilitate Nero.
Astra notat Persis, Ægyptus parturit artes,
Graecia docta legit, praelia Roma gerit.'
See Bernardi Sylvestris Megacosmos, ed. C.S. Barach and J. Wrobel, Innsbruck, 1876, p. 16. The names Ector (Hector), &c., are too well known to require comment. The death of Turnus is told at the end of Vergil's Æneid.
207, 208. Here have, forming part of the phrase mighte have grace, is unemphatic, whilst han (for haven) is emphatic, and signifies possession. See han again in l. 241.
211. Compare Squieres Tale, F. 202, 203, and the note thereon.
224. Mahoun, Mahomet. The French version does not mention Mahomet. This is an anachronism on Chaucer's part; the Emperor Tiberius II. died A. D. 582, when Mahomet was but twelve years old.
228. I prey yow holde, I pray you to hold. Here holde is the infinitive mood. The imperative plural would be holdeth; see saveth, next line.