2384. From Prov. xxxi. 4, where the Vulgate has: 'Noli regibus, o Lamuel, noli regibus dare uinum; quia nullum secretum est ubi regnat ebrietas.' Cf. C. 561 (and note), 585, 587.
2386. Cassidorie, Cassiodorus, who wrote in the time of Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths (A.D. 475-526). The quotation is from his Variarum lib. x. epist. 18:—'quia laesionis instar est occulte consulere, et aliud uelle monstrare.' In the Latin text, cap. xxiii, the heading of the chapter is:—'De Vitando consilium illorum, qui secreto aliud consulunt, et palam aliud se uelle ostendunt.' Chaucer's rendering is far from being a happy one.
2387. Cf. Prov. xii. 5; but note that the Lat. text has:—'Malus homo a se nunquam bonum consilium refert'; which resembles Publilius Syrus, Sent. 354:—'Malus bonum ad se nunquam consilium refert.'
2388. From Ps. i. 1.
2391. Tullius. The reference is to Cicero's De Officiis, ii. 5, as quoted in the 'Latin text':—'quid in unaquaque re uerum sincerumque sit, quid consentaneum cuique rei sit, quid consequens, ex quibus
quaeque gignantur, quae cuiusque rei caussa sit.' This is expanded in the English, down to l. 2400.
2405. For distreyneth, MS. Hl. has the corrupt reading destroyeth. The reading is settled by the lines in Chaucer's Proverbs (see the Minor Poems, vol. i. p. 407):—
'Who-so mochel wol embrace
Litel therof he shal distreyne.'
The Lat. text has: 'Qui nimis capit parum stringit'; the Fr. text has: 'Qui trop embrasse, pou estraint.'