Artelleries, missile weapons; cf. 1 Sam xx. 40, 1 Macc. vi. 51 (A. V.). 'Artillarie now a dayes is taken for ii. thinges: Gunnes and Bowes'; Ascham, Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 65. In Chaucer's time it referred to bows, crossbows, and engines for casting stones. Cotgrave explains F. artillier as 'one that maketh both bowes and arrowes.'
2525-6. Owing to the repetition of the words grete edifices, one of the early scribes (whom others followed) passed from one to the other, thus omitting the words 'apperteneth som tyme to pryde and eek men make heighe toures and grete edifices.' But MSS. Cp. and Ln. supply all but the last three words 'and grete edifices,' and as we know that 'grete edifices' must recur, they really supply all but the sole word 'and,' which the sense absolutely requires. Curiously enough, these very MSS. omit the rest of clause 2525, so that none of the MSS. are perfect, but the text is easily pieced together. It is further verified by the Lat. text, which has:—'Munitio turrium et aliorum altorum aedificiorum ad superbiam plerumque pertinet ... praeterea turres cum magno labore et infinitis expensis fiunt; et etiam cum factae fuerint, nihil ualent, nisi cum auxilio prudentium et fidelium amicorum et cum magnis expensis defendantur.' The F. text supplies the gap with—'appartiennent aucune fois a orgueil: apres on fait les tours et les grans edifices.'—MS. Reg. 19 C. vii. leaf 133, back. Hence there is no doubt as to the reading.
All former editions are here defective, and supply the gap with the single word is, which is found in ed. 1532.
2526. With gret costages, at great expense: Fr. text, 'a grans despens.'
Stree, straw; MS. Hl. has the spelling straw. We find the phrase again in the Book of the Duch. 671; also 'ne roghte of hem a stree,' id. 887; 'acounted nat a stree,' id. 1237; 'ne counted nat three strees,' id. 718.
2530. Lat. text:—'unum est inexpugnabile munimentum, amor ciuium.' Not from Cicero; but from Seneca, De Clementia, i. 19. 5.
2534. 'In omnibus autem negotiis, prius quam aggrediare, adhibenda est praeparatio diligens'; Cicero, De Officiis, i. 21.
2537. Lat. text:—'Longa praeparatio belli celerem uictoriam facit.' But the source is unknown; it does not seem to be in Cicero. Mätzner quotes a similar saying from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 125:—'Diu apparandum est bellum, ut uincas celerius.'
2538. 'Munitio quippe tunc efficitur praeualida, si diuturna fuerit excogitatione roborata'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 17.