460. This story is from Valerius Maximus; Pliny tells it of one Mecenius. In the margin of E., the reference is exactly given, viz. to 'Valerius, lib. 6. cap. 3,' which is quite right. I quote the passage: 'Egnatii autem Metelli longe minori de caussa; qui uxorem, quod vinum bibisset, fuste percussam interemit. Idque factum non accusatore tantum, sed etiam reprehensore caruit; unoquoque existimante, optimo illam exemplo violatae sobrietatis poenas pependisse.'—Valerii Maximi lib. vi. c. 3. Cf. Pliny, xiv. 13; Tertullian, Apologeticus, 6. Chaucer twice quotes again the same chapter; see notes to ll. 642, 647.
464. moste I thinke, I must (needs) think. For moste, Cm. has muste, Ln. must. So also moste = must, in l. 478.
467. From Le Roman de la Rose, 13656:—
'Car puis que fame est enyvree
Il n'a point en li de deffense.'
Cf. Ovid, Art. Amat. iii. 765; &c.
469. Cf. Le Roman de la Rose, 13136:—
'Par Diex! si me plest-il encores:
Quant ge m'i sui bien porpensée,
Moult me délite en ma pensée,