1731. his lyf, i. e. during his life, in all his life.
1732. Marcian. Chaucer is still thinking of his own House of Fame (cf. notes to ll. 1719, 1720), where he had already mentioned Marcian, at l. 985. Martianus Minneus Felix Capella, a native of Carthage, was a writer of the fifth century, and wrote the Nuptials of Philology and Mercury, De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii. This consists of two books, immediately followed by seven books on the Seven Sciences; see Warton's Hist. E. Poetry, ed. 1871, iii. 77; Smith's Classical Dictionary, s. v. Capella; Lydgate's Temple of Glass, l. 130.
1734. hir; cf. 'he, Theofraste,' in l. 1294; also ll. 1368, 1373. For him (as in E. Cm.), MSS. Hn. Hl. have he (badly).
1745. Assuer, Ahasuerus, as in l. 1374. There is a special reference here to the banquet at which Esther obtained her request; see Esther, v. 6. See further in Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, ed. 1871, i. 288, iii. 142.
1754. For other allusions to Paris and Eleyne, see Parl. of Foules, 290, 291; Book of the Duch. 331.
1783. The word 'Auctor' in the margin of MS. E. signifies that ll. 1783-1794 form a reflection on the subject by the author, who here personates the Marchant. There are similar passages further on, viz. ll. 1866-1874, 2057-2068, 2107-2115, and 2125-2131.
1784. bedeth, proffers; cf. G. 1065. From Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5. 50.
1785. false hoomly hewe, O false domestic servant! Cp. Pt. Ln. have the reading holy, which doubtless arose, as Wright points out, from missing the mark of abbreviation in the form 'hōly,' i. e. homly. 'Tyrwhitt, however,' he adds, 'adopts this reading, mistakes the meaning of the word hewe, adds of, which is found in none of the MSS.; and in his text it stands false of holy hewe, which he supposes to signify false of holy colour. Conjectural emendations are always dangerous.' Yet Wright silently adopts such emendations over and over again; cf. l. 1812 below. Cf. hoomly fo in ll. 1792, 1794.
1786. 'Like the sly and treacherous snake in the bosom.' This refers to the fable in Phaedrus, lib. iv. fab. 18. But Chaucer probably
took it from the Gesta Romanorum, ch. clxxiv. For numerous references, see the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, ed. Crane, 1890, p. 201.