(5) 'Vel dicitur a coelo et leos, i. e. populus.' Finally, recourse is had to Greek, viz. Gk. λεώς, the Attic form of λαός. Reason:—'fuit et coelum populi, quia in ipsa tamquam in coelo spirituali populus ad imitandum intuetur coelum, solem, lunam, et stellas, i. e. sapientiae perspicacitatem, fidei magnanimitatem et uirtutum uarietatem.' See ll. 102-112.
113-118. Chaucer has somewhat varied the order; this last stanza belongs in the Latin to derivation (3), though it may serve also for derivation (5). It is probably for this reason that he has reserved it. The Latin is—'Vel dicitur coelum, quia, sicut dicit Ysidorus, coelum philosophi uolubile, rotundum et ardens esse dixerunt. Sic et ipsa fuit uolubilis per operationem sollicitam, rotunda per perseuerantiam, ardens per caritatem succensam.' For the swiftness and roundness of heaven, see note to B. 295. The epithet burning is due to quite another matter, not explained in that note. The nine astronomical spheres there mentioned did not suffice for the wants of theology. Hence a tenth sphere was imagined, external to the ninth; but this was supposed to be fixed, whereas the ninth sphere (or primum mobile) had a swift diurnal movement of revolution (note to B. 295), and thus supplied the two former epithets. The outermost sphere was called the empyraeum (from Gk. ἔμπυρος, burning, which from ἐν, in, and πῦρ, fire) where the pure element of fire subsisted alone; and it was supposed to be the abode of saints and angels. Milton, in his Paradise Lost, uses the word empyrean six times, ii. 771, iii. 57, vi. 833, vii. 73, 633, x. 321; and the word empyreal eleven times.
120. For some account of St. Caecilia, see vol. iii. p. 489. Compare also the Life of St. Cecilia as printed in the South-English Legendary, ed. Horstmann (E. E. T. S.), p. 490.
133. an heyre, a hair shirt. The usual expression; see I. 1052; and P. Plowman, B. v. 66. Lat. text—'cilicio erat induta.'
134. the organs; Lat. 'cantantibus organis.' We should now say 'the organ'; but in old authors the plural form is commonly employed. Sometimes the word organ seems to refer to a single pipe only, and the whole instrument was called 'the organs' or 'a pair of organs,' where pair means a set, as in the phrase 'a peire of bedes'; Ch. Prol. 159. In the Nonne Preestes Tale, B. 4041, Chaucer uses orgon as a plural, equivalent to the Lat. organa. On the early meaning of organum, see Chappell's Hist. of Music, i. 327.
St. Cecilia is commonly considered the patroness of music; see Dryden's Ode for St. Cecilia's day, and Alexander's Feast, ll. 132-141. But the connexion of her name with music is not very ancient, as Mrs. Jameson explains. The reason for this connexion seems to me clear enough, viz. the simple fact that the word organis occurs in this very passage. Besides, St. Cecilia is here represented as singing herself—'in corde soli domino decantabat dicens'; see l. 135. The South-E. Legendary (see n. to l. 120) says she sang a verse of the Psalter.
145. conseil, a secret; Lat. 'mysterium.' And so in l. 192, and in P. Plowm. B. v. 168; see note to C. 819 above. and, if.
150. here, her, is a dissyllable in Chaucer whenever it ends a line, which it does six times; see e.g. B. 460; Kn. Tale, 1199 (A. 2057). This is quite correct, because the A. S. form hire is dissyllabic also.
159. me gye, rule me, keep me; lit. guide me.