741. 'Amor mundi, amor huius saeculi, cupiditas dicitur'; S. Augustini enarratio in Psalmum xxxi, part ii. § 5; ed. Migne, vol. 36, col. 260.
748. 'Auarus, quod est idolorum seruitus'; Eph. v. 5.
749. mawmet, idol. It was unjustly supposed that Mahometans worshipped the prophet; whence Mahomet, corrupted to mawmet, came to mean an idol in general. See Marco Polo, ed. Yule, i. 174, for illustrations.
751. 'Non habebis deos alienos coram me. Non facies tibi sculptile'; Exod. xx. 3, 4. The addition of the second clause, taken from the second commandment, is remarkable. It was quite common to omit the second commandment altogether; cf. note to C. 641. Cf. Ayenb. pp. 5, 6.
752. tailages, &c. The Fr. text has:—'par tallies, par corvees, par emprunz, par mauvaises coustumes,' &c.; cf. 'be tailes, be coruees, be lones, be kueade wones'; Ayenb. p. 38. Cowel explains tallage as 'a tribute, toll, or tax.' It was, in fact, an exaction for which a tally, or acknowledgement (upon a notched stick) was given; see note to P. Plowman, B. iv. 57; and cf. Chaucer's Prologue, 570; P. Plowman, C. xxii. 37.
Dr. Murray explains cariage in this passage as meaning 'an obsolete service of carrying, or a payment in lieu of the same, due by a tenant to his landlord or feudal superior, or imposed by authority.'
amerciments, arbitrary fines inflicted 'at the mercy' of an affeeror. If the affeeror had no mercy, they became, as is here said, mere extortions.
754. The reference is given to Augustine's De Civitate Dei, lib. ix.; but is wrong. It should be to lib. xix. c. 15:—'Prima ergo seruitutis caussa peccatum est.'
755. See Gen. ix. 18-27. The reference to Gen. v. is a mistake, perhaps due to the fact that Ham is first mentioned in that chapter, at the end of it. See 766 below.
759. This is from Seneca, Epist. 47, which begins:—'Libenter ex his, qui a te ueniunt, cognoui, familiariter te cum seruis tuis uiuere; hoc prudentiam tuam, hoc eruditionem decet. Serui sunt? immo homines. Serui sunt? immo contubernales.'