20 434. uncertain place. It is uncertain in the sense that the drunkard has difficulty in finding it.
21 493. forelays. Awaits before, a survival of an old English compound.
21 495. thrids. Threads, as in the phrase, "threads the mazes of the dance."
21 498. Saturn, seated in a luckless place. A second reference to the planet of his nativity and its unlucky position in heaven at the hour of his birth.
21 500. Mars and Venus in a quartil move. Mars and Venus are here the planets. When their longitudes differ by 90° they move in a quartile. It was regarded in astrology as an omen of ill.
23 545. slumbering as he lay. As he lay slumbering. A favorite inversion with Chaucer.
23 547. Hermes. Lat. Mercury, son of Jupiter. One of his chief duties, to act as a messenger of Jupiter to carry sleep and dreams to mortals.
23 550. sleep-compelling rod. Hermes carried a staff, the caduceus, given him by Apollo, about which two serpents were twined. Its touch induced sleep.
23 552. Argus. He had a hundred eyes and was sent by Juno to guard the cow into which lo had been transformed. He was killed by Mercury at the command of Jupiter, and Juno transferred his eyes to the tail of her peacock.
24 573. A labouring hind in show. In appearance a laboring peasant.