771. what he mene: for the subjunctive cp. 708.
782. of olde ensample: for ‘olde’ in this expression cp. 1683; but ‘of old time,’ i. 1072, ‘an old ensample,’ iv. 75.
783. This is from Ovid, Met. ii. 542 ff. The Cornide of Gower’s story is Coronis. The story is told at greater length by Chaucer as the Manciple’s Tale.
818 ff. From Ovid, Fasti, ii. 585 ff.
889. fals: see note on Prol. 221.
918. F alone gives ‘overmor,’ but it is probably what the author intended, though his first editions had the common variation ‘evermor.’ S is here defective.
957. sleth, ‘strikes.’
971. who so rede: subjunctive because indefinite; cp. 2508 and note on Prol. 460.
973 ff. This story may be found in Benoît’s Roman de Troie, 27551 ff. and in Guido, lib. 32 (n 3 vo, ed. Argent.). We must note however that for the classical Nauplius we find in Gower ‘Namplus,’ whereas in Benoît and Guido both it is ‘Naulus’: therefore it would seem that our author had before him also some other form of the story, where he found the name ‘Nauplius’ or ‘Nauplus,’ which he read ‘Nanplus’ or ‘Namplus.’ Perhaps this may have been Hyginus, Fab. cxvi. Elsewhere Gower usually follows Benoît rather than Guido, but here several expressions occur which seem to be suggested by Guido’s form of the story: see notes on 1030 and 1063. Also Gower says nothing of the incident of rocks being hurled down on the Greeks (Rom. de Troie, 27795 ff.), which is also omitted by Guido.
1002. The name which appears here and in the Latin margin as ‘Namplus,’ with no important variation of reading, is quite clearly ‘Nauplus’ in iv. 1816 ff.