3291. And schop anon, &c. This might be understood of Peleus, who, according to the original story, gave orders for the building of the ship; but better perhaps of Jason, ‘And schop’ for ‘And he schop,’ cp. l. 4590 and vi. 1636.
3376. herd spoke: cp. 4485, ‘I have herd seid.’
3388. That is, ‘they took heed each of other.’ For the plural verb cp. 3439.
3416. That is, ‘he took St. John as his pledge’ of a good issue, ‘he committed himself to the care of St. John.’ The expression was often used in connexion with setting out on a journey: cp. Chaucer, Compl. of Mars, 9.
3422. Cp. iv. 3273, vi. 2104. The expression in vi. 1621 f., ‘to ful age, That he can reson and langage,’ that is, ‘till he is of full age and knows reason,’ &c., is much of the same kind.
3488. dede him helpe. We must take this second ‘helpe’ as a substantive, otherwise the rhyme would not be good. The rule is that words identical in form can only be combined in rhyme when they have some difference of meaning.
3509. to thyle. The idea was that the golden fleece was guarded in a small island adjacent to the larger ‘isle of Colchos.’ See Rom. de Troie, 1791 ff.,
‘Ilec li covient à passer,
Ou voille ou non, un bras de mer;
Mès estreiz est, ne dure mie