3904. this was conseil, ‘this was a secret’: cp. iii. 778, vi. 2326; so Chaucer, Cant. Tales, C 819, ‘Shal it be conseil?’ cp. D 966, E 2431.
3927 ff. Benoît tells no more of Jason’s life after his return to Greece, saying that Dares relates no more, and he does not wish to tell stories that may not be true, ‘N’en velt fere acreire mençonge.’ From this point then Gower follows Ovid, Metam. vii. 159-293, and it must be understood that the illustrative quotations in the notes are from this passage.
3947. ‘And prayed her that by the magic art which she knew,’ &c. For the order of words cp. 2815 f.
3957 f. Ovid makes it full moon, l. 180, but afterwards, l. 188, says ‘Sidera sola micant.’
3962 ff.
‘Egreditur tectis vestes induta recinctas,
Nuda pedem, nudos humeris infusa capillos,
Fertque vagos mediae per muta silentia noctis
Incomitata gradus.’ Metam. vii. 182 ff.
The comparison to the adder in l. 3967 is Gower’s own.