7105* ff. The tale is told also in the Mirour de l’Omme, 7093-7128. It is to be found in the Gesta Romanorum (which however is not Gower’s source), and in various other places. Cicero tells what is practically the same story of Dionysius of Syracuse (De Nat. Deorum, iii. 34), but the acts of sacrilege were committed by him in various places. The golden mantle was taken from the statue of Zeus at Olympia, and the beard from that of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, the justification in this latter case being that Apollo, the father of Aesculapius, was always represented without a beard. Those who repeated the anecdote in the Middle Ages naturally missed this point. We may note that Dyonis is the name given in the Mirour.
7213 ff. Cp. Rom. de Troie, 2779 ff.
7235 ff. Rom. de Troie, 3029 ff. Gower has judiciously cut short the architectural details.
7275. Esionam: see note on l. 6719.
7307. in his yhte, ‘in his possession.’ For the substance of these lines cp. Rom. de Troie, 2915-2950.
7372. schape ye, imperative, for schapeth; so ‘Sey ye’ in l. 7435.
7377. Strong thing, i. e. a hard thing to bear. This is apparently a translation of the French ‘fort,’ which was very commonly used in the sense of ‘difficult’: see the examples in Godefroy’s Dictionary, e. g. ‘forte chose est de çou croire,’ ‘fors choses est a toi guerroier ancontre moi.’
7390 ff. ‘Ten men have been seen to deal with a hundred and to have had the better.’
7400. Rom. de Troie, 3842, ‘L’autrier ès kalendes de Mai,’ &c. The word ‘ender’ is an adjective meaning ‘former,’ originally perhaps an adverb. It is used only in the expressions ‘ender day’ and ‘ender night.’ The combination ‘enderday’ occurs in i. 98.