1312. comun rote, that is, apparently, ‘common custom.’ The word ‘rote’ is used also below, l. 1457, where it appears to mean ‘condition.’ It must be the same as that which appears in the phrase ‘by rote,’ and it is difficult to believe that it can be the French ‘route,’ as is usually said. The rhyme here and in l. 1457, as well as those in Chaucer (with ‘cote,’ ‘note’), show that the ‘o’ had an open sound, and this would be almost impossible from French ‘ou.’ The expression ‘par routine’ or ‘par rotine’ is given by Cotgrave as equivalent to the English ‘by rote,’ but I am not aware of any use of such an expression in French as early as the fourteenth century. Many of the examples of the phrase ‘by rote’ seem to have to do with singing or church services (cp. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, B 1712, Piers Plowmans Crede, 379), and Du Cange gives a quotation in which ‘rotae’ seems to mean ‘chants’ or ‘hymns’ (‘rota,’ 6). From such a sense as this the idea of a regular order of service, and thence of ‘custom,’ ‘habit,’ might without much difficulty arise.
1314 ff. The following passage from the Spec. Astronomiae, cap. 10, gives most of the names and terms which occur in these lines: ‘Ex libris vero Toz Graeci est liber de stationibus ad cultum Veneris, qui sic incipit: Commemoratio historiarum ... Ex libris autem Salomonis est liber de quatuor anulis, quem intitulat nominibus quatuor discipulorum suorum, qui sic incipit: De arte eutonica et ideica, &c. Et liber de nouem candariis.... Et alius paruus de sigillis ad dæmoniacos, qui sic incipit: Caput sigilli gendal et tanchil.’
1316. Razel. ‘Est autem unus liber magnus Razielis, qui dicitur liber institutionum,’ &c. In MS. Ashmole 1730 there is a letter to Dr. Richard Napier from his nephew at Oxford, speaking of a book of Solomon in the University Library called Cephar Raziel, that is, he explains, ‘Angelus magnus secreti Creatoris,’ of which he proposes to make a copy, having obtained means of entering the library at forbidden hours. Again, in MS. Ashmole 1790 there is a description of this book.
1320. ‘cui adiungitur liber Beleni de horarum opere,’ Spec. Astron. p. 661. The seal of Ghenbal is the ‘sigillum gendal,’ mentioned in the former citation.
1321 f. thymage Of Thebith. Thebith (or Thebit) stands for Thabet son of Corah, a distinguished Arabian mathematician, to whom were attributed certain works on astrology and magic that were current in Latin. Thus we find Thebit de imaginibus very commonly in MSS., and a Liber Thebit ben Corat de tribus imaginibus magicis was printed in 1559 at Frankfort. In this latter book the author says, ‘Exercentur quoque hae imagines in amore vel odio, si fuerit actor earum prouidus et sapiens in motibus coeli ad hoc utilibus.’ Thebith is mentioned several times in the Spec. Astronomiae, e. g. p. 662, ‘Super istis imaginibus reperitur unus liber Thebith eben Chorath,’ &c. We must take ‘therupon’ in l. 1321 to mean ‘moreover,’ for it is not to be supposed that the image of Thebith was upon the seal of Ghenbal.
1338. The ‘Naturiens’ are those who pursue the methods of astrology, as opposed to those who practise necromancy (‘nigromance’) or black magic.
1356. He bede nevere: see note on v. 4455.
1359. red, originally written ‘rede’ in F, but the final letter was afterwards erased. See Introduction, p. cxiv.
1371 f. The rhyme requires that ‘become,’ ‘overcome’ shall either be both present or both preterite (subjunctive), and ‘wonne’ seems to decide the matter for preterite. The only difficulty is ‘have I’ for ‘hadde I’ in l. 1370, the latter being required also by the sense (for the reference is to the former time of youth), but not given by the MSS. ‘So that I wonne’ means ‘Provided that I won.’
1391 ff. This story is from the Roman de Troie, 28571-28666, 29629-30092. Guido does not differ as to the main points, but there are several details given by Gower from Benoît which are not found in Guido. In particular the ensign carried by Telegonus is mentioned by Guido only in telling of the dream of Ulysses. Some of the passages which tend to show that Benoît was our author’s authority are noted below.