1115 f. Libra is the exaltation of Saturn.
1135. That is to say, Scorpio is the ‘fall’ of Venus, being the sign opposite to one of her houses, namely Taurus.
1155 f. Sagittarius is a house of Jupiter, and it is opposite to Gemini, which is one of the houses of Mercury.
1162. The Plowed Oxe, i. e. the ox that has ploughed the land.
1166. Then the swine are killed and the larder, or bacon-tub, comes into use.
1175. Capricorn is the ‘fall’ of the Moon, being opposite to her house, Cancer, as the next sign Aquarius is that of the Sun, see l. 1190.
1216. ‘Piscis’ is the reading of the MSS. here in text and margin, but ‘Pisces’ in l. 1253.
1229 ff. That is, Pisces is a house of Jupiter and the exaltation of Venus.
1239 ff. The reference is apparently to the Introductorium of Albumasar, but the printed editions of this give an abbreviated text which does not help us here. A fuller translation of the original may be found in manuscript, e. g. MS. Digby 194, where something more or less corresponding to this may be found on f. 55, but the Arabic names of places make it difficult to follow.
1281 ff. This account of the fifteen stars with their herbs and stones is taken by Gower from a treatise called ‘Liber Hermetis de xv stellis et de xv lapidibus et de xv herbis, xv figuris,’ &c., which may be found in several manuscripts, e. g. MSS. Ashmole 341 (f. 123) and 1471 (f. 120 vo): cp. l. 1437, where Hermes is mentioned as the authority. Some information as to the names of the stars here mentioned may be found in Ideler’s Untersuchungen über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Sternnamen, 1809.