4027 ff. 1 Kings xii.
4144. can ... mai, used in their original senses, the one implying knowledge and the other active power.
4181 ff. The person meant is Antoninus Pius, of whom his biographer Capitolinus says that he loved peace ‘eousque ut Scipionis sententiam frequentarit, qua ille dicebat, malle se unum civem servare quam mille hostes occidere’ (Hist. August. ed. 1620, p. 20). Godfrey of Viterbo, in the text given by Waitz (Mon. Germ. Hist. xxii. pp. 75, 163), regularly calls him Antonius, and probably Gower had the saying from this source. It is one of the later additions to the Pantheon: cp. note on 2765 ff.
4195. is due To Pite. This seems to mean ‘is bound by duty’ to show mercy.
4228. His trouthe plight, ‘the engagement of his faith.’ Here we have the word ‘plight’ from OE. ‘pliht,’ to be distinguished from ‘plit.’
4242. natheles: cp. l. 3877.
4245. hihe: note the definite form after the possessive genitive, as after a possessive pronoun.
4284. ‘And even if it should chance that he obtained any friendliness from her.’ For the use of ‘compainie’ cp. v. 4558.
4335. Barbarus: more properly Arbaces, but ‘Barbatus’ in the Pantheon (p. 165, ed. 1584).
4361 ff. Cp. Justin, Epit. i. 7, where however the expedient is said to have been used (as related by Herodotus) after Cyrus had put down a revolt.