961 f. The construction of accusative with infinitive is here used after ‘Ecce,’ as if it were a verb, and ‘Calcas’ is evidently meant for an accusative case. It is probable that the names here given, Calchas, Antenor, Thersites, Diomede, Ulysses, as well as those which follow in ll. 985 ff., are meant to stand for general types, rather than for particular persons connected with the government. In any case we could hardly identify them.
997. Vix Hecube thalami, &c. This looks like an allusion to the princess of Wales, the king’s mother, whose apartments in the Tower were in fact invaded by the mob. Similarly in the lines that follow ‘Helenus’ stands for the archbishop of Canterbury.
1019 ff. The text of these five lines, as we find it in DTH₂, that is in its earlier form, was taken for the most part from the Aurora of Petrus (de) Riga, (MS. Bodley 822) f. 88 vo,
‘Non rannus pungens, set oliua uirens, set odora
Ficus, set blanda uitis abhorret eos.
Anticristus enim regit hos, nam spiritus almus,
Nam lex, nam Cristus, non dominatur eis.’
He is speaking of the parable of Jotham in the Book of Judges.
1046. Fasti, ii. 228.
1073. medioque: written apparently for ‘mediaque.’