122. Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 6:—'Al the linage of men that ben in erthe ben of semblable birthe. On allone is fader of thinges.... Why noisen ye or bosten of your eldres? For yif thou loke your biginninge, and god your auctor and maker,' &c.
135. one; i.e. the Virgin Mary.
139. After secte, supply I:—'that, in any respect, I may so hold an opinion against her sex.' Secte is properly 'suite'; but here means sex; cf. l. 134.
140. in hem, in them, i.e. in women. And so in l. 141.
Chap. III. 8. victorie of strength; because, according to the first book of Esdras, iv. 14, 15, women are the strongest of all things.
9. Esdram, accus. of Esdras, with reference to the first book of Esdras, called 'liber Esdrae tertius' in the Vulgate.
9, 10. whos lordship al lignes. Something is lost here; lordship comes at the end of a line; perhaps the insertion of passeth will give some sort of sense; whos lordship [passeth] al lignes, whose lordship surpasses all lines. But lignes is probably a corrupt reading.
10. who is, i.e. who is it that? The Vulgate has: 'Quis est ergo qui dominatur eorum? Nonne mulieres genuerunt regem,' &c. But the A. V. has: 'Who is it then that ruleth them, or hath the lordship over them? Are they not women? Women have borne the king,' &c. This translates a text in which mulieres has been repeated.
17-21. From 1 Esdras, iv. 15-7: 'Women have borne the king and all the people that bear rule by sea and land. Even of them came they: and they nourished them up that planted the vineyards, from whence the wine cometh. These also make garments [Lat. stolas] for men; these bring glory unto men; and without women cannot men be.'