Prope Cimmerios longo spelunca recessu,
Mons cavus, ignavi domus et penetralia Somni.
(Metamorphoses xi. 592-3.)
Much of the poetry of Gower's description is due to Ovid.
a 78 f. Editors put no stop after may and a comma after hell. Hence The New English Dictionary quotes this passage as an isolated instance of noise, transitive, meaning 'disturb with noise'. But noise is intransitive, hell is governed by aboute round, and the position of bot is abnormal as in l. 105. Cp. notes to ll. 26, 32, and render 'But all round about the hill'.
a 105. For the word order see notes to ll. 26, 32, 78 f.
a 117. The lif, 'the man', cp. IV a 43.
a 118. Ithecus: for Icelos. According to Ovid 'Icelos' was the name by which he was known to the gods, but men called him 'Phobetor'.
a 123. Panthasas: Ovid's Phantasos.
a 152. See note to l. 26.