[16]. ouen—leies: ‘fornacem ignis ardentem per septem flammas in diversis coloribus,’ B iv. he, i.e. ouen; if not a mistake for þe, a striking example of parataxis.
[17]. eateliche to bi haldene: comp. ‘eatolice on to seonne,’ Beda, 240/21; the dat. inf. answers to the L. supine as in terribilis aspectu. In sead . . . to iseonne, 133/30, it corresponds to the genitive of the L. gerund, aspiciendi.
[18]. strengre: see [21/94 note], and comp. ‘ne geþæncaþ hio na, hu strang hit biþ an helle to bionne,’ Wulfstan, 225/12.
[21]. meister deoflen, principal devils: for this use of meister comp. KH 642 note. They are not in B iv, but F iv has ‘Soignours, an l’apre fornoise habitent · vij · delors | · vij · diable l’atisent: cest lor maistre labours | Et · vij · flames an issent de diverses colours.’ swilc, as if; OE. swilce, conj.; comp. ‘He . . . geseah | modiglice menn on merebate | sittan siðfrome swylce hie ofer sæ comon,’ Andreas, 247; ‘mon geseah swelce hit wære an gylden hring on heofonum,’ Orosius, 234/8; ‘þe king Leir iwerðe swa blac; swlch hit a blac cloð weoren,’ L 3069. Swylc swa is also found with the same conjunctive sense, ‘þyslic me is gesewen . . . þis andwearde lif . . . swylc swa þu æt swæsendum sitte,’ Beda, 134/24. For swilc swa, such as, 76/29, see [34/80 note].
[24]. þe sea of helle: B iv has ‘Et septem plage erant in circuitu eius (i.e. fornacis): prima nix, secunda glacies’ &c. The writer or his original has changed these plagues of the furnace into waves ‘uþe’ of the ‘flumen orribile in quo multe bestie dyabolice erant quasi pisces in medio maris,’ which is mentioned at a later point in the Latin, while he alters the river into a lake, perhaps due to a recollection of the ‘stagnum ignis et sulphuris’ of the Apocalypse, xx. 9.
[25]. snau: comp. 120/100.
[26]. smorðer, thick smoke: B iv has ‘sexta fulgur’; F iv ‘Et la siste de foudres et d’avenimemant.’ F iii agrees with the English text. ful stunch: comp. 46/277; 133/44.
[28]. unaneomned, without a name, because they were like nothing in this world; not ‘unmentionable, on account of their number,’ Morris. There is no description of the beasts in the Latin, but such details are to be found elsewhere in the Visions literature, e.g. Visio Tnugdali, 16/7, 17, 19/26.
[31]. to brekene: dative infinitive: OE. swīcan, geswīcan, to cease from, are often constructed with dative of nouns, as, ‘gif he ðonne ðære hnappunge ne swicð,’ Cura Past., 195/11, but apparently not with the dat. inf. This construction is common with analogous verbs such as onginnan, forlǣtan, ieldan. In ME. the dative of the noun occurs, as ‘þa aswac worden; Merlin þe wise,’ L 16112; and the gen., ‘iswikeð unrihtwisra dedan,’ OEH i. 117/32 as in OE., ‘ðæs noldan geswican,’ BH 211/6. Comp. 81/85, 6. þe—nalden: ‘qui non egerunt penitenciam post peccata commissa in hoc mundo,’ B iv. 75/14.
[32]. enden: see 80/54.