[2]. unred, folly, an ill-advised thing; OE. unrǣd: comp. ‘He has me don oft vnresun,’ CM 3747; ‘vnwit,’ Laud Troy Book, 4285.
[3]. For &c. is the remnant of a calculation in Comestor of Jacob’s age at the time when Joseph was sold. See Gen. xxxvii. 2.
[6]. ‘prestantior corpore et sapientior ceteris,’ Comestor. wastme is Mätzner’s emendation; Morris suggested wasteme: the same scribal error, ‘of faiger waspene’ occurs at GE 1440. OE. wæstm, wæstem means growth, stature; the sense here is, countenance: comp. ‘hire wliti westum,’ SK 310, answering to ‘vultus ipsius claritas.’ of witter wune, discreet in behaviour: the explanations of Mätzner, ‘of intellectual capacity,’ and of Morris, ‘of good ability,’ seem to force the meaning of wune, which is, custom, use, so ‘for kinde wune,’ GE 1405, by family custom, usage. Comp. 208/384; ‘witter of figt,’ GE 864; ‘o resun . . . rijf,’ CM 14837; ‘o reson . . . ranc,’ id. 21024.
[7]. misfaren, go astray, misbehave.
[8]. gan—baren, uncovered and laid bare: the auxiliary use of gon is frequent in GE.
[9], 10. He would have them discipline themselves, so that they might be of good moral character. Possibly the second he stands for Jacob; that is, Joseph wished Jacob to discipline them. Comp. for ten, 171/368; ‘þat he hine sculde wel i-teon; ⁊ tuhlen him teachen,’ L 2418.
[11]. him was added by Mätzner. For wið, against, comp. ‘⁊ all þatt follc toc niþ wiþþ himm,’ Orm 10267. nið is often associated with hate; comp. 198/33; ‘þurrh hete ⁊ niþ,’ Orm 1404, 8013; ‘stormes of nið · ⁊ of onde · ⁊ of hatienge,’ OEH ii. 177/4.
[12]. for—lið: Morris inserts herte after ille, producing a truism and spoiling the verse. Mätzner translates ‘quia situm est in malo,’ treating ille as a neuter noun, evil. Possibly ille means, evil men, but more probably the place is corrupt, and we should read, And hate sor þat ille in it lið, (envy) and bitter hatred which wickedly co-exists with envy, that is, envy which produces hatred of the person envied. For ille as adverb, comp. GE 1706, 4029.
[13]. ðo . . . Quanne, then especially . . . when: ‘Causa tamen odii maior fuit visio somniorum,’ Comestor. bold, shameless: Lucifer is ‘ðat neddre bold,’ GE 323.
[15], 16. ‘Putabam . . . vestros manipulos adorare manipulum meum stantem,’ C. soren, shorn.