[12]. Comp. ‘Mult est fous ke fait trop de sa volontez,’ Archiv lxiii. 84/301. After this line J interpolates, Mon let þi fol lust ouer-go · and eft hit þe likeþ; see 29/45.
[13]. þe is possibly miswriting of þen. M has also þe selþe, but e T D þo; E þer; J eny selhþe. The meanings given in the dictionaries for iselþe, luck, good fortune, happiness, do not give a good sense here; if it could mean experience, the sentiment would be like ‘si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait.’ Morris in OEH i. 160/13 translates discretion.
[14]. elde &c.: comp. 20/72; 40/197; 48/323.
[15]. wiste: awuste E; á wyste e; iwiste TD; er þan ich hit wiste JM.
[16]. smike: smeke E; smeche e D; smoke J; smiche M.
[17]. al to þriste, all too bold, ready; comp. 157/127.
[18]. stondeð: B-T quotes under standan (of direction) ‘Swa micel ege stod deoflum fram eow,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i. 64/25, with meaning, came over; similar is ‘Norð-Denum stod atelic egesa,’ Beowulf, 783. In ME. stonden has developed the meaning, exists (comp. Fr. être < stare). For the construction comp. ‘non eige ne stand of louerde,’ OEH ii. 39/20, 139/28; ‘of iwel and dead hem stondeð greim,’ GE 392: men here is dative like hom. Variations are, ‘þer hem stod eie; þer hem ne sholde,’ OEH ii. 73/30; ‘him ne stod æie to naþing,’ L 11694; ‘alle heom stod him æie to,’ id. 27100; ‘wið dead him stood hinke and age,’ GE 432; 62/37; ‘uor elles vuele us stode,’ AR 312/9. For do, subjunctive after þanne with comparative, comp. 31/28; ‘he brycð swiðor on ðone suðdæl þonne he do on þone norðdæl; ⁊ sio hæte hæfð genumen þæs suðdæles mare þonne se cyle þæs norðdæles hæbbe,’ Orosius 24/26.
[19]. See 32/35. hwile þe: comp. 32/33, 55: elsewhere L has the more usual hwile ꝥ (always unmetrically), or hwile.
[20]. ȝe: hy E e; hi DM: but J has, Hwenne alle men repen schule · þat heo ear seowe. For ꝥ E has þer þe; e, þer; M, her þat.
[21]. to gode, for good; comp. 32/61. he (muȝe): hi D; ȝe E e M; ye J: similarly in the case of the following he.