[7484]. Catonis Distich. iii, 5.
[7500]. 1 Cor. xiii, 13. Nunc autem manent fides, spes, charitas, tria hæc: major autem horum est charitas.
[7528], &c. Aristotle, Ypocras, and Virgile.—These three names were the great representatives of ancient science and literature in the middle ages. Aristotle represented philosophy, in its most general sense; Virgil represented literature in general, and more particularly the ancient writers who formed the grammar course of scholastic learning, whether verse or prose; Ypocras, or Hippocrates, represented medicine. They are here introduced to illustrate the fact that men of science and learning, as well as warriors and rich men, experience the vicissitudes of fortune.
[7534]. Felice. Perhaps this name is only introduced for the sake of alliteration.
[7536]. Rosamounde. I suppose the reference is to "fair Rosamond."
[7554]. Luc. vi, 38.
[7567]. John iii, 8.
[7572]. John iii, 11.
[7582]. John iii, 8.
[7600]. thorugh caractes. It was the popular belief in the middle ages, that while the Jews were accusing the woman taken in adultery, Christ wrote with his staff on the ground the sins of the accusers, and that when they perceived this they dropped their accusation in confusion at finding that their own guilt was known. See this point curiously illustrated in Mr. Halliwell's Coventry Mysteries, pp. 220, 221. These are the characters alluded to in Piers Ploughman.