Walter William Skeat

“ See Chaucer's gloss.
16. Decorat, Decoratus. He seems to have been in high favour with king Theodoric, who wrote him a letter which is preserved in Cassiodorus, lib. v. 31. It is clear that Boethius thought very ill of him.
32. that he is despysed, i.e. because he is despised. The argument is, that a wicked man seems the more wicked when he is despised by a very great number of people; and if he be of high rank, his rank makes him more conspicuous, and therefore the more generally contemned. ”

“ Chaucer's use of pose for 'suppose' in the next line. The reading possessioun (in both MSS.) is obviously wrong; it sounds as if taken down from dictation.
31. I pose, I suppose, I put the case: 'statuamus nullam esse praescientiam.' The words 'per impossibile' are inserted by Chaucer, and mean, 'to take an impossible case.'
56. But, certes, right; only, indeed, just as, &c. It is difficult to give the right force intended; and, probably, Chaucer quite mistook the sense. 'Quasi uero nos ea, quae prouidentia futura esse praenoscit, non esse euentura credamus.'
62. ”

“ Arcturus was (as here) another name for Boötes, though it properly meant the brightest star in that constellation. It is at no great distance from the north pole, and so appears to revolve round it. The passage, which is somewhat obscure, seems to refer to the manner of the rising and setting of Boötes; and the argument is, that a person ignorant of astronomy, must be puzzled to understand the laws that rule the motions of the sky.
3. the sterre, the constellation. Chaucer uses sterre in this sense in several passages; see Kn. ”

“ The comune errour: 'Commouet gentes publicus error.' The people who do not understand an eclipse, are excited by it; they bring out basins, and beat them with a loud din, to frighten away the spirit that is preying on the moon. Chaucer calls them Corybantes, but these were the priests of Cybele. Still, they celebrated her rites to the sound of noisy music; and he may have been thinking of a passage in Ovid, Fasti, iv. 207-14. C. adds a gloss: 'i. vulgaris error, quo putatur luna incantari.'
12. thikke strokes, frequent strokes. ”

“ Metre 5. 1. whele, sphere: 'orbis.' Not only were there seven spheres allotted to the planets, but there was an eighth larger sphere, called the sphere of fixed stars, and a ninth 'sphere of first motion,' or primum mobile, which revolved round the earth once in 24 hours, according to the Ptolemaic astronomy. This is here alluded to. God is supposed to sit in an immoveable throne beyond it. ”

“ For scomes (lit. scums) , Caxton and Thynne have vomes, for fomes (foams) .
40. the whiche, 'which shoulders were fated to sustain (lit. thrust against) the high sphere of heaven.' Alluding to Hercules, when he took the place of Atlas.
45. nake, expose your unarmed backs (Lat. nudatis) , like one who runs away. An unarmed man was usually said to be naked ”

“ Plato. This notion is found in Proclus and Plotinus, and other followers of Plato; but Plato himself really expressed a contrary opinion, viz. that the world had a definite beginning. See his Timæus.
48. For this ilke: 'Hunc enim uitae immobilis praesentarium statum infinitus ille temporalium rerum motus imitatur; cumque eum effingere atque aequare non possit, ex immobilitate deficit in motum, et ex simplicitate praesentiae decrescit in infinitam futuri ac praeteriti quantitatem;' &c. ”

“ Scornest thou me: 'Ludisne, inquam, me, inextricabilem labyrinthum rationibus texens, quae nunc quidem, qua egrediaris, introeas; nunc uerò qua introieris, egrediare; an mirabilem quemdam diuinae simplicitatis orbem complicas?'
117. the hous of Dedalus; used to translate 'labyrinthum.' See Vergil, Aen. vi. 24-30, v. 588. No doubt Boethius borrowed the word inextricabilis from Aen. vi. 27.
125. for which: 'ex quo neminem beatum fore, nisi qui pariter Deus esset, quasi munusculum dabas.' Here munusculum refers to corollarium, which Chaucer translates by 'a mede of coroune'; see above, Pr. x. ”

“ Compendium also means 'an abbreviating,' which Chaucer here expresses by abbregginge, introducing at the same time the word 'hap,' to make some sense.
66. uneschuable, inevitable; 'ineuitabili.'
Metre 1. 2. Achemenie: 'Rupis Achaemeniae scopulis,' in the crags of the Achæmenian rock or mountain. Achaemenius signifies 'Persian,' from Achaemenes, the grandfather of Cyrus; but is here extended to mean Armenian. The sources of the Tigris and Euphrates are really different, though both rise in the mountains of Armenia; they run for a long way at no great distance apart, and at last join. ”

“ This gloss is an alternative paraphrase of all that precedes, from the beginning of the Metre.
32. Plato. From Plato's Phaedo, where Socrates says: ὅτι ἡμῖν ἡ μάθησις ὀυκ ἄλλο τι ἢ ἀνάμνησις τυγχάνει οὖσα (72 E) .
Prose 12. 18. Wendest, didst ween: 'Mundum, inquit, hunc â Deo regi paullo antè minimè dubitandum putabas.' Surely Chaucer has quite mistaken the construction. He should rather have said: 'Thou wendest, quod she, a litel her-biforn that men ne sholden nat doute,' &c.
19. nis governed, is governed; the same construction as before. ”

“ A coined word, from the Lat. impetrent; see the last note.
146. linage of mankind, the human race; to which his (its) twice refers below.
147. a litel her-biforn; i.e. in Bk. iv. Met. 6. 34, where we find—'they sholden departen from hir welle, that is to seyn, from hir biginninge, and faylen.' See p. 122.
Metre 3. 1. What, &c.: 'Quaenam discors foedera rerum Caussa resoluit?'
2. the coniunccioun; but this gloss seems to be wrong, for the reference is rather (as Chaucer, following a sidenote in MS. C., says in l. 5) to foreknowledge and free will.
3. Whiche god, i.e. ”

“ Zeno of Elea (see p. 420) , born about B.C. 488, is said to have risked his life to defend his country. His fate is doubtful.
40. Senecciens, apparently meant for 'the followers of Seneca.' The original has: 'at Canios, at Senecas, at Soranos ... scire potuisti.'
Canios, the Canii; i. e. men like Canius. The constancy and death of Julius Canius (or Canus) is related by Seneca, De Tranquillitate, cap. xiv. Cf. Pr. iv. 131, and note, p. 424.
41. Sorans, the Sorani; men like Soranus. Soranus is mentioned in Tacitus, Annal. xvi. 23. Caxton and Thynne read Soranos, as in the Latin text. ”

“ Lat. text: 'Solitas iterum mutet habenas.' The planet Venus, towards one apparent extremity of her orbit, follows the sun, as an evening-star; and again, towards the other apparent extremity, precedes it as a morning-star. So Cicero, De Nat. Deorum, ii. 20. 53: 'dicitur Lucifer, cum antegreditur solem, cum subsequitur autem, Hesperus.'
11. restreinest, shortenest; the sun's apparent course being shorter in winter. Lat. ”

“ This is a pp. form as if from *skerpa, pt. t. *skarp; cf. skera, pt. t. skar, pp. skorinn. The adj. skarpr means 'sharp,' whence the weak verb skerpa, to sharpen. The sense of the primitive verb *skerpa was, doubtless, 'to cut'; and scorklen is, lit., 'to cause to be cut about,' when used as a transitive verb; hence, 'to shrivel up,' from the appearance of plants 'cut' with frost or parched with heat.
21. Allas!
⁠'Heu grauem sortem, quoties iniquus
Additur saeuo gladius ueneno!'
More correctly, 'lordshippe to venimous crueltee.' MS. C has 'gladius, i. potestas exercendi gladium' ”

“ It can hardly have been the one here given, which signifies that God is 'like the mass of a sphere that is well-rounded on all sides.' Perhaps he took the idea of God's immobility from the next two verses:—
μεσσόθεν ἰσοπαλὲς πάντη, τὸ γὰρ ὄυτε τι μεῖζον
οὔτε βεβαίοτερον πέλει.
i.e. 'equidistant from the centre in all directions; for there is nothing greater (than Him) , and nothing more immoveable.'
152. Plato. From Plato's Timaeus, 29 B: ὡς ἄρα τοὺς λόγους ὧνπερ ἐισὶν ἐξηγηταί, τούτων ἀυτῶν καὶ συγγενεῖς ὄντας. Chaucer quotes this saying twice; see Cant. Tales, A 741-2, H 207-210.
Metre 12. ”

“ Ne shrewes: 'Neque enim leuia aut ludicra praemia petunt, quae consequi atque obtinere non possunt.'
120. laye, might lie (subjunctive) : 'quo nihil ulterius peruium iaceret incessui.'
137. for to ben, even to exist. So below, ben frequently means 'to exist,' as appears from the argument.
151. mowen, have power to act: 'possunt.'
161. understonde, mayest understand: 'ut intelligas.'
187. Plato, viz. in the Gorgias and Alcibiades I, where many of the arguments here used may be found.
Metre 2. The subject of this metre is from Plato, De Republica, x. ”

“ Iolitee: intended to translate 'lasciuiam,' a reading of some MSS.; MS. C. has this reading, glossed 'voluptatem.' Most MSS. read lacunam, i.e. void, want. were, would be; 'foret.'
14. that children: 'nescio quem filios inuenisse tortores.'
15. bytinge; 'mordax.' anguissous: 'anxium.'
16. or, ere; in fact, Caxton has ere, and Thynne, er.
18. Euripidis; in the gen. case, as in the Lat. text. The reference is to Euripides, Andromache, 418: πᾶσι δ' ἀνθρώποις ἄρ' ἦν ψυχὴ, τεκν'· ὅστις δ' ἄυτ' ἄπειρος ὢν ψέγει, ἧσσον μὲν ἀλγεῖ, δυστυχῶν δ' ἐυδαιμονεῖ.
Metre 7. 3. ”

“ Examples are not very common; cf. reverents below, Bk. iii. Met. 4, l. 6; and delitables, C. T. F 899.
26. by privee path, by an unseen route; 'secreto tramite.' Alluding to the apparent passage of the sun below the horizon and, as it were, underneath the world. Cf. Troil. iii. 1705.
27. Alle thinges: 'Repetunt proprios quaeque recursus.'
Prose 3. 1. beestes, animals; 'animalia.' Chaucer always uses beest for 'animal.'
15. fals beautee, a false beauty; 'falsa ... beatitudinis species.' But 'species' may simply mean 'semblance.'
17. After axe, Caxton and Thynne insert the, i.e. thee ”

“ Boethius here derives uirtus from uires: 'quod suis uiribus nitens non superetur aduersis.'
64. Ne certes: 'Neque enim uos in prouectu positi uirtutis, diffluere deliciis, et emarcescere uoluptate uenistis; proelium cum omni fortuna nimis acre conseritis, ne uos aut tristis opprimat, aut iucunda corrumpat: firmis medium uiribus occupate.'
72. in your hand: 'In uestra enim situm est manu.'
Metre 7. 1. wreker, avenger; Attrides, Atrides, i.e. Agamemnon, son of Atreus. Chaucer derived the spelling Agamenon from a gloss in MS. C. Gower (C. A. ii. 344) has the same form. ”

“ Why axestow ... thanne: 'Quid igitur postulas?'
112. he ne unwot: 'quod idem exsistendi necessitate carere non nesciat.'
116. it ne may nat unbityde: 'id non euenire non posse.'
119. but unnethe: 'sed cui uix aliquis nisi diuini speculator accesserit.'
150, 1. in beinge, in coming to pass: 'exsistendo.'
by the which: 'qua prius quam fierent, etiam non euenire potuissent.' MS. C. has the contraction for 'que,' i.e. 'quae'; but Chaucer clearly adopted the reading 'qua.' The usual reading is 'quia' or 'quae.'
154. so as they comen, since they come: 'cum ... ”

“ Prose 10. 8. for that veyn, in order that vain, &c.
11. ne is, exists. We should now drop the negative after 'deny.' nis right as, is precisely as.
12. is proeved: 'id imminutione perfecti imperfectum esse perhibetur.'
14. in every thing general: 'in quolibet genere.'
21. descendeth: 'in haec extrema atque effeta dilabitur.' Cf. ”

“ Sans querre piment ne claré.'
7. ne they coude: 'Nec lucida uellera Serum Tyrio miscere ueneno.' Hence the Seriens are the Seres, or Chinese; and the venim of Tyrie should rather be the venim of Tyre, but Chaucer follows the adjectival form in the original, both here and in Bk. iii. Met. 4, l. 2. Venim is not the right word here; 'ueneno' merely means 'dye.' The reference is to the murex or purple shell-fish. See Vergil, Aen. iv. 262: 'Tyrioque ardebat murice laena'; and Georg. ii. 465: 'alba nec Assyrio fucatur lana ueneno.'
13. gest ne straungere: 'hospes.' Cf. Former Age, 21. ”