474. Prov. iii. 21, 22.

475. Sc. Trust.

476. Hesione, whom Hercules rescued when she was exposed by command of an oracle to be devoured by a sea monster, and whom he gave to Telamon Ajax on being defrauded of his promised reward by her father Laomedon (Ovid, Met. xi. 211).

477. Thelamon Ayaulx, H.

478. Sc. through.

479. Væ tibi, terra, cujus rex puer est, Vulg. (Eccles x. 16).

480. Plus moleste, H.

481. Sap. x. 5.

482. Et empires, H.

483. Calchas was not a Trojan, but a son of Thestor of Mycenæ or Megara and the foremost soothsayer on the Greek side. Christine de Pisan or her authority seems to have misunderstood Dares Phrygius, ch. 15.

484. Sc. Apollo; Apollin, H.

485. Sc. subtle.

486. 2 Tim. iii. 2, 4, with omissions.

487. Sc. Hermaphroditus (Ovid, Met. iv. 285 sq).

488. A Hermofrodicus te mire, H.

489. The nymph of the well Salmacis; vne nimphe, H.

490. A la fontaine de Salmacis, H.

491. Lui prist talent de soy baigner, H.

492. Sc. sexes; qui ii. sexes auoit, H.

493. Darquemie, sc. alchemy, H.

494. Ghadely, MS.

495. Leurs ficcions, H.

496. Men, MS.

497. Isai. xxxv. 3.

498. Yen (sc. eyes) of yowre, MS.

499. Lenterine face, H. (enterin, sc. entier, complet, Godefroy, s.v.).

500. Sc. how much.

501. La pouons nous veoir nostre bel, la pouons nous veoir nostre lait, la pouons nous veoir combien nous prouffitons et combien nous sommes loings de prouffiter, H.

502. Joh. v. 39.

503. Gard toy Briseyda nacointier, H. The change is probably due to Chaucer’s “Troylus and Cryseyde.”

504. Cointe et vague et attrayant, H.

505. Of the, MS.

506. Sc. wholly?; du tout, H.

507. 1 Cor. i. 31.

508. Sc. two.

509. Or, MS. The passage is confused, cf. que tout homme qui a occis ou meffait au loyal compaignon dun autre que le compaignon en fera la vengence, H.

510. Madarge, H.; Magdargis, Add. MS. 16,906, f. 55b; Macdarge, Roy. MS. 19 B. iv. f. 65. The “dit” as given by G. de Tignonville in the last-named MS. is “En quelque lieu que tu soyes auecques ton enmemi .... fay touz iours bon guet; ia soit ce que tu soyes le plus fort et plus puissant, si doys tu trauaillier a faire la paix.”

511. Sc. though.

512. Sc. ought.

513. This is not among Solon’s sayings in the “Dis des Philosophes.”

514. Ephes. vi. 11.

515. His, MS., both here and in the next line.

516. Sc. Narcissus; Narcisus, H. See the story in Ovid, Met. iii. 356 sq.

517. Cf. qui par grant necessite requiert autrui; la voix qui est demouree, cest que de gens souffraiteux est il assez demoure ne ilz ne peuent parler fors apres autrui, H.

518. The fourth philosopher in the “Dicta”; Salquin, Add. MS. 16,906, f. 7b; Zaqualkin, Roy. MS. 19 B. iv. f. 10b.

519. To helpe, MS.

520. Prov. xxii. 9.

521. Sc. Daphne (Ovid, Met. i. 452 sq.); Damne, H.

522. To theyme, MS.; ou temps, H.

523. Sc. how.

524. An omission by homœoteleuton; cf. estre tous iours present aux ordres des anges auec les benois esperis assister a la gloire du conditeur, regarder le present visage, etc., H. The quotation is from Hom. xxxvii. in Evang. (Migne, lxxvi. 1275).

525. Psal. lxxxvi. 3.

526. Sc. Andromache’s.

527. Petite paille, H.

528. La brusle du feu de sa soubtille circonspeccion, H.

529. 1 Thess. v. 19.

530. Ninus, H.

531. Sc. Nimrod.

532. Le roy Ninus, H.

533. De Singularitate Clericorum (Migne, iv. 837). The Latin text is somewhat loosely rendered.

534. Cest vne sotte fiance, H.; adversaria est confidentia, St. Aug.

535. Estre sauf entre les morsures, H.

536. And—vnhurte, not in H. or Lat.

537. Sc. laugheth; rit, H.

538. Psal. xxxvi. 3; Bonum est confidere in Domino, etc. (Psal. cxvii. 8), H.

539. Ce sera quant le roy Priant ne croiras, qui tira priant, H.

540. See above, p. 100.

541. Shepe, MS.

542. Sc. Othea; he, MS., both here and a few words later on.

543. Sa mort, H.

544. Sermo de conversione ad clericos, ch. viii. (Migne, clxxxii. 843).

545. En espies, H.; auxpiez, Roy. MSS. 14 E. ii. f. 327, 17 E. iv. f. 313; adolescentibus in insidiis est, St. Bern.

546. Eccl. xiv. 12; tardabit, H.

547. Encor te vueil ie faire sage, H.

548. ? Stroke; le coup de vne sayette, H. and G. de Tign.

549. Qui met auenir, H.; qui meut a venir, G. de Tign (Roy. MS. 19 B. iv. f. 7b).

550. Matt. vi. 6.

551. The Politenes of Benoît de Ste. Maure (l. 16105) and Guido delle Colonne.

552. Puit estre nuisible, H.

553. Couuoitise desordenee, H.

554. Dit Ygnocence ou liure de la vilte de condicion humaine, H. The quotation is from Pope Innocent III., “De contemptu mundi,” ii. 6 (Migne, ccxvii. 719).

555. Sont ii. sancsues, H.; sanguisugæ, Innoc., quoting Prov. xxx. 15. Wyer’s version rightly has “horse-leeches”; and the reading “sauce-makers” is inexplicable.

556. Tim. vi. 10.

557. A luniversaire (sc. l’anniversaire) du chief de lan des obseques de Hector, H.; vnyuersarie, Wyer.

558. Amer, H.

559. In ep. Joannis ad Parthos tract. ii. (Migne, xxxv. 1994).

560. Et sa concupiscence, H.

561. Amer, H.

562. 1 Ep. Joh. ii. 15.

563. Perciez doultre en oultre, H.

564. Sc. Augustine.

565. Susde, MS.; ne nul en sa force ne se doit fyer, H.

566. 2 Cor. iii. 4, 5; tanquam ex nobis, H.

567. Lenditement, H.; exhortacion, Wyer.

568. Des mauuais, H.; Barat est le cappitaine des mauuoys et ire est son gouuerneur, G. de Tign. (Roy. MS. 19 B. iv. f. 39).

569. iii. (les, H.) inconueniencees, MS.

570. Sc. deny; reyne, MS.; renyer, H.

571. Prov. iv. 15.

572. Paix par faintise, H.

573. Sa mauuaistie, H.

574. Psal. xxi. 26.

575. So H. and other MSS.; perhaps a corruption for Thyre or Tyre.

576. Sc. Ptolemy; Ptholomee, H.

577. Apoc. xviii. 7.

578. Sc. knights.

579. Sc. as he weaned to have returned; si comme il cuidoit retourner, H.

580. Sc. wholly.

581. Louez, H.; loe, G. de Tign. (Roy. MS. 19 B. iv. f. 44b); lawded ne alowed, Wyer.

582. Moralia, xv. 6 (Migne, lxxv. 1084).

583. Matt. xxiii. 27.

584. Sc. sodden; le ble cuit, H. For the same story of Ino see above, p. 29.

585. Frustra sibi de infirmitate vel ignorantia blandiuntur, qui ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant vel infirmantur, Bern. de Gradibus Humilitatis, cap. vi. (Migne, clxxxii. 951).

586. There is an omission here, cf. ou par negligence de les sauoir ou par parece de les demander ou par honte de les enquerir, H.

587. 1 Cor. xiv. 38.

588. Si ne soient de toy despites, H.

589. This story is from the “Aurea Legenda” of Jacobus de Voragine with slight variations (ed. Graesse, 1846, p. 44).

590. De quelconques personne que ilz soient dis, H.

591. Hugh de St. Victor, Eruditionis didascalicæ libri vii. (Migne, clxxvi. 739).

592. Mais que cest que il dit, H.

593. Eccl. iii. 31. H. has the colophon, “Explicit lepistre Othea.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

  1. Table of Contents added by transcriber.
  2. The #ERRATA# corrections were incorporated in the text.
  3. There was no Chapter IL in the source.
  4. Some sidenote numbers were missing in the source, for example “f. 15”.
  5. P. 10, changed “desiderüs” to “desideriis”.
  6. P. 41, changed “sow e” to “sowle”.
  7. P. 47, is missing footnote 2.
  8. P. 62, added an anchor for footnote 7.
  9. P. 65, changed “seythyt ayens God and enprideth the selfe. That is the which dispoilleth Paradyse and clothit hell and voydeth the valu of the blode of Cryst Jhesu and submyttyth the worlde to the tharledom of the seende” to “feythyt ayens God and enprideth the selfe. That is the which dispoilleth Paradyse and clothit hell and voydeth the valu of the blode of Cryst Jhesu and submyttyth the worlde to the tharledom of the feend”.
  10. Silently corrected typographical errors.
  11. Except as noted, retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
  12. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.