The marginal Latin glosses, identified by a capital L in the left margin next to the text, are transcribed and translated in the notes and can be accessed by clicking on (see note) at the corresponding line.

1 It is Gluttony that first tainted our parents, by the forbidden apple over which every human being mourns. This sin makes the body yearn for things contrary to the soul, by which the flesh is made stout and the spirit thin. If anything virtuous belongs to a man, within or without, clamorous drunkenness destroys it with tippling. Indignant Venus rarely imprints kisses languid with sleep on lips that Bacchus the tavern host has made drunken.

2 Sensualities, along with riches, are the laws of the powerful, in which Venus, stirring, excites Gluttony's kisses. These are not such sensualities as feed the body and cause the filled stomach to give joy, but rather a sated love that takes joy in a greater reward, when the mind given to sensuality is satisfied in a lover.

3 While love is prodded, it dares and advances toward whatever rising voluptuousness commands, fearing nothing that ought to be feared. All that the stars or the power of herbs may do, or even the force of the infernal regions, the lover tries one by one. What sinister things he is not able to perform with God's help, he performs believing in the devil's magic art. Thus he gives no care to himself when he sets his nets to their job, provided that he might be able to take the naked bird.

ABBREVIATIONS: Bart. Ang.: Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, On the Properties of Things; BD: Chaucer, Book of the Duchess; CA: Gower, Confessio Amantis; De nuptiis: Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii; CT: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; De formis: Petrus Berchorius, De formis figurisque deorum; De Is: Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride; Did.: Hugh of St. Victor, Didascalion; Diod.: Diodorus Siculus, Historia Librii; Etym.: Isidore, Etymologiae (PL 82); Ful.: Fulgentius, Mythographies; Gen. deorum: Boccaccio, Genealogie deorum gentilium libri; HF: Chaucer, House of Fame; Hyg.: Hyginus, The Myths of Hyginus (Fabulae); LGW: Chaucer, Legend of Good Women; Mac: G. C. Macaulay (4 vol. Complete Works); MED: Middle English Dictionary; Met.: Ovid, Metamorphoses; MO: Gower, Mirour de l'Omme; OCCL: Oxford Companion to Classical Literature; OED: Oxford English Dictionary; PL: Patrologia Latina; Poet. astr.: Hyginus, Poetica astronomica; RR: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la Rose; TC: Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; Trésor: Brunetto Latini, The Book of the Treasure; Val. Max.: Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings; Vat. Myth.: Vatican Mythographer I, II, or III; VC: Gower, Vox Clamantis; Vit. Barl.: Vitae Sanctorum Barlaam Ermitae et Josaphat Indiae Regis. For manuscript abbreviations, see p. 34.

8 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic in sexto libro tractare intendit de illo capitali vicio quod Gula dicitur, nec non et de eiusdem duabus solummodo speciebus, videlicet Ebrietate et Delicacia, ex quibus humane concupiscencie oblectamentum habundancius augmentatur. [Here in the sixth book he intends to discourse about that capital sin which is called Gluttony, and also about its two species, namely Drunkenness and Sensuality, by which the delights of human lust are abundantly increased.]

12 of hem alle I wol noght trete. Mindful of his original plan to address the five children of each sin, Genius prepares his reader for his new scheme where, now, he will speak only "of tuo . . . and of no mo" (lines 13-14).

60 baillez ça the cuppe. Compare Gloton's admonition in Piers Plowman, "Lat go þe cuppe!'" (B.5.337), the idea being that the revelers drink from a single bowl which, when one imbiber holds it too long, the company demands that he let go so that the next can drink. The ça heightens the imperative. That the glutton bursts into a macaronic French cuts two ways, with a jab at the drunk's pretension, but also at French inebriation. Most wine consumed in England was imported from France.

93-99 Tales of wise or powerful men besotted by love are virtually a genre of medieval entertainment unto itself. Tales of Samson's infatuations derive from Judges 14-16, with its folktale qualities; the famous story of David and Bathsheba originates in 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 11. The love follies of Virgil, Socrates, and Aristotle are favorite inventions of the fabliaux traditions. E.g., Juan Ruiz's Libro de Buen Amor, 261-64, where Virgil attempts to reach his love in a tower, but is tricked by her when she leaves him hanging midway up in a basket where, next day, he is dishonored with mockery by all who see him so compromised; he retaliates by enchanting every candle flame or fire in Rome so that all go out in an instant and none can be lit except by the private parts of the woman who tricked him. Or, see the variant in the Icelandic tale of Virgil and the basket, Virgilesrímur. For a visual depiction of Virgil's dilemma, see Lucas van Leyden's Netherlandish engraving of the scene. Aristotle is featured in various adaptations based mainly on Henri d'Andeli's thirteenth-century Le lai d'Aristote. For discussion of such popular tropes, see Smith, Power of Women, especially chapters 3 ("Tales of the Mounted Aristotle," pp. 66-102) and 5 ("The Power of Women Topos in Fourteenth Century Visual Art," pp. 137-90). Smith includes forty-five remarkable illustrations.

107-11 Of such phisique . . . schapen to that maladie / Of lovedrunke. Wack ("Lovesickness in Troilus," p. 56) summarizes Constantinus' Viaticum and Gerald of Berry's Glosses on such a malady:

The sight of a beautiful form may cause the soul to go mad with desire, as Constantinus says. In Gerard's formulation, the mind 'overestimates' the value of the perceived object and desires it excessively. This overestimation, however, can only take place if the material composition of the brain is corrupt, that is, the imagination must be excessively cold and dry so that the overestimated image adheres abnormally and excites the concupiscible power. An excess of black bile or another humor (some later treatises list semen in this category) may also cause the disease. The etiology is thus both psychic and somatic, but the material composition of the body, particularly of the brain, is crucial in the development of the illness. No ethical valuation is attached to the causal mechanisms in any of the texts - the patient is not held 'guilty' or 'responsible' for his illness.

Compare VC 5.3.130-40 ff: "When a man sees her womanly beauty - so sweet, elegant and fine, but more like an angel's - he thinks her a goddess, and puts his fate of life and death in her hands. . . . Outwardly, he does not show what the sight of her means to him; inwardly, the sting of love pierces his heart. . . . His mind's eye grows dull, blind from the darkness of lust, and he sinks down to his own destruction. . . . So he goes blindly mad because of his blind love." See also Bakalian, Aspects of Love, pp. 124-25 and 138-43, on lovesickness as a kind of drunkenness.

239 blanche fievere. "A stage of lovesickness analogous to chills" (MED, citing this passage). For an extensive discussion of ailments of love and their remedies, see Wack, Lovesickness, 1989.

248 peines fele. The primary sense is that the pains of love surpass all others. But fele can also mean "excellent," peines fele thus mirroring the oxymoronic "hote chele" (line 247) and "biter swete" (line 250).

325 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic narrat secundum Poetam, qualiter in suo celario Iupiter duo dolea habet, quorum primum liquoris dulcissimi, secundum amarissimi plenum consistit, ita quod ille cui fatata est prosperitas de dulci potabit, alter vero, cui aduersabitur, poculum gustabit amarum. [Here he narrates, according to the Poet (identified as "Homer" in RR 6813; see Iliad 24.527), how in his cellar Jupiter has two vats, the first of which is full of most sweet liquid, the second of most bitter liquid, such that he for whom prosperity is fated will drink from the sweet, but another, for whom there will be adversity, will drink the bitter cup.]

330 ff. The story of Jupiter's two tuns may be found in RR, lines 6813 ff., and before that in Boethius' Consolation 2.pr.2, though Boethius does not name Homer as his source. Chaucer's Wife of Bath alludes to the story (CT III[D]170) as she delights in assuming Cupid's role as butler of the tuns, to serve sweet or bitter as she pleases.

352 hindreth many a mannes fode. The sense might be "causes indigestion," though more likely fode implies "emotional satisfaction" (n.b., MED fode n.1, 2a and 2b), hence the gloss "comfort."

391 ff. The story of Bacchus' return from war and the miraculous fountain in the desert occurs in Poet. astr. 2.20, under the heading "Aries," and in Vat. Myth. I 121.

399 ff. Latin marginalia: Nota hic qualiter potus aliquando sicienti precibus adquiritur. Et narrat in exemplum quod, cum Bachus de quodam bello ad oriente repatrians in quibusdam Lubie partibus alicuius generis potum non inuenit, fusis ad Iouem precibus, apparuit ei Aries, qui terram pede percussit, statimque fons emanauit; et sic potum petenti peticio preualuit. [Note here how a drink for a thirsty man is sometimes acquired by a prayer; and he tells in an illustrative story that, when Bacchus was returning home to the east from a certain war, in some regions of Libya he did not find a drink of any sort. Pouring forth prayers to Jupiter, a ram appeared before him, which stamped the earth with its hoof, and immediately a spring welled up. And thus a petition prevailed for a petitioner.]

467 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic de amoris ebrietate ponit exemplum, qualiter Tristrans ob potum, quem Brangweyne in naui ei porrexit, de amore Bele Isolde inebriatus extitit. [Here he presents an illustrative story about the intoxication of love, how Tristran, on account of a drink that Brangwein offered to him aboard the ship, was intoxicated with love for fair Isolde.]

The Tristran story was very popular. For a full account of the drinking of the love potion, see Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan, lines 1367 ff. (ch. 15 in some editions).

485 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic de periculis ebrietatis causa in amore contigentibus narrat quod, cum Pirothous illam pulcherimam Ypotaciam in vxorem duceret, quosdam qui Centauri vocabantur inter alios vicinos ad nupcias invitauit; qui vino imbuti, noue nupte formositatem aspicientes, duplici ebrietate insanierunt, ita quod ipsi subito salientes a mensa Ipotaciam a Pirothoo marito suo in impetu rapuerunt. [Here, concerning the dangers of inebriation occurring in the cause of love, he narrates that when Pirithous took the most beautiful Ipotacia as his bride, he invited to the wedding certain ones among his other neighbors who were called centaurs. These, soused in wine, gazing on the shapeliness of the newlywed bride, raved madly with a double inebriation, until, suddenly leaping from the wedding feast table, they forcefully abducted Ipotacia from her husband Pirithous.]

The story of Pirithous is found in Met. 12.210 ff.

537 ff. No clear source is known for this story of Galba and Vitellius, though Hamilton suggests that the plot comes from a misreading of Eutropius, by way of the French Secretum Secretorum ("Some Sources," p. 340).

542 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic loquitur specialiter contra vicium illorum, qui nimia potacione quasi ex consuetudine ebriosi efficiuntur. Et narrat exemplum de Galba et Vitello, qui potentes in Hispannia principes fuerunt, set ipsi cotidiane ebrietatis potibus assueti, tanta vicinis intulerunt enormia, quod tandem toto conclamante populo pena sentencie capitalis in eos iudicialiter diffinita est: qui priusquam morerentur, vt penam mortis alleuiarent, spontanea vini ebrietate sopiti, quasi porci semimortui gladio interierunt. [Here he speaks particularly against the vice of those who regularly keep themselves inebriated by means of too much drink. And he narrates an illustrative story about Galba and Vitellius, who then were powerful rulers in Spain, but were accustomed to drinking for daily inebriation. They inflicted so many horrors on their neighbors that finally, from the outcry of the entire people, a sentence of judicial death was imposed on them. But before they might die, in order to blunt the pain of death, they willingly stunned themselves with the inebriation of wine, and were slaughtered half-alive like pigs, by the sword.]

625 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic tractat super illa specie Gule que Delicacia nuncupatur, cuius mollicies voluptuose carni in personis precipue potentibus queque complacencia corporaliter ministrat. [Here he treats about that species of Gluttony which is called Sensuality, whose softness of voluptuous flesh, especially in the persons of the powerful, each bodily pleasure serves.]

664 ff. Latin marginalia: Philosophus. Consuetudo est altera natura. [Philosopher: "Habit is a second nature."]

737 smale lustes whiche I pike. Several meanings are compatible with pike in this context: "steal" (given the fact that Amans feeds with his eyes [6.753] by stealing glances; see MED piken v.1, 8), but also "choose" (with his smale lustes Amans is perpetually willful) and "tidy up" (see MED piken v.1, 6 and 5), with a strong hint as well of "peck at" (the way one might pick at one's food), given the reference to his "hunger" in 6.736 (see MED piken v. 1, 2 and 4).

743 reherce. Amans' "rehearsal" of female beauty uses the device of effictio, so common in romance literature, praising the woman's parts beginning with the top of the head and moving downward. The device, which originates in Canticle of Canticles 4, is brought to life by Amans' dramatization of what his eye sees, which he personifies as a lusty voyeur (lines 753-826).

745-50 Amans' three degrees (line 745) of delicately feeding his fantasy define the primary avenues of intellection that Genius, as confessor, is attempting to exorcize: 1) the eye, 2) the ear (the eye and ear being two windows of the soul defined in Book 1 as the primary senses affecting the welfare of the psyche), and 3) thoght (line 749), the agency that converts what is seen and heard into images of desire that please and sustain the lover's fantasy. The trio is presented in RR (lines 2643-2764) as Douz Regart (Sweet Looking), Douz Parler (Sweet Hearing of the lady's "voice"), and Douz Penser (Sweet Thinking), three gifts from Cupid that make the lover's pains seem all the more desirable - all good cooks, in Gower, for the seasoning of delicate and tasty food. See the explanatory note to line 939.

753 ff. Latin marginalia: Nota qualiter visus in amore se continet delicatus. [Note how sensual sight restrains itself in love.]

767-76 Although Macaulay (2.xv) and others see the lady as "a creature of flesh and blood," Kinneavy emphasizes the conventional rhetoric (effictio) of Amans' lady, who need only be compared with Chaucer's Criseyde or Henryson's to see "how lacking she is in flesh and blood"; mainly she is a creature of "inference" ("Gower's Confessio Amantis and the Penitentials," p. 157).

786 Hire bodi round, hire middel smal. Commonplace figura of tantalizing female beauty in Middle English romance. Round equates with shapeliness (e.g., compare Chaucer's TC 3.1250) and smal with a lithesome, small-waisted womanly comeliness (e.g., compare Chaucer's Miller's Tale, CT I[A]3234; Merchant's Tale, CT IV[E]1602; TC 3.1247; and the Romaunt, line 1032); The Tale of Sir Thopas, CT VII(B2)2026, provides an amusing analogue.

793-94 the port and the manere . . . of hire wommanysshe chere. [C]here can refer to her lovely countenance, but more, to her courtly behavior and breeding. The bearing of the beautiful woman (port and manere, line 793) is a potent feature of the eroticizing of the female by the male fantasy. Compare Chaucer's TC 1.281-87, where Troilus first admires Criseyde's stature, then is captivated by "hire mevynge and hire chere" (1.289); or BD, where the Black Knight, having seen the good fair White amidst a "route" of ladies, falls in love with her manner (line 827), but is captivated when "I sawgh hyr daunce so comlily, / Carole and synge so swetely, / Laughe and pleye so womanly, / And loke so debonairly, / So goodly speke and so frendly, / That certes y trowe that everemore / Nas seyn so blysful a tresor" (lines 848-54; see also CA 6.868 ff.). As in Gower, sight, hearing, and thought all correspond to shape the impression in the male's fantasy.

795 on honde. I have glossed the phrase as "for the moment," though that may be too elaborate a gloss. The phrase often appears as a line filler (see the note to 5.17-18); perhaps something like "you can count on it" would be better.

817-19 The figure is of the courtly lady carrying a goshawk on hand as they set out on a hunt. Here the woman is eroticized as the object of the goshawk's piercing gaze.

830 ff. Latin marginalia: Qualiter auris in amore delectatur. [How the ear is sensually pleased in love.]

838 I hiere on seith. Amans revels in douz parler as he hears pleasing talk in praise of his lady. Chaucer offers a variant on the idea in TC as he has the lady laugh in her heart (2.1592) at kind words and praise of Troilus, who is sick (2.1576-96). She too is enjoying the aural delicacies.

857 Lombard. I.e., Lombardy, where Milan was the seat of Italian bankers who, since the time of Edward I, financed much of England's opulence and thus became synonymous in late fourteenth-century literary parlance with luxury and delicacy (Macaulay notes that Gower refers to a pastry called "pain [bread] lumbard" in MO [3.514]), and, especially, with "merchants," "trade," "merchandizing," and "money."

879 Ydoine and Amadas. The allusion is to an Old French romance that enjoyed some popularity in England but was never translated into Middle English. It is alluded to in Emaré, Sir Degrevant, and Cursor Mundi. Amadas (not to be confused with Sir Amadace in the Middle English romance of that name) is utterly devoted to Ydoine, and though severely tried by unhappy circumstances, like Amans, remains utterly faithful to his lady and her provocative eyes. See Reinhard, Amadas et Ydoine, along with his Old French Romance of 'Amadas et Ydoine'. The Old French poem has been translated into English by Arthur, as Amadas and Ydoine. See also Meecham-Jones' discussion ("Questioning Romance," pp. 35-49).

891 cherie feste. Cherry season lasts about a fortnight, and thus a very short time.

913 ff. Latin marginalia. Qualiter cogitatus impressiones leticie ymaginatiuas cordibus inserit amantum. [How mental impressions impose imaginations of happiness in lovers' hearts.]

939 mi lustes thre. See note to lines 745-50, above, comparing the three dainties of Amans to the three gifts of the God of Love in RR (lines 2643-2764). See also the Proem to Boccaccio's Il Filostrato, where the lover debates which of the three gives greater pleasure.

943 plover. Proverbial. The plover (a bird) allegedly feeds on air, and thus has a most delicate palette. See Whiting, P272.

969 ff. Latin marginalia: Delicie corporis militant aduersus animam. [Sensualities of the body militate against the soul.]

975 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic ponit exemplum contra istos delicatos. Et narrat de diuite et Lazaro, quorum gestus in euangelio Lucas euidencius describit. [Here he presents an illustrative story against those sensualists. And he narrates about the rich man (Dives) and the leper (Lazarus), whose story will be found more fully in the Gospel of Luke.]

The story of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) was a common theme for homiletic elaboration.

1151-1227 Whether the raconteur be Chaucer, Jean de Meun, Boethius, or a marketplace storyteller, tales about Nero's atrocities and follies offered the medieval imagination endless moral pleasure. Hamilton notes that the general authority for Gower's rendition might be Eutropius, as in the account of Galba and Vitellius, but, like Macaulay, observes that the source for the experiment in digestion is unknown ("Some Sources," p. 340). Tiller notes that this particular episode is also told of Frederick II Hohenstaufen (p. 228).

1155 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic loquitur de delicacia Neronis, qui corporalibus deliciis magis adherens spiritalia gaudia minus obtinuit. [Here he speaks about the sensuality of Nero, who, adhering more to physical delights, all the less obtained spiritual joys.]

1197 Walkende a pass. The Secretum Secretorum agrees with Nero on value of walking after eating to enhance digestion: "When þu art arise fro mete, walke a litil vpon soft gress," rather than take a long nap (The Booke of Goode Governance, 12th doctrine; Secretum Secretorum, p. 6).

Latin verses iii(before line 1261). Line 8: Nudatam . . . auem [the "bird plucked naked"] keeps in view the lover's erotic goal, but simultaneously presents this in unappealing terms of preparing and eating game-fowl.

1261-66 Love dares anything. Proverbial. See Whiting, L503.

1267 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic tractat qualiter Ebrietas et Delicacia omnis pudicicie contrarium instigantes inter alia ad carnalis concupiscencie promocionem Sacrilegio magicam requirunt. [Here he treats of how Drunkenness and Sensuality, instigating against all modesty, among other things seek out magical advancement of carnal lust by sorcery.]

1280 as Baiard the blinde stede. Proverbial. See Whiting, B71; also B72 and B73. The proverb is common in fourteenth-century literature. Compare Chaucer, CT VIII(G)1413-16. Bayard as a figure of an unruly horse was also common. See TC 1.218-24.

1293 ff. Latin marginalia: Nota de Auctorum necnon et de librorum tam naturalis quam execrabilis magice nominibus. [Note the names both of authorities and books, of natural and of forbidden magic.]

1293-1334 Gower's principal source for the list of authors and titles seems to be Albertus Magnus' Speculum astronomiae: 11.85-87 cites Raziel (see line 1316); Balemuz appears twice, associated with Hermes (11.7, 47-51); Ghenbal (line 1320) appears in the first line of "Salomon's" book of magic De sigillis ad daemoniacos (On the sigils possessed by demons): "Capitulum sigilli gandal et tanchil etc." (11.81-83); and Thebit (see line 1322), son of Chora, is also cited (11.129-34). See Albertus 17.6-15 for connections between Saturn and kinds of divination (n.b. note to lines 1295-1302, below). See also note to lines 1317-18.

1295-1302 Geomance . . . Ydromance . . . Piromance . . . Aeremance. Divination according to the four elements. "Nigromance" (line 1308) is Black Magic, or the calling up of spirits from the dead. Gower seems to be classifying all such "sciences" under Delicacie in that they all attempt to make something out of nothing, like the plover feeding on air or the lover's fantasy becoming his precious reality.

1308-10 With Nigromance he wole assaile / To make his incantacioun / With hot subfumigacioun. Galloway, in his review of Conjuring Spirits, observes: "Gower writes, describing an illicit means of getting a beloved [by] parroting language like that found in . . . 'The Book of Angels' . . . where a man will be loved by all the women who see him if he writes the figure of Venus on a silver plate and 'suffumigates' it with aloe wood and other materials" (p. 565). See Lidaka, "Book of Angels," and Albertus on necromancy, that most abominable form of divination that requires "suffumigations and invocation" (11.4-5).

1311 Spatula. Not found in Albertus, this is "the art of divination from the shoulder blades of animals" (Fox, Mediaeval Sciences, pp. 146-47, who cites an Arabic treatise, De spatula, translated in the early twelfth century by Hugh of Santalla).

1314 ff. Thosz the Grek. Toz Graecus (Thoth, Thoz, and Hermes Trismegistus) is often cited by later writers such as Daniel of Morley, William of Auvergne, and Albertus 11.71-75, which includes a work on the stations for the cult of Venus, another on the four mirrors of Venus, and a third on the images of Venus, all of which are attributed to Toz Graecus. See Thorndike 2.225-28.

1317-18 Ne Salomones Candarie, / His Ydeac, his Eutonye. Gower seems to have misread Albertus, who states that "amongst the books of Salomon, there is the book, De quatuor annulis (On the four rings) . . . which begins like this: 'De arte eutonica et ydaica etc.' ('On eutonic and ydaic art etc.'); and the book De novem candariis (On the nine candles)" (11.76-68, trans. Zambelli).

1323 Gibiere. Probably Geber, who was not a magician but rather a noted alchemist (Fox, Mediaeval Sciences, p. 147). See chapter 2 of Albertus.

1325 Babilla with hire sones sevene. Babilla is one of the names for Babylon. The allusion seems to be astronomical, where "hire sones sevene" alludes to the seven planets and their spheres. See Lidaka ("Book of Angels," note to line 1327) for examples of charms and magic squares based on the seven planets, lore that may be, perhaps, traced back to Babylonian astrology.

1327 cernes bothe square and rounde. Cernes are "circles or other peripheral figures used in magic" (Fox, Mediaeval Sciences, p. 147). On circles and magic squares, see Lidaka, "Book of Angels," pp. 34-44, and Karpenko, "Magic Squares."

1331 The scole of Honorius. "Honorius was the supposed author of the Liber sacratus or Liber juratus as it was sometimes called because of the oath which had to be taken to gain possession of the volume" (Fox, Mediaeval Sciences, p. 147). See Mathiesen's essay on the Liber juratus, that is, The Sacred or Sworn Book, which includes a history of the work from the thirteenth century into the seventeenth, along with numerous excerpts on magical operations ("A Thirteenth-Century Ritual"). Honorius is not mentioned in Albertus, though Belamuz's book De horarum opere is, which may have suggested Honorius to someone.

1381 And thus the guilour is beguiled. Proverbial. See Whiting, G491. See also Piers Plowman B.15.340 ff.

1391 ff. The story of Ulysses and Telegonus is told by Dictys, 6.14, 15; by Benoît, lines 28701-28825, 29815-30300; and in the Gest Hystoriale 34.13208-53, 36. 13802-13989. Wetherbee notes that the Tale of Telegonus is the last of Gower's Troy narratives, the fatal encounter of father and son based on "the somber final episode of the Roman de Troie. Like Chaucer's Knight's Tale, it exposes the uncontrollable relation of intimacy and violence in the chivalric bond" ("John Gower," p. 602). See also Hyg. 126-27.

1392 ff. Latin marginalia: Nota contra istos ob amoris causam sortilegos; vbi narrat in exemplum quod, cum Vluxes a subuersione Troie repatriare nauigio voluisset, ipsum in Insula Cilly, vbi illa expertissima maga nomine Circes regnauit, contigit applicuisse; quem vt in sui amoris concupiscenciam exardesceret, Circes omnibus suis incantacionibus vincere conabatur. Vluxes tamen magica potencior ipsam in amore subegit, ex qua filium nomine Thelogonum genuit, qui postea patrem suum interfecit: et sic contra fidei naturam genitus contra generacionis naturam patricidium operatus est. [Note against those who use sorcery in the cause of love. Here he narrates in an instructive example that, when Ulysses wanted to return by ship to his homeland after the sacking of Troy, he happened to arrive at the Island of Cilly, where the most expert magician, Circes by name, ruled. Since she burned for him in the lust of her desire, Circes tried to conquer all his men with incantations. Ulysses, however, more powerful than magic, subjected her in love, from which a son, Theologonus by name, was born, who later killed his father. And thus having been generated in violation of the nature of faith (Theologonus) carried out patricide in violation of the nature of generation.]

1395-96 whyl ther is a mouth, / Forevere his name schal be couth. This tribute to Ulysses is testimony to the power and function of the voice of the people within their culture, as well as a tribute to the king's popularity.

1398 clerk knowende. Ulysses is wise in most ways. But Olsson, John Gower and the Structures of Conversion, p. 186, notes a deficiency in his wisdom: "Ulysses's knowledge lacks an ordinatio, or a field of topics to organize remembrance, and that is because he is driven by sensualitas, by a desire for immediate gratification of his 'lustes.' He is a character who has lost his history."

1408 al the strengthe of herbes. "A poem De Viribus Herbarum passed in the Middle Ages under the name of Macer" (Mac 3.516).

1422 nedle and ston. A "rather daring anachronism" on Gower's part (Mac 3.517).

1472 A betre wif. Genius deliberately sets Penelope's virtue against Ulysses' sensuality. In her wisdom, she is not confused or fooled by strangers at her door.

1513 ff. Latin marginalia: Oracius. Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendencia filo. [Horace: All human matters are dangling by a slender thread.] Stollreither notes that the passage is from Ovid, Ponti 4.3.35, not Horace (Quellen-Nachweise, p. 57).

1513-14 happes over mannes hed / Ben honged with a tendre thred. Proverbial. See Whiting, H99.

1523-63 he mette a swevene. "The dream of Ulysses is the only one described by Gower in which the will of a personal agent, god or magician, is not the initiating force. No cause is stated" (Fox, Mediaeval Sciences, p. 109).

1567 ff. Latin marginalia: Bernardus. Plures plura sciunt et seipsos nesciunt. [Bernard: Many know many things and are ignorant of themselves.] The phrase is also used in Piers Plowman, B.11.3, at a key moment.

1575-81 Bakalian points out that in Traitié 6.3, "Ulysses dies as a direct result of his infidelity" (Aspects of Love, p. 42). But in CA he is slain by his unknown son in part "because he has lost his ability to reason and correctly interpret the dream of his own death" (p. 41). Fox notes that although Ulysses' dream needs explication Ulysses is "unable to interpret it" (Mediaeval Sciences, p. 109). In Benoît he seeks help from others, but Gower leaves him on his own: "For al his calculacion / He seth no demonstracion / Al pleinly for to knowe an ende" (6.1579-81).

1660 Nachaie. Presumably Ithaca, though perhaps Achaeia. Benoît's Roman de Troie reads "Tant qu'il vint droit en Acaie," which Macaulay suggests refers to Ithaca, for which Nachaie could be a mistake (3.518).

1768-78 Perhaps Gower's most succinct moral. The anaphora provides both emphasis on sorcery as well as a plot review, leading up to an epigrammatic couplet (lines 1777-78), with multiple puns on unkindeschipe to imply not only witchcraft and sorcery but also an "unfilial act," "unnaturalness," "ingratitude," "improper rule," "disloyalty," "ungenerosity," "lack of natural affection," etc.

1789 ff. Because he was Alexander's teacher and a magician, Nectanabus was a favorite in popular medieval literature. Gower may be working from Thomas of Kent's Anglo-Norman Roman de toute Chevalerie, the Latin Historia de Preliis Alexandri (Macaulay [3.519] gives a comparison of these two texts with Gower), Valerius' Res Gestae Alexandri, or some version of the Alexandreis by Walter of Châtillon. See deAngeli, "Julius Valerius' Account of the Birth of Alexander"; and De Bellis, "Thomas of Kent's Account of the Birth of Alexander." For general discussion, see Hamilton, "Some Sources," pp. 504-16; and Beidler, "Diabolical Treachery in the Tale of Nectanabus." Simpson links this tale with the Tale of Ulysses and Telegonus as examples of "self-ignorance in the learned, and the political consequences of that ignorance" (Sciences and the Self, p. 211).

1793 ff. Latin marginalia: Hic narrat exemplum super eodem, qualiter Nectanabus ab Egipto in Macedoniam fugitiuus, Olimpiadem Philippi Regis ibidem tunc absentis vxorem arte magica decipiens, cum ipsa concubuit, magnumque ex ea Alexandrum sortilegus genuit: qui natus, postea cum ad erudiendum sub custodia Nectanabi comendatus fuisset, ipsum Nectanabum patrem suum ab altitudine cuiusdam turris in fossam profundam proiciens interfecit. Et sic sortilegus ex suo sortilegio infortunii sortem sortitus est. [Here he narrates an instructive example on the same thing, how Nectanabus, fleeing from Egypt into Macedonia, deceived by magic art Olimpias the wife of Phillip the king there, who was away at that time. The sorcerer slept with her and begot on her Alexander the Great, who, having been entrusted for his education to the tutelage of Nectanabus, murdered his father Nectanabus by throwing him from a certain high tower into a deep pit. And thus the sorcerer was fated to an ill fate by his own sorcery.] The last line puns on sor (fate) and sortilegus (fate-teller or sorcerer). See also VC 2.4.203-08, where Gower expounds upon sorcery and fate. See Peck, "Phenomenology of Make Believe," pp. 258-66.

1799 magique of his sorcerie. On Nectanabus' lack of real power over his victims as he manipulates illusions to gull people, see Peck, "Phenomenology of Make Believe," pp. 264-66.

1844 tymber. A percussion instrument, such as a small drum, tambourine, or a stringed instrument, used to accompany carols and other dances.

1848 hoved and abod. "paused and waited." Compare 2.3006. See MED hoven v 2a.

1858 He couthe noght withdrawe his lok. See Genius' fundamental advice on the importance of guarding your eyes well, with which he begins his instruction of Amans (1.304 ff.), and the dangers of "mislok" (1.334) as evidenced by stories of Acteon and Medusa. Queen Olympia needs some of the same advice (6.1864).

1882-83 The dai goth forth . . . man mot lete his werk. Compare Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, where the nightfall trope is also used to set up a dream-troubled night.

1886-88 queene / And passeth over thilke nyht / Til it was on the morwe liht. It is possible that thilke nyht (line 1887) is the subject of passeth over rather than queene, but there are plenty of examples of people struggling with anxiety-provoking thoughts to get through the night in medieval poetry (e.g., the opening of Chaucer's BD). MED offers "survive," "escape," "endure" as glosses for passen over n. (e), which provide a more vivid sense of what is going on for the queen than simply saying "the night passed and it was day." I take queene (line 1886) to be the subject of passeth over, rather than nyht on grounds that her restless preoccupation with Nectanabus' words occupies her all night. How one gets through restless nights is a favorite topic in dream visions. The narrator in BD relies on a book "To rede and drive the night away" (line 49). Olympia's only relief is to rehearse the words.

1922 Amos of Lubie. Hammon of Lybia. See De nuptiis, Book 2 ("The Marriage," especially 2.158-93). Hammon is one of the demigods who, like Dionysus, Osiris, Isis, and Triptolemus, have celestial souls but may appear in human form for the benefit of the whole world. Philology places him as "the exalted power of the Father Unknown" (p. 58), a light in darkness (see CA 6.1981-82) known by many names - Phoebus, Lyceus, Serapis, Osiris, Mithras, Dis, Horus, Typhon, Attis, Phoenician Adonis, and "Hammon from parched Lybia" (p. 59), as he works his wonders.

1935 He schal a sone of you begete. For difficult-to-come-by sources for Gower's Tale of Nectanabus' conception and birth, see De Bellis' excerpts with translation (based on the Paris Manuscript) from "Thomas of Kent's Account of the Birth of Alexander," which includes the following subsections: The Prologue; Of Nectanabus, king of Lybia; How Nectanabus fled and came to Macedonia; Of the queen of Macedonia; How Alexander was conceived; How a shortwing hawk is transmitted to Philip in a vision; How Nectanabus changed himself into a dragon; Of the pheasant which, in flight, lays an egg; How Alexander is born and of the miracles that occur at his birth; Of Bucephalus, Alexander's horse, and how he ate people; and How Alexander killed his father, and how Nectanabus criticized Alexander. And, also, see deAngeli's text and translation of "Julius Valerius' Account of the Birth of Alexander."

1962 recepcions. MED cites this line, with the astrological meaning: "the reciprocal effect of two planets when each is in a sign where the other has a dignity."

1963 ascendent. The degree of the ecliptic or zodiac arising above the horizon at a given moment. See MED accendent n.

2274 Calistre. Callisthenes, Aristotle's nephew, accompanied Alexander as biographer and historian of his military campaigns on his eastern expedition. The biography extolled him as son of Zeus. Callisthenes quarreled with Alexander, however, and was accused of conspiracy; he was put to death in 327. The murder caused strong hostility against Alexander by the school of Aristotle. Although Callisthenes' biography of the king does not survive, his name became attached to early versions of the Romance of Alexander. See OCCL, pp. 111-12.

2338 sorcerie. See Peck, Kingship and Common Profit, pp. 87-88, on Nectanabus' sorcery and the fating of his life; and pp. 135-38, on the ultimate folly of his self-beguiling as he uses his sorcery to look out for himself.

2367 ff. Latin marginalia: Nota qualiter Rex Zorastes, statim cum ab vtero matris sue nasceretur, gaudio magno risit; in quo prenosticum doloris subsequentis signum figurabatur: nam et ipse detestabilis magice primus fuit inventor, quem postea Rex Surrie dira morte trucidauit, et sic opus operarium consumpsit. [Note how King Zoroaster laughed with great joy as soon as he was born from his mother's womb, in which was figured the prognostication of future sorrow; for he was also the first inventor of detestable magic, and later the king of Syria executed him in a terrible death, and thus the work consumed the workman.]

On Zoroaster see Pliny, Naturalis historiae 7.15, and Augustine, De civitate Dei, 21.14. Zoroaster is the Greek form of Iranian Zarathustra. He is treated as a historical figure of the sixth century or earlier.

2385 ff. See 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 27-31.

Latin marginalia: Nota de Saule et Phitonissa. [Note concerning Saul and Phitonissa.]

2387 Phitonesse in Samarie. The witch of Endor. See 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 28:3-25.

2392 Bot of to mochel no man yelpeth. Proverbial. See Whiting, M788.

2408-15 See Minnis, "'Moral Gower,'" pp. 74-75, on Gower's use of Amans' desire (min herte sore longeth, line 2414) to learn of Aristotle's instruction of Alexander as a means of providing a raison d'être for the encyclopedic doctrine of the Secretum Secretorum that constitutes much of Book 7.

2420-36 Genius announces the philosophical content and goals of Book 7. See Simpson on the "Platonic poetics" (Sciences and the Self, p. 70) grounded in Boethius and Alan of Lille that Gower works from in creating Genius and the rhetorical order that he shapes to present the idea of the philosopher king that becomes the center of Book 7 and, for that matter, the whole poem. See especially pp. 203-11, on self-knowledge; the encyclopedic matter of Book 7 "is produced out of the joint desire of Amans and Genius" and is first provoked by Amans (p. 207).

Abbreviations: A: Bodleian Library MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573), fols. 2r–183r; B: Bodleian Library MS Bodley 294 (SC 2449), fols. 1r–197r; C: Corpus Christi College, Oxford MS 67, fols. 1r–209r; F: Bodleian Library MS Fairfax 3 (SC 3883; copy text for this edition), fols. 2r–186r; J: St. John’s College, Cambridge MS B.12 (34), fols. 1r–214r; Mac: G. C. Macaulay; S: Stafford, now Ellesmere 26, fols. 1r–169v; T: Trinity College, Cambridge MS R.3.2 (581), fols. 1r–147v.

69 For. So S, B, J, Mac. F: ffro.

162 wyn. So F, S, B, J. Mac: win.

285 Omitted in B (eyeskip).

408 the. So S, B, J, Mac. F: thei.

495 fest. So F, C. S, B, A, J, Mac: feste.

536 thin. So F, S, B, J. Mac: thine.

554 never. So F, S, C, B. T, A, J, Mac: nevere.

665-964 Inserted after line 1146 in S, B, preceded by six additional lines (see Mac 3.198).

785 schapthe. So F, S. Other manuscripts read schappe (B) or schape (J), thinking, perhaps, that the earlier scribe must have unintentionally doubled the p with þ. But MED shaft(e) n. 1d, gives schapthe as a normal spelling for shaft, with the sense of "appearance, likeness; guise; a shape, form; an idol; also, an image in a mirror," citing this passage in Gower.

1140 Omitted in J (eyeskip).

1147-48 1147-48 Omitted in S, B.

1186 lete. So F, S, A, J. B, T, C, Mac: let.

1307 Omitted in J (eyeskip).

1391 which. So F, C, A, J. S, B, Mac: whiche.

1412 his. So B, J, Mac. F, S: hise.

1428 thei. So F, S, J. B, Mac: they.

1602 He. So S, B, J, Mac. F: His.

1735 badde. So F. S, Mac: badd. B: bad. J: bed.

1823 Bot. So F, S, J. B, Mac: But.

2062 put. So F, S, J. C, B, A, Mac: putte.

2071 wold. So F. S, B, J, Mac: wolde.

2233 myhte. So F. S, Mac: mihte. B: mighte. J: miht.

2247 sihe. So F. S, A, Mac: sih. B: sigh. J: sye.

2314 of. So S, B, Mac. F, A: if. J: yif.

2356 Alisandre. So F, S, J. B, Mac: Alisaundre.

2357-7.88 Omitted in S (missing leaf).

2433 philosophie. So B, J, Mac. F: Philophie.