That Alisaunder wan by heigh maistrye, Of Melayn grete Barnabo Viscount, But why ne how, not I, that thou were slawe. Of the erl Hugilin of Pise the langour But litil out of Pise stant a tour, In whiche tour in prisoun put was he; at the beginning of the Canterbury Tales (1. 51). assassinated in 1639. 15880 15890 This prince was 15885-Of Melayn grete Barnabo. Bernabo Visconti, duke of Milan, was deposed by his nephew and thrown into prison, where he died in 1385. This tragedy must have occurred so recently when Chaucer wrote, that we do not wonder at his not knowing the circumstances of his death. 15886-scourge. I have adopted this reading from the Lansd. MS., in place of strength, given by the Harl. MS., which seems evidently incorrect. 15893-Of the erl Hugilin. The story of Hugilin of Pise had been told by Dante, in the Inferno, canto 33, whom Chaucer quotes directly as his authority. Theldest skarsly fyf yer was of age; Dampnyd he was to deye in that prisoun, As ye han herd, and mete and drynk he hadde So smal that wel unnethe it may suffise, And therwithal it was ful pore and badde. And on a day bifel that in that hour Whan that his mete was wont to be brought, The gayler schet the dores of that tour. He herd it wel, but he saugh it nought, And in his hert anoon ther fel a thought That thay for hungir wolde doon him dyen. His yongest sone, that thre yer was of age, Til in his fadres barm adoun he lay, And sayde, "Far wel, fader, I moot dye !" 15900 15910 15920 And kist his fader, and dyde the same day. His childer wende that it for hongir was, That he his armes gnew, and nought for wo, And sayden, "Fader, do nought so, allas! But rather et the fleisch upon us tuo. 51930 Oure fleisch thou gave us, oure fleissh thou take us fro, Thay layde hem in his lappe adoun and deyde. Himself despeired eek for honger starf. For his estate fortune fro him carf. Rede the gret poet of Itaile That highte Daunt, for he can it devise, Fro poynt to poynt nought oon word wil he fayle. De Nerone. Although Nero were als vicious 15940 As any fend that lith ful lowe adoun, 15950 Yit he, as tellith us Swethoneus, This wyde world had in subjeccioun, 15932-querel. The Lansd. MS. has whele, which is perhaps the better reading. 15949--Although Nero. Although Chaucer quotes Suetonius, his account of Nero is really taken from the Roman de la Rose, and from Boethius, de Consolat. Philos., lib. ii, met. 6. Bothe est and west and septemtrioun. Of rubies, safers, and of perles white, More delycat, more pompous of array, To fissche in Tyber, whan him lust to pleye. For fortune as his frend wold him obeye. He Rome brent for his delicacie; The senatours he slough upon a day, To here how men wolde wepe and crye; And slough his brother, and by his suster lay. His modir made he in pitous array, 15960 15970 15953-and septemtrioun. This line stands as here printed in the Harl. and Lansd. MSS. Tyrwhitt inserts south (south and septemtrion), and observes: "The MSS. read north; but there can be no doubt of the propriety of the correction, which was made, I believe, in Ed. Urr. In the Rom. de la R., from whence great part of this tragedy of Nero is translated, the passage stands thus, 6501. Ce desloyal, que je te dy, Et d'Orient et de Midy, D'Occident, de Septentrion, Tint-il la jurisdicion." 15963-willes. The Lansd. MS. has lustes, the reading adopted by Tyrwhitt. I am inclined to prefer the reading of the Harl. MS., which avoids the repetition of the word from the previous line. 15970-hire wombe slyt he. So the Harl. and Lansd. MSS.; Tyrwhitt reads, he hire wombe let slitte. No teer out of his eyen for that sight Ne came; but sayde, a fair womman was sche. Be domesman on hir dede beauté. The wyn to bringen him comaundid he, In youthe a maister had this emperour, And in his tyme, but if bokes lye. And whil his maister had of him maistrie, This Seneca, of which that I devyse, "Sir," wold he sayn, 66 an emperour mot neede Be vertuous and hate tyrannye." For which he in a bath made him to bleede 15980 15990 15976-on hir dede beauté. The word dede, omitted in the Harl. MS., is evidently necessary for the sense and measure. translating the words of Boethius, lib. ii, met. 6,— "Ora non tinxit lacrymis, sed esse Censor extincti potuit decoris"; Chaucer is which he has given thus in his prose version of Boethius, " Ne no tere wette his face, but he was so harde harted, that he might be domesman, or judge, of her dedde beauté". In both, domesman represents the Latin censor. |