SEQUUNTUR VERSUS DE EADEM MATERIA. Cilla domat fluctus, Saturnus agit Iove ductus, Fel fluit in fructus, dant plausum themata luctus. Quod stirps Goliae fit apta sequela Tobiae. Vivat et Henricus quem trivit in his inimicus. 5 Line 1. Cilla, apparently Scylla: with agit, fluctus seems again supplied. By Jupiter and Saturn probably the planets so named are meant; but we should expect their influence to be antagonistic to each other: see Hor. Od. 2. 17, 22. 4. Quod 'inasmuch as.' T. reads sit for fit. = 5. coetus, elsewhere in these poems always used with its right quantity (e. g. I. 113; VII. 2, 6). 6. quem, &c. This has perhaps no special allusion. T. reads ut for et. III. That this poem is older than the one preceding it, and that the king addressed is probably Edward III, has been shown in Introduction, p. 166. It purports to be written when the students were still despoiled and dispersed (vv. 29, 30), and does not notice in any way the prompt and immediate royal intervention described in the 'Planctus' (vv. 129 ff.). It has the character of a mere exercise, and seems to add nothing to our knowledge of the circumstances. The king is urged, as he values the stability of his realm, the fortunes of learning and nobility, and his knightly vow, to restore the decadence of Oxford, and to recall the scattered students. ITEM VERSUS. O rex Anglorum, quae sunt iam facta videto. Line 1. In this poem M. is used for the Merton MS., B. for the Bodleian. T. and W. follow B. closely: a marginal note (apparently by a later hand) in the former mentions M. 2. signacula dura, 'the stern warnings conveyed by,' &c.: cp. signat (v. 4). 4. fateor B. and T., text M. and W. Col. 2. En, rex, a Graecis bellans fortuna recessit. Signum Roma tibi quae nunc armis viduatur. Cur nunc non curas inflicta sibi mala dura? Rex, princeps, miles, clero, rogo, consocia te. Hoc scio, quod clero miles bonus omnis adhaeret ; 5 10 15 20 25 30 5. Cur B., En M. The thought of these lines seems borrowed from the much fuller expansion of the same idea in the Planctus, vv. 205-220. 6. facta seems taken as a nominative singular: 'the action of the clerks bore with it the presage of this death.' 10. tu, here and v. 17, seems written 'tui' in B. The meaning of these two lines seems to be: you are feared in all the nations for your zeal and energy, because you win answers (win approval?) from your clerks.' 12. faculum, B., text M.: 'facula,' dim. of 'fax,' Plaut. &c. The spark from which the torch might be relit seems to be the students not dispersed. 19. socia B., text M. 23. omnis bonus miles B. and T., bonus omnis miles W., text M. 25. pereunt B., pereant M. 27. si B. and W., O. M.: with either reading plebs ingrata is vocative. 30. revoca B., revocans M. IV, V, VI. These epigrams contain no evidence of their date, but must have been written when the names alluded to were still remembered and the allusions were intelligible. To us they are conundrums only partly soluble and hardly worth solution. On the matrimonial quarrel described in the first (IV) no light from any other quarter can be thrown. In the second (V) the allusions to Bereford and Bedeford in the first two lines were pointed out by Wood (Annals, Book i. p. 458, ed. Gutch). The last two lines (which he did not read correctly) he gives up altogether. The supposition that some other leading townsman may have had some such name as 'Gifford' is, as far as I know, wholly unsupported by evidence, and can only be recommended as making the lines in some way intelligible. That the third (VI) was a riddle on the name of Robert Lardiner, the ballive, was pointed out by Wood in the margin of his transcript. IV. VERSUS. Clerum sponsum odit, amat uxor, lis ita prodit. Sic faciet giro femina quaeque viro. Line 1. Perhaps sponsus clerum odit should be read. 5 8. quoque MS., corrected by W. 'so will each woman do to her husband all round (gyro?).' Urgent ursina vada perturbando bovina, Et vada dicta precis sunt vada dicta necis. G vada bacchando sunt d vada dampnificando, G bene si radis d capud adde vadis. Line 1. Bereford (see Planctus, vv. 17 foll.) is harassing Oxford with disturbance; Bedeford (see note on Planctus, v. 142) is become deathford.' 3, 4. The MS. appears to have 'G' in each line. T. reads 'Et' and 'O.' Wood (Annals) follows him. 3. bacando MS. Wood seems wrongly to read vacando, and (in Annals) has (after T.) bacandae and damnificandae. The only meaning which can be suggested for these lines is G. ford ("Gifford "?) in his rioting has become d. ford by injuring if you duly erase "G," add "d" as a heading to "ford." Dampnificando seems here to mean damna faciendo, as in legal phraseology of the time: cp. in dicto conflictu damnificatis' (Rogers, p. 251): see VI. 3. VI. VERSUS. Lar, demon, Nero, tria sunt sine parcere vero. Ner nequam Nero: sunt haec res pessima clero. 1. sine parcere vero, without sparing truth,' i. e. telling truth without reserve. 2. T. reads 'fiet.' The sense would be better; the false quantity not conclusive against it. 3. larvatus, bewitched' (Plaut. &c.): could it here mean 'masked' (cp. larva, Hor. Sat. i. 5, 64)? dampnificatus, here apparently = damnatus; or perhaps 'punished for his crimes' (cp. V. 3). T. reads daemone. 4. sunt haec, i. e. 'my whole is.' The break-off into a hexameter ending seems due to the need of space to express the meaning. VII. This poem, besides being contained with the others in the Bodl. MS., is or was contained in a MS. (of which nothing appears now to be known) lent to Hearne by Thomas Rawlinson. Hearne has printed it in an appendix to the sixth volume of his edition of Leland's Itinerary, first published in 1711. His text is based on the Rawlinson MS. (here cited as R), with a careful collation of the Bodleian also (B) and with his own notes. The Rawlinson text appears to be in most cases, though not always, better than the Bodleian. The former also contains sixteen lines not in the latter (the latter, on the other hand, four lines not in the former), and has a heading (see text); the latter being only headed Versus,' like the preceding poems. Twyne and Wood follow B, except when otherwise stated. The poem contains no internal evidence of date, except so far as the liveliness of the description suggests that it was written when the events were still fresh in memory. In some graphic details it is the most interesting of the series. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. Oxford, its clerks, its nobles, are brought low, the slave supplants her mistress. After a gallant resistance the scholars are overpowered. They force their way to Carfax, but the rustics come pouring in, burning the gates, displaying a black flag, Fol. 294 b. as if the king were dead, crying 'slay,' 'havock,' 'smite,' blowing horns, using VERSUS DE DISCEPTATIONE1 QUAM SCOLARES Oxoniae clerum fleo iam stimulante dolore, 5 Dum manus immundi coetus premit hunc laicalis. Iam regit ancilla, dominatrix suppeditatur, Heu mala sors illa dum servula sede locatur. Mors in Marte furit fera, gens mala plebsque nephanda 10 Gens praemunita stipataque vi jaculorum Plures incedunt armati vel galeati, Et pueros laedunt quod non pugnare parati. Line I. nunc B. 2. So H. after B. cum totum procerum R. T. and W. unde. 9. Mars in Marte furit, fera gens B. 15 10. prurit R. and H. prorupit B. To read In for Sic would improve the sense. 11. praeminita R. premitiva B. praemunita H. Dotata would make better sense; and that it would be a false quantity is hardly conclusive against it. 14. rarati R., parati B. and H. 15. reseruabant B., text R. and H.; also W. (in margin). 1 deceptione R. |