"That the world with stable feith varieth acordable chaunginges; that the contrarious qualitee of elements holden among hemself aliaunce perdurable; ... --al this acordaunce of things is bounden with Love, that governeth erthe and see, and hath also commaundements to the hevenes. And yif this Love slakede the brydeles, alle things that now loven hem to-gederes wolden maken a bataile continuely, and stryven to fordoon the fasoun of this worlde, the whiche they now leden in acordable feith by faire moevinges." The thought of love as the harmonizing bond between diverse elements is dealt with more poetically in _Troilus and Criseyde_, Bk. III. 1744-1757. "'Love, that of erthe and see hath governaunce, Love, that his hestes hath in hevene hye, . . . . . . . . . . That that the world with feyth, which that is stable, Dyverseth so his stoundes concordinge, That elements that been so discordable Holden a bond perpetuely duringe. That Phebus mote his rosy day forth bringe, And that the mone hath lordship over the nightes, Al this doth Love; ay heried be his mightes!'" [47] Skeat, _Notes to Boethius_, II.: Metre 9, 1. 14. [48] 11.379-381. [49] _The Phisiciens Tale_, C. 11-26. [50] See Appendix, I. [51] B. l ff. "Our Hoste sey wel that the brighte sonne The ark of his artificial day had ronne The fourthe part, and half an houre, and more; And though he were not depe expert in lore, He wiste it was the eightetethe day Of April, that is messager to May; And sey wel that the shadwe of every tree Was as in lengthe the same quantitee That was the body erect that caused it. And therefor by the shadwe he took his wit That Phebus, which that shoon so clere and brighte, Degrees was fyve and fourty clombe on highte; And for that day, as in that latitude, It was ten of the clokke, he gan conclude, And sodeynly he plighte his hors aboute." For Chaucer's accuracy in this reference see Appendix II. [52] _Prologue_, 267-68. [53] Planets are said to be in conjunction with one another when they appear as one object or very close together within a limited area of the sky. [54] _The Hous of Fame_, Book I. 503-8. Cf. Dante, _Paradiso_ i. 58-63: "I not long endured him, nor yet so little but that I saw him sparkle all around, like iron issuing molten from the furnace. And, of a sudden, meseemed that day was added unto day, as though he who hath the power, had adorned heaven with a second sun." [55] _The Marchantes Tale_, E. 2219-21. [56] _Prologue to the Legend of Good Women_, 125-9. [57] _Troilus and Criseyde_, V. 8. [58] _Ibid._ V, 1107. [59] _Compleynt of Mars_, 7. The epithet "candel of Ielosye" is an allusion to the classical myth according to which Phoebus (the Sun), having discovered the amour between Mars and Venus, revealed it to Vulcan thus arousing him to jealousy. [60] _Troilus and Criseyde_, II, 904-907. [61] _Ibid._ V. 278-279.