917. _At point devys_, with great exactness; see Rom. Rose, 830, 1215. 919. _Dedalus_ (i.e. Dædalus) and _Ycarus_ (Icarus) are mentioned in the Rom. de la Rose, 5242; and cf. Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. iv., ed. Pauli, ii. 36; and Dante, Inf. xvii. 109. All take the story from Ovid, Metam. viii. 183. Dædalus constructed wings for himself and his son Icarus, and flew away from Crete. The latter flew too high, and the sun melted the wax with which some of the feathers were fastened, so that he fell into the sea and was drowned. Hence Dædalus is here called _wrecche_, i.e. miserable, because he lost his son; and Icarus _nyce_, i.e. foolish, because he disobeyed his father's advice, not to fly too high. 922. _Malt_, melted. Gower has the same word in the same story; ed. Pauli, ii. 37. 925. Cf. Dante, Par. xxii. 19, which Cary thus translates: 'But elsewhere now I bid thee turn thy view.' 930. See note to l. 986 below, where the original passage is given. 931. This line seems to refer solely to the word _citizein_ in l. 930. The note in Bell's Chaucer says: 'This appears to be an allusion to Plato's Republic.' But it was probably suggested by the word _respublica_ in Alanus (see note to l. 986). 932. _Eyrish bestes_, aerial animals; alluding to the signs of the zodiac, such as the Ram, Bull, Lion, Goat, Crab, Scorpion, &c.; and to other constellations, such as the Great Bear, Eagle, Swan, Pegasus, &c. Chaucer himself explains that the 'zodiak is cleped the cercle of the signes, or the cercle of the _bestes_; for _zodia_ in langage of Greek sowneth _bestes_ in Latin tonge'; Astrolabe, Part 1, § 21, 1. 37. Cf. 'beasts' in Rev. iv. 6. The phrase recurs in l. 965 below; see also ll. 1003-7. 934. _Goon_, march along, walk on, like the Ram or Bull; _flee_, fly like the Eagle or Swan. He alludes to the apparent revolution of the heavens round the earth. 936. _Galaxye_, galaxy, or milky way, formed by streaks of closely crowded stars; already mentioned in the Parl. of Foules, 56; see note to the same, l. 50. Cary, in a note to Dante, Parad. xxv. 18, says that Dante, in the Convito, p. 74, speaks of _la galassia_--'the galaxy, that is, the white circle which the common people call the way of St. James'; on which Biscioni remarks:--'The common people formerly considered the milky way as a sign by night to pilgrims, who were going to St. James of Galicia; and this perhaps arose from the resemblance of the word _galaxy_ to _Galicia_; [which may be doubted]. I have often,' he adds, 'heard women and peasants call it the Roman road, _la strada di Roma_.'