2220. _Naso_, Ouidius Naso. _Her epistle_, the epistle above quoted, the title of which is--'Ariadne Theseo.' 2223, 4. The story is that Bacchus took compassion on Ariadne, and finally placed her crown as a constellation in the heavens; see Ovid, Fasti, iii. 461-516; Met. viii. 178-182. This constellation is the Northern Crown, or Corona Borealis, which is just in the opposite side of the sky from Taurus. Ovid says--'qui medius nixique genu est anguemque tenentis,' Met. viii. 182. Here the holder of the snake is Ophiuchus; and _Nixus genu_ or _Engonasin_ ([Greek: en gonasin]) was a name for Hercules; see Hyginus, Poet. Ast. lib. ii. c. 6; lib. iii. c. 5; Ausonius, Eclog. iii. 2. The Northern Crown comes to the meridian with the sign Scorpio, not Taurus. We can only bring the sense right by supposing that _in the signe of Taurus_ means when the _sun_ is in that sign, viz. in April. In the nights of April, in our latitude, the Northern Crown is very conspicuous. 2227. _Quyte him his whyle_, repay him for his time, i.e. for the way in which he had spent his time; cf. Man of Law's Ta., B 584. VII. THE LEGEND OF PHILOMELA. Chaucer's Prologue ends at l. 2243. The tale is from Ovid, Met. vi. 424-605, with some omissions, and ends at l. 2382. Gower has the same story; C. A. bk. v. ed. Pauli, ii. 313. 2228. The words 'Deus dator formar_um_' are written after the title in MS. B.; and part of the first line corresponds to this expression. In MS. F. it appears as 'Deus dator formator_um_[71],' which can hardly be right. Corson has the following note:--'In these verses (2228-30) the Platonic doctrine of forms or ideas is expressed. For whatever knowledge Chaucer may have had of the philosophy of Plato, he was probably indebted to the Italian poets, with whom, especially Petrarch, Plato was a favourite.' Corson also quotes the following from Sir Wm. Hamilton:--'Plato agreed with the rest of the ancient philosophers in this--that all things consist of matter and form; and that matter of which all things were made, existed from eternity, without form; but he likewise believed that there are external _forms_ of all possible things which exist, without matter; and to these eternal and immaterial forms he gave the name of ideas. In the Platonic sense, then, ideas were the patterns to which the Deity fashioned the phenomenal or ectypal world.' See also Spenser, Hymne in honour of Beautie, st. 5. And cf. l. 1582 above. However, Chaucer here follows Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. iii. met. 9:-- ... 'Tu cuncta superno ducis ab exemplo, pulcrum pulcerrimus ipse mundum mente gerens, similique in imagine formans.' See Chaucer's version of the same, ll. 1-12. Cf. Le Rom. de la Rose, 16931-8, also copied from Boethius, who follows Plato. 2233. _As for that fyn_, with that particular object.