1143. _I gesse_, I suppose. Chaucer somewhat alters the story. Trivet says that Ælla died at the end of nine months after this. Half-a-year after, Constance repairs to Rome. Thirteen days after her arrival, her father Tiberius dies. A year later, Constance herself dies, on St. Clement's day (Nov. 23), A.D. 584, and is buried at Rome, near her father, in St. Peter's Church. The date 584, here given by Trivet, should rather be 583; the death of Tiberius took place on Aug. 14, 582; see Gibbon. THE SHIPMAN'S PROLOGUE. 1165. The host here refers to the Man of Lawes Tale, which had just been told, and uses the expression '_thrifty_ tale' with reference to the same expression above, B. 46. Most MSS. separate this end-link widely from the Tale, but MS. Hl. and MS. Arch. Seld. B. 14 have it in the right place. See vol. iii. pp. 417-9. _for the nones_, for the nonce, for the occasion; see note to the Prologue, A. 379. The A.S. _[=a]nes_ (= once) is an adverb with a genitive case-ending; and, being an adverb, becomes indeclinable, and can accordingly be used as a _dative_ case after the preposition _for_, which properly governs the dative. 1166. The Host here turns to the Parson (see Prol. A. 477), and adjures him to tell a tale, according to the agreement. 1167. _yore_, put for _of yore_, formerly, already.--M. 1169. _Can moche good_, know (or are acquainted with) much good; i. e. with many good things, Cf. B. 47. [166] 1170. _Benedicite_, bless ye; i. e. bless ye the Lord; the first word of the Song of the Three Children, and a more suitable exclamation than most of those in common use at the time. In the Knightes Tale, A. 1785, where Theseus is _pondering_ over the strange event he had just witnessed, the word is pronounced _in full_, as five syllables. But in A. 2115, it is pronounced, as here, as a mere trisyllable. The syllables to be dropped are the second and third, so that we must say _ben'cite_. This is verified by a passage in the Townley Mysteries, p. 85, where it is actually spelt _benste_, and reduced to two syllables only. Cf. notes to B. 1974, and Troil. i. 780. 1171. _man_; dat. case after _eyleth_. Swearing is alluded to as a prevalent vice amongst Englishmen in Robert of Brunne, in the Persones Tale of Chaucer, and elsewhere.--M. 1172. _O Iankin_, &c.; 'O Johnny, you are there, are you?' That is, 'so it is you whom I hear, is it, Mr. Johnny?' A derisive interruption. It was common to call a priest _Sir John_, by way of mild derision; see Monkes Prol. (B. 3119) and Nonne Prestes Prol. (B. 4000). The Host carries the derision a little further by using the diminutive form. See note to B. 4000.