_Palimerie._ Such is the spelling in the best MSS.; but MS. Hl. reads--'of Palmire the queene.' It is remarkable that MS. Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 19 has the reading--'Cenobia, of _Belmary_ quene,' which suggests confusion with _Belmarie_, in the Prol. A. 57; but see the note to that line. It occupied the site of the ancient Tadmor, or 'city of palmtrees,' in an oasis of the Great Syrian desert. It has been in ruins since about A.D. 1400. 3441. In the second _ne in_, the _e_ is slurred over; cf. _nin_, Sq. Ta., F. 35. 3442. _Perse._ This (like l. 3438) is Chaucer's mistake. Boccaccio says expressly that she was of the race of the Ptolemies of Egypt; but further [236] on he remarks--'Sic cum _Persis_ et Armenis principibus, vt illos urbanitate et facetia superaret.' This may account for the confusion. 3446. Boccaccio says (de Mul. Clar.)--'Dicunt autem hanc a pueritia sua spretis omnino muliebribus _officiis_, cum iam corpusculum eduxisset in robur, syluas & nemora incoluisse plurimum, & accinctam pharetra, ceruis caprisque cursu atque sagittis fuisse infestam. Inde cum in acriores deuenisset uires, ursus amplecti ausam, pardos, leonesque insequi, obuios expectare, capere & occidere, ac in praedam trahere.' This accounts for the word _office_, and may shew how closely Chaucer has followed his original. 3496. _lafte not_, forbore not; see A. 492. 3497. She was acquainted with Egyptian literature, and studied Greek under the philosopher Longinus, author of a celebrated treatise on 'The Sublime.' 3502. _housbonde._ Her husband was Odenathus, or Odenatus, the ruler of Palmyra, upon whom the emperor Gallienus had bestowed the title of Augustus. He was murdered by some of his relations, and some have even insinuated that Zenobia consented to the crime. Most scribes spell the name _Onedake_, by metathesis for _Odenake_ (_Odenate_), like the spelling _Adriane_ for _Ariadne_. 3507. _doon hem flee_, cause them (her and her husband) to flee. 3510. Sapor I. reigned over Persia A.D. 240-273. He defeated the emperor Valerian, whom he kept in captivity for the rest of his life. After conquering Syria and taking Caesarea, he was defeated by Odenatus and Zenobia, who founded a new empire at Palmyra. See Gibbon, Decline, &c., chap. x. 3511. _proces_, succession of events. _fil_, fell, befell. 3512. _title_, pronounced nearly as _title_ in French, the _e_ being elided before _had_. 3515. _Petrark._ Tyrwhitt suggests that perhaps Boccaccio's book had fallen into Chaucer's hands under the name of Petrarch. We may, however, suppose that Chaucer had read the account in a borrowed book, and did not certainly know whether Petrarch or Boccaccio was the author. Instances of similar mistakes are common enough in Early English. Modern readers are apt to forget that, in the olden times, much information had to be carried in the memory, and there was seldom much facility for verification or for a second perusal of a story.