'The hour drew near When they were wont to bring us food; the mind Of each misgave him through his dream, and I Heard, at its outlet underneath, lock'd up The horrible tower: whence, _uttering not a word_, I look'd upon the visage of my sons. I wept not: so all stone I felt within. They wept: and one, my little Anselm, cried, "Thou lookest so! Father, what ails thee?"' &c. Cary's Dante. 3621. Dante does not mention the ages; but he says that the son named Gaddo died on the fourth day, and the other three on the fifth and sixth days. Observe that Chaucer's tender lines, ll. 3623-8, are _his own_. 3624. _Morsel breed_, morsel of bread; cf. _barel ale_ for barrel of ale, B. 3083.--M. 3636. 'I may lay the blame of all my woe upon thy false wheel.' Cf. B. 3860. 3640. _two_; there were now but two survivors, the youngest, according to Chaucer, being dead. 'They, who thought I did it through desire of feeding, rose O' the sudden, and cried, "Father, we should grieve Far less, if thou wouldst eat of us: thou gavest These weeds of miserable flesh we wear, And do thou strip them off from us again."' Cary's Dante. [242] 3651. _Dant_; i. e. Dante Alighieri, the great poet of Italy, born in 1265, died Sept. 14, 1321. Chaucer mentions him again in his House of Fame, book i., as the author of the Inferno, in the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, l. 360, and in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D. 1126. NERO. 3655. _Swetonius_; this refers to the Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius; but it would be a mistake to suppose that Chaucer has followed his account very closely. Our poet seems to have had a habit of mentioning authorities whom he did not _immediately_ follow, by which he seems to have meant no more than that they were good authorities upon the subject. Here, for instance, he merely means that we can find in Suetonius a good account of Nero, which will give us all minor details. But in reality he draws the story more immediately from other sources, especially from Boccaccio, De Casibus Virorum, lib. vii. cap. 4, from the Roman de la Rose, and from Boethius, de Cons. Philos. lib. ii. met. 6, and lib. iii. met. 4. The English Romaunt of the Rose does not contain the passage about Nero, but it is interesting to refer to Chaucer's translation of Boethius. Vincent of Beauvais has an account of Nero, in his Speculum Historiale, lib. ix. capp. 1-7, in which he chiefly follows Suetonius. See also Orosius, lib. vii. 7, and Eutropius, lib. vii. 3657. _South_; the MSS. have _North_, but it is fair to make the correction, as Chaucer certainly knew the sense of _Septemtrioun_, and the expression is merely borrowed from the Roman de la Rose, ed. Méon, l. 6271, where we read, 'Cis desloiaus, que ge ci di; Et d'Orient et de _Midi_, D'Occident, de Septentrion Tint il la juridicion.'