No More Learning

That they bitiden by necessite.

148

(15) And this sufficeth right ynough, certeyn,
For to distruye oure fre choys everydele.

(1) Quae tamen ille ab aeterno cuncta prospiciens providentiae cernit
intuitus, et suis quaeque meritis praedestinata disponit. . . . .
(_Boethius_, lib. v. pr. 2. ) . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2) Nam si cuncta prospicit Deus neque falli ullo modo potest,
evenire necesse est, quod providentia futurum esse praeviderit.
Quare si ab aeterno non facta hominum modo, sed etiam consilia
voluntatesque praenoscit, nulla erit arbitrii libertas;

(3) Neque enim vel factum aliud ullum vel quaelibet existere
poterit voluntas, nisi quam nescia falli providentia divina
praesenserit. Nam si res aliorsum, quam provisae sunt detorqueri
valent, non jam erit futuri firma praescientia;

(4) Sed opinio potius incerta; quod de Deo nefas credere judico.

(5) Aiunt enim non ideo quid esse eventurum quoniam id providentia
futurum esse prospexerit; sed e contrario potius, quoniam quid
futurum est, id divinam providentiam latere non possit.

(6) Eoque modo necessarium est hoc in contrariam relabi partem;
neque enim necesse est contingere quae providentur, sed necesse est
quae futura sunt provideri.

(7) Quasi vero quae cujusque rei causa sit,

(8) Praescientiane futurorum necessitatis an futurorum necessitas
providentiae, laboretur.

(9) At nos illud demonstrare nitamur, quoquo modo sese habeat ordo
causarum, necessarium esse eventum praescitarum rerum, etiam si
praescientia futuris rebus eveniendi necessitatem non videatur
inferre.

(10) Etenim si quispiam sedeat, opinionem quae eum sedere conjectat
veram esse necesse est: at e converso rursus,

(11) Si de quopiam vera sit opinio quoniam sedet eum sedere
necesse est. In utroque igitur necessitas inest: in hoc quidem
sedendi, at vero in altero veritatis.

(12) Sed non idcirco quisque sedet, quoniam vera est opinio: sed
haec potius vera est, quoniam quempiam sedere praecessit. Ita cum
causa veritatis ex altera parte procedat, inest tamen communis in
utraque necessitas.

(13) Similia de providentia futurisque rebus ratiocinari patet.

(14) Nam etiam si idcirco, quoniam futura sunt, providentur: non
vero ideo, quoniam providentur, eveniunt: nihilo minus tamen a Deo
vel ventura provideri, vel provisa evenire necesse est:

(15) Quod ad perimendam arbitrii libertatem solum satis est.

(lib. v. pr. 3. )

See _Chaucer's Boethius_, pp. 154-6.


IX. THE GRIEF OF REMEMBERING BYGONE HAPPINESS.

For, of fortunes scharp adversite,
The worste kynde of infortune is this,
A man to han ben in prosperite,
And it remembren, when it passed is.

(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. iii. st. 226, vol. iv. p. 291. )

Sed hoc est, quod recolentem me vehementius coquit. Nam in omni
adversitate fortunae infelicissimum genus est infortunii, fuisse
felicem. [I-10]

(_Boethius_, lib. ii. pr. 4. )

[Footnote I-10: Cf. Dante, _Inferno_, V. 121.

Nessun maggior dolore
Che ricordarsi del tempo felice
Nella miseria; e cio sa 'l tuo Dottore. ]


X. VULTURES TEAR THE STOMACH OF TITYUS IN HELL.

----Syciphus in Helle,
Whos stomak fowles tyren everemo,
That hyghten volturis.

(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, book i. st. 113, p. 140. )

? e fowel ? at hy? t voltor ? at eti? ? e stomak or ? e giser of ticius.

(_Chaucer's Boethius_, p. 107. )


XI. THE MUTABILITY OF FORTUNE.

For if hire (Fortune's) whiel stynte any thinge to torne
Thanne cessed she Fortune anon to be.

(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. i. st. 122, p. 142. )

If fortune bygan to dwelle stable. she cesed[e] ? an to ben fortune.

(_Chaucer's Boethius_, p. 32. )

(Compare stanzas 120, 121, p. 142, and stanza 136, p. 146, of 'Troylus
and Cryseyde' with pp. 31, 33, 35, and p. 34 of Chaucer's Boethius. )

At omnium mortalium stolidissime, si manere incipit, fors esse
desistit.

(_Boethius_, lib. ii. prose 1. )


XII. WORLDLY SELYNESSE

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Imedled is with many a bitternesse.
Ful angwyshous than is, God woote, quod she,
Condicion of veyn prosperite!
For oyther joies comen nought yfeere,
Or elles no wight hath hem alwey here.

(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. iii. st. 110, p. 258. )

? e swetnesse of mannes welefulnesse is yspranid wi? many[e]
bitternesses.

(_Chaucer's Boethius_, p. 42. )

--ful anguissous ? ing is ? e condicioun of mans goodes. For ey? er
it come? al to-gidre to a wy? t. or ellys it laste? not perpetuely.

(_Ib. _ p. 41. )

Quam multis amaritudinibus humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa
est!

(_Boethius_, lib. ii. prose 4. )

Anxia enim res est humanorum conditio bonorum, et quae vel nunquam
tota proveniat, vel nunquam perpetua subsistat.

(_Ib. _)

O, brotel wele of mannes joie unstable!
With what wight so thow be, or how thow pleye,
Oither he woot that thow joie art muable,
Or woot it nought, it mot ben on of tweyen:
Now if he woot it not, how may he seyen
That he hath veray joie and selynesse,
That is of ignoraunce ay in distresse?

Now if he woote that joie is transitorie,
As every joie of worldly thynge mot fle,
Thanne every tyme he that hath in memorie,
The drede of lesyng maketh hym that he
May in no parfyte selynesse be:
And if to lese his joie, he sette not a myte,
Than semeth it, that joie is worth ful lite.

(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. iii. st. 111, 112, vol. iv. p. 258. )

(1) What man ? at ? is toumblyng welefulnesse leedi? , ei? er he woot
? at [it] is chaungeable. or ellis he woot it nat. And yif he woot
it not. what blisful fortune may ? er be in ? e blyndenesse of
ignoraunce.

(2) And yif he woot ? at it is chaungeable. he mot alwey ben adrad
? at he ne lese ? at ? ing. ? at he ne doute? nat but ? at he may
leesen it. . . . . . For whiche ? e continuel drede ? at he ha?
ne suffri? hym nat to ben weleful. Or ellys yif he leese it he
wene[? ] to be dispised and forleten hit. Certis eke ? at is a ful
lytel goode ? at is born wi? euene hert[e] whan it is loost.

(_Chaucer's Boethius_, pp. 43, 44. )

(1) Quem caduca ista felicitas vehit, vel scit eam, vel nescit
esse mutabilem. Si nescit, quaenam beata sors esse potest
ignorantiae in caecitate?

(2) Si scit, metuat necesse est, ne amittat, quod amitti posse non
dubitat; quare continuus timor non sinit esse felicem. An vel si
amiserit, negligendum putat?
Sic quoque perexile bonum est, quod
aequo animo feratur amissum.

(_Boethius_, lib. ii. prose 4. )


XIII. FORTUNE.

----Fortune
That semeth trewest when she wol bigyle,
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
And, when a wight is from hire whiel ithrowe,
Than laugheth she, and maketh hym the mowe.

(_Troylus and Cryseyde_, bk. iii. st. 254, vol. iv. p. 299. )

She (Fortune) vse? ful flatryng familarite wi? hem ? at she
enforce? to bygyle.

(_Chaucer's Boethius_, p. 30. )

. . . . . . . She lau? e? and scorne? ? e wepyng of hem ? e
whiche she ha? maked wepe wi? hir free wille . . . . Yif ? at a
wy? t is seyn weleful and ouer? rowe in an houre.

(_Ib. _ p. 33. )

In book v. , stanza 260, vol. v. p. 75, Chaucer describes how the soul of
Hector, after his death, ascended 'up to the holughnesse of the seventhe
spere. ' In so doing he seems to have had before him met. 1, book 4, of
Boethius, where the 'soul' is described as passing into the heaven's
utmost sphere, and looking down on the world below. See _Chaucer's
Boethius_, p. 110, 111.

AEtas Prima is of course a metrical version of lib. ii. met. 5.

Hampole speaks of the wonderful sight of the Lynx; perhaps he was
indebted to Boethius for the hint. --(See _Boethius_, book 3, pr. 8,
p. 81. )

I have seen the following elsewhere:

(1) Value not beauty, for it may be destroyed by a three days'
fever.

(See _Chaucer's Boethius_, p. 81. )

(2) There is no greater plague than the enmity of thy familiar
friend.

(See _Chaucer's_ translation, p. 77. )

* * * * *

Chaucer did not English Boethius second-hand, through any early French
version, as some have supposed, but made his translation with the Latin
original before him.

Jean de Meung's version, the only early French translation, perhaps,
accessible to Chaucer, is not always literal, while the present
translation is seldom free or periphrastic, but conforms closely to the
Latin, and is at times awkwardly literal. A few passages, taken
haphazard, will make this sufficiently clear.

_Et dolor aetatem jussit inesse suam. _ And sorou ha? comaunded his
age to be in me (p. 4).

Et ma douleur {com}ma{n}da a vieillesse
Entrer en moy / ains quen fust hors ieunesse.

_Mors hominum felix, quae se nec dulcibus annis
Inserit, et maestis saepe vocata venit. _

? ilke dee? of men is welful ? at ne come? not in ? eres ? at ben
swete (i. _mirie_). but come? to wrecches often yclepid. (p. 4)

On dit la mort des ho{m}es estre eureuse
Qui ne vie{n}t pas en saiso{n} pla{n}tureuse
Mais des tristes mo{u}lt souue{n}t appellee
Elle y affuit nue / seche et pelee.

_Querimoniam lacrymabilem. _ Wepli compleynte (p. 5). Fr. ma
complainte moy esmouuant a pleurs.

_Styli officio. _ Wi? office of poyntel (p. 5). Fr. (que ie
reduisse) p{ar} escript.

_Inexhaustus. _ Swiche . . . ? at it ne my? t[e] not be emptid (p.
5). Fr. inconsumptible.

_Scenicas meretriculas. _ Comune strumpetis of siche a place ? at
men clepen ? e theatre (p. 6). Fr. ces ribaudelles fardees.

_Praecipiti profundo. _ In ouer-? rowyng depnesse (p. 7).

[L]As que la pensee de lomme
Est troublee et plongie comme
En _abisme precipitee_
Sa propre lumiere gastee.

_Nec pervetusta nec incelebris. _ Ney? er ouer-oolde ne vnsolempne
(p. 11). Fr. desquelz la memoire nest pas trop ancienne ou no{n}
recitee.

_Inter secreta otia. _ Among my secre restyng whiles (p. 14). Fr.
entre mes secrettes {et} oyseuses estudes.

_Palatini canes. _ ? e houndys of ? e palays (p. 15). Fr. les chiens
du palais.

_Masculae prolis. _ Of ? i masculyn children (p. 37). Fr. de ta
lignie masculine.

_Ad singularem felicitatis tuae cumulum venire delectat. _ It
delite? me to comen now to ? e singuler vphepyng of ? i welefulnesse
(p. 37). Fr. Il me plait venir au singulier monceau de ta
felicite.

_Consulare imperium. _ Emperie of consulers (p. 51). Fr. le{m}pire
consulaire.

_Hoc ipsum brevis habitaculi. _ Of ? ilke litel habitacle (p. 57).
Fr. de cest trespetit habitacle.

_Late patentes plagas. _ ? e brode shewyng contreys (p. 60).

QVico{n}ques tend a gloire vaine
Et le croit estre souueraine
Voye _les regions pate{n}tes_
Du ciel . . . . . .

_Ludens hominum cura. _ ? e pleiyng besines of men (p. 68).

Si quil tollist par doulz estude
Des hommes la solicitude . .

_Hausi coelum. _ I took heuene (p. 10). Fr. ie . .