13. ARISTOTLE: FOOTNOTES
2 passinge, surpassingly; phesyk, medicine.
3 ayel, uncle.
4 nygh, near.
5 lynage, lineage.
9 rethoryk, rhetoric.
11 sciencis, i.e., courses of study.
15 covenable, appropriate; connynge, cleverness.
16 teche, teach.
17 lesynges, lies.
19 merveylled, marveled; ameved, moved.
20 openyoun, opinion; susteene gramaryens, sustain grammarians.
21 rethorycyenes, rhetoricians; himself, itself.
23 wole, will.
24 prerogatyf, prerogative.
26 rightwos, righteous.
31 empechemente, accusation; unparfytely, imperfectly.
32 lesyth, loses; defaute, error.
33 etyque, ethics.
34 of2, from.
35 terroyre, territory.
36 Cecillé, Sicily.
40 decesse, death.
42 Dayse, Dacia.
44 appeched, accused; cetezeyns, citizens.
45 dede, did.
49 venyme, venom.
50 repreved, criticized.
54 gefe, give; orphelynes, orphans.
55 luste, desire.
59 boonys, bones.
60 here, their; weel, welfare.
66 here, their; hoope, hope.
71 to, as.
73 tyques, ethics; polletyques, politics; metaphesyk, metaphysics.
74 Detheologye, On Theology; engynes, formulas.
79 mannys, man's.
80 sothely, truly.
81 proufyte, profit.
83 lasse, less.
86 sterres, stars.
92 ellis, else.
93 seeke leche, sick leech (physician).
94 nedys, needs.
96 covetyses, coveted things.
97 lowable, allowable.
102 dysworshippynge, denouncing.
105 ellis, otherwise.
110 erre, err.
111-12 empeche, impeach (hinder).
114 here, their.
115 recche, suppose; here, their.
118 reyne, rain; medled, mingled.
119 see, sea.
123 sewen, pursue.
126 dyspreyse, denounce.
128 to moche, too many.
135 besynesses, business.
138 parceyve, perceive.
139 wenyste, suppose; Lyberalté, Generosity.
141 meetely, fitting.
145 fundacioun, foundation.
149 bataile, battle.
152 sureté, surety.
153 mayntened, maintained; encresed, increased.
154 seweth, pursues.
156 curteys, courteous.
158 leve, live.
163 leste, least.
167 petevous, merciful.
169 dyfferrynge, differing.
171 statis, states.
173 Stablysshe, Establish.
176 Worship, Honor.
177 entente, intent.
179 her dispence, their expenses.
187 quyte, quit (leave).
192 deye, die; lefe, live.
197 rightwosly, righteously.
199 nys not, is not.
200 raptour, thief.
204 pystel, letter.
208 defaute, error.
209 here, their.
211 vengeably, vengefully.
217 here, their.
228 eeres, ears.
234 beere, bear.
238 chese, choose.
239 enherytaunce, inheritance.
241 lyfelode, livelihood.
248 encrece, increase.
262 leve wele, live well.
269 her, their.
270 unneth, inadequately.
275 ableth, enables.
277 and, if.
284 seeke, sick.
285 phesycyan, physician.
291 her, their.
298 cheertee, esteem.
299 dere, dearly.
301 bultynge cloth, cloth used for sifting flour; meele, meal.
302 branne, bran.
305 to vengeable, too vengeful.
307 here, their.
314 verrey, veritable.
319 wele attempred, temperate/moderate.
320-21 ambycious, ambitious.
324 ferre, far.
326-27 sheete aferre at a marke, to shoot at a distant target.
329 erren, err; her, their.
342 here, their.
345 dombe beestis, dumb beasts.
351 deed, dead.
352 enformacion, information.
360 seure, sure (safe).
364 purveied, provided.
371 parfite, perfect.
378 lowely, humble.
384 dyches, ditches.
13. ARISTOTLE: EXPLANATORY NOTES
ABBREVIATIONS: B = Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, ed. Bühler (1941); CA = Gower's Confessio Amantis; CT = Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; G = Pierpont Morgan Library MS G.66; MED = Middle English Dictionary; OED = Oxford English Dictionary; S = Scrope, Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, ed. Schofield (1936).
These explanatory notes cannot hope to provide a complete accounting for the source of every proverbial statement in Dicts and Sayings. That task would be a separate book in its own right. Instead, I have attempted to contextualize this rather heterogeneous body of lore by identifying the people and places named in the text, as well as noting points that may be of interest to students and general readers. Those interested in tracing the source of particular quotations should begin by consulting Whiting's Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases From English Writings Mainly Before 1500. Readers are also invited to consult the thorough notes to Knust's Bocados de Oro, the Spanish translation of the original Arabic ancestor of Dicts and Sayings.
1 Aristotle (384-322 BC) was one of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western civilization. His voluminous writings cover not just philosophy, but science, poetry, and virtually every subject imaginable. Aristotle began his career as a student at the Academy under Plato, and later was a tutor of Alexander the Great. For another medieval account of Aristotle's life and teachings, see Higden's version (Polychronicon, ed. Lumby, vol. 3, pp. 358-72). When Chaucer speaks of "the philosopher" he means Aristotle, but perhaps the greatest literary tribute to Aristotle in English is Book 7 of Gower's Confession Amantis, on the education of the king. This part of the Confessio - as well as the Aristotle section of Dicts and Sayings - is based upon The Secret of Secrets, an originally Arabic text that enjoyed widespread circulation in Europe. Spuriously attributed to Aristotle, Secretum (or Secreta) Secretorum (The Secret of Secrets), or Sirr al-asrār as it was first known in Arabic, purports to be the philosopher's letter of advice to Alexander. The best study of the Secret tradition is Williams' Secret of Secrets. Williams explains that Secret was probably based on some genuinely Aristotelian materials and then expanded:
Translated from Greek into Arabic probably in the eighth century, the base text was taken up by an unknown compiler . . . in the middle to late ninth or early tenth century and turned into a Mirror for Princes in seven or eight books . . . A succession of revisers working over the next two hundred years added bits and pieces to this primitive SS, transforming a speculum principis into a compendium of general information useful for a prince but usable by just about anyone. (Secret of Secrets, p. 30)
The work was extremely popular in Europe by the early fourteenth century; for the Middle English versions, see Secretum Secretorum: Nine English Versions, ed. Manzalaoui.
2 Mecynachus. This is Nichomachus, the father of Aristotle and physician to the Macedonian King Amyntas II.
3 Kinge Alysaundres. See the explanatory note for Alexander, line 1.
4 Stragyre. Stagira, the birthplace of Aristotle.
5 Esculapyus. See the explanatory note for Zalquaquine, line 1.
13Pyctagoras. See the explanatory note for Pythagoras, line 1.
Pychoras. This may be Epicurus (341-270 BC), the Greek philosopher who taught that people should devote their lives to pleasure, which he defined as serenity - not the carnality or gluttony that has become associated with the word Epicurean today.
35 Lopedimie. Plato's center of learning was the Academy in Athens. The name Lopedimie seems to suggest the small region of Epidauria, in which the chief community, Epidaurus, was home to a famous healing center and cult of Aesculapius.
38 Kinge Phelyp. Philip II (382-336 BC) of Macedonia is best known today as the father of Alexander the Great (see the explanatory note for Alexander, line 1), but he was a cunning warlord in his own right, and his strengthening of the Macedonian army paved the way for his son's conquests. For another medieval account of the life of Philip, see Higden, cap. XXVI (ed. Lumby, pp. 382-90).
49-50 wheron he deyed. In reality Aristotle died in Chalcis, not Stagira.
58 he deyed in the sixty-fouth yere. In the Spanish Bocados de Oro (the first translation of Dicts and Sayings from its Arabic original), the philosopher is said to have died at 68: "sesenta e ocho" (ed. Knust, p. 246), while the Latin translation of the Spanish has 63: "anno LXIII" (ed. Francheschini, p. 490).
74 Detheologye. Presumably this is Aristotle's Metaphysics.
98 this worlde is but an hous of passage for to go into anothir. See the note to Socrates, line 180.
107-08 Loke thu do to no man othirwise thanne thu woldeste he dede to thee. The Golden Rule again. See Whiting D274.
191-92 It is bettir to deye worshipfully thanne for to lefe in shame. Death before dishonor is a central tenet of the classical and early medieval heroic ethos. See the note to Plato, lines 329-31.
242-43 The tunge of a foole is the keye of his secretes. For other manifestations of this maxim, see Whiting F413.
279 Abraquis. I have been unable to ascertain his identity.
383-87 Note the role that money plays in this social hierarchy. Surprisingly, perhaps, this is not an interpolation of late medieval protocapitalism. In the Spanish Bocados de Oro, money ("el haver") plays the same role as in the later English translation: "el rrey es pastor, e mantienese por la caballeria, e la caballeria [gobiernase por] el haver, e el haver [ayuntase] del pueblo, e el pueblo es siervo de la justicia, e por la justicia endereçase el mundo" (ed. Knust, p. 276). The later Liber Philosophorum Moralium Antiquorum provides the same sentiment: "leges rex statuit; rex vero per miliciam manutenetur; milicia vero pecunia gubernatur; pecunia autem a populo colligitir; populus vero est iusticie servus; iusticia vero regitur mundus" (ed. Francheschini, p. 508). Like much of the Aristotle section, the ultimate source of this passage is The Secret of Secrets. I quote from an English translation of the text that is contemporaneous with the English versions of Dicts and Sayings: "The kyng is þe pastour that is defended by his lordes and estates. His lordes ben stipendaries susteyned with moné. Money is fortune that is gadered of the subgettes. Subgettz ben seruauntes subiectes to Justice. Justice forsoth is that by himself intended, in the which is the helth of subgettes" (the "Ashmole" version, Secretum Secretorum, ed. Manzalaoui, p. 71).
13. ARISTOTLE: TEXTUAL NOTES
54 to1. I follow B in adding.
85 gladly. I follow B in emending from G's glally.
87 grace. So G. B reads graces.
128 counsell. G: sell written below the line, this being the end of the MS page.
190 to. G: word added above the line.
219 for1. My addition.
276 And. G: A is missing.