19. MARCEDARGE
1 besynesses, business.
2 oon, one; science, knowledge; tother, other.
3 lette, forsake.
4 douted and dredde, respected and feared.
5 lynage, lineage; covenable, appropriate; connynge, cleverness.
6 entente, intent.
7 levynge, living.
9 disportes, amusements.
10 doste, do.
13 lowable, praiseworthy.
14 tother, other.
15 dedes, deeds.
16 peyneth, pains.
17 dothe, does.
20 gever, giver.
22 wacche, watch; strenger, stronger.
23 peas, peace.
24 beere, bear.
25 leefful, permissible.
26 nygard, niggard.
27 canne, gives; of, for.
28 moche wers that denyeth, much worse that denies.
19. MARCEDARGE: 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 Marcedarge. Schofield notes that "it seems more probable that this is an Arabian sage whose fame has not spread beyond his own land. I am unable to find any trace of him" (S, p. 213n91). B¨hler adds: "In the Latin MSS. the philosopher is called Macdargis, Medargis, Medardus, and Medarges." In the French texts, it appears as Magdarge, Macdarge, Madargue, Ardarge, Madarge, Sacdarge, Mardarge, Mardaige, and Matdarge (B, p. 372n250 21-26). This individual could be St. Medardus (c. 456-c. 545), a man of deep piety and formidable intellectual prowess, who became bishop of Noyon in 530.
19. MARCEDARGE: TEXTUAL NOTES
2 whiche2. So G. B emends to with whiche. See textual note to line 3.
3 by. So G. B omits silently, forcing an emendation (see textual note to line 2).
20 moste. So G. B: most.