9. PYTHAGORAS: FOOTNOTES
1 passinge, surpassingly
3 synne, sin
5 teche, teach
6 congruly, correctly
7 covenable, appropriate
13 wretyn, written
15 to moch, too much
17 Ho, Who
19 nygh, near
23 doste, do
24 amys, amiss
25 merveylle, marvel
32 herest, hear
33 lesingis, lies
35 etynge, eating
37 to2, too.
38 attemperaunce, moderation
42 jangeller, jester
45 as leef, as soon
46 germeynes, kinsmen
47 rightwosly, righteously
48 here, hear
49 Stablisshe, Establish
53 proufyte, profit
55 marchaundises, merchandise
58 And, If; renne, run
66 beseche, beseech
67–68 and this wise doynge, in this way of doing
72 Preve, Prove; her, their
75 to moche, too much
84 seche, beseech
86 peas, peace
88 pitte, pit
88–89 coveytise, covetousness
89 devoir, duty
96 odir, others
100 doome beestis, dumb beasts
103–04 parreynge, bickering
105 ryally, royally
106 Outher, Either
107 Cecile, Sicily
110 leeche, physician; wexeth, waxes (becomes)
113 soone, son; secheste, seek
116 thenkith, thinks
118 or, ere; werche, work.
122 lithe parfite, lies perfect
124 paas, pace; gothe, go; Attempre, Temper
125 to, too.
128 caytifenesse, churlishness
131 dispreyse, dispraise/denounce
136 privé, privy
138 derke, dark
139 salewinge, saluting
142 to lewde, too ignorant; maugracious, ugly
144 and1, if
147 arne, are; her, their
149 deed, dead
157 messis, masses.
9. PYTHAGORAS: 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 Pyctagoras. Pythagoras (c. 580–c. 507 BC), the Greek mathematician. His work with mathematics led him to create a complete philosophical and religious system rooted in numbers. His followers maintained a secret society and obeyed the ascetic lifestyle and rigid moral code that their founder set forth. The Pythagoreans made a lasting impact on Greek thought, in that most subsequent philosophers, including Plato and Aristotle, were heavily influenced by this tradition. The impact of the Pythagoreans can be seen, for instance, in the geometric theories of Euclid (fl. 300 BC) and his disciples, and in the study of musical harmony - medieval tradition held that Pythagoras discovered the mathematical ratios behind harmonic intervals when he heard the sound of differently weighted hammers falling simultaneously upon a blacksmith's anvil. For another medieval account of Pythagoras' life and teachings, see Higden's version (Polychronicon, ed. Lumby, vol. 3, pp. 188–212).
10–11 the goodnesse of a frende shulde be knowen. For other manifestations of this maxim, see Whiting G337.
11 two hundred eighty volumes of bookis. Today nothing is known of Pythagoras' actual writings. The Latin Liber Philosophorum Moralium Antiquorum has the same number ("CCLXXX libros" [ed. Francheschini, p. 428]), while the earlier Spanish Bocados de Oro (with some variation among manuscripts) puts the number at 180: "ciento e ochenta libros" (ed. Knust, p. 133).
12 Fanus. Samos, the birthplace of Pythagoras.
13–15 And seide also that oure creacion cometh of God; also, it is convenyente that oure soulles retorne to Him. Pythagoras sounds like a proto–Christian here. In reality, the philosopher and his followers believed in the transmigration of souls, the notion that souls reincarnate into different - and not necessarily human - bodies. Higden (through his anonymous English translator) puts it this way: "Pictagoras putte sawles after this dethe corporealle to goe from body to body" (Polychronicon, ed. Lumby, vol. 3, p. 197).
72–73 Preve men by her werkis, and nat by her seyengis, for thu shalt fynde many that wole do evel and speke faire wordis. See also Zedechye, lines 80–82; Loginon, lines 104–05; and The Last Philosophers, lines 304–05. For other manifestations of this maxim, see Whiting W642.
86–87 the tyme for to holde his peas and the tyme for to speke. Pythagoras appears to have read Ecclesiastes 3:7. See Whiting T315 for numerous literary appearances of the maxim.
9. PYTHAGORAS: TEXTUAL NOTES
14 retorne. G: r is added above the line.
18 he. G: word added above the line.
53 And. G: nd preceded by a blank space for a capital A.