JOHN GOWER: THE MINOR LATIN WORKS: NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: CA: Gower, Confessio Amantis; CB: Gower, Cinkante Ballades; Cronica: Gower, Cronica Tripertita; CT: Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales; CVP: Gower, Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia; IPP: Gower, In Praise of Peace; Mac: Macaulay edition; MO: Gower, Mirour de l'Omme; TC: Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; Thynne: William Thynne, printer, The Works of Geffray Chaucer (1532) [prints IPP from Tr]; Traitié: Gower, Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz; VC: Gower, Vox Clamantis.

All biblical citations are to the Vulgate text, and, unless otherwise noted, all biblical translations are from the Douai-Rheims. For a list of manuscript abbreviations, please see Manuscripts in the Introduction.

2. CARMEN SUPER MULTIPLICI VICIORUM PESTILENCIA: NOTES

The marginal Latin glosses, identified by a capital L in the left margin next to the text, are transcribed and translated in the notes and can be accessed by clicking on the L at the corresponding line.

Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia: Written probably mid-1396, although possibly as late as mid-1397 (see note to Prose 6, below), Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia is, after VC and Cronica, Gower's longest Latin poem. It has close connections with VC VII.ix-xvi, sharing a central metaphor of physical decay and disease as emblematic of spiritual corruption, either of the individual (VC) or, as here, of the Church and State. The poem particularly utilizes "plague" as a stand-in for Lollardy. Fisher (John Gower, p. 128) associates it with "the outbreak of Lollard activity" of 1395, and may be correct, at least about Gower's inspiration: in January of that year, during parliament session, twelve-point manifestoes were posted on the doors of Westminster Hall and St. Paul's by Lollards; a journey to the king in Ireland by Archbishop Arundel and the bishop of London in February may have been to discuss the situation. In any case, the king came home (compare Walsingham, Chronica Monasterii S. Albani, p. 173, and Historia Anglicana 2.216-17). Parliament took matters seriously enough to grant the king a tenth (i.e., a tenth part of the taxes raised that year) on 17 February for use against the Lollards (Chronica Monasterii S. Albani, p. 173, and Rotuli Parliamentorum 3.329). The 1381 Rising provoked a near-immediate response from Gower -- the so-called Visio as a new first book for VC; conditions, and a similar responsiveness, seem analogous here. The suggestion (by Coffman, "John Gower, Mentor," p. 955) that the poem is unfinished because only three of the cardinal sins (Pride, Lust, and Avarice) are mentioned seems a logical conclusion, but in the end must be dismissed as conjecture, in the absence of evidence (Fisher, John Gower, p. 128). The structure has been called "experimental" (Carlson, "Rhyme") for its mixing of disyllabic couplet-rhyme Leonine hexameters characteristic of Cronica and unrhymed elegiac distichs, the latter in several instances borrowed verbatim from VC II.ix. Notable too is the "marking" of sections start and finish with disyllabic-rhyming Leonine hexameters ending with a similarly rhymed pentameter.

Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia has the widest distribution of the minor poems, being attached as follows to manuscripts of CA: T₂, B, u, P₂, F, H₂, K; and of VC: S, G, C, H, E₁, L, L₂. The text presented here is based on S.

8 continuatur. So Mac, emending from C, E, H, L, F, and B. S: continiatur.

11 variatur. Septicemia causes the skin of plague victims to become covered with bruises at the end stages of the disease. Compare O Deus immense, line 31, below.

Prose 1 Putruerunt . . . insipiencie. Macaulay (4.417) compares the passage to Vulgate Psalm 37:6: "Putruerunt et corruptae sunt cicatrices meae, A facie insipientiae meae" ("My sores are putrefied and corrupted, because of my foolishness").

Prose 4 procurator. S: at added above the line.

Prose 6-7 Anno . . . vicesimo. The twentieth year of Richard II's reign spanned 22 June 1396 to 21 June 1397. The date is also given in line 313, below.

Prose 8 demonis. See note to line 20, below.

13 ad. So Mac, emending from C, E, H, L, F, and B. S omits.

15 plebs . . . resignat. I.e., the Rising of 1381. Fisher remarks (John Gower, p. 129) that "order, not theology, is the real concern of the poet" here. See following note.

16 laicus. I.e., the Lollards. Although "Lollards" were from every social class, the dual assumptions, as here, of their being both commoners and rebels were widely held. See Chronicon Angliae, pp. 310-11, 320-21. The accusations were enhanced by the revolt of 1381, which Walsingham attributed to Archbishop Sudbury's failure to suppress Wyclif and his followers adequately, even claiming that John Ball himself was a Wycliffite. As Aston notes, "opinions once lodged are themselves historical facts: and, as such, may influence events" (Lollards and Reformers, p. 7).

20-23 Lollia . . . fidem. Compare Matthew 13:24-25 (and following): "Aliam parabolam proposuit illis, dicens: Simile factum est regnum caelorum homini, qui seminavit bonum semen in agro suo: cum autem dormirent homines, venit inimicus eius, et superseminavit zizania in medio tritici, et abiit" ("Another parable he proposed to them saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while the men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way"). "Zizania" was understood as "lolium"; compare Isidore, Etymologiae XVII.9.106: "Zizania, quam poetae . . . lolium dicunt" ("Zizania, which the poets call . . . lolium" -- my trans.); and VC IV.xxii.1083: "Sub triciti specie zizannia sepe refundunt" ("They frequently repay one with tares [cockle] under the guise of wheat" -- trans. Stockton). Christ explains the parable, Matthew 13:37-39: "Qui seminat bonum semen, est Filius hominis. Ager autem est mundus. Bonum vero semen, hi sunt filii regni. Zizania autem, filii sunt nequam. Inimicus autem, qui seminavit ea, est diabolus" ("He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. And the field is the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle are the children of the wicked one. And the enemy that sowed them is the devil" -- my italics). Compare prose heading, "demonis," above, line 29, below, and following note.

24 apostata primus. By "apostates" Gower means those who (Luke 8:13) "ad tempus credunt, et in tempore tentationis recendunt" ("believe for a while and in time of temptation they fall away"); hence, the devil, here conceived as Lucifer, the "first apostate": compare CA 8.10-12: "Bot Lucifer he putte aweie, / With al the route apostazied / Of hem that ben to him allied"; and VC IV.xxii.1019-20: "Est deus, est mundus, est demon apostate, cuius / Ordine transgressus fert sibi frater onus" ("There is God, there is the world, and there is the Devil Apostate, / In whose ranks the friar bears the burden of sin" -- trans. Stockton). Here Lollards receive accusations aimed at friars in VC: see note to lines 36-37, below.

29 lollia. See note to lines 20-23, above.

30 novam sectam. The Lollards.

32 Ioviniani. Jovinian (d. ca. 405), condemned for heresy in 390, was bitterly attacked by Jerome in Adversus Jovinianum (ca. 393), which now, ironically enough, is the best source of Jovinian's ideas, which apparently opposed such basic tenets of Christian doctrine as the superiority of virginity, the hierarchy of sins, and the meritorious inequalities of punishment and heavenly reward; Jovinian also did not maintain the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary. But it is unlikely that any of these ideas specifically are meant here, or that Gower intends a one-to-one correspondence to Wyclif (whom Gower never names in any known work). More probable is Jovinian's service here and elsewhere in Gower's writing as a prototypical schismatic who gained a following (for which he was condemned), in that way resembling Lucifer and Lollards, sowers of bad seed: another such heretic for Gower is Arius. Compare VC VI.xix.1267: "Nunc nouus est Arius, nouus est quasi Iouinianus; / Dum plantant heresim, dant dubitare fidem" ("Now there is a new Arius, now there is a new Jovinian, so to speak; / since they both sow heresy, they cause faith to doubt" -- trans. Stockton).

35 palleat. So S, C, H, L, and B. Mac emends to palliet based on F.

36-37 Sub grossa lana . . . tegit. Verbatim from VC IV.xxii.1047-48, where the lines describe the fraudulence of friars. The passage is identified by Beichner ("Gower's Use of the Aurora," p. 592) as verbatim from Peter of Riga's Aurora (his Biblia versificata), Deut. 89-90. "Coarse wool" probably refers to the Lollards' simple clothing, as in VC it did to friars' habits; hiding "fine linen" underneath, however appropriate a critique for friars, strikes some (e.g., Stockton, Major Latin Works, p. 34) as "far-fetched" and -- given their abhorrence of worldly wealth -- hardly Lollard practice. Gower was borrowing a metaphor here, not a snapshot; see note to line 24, above.

38 Fermento veteri . . . acervum. Compare Matthew 16: 11-12: "Quare non intelligitis, quia non de pane dixi vobis: Cavete a fermento pharisaeorum et sadducaeorum? Tunc intellexerunt quia non dixerit cavendum a fermento panum, sed a doctrina pharisaeorum et sadducaeorum" ("Why do you not understand that it was not concerning bread I said to you: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then they understood that he said not that they should beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees"); and 1 Corinthians 5:6-8: "Nescitis quia modicum fermentum totam massam corrumpit? Expurgate vetus fermentum, ut sitis nova conspersio, sicut estis azymi. Etenim Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus. Itaque epulemur: non in fermento veteri, neque in fermento malitiae et nequitiae: sed in azymis sinceritatis et veritatis" ("Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch is sacrificed. Therefore, let us fast not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness: but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth").

40 Dum magis incantat . . . aures. Gower has in mind the serpent "Aspidis" which covers its ears to escape "enchantement" by its hunter (CA 1.463-80); the "Sirenes," against whose singing Ulysses stopped the ears of his mariners lest they take for "Paradys, / Which after is to hem an helle" (CA 1.502-03); or both, since in CA one tale directly precedes the other, and incantat implies enchantment through (hypnotic) song.

52-53 Argumenta fides . . . capi. Compare Luke 1:52: "Deposuit potentes de sede, / Et exaltavit humiles" ("He hath put down the mighty from their seat, / And exalted the humble"); and Aquinas, Summa Theologica II.ii.Q.1.Art.4.

56-57 Ut solus . . . opus. Verbatim from VC II.ix.439-40; the larger subject of the chapter from which these and the following excerpts were taken is "quilibet debet firmiter credere, nec ultra quam decet argumenta fidei investigare" ("everyone ought firmly to believe, and not investigate the grounds of faith more than is proper" -- trans. Stockton). The immediate subject of lines 439-40 is the Creation; see notes to lines 60-75, 76-77, below.

60-75 Leticiam luctus . . . fidem. Verbatim from VC II.ix.445-60.

64 sacri flatus. Compare "spiritus vitae" Genesis 2:7, 6:17, 7:15.

66 Cum . . . nosse. Compare Mark 13:33: "Videte, vigilate, et orate: nescitis enim quando tempus sit" ("Take heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is").

76-77 Committat fidei . . . fides. Verbatim from VC II.ix.465-66.

84-85 Sic incarnatum . . . homo. For Gower, this is the crowning example of miracle accessible only through faith; there is no suggestion, however, that Gower thought Lollards denied the Virgin Birth.

85-86 Virginis . . . revereri. Identified by Beichner ("Gower's Use of the Aurora," p. 593) as verbatim from Aurora, Exod. 85-86.

86 Pete, crede, stude, revereri. Compare Vulgate Psalm 36:3-5 and note to line 87, below.

87 lex: Compare line 86, above, and Matthew 22:37: "Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et in tota anima tua, et in tota mente tua" ("Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind").

90 Tempore Ricardi. Compare Coffman, "John Gower, Mentor," p. 958: "Gower, after expressing grave concern over the decay of orthodoxy in religion through Lollardy, exhorts Richard to accept the authority and assume the responsibility to suppress this heresy."

96 Radix peccati . . . scelerati. Compare CA 1.580-81: "The ferste of hem thou schalt believe / Is Pride, which is principal"; MO, line 1045: "Orguil, des autres capiteine" ("Pride, the leader of the others" -- trans Wilson); and Aquinas, Summa Theologica II.i.Q.84,Art.2.

97 Ex quo dampnati. Compare Apocalypse 12:9: "et proiectus est in terram, et angeli eius cum illo missi sunt" ("And [Satan] was cast unto the earth: and his angels were thrown down with him").

98-99 Michaelis / Ensis. Compare Apocalypse 12:7: "Michael et angeli eius praeliabantur cum dracone" ("Michael and his angels fought with the dragon"); and MO, lines 3733-45. For the sword, compare Genesis 3:24.

108-9 Laus ibi non . . . eorum. Richard's court was criticized for following continental fashions: compare Richard the Redeless 3.110-225. That pride led kings and courts to extravagant dress was, however, a commonplace: compare Hoccleve's criticism of court fashion under Henry IV, Regiment of Princes, lines 414-511.

120-21 Elatas mentes . . . amavit. No psalm of David contains precisely this statement; however, compare Vulgate Psalm 34, in which David writes against the injustice of those who persecute him.

124-25 Acherontis, / Unde bibunt vani mortem. No tradition links Acheron with either a deadly fountain or, specifically, with the vain; compare Virgil's Aeneid 6.295-330 and Dante's Inferno 3.71-81, 124. As the boundary river of hell it may figure here to indicate hell in general; also, "fontis / Acheronitis" completes a couplet and so may have been linked for rhyming purposes: compare CA 5.1109-12:"Be Lethen and be Flegeton, / Be Cochitum and Acheron, / The whiche, after the bokes telle, / Ben the chief flodes of helle."

126 stat. So Mac, adding from C, E, H, L, F, and B. S omits.

138-39 Sunt que maiores humilis . . . minores. On Humility as the virtue balancing Pride, compare MO, lines 10177-12614; CA 1.3284 ("Humilite most worth of alle") and 1.3296-97 ("What lest is worth of alle thinges, / And costeth most . . . is Pride").

147 nec ibi sua debita soluit. Compare 1 Corinthians 7:2-4: "propter fornicationem autem unusquisque suam uxorem habeat, et unaquaeque suum virum habeat. Uxori vir debitum reddat: similiter autem et uxor viro. Mulier sui corporis potestatem non habet, sed vir. Similiter autem et vir sui corporis potestatem non habet, sed mulier" ("But for fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife: and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render the debt to his wife: and the wife also in like manner to the husband. The wife hath not power of her body: but the husband. And in like manner the husband also hath not power of his own body: but the wife"). The idea of a sexual "debt" owed each other by husbands and wives was a common notion: see, for example, the opinion of Chaucer's Wife of Bath (CT III[D]152-61), or his Parson's lecture on the three fruits of marriage -- procreation, satisfaction of nature, and avoiding fornication (CT X[I]939-42).

151 Philosophus quidam. It is unlikely any specific "philosopher" is intended here; compare Traitié VI-XVI, where the succession of ballades recounts a similar list of bad ends resulting from adultery.

175-76 Libera set racio . . . Deo. Reason and Conscience act together in MO, lines 10032- 176, inducing God to marry his seven daughters, the Virtues, to Reason, to engender more virtues and combat the seven Vices and their offspring.

180-81 Appetit in carne . . . fugiendus. Verbatim from VC VI.xii.861-62.

182 facta David. I.e., his adultery with Bethsabee; compare 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 11-12.

183 Consilio Balaam. Compare Numbers 31:16: "Nonne istae sunt, quae deceperunt filios Israel ad suggestionem Balaam, et praevaricari vos fecerunt in Domino super peccato Phogor, unde et percussus est populus?" ("Are these not they, that deceived the children of Israel, by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor for which also the people was punished?"). The"sin of Phogor" was fornication: compare Numbers 25:1, 25:8, 25:14-15, 25:18.

193 fictilis etas. Compare VC VII.iii.135-74, where the sin of the age is said to be sexual excess (e.g., "Sic sacra scripta caro conscribitur undique mundo" ["The world everywhere inscribes carnal lust as holy writ" -- trans. Stockton]). The larger image is the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream: compare CA Prol. 585-662; Daniel 2:31-45.

197-98 Cecus amor . . . amans. Compare Ecce patet tensus. Blind Cupid, with the power to blind his disciples, is common in Gower. E.g., CA Prol.47, 4.1732, 8.2268, and, especially, 8.2788-2808, where the blind god "which may noght se" gropes the wound of the stupified Amans to remove the fiery dart, whereupon the protagonist regains his vision and "John Gower" identity.

199 Pendula . . . dolore. Compare Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.826: "Credula res amor est: subito conlapsa dolore" ("Love is a credulous thing: struck suddenly with pain," used verbatim VC V.iii.165).

203-4 Cum viciis . . . homo. Compare 1 Corinthians 6:18: "Fugite fornicationem" ("Fly fornication").

210 mortis. So Mac, emending from C, E, H, L, F, and B. S: cordis.

211-14 Oscula fetor . . . madet. Compare VC VII.x.765-78; here, however, and throughout VC VII, Gower's concern is with bodily corruption post mortem.

213-14 Occupat . . . madet. Compare Proverbs 14:13: "Risus dolore miscebitur, / Et extrema gaudii luctus occupant" ("Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, / And mourning taketh hold of the end of joy").

215 voluptas. So Mac, emending (unnoted), from C, E, H, L, F, and B. S: vluptas.

217 statutum. S: tu added above the line by a later hand.

218-19 Quo caro . . . vorabit. Compare Genesis 3:19: "In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane, donec revertaris in terram de qua sumptus es: quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris" ("In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return").

231 Ex vicio . . . mali. Compare 1 Timothy 6:10: "Radix enim omnium malorum est cupiditas" ("For the desire of money is the root of all evils"). Chaucer's Pardoner takes this as the text for his exhortation; see Chaucer's CT VI(C)333-34.

232-34 Nemo Dei nomen . . . statuit. Compare Exodus 20:7: "Non assumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum" ("Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"); and 20:16: "Non loqueris contra proximum tuum falsum testimonium" ("Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor"). These are two of the Ten Commandments, the "Old Law" of Moses.

246-65 Vendere iusticiam . . . fidem. Compare VC VI.vi.445-62, especially 445: "Vendere iusticiam quid id est nisi vendere Cristum" ("What is it to sell justice but to sell Christ" -- trans. Stockton). See also note to lines 79-80, above.

265 Nunc modus . . . fidem. This may be an oblique reference to Richard II's "cartes blanches involving admission of debt and guilt which he forced members of the opposition to sign" (Stockton, Major Latin Works, p. 40). See also Cronica III.67-72.

266 Vox leuis . . . nuper. Compare Genesis 27:22: "Accessit ille ad patrem, et palpato eo, dixit Isaac: Vox quidem, vox Iacob est: sed manus, manus sunt Esau" ("He came near to his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said: The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob; but the hands are the hands of Esau"). By impersonating his brother, Jacob deprived Esau of his father's blessing; see note to lines 270-72, below.

270-72 Ex dampno fratris . . . annos. The allusion to the Jacob and Esau story continues here; see note to line 266, above.

276-77 Quid modo . . . / Dicam? Compare Matthew 6:3: "Te autem faciente eleemosynam, nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua" ("And when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth"). The play here is archly skilfull: because the right hand now takes bribes instead of giving alms, it has moved to (become) the left. The idea becomes proverbial. See Whiting, H61.

295 Cum se nemo . . . sibi? Not even a man's body belongs to him, for it too will decay after death. Compare Orate pro anima, below.

298 Mammona. Compare Matthew 6:24: "Non potestis Deo servire et mammonae" ("You cannot serve God and mammon"); and Luke 6:9-14.

302 ff. Latin marginalia in S: Salomon: Memorare novissima et inteternum non peccabis. ("Solomon: Remember the newest [i.e., the last] things and you will not sin by the temporal.") The allusion is to the "Four Last Things": death, judgment, heaven, and hell. See Dicunt scripture, note to line 1.

305 ff. Latin marginalia in S: Idem: Omnia fac cum consilio et ineternum non penitebis. ("Do all things with counsel and you will not repent the temporal.")

307 Tempore presenti . . . genti. By "the present time" Gower may have in mind precisely the twentieth year of Richard II (June 1396 to June 1397), when he says he is writing CVP (line 312, below, and Prose, line 6, above), or he may be speaking more generally, as he does elsewhere: compare VC II.Pro.83-84: "Vox clamantis erit nomenque voluminis huius, / Quod sibi scripta novi verba doloris habet" ("And the name of this volume shall be The Voice of One Crying, because the work contains a message of the sorrow of today" -- trans. Stockton). VC II was probably composed before 1381. See also note to line 314, below.

314 Vox sonat in populo. Compare Isaias 40:3: "Vox clamantis in deserto: / Parate viam Domini, / Rectas facite in solitudine semitas Dei nostri" ("The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God"). See also note to line 307, above.

316 Quem peperit . . . sacro. Compare Luke 1:35: "Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi" ("The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee"). The tradition of the "Holy Breath" is not biblical, but developed from two sources: linguistic (Spiritus / inspirare, "to breathe" [compare the General Prologue of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, I(A)5-6] and metaphoric (Christ as the Divine Logos, the Word of God, who in that way entered Mary through her ear at the angel's greeting).