[This text] includes characters that require UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding:
œ (“oe” ligature)
ȝ Ȝ (yogh)
ħ ũ (h with bar, u with tilde: both rare)
The Sidenotes include a few Greek phrases:
ἕπου Θεῷ
If any of these characters do not display properly—in particular, if the diacritic does not appear directly above the letter—or if the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s default font.
Linenotes refer to the Cambridge MS.; see [end of Introduction]. “H.” in the Linenotes is not explained; Skeat’s edition of Chaucer’s Complete Works says that it refers to MS. Harley 2421.
In the printed book, line numbers were squeezed in wherever there was room. For the e-text, they have been regularized to the EETS-standard multiples of 4. Line divisions and page numbers were retained for use with the Index and linenotes, except that some very short words have been moved up or down to avoid awkward gaps. Headnotes have been moved to the nearest convenient line break.
Italic thorn (þ) and yogh (ȝ) seem to have been unavailable to the printer; both letters have been formatted to match the surrounding text. In the Appendix, decorative final letters are shown with ) or + as sprong+, dar) and similar to approximate the look of the original. The inverted semicolon (rare) is shown as ;.
In the primary text, anomalous spellings with initial “u” or non-initial “v” are not individually noted. Other errors, whether corrected or not, are shown in the text with mouse-hover popups.
For this e-text, Chaucer’s translation of the Consolatio is given twice: first as printed, with all notes and apparatus, and then as text alone.
[Introduction]
[Index of First Lines]
[Tabula Libri Boicii] (”Table of Contents”)
[Chaucer’s Translation] (with all notes)
[Appendix] (verse)
[Translation] (text only)
[Glossarial Index]
EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY
Extra Series, No. 5
1868
(Reprinted 1889, 1894, 1895, etc., 1969)
Price 40s.
EDITED FROM
BRITISH MUSEUM ADDITIONAL MS. 10,340
COLLATED WITH
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY MS. Ii.3.21
BY
RICHARD MORRIS
Published for
THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY
by the
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
FIRST PUBLISHED 1868
REPRINTED 1889, 1894, 1895, ETC.,
AND 1969
Extra Series, No. 5
ORIGINALLY PRINTED BY
RICHARD CLAY & SONS LTD., LONDON AND BUNGAY
AND NOW REPRINTED LITHOGRAPHICALLY IN GREAT BRITAIN
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD
BY VIVIAN RIDLER
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
[INTRODUCTION.]
When master hands like those of Gibbon and Hallam have sketched the life of Boethius, it is well that no meaner man should attempt to mar their pictures. They drew, perhaps, the most touching scene in Middle-age literary history,—the just man in prison, awaiting death, consoled by the Philosophy that had been his light in life, and handing down to posterity for their comfort and strength the presence of her whose silver rays had been his guide as well under the stars of Fortune as the mirk of Fate. With Milton in his dark days, Boece in prison could say,—
‘I argue not
Against Heaven’s hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer
Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask?
The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied
In liberty’s defence, my noble task,
Of which all Europe rings from side to side.’
For, indeed, the echoes of Boethius, Boethius, rang out loud from every corner of European Literature. An Alfred awoke them in England, a Chaucer, a Caxton would not let them die; an Elizabeth revived them among the glorious music of her reign.[1] To us, though far off, they come with a sweet sound. ‘The angelic’ Thomas Aquinas commented on him, and many others followed the saint’s steps. Dante read him, though, strange to say, he speaks of the Consolation as ‘a book not known by many.’[2] Belgium had her translations—both Flemish[3] and French[4]; Germany hers,[5] France hers,[6] Italy hers.[7] The Latin editors are too numerous to be catalogued here, and manuscripts abound in all our great libraries.
No philosopher was so bone of the bone and flesh of the flesh of Middle-age writers as Boethius. Take up what writer you will, and you find not only the sentiments, but the very words of the distinguished old Roman. And surely we who read him in Chaucer’s tongue, will not refuse to say that his full-circling meed of glory was other than deserved. Nor can we marvel that at the end of our great poet’s life, he was glad that he had swelled the chorus of Boethius’ praise; and ‘of the translacioun of Boece de Consolacioun,’ thanked ‘oure Lord Ihesu Crist and his moder, and alle the seintes in heuen.’
The impression made by Boethius on Chaucer was evidently very deep. Not only did he translate him directly, as in the present work, but he read his beloved original over and over again, as witness the following list, incomplete of course, of passages from Chaucer’s poems translated more or less literally from the De Consolatione: