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113

the evil man cannot think of high things. For he who is of the
earth pays attention to the earth, and he who aspires to God,
God attends to him. [note the word play here]. For God
himself says so in these words: "He who is of earth, speaks of the earth.
And he who comes from heaven aspires to heaven. He who is
without peer [lit: other] is Lord of all [lit: the others]. The
philosophers, who knew well how to understand these words,
considered it more worthy to suffer hardship and tribulation [see note]
in order to learn, rather than to incline to worldly honors.
For they held the sciences and scholarship [see note] to be more
valuable than all the lordships of the world. Plato, who was a
powerful and praised teacher in Athens, left his noble state
and his home because he wanted to live in such fame. He
searched out many countries and regions and held it more worthy
to have pain, tribulation, and shame for the sake of seeking out
and learning truth, than to have lordship and domination in
the world. Nor did he want to have the renown of being a master.
He would never say anything of which he was not certain just so he could gain the
vain praise of the world. [see note] Appollinus, who was such
a great prince, left his empire and his reign and departed
poor and naked in order to learn the sciences

Notes and Questions

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Marie Richards

original ms. Folio 113r
Walters ms. Folio 118r
BL Royal MS 19 A IX fols 132v-133r
Caxton, ed. Prior, p 164
Gossuin, ed. Prior, 188

Marie Richards

line 10: "mesaiges" : cf. in Greimas "mesais, mesaaise: embarras, chagrin; maladie, misere; "mesaisais": malaise, tribulation

Marie Richards

line 12: "les clergies": first time it's been in the plural, I think.

Marie Richards

lines 20-21. Grammar is tricky. I have followed Caxton: And had leuer haue payne, mesayse and trauayll for tenserche trouthe and for to lerne science, than for to haue seygnourie and domynacton in the world, ne renommee for to be maister ; ffor he wold saye nothyng but yf he were certayn therof, ffor ony vayne glorye of the world.