WRITING AUTHORITY IN LATE MEDIEVAL ... - Cornell University

Compared to the Latin frame, the English way of introducing seems to have no subtle meanings
or motifs least of all to describe the “almyhti pourveance” which it takes as the guiding principle
of history portrayed in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Although the English echoes the Latin’s
themes, it does so in such an explicit and overt manner as to imply that the difference in style—
from hard Latin to simple English—really has something to do with how Gower uses his
language for the different goals of his audience.
Nevertheless, in treating similar themes (such as providence and history), the complexity
of the Latin and the simplicity of the English cause each introduction to portray an entirely
different message and stance towards the craft of writing in general, particularly in comparison
to the prose Latin summary of the episode:
Hic in prologo tractat de Statua illa, quam Rex Nabugodonosor viderat in sompnis, cuis caput
aureum, pectus argenteum, venter eneus, tibie ferree pedum vero quedam pars ferrea, quedam
fictilis videbatur, sub qua membrorum diuersitate secundum Danielis exposicionem huius mundi
variatio figurabatur.
Here in the Prologue he discourses about the Statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had seen in
dreams, whose head was gold, chest silver, stomach brass, legs iron, but whose feet were some
part iron, some part clay, through which diversity of members, according to Daniel’s exposition
the variation of this world is figured [My emphasis]. 194
The Latin prose summary uses very allusive diction that almost foreshadows the Latin verse
frame in a way that mimics how the Vox presents Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and it does so to
convey an entirely different idea of the passage of history than what the English presents.
Following the focus of the Latin verses on “changeability” and “representation,” it
encapsulates the episode as: “secundum Danielis exposicionem huius mundi variatio figurabatur”
‘the changeability of this world is represented according to the exposition of Daniel.’ “Variatio,”
as constant change and difference, parallels the Latin verse frame which, in understanding time
as a “casu” a variable ‘throw,’ hearkens to the idea of history as “variatio mundi” ‘variation of
194 Gower Confessio 1.591.Latin Marginalia, trans. Andrew Galloway.
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