4P Li gç(' TRANSACTIONS

798 LE k I \k F. I )E YCONO\1 IQ[E D'ARJSTOTE ITRANS. AMER. P1111.. SOC.
I differs in beauty I ; vestemens dittenn dc antics en
excellence tie heaute.'
At the end of fol. 3411), Oresme struggled vainly with
the text of all three versions. The reading of a is
Propter quae oiuuia decet nuilto magis honorare virum
et in verecundia 11011 hahere, si sacra puclicitia Ct OCS
amniositatis films secundum 1-Terculeni non sequantur.
[For all these reasons it is fitting that a woman should
honor her husband far more nor he ashamed of him
even when, as Hercules sa ys. 'hol y health of soul, and
wealth, child of a brave spirit,' him.]" The
gloss notes that 1' and c read Orphciun instead of Herciticiii,'
but Oresme complains that the passage has been
wrongly translated, appearing in all three versions in
different readings, none of them translatable. Possibly
he had difficult y with the confusing compound subject.
with 0/n's in apposition With films and a plural verb
serving as predicate to three dispersed subjects. I lis
speculation that Orpheus wrote a 1)00k in which 11crcules
is made to titter this poetic line is ingenious. but
unwarranted ; Orpheus was indeed a legendary poet, to
whom numerous verses were attributed, as in this iiistance.
Had lie known this, Oresme would doubtless
have chosen the reading of b and c in preference to a.
However, the general sense of the original is preserved
in time French.
ii fol. 341d, a reads:" Quibus quid sanctius fieret?
[What more hol y than this ?1 " ; b reads "Otiihus quid
tlivuiius ? [What more divine than this? I ." Oresme
straddles both reading ,.;: What more holy or more
divine ? In the gloss he notes : "One text reads sanctiu.c
and another dl'z'm)mmmrs.' Similarly, in fol. 343d Oresme
translates si;nilia froin a, but gives in his gloss sinmmles
from b, with a complete translation of the sentence using
the latter reading. The choice is left to the reader.
Oresoic appears at his critical best iii the gloss
(342cd) in which he explains his preference for the
reading of c. There are several variant readings at this
point in the extant manuscripts and c corresponds closely
with the marginal reading in Bud. Nat.. Ills. mt. 16089,
which may have been among the Latin origmals from
which Oresme worked. This manuscript is unique by
reason of its marginal and interlinear corrections of a
from both b and e. The reading servorum which
Oresme corrects to suorunm is indicated in abbreviation
in the margin. The gloss (346a) in which Oresnie
seeks to correct the reading of a and b in order to satisfy
his sense of propriety shows him in a far less favorable
light. The sentence in question reads in a.' ''Nain cum
Circe iacere noluit nisi propter anucorlifli salutem."
The reading in b is : "Nee etiain cum Circe coire
voluisset nisi pro amicorum salute." Both versions
agree in substance: "The was unwilling to lie with Circe
unless to secure the safet y of his companions.' Oresme
translates: ''He was never willing to lie with a woman
named Circe, even for the salvation of his friends."
(,)ren:e '. l:tii:s that die texI. ire Corrupt and suggests
that nisi (unless should read etiam (even'), although
a, h, and c are uniform with nisi. lie justifies his
tampering by citing Aristotle to the effect that one
should never do evil iii order to accomplish good ; therefore.
Aristotle would never have given his approval to
Ul ysses' having committed a disloyal act against his
wife Penelope, merel y to save his companions. Thus
does Oresuie the theologian subdue Oresme the scholar.
I lowever, we can applaud his disavowal of the magical
po\'rs attributed to Circe ; his explanation of the transformation
of Ul ysses' companions into animals shows a
health y skepticism, if not absolute disbelief.
In a gloss oil 347d. ()resnie cites a text containing
the reading qmu v.cent (who shall Ii ye instead of q'u'i
cerit ( who shall conquer). No extant manuscript
gives the former reaching, a further proof that Oresme
had at his disposal copies of the Economics which have
since been lost.
At the end of fol. 347(1 Oresmc attempts to explain
variant readings of the garbled I .atin rendering of a
(juotati 'in from Pindar. The original Greek, cited in
full by Plato in the Republic I, 331a, means: "The old
age ( of a good man) is cheered by a gentle companion
who delights his heart; even by Hope herself, who
bevotid ever ything else directs the capricious will of
mortal men." \Vith minor variants, the Latin reads
"ut Pindarus ait, tiulce enim sibi cur et spes iiiortahiutii
niuhtiphicem voluntatem gubcrnat." Oresme.'s equivalent
is:" And the hope of mortal mail many
aspects of his will.' His gloss explains: ''Thus Pindar
used to sa y . And this translates the reading of certain
texts which have s/'es niortal'i'um, and the meaning is
that the hope that people have in God governs their
will. But other texts read s/n's unnmorfalimim, and this
means that the hope that people have of obtaining illimortal
rewards after death or the hope the y place in
the immortal gods controls their will." The latter reading
occurs iii time Parisian manuscript mentioned above
and we ma y assume that other manuscripts now host
read likewise. The important feature of the gloss is
Oresme's mistaken acceptance of this reading and his
derivation from it of his argument in favor of ''double
felicity"—one for the body and title for the soul—a
subject of frequent discussion ill theology.
The gloss on Psalm 127: 2 to which he refers is, of
course, from \Valafrid Straho's Glossaria ordinaria.
In his final gloss (3481)) Oresme again complains
that the Latin texts are corrupt, not without reason, if
we read as lie did from a: ''I 'rol)ter qlae proprie et
conuiiuniter decet iuste considerantes ad onines deos et
hominess eum (flu z'rta;n lial'ef et multuni ad suani
uxorem et flui is et parentes...As lie observes, con.
qin vita;;: lmal'ef is not translatable ; however, b is clear
at this point: ''Propter quae oportet specialiter et coinnnnmiter
inste cogitalites ad onmnes cheos et homines
vivere et multum ad suain uxorem et fmlios et pareiltes.
Cf. \tirni. /','rr/ifi ii'ini 113: 1045.