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The Fleurs de Toutes Vertus and Christine de Pisan's L'epître D'othêa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
In preparing my edition of the Middle English Epistle of Othea attributed to Stephen Scrope, I have chanced upon some details which apparently have not been previously noticed. The conclusions to be drawn in this paper must necessarily be tentative until exhaustive search in Italian and French libraries can once again be undertaken with the hope of providing the necessary evidence for the satisfactory solution of the present problem. The points which I propose to make, however, are of sufficient importance and interest to present them in their present form to students of comparative literature.
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References
1 See [Sir] George F. Warner, The Epistle of Othea to Hector (London: Roxburghe Club, 1904), pp. xxv-xlvii.
2 Warner, op. cit., pp. xxi-xxv; James D. Gordon, The Epistle of Othea to Hector … edited from the Harleian Manuscript 838 (Philadelphia, 1942), pp. xiv-xvii.
3 Piacenza: Jacobus de Tyela, 5 September 1483; see Ada Thurston and Curt F. Bühler, Check List of Fifteenth Century Printing in the Pier pont Morgan Library (New York, 1939), no. 1327.
4 Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New York, 1935-40), ii, 1500.
5 This list represents only such manuscripts as I have come across and does not pretend to be complete. The text is not listed by Gustav Gröber, Geschichte der mittelfranzösischen Literatur (ed. by Stefan Hofer, Berlin and Leipzig, 1933-37).
6 There may be another manuscript in the Bibliothèque d'Albi in Albi (no, 4) but the description in the catalogue (Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France) is too vague to warrant its inclusion here.
7 Marie Pellechet, Catalogue général des incunables des bibliothèques publiques de France (Paris, 1897-1909), nos. 3516 (Arsenal), 3517 (Bibl. Nat.), and 3518 (Rouen).
8 Anatole Claudin, Histoire de l'imprimerie en France (Paris, 1900-14), iii, 92-94, and Chantilly, Le cabinet des livres. Imprimés antérieurs au milieu du XVIe siècle (Paris, 1905), p. 81, no. 413.
9 Robert Proctor, An Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum … with Notes of those in the Bodleian Library (London, 1898-1903), p. 650, no. 8809. In the Museum's “General Catalogue” the imprint is given as: [Orleans ? 1480 ?].
10 Emile Picot, Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de M. le Baron James de Rothschild (Paris, 1884-1920), iii, 351-353, no. 2557, and i, 74-75, no. 136.
11 Jacques-Charles Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres (Paris, 1860-80), ii, 1286 (two editions).
11a See the sale catalogue Bibliothèque de M. Lucien Gougy, Paris, 1934, p. 109, no. 168.
12 Similarly, as Gordon (op. cit., p. xxx) points out, Christine supplied her Oil éa with four different dedications. Scrope's English text contains three dedications: to Sir John Fastolf (Marquis of Bath, Longleat MS. 253), to Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham (St. John's College, Cambridge, MS. 208) and to an unspecified “hye princesse” (Morgan MS. 775).
13 So, for example, nos. 3, 4, 6, 11, 12 and 13 above.
14 This is also the incipit in nos. 1, 2, 9, 10, 14 and 15.
15 Neither incipit is listed by Arthur Långfors, Les incipit des poèmes français antérieurs au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1917).
16 Op. cit., i, 75: “Le Livre de Saigesse est un extrait, rédigé vers la fin du xive siècle, de la Somme le Roy, de frère Laurent.”
17 The Book of Vices and Virtues, EETS, OS. 217, pp. xxvii-xxviii. He lists several of the manuscripts noted above and states that they are “abridged versions of the Somme.” Compare also his note 1, p. xxvii, which needs correction. The Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (Leipzig, 1925-38), vi, 420, intimates that it will also list the incunabula editions under Laurent.
18 For this work see D. C. Tinbergen, Des Coninx Summe (Leyden, 1900-07) and Gröber, op. cit., ii, 216 and note, for the early French versions. According to Paulin Paris, Les manuscrits français de la bibliothèque du roi (Paris, 1836-48), v, 9, MS. 572 bears the title: “Aucuns diz des sages, extraiz du livre des Vices et Vertus, nommé la Somme le Roy, et de plusieurs philosophes.” However, C. Frati, “Ricerche sul ‘Fiore di Virtù’,” Studj di filologia romanza, vi, 410-413, points out that the “Somma de’ vizi” mentioned in the Fiore refers to the Summa virtutum et vitiorum by Guillelmus Peraldus; the similarity in the titles perhaps misled the scribe of the Paris manuscript.
19 “Le présent manuscrit offre un texte disposé de la même façon que l'ouvrage italien Fiore di virtù, composé vers 1320, soit d'après frère Laurent, soit d'après une autre Somme, attribué à Tomaso Leoni et plusieurs fois imprimé en Italie au xve siècle.” Chantilly. Le cabinet des livres. Manuscrits (Paris, 1900-11), i, 236.
20 For this work, see Adolfo Bartoli, Storia della letteratura italiana (Firenze, 1878-89), iii, 347-350; Frati, op. cit.; N. Cartojan, “Fiore di virtù in literatura româneasca,” Academia 
. Memoriile sectiunii literare, seria iii, tomul iv (Bucureşti, 1928-29); R. Renier, “Di una ignota traduzione spagnuola del ‘Fiore di virtù,‘” Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, xviii, 305-318; etc.
21 Bartoli, op. cit., p. 348 notes that MS. Riccardiano 1084 is an interpolated text; so also is Magliabechiano ii. ii. 21 according to T. Casini, “Appunti sul Fiore di virtù,” Rivista critica della letteratura italiana, iii, 154-159. Renier, op. cit., p. 306, speaks of the “incrementi, modificazioni and rimaneggiamenti” found in the Italian manuscripts.
22 Henry Thomas, Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in France … now in the British Museum (London, 1924), p. 166. The book is listed in the Catalogue of Printed Books (Filace-Fisgrave. London, 1887, p. 105) under Fiore di virtù; the press-mark is C. 27. g. 6.
23 A. W. Pollard and G. R. Redgrave, A Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland … 1475-1640 (London, 1926), p. 72, nos. 3357-3358a. The British Museum lists its edition under Fiore di virtù, with the press-mark C. 38. b. 1.
24 Cited from the Harvard copy of STC 3358.
25 Mary Augusta Scott, Elizabethan Translations from the Italian (Boston, 1916), pp. 451-456, no. 373 includes the Boke of Wisdome as a translation of the Italian Fiore di virtù.
26 The contrary is also true but this need not concern us here.
27 Op. cit., I, 236: “Quelle que soit l'origine de cet ouvrage, que l'auteur soit français ou italien, il est certain que nous avons ici une compilation du xive siècle, dont on connaît de nombreuses copies.”
28 Op. cit., i, 74-75. Francis, op. cit., p. xxvii, speaks of the Livre de saigesse as “dating from the end of the fourteenth century.”
29 MS. 1893 is dated 1487, while Morgan 771 was probably written about 1440. MS. 572 is described as late fifteenth century and the two Chantilly MSS. (as also MS. 1746) are listed as belonging to the same century.
30 MS. 1892 is said to be a sixteenth century manuscript.
31 Cf. Pio Rajna, “Ricordi di codici francesi posseduti dagli Estensi nel secolo xv,” Romania, ii, 49-58. Under no. 10 (36) is listed: “Libro uno chiamado Fiore de vertù in francexe—in membrana, cum l'aquila volante et l'arma di Malatesti et l'aquila volante su la prima carta et su le aleve, coverto de chore roso.” No. 12 (55) “Libro uno chiamado el libro de le vertu, in francexe” may represent another copy of this text. Presumably the translation was made in France and it may have been many years before the translation reached Italy.
32 Even Leonardo da Vinci made use of the Fiore di virtù; cf. Jean Paul Richter, The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci (London, 1883), II, 313 ff.
33 Casini, op. cit., lists 38 manuscripts found in the various Florentine libraries.
34 For the printed editions, see Hermann Varnhagen, “Drei italienische Kleinigkeiten,” Philologische und volkskundliche Arbeiten Karl Vollmöller … dargeboten (Erlangen, 1908), pp. 52-54.
35 Gesamtkatalog 7958-7972. The same total represents the number of fifteenth-century editions of Cavalca's Specchio di croce (Gesamtkatalog 6414-6428), while only eleven editions of Boccaccio's Decamerone (Gesamtkatalog, 4440-4450) were produced before 1501.
36 For the various translations see the works cited above by Frati, Cartojan and Renier; for the Catalan text, see Konrad Haebler, Bibliografía Ibérica del siglo XV (La Haya, 1903-17), nos. 274-276 and 274(5).
37 As by the Soueraine Sapyence, or Wysdome. And hyghe power of god, al thinges reasonable be create, all the same oughte to goo to theyr good and happy ende. And because that the sprites, or soules of reasonable creatures be create by god, to his owne semblaunce and lykenes, it is necessarye, that he be adorned wyth vertues, by the whyche they maye come to the ende, for the whyche they were made and create. Prudence is mother and leader of al other vertues, without the whyche none of the other Vertues can be well gouerned. And it is verye nesessarye and conuenient, to the spyrytes of reasonable creatures to haue Prudence, and be adorned of the same. For Salamon saythe in makynge mencyon of the same in hys Prouerbes. Si intrauerit etc. (Boke of Wisdome, Harvard copy, sig. B1).
38 A[s] be the grete wisedome and hiз myghte of God alle thinges that be resonabli made alle scholde streche to the ende of hym and because that our spirit made of God to his likenes is made of thinges moost noble aftir the angelis it is behoueli and necessarie that it be araid withe vertues be the whiche it may be conueid to the ende wherefore it was made… . How prudence and wisedome be moderis and conditoures of alle vertues withoute the whiche the tothir may not be welle gouernyd it is necessarie to goostli knyghthood to be araid withe prudence… . And to this purpos Salamon seithe in his Prouerbis Si intrauerit etc. (Epistle of Othea, St. John's MS. 208, f. 4).
39 The previous philosopher cited by the Fleurs and the Boke is Varro. This statement may be based on the quotation in the Fiore (Morgan 770, f. 5v): Ira secondo Aristotile sie turbamento d'animo per discorso di sangue. Compare also Carl Selmer, “An Unnoticed Version of Pseudo Aristotelian Proverbs,” PMLA, lix, p. 586, no. 5. The Book of Good Manners (London, de Worde, c. 1520—Morgan 747), sig. c1 has: As Seneca sayth, Ire troubleth the vnderstandynge of the creatures.
40 Epístola ccx (Migne xxxiii, 958): Quia sicut acetum corrumpit vas, si diutius ibi fuerit; sic ira corrumpit cor, si in alium diem duraverit. This is rendered by the Boke of Wisdome (f. 42v) as: Saint Augustine saithe, that in lyke case as the euyll wine doth corrupte the vessell wherin it is putte, so Ire dothe corrupte the bodye of the man, if it doe tarye there from one daye to a-nother.
41 For the quotation from St. Gregory used in section xii (compare Warner, p. 24, and Gordon, p. 31), the Fleurs (f. 44v) has: Saint gregoire dit que nous deuons auoir en grant reuerence ceulx qui preschent la saincte escripture car ce sont les courriers qui vont deuant nostre seigneur et nostre s[eigneur] les suit. La saincte predication vient deuant et apres nostre s[eigneur] vient en visitation de noz coraiges. Les paroles font la cource deuant & la verite est respandue en nostre entendement. The identical quotation may be found in Guillaume Telin, Bref sommaire des sept vertus etc. (Paris, 1533), f. cxviii; for Telin's work, see my Dicts, pp. xvi-xviii.
42 Comparable to the Hermes extract in vii (Warner, p. 19, and Gordon, p. 24), we find in the Fleurs (f. 20v—Luxure): Hermes dit que le vice de luxure estaint toutes vertus. For this, the Boke of Wisdome (f. 49v) has: Hermes saithe, that the Vyce of Lechery doth quenshe al vertues.
43 It has occurred to me that this French translation of the Fiore di virtù might be an early exercise by Christine; however the awkwardness of the style seems to be an argument against this assumption.
44 I am obliged to M. Henri Malo, the Conservateur-adjoint of the Musée Condé, for informing me that the catalogue is the result of the combined efforts of the Duc d'Aumale, Leopold Delisle and Paul Meyer.
45 So Campbell and Gordon. Ph. Aug. Becker, “Christine de Pizan,” Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur, liv, 129-163, places the date of composition as 1402, while E. M. Robineau, Christine de Pisan (St.-Omer, 1882), p. 89, assigns the work to 1406.
46 See Gröber, op. cit., ii, 14-40; Mathilde Laigle, Le Livre des trois vertus de Christine de Pisan (Paris, 1912), pp. 74-103; Maurice Roy, “Le debat de deux amans,” Œuvres poétiques de Christine de Pisan (Société des anciens textes français), ii, p. 49 ff. and notes.
47 In four instances (iii, xxvi, lxvii, and lxxi) there are two quotations from the philosophers in one section.
48 Gordon, op. cit., pp. xvii-xxix, mentions a number of other works which may have served as a model.
49 Bibl. Nat., MS. 572 and Morgan 771.
50 Ezio Franceschini, “Il ‘Liber philosophorum moralium antiquorum.‘ Testo critico,” Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti (Anno accademico 1931-1932, tomo xci, parte seconda), pp. 393-597 (also numbered 1-205).
51 The fact that Othéa occasionally has quotations which agree with the Fleurs and differ materially from Tignonville's translation of the Dicta may be illustrated by the following example. In lxxxvii we find: A ce propos dit omer le poete par grant diligence vient on a honneur & perfeccion (Harley 4431, f. 135). Scrope has: To this purpoos Omer seyeth, Be greet diligence a man cometh to perfeccioun (Morgan 775, f. 266). Similarly the Fleurs (Morgan, 771, f. 16) states: Omere dit. par grant diligence vient l'omme a parfection: the Boke of Wisdome (f. 38v) has: Homer say the that by greate dylygence, a man commeth to perfeccyon.
The Dicta philosophorum and its translations present quite a different version. The Latin (p. 27) says: Et dixit: per [cautionem] magnam consequitur homo quod vult. This is rather literally translated by Tignonville as: Et dit par grant diligence vient on a son intention (Morgan 771, f. 59). In Scrope's Dicts (p. 38, ll. 11-12) it reads: And he saithe: bi grete diligence men may come to their entent; the Helmingham Hall text states: And seith: by grete diligence a man cometh to haue his entente (Dicts, p. 39, ll. 14-15). Earl Rivers' translation (Westminster, Caxton, 1477, f. 15) also has: And sayde by grete diligence som men atteyne to their purpose.
Thus all the versions of the Dicta have “entent” for “quod vult,” while Othéa and the Fleurs have “perfeccioun” for the Latin phrase. The English translation of Othéa printed by Gordon (p. 130) similarly has: Wherfore seyth þe noble poete Omere: By grett diligence comet a man to þe grett hye estat of perfeccioun. See also note 56 below.
52 See also the notes to my Dicts for 38/2, 146/17 and 242/16.
53 Cf. the Dicts, p. 210, ll. 6-24, and the notes to this passage. In addition to the works cited there, this story may also be found in the following: Speculum laicorum (by John of Hoveden?), MS. Addit. 11284, f. 55; Petrus Alphonsus, Disciplina clericalis, MS. Addit. 24641, f. 226v; Robert Holkot, Convertimini, MS. Royal 7 C I, f. 117v; the German Gesta, MS. Addit. 10291, f. 69; and Ranulf Higden, Polycronicon (Westminster, 1495), f. cxxmv. The Spanish Fiore (Renier, op. cit., p. 318) names the philosophers thus: Gullicio, Bartolico, Delphian, Preciano, Archito, Drusiano, and Bernardo. In the Fleurs, which borrows the story from the Fiore, it is found under “Tristesse” (Morgan, 771, f. 16).
54 In some editions of the Fiore, this quotation is attributed to Avicenna; so Rome, Bulle, 1478 (Morgan Check List 665) and Venice, Nel Beretin Convento, 1474 (Morgan 838).
55 For other French works which borrowed from the Dicta, see my Diets, pp. xvi-xviii.
56 Telin (op. cit., f. 61v) has the identical quotation under “La vertu de justice” as it here appears in the Fleurs. The Boke of Wisdome (f. 71) renders this as: Arystotyl sayth, that Iustice is a measure, that god hath stablished in earthe, for to lymyte all thynges. Othéa (iv) has the text of the Fleurs, not that of the Dicta or its French translation.
57 Apparently based on Diogenes Laertius (v, 21): 
. William Baldwin, A treatise of morall phylosophie (London, Whitchurch, c. 1550—copy at Harvard), sig. N2, translates the Dicta thus: Justice is a measure whiche god hath ordayned on the yearth, to defende the feble from the myghtye, and the true from the vntrue, and to roote out the wicked from among the good. Baldwin attributes this saying to Plato; cf. Dicts, 158/15 and 159/15. Tignonville's translation is a close rendering of the Latin text.
58 Compare this with Tignonville's translation: Et dist Nous veons communement les femmes estre plus tost courouciees que les hommes, les malades que les sains, les vieulx que les jeunes pourquoy on peut pensser que Ire vient de foiblesce de couraige. (Royal 19 B iv, f. 70v.)
59 Baldwin, op. cit., sig. O1, agrees with the Latin text: Women are sooner angrye than men, the sycke sooner than the healthy, and olde folke be soner moued than the younge—Plato. The Dicts (274/12) does not specify the philosopher to whom this saying is attached.
60 The Othéa itself was enlarged from other sources by Jean Mielot; see Gröber, op. cit., ii, 219. Picot (op. cit., iii, 351-353) points out that some of the editions of the Fleurs were augmented by portions of the chapter on Sedechias, also borrowed from the Dits moraulx. The Dits in turn, was also expanded; see my Dicts, p. xix and note. William Worcester supplied additions to Scrope's English translation of this work.
61 The Fleurs (under “Seurte”) is also indebted to Seneca's Liber de remediis fortuitorum, though probably only indirectly. In Seneca this work has the sub-title “Dialogus sensus et rationis,” while the personifications in the Fleurs are Paour and Seurte. The French work may have borrowed this passage from the Moralium dogma philosophorum (Migne clxxi, 1028-1031), where it appears under the title “Dialogus inter securitatem et timorem.” For the authorship of the Latin text, see my Diets, p. xvii, and Theodore Silverstein, “The Tertia philosophia of Guillaume de Conches and the authorship of the Moralium dogma philosophorum,“ Quanlulacumque, 1937, pp. 23-33. An Italian translation of this Dialogus appears at the end of a work entitled Libro della vita de philosophi printed at Florence in 1488 (Gesamtkatalog 8387). This work has been incorrectly assumed to be a translation of Diogenes Laertius, whereas it is, in the main, no more than a translation of Walter Burley's Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum; on this, see my paper ”Greek philosophers in the literature of the later Middle Ages,“ Speculum, xii, pp. 451-452.