scholastic controversy. It is not within our power, if it were our desire, to set out on a voyage of inquiry on that deep and dangerous ocean. Let it suffice that we have seen the question of the nature of universals fairly launched by Porphyry and Boethius his translator, who provided a Latin nomenclature which, in the prevailing ignorance of Greek, was absolutely indispensable. But before we turn away from the scholastic philosophy, a word must be said upon its value in the history of thought. Although it was fated, together with all the subjects of that fierce debate, to fade and fall away, giving place to the new inductive spirit of the sixteenth century, it must not on that account be regarded as a useless and withered system. The middle ages, the dark ages as we have been taught to call them, were the period of silent preparation and steady self-teaching which must necessarily intervene between the death of an old world and the birth of a new. During such a period originality of thought and expression is rare, if not impossible: it is in the original treatment of a well-worn theme that the greatest minds show forth, and there are few greater in the history of philosophy than Johannes Scotus, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante Alighieri. R 258 APPENDIX A. SYNOPSIS OF MSS. OF THE THEOLOGICAL TRACTS. This table is based on the lists furnished by Peiper and Usener. 1 have added four manuscripts—one in the British Museum and another in the Cambridge University Library, and two in the Public Library at Orléans. A.-MS. containing tr. i., ii., iii., iv., and v., in which iv. appears with the regular title A. M. T. S. B. ex cons. ord. patric., &c. Einsiedeln, 235 (cent. x. or xi.) Here, contrary to the usual order, iv. follows immediately on i. B.-MSS. containing only tr. i., ii., iii., and iv., in which iv. appears without title. 1. Tegeernsee, 765 (now at Munich, Lat. 18,765), (x.) V. According to Usener (op. cit., p. 56), this MS. has lost by mere accident. 2. Paris, Bibl. Reg. MSS. Lat. 1919 (xiv.), (Cat. cod. MSS. &c., Paris, 1744). ? title eiusdem. C-MSS. containing tr. i., ii., iii., iv., and v., in which iv. appears without title. 1. Bern., 510 (ix.-x.) 2. Mus. Brit. Harl., 3095 (x.) 4. Florent. Ambros. (x.) 5. Orléans, fonds de Fleury, 226 (x.) 7. Bern., 618 (xi.)? title. 8. Florent. Laurent., 14, 15 (xi.) 9. Orléans, fonds de Fleury, 232 (xi.) Entitled Boetius de fide. 10. Vatic., 567 (xi.) 11. Gotha, 103 and 104 (xi.-xii.) Instead of a title there is this note: ista epistola in aliis libris non invenitur. 12. St Gall, 768 (xii.) 13. Florent. S. Marco, 167 (xii.) 14. Camb. Univ. Lib., Dd. 6, 6 (xii.) At the foot of the page on which iii. ends there follows: fundamentum catholice fidei a sancto Severino conscriptum. (See supra, p. 140). 15. Rhediger Lib. in Breslau, s. iv. 3 (xii.-xiii.) 16. Vat. Alex., 1975 (xiii.) 17. Vatic., 4250 (xiii.) 18. Florent. Ottobon., 99 (xiii.) 19. Paris, Bibl. Reg. MSS. Lat. 2992 (xiii.) ? title eiusdem. 20. Paris, Bibl. Reg. MSS. Lat. 2376 (xiv.) ? title eiusdem. D.-MSS. containing only tr. i., ii., iii., and v. 1. Vatic. Alexandr., 208 (x.) 2. St Gall, 1344 (xi.) 3. Vatic. Alexandr., 1855 (xi.) 4. Valenciennes, 169 (xii.) 5. Florent. s. Croce, 22, 10 (xi.) 7. Laon, 123 (xiv.) E. MSS. containing only tr. v. 1. Vatic. Urbin., 532 (x.) 2. Vatic. Alexandr., 166 (xi.) APPENDIX B. AN INDEX OF PASSAGES IN CHAUCER WHICH SEEM TO HAVE SUGGESTED BY THE 'DE CONSOLATIONE BEEN THE CANTERBURY TALES. PHILO Prologue. 741-2... 67-8.... 228*2. "The word should be germane to the deed." The Knightes Tale. "Fortune's wheel." Cf. Cons., ii. pr. 2, 28-9; tr. 871-3. ."Fortune's changes should be borne with equal mind." Ib. 44; tr. 897. "Love is above all law." Cf. Cons., iii. m. 12, 47-8; tr. 3063-5. "Providence knows what is best for man." 305-8.. 393-6*. 397-8................ "The desire for riches; their danger." 404.. Cf. Cons., iv. pr. 6, 115-7; tr. 3991-4. Cf. Cons., ii. pr. 5, 92-9; tr. 1309-22. 1 The Chaucer I have used in making this list is the one in the Aldine Series (Bell, 1883); the Boethius is Peiper's edition in the Teubner Texts. Tr. refers to Chaucer's translation of the De Cons., edited by Dr Morris for the E.E. T.S., 1868. 2 I have marked with an asterisk all passages which I think are open to question, or such as might be referred to some other source besides Boethius. 408-9........ "False felicity." Ib. 2-5; tr. 1753-5. 445-56......... 805-7............ 1088........ 1981-3*.......... 2129-35.. 2136-41. Ib. 50; tr. 1817-9. Cf. Cons., iii. m. 8, 1-2; tr. 2252-3. Cf. Cons., iii. pr. 11, 115; tr. 2829. "Punishment of the innocent." Cf. Cons., i. m. 5, 25-48; tr. 526-48. Cf. Cons., iv. pr. 1, 9-18; tr. 3096-104. "Destiny the minister of Providence." "Croesus." Cf. Cons., iv. pr. 6, 30-47: tr. 3869-85; esp. 32-4; tr. 3870-2. Cf. Cons., ii. pr. 2, 32; tr. 877. Cf. Cons., ii. m. 3, 14-5; tr. 1001-3. "The chain of love." Ib. 9-15; tr. 1685-9. ."The world's changes under the direction of a changeless God." 2145-6.... 2153-7. 2147-52. .Do. 29* 197 323... 382-5 715... "Every part is derived from a whole." Cf. Cons., iii. pr. 10, 15-7; tr. 2471-5. The Man of Lawes Tale. Merchants compass sea and land for riches." "The Firmament." Cf. Cons., i. m. 5, 1-4; tr. 502-4. "Woe the end of human gladness." Cf. Cons., ii. pr. 4, 61-2; tr. 1101-2. Cf. Cons., iv. pr. 6, 89-92; tr. 3951-4. "The ruin of the innocent and the prosperity of the Cf. Cons., i. m. 5, 25-48; tr. 526-48. |