Dedicatory epistle The addressee belonged to an ancient noble family of Lucca, which had been a stronghold of Gospel-based Christianity until Pius V and Philip II combined to exile his and similar recalcitrant families, beginning in 1555. At one point he himself was put on trial for heresy. For a biography cf. Julien Caboche et al., Panthéon de la Jeunesse: Vies des enfants célèbres de tous lest temps et tous les pays (Paris, 1842).
Τέττιξ μὲν τέττιγι φίλος Theocritus ix.31.
Sebastianum Gryphium Sébastian Gryphe, the Lyon Humanist-printer who produced the editio princeps of the present dialogue.
2 gentes Britannicas esse in armis Since 1541 a state of war had existed between England and Scotland. The Scots won a victory at Haddon Rig in 1542, but in November of the same year James V’s forces suffered a crushing defeat at Solway Moss. The dramatic time of this dialogue would appear to be sometime before that battle, when the outcome was still hanging in doubt.
2 apud Homerum Odyssey ix.35f.
2 Et, quod rationibus At first sight this seems like a difficult passage. David Irving, Lives of Scotish Writers (Oxford, 1839) p. 32 correctly divined its general import:
Wilson seems to have cherished no violent antipathy towards the cause of reformation. The encreasing defection from the popish church he imputes, in terms sufficiently plain, the pride, luxury, and negligence of the prelates; and three of the Italian reformers, Martyr, Orchino and Lacisio, he mentions, not merely without censure, but even with undissembled approbation.
The evident interpretational difficulty lies in the words quod rationibus nostris maiorem in modum officiat. What exactly is meant by rationibus nostris? If we were to assume that it means, in effect, “the arguments of those of us who support reform within the Church,” then the passage would scarcely be a straightforward endorsement of these Italian reformers. Possible explanations might either be that our author got the meaning of officiat wrong and thought it meant something like “support” (but Wilson was an excellent Latinist), that it is a corruption for some other word (but what word?), or that a negative has dropped out of the text and he originally wrote something like quod rationibus nostris maiorem in modum vix officiat (but maiorem in modum vix would represent very bad Latinity indeed). A superior solution is to understand rationibus nostris as meaning something like “the manners of our times,” and so I have translated it.
The individuals mentioned are the Capuchin Director General, Bernardino Ochino [1487-1564], the theologican Peter Martyr Vermigli [1499 – 1562], and the Humanist Paolo Lacisio of Verona. Getting in trouble with the Pope for their reforming and Gospel-oriented leanings, they were obliged to make their escape to Geneva in 1542, As such, they were very kindred souls to Micheli. See Thomas McCrie, History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy in the Sixteenth Century (Edinburgh, 1827) 188ff.
6 Felix ille animi Angelo Ambrogini Poliziano [1454 - 1494], Rusticus 18 - 21.
7 Sic Plinius N. H. VII.iii.6. (I cannot identify the following reference to Seneca).
9 ut ait Seneca Not a direct quotation of any statement by Seneca.
10 ut facete dixit Lucianus Hermotimus lxxi. This was in fact a proverbial Greek expression, used by (e. g.) Aristophanes, Wasps 191 and Sophocles, fr. 331 Radt (from a satyr play).
10 quod aiunt Two Latin proverbs for wasting time attempting to the impossible: see Erasmus, Adagiorum Chiliades I.iv.48 and I.iv.50.
12 illud Hesiodi Works and Days 289 (partially quoted by Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares VI.xviii.5).
12 Facilis descensus Averni Aeneid VI.126ff.
12 et Christus ipse Matthew 7:13 = Luke 13:24.
13 ut ait Iuvenalis Satire x.64.
14 Hoc et Hesiodus Works and Days 291f.
14 ut est apud Terentium Heauton Timorumenos 1058.
14 poetae usuparis Works and Days 40. The following Latin verse is Horace, Epistles I.ii.40.
14 quid ex Virgilio allatum est Aeneid VI.128 - 31.
14 Paullus in apostolorum historia Acts 17:28, quoting Aratus, Phaenomena 5.
16 illud Ciceronis De Officiis I.cxviii.
16 ad Senecam inquam et Plutarchum The allusion is to Seneca’s De Tranquillitate Animi and Plutarch’s Περὶ εὐθυμίας.
17 ut Ciceronis verbis utar This is not a direct quotation of any Ciceronian passage. Rather, it seems to be Wilson’s paraphrase of Tusculan Disputatons V.xvi.7:
…illum, quem libidinibus inflammatum et furentem videmus, omnia rabide adpetentem cum inexplebili cupiditate, quoque affluen tius voluptates undique hauriat, eo gravius ardentius que sitientem, nonne recte miserrimum dixeris?
18 cum Cicerone et Quintiliano Cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations IV.10, V.47, De Inventione I.36, and Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria VI.ii.8.
19 a Platona animadversum est In Plato’s works this idea that Man is a microcosm is most fully set out at Timaeus pp. 29D–47E.
21 ut Poetae verbis utar Vergil, Georgics I.186.
22 separatis illis mentibus He means angels.
23 profano cuidam poetae Juvenal x.350.
26 non immerito Plato Phaedo p.66B - E.
26 apud Virgilium locus Aeneid VI.730-4.
26 Huc pertinet quod Socrates Phaedo p.118A (where he gives this injunction after drinking the hemlock).
26 illud divi Pauli Romans 7:24.
27 quemadmodum ait Cicero Tusculan Disputations III.ii.
27 ut est in sacris Jeremiah 13:23.
29 ut ait Cicero, De Divinatione II.cxlix.
31 Galenus auctor est Περὶ κράσεων.
31 ut Horatius ait Odes III.xiv.25.
31 tam ab Aristotle quam Platone Aristotle, Politics p.264b14, Plato, Republic p.415A - C.
31 Cicero statuit De Oratore I.cxv.
32 ut Terentii verbis utar Adelphoe 194.
33 ut est apud Ciceronem Tusculan Disputations IV.lxxx, De Fato x.9.
34 Hanc Aristoteles ex Eveni cuiusdam Nicomachean Ethics p. 1152a30, quoting Evenus fr. 9.
35 ut ait Horatius Epistulae I.ii.69.
36 Eius verba sunt haec Nicomachean Ethics p. 11o3b24.
36 in eorundem librorum limine Ib. p. 1095a2 seqq.
36 ut docte scribit Eustratius In his commentary on this same Aristotelian passage.
38 ad sensus assidue defluunt This account seems curiously and uncharacteristically Epicurean: in Book IV of De Rerum Natura Lucretius wrote that physical objects are constantly sloughing off very thin films (simulacra) of atoms, and that sensation occurs because these impinge on our sensory organs. One wonders how, in the absence of an assumption of atomism, any such theory could be supprortable.
41 Cicero, qui multus est in hac parte Tusculan Disputations IV.ix - xv.
42 ut quum poetae dictum est Vergil, Eclogue vii.21.
43 ut est apud Ciceronem Tusculan Disputations IV.xvi.14.
43 in quo contrahi consentaneum sit Here Wilson appears to be using consentaneum with a very unclassical meaning. He seems to be saying, in effect, fear is not an emotion that occurs automatically and is outside of our control., but one that we only experience if our mind gives its consent.
44 Plutarcho auctore The phrase σύμφυτα τὰ πάθη does not appear anywhere in Plutarch.
44 apud Ciceronem De Officiis I.viii.
45 et Antonii sententia ostendit Cicero, De Oratore II.cxc.5 (Antonius is the speaker of this opinion in Cicero’s dialogue).
45 ut est apud Terentium Andria 794f.
46 ut poetarum verbis utar Vergil, Georgics II.499f. + Horace, Odes III.iii.6f.
47 a Paulo nostro 1 Corinthians 15:44.
47 καὶ τί αἱρήσομαι Philippians 1:22.
48 ut ait Pindarus Nemean Ode ix.27f.
48 ut inquit Plutarchus Not a quotation from Pindar.
49 Adde quod aegritudo This passage is singularly difficult to translate because Wilson rapidly oscillates between two definitions of aegritudo, and does so in a medical context. Sometimes when he uses this word, he clearly means sickness. But this cannot always be the case, since he also classifies aegritudo as an affection, and disease can scarcely be classified as such. When the word is used to designate an affection, I use the alternative dictionary definition “grief.”
49 ira insaniae initium Wilson was perhaps thinking of Horace, Epistulae I.ii.62, Ira furor brevis est.
51 quos Homerus Odyssey iv.563.
52 voluptariis illis philosophis nonnulli He means Epicureans.
53 ὑπέρ τὰ ἐσκάμμενα πηδῶμεν A proverbial expression used by (e. g.) Plato, Cratylus p. 413A.
54 ut illius verbis utar Nicomachean Ethics p. 11o9b6.
55 ut Ciceronis verbis utar De Oratore II.clx.
56 νοῦς πᾶς ὀρθός εστιν De anima 433a27.
57 apud Terentium Andria 309f.
57 notis illis Virgilii versibus Eclogue iii.93f.
57 illi Martialis versiculi I.lxviii.1 - 6.
57 et apud Virgilium Aeneid IV.3 - 5.
58 versabat (ut opinor) in animo Cicero De Officiis I.xlix.
58 quando et Cicero In Pisonem i.
59 ut ait Cicero Tusculan Disputations III.xi.23.
59 Aiacis et Ulyssis conditio Ajax was insane, Ulysses shrewdly calculating.
60 more illius Menedemi Terentiani Heauton Timorumenos 77 (but at least in modern editions Chremes speaks the line).
61 Francisci Briami Sir Francis Bryant [1490 - 1550], a courtier - diplomat who was one of Henry VIII’s closest confidants. Sir William Pickering [d. 1574] was later to be a suitor of Princess Elizabeth and, after her accession to the throne, served her as in a diplomatic capacity.
64 ignotum sit illud Horace, Epistulae I.xvi.52f., adapted.
64 ut est apud Terentium Adelphoe 74f.
66 ut est apud Horatium Odes III.iii.1 - 8.
67 quadam explicationis luce illustrare Enchiridion ii.1f.
68 ut scribit Cicero Tusculan Disputations IV.ix.5.
68 ut est apud Homerum Odyssey x.326. Philonium was an antidote invented by Philo of Tarsus, described by Galen, De medicamentorum compositione secundum locos ix.4 and elsewhere.
69 et profecto illud Ovid, Ars Amatoria I.4. The next quotation is ib, line 8.
70 illud Virgilii dici potest Georgics IV.212f.
71 cui dictum est Ovid, Metamorphoses VII.19 - 21.
72 Epictetus cum vellet Enchiridion xxvii.1.
75 ut est apud Plutarchum Ps. - Plutarch, Parallela Minora xxi (in that account, the wife is torn apart by Aemylius’ hunting-dogs).
75 ait Phaedria apud Terentium Eunuchus 222f. + ib. 64 - 67.
75 Sic et Medea Ovid, Metamorphoses VII.72 - 75.
76 ut poetae verbis utar Aeneid IV.285 = VIII.20.
77 et eorum instar facere Nicomachean Ethics p. 1147a20.
78 hisce versibus complexus An abridgement of a passage from Juvenal, Satire xiii (86 - 94 + 100 + 106f.).
79 de sicca ebrietate See the treatise De usibus addictivis by the contemporary Belgian radiologist who signs himself Gaius Licoppe, Nicotinum psychotropicos effectus habet, qui olim vocabantur "ebrietas sicca."
84 quod poetae scriptum est Vergil, Eclogue ii.65.
85 cogitur quodammodo fateri I am not sure what Wilson is attempting to describe here: perhaps the geometrical method by which Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the earth, as described here.
86 ut Horatii verbis utar Ars Poetica 410f.
87 Eapropter Isocrates Isocrates fr. 14 Brémond - Mathieu.
88 unde dictum opinor Epicteto Evidently a quote from Discourses I.ii.
89 ubi intenderis ingenium Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio li.3.
91 ut ait Cicero Tusculan Disputations II.lviii.10.
91 Fallit enim vitum Juvenal xiv.109.
95 Crodanam Wilson’s one-time schoolmate John Ogilvie, pastor of St. Olaf’s church, Cruden, a town on the east coast of Aberdeenshire, not far from Peterhead. In 1555 Pope Paul IV created him a Canon of Aberdeen, and a legal document shows he was still living in 1570. As is stated by W. Douglas Simson, in the library of Tolquhon Castle there is preserved a copy of the 1533 edition of Erasmus’ Apophthegmata with a letter written to Ogilvie by Wilson in the flyleaf, in which Ogilvie refers to the mutual friendship with the historian Hector Boece. (My thanks to Jamie Reid Baxter for this information).
95 principium illud sermon Horatii Horace, Satires I.i.1 - 3.
96 apud Diogenem Laertium Lives of the Philosophers IX.xlv.3.
98 ut ait Cicero De Finibus V.xv.5.
99 ut inquit Cicero De Legibus I.lix.4.
100 Cicerone teste De Officiis I.cvii.1.
100 neque Demea quantumlibet affabilis Wilson contrasts two characters in Terence’s Adelphoe.
100 At prius ignotum Vergil, Georgics I.50 - 54.
101 in flaminum ordinem cooptati The fifteen flamines were part of the Pontificial College which administered state sponsored religion in Rome.
102 bivium illud PythagoricumTo the Pythagoreans the letter Y stood for a fork in the road, representing the choice between the path of righteousness and the path of evildoing that confronts Man.
102 non insedit illud The three following quotes are Horace Epistulae I.i.53, Juvenal xiv.207, and Catullus v.1- 6.
102 ut scribit Cicero et ille apud Terentium Cicero, De finibus V.xxix.3, quoting Terence, Heauton Timorumenos 147f.
102 ut Christi servatoris habet parabola Luke 14:16 - 25.
103 inquit Martialis I.xv.11f.
104 ita admonendi sumus A pastiche of four lines of the Aeneid: III.44, IV.267, IV.565, and IV.569.
104 ut inquit Hesiodus Works and Days 369 (modern editions have δειλὴ).
104 ut ait Seneca Epistulae Morales lxxi.36.
106 quod Seneca scribit Wilson’s paraphrase of ib. xlv.10, Non enim statim bonum est, si quid necessarium
est: aut proicimus bonum, si hoc nomen pani et polentae
damus et ceteris sine quibus vita non ducitur.
108 si Tithoni In mythology, Tithon was the ancient consort of Aurora, goddess of the dawn.
108 apud Hypanin fluvium natis Cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations I.xciv.13, apud
Hypanim fluvium, qui ab Europae parte in Pontum
influit, Aristoteles ait bestiolas quasdam nasci, quae
unum diem vivant.
108 ut sapientissime a Cicerone Pro Marcello xxvii.6.
109 ut ait Iuvenalis ix.126 - 29.
109 ut Gregorius ille Nazianzenus Παρθενίης ἔπαινος (Carmina moralia col. 776.2 Migne).
109 illud tolerantiae exemplum Iobus The scriptural passages quoted or cited here are Job 13:25, Psalm 103:15, Isaiah 40:6 - 7, and Job 14:2.
109 Pindaro poetae Pythian Ode viii.95.
109 Omnia esse vanitatem Ecclesiastes 1:2.
110 veresiculus ille Graecus The Pythagorean Carmen aureum, line. 20.
111 ut ait Iuvenalis x.137 - 41
111 ut inqut tragicus poeta Seneca, Thyestes 209f. (see the note on § 116 below).
112 ut inquit Seneca Epistulae Morales xliv.5 (possibly Wilson was quoting from memory, Seneca’s actual words are A primo
mundi ortu usque in hoc tempus perduxit nos ex splendidis
sordidisque alternata series).
113 Serius aut citius Ovid, Metamorphoses X.33.
113 Vintoniensis antistes Stephanus Stephen Gardiner [d. 1555], the enormously influential Catholic Bishop of Winchester (at the time of this writing, he was imprisoned in the Tower for opposing the religious innovations of Henry VIII, but he was destined to be restored to office and serve as Lord Chancellor under Mary. In 1532 Wilson had dedicated to him his early treatise In psalmo nobis 50, Hebraeis vero 51, enarratio.
114 ut inquit Seneca Cf. Epistulae Morales lviii.25, Si me interrogas, nihil; sed quemadmodum ille caelator oculos diu inten
tos ac fatigatos remittit atque avocat et, ut dici solet, pascit,
sic nos animum aliquando debemus relaxare et quibusdam
oblectamentis reficere.
115 paucos recitabo Wilson’s lines were reprinted by Patrick Adamson, Poemata Sacra (1619), Epigrammata pp. 75f.
116 ut ait Cicero Paradoxa Stoicorum VI.li.4.
116 inquit Seneca Epistulae Morales lxxvi.31, quoting Aeneid V.103f. (some texts have laborum for malorum).
116 Non ulla malorum Aeneid V.103f. (some texts have laborum for malorum).
116 illud poetae cognominis Senecae It is interesting to see that Wilson was of the impression that Seneca the philosopher and Seneca the playwright were two different individuals. The lines quoted are Thyestes 380f.
117 apud Sallustium In his Bellum Iugurthinum (see particularly lxiv).
117 ut ait Seneca Epistulae Morales xxxi.11.
117 ut poeta ait Aeneid IV.13.
118 ea sententia Sophocles, Ajax 554.
119 minutili illi et plebeii He means Epicureans.
120 in Canticis Song of Songs 3:4.
121 ut est apud Terentium Andria 54.
121 illa sententia Silius Italicus, Punica XIII.663.
121 ut ait Cicero De Republica VI.xxv.9. The following quote is Cicereo, Pro Marcello xxx.4.
122 ut docet Epictetus Enchiridion i.
126 Thersitem aliquem Thersites is the grotesque hunchback who appears in Book II of the Iliad.
126 ipseque me rude donavi The wooden sword presented to a Roman soldier when he retired from service.
126 ut Horatii verbis utar Odes III.x.14.
127 Mopso Nisa daretur Cf. Vergil, Eclogue viii.26, Mopso Nysa datur: quid non speremus amantes?
127 ἦ μοῦνοι φιλέουσ’ Iliad IX.340.
128 Notum est illud The three lines quoted here are Ovid, Fasti I.419, Juvenal viii.46 and ib. 46.
131 Ita enim scribit This and the two following quotations are from Juvenal x: they are lines 350 - 53, 109 - 111, and 119.
131 apud Horatium Odes IV.xi.25.
131 prudenter poetae dictum est Aeneid X.501.
131 dictum est Horatio Odes I.xxxvii.12.
132 Timeas Danaos The allusion is of course to Aeneid II.49.
132 Moscho dictum est IX.cdxv.26 - 9.
132 versiculi quidam This fable is by Battista Spagnoli [Baptista Mantuanus, 1447 - 1516]. It was printed with the title Apologus alter ad eundem, the second of two poems addressed to Jaffredus Carolus in the Book IV of Mantuan’s Sylvae (my thanks to Prof. Lee Piepho for this information). In the 1673 edition of his Poems, &c. Upon Several Occasions, Milton included his version of the same poem:
Rusticus ex malo sapidissima poma quotannis|
Legit, et urbano lecta dedit domino:
Hic incredibili fructûs dulcedine captus
Malum ipsam in proprias transtulit areolas.
Hactenus illa ferax, sed longo debilis aevo,
Mota solo assueto, protinus aret iners.
Quod tandem ut patuit domino, spe lusus inani,
Damnavit celeres in sua damna manus.
Atque ait, “Heu quantò satius fuit illa coloni
(Parva licet) grato dona tulisse animo!
Possem ego avaritiam frœnare, gulamque voracem:
Nunc periere mihi et foetus etipsa parens.”
133 sacrum evangelium dicit Matthew 6:24 = Luke 16:13.
134 quod ait Homerus Iliad XVIII.328.
134 Sapienter itaque Senecae scriptum est Epistulae Morales lxxiv.7.
135 quod ait Cicero This is not a quotation, but Wilson’s paraphrase, but what passage he is thinking of is unclear. Perhaps Tusculan Disputations I.lxxxvii.6, triste
enim est nomen ipsum carendi, quia subicitur haec
vis: habuit, non habet; desiderat requirit indiget. But I am scarcely sure this is the right identification.
135 et quemadmodum Narcissus Ovid, Metamorphoses III.439f.
135 Aestuat infelix Juvenal x.169f.
136 quod Seneca praecipit Wilson’s paraphrase or faulty recollection of Dialogi IX.ix.2, discamus
continentiam augere, luxuriam coercere, gloriam temperare, iracundiam lenire, paupertatem aequis oculis
aspicere, frugalitatem colere †etiam si mulos pudebit ei
plus†, desideriis naturalibus parvo parata remedia adhibere,
spes effrenatas et animum in futura imminentem velut sub vinculis habere, id agere ut divitias a nobis potius quam
a fortuna petamus.
137 dictum est Homero Iliad XVI.250.
137 illud Hesiodi Works and Days 40 (quoted by Plato, Republic p. 466C).
137 inquit Lucanus Bellum Civile V.527f.
137 audeamus eundem poetam Ib. II.380 - 91.
138 Multum sane apposite Horatius Odes II.x.5.
138 illa Homerica moderatione Odyssey v.169.
138 ut Nasonis verbis utar Epistulae ex Ponto IV.iii.57.
138 ut ait Seneca Dialogi IX.xiii.5.
140 Carolus Caesar Presumably Charles V.
141 quae vulgo Pythagorae dicuntur Carmen aureum 55.
143 apud Hesiodum Works and Days 26.
144 non solis nobis nati sumus A deliberate echo of Cicero’s famous statement at De Officiis I.xxii.2.
144 ut est apud Lucanum Bellum Civile II.383.
144 ut ait Cicero Wilson’s version of Pro Murena ix.2: Quod si licet desinere, si te auctore possum, si nulla inertiae<infamia>, nulla superbiae turpitudo, nulla inhumanitatis culpa
suscipitur, ego vero libenter desino.
144 ut apud Augustinum De Civitate Dei XIX.xix. Again, this is slightly misquoted, perhaps because Wilson’s memory betrayed him. Augustine’s actual words are Quam ob rem otium sanctum quaerit caritas ueritatis; negotium iustum suscipit necessitas caritatis.
145 scribit Seneca Epistulae Morales lv.4.
146 ut ait Cato apud Lucanum Bellum Civile IX.570.
146 ut scribit Cicero De Officiis I.xix.12.
146 de sola aetate The reference is of course to Cicero’s De Senectute.
151 Platoni scriptum est Laws p. 732B.
152 Hoc vidit ille Theognis 1.159.
152 interpres et magister Paulus I Corinthians 4:7.
152 Iam, inquit II Samuel 6:21 - 22.
153 Apud Homerum exortae Odyssey xii.184.
153 mordaces Momi Momus was the Greek god of captious criticism.
153 Salutare est illud praeceptum The Pythagorean Carmen aureum, 36.
154 nisi Thraso aliquis sit A boastful character in Terence’s Eunuchus.
157 laterem (quod aiunt) lavat See the note on § 10.
158 Antonii Bonvisii Antonio Bonvisio, a wealthy merchant of of Lucca [d. 1559], was an Italian Humanist, no doubt befriended by Wilson when he was living in London in the 1530’s (on the strength of his friendship with Sir Thomas More, he appears as a character in the 1612 Jesuit tragedy Thomas Morus). In his O. D. N. B. life of Wilson, John Durkan describes various items of correspondance between these two friends. Wilson’s epigram on Bonvisio was reprinted by Patrick Adamson, Poemata Sacra (1619), Epigrammata p. 73.
160 ut inquit Seneca Epistulae Morales cvii.3, quoting Aeneid VI.274f.
161 id Publii A line by the mime-writer Publilius Syrus quoted by Seneca, Dialogi VI.ix.5 and IX.xi.8.
161 Bella mihi Ovid, Remedia Amoris 2.
162 apud Euripidem Lines from Euripides’ lost tragedy Theseus, translated by Cicero, Tusculan Disputations III.xxix.5.
162 Humane illud dictum est The Pythagorean Carmen aureum 7.
163 Plutarch ex Menandro depromit Menander fro. 281.1 Kock ap. Plutarch, De Tranquillitate Animi p. 466B.
163 ut Homerus ingeniose commentus est Iliad XXIV.527.
165 ut ait Cicero This would appear to be Wilson’s own summary of Tusculan Disputations III.xxx.8, itaque quamquam non haec una
res efficit maximam aegritudinem, tamen, quoniam
multum potest provisio animi et praeparatio ad minuendum dolorem, sint semper omnia homini humana
meditata.
166 ut ait Cicero De Legibus II.xvi.1.
167 ut honestissime praeceptum est The Pythagorean Carmen aureum, 12.
168 ut tradit Epictetus Enchiridion xvii.
168 in Iri Irus is the beggar in the Odyssey.
168 ut ait tragicus A tragic line quoted by Seneca, Epistulae Morales cvii.11.
169 illa apud Iuvenalem xiii.140f.
170 Paulus noster Just possibly an allusion to Ephesians 2:12.
171 Poeto marito Arria’s husband Caecina Paetus was ordered by the emperor to commit suicide for his part in a rebellion but was not capable of forcing himself to do so. Arria wrenched the dagger from him and stabbed herself, then returned it to her husband, telling him that it did not hurt. The story is told by Pliny the Younger, Epistulae III.xvi.
171 Sed audiamus Martialem I.xiii.
172 quod est apud Ciceronem De Senectute xliii.7.
175 quod de Davide The story is told at II Samuel 16 (the quotation is vv. 11 - 12).
177 Seneca in tragoediis Hercules Furens 30 - 9.
178 inquit Seneca Epistulae Morales lxxv.17.
178 apud Lucianum In the dialogue Gallus.
179 Ascanius apud Virgilium Aeneid IV.158f.
181 ut cuidam scriptum est Dionysius Cato, Disticha IV.xxxix.
182 Nemo mortalium Pliny, N. H. X.clxxi.4.
182 ait Horatius Satires I.iii.43 (the following quotation is ib. 40, and the following one ib. 73 - 5).
182 quod Paulo nostro Romans 12:20.
183 Apud Terentium est Adelphoe 605 - 7.
184 Alexandri Chrechtoni Alexander Chrichton of Brunstane. According to this site,
One of the leading friends of Wishart the martyr and most resolute conspirators against Cardinal Bethune, was Crichton of Brunston in Mid Lothian. He had been at one time a familiar and confidential servant of the cardinal, who, on the 10th of December 1539, intrusted him with secret letters to Rome, which were intercepted by Henry the Eighth. He next attached himself to Arran the governor, who employed him in diplomatic missions to France and England. He afterwards gained the confidence of Sir Ralph Sadler, the English ambassador in Scotland, to whom he furnished secret intelligence, and subsequently entered into correspondence with King Henry himself. On the 17V of April 1544, the laird of Brunston is said to have engaged in that secret correspondence with Henry the Eighth, in which, on certain conditions, he offered to procure the assassination of Bethune. Tytler points his character in very dark colours, but his representations should undoubtedly be taken with considerable reservation. [See his History of Scotland, vol. v. Appendix, p. 453.] Among others who were banished by the regent Arran, and his natural brother, the archbishop of St. Andrews, for alleged crimes against the state, but in reality on account of their professing the reformed religion, was Crichton of Brunston. Soon after the assassination of the cardinal he was indicted on a charge of treason, but the process against him was afterwards withdrawn.
He is known to have died before January 26th, 1554. I am indebted to Jamie Reid Baxter for this information. Dr. Baxter also suggests that the book’s Bromistona is an error resulting from the French typesetter’s misreading of Wilson’s handwriting.
185 quod est apud Terentium Adelphoe 739 - 41.
185 Epicteto Enchiridion xliii.
185 ut tradit Plinius N. H. XXVII.ix.2.
185 Plutarchus affert De tranqillitate animi p. 473E.
185 ut ait Seneca I cannot find any such statement in Seneca.
186 inquit Seneca Naturales Quaestiones II.lix.3 (Seneca’s actual words are Contemne
mortem, et omnia quae ad mortem ducunt contempta
sunt, siue illa bella sunt, siue naufragia, seu morsus
ferarum, seu ruinarum subito lapsu procidentium
pondera).
188 acute dictum est Augustino De Civitate Dei I.ix.
189 illa apud Ciceronem exclamatio Se Senectute lxxxiv.10.
190 illos Virgilii versus Aeneid VI.460 - 3.
192 Paulus ad Corinthos scribens This is the subject of I Corinthians 15.
192 ut ille ait Martial XI.lvii.15f.
192 qui summum nec metuit diem Martial X.xlvii.28.
192 a Seneca est mandatum De tranquillitate animi xiv.9.
193 Phocioni, Anaxagorae The Athenian statesman Phocion, the philosopher Anaxagoras, the Roman commanders Paulus Aemilus and C. Fabricius Luscinus, and the legalist Q. Aelius Tubero. Marius refused to let himself be tied down while tumors were being cut out of his legs, Gaius Mucius Scaevola plunged his hand in the fire in the presence of Lars Porsenna; the captive Marcus Atilius Regulus was sent by the Carthaginians to the Senate with a peace offer, and, having advised the Senate to reject it, voluntarily returned to Carthage and a certain death; Cato Uticensis committed suicide when he saw the cause of Caesar’s republican assassins was lost.
193 paullo ante Caesaris memoriam De bello Gallico VI.xix.4.
194 Tecla virgo St. Thecla, who appears in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla.
196 Aristoteles in Problematis p. 903A.
197 speciarum exuvias See the note on § 38. It is a little difficult to see how the present statement is to be reconciled with what Wilson has just written about dum caloris eiusdem species et velut praetenuis imago intra tactionis organum recipitur. It seems otiose and self-contradictory to say that heat is simultaneously transmitted to the body as a perceptible image and as something that impinges directly on sensory organs.
199 nunquam sunt minus soli According to Cicero, De Officiis III.i, Scipio Africanus used to say this about himself.
200 ut Ambrosio nostro proditum est St. Ambrose wrote about the wonderful properties of the echineis in his Exameron. See Brian P. Copenhaver, “A Tale of Two Fishes: Magical Objects in Natural History from Antiquity Through the Scientific Revolution,” Journal of the History of Ideas 52 (1991) 373 - 98.
203 Apud Virgilium Aeneid I.589 - 91.
203 explicat Lucretius his versibus IV.1097 - 1102.
204 apud eum ipsum poetam Works and Days 57.
204 Quis non malarum Horace, Epodes ii.37.
205 ut quaereamus ea quae supra sunt I cannot identify this passage, although the words ut qui habent uxores sint tanquam non habentes come from I Corinthians 6:29 in the Vulgate.
205 illis Vergilii verbis Aeneid III.9f.
205 ut cum Diagora Diagoras of Melos, an atheistic philosopher of the fifth century B. C.
206 philosophastros istos Pretenders to philosophy. Since this was the title of a 1606 academic comedy by Robert Burton, some have supposed that he coined the word, but Wilson’s use of it goes to show that this theory is untenable.
206 ut poeta ait Juvenal ii.63.
206 Apud Martialem IV.xxi.1 - 3.
210 Sed cum mundus esse coeperit The train of thought in this lengthy and convoluted sentence is a trifle difficult to follow, but Wilson appears to be arguing, a.) the world was created (and therefore it is destined to end, so Aristotle’s hesitancy based on considerations of its immortality are unwarranted); b.) like the islander’s, our knowledge is limited and contingent, and we should not deny the exist of things just because they lie outside the range of our experience; c.) Aristotle was wrong for both these reasons.
213 Nam huius arma Wilson’s modified version of of II Corinthians 10:4, which begins nam arma militiae nostrae non carnalia sed potentia Deo.
214 quod ait Horatius Epistulae I.x.32f.
214 Horatius Odes IV.ix.46 - 50. The following quotation is a paraphrase of ib. III.xxix.52 - 55.
215 illi Virgilii versus Georgics IV.127 - 33.
215 exigui laetum Juvenal xiii.123.
215 quod est apud Plinium N. H. VII.cli.5.
216 Hic Seneca responsum suppeditat This would appear to be Wilson’s paraphrase of Epistulae Morales xcviii.8, eadem intemperantia fingit sibi perpetuam
felicitatem suam, fingit crescere debere quaecumque contigerunt, non tantum durare, et oblitus huius petauri quo
humana iactantur sibi uni fortuitorum constantiam spondet.
219 usu sum excursu These lines were reprinted by Patrick Adamson, Poemata Sacra (1619), Epigrammata pp. 74f. Although Adamson presents them as if they represent a complete poem, Wilson’s introduction makes it clear that they were extracted from a larger (presumably lost) work.
221 Expediam. The source of this anecdote is Livy XXXV.xlix.
221 ut inquit Seneca Epistulae Morales xxiii.5.
222 Sensit Alexander Juvnal xiv.311 - 14.
223 Serviet aeternum Horace, Epistulae I.x.41.
224 Fuit et mihi aliquando As a young man at the English court, Wilson had plenty of opportunity to observe Cardinal Wolsey. Evidently, according to John Durkan’s O. D. N. B. biography, Wilson served as tutor to Thomas Winter, the Cardinal’s natural son.
224 Cicero Wilson is paraphrasing some passage, but which one? Possibly Tusculan Disputations V.lxxix.3.
224 ut ait Seneca Dialogi IX.xvii.8.
224 tristes Amaryllidas iras Vergil, Eclogue ii.14f.
225 dum ait Lucan, Bellum Civile IX.566 - 71.
225 cum superbo illo daemone Cf. Alexander Neckam, De Natura Rerum (p. 286 Wright), Sed et tibi loquor, Sathana. Nonne voluntas qua voluisti ponere sedem in Aquilone et esse similis altissimo fuit temporalis?
228 ut ait Ovidius Ars Amatoria I.475f.
229 ut ait Seneca Wilson’s paraphrase of Dialogi IV.xii.4, nullique sunt tam feri et
sui iuris adfectus ut non disciplina perdomentur.
229 Πολλαῖσι πληγαῖς A Greek proverb, preserved by (e. g.) Diogenianus Paroemiae cent. vi, section 77a.
230 philosophastri See the note on §206.
230 ait Menedemus Terence, Hauton Timorumenos 922f.
230 ut ait Seneca Wilson’s paraphrase of Epistulae Morales xx.2, Illud autem te, mi Lucili, rogo atque hortor, ut
philosophiam in praecordia ima demittas et experimentum
profectus tui capias non oratione nec scripto, sed animi
firmitate, cupiditatum deminutione.
231 ut pulchre Epicteto dictum est Enchiridion xlvi.
233 inquit Euripides This is in fact Aeschylus, fr. 395 Radt.
233 Apud eundem est Euripides, fr. 1052.7 Nauck.
235 Principiis obsta Ovid, Remedia amoris 91f.
236 citat illud Aristoteles Theognis I.35 ap. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics p.1172a14.
236 ut ait Seneca Dialogi V.viii.1.
237 spectacula ludicra Wilson does not seem like the sort of writer who would have any animus against stage-plays, so perhaps he means mountebanks’ street performances and similar trivial pursuits.
237 quod a Seneca Wilson’s paraphrase of Epistulae Morales xxv.6, Cum iam profeceris
tantum ut sit tibi etiam tui reverentia, licebit dimittas
paedagogum: interim aliquorum te auctoritate custodi – aut
Cato ille sit aut Scipio aut Laelius aut alius cuius interventu
perditi quoque homines vitia supprimerent, dum te efficis
eum cum quo peccare non audeas.
237 Sileni in morem Wilson was thinking of Alcibiades’ comparison of Socrates to a Silenus, ugly on the outside but filled with good things within, in Plato’s Symposium.
239 et paullo accuratior fuisset To a modern reader it might sound disrepectful and more than a little presumptuous for Wilson to criticize Erasmus’ Latin style, but there is probably a grain of truth in this, based on the fact that Wilson represents the standards of the next generation, which had made further progress in the writing of “clean Latin.”
239 Gulielmum Pagedum William Paget, Baron Paget of Beaudesert [1506 - 1563]. Educated at St. Paul’s, Cambridge and Paris, Paget performed several important diplomatic missions for Henry VIII.
239 Roffensis Britannus antistes He means St. John Fisher. This passage is discussed in the Introduction.
239 columba tua Song of Songs 6:8.
242 Pausanias tradit Graeciae Descriptio I.xx.1.
243 Dominum Deum tuum Matthew 4:10 (10:4 Vulgate).
243 ut ille ait Horace, Epistulae I.x.24.
243 Neglectis urenda Horace, Satires I.iii.37.
243 ut inquit Seneca Wilson’s paraphrase of Epistulae Morales xxviii.10, Ideo quantum potes te ipse
coargue, inquire in te; accusatoris primum partibus fungere,
deinde iudicis, novissime deprecatoris; aliquando te offende.
247 Desine fata Aeneid VI.376.
247 cum Socrate dicam In Plato’s dialogues Socrates occasionally states how his personal daemon forbids him to do something.
251 De hoc nobili in primis vati dictum est Isaiah 32:18.
252 Sensibus haec imis Vergil, Eclogue iii.54.
252 Esaias vates praeclarissimus Isaiah 64:6.
252 non inveniri in carne nostra bonum Wilson’s paraphrase of Romans 7:14.
252 nisi syncerum sit vas Horace, Epistulae I.ii.54.
253 Iobo dictum est Job 9:28 + 15:15 + 4.19 + 9:15.
253 te esse figmentum Romans 9:21.
253 incedis per ignes Horace, Odes II.i.7f.
253 Nam dum ita extenuas Franceso is warning Wilson that his argument is coming dangerously close the point where it could be taken for a Protestant one: that Man’s salvation is achieved sola fide, i. e., by faith alone, without any mixture of or need for good works.
254 cum fecerimus omnia A paraphrase of Luke 17:9.
256 ΟΥΤΟΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ Ο ΥΙΟΣ ΜΟΥ Ο ΑΓΑΠΗΤΟΣ Luke 9:35. The next quotation is John 14:6.
257 Tum Paulus This sudden revelation that the old man is St. Paul himself seems a trifle awkward, since in §253 Wilson says that when he listened to this man speaking he was reminded of Paul.
257 viam pacis non cognoverunt Psalm 13:3 in the Vulgate (or maybe more accurately that verse as quoted at Romans 3:17 - 18.
257 Hic est pax nostra Ephesians 2:14.
257 praeclarus ille vates Esaias Isaiah 53:5.
257 ne extimesceremus I cannot identify this evident quotation.
257 Hic ergo est ille thesaurus This sentence was evidently written under the influence of Colossians 2:2, in agnitionem mysterii Dei Patris Christi Iesu
in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae absconditi.
257 si fractus illabitur orbis Horace, Odes III.iii.7f.
258 neminem scire Ecclesiastes 9:1.
259 Nemo venit ad me John 6:44. The following quotation is Acts 13:48.
259 arundines vento agitatas Matthew 11:7.
259 illa Pauli verba Romans 8:38 - 39.
260 Abscondita est prudentia Wilson’s paraphrase of Matthew 11:25 = Luke 10:21, quia abscondisti haec a sapientibus et prudentibus et revelasti ea parvulis.
260 Non ergo intrat Wilson’s paraphrase of Matthew 18:3, Amen dico vobis
nisi conversi fueritis et efficiamini sicut parvuli
non intrabitis in regnum caelorum.
260 quod a regum sanctissimo Psalm 93:5.
261 mansum (quod aiunt) As a bird feeds its chicks. For the proverb cf. Erasmus, Adagiorum Chiliades II.x.33.
261 ἀνέχου καὶ ἀπεχου Epictetus, fr. 10.34 Schenkl.
262 Non mihi si linguae centum Lucretius fr. 1.2 (repeated at Aeneid VI.625 and Georgis II.43).
263 ipsa Petri umbra Acts 5:12 - 16.
263 ubi dictum est Wilson’s paraphrase of Matthew 9:6, ut sciatis autem quoniam Filius hominis habet
potestatem in terra dimittendi peccata
tunc ait paralytico
surge tolle lectum tuum et vade in domum tuam.
264 Cicero vere statuit Wilson’s paraphrase of some passage I cannot identify.
264 inquit Cicero Pro Plancio lxxxi.11.
264 illud Senecae This is in fact Publilius Syrus, Sententiae D4.
266 Bene ergo Paulus I Thessalonians 2:3.
268 illud eiusdem The first quote is II Timothy I.12, and second is Revelation 2:17.
268 Hieronymus item Hangestus Jérome de Hangeste [d. 1538], a notable French scholar and theologian.
268 Deus, Deus meus Psalm 21:2, 42:4, 62:2 (Vulgate numeration).
269 quod Menedemus dedit Chremeti Terence, Heauton Timorumenos 978 - 80.
27o in evangelio docet Matthew 14:29 - 31.
271 Sed cum ceciderint Psalm 37:24.
271 nesciamus quid superventura Proverbs 27:1.
271 ut Ovidii versum usurpem Heroides xv.124.
272 inquit Christus Matthew 7: 7 = Luke 11.9 + John 16:23.
274 ut in proverbio est Cf. Erasmus, Adagiorum Chiliades II.vii.55.
ODE Meter: second Asclepiadeans. Their organization into four-line stanzas tends to reinforce the impression gained in the preceding speech, that this ode was written for a musical setting.
89 - 92 The subject of this stanza is the same Christian man who was the subject of lines 77 - 84.