Glosses and Commentaries

In his glosses and commentaries to the Ethics and Politics Oresme follows an ancient tradition of scholarship. Through the centuries the works of Aristotle had accumulated an impressive wealth of commentaries, including those of Byzantine and Arabic writers that were incorporated in the twelfth- and thirteenth-century translations from Greek and Arabic into Latin. The process of assimilating the Aristotelian corpus to the structures and beliefs of Christian theology produced extremely important commentaries by Thomas Aquinas and Albert the Great during the thirteenth century, and in the fourteenth, by Walter Burley, Jean Buridan, and others, mentioned above. Yet it does not follow that Oresme had to follow this path in vernacular translations addressed to a nonacademic audience. Indeed, although other translations commissioned by Charles V, such as that of the City of God , contain explanatory materials within the text, they do not include the scholarly apparatus of the clearly separated gloss or commentary.^[46] As Menut suggests, Oresme may have wished to keep intact the authoritative and scholarly character of the Aristotelian works without neglecting the moral and intellectual guidance of the reader.^[47] As noted above, by preserving the academic form of the Latin translations, he was appropriating or transferring their authority to the vernacular. The translator may also have relished the opportunity not only to demonstrate his knowledge of the texts and scholarly tradition but also to place on the same level as the great commentators his opinions and resolution of knotty problems.

The proportion of glosses (defined as short, explanatory notes) to commentaries (extended interpretations or discussions) in Oresme's translations of Aristotle vary considerably. For example, the Ethiques contains only three commentaries and the Yconomique , six. By contrast, the Politiques contains many commentaries, as does the translation of a fourth Aristotelian work, On the Heavens . Especially in the Politiques Oresme addresses leading issues of the day and tries to reconcile Aristotle's views with those of the contemporary world.^[48]

Susan Babbitt has analyzed the types of glosses in the Politiques , which in many cases apply also to the Ethiques and Yconomique .^[49] The first group explains a particular aspect of the text. For example, a gloss can explicate the purpose or location of a segment of the text in the sequence of Aristotle's argument, or it can provide a cross-reference to another part of the work in which a topic is discussed. Oresme also uses a gloss to summarize certain points or to finish a sentence. In another category, Oresme is concerned with definitions of words, their etymologies, or identification of persons or places. Yet another type provides concordances from

biblical, patristic, or antique sources that buttress a particular Aristotelian argument or statement. If Oresme does not find a statement acceptable, in some instances he will contradict "the Philosopher." Such glosses may relate to Oresme's explanation of obscure or ambiguous passages in Aristotle's text. On such occasions, he may call on earlier commentators for help in working out the sense of the text portion. Sometimes in glosses Oresme raises his personal objections to ideas in the texts or views held by earlier commentators. Even more interesting is Babbitt's identification of the commentaries in the Politiques that cover one or more folios. Among the topics covered are church-state relationships, problems within the church, types and values of kingship, and various ethical, political, and philosophical discussions.^[50] Indeed, recent scholarship considers that Oresme's commentaries on the Politics are important contributions to the understanding and interpretation of Aristotle's text.^[51] Unlike previous commentators, Oresme set out to interpret Aristotle in the light of contemporary institutions. In turn, his commentaries on issues of the day, such as the need for reform of the church, became the basis of further interpretation during the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.^[52]

Between the two sets of Charles V's manuscripts of the Ethiques and Politiques the format of the separation of text from gloss differs considerably. By far the more elegant arrangement is found in A (Fig. 11) and B (Fig. 55). In them the text is written in two narrow columns of thirty-five lines in script larger than the glosses in the four surrounding margins. Renvois , or linking symbols, appear next to a word, phrase, or passage as a sign that it is the subject of a gloss. This symbol is repeated in front of the gloss. Rubrics repeating the key words of the gloss help to link the two parts separated from each other on the page. This layout has the advantage of maintaining the continuity of the text in a way a gloss inserted directly in the text column does not.^[53] As Menut observes, if the gloss expands to the length of a commentary, its added length would extend over several folios and disturb the clarity and neatness of the format. Such a layout, borrowed from civil-law manuscripts, is appropriate for volumes of large size. Production is more expensive, since a relatively smaller amount of text can fill a folio and a less uniform layout is required. It is, therefore, not surprising that the smaller, portable set of the Ethiques and Politiques (C and D ) produced for Charles V abandoned this elaborate format. On the first folio of the Politiques the worthy scribe Raoulet d'Orléans explains the system: "Je, Raoulet d'Orliens, qui l'escri, ay mis le texte premier, ainsi signé T ; est après la glose s'ensuit, ainsi signée O , qui fait Oresme (I, Raoulet, who transcribed it, have placed the text first, designated thus [as] T ; then the gloss follows, designated thus [as] O , which was done by Oresme).^[54] With the extensive commentaries in the Politiques , this layout, in which gloss immediately follows the text passage, is more practical, as well as less expensive.