14—
Contemplative Happiness and Intellectual Activity (Book X)
The Visual Definition of Félicité
The difficulties of interpreting Figures 42 and 42a, the illustration of Book X in A , do not arise from its placement, size, or color. Following the chapter titles, the miniature occurs in the second column of folio 198v. Of average size for a column illustration, in format this figure belongs to the category of undivided quadrilobes. After the preference for more muted tones noted in the images of Books VIII and IX (Figs. 37 and 40), the bright hues of Figure 42 mark a return in the A cycle to the usual red, blue, and white palette. In the upper right, gold delineates the crossnimbed halo of Christ and an accompanying host of angels. The crown worn by the seated figure is also gold. A mediating, light beige tone depicts the central element of the composition: an open book resting on a lectern. This color reappears in the thronelike, low-backed chair in which the main figure sits.
An inscription above the head of the crowned figure identifies her as Félicité, or Happiness. In the preliminary summary of the contents of Book X at the top of the first column, the reader finds the first mention of the word: "Ci commence le .xe . livre ou il determine principalment de Félicité" (Here begins the tenth book, where he chiefly examines Happiness).[1] The next sentence explains further that Book X begins with a discussion of Pleasure, considered by some as identical with Happiness. Thus, the reader learns that Félicité is not the first concept discussed, although it is the most important one. In fact, the word Félicité first occurs in the titles for Chapters 11 through 15. Lacking a descriptive adjective, the inscription in the miniature does not specify whether Félicité is a general or particular type of Happiness. Aristotle discusses the first category in Chapter 11; a second kind, Félicité speculative, in Chapters 12 through 14; and compares the latter to a third, Félicité active, in Chapter 15. Like the inscription of the illustration of Book IX in A (Fig. 40), the term used in Figure 42 does not provide the reader with a firm link to a text location where the verbal definition of a particular concept occurs. Nor does the term Félicité distinguish it from Aristotle's analysis in Book 1 of the concept of Human Happiness.[2]
The iconographic formulas selected for representing Félicité also do not help the reader to understand the particular characteristics of Happiness discussed by Aristotle in Book X. The crown worn by Félicité may indicate the superiority or excellence associated with Félicité speculative (Speculative or Contemplative
Figure 42
Félicité. Les éthiques d'Aristote, MS A.
Figure 42A
Detail of Fig. 42
Happiness) referred to in Chapters 12 through 15. In these sections of Book X Oresme attempts to explain Aristotle's conclusion that the greatest happiness in life derives from the activity of contemplation, identified with the intellectual pursuit of philosophical wisdom.[3] According to Aristotle, the superiority of this type of activity depends on several criteria, including association with the highest type of virtue derived from "the best part of us, which is reason."[4] The activity of reason connotes a life of contemplating "truth already attained," or knowledge of the most sublime, divine beings associated with metaphysics. The well-being or happiness derived from such lofty activity of the intellect is also superior. Not only are its objects unchanging, but the pursuit of philosophic wisdom is continuous and lasting and is based on the self-sufficiency and leisure of the philosopher.[5]
In the text and glosses of Chapters 12 through 15, Oresme explains many of Aristotle's crucial points about the happiness derived from the contemplative life. Yet, the translator does not explicitly supply the context for the profound changes medieval thought made in the antique ideal of the contemplative life. The "speculative life" of the classical model, based on the "self-reliance and self-sufficiency of a process of thought which is its own justification," was completely transformed. The contemplative activity of the medieval thinker or scholar had "meaning and
justification not in itself but in the establishment of a relationship with the Deity." Located within the hierarchical structure of the church and later of the university, the medieval thinker used "his reason scientifically," not as "the creator of an intellectual world centered in himself" but as part of a tradition in which he served as "heir and transmitter," as "critic and mediator," and as "pupil and teacher."[6]
How does Figure 42 re-present the contrasting classical and medieval concepts of the contemplative life and the happiness that derives from it? Oresme's program depends on a personification allegory that borrows essential aspects of the iconography of Sapience depicted in the miniature of Book VI (Fig. 33). Félicité, like Sapience, sits next to a lectern with an open book and gazes toward the heavens. In both cases, the object of contemplation is definitely Christian. The cruciform halo identifies the bust-length figure as Christ, who is surrounded by a host of angels. The resemblance between Félicité and Sapience is based on a common model of an inspired personification. Yet the particular kind of Contemplative Happiness discussed in Chapters 11 through 15 is known only to "celui qui a la vertu de sapience" (he who has the virtue of wisdom).[7] In other words, the similarity between the personifications of Books VI and X echoes the close relationship between their intellectual activity and the objects of their study.
Other concepts expressed in the text about the character of Félicité contemplative relate to the iconography of Figure 42. As noted above, the crown worn by Félicité indicates the superiority or excellence of this type of Happiness. The open book refers to the intellectual activity that contemplation encompasses: "et tous sages confessent que de toutes les operacions qui sont selon vertu, la tres plus delitable est speculacion ou contemplacion selon la vertu de sapience" (And all wise men acknowledge that of all the activities that accord with virtue the most enjoyable is that of speculation or contemplation in accordance with the virtue of wisdom).[8] The study of "choses divines" (divine things), exemplified by the inhabitants of the celestial sphere, imitates most closely "l'operacion de Dieu" (the activity of God) and is therefore "la tres plus beneuree" (the most highly blessed).[9]
Thus far the iconography of Figure 42 is consistent with textual definitions of the happiness derived from the contemplative life. But another aspect of the illustration, Félicité's handing of a cloak to a kneeling beggar, is somewhat confusing, for the charitable gesture seems to link her to a mode of life opposed to the contemplative ideal. The contrasting type of the vita activa , or active life, as defined by Aristotle, is one based on "moral virtue and practical wisdom."[10] Its sphere encompasses the practical activities of politics, military affairs, the family, and the like. The feelings of well-being that result from good actions taken on this level bring about what Aristotle calls Human Happiness, translated by Oresme as Félicité humaine.[11] The Christian assimilation of the concept of the vita activa associates its operation with works of charity.[12] Thus, the generosity of Félicité seems to link her with a personification of vita activa , sometimes exemplified by Martha, sister of Mary of Bethany, who, in turn, was identified with the vita contemplativa .[13]
Oresme may have instructed the miniaturist to use a model based on a personification of vita activa , or Charity, for the depiction of Félicité. Yet an actual textual
source in Chapter 15 of Book X can explain the motif of the cloak and beggar as part of a consistent definition of Félicité contemplative. In several places, following Aristotle, Oresme states that the happiness derived from the contemplative life needs little in the way of material goods to sustain it. Indeed, earthly possessions constitute an obstacle to contemplation or study. As Oresme explains: "Mais celui qui vaque et met son entencion a speculacion, il ne a mestier de nulle tele chose quant a son operacion; mais l'en puet dire que teles choses li sont un empeeschement a sa speculacion" (But he who is at leisure and turns his mind to speculation has no need of any such [material] thing for his activity; and one can even say that such things are an impediment to speculation).[14] In other words, the action of Félicité conveys her intention of giving away extraneous worldly possessions to pursue the contemplative life. Oresme refers in a gloss to a source in the Gospels to clarify this point: "Car grans richesces requierent sollicitude par quoy l'en est empeschié de contemplacion. Et pour ce en l'Evangile ilz sont comparees a espines" (For great riches require one's attention, which acts as a hindrance to one's contemplation. And for this reason in the Gospel they are compared to thorns).[15] Such a moral attitude is consistent with Oresme's admonitions to his secular audience against undue expenditure and self-indulgence, conveyed in the programs for Figures 21, 35, and 36. Despite the textual justification of the motif of cloak and beggar, Félicité's charitable gesture may have confused the contemporary reader. The association of good works with the Christian virtue of Charity, or even with the action of a saint, may have obscured Oresme's definition of Félicité contemplative. The lack of a descriptive adjective in the inscription identifying the personification contributes to the ambiguous meaning of the image.
Félicité Contemplative:
A Monumental Personification Allegory
Following the pattern of revising the program of A , Figure 43 (Fig. 43a and Pl. 6) shows certain marked changes in iconography. Like the illustrations for the two preceding books in C (Figs. 38 and 41), the content of the miniature for Book X becomes more specific and focused, even though Figures 42 and 43 share the same representational formula: a seated female figure gazing up at the inhabitants of a celestial sphere. But in Figure 43 a process of simplification brings about not only the elimination of the book and lectern but also of the cloak and beggar. New to Figure 43 is the setting of hills and trees on either side of the principal figure, now identified specifically as Félicité contemplative. Her seat is a low bench similar to that of Sapience in Figure 34. The heavenly contingent has also changed. Instead of the bust-length image of Christ tucked in the corner, the godhead in Figure 43 is a commanding, dynamic force who occupies the center of the heavenly sphere. Accompanied by adoring angels and the sun and moon, he blesses Félicité contemplative. While these iconographic revisions in Figure 43 reveal important alterations in the program of Figure 42, physical and formal features show an even more dramatic character. For one thing, in its size Figure 43 is, after its predecessor
Figure 43
Félicité contemplative. Les éthiques d'Aristote, MS C.
Figure 43A
Detail of Fig. 43
(Fig. 41), the second largest miniature in the cycle. The gold leaves of the outer borders of Figures 41 and 43 suggest another link between them: the execution of the last two miniatures of the C cycle by a separate workshop.
Figure 43, however, shows characteristics that set it apart from the illustration for Book IX. The scale of the figure of Félicité contemplative shows a striving for monumentality unique in the cycle. The care taken to render the drapery folds of her robe and that of the deity is also unusual. Because the figures are modeled in grisaille, their resemblance to, and reliance on, sculptural prototypes seems even more pronounced. The size and beauty of Félicité contemplative, as well as the power of God's head and gesture, mark them as "imagines agentes" or "corporeal similitudes" of ethical ideals.[16] Also distinctive to Figure 43 are the touches of color: green for the clump of trees and blue for the clouds. The use of gold for God's crown, the angels' heads, the sun and moon, and the belt and halo of Félicité contemplative shows the lavish treatment of this illustration.
The extraordinary formal qualities of Figure 43 certainly deserve notice both in themselves and as evidence for the emphasis given to the illustration. Remarkable though it is, the miniature contains a few irregularities that suggest haste or misunderstanding of instructions. Haste is suggested in the blurring of the frame directly above the head of God the Father and above the word delectacion at the lower right. God's flowing drapery, apparently painted over the background, shows evidence of reworking. Inspection of the inscription below the bench of Félicité contemplative also indicates last-minute additions. Compared to the identical words set on either side of God within the usual rectangular boxes, those below Félicité are irregularly shaped and outlined in pen. The use of abbreviations, the small scale of the letters, and the interruptions of words by drapery folds suggest that the lower inscription was added after the upper one. Perhaps Oresme thought that the placement of the higher one confused the reader by identifying the celestial figures with Félicité contemplative rather than with the personification herself. An alternative explanation is that the repetition of the inscriptions affirms the resemblance between the activity taking place in each realm.
Also difficult to interpret is the distance between the head of Félicité contemplative and the celestial sphere. Is the program meant to convey the vast space of an outdoor setting and the separation between the earthly and divine? Or is the miniaturist incapable of locating a monumental figure in a naturalistically conceived space? The too-small trees and rocks indicate a conventional approach to representing a figure in a landscape. Despite these incongruities, the setting signifies that mountains are a traditional location for contemplative activity.[17]
The striving for effects of grandeur in Figure 43 is obvious not only in the composition and the style but also in the expressive quality of the principal actors. Changes from the iconography of Figure 42 noted above also play their part in bringing out characteristics of God and Félicité contemplative inherent in their verbal definition by Aristotle and Oresme. For example, the translator is careful to emphasize that speculative activity takes place in a state of leisure, marked by disengagement from labor, or, in Oresme's words, "repos ou cessacion de labeur ou de occupacions en negoces."[18]Vacacion , the word used by Oresme to describe this state, is a neologism included in the glossary of difficult words at the end of the volume.[19] Oresme also supplies a Christian context for associating the term both as noun and verb with contemplation of the divine. To contrast the active and speculative ways of life, the translator cites St. Augustine as the source of the distinction and the biblical exemplars of the two types of existence:
Ainsi disoit St. Augustin de Marie et de Marthe, que l'une vaquoit et l'autre labouroit. Donques il veult ainsi argüer: Félicité est en vacacion, et les vertus morales ne sont pas en vacacion; mais la speculative, etc.
(Thus spoke St. Augustine of Mary and Martha: one took her rest and the other toiled. Therefore he wishes to argue thus: Happiness lies in leisure, and moral virtues are not passive, but the speculative virtue is, etc.)[20]
In another gloss at the end of Chapter 13, in which the term vacacion is introduced, Oresme again turns to Scripture to emphasize the superiority of the contemplative life: "Et est meilleur que n'est félicité de vie pratique ou active. Et pour ce dit l'Escripture : 'Maria optimam partem elegit, etc.'" (And it is better than the Happiness that comes from the practical or active life. And for this reason Scripture says, "Mary chose the better part").[21] In Figure 43, Félicité contemplative shows no sign of the apparently worldly activity that marks her counterpart in Figure 42.
Other aspects of Félicité contemplative's character absent in Figure 42 emerge in this illustration. The deletion of the cloak-and-beggar motif emphasizes the self-sufficiency or independence of others that constitutes a great advantage of the contemplative life. The large gold halo accorded Félicité contemplative conveys the divine quality of such a mode of life stripped of "passions corporeles" (bodily passions).[22] In a gloss to Chapter 15, Oresme explains that because of Félicité's disregard of such emotions, "elle n'est pas a dire humaine, mais divine" (She is not to be called human, but divine).[23] Her halo also relates her to the inhabitants of the divine realm. Of all the female personifications in the A and C cycles, Félicité contemplative is the only one awarded a sacred status, an honor that refers to the idea that speculative activity expresses within human beings "aucune chose divine" (something divine).[24]
The posture and gesture of Félicité contemplative reveal her character. Unlike the analogous personification in Figure 42, Félicité contemplative no longer needs a book to inspire her activity. With sharply turned head and upraised hands, she glances directly at God and the celestial sphere. Figure 43 emphasizes the meaning of the verb contempler as an act of actually looking at something.[25] Furthermore, the gaze of Félicité contemplative affirms her independence of earthly things and her direct communication with the objects of her contemplation. Since Félicité's activity is based on the intellectual virtue of Theoretical Wisdom (Sapience), which encompasses Intuitive Reason (Entendement) and Knowledge (Science), she seeks to express the best elements encompassed by the human intellect. The act of contemplation, which resembles the activity of divine beings, brings directly to her sight the objects of her speculation.[26] Not surprisingly, the model for Félicité contemplative is the same inspired Evangelist mentioned for the figures of Sapience in the illustrations of Book VI (Figs. 33 and 34).[27]
The gesture of Félicité contemplative may also provide clues about the antecedents and interpretation of the figure. Her eloquently upraised hands may indicate astonishment, submission, striving, or prayer. Stemming from her exalted activity and relationship to the deity, such expressions are appropriate also to personifications of the vita contemplativa . As previously noted, a process of medieval exegesis identified the sisters Martha and Mary of Bethany as exemplars of the vita activa and vita contemplativa respectively.[28] But various medieval writings cite the Virgin Mary as one who unites both categories of experience.[29] Although Oresme does not mention the Virgin in such a context, he may have referred the miniaturist to an image of Mary. The ideal beauty, blue mantle, and long hair of Félicité contemplative are attributes of the Virgin appropriate to such an allusion.
The representation of God the Father also conforms to medieval iconographic tradition.[30] The deity as a creative and unifying force of the cosmos is symbolized by his command of the heavenly host of angels and the depiction of the sun and moon. God's blessing gesture and the fall of his drapery into Félicité's sphere indicate the spiritual affinities between them. As Oresme's text states, of all human activities, the one closest or most like the activity of God is the most blessed.[31]
Although in his discussion of Félicité contemplative, Oresme does not give an explicit Christian definition of God as the object of her activity, it is difficult to say whether he envisioned a philosophical rather than a theological frame of reference. At the point in Chapter 15 where Oresme speaks of the excellence of Félicité contemplative, he refrains from defining her character as a task beyond the scope of the present inquiry. His gloss also evades a clear interpretation: "Car ce appartient a la methaphisique et a la science divine. Mais par ce que dit est, plus excellente que n'est félicité active" (For this belongs to metaphysics and theology. But by what is said, [it is] more excellent than is happiness of the active life).[32] Furthermore, Oresme does not carry on the distinction made by Thomas Aquinas that the contemplative life in this world yields only "imperfect happiness," compared to the "perfect happiness attainable only in the next life consisting principally in the vision of God."[33] The imagery of Figure 43 does not resolve this problem either. Although God is not associated with specifically Christian symbols as in Figure 34, it is hard to imagine that Oresme or his readers understood the text or the image in secular, philosophical terms. Even if Oresme wished to convey such notions, the conceptual and linguistic transformation of the vita contemplativa during the Middle Ages into a Christian context makes such an interpretation difficult. Likewise, the visual associations of Figure 43 are also founded on religious iconography. As is the case with the visual language chosen to represent Justice légale in A (Fig. 24), the illustration of Félicité contemplative has an ambiguous or multivalent character. Yet the absence of overt Christian symbols may furnish a clue to Oresme's perceptions, if not to his audience's reading of them.
The relationship between God and Félicité contemplative also deserves comment. By virtue of his position in the celestial hierarchy, his crown, and his commanding gesture, the image of the deity is the dominant force. It is consistent with Aristotle's outlook that the highest creative and intellectual powers are masculine. Also traditional is the contrasting passivity of Félicité contemplative, a compliant and beautiful young woman. Yet the size, monumentality, and halo of Félicité give her figure visual and spiritual authority. Ironically, the representation by a feminine personification of the highest type of happiness derived from intellectual activity is perhaps the most dramatic instance in the Ethiques cycles of a disjunction between the image and Aristotle's views of female mental, moral, and physical inferiority.
Affirmation of the Contemplative Life
Although the illustration in A (Fig. 42) of Book X, the last book of the Ethiques , receives no special emphasis, in size, format, and style, its counterpart in C (Fig.
43) is a deliberate climax to the cycle. In one sense, Figure 43 contrasts with the representation of Félicité humaine, combined in the first miniature of C with the dedication scene (Fig. 10). Even if allowances are made for the changes in the size of the illustrations in the second half of C , the prominence and preeminence of Figure 43 are still remarkable.
Apart from Oresme's appearance in a leading role in the dedication frontispiece of C (Fig. 10), the translator does not figure in any other illustration. Yet the editorial and visual alterations noted in the second half of C indicate that Oresme's quasi-authorial intervention in the choice and ordering of the program of illustrations strengthens perceptibly. It is, therefore, tempting to see the translator's continued influence in the strong emphasis of Figure 43. Like its predecessor in C (Fig. 41), Figure 43 seems distinct from the other miniatures in format, iconography, and expressiveness. Oresme certainly took part in reordering the program to stress in a monumental and simplified format the grandeur of Félicité contemplative. The visual realization of this concept is both formally and thematically exceptional in contemporary French manuscript production.
The question now arises of Oresme's motivation in highlighting Figure 43. After all, glorification of the happiness that comes from the contemplative life is only one of several themes Aristotle explored in Book X. As a scholar and thinker, Oresme would naturally have a special affinity for the contemplative life. Chapter 12 of Oresme's text speaks of the wonderful pleasures of philosophy, marked by purity and permanence.[34] His gloss on these delights reveals an enthusiasm quite probably derived from his own experience. Oresme explains:
Elles sont merveilleuses pour ce que elles sont excellentes et precieuses et ne sont pas communes. Car le plus des gens se delictent en choses materieles. Item, elles sont pures, car elles sont vers choses esperitueles et immaterieles.
(They are wonderful because they are excellent and precious and are not common to all and sundry. For most people delight in material things. Item, these are pure, for they incline toward spiritual and nonmaterial things.)[35]
Oresme's emphasis on vacacion , or leisure, as a condition and advantage of intellectual activity may also reflect a preference or enjoyment familiar from his own career. The translator may here have reflected on his years in Paris working on the Aristotle translations when, with the king's assistance, he took leave from his ecclesiastical duties in Rouen. Oresme's glosses thus express a consciousness of the rarity of the withdrawal from material pleasures that typifies the classical ideal of the life of the mind, soon to be revived in the writings of the Italian humanists.[36] Even the setting of mountains and trees in Figure 43 conveys the idea of a peaceful retreat in which contemplative activity takes place. Oresme was also personally engaged in writing about the objects of Félicité contemplative's intellectual activity. Oresme's Latin and French treatises on natural science, including physics and the study of the movement of celestial bodies, approach from various vantage
points knowledge of "les choses divines." Thus, drawing on his own life and work, the program of Figure 43 may well express Oresme's reverence for the happiness that comes from the contemplative life. Likewise, the ambiguities of the philosophical/theological context of this illustration may reflect the wavering in his scientific views between orthodox Christian beliefs and "radical philosophical ideas."[37]
If Figure 43 displays Oresme's preferences, what interest might the illustration have held for Charles V? Chapter 13 and other locations in Book X unfavorably contrast the field of political action, driven by an incessant search for power and honors, with the leisure and tranquility that characterize the happiness of the contemplative life. But the translator explains in a gloss that political action supplies the preconditions for people to enjoy the contemplative life.[38] In addition, Oresme states in the final gloss of Chapter 14 that the active life is sometimes more desirable and necessary than the contemplative mode, particularly when it assures the safety of the common good.[39]
Certainly the idea that good political action assures the possibility of the contemplative life is relevant to Charles V's own tastes and his patronage of literature and the arts. The massive translation project is just one aspect of his cultural policy. The king was also known for his love of learning and his intellect.[40] The various mentions of Charles V's "Sapience" in dedicatory poems and prologues to translations are more than literary convention. For him, as well as for Oresme, the happiness of the contemplative life was a concept that had personal meaning and merited special honor in the climactic illustration of the king's personal copy of Oresme's translation of the Ethics . In Figure 43 the illuminator creates a monumental and exceptional figure worthy of his reader's recollection. This memorable image certainly could have provided the basis for the translator's eloquent oral explication of the delights of the contemplative life.