Folio 52v - the jay, continued. De lucinia; Of the nightingale
deceptive, he is as a result often mistaken. But it is of no advantage to this religious man to speak nothing but the truth. He promises that his church will benefit if he goes to the sick man, but he says nothing of the temptation to sin and the harm to his soul.
You know, perhaps, of the monk and physician, called Justus - if only he had acted justly! - who hid three gold pieces in a remedy. Perhaps you know, too, what the blessed Gregory says of him. Although Gregory cared for Justus in his sickness, he did not, however, forbear to punish him. He forbade his brothers to speak to Justus before his death and after it, ordered him to be buried in a cess-pit. Moreover, after his death, Justus was absolved with the words: 'Thy money perish with thee' (see Acts, 8:20).
Entertainers also, fickle of mind before conversion, when they come to conversion more often resort to fickleness and with fickleness leave the order.
As for those who are used to wandering off to different places, if they feel oppressed by the irksome routine of the cloister, they quit it more quickly, because they have experienced the variety of life in other lands.
Of the nightingale
The nightingale is so called because it signals with its song the dawn of the new day; a light-bringer, lucenia, so to speak.
It is an ever-watchful sentinel, warming its eggs in a hollow of its body, relieving the sleepless effort of the long night with the sweetness of its song. It seems to me that the main aim of the bird is to hatch its eggs and give life to its young with sweet music no less than with the warmth of its body. The poor but modest mother, her arm dragging the millstone around, that her children may not lack bread, imitates the nightingale, easing the misery of her poverty with a night-time song, and although she cannot imitate the sweetness of the bird,
- Commentary
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Commentary
Text
The nightingale.
Illustration
Portrait of the nightingale.
Comment
She sits on her nest singing to relieve the tedium of the night. Initial type 2.
Folio Attributes
- Transcription and Translation
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Transcription
fallax ideo sepe fallitur, sed hoc religioso non expedit\ quod nisi vera loquatur. Promittit ecclesie sue lucrum si\ eat ad egrotum, sed tacet scandalum et anime sue damp\ num. Nostis forsitan de monacho medico Justo nomine,\ sed utinam iusto operatione qui in medicamine tres au\ reos absconderat quid de eo beatus Gregorius dicat, qui\ licet ei in infirmitate servierit, in correctione tamen\ ei non pepercit. Fratres ante mortem ei loqui prohibuit, post\ mortem vero in sterquilinio sepeliri[i] iussit. Sic autem est\ absolutus post mortem, pecunia tua tecum sit in perdicio\ nem. Sed et ioculatores ante conversionem leves cum ad\ conversionem veniunt, sepius usi levitate leviter recedunt.\ Illi vero qui per diversas regiones discurrere sunt consueti, si te\ dio claustri fuerint aggravati, citius a claustris exeunt\ quia terrarum diversitates noverunt. \ De lucinia \Lucinia avis inde nomen sumpsit quia cantu suo\ significare solet surgentis ex\ ortum diei quasi lucenia.\ Est enim pervigil custos cum\ ova quodam sinu corporis et\ gremio fovet, insompnem\ longe[i] noctis laborem cantile\ ne suavitate solatur. Ut mihi vi\ detur, hec summa eius est inten\ tio quo possit non minus dul\ cioribus modulis quam fotu corporis animare fetus ovaque fo\ vere. Hanc imitata tenuis illa mulier sed pudica, incussum\ mole lapidem brachio trahens ut possit alimentum panis\ suis parvulis non deesse nocturno cantu mestum pauperta\ tis mulcet affectum, et quamvis suavitatem lucinie non possit\Translation
deceptive, he is as a result often mistaken. But it is of no advantage to this religious man to speak nothing but the truth. He promises that his church will benefit if he goes to the sick man, but he says nothing of the temptation to sin and the harm to his soul. You know, perhaps, of the monk and physician, called Justus - if only he had acted justly! - who hid three gold pieces in a remedy. Perhaps you know, too, what the blessed Gregory says of him. Although Gregory cared for Justus in his sickness, he did not, however, forbear to punish him. He forbade his brothers to speak to Justus before his death and after it, ordered him to be buried in a cess-pit. Moreover, after his death, Justus was absolved with the words: 'Thy money perish with thee' (see Acts, 8:20). Entertainers also, fickle of mind before conversion, when they come to conversion more often resort to fickleness and with fickleness leave the order. As for those who are used to wandering off to different places, if they feel oppressed by the irksome routine of the cloister, they quit it more quickly, because they have experienced the variety of life in other lands. Of the nightingale The nightingale is so called because it signals with its song the dawn of the new day; a light-bringer, lucenia, so to speak. It is an ever-watchful sentinel, warming its eggs in a hollow of its body, relieving the sleepless effort of the long night with the sweetness of its song. It seems to me that the main aim of the bird is to hatch its eggs and give life to its young with sweet music no less than with the warmth of its body. The poor but modest mother, her arm dragging the millstone around, that her children may not lack bread, imitates the nightingale, easing the misery of her poverty with a night-time song, and although she cannot imitate the sweetness of the bird,
