Thus Porfirie and Plato,
And poetes menye,
Lykneth in here logyk
The leeste fowel oute;
And whether hii be saf other nat saf
The sothe wot not clergie,
Ne of Sortes ne of Salamon
No scripture can telle,
Wether thei be in helle other in hevene,
Other Aristotle the wise.
7961. _Aristotle, the grete clerk._ From the eleventh to the sixteenth
centuries the influence of Aristotle's writings in the schools was
all-powerful. It was considered almost an impiety to go against his
authority. He was indeed "the great clerk."
7967. _Sortes._ I suppose this is an abbreviated form of the name Socrates.
It occurs again in one of the poems printed among the Latin Poetry
attributed to Walter Mapes (Camden Society's Publication), which has the
following lines:--
Adest ei bajulus cui nomen Gnato,
Præcedebat logicum gressu fatigato,
Dorso ferens sarcinam ventre tensus lato,
Plenam vestro dogmate, o _Sortes et Plato_.
7987. 1 Peter iv, 18.
8015. Psalm xxii, 4.
8073. _a maister._ This word was generally used in the scholastic ages in a
restricted sense, to signify one who had taken his degrees in the
schools--a master of arts.
8103. Luke x, 7.
8133-8137. These are the indications of different Psalms. Psalm li begins
with the words, _Miserere mei, Deus_, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
The thirty-first Psalm commences with the words, _Beati quorum_ remissæ
sunt iniquitates, _et quorum tecta sunt peccata_. _Beatus vir_, is the
beginning of Psalm i. The fifth verse of Psalm xxxi contains the words
_Dixi: Confitebor_ adversum me injustitiam meam Domino.
8141. Psalm xxxi, 6.
8145. Psalm l, 19.
8153. Isaiah v, 22.