The Titles are: Gg. Balade de bone conseyl; Lansd. 699, La bon Counseil de
le Auttour; Caxton, The good counceyl of Chawcer; Harl. Moral balade of
Chaucyre. Shirley calls it--Balade that Chaucier made on his deeth-bedde; a
note that has been frequently repeated, and is probably no better than a
bad guess.
1. Koch considers that the source of the poem is a passage in Boethius,
lib. iii. met. II, at the beginning, but the resemblance is very slight. It
contains no more than a mere hint for it. However, part of st. 3 is
certainly from the same, bk. i. pr. 5, as will appear; see note to 1. 17.
The former passage in Boethius is thus translated by Chaucer: 'Who-so that
seketh sooth by a deep thoght, and coveiteth nat to ben deceived by no
mis-weyes, lat him rollen and trenden [_revolve_] withinne himself the
light of his inward sighte; and lat him gadere ayein, enclyninge in-to a
compas, the longe moevinges of his thoughtes; and lat him techen his corage
that he hath enclosed and hid in his tresors, al that he compaseth or
seketh fro with-oute.' See also bk. ii. pr. 5 of the same, which seems to
me more like the present poem than is the above passage.
2. Koch reads _thing_ for _good_, as in some MSS. He explains the
line:--'Devote thyself entirely to one thing, even if it is not very
important in itself (instead of hunting after a phantom).' This I cannot
accept; it certainly means nothing of the kind. Dr. Sweet has the reading:
_Suffise thin owene thing_, &c., which is the reading of _one_ MS. only,
but it gives the right idea. The line would then mean: 'let your own
property, though small, suffice for your wants.' I think we are bound to
follow the MSS. generally; of these, _two_ have _Suffice unto thi thing_;
_seven_ have _Suffice unto thy good_; _one_ has _Suffice unto thi lyuynge_
(where _lyuynge_ is a gloss upon _good_); and F. has the capital reading
_Suffice the_ (= _thee_) _thy good_. It seems best to follow the majority,
especially as they allow _suffice_ to be followed by a vowel, thus eliding
the final e. The sense is simply: 'Be content with thy property, though it
be small'; and the next line gives the reason why--'for hoarding only
causes hatred, and ambition creates insecurity; the crowd is full of envy,
and wealth blinds one in every respect.' _Suffice unto thy good_ is much
the same as the proverb--'cut your coat according to your cloth.' Chaucer
elsewhere has _worldly suffisaunce_ for 'wealth'; Cler. Tale, E 759. Of
course this use of _suffice unto_ (be content with) is peculiar; but I do
not see why it is not legitimate. The use of _Savour_ in l. 5 below is at
least as extraordinary.
Cf. Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 5, l. 54:--'And if thou wolt
fulfille thy nede after that it suffiseth to nature, than is it no nede
that thou seke after the superfluitee of fortune.'
3. Cf. 'for avarice maketh alwey mokereres [_hoarders_] to ben hated';
Boeth. ii. pr. 5, l. 11.
5. _Savour_, taste with relish, have an appetite for. 'Have a relish for no
more than it may behove you (to taste).'
6. Most MSS. read _Werk_ or _Do_; only two have _Reule_, which Dr. Sweet
adopts. Any one of these three readings makes sense. 'Thou who canst advise
others, work well thyself,' or 'act well thyself,' or 'rule thyself.' To
quote from Hamlet, i. 3. 47:--
'Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.'