118. #on#: S. Antony. #Ðurh# &c. Holthausen translates, ‘Through all
these we have seen and heard a great many saved, and many by all these
named virtues perished, because _discretio_ failed them,’ which gives an
unsatisfactory sense for the second clause and involves a forced meaning
for ‘of’ as equivalent to ðurh (for which the only near parallels in VV
are 97/19, 103/3), and a meaning in which it would hardly be used
immediately after ‘manie’; ‘inamde’ (elsewhere ‘forenammde,’ VV 15/29)
is superfluous. The original is, ‘Omnia quidem haec quae dixistis,
necessaria sunt et utilia sitientibus Deum: sed his principalem tribuere
gratiam nequaquam nos innumerabiles multorum fratrum casus et
experimenta permittunt. Nam saepe vidimus fratres has observationes
tenentes repentino casu deceptos, eo quod in bono quod coeperant
discretionem minime tenuerunt.’ The English appears to be corrupt:
mihten belongs to the former ðesen; the second alle is repeated from the
first; under the superfluous inamde lurks the equivalent for repentino
casu, which would hardly be overlooked by the translator; perhaps in a
mu{n}de, in a handwhile, in a moment. The sense would then be, We have
seen and heard of very many persons protected (comp. VV 73/7) by all
these virtues, and (we have seen) many of these lapse in a moment,
because discretion failed them. This meaning of mund is not in the
dictionaries, and the evidence for it is slight, but comp. Varnhagen’s
note on ‘boten a mounde’ in Anglia, iii. 283. More usual, but less
appropriate, would be, in a niede.
125. #muge# is subjunctive after se ðe, indefinite, whosoever, as is
wile in ‘Weriȝe se ðe wile,’ VV 89/33, but se ðe, he who, is followed by
the indicative, ‘se ðe luueð,’ VV 41/7 (= qui diligit), ‘se ðe swereð,’
id. 79/3 (= qui iurat). There seems to be no distinction in meaning
between ‘Bie war, ȝif ðu wilt,’ VV 59/2, and ‘Bie war, ȝif ðu wile,’ id.
61/8, but the forms of this verb are confused, see 89/37. Note also the
indicative after ‘hwat hwat,’ 92/134.