213. ‘Hoc est quod binas lex habet una vias, | Quae terrena sonat, simul
et celestia monstrat. | Nunc mentem pascit, et modo corpus alit,’ T. The
corrections bet, offers, and erðliche are due to Mätzner. #bodes#, not
‘biddings,’ Specimens, but teachings, information. #bekned#, points to,
indicates, proclaims. The meaning of the original depends on the special
use of lex, according to Papias ‘a legendo dicta lexis græce, latine
locutio, id est quælibet syllaba uel uox, quæ scribi potest,’ hence the
written word, here the ‘facts’ of natural history, useful to know for
our bodily sustenance, but also charged with spiritual instruction. The
ant, as the Latin puts it, ‘in suis factis res monstrat spirituales.’
The English version has obscured the sense by adding, without authority,
l. 212, where lex is taken in its natural meaning of law. #euelike#,
heavenly (teachings).
214. #o geuelike#, on an equality, equally: OE. #ge-efenlic# _adj._ here
used as _noun_: comp. 194/593.
215, 216. ‘Nos utinam repleat, famis ut formido recedat, Tempore
judicii, quod simile est hiemi,’ T.