The Romance of the Rose March 2, 2020 - Nature and Genius

The Romance of the Rose
     March 2, 2020

     Nature and Genius

Nature at her forge
Comment Nature est en sa forge
et tient le martel

BnF 802, 105v

Nature and…
• Death
   • A race or contest
   • Individuals vs species
• Art
   • The ape of Nature
   • “she cannot make living things, however natural they may seem” (248)
• Alchemy
   • Individuals can be alienated from their species

Douce 195, 105v

Grenoble 608, 125r   Morgan 948, 156r

Comment nature est en sa forge
Arsenal 5209, 107r

Ci commence le vie
chapistre
de ce livre lequel
est de dame nature
Chicago 1380, 102v

Nature vs Death
“Nature…                                  Nature…
dedanz sa forge antree etoit,             entered her forge
ou toute s’antante metoit                 where she focused all her attention
an forgier singuliere pieces              on forging single individuals
por continuer les espieces                to continue the species;
car les pieces les font tant vivre        for the individuals make them [the species]
que Mort ne les peut aconsivre” (15,863   live so well
– 870)                                    that Death cannot reach them.

“…quant la Mort o sa maçue                …when Death with her club
des singulieres pieces tue                kills single individuals
…                                         …
Nes peut ensamble conceper” (15,873 –     she can’t collect all of them together
882)

“Ainsinc Mort, qui ja n’iert saoule,   Thus Death, who is never sated,
gloutement les pieces angoule          greedily gulps down individuals
…
Mes nes peut ensamble tenir,           But she can never hold all of them
                                       together
si qu’el ne peut a chief venir         so she can never succeed
des especes du tout destruire,         in entirely destroying species
tant sevent bien les pieces fuire”     so well do the individuals know how to
                                       flee
 (15,935 – 942)

Comment art est a
genoulz devant
nature
Douce 195, 115v

Art cannot transform
species (“les especes
transmuer” 16,038)

Alchemy
Whatever might be true of species, individuals are so malleable that
they can be turned into a different species (“cist changes / les met souz
espieces estranges / et leur tost l’espiece prumiere” (this change
deprives them of their original species and puts them into a
strange/foreign one 16,063-05). Examples of hail and glass.

Nature, Art, and alchemy, all responsible for (re)making, are closely
connected to one another by means of the vocabulary that recurs
throughout this passage (especially pieces/espieces)

Limits of art and
language
No one can convey Nature’s beauty
(250)
   “Pygmalion could not carve her”
   Zeuxis

No one can convey women’s vices
(252)

Ci de nature fait son deul
Douce 195, 116v

The Lament of Nature; she calls Genius (251)
                          Ci commence la confession nature
Selden Supra 57, 114v
                          Arsenal 5209, 112v

Never confide in a woman!
“I advise and admonish you
frankly and without deceit to fly
from such a creature” (256)
“I am not saying, however, nor
was it ever my intention to say,
that you should not hold women
dear, nor flee so far that you
cannot lie with them” (256)

Ici devise la nateur que lon se gart
des femmes
BnF 9345, 48r

Place of the poet / ”I”
  “I would gladly have described her to you, but my wit is not
  equal to the task” (250)
  “When Nature heard the oath…” (251)
  “Fair lords, be on your guard against women” (256)
  “But I have not said this on your account” (257-8)
  “Thus Genius comforted her” (258)
  “I report it to you now in writing, word for word, just as she
  pronounced it” (258)

Lament of Nature
“I have no complaint to make of heaven” (260)
“Nor do I complain of the seven planets” (260)
  The influence of the planets (examples of Empedocles and Origen,
  263);
  Predestination and free will in relation to divine omniscience (God’s
  mirror, 269; Deucalion and Pyrrha, 271);
  Thought experiment about animals (274-5)

Morgan 948, 170v

Morgan 948, 5r

Coment deuchalion et pirra eschapent le deluge et coment ilz
geterent des pierres derriere eulz Valencia BH 387, 121r

…back to the heavens
   The little clouds go on pilgrimages (277)
      Introduces a digression on optics (example of Mars and Venus, 278) and mirrors
      Nature and Genius agree that women’s hearts are full of deceit (279-80)
      More mirrors, also visions and dreams (reference to Scipio, 283)
   Back to the clouds (285), and the influence of the heavens
      Discussion of true nobility, which is based on virtue (286ff); “I cause men to be born equal”
      (291)
Nor do I complain of the elements (292) or the plants (292) or the
other animals (293)
Only man!
“…women are incapable of concealing anything” and so “I shall relate
all his vices and give a true account of everything” (296)

The works of Nature are
corruptible (294)
The Incarnation is beyond the
comprehension of Nature (295)

Comment nature parle encor de
dieu
Douce 195, 137v

Des paines denfer, Valencia BH 387, 131r

Nature sends Genius to
the army of the God of
Love with a message she
dictates (298)
Ludwig XV7, 121r

Then Genius “gave her absolution
and imposed on her a good and
fitting penance, appropriate to the
seriousness of the fault he thought
she had committed” (299)

Coment genius escript le pardon de
nature
Valencia BH 387, 132r