Is faith enough to solve the problem of error?

On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 2:52 PM, Lauren Silberman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Maybe force is enough to clobber a dragon, but not to solve the underlying problem of error. (I’m more irritated by people, mostly not students, who use “begs the question” when they mean “invites the question” mostly because question begging is a serious fallacy.)

 

From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anne Prescott
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 2:32 PM

To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Gallicisms in Spenser?

 

A very good point, Lauren. But also, just to be stupidly obvious--what would be the allegorical/theological implications? Is force enough when fighting error? (True, I've sometimes wanted to slug students who misunderstand affect/effect). 

On Nov 21, 2013, at 2:19 PM, Lauren Silberman wrote:

What Una means and what Redcrosse understands might not be the same.  Think about how he hears Duessa’s “Thine the shield and I and all.”

 

From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf OfHarry Berger Jr
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 1:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Gallicisms in Spenser?

 

 

. Does it make sense in the Spenserian context?

 

Very much so.  Trust your force. You can do it, Boy. Una's already mommying him.

 

 

On Nov 21, 2013, at 10:36 AM, David Wilson-Okamura wrote:

What do we think Una's means, "Add faith vnto your force and be not faint" (FQ I.i.19)? Hamilton glosses "add" as "join," citing 2 Peter 1:5: "joyne moreover vertue with your faith." That makes sense to me, but I was just rereading War and Peace, where Tolstoy quotes a letter from Napoleon to the supreme Russian commander:

 

"Monsieur le prince Koutouzov, j’envoie près de vous un de mes aides de camp généraux pour vous entretenir de plusieurs objets intéressants. Je désire que votre Altesse ajoute foi à ce qu’il lui dira, surtout lorsqu’il exprimera les sentiments d’estime et de particulière considération que j’ai depuis longtemps pour sa personne."

 

The phrase that caught my eye was, obviously, "ajoute foi": trust, give credence to. I don't find it recorded its verbatim equivalent, "add faith," recorded in the OED or Shakespeare.

 

a. Was the French idiom already current in the Age of Catherine de' Medici?

 

b. Does it make sense in the Spenserian context?

 

c. If so, are there other Gallicisms in Spenser?

 

 

--

Dr. David Wilson-Okamura    http://virgil.org          [log in to unmask]
English Department              Virgil reception, discussion, documents, &c
East Carolina University        Sparsa et neglecta coegi. -- Claude Fauchet