By Preeve which that is Demonstratif (10)
When the Wife has finished her tale, the Friar as we have seen compliments
her rather patronisingly on her handling of "scole-matere". He goes on:
But, dame, heere as we ryde by the weye,
Us nedeth nat to speken but of game,
And lete auctoritees, on Goddes name,
To prechyng and to scole eek of clergye. (1274-7)
He fails however to keep "scole-matere" out of his tale. This tale concerns
a Summoner who meets a Fiend from Hell. The Summoner reacts, not by running
away or blessing himself, but by asking it a series of questions commonly
discussed in medieval scholastic theology:
Han ye a figure thanne determinat
In helle, ther ye been in youre estat? (1459-60)
and again
"Why" quod this somonour, "ryde ye thanne or goon
In sondry shap, and nat alway in oon?" (1469-70)
and again
"Yet tel me," quod the somonour, "feithfully,
Make ye yow newe bodies thus alway
Of elementz?" (1504-6)
Now St Thomas had already discussed at length (Summa Theologiae, Prima Pars,
Qq. 50-64) the nature and function of angels, both good and bad: whether
they are corporeal (they are not), whether they can assume bodies when the
need arises (they can) and other matters pertaining to them. It is
interesting to look at Aquinas's arguments. In Quaestio 51 or his first
part, he examines three points or articles: 1. Have angels bodies as part
of their nature? 2. Do angels ever assume bodies? 3. If they do, do
these function as living organisms?
To the first he concludes, on the auctoritee of Dionysius the Areopagite,
that angels do not have bodies as part of their nature. This might seem to
answer the summoner's first question. To the question of whether they ever
assume bodies, Aquinas answers in the affirmative, but it is worth following
his argument. In accordance with his usual method, he first raises
arguments which might lead you to the wrong conclusion. He raises three
points which suggest that angels do not assume bodies, the third of which reads:
"It cannot be bodies formed of earth or water that angels assume, for such
bodies would not suddenly vanish, nor fire-bodies, for these would scorch
the place around them, nor air-bodies, for air lacks shape and colour."
Therefore angels do not assume bodies made of elements. But he replies to
this ("Respondeo"), "It is true that air does not normally retain shape or
colour, but when condensed it can have shape and colour, as in the clouds.
The angels, then, assume bodies made of air, but condensed by divine power
in an appropriate manner." So angels assume bodies made of elements,
specifically the element of air.
Now this would seem to contradict what the fiend says to the Summoner:
"Yet tel me," quod the somonour, "Feithfully, (!)
Make ye yow newe bodies thus alway
Of elementz?" The feend answerde, "Nay.
Sometyme we feyne, and sometyme we aryse
With dede bodyes, in ful sondry wyse,
And speke as renably and faire and wel
As to the Phitonessa dide Samuel.
(And yet wol som men seye it was nat he,
I do no fors of youre dyvynitee." (1504-1512)
The last couplet here surely indicates that Chaucer was alluding to some
scholastic argument, and the last line, "I do no fors of youre dyvynitee"
playfully acknowledges that this is a theological matter.
Oriens
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