The parlament of foules, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed., with introduction, notes, and glossary, by T. R. Lounsbury.

i6

INTRODUCTION.

leads to the entrance of heaven lies open to those who have rendered great service to
their country, although, in following from my boyhood in thy footsteps and in those of
my father, I have not failed in sustaining the honor derived from you, yet henceforth
I shall toil with far more zeal, now that so great a reward has been held out before
me." - " Do thou indeed," said he, "continue to strive; and bear this in mind, that
thou thyself art not mortal, but this body of thine. For thou art not the one which
that form of thine proclaims thee to be: but the soul of any one, that alone is he;
not that external shape which can be pointed out with the finger. Therefore know
thyself to be a god, if that is essentially god which lives, which feels, which remembers, which foresees, which rules and regulates and moves that body over which
it is put in authority, as the Supreme Being governs this universe. And as the eternal God moves the world, which, in a certain point of view, is perishable, so the
incorruptible soul moves the corruptible body.
" For what always moves itself is eternal; but that which communicates to any
thing a motion which it has itself received from another source must necessarily have
an end of life when it has an end of motion: therefore that alone never ceases to
move which moves itself, for the reason that it is never deserted by itself. This,
indeed, is the well-head; this the beginning of motion to all other things that are
m(ved. But to a beginning there is no birth; for all things are born from the beginning. But it itself cannot be born of any thing; for that would not be a beginning
which sprang from some other source. And just as it is never begotten, so it never
dies; for a beginning annihilated could neither itself be brought back to life by any
thing else, nor could it create any thing else out of itself, since it is necessary that all
things should come from a beginning. So it results that the beginning of motion is
in itself, because it is self-moved. And this can neither be born nor die, for, if it did,
the heavens would fall to ruin, and all nature would stand still; nor could it come
into the possession of any power by the original impulse of which it might be put
into motion.
IX. " Since, therefore, it is clear that what is self-moved is eternal, who can deny
that this essential characteristic has been imparted to the soul? For every thing which
is moved by a foreign impulse is without a soul; but that which lives is made to go
by an inward motion of its own, for this is the special nature and power of the soul.
But if it is the one thing among all which is self-moved, then certainly it has had no
beginning, and is eternal. Do thou, then, employ it in the noblest duties. But those
are the loftiest cares which are concerned with the well-being of our native land.
The soul that is inspired by these, and occupied with them, will hasten the quicker
into this, its real home and habitation. So much the more speedily, indeed, will it do
this, if, while it is shut up in the body, it shall pass beyond its limits, and, by the contemplation of those things which are outside of it, shall withdraw itself as far as possible from the body. For the souls of those who have given themselves up to sensual
pleasures, and have made themselves, as it were, ministers to these, and who, under
the pressure of desires which are subservient to these pleasures, have violated the
laws of God and man, when they shall have parted from the body, will fly about the
earth itself, nor will return to this place until they shall have suffered torments for
many ages." He departed. I awoke from my sleep.
The second work to which Chaucer is largely indebted is " La
Teseide " of Boccaccio, from which poem he also took the story