26
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inculcate people against inconsequential and transient earthly
reputation and to turn their attention to the pursuit of divine glory.
One of the most potent medieval treatises on the distinction
between earthly fame and divine glory is Bonaventure’s
Soliloquies
.
26
In it, Bonaventure, citing St. Gregory,
27
claims that
the distance between one and heavenly bliss is in proportion to the
extent to which he is attached to worldly things (1655: 116).
Bonaventure then proceeds to undermine the lure of worldly glory
by laying bare its empty and deceptive nature: “For every thing [sic]
that is here [this world] eminent, is more enthralled with sorrow,
then it can be delighted with honour” (117).
28
Not unlike Chaucer,
who observes in the
House of Fame
that worldly fame oftentimes
stems from the injudicious judgment of the common people,
Bonaventure forthrightly argues that glory is nothing but “a vain
tickling of the ears” (118).
For Bonaventure, the pursuit of worldly glory is nullified by
the inevitable death, which effaces the legacies of even the greatest.
For Bonaventure, the thought of death readily exposes the
emptiness of human feats and of the world, and St. Gregory’s
maxim pinpoints the pathetic nature of human life: “Behold what a
nothing man is” (1655: 120).
29
Bonaventure therefore admonishes
that all worldly things are nothing but illusory dreams, and that all
pride and riches will eventually evaporate without a trace (120).
30
For Bonaventure, unlike the salvation promised by God,
26
Bonaventure (ca. 1217-1274) is a towering medieval theologian and generally
considered by modern scholars one of the foremost figures in his age
(Bonavneture, 1993).
27
Gregory I, Saint (540-604), “architect of the medieval papacy” and “a notable
theologian who was also an administrative, social, liturgical, and moral
reformer”(Gregory I, Saint, 1993).
28
Though I consult the 1655 edition, I adopt modern spelling (e.g. “sorrow”
rather than “forrow”).
29
The Latin original reads, “Ecce, quam nihil est homo”(
Bonaventura,
2003: 82).
30
Bonaventure enumerates an array of ancient luminaries, including King Solomon,
Alexander the Great, Samson, Roman Caesars, and many others, to underpin his
argument (1655: 120-121).
