The Dedicatory Epistle

summam quam in universam dialecticam conscripsi Case refers to his Summa veterum interpretum in universam dialecticam Aristotelis (London, 1584).
alter totius naturae mysteria Although Case’s commentary on the Physics was only published posthumously under the title Lapis Philosophicus (Oxford, 1600), he had been working on it for a long time, perhaps as early as ca. 1570: cf. Binns, Intellectual Culture 371f.
eiusdem fructum ex animo propinavit The image is suggested by the physical similarity of a printing press to a wine press. The ancients crowned their bowls of wine with ivy garlands.
aedificant Athenas In academic literature of the times, a English university is often described as a new Athens, a home for the Muses, etc.
ne quasi aquilae As those who have already read the author’s Sphaera Civitatis in this series will be well aware, Case was exceptionally prone to mixing metaphors.
Burghleium The Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
ea potissimum causa This observation of Case bore fruit five years later, with Elizabeth’s foundation of Trinity College, Dublin. Could it be that the Queen drew her inspiration from this passage?
ut ferunt annales A sidenote refers to Humphrey Lluydd’s Commentarioli descriptionis Britanniae fragmentum (published posthumously by Abraham Ortelius in 1572, and translated by Thomas Twine in the following year under the title The Breviary of Britain. In the course of this, he describes the destruction of the library of the monastery of Bangor in 1100 A. D.
Non de nugis There was a contemporary contention between the two Universities as to which was the older (thus giving it precedence in state ceremonies and so forth), that produced a large amount of tedious pseudo-history of the Geoffrey of Monmouth type. Possibly the least unreadable item in this literature is the elder Phineas Fletcher’s lengthy eclogue De Literis Antiquae Britanniae (not printed until 1633, but written in the 1570’s).
praesertim cum unam matrem A sidenote refers to Midendorp’s De Academiis.
Rami fluens ingenium Ramus declared that everything in Aristotle was false, particularly in his Aristotelicae Animadversiones (1534). His revolutionary teachings obviously resonated with young Renaissance minds eager to free themselves from the shackles of Scholasticism.
imberbis enim aetas This is apparently a proverb, not a literary quotation.
cum in medicina responderim Although chiefly remembered as Oxford’s great Aristotelian, Case was also a student of medicine. He received the B. Med. and D. Med. in 1589.

Ad Studiosos Iuvenes

Si enim nihil aliud A sidenote refers to Aristotle’s definition of philosophy at Metaphysics I.i.
ut ait Empedocles Fr. 28 D. - K.
ut utar verbis Ciceronis A sidenote refers to De Officiis III.i.
teste philosopho A sidenote refers to Ethics I.ii (n. b., all references to the Ethics are to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics ).
ad Cleanthis lucernum Cf. Varro, De Lingua Latina V.ix, quodsi summum gradum non attigero, tamen secundum praeteribo, quod non solum ad Aristophanis lucernam, sed etiam ad Cleant<h>is lucubravi (“If I have not attained the top rank, at least I have surpassed the second, since I have not only studied by Aristophanes’ lamp, but also Cleanthes’”).
per templum virtutis Sidenote: Nemo ad templum honoris nisi per templum virtutis apud Romanus venit (“Among the Romans, nobody arrived at the Temple of Honor save by way of the Temple of Virtue.”)
teste Cicerone Case quotes from Cicero, Tusculan Disputations V.v.7.

Honoratissimo Suo Domino

This dedicatory epistle only appears in the 1585 edition, presumably since by 1596 it no longer seemed timely. Barnes supplied a similar epistle for at least one other work he printed, dedicating the anonymous 1586 The Praise of Musicke (actually by Case) to Raleigh. The sentence structure of this epistle so closely resembles Case’s own that one suspects that Case is responsible for the Latin version.
non Aristarci dentata opera The harsh Alexandrian critic.
Ut ergo Thomas Thomasius Thomas Thomas thanks Lord Burghley, the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, in the same way that I thank you. I do not quite understand this, since Thomas Thomas [1553 - 1588] is chiefly known as the author of the Dictionarium linguæ Latinae et Anglicanae and John Legat was the original printer to the University of Cambridge (who published the dictionary). Did Thomas have a financial interest in Legat’s enterprise?

Prosopoeia Libri

3 sic me pater The the “father” is no doubt Aristotle.

Gratulatory Epigrams

Ioannes Underhil John Underhill, Rector of Lincoln College and Vice Chancellor of the University for 1584. He was elected Bishop of Oxford in 1589.
3 Liber enim a vitiis liber est The pun on liber = “book” and = “free” is untranslatable.

Laurentii Humphredi Currently Humphrey was President of Magdalen College and Regius Professor of Divinity; eventually he would be Dean of Winchester Cathedral.
1 Rursus Like some following epigrams, this refers to the fact that the present work comes hard on the heels of Case’s Summa veterum interpretum in universam dialecticam Aristotelis.
25 schola Xenocratis Xenocrates of Colophon was the third head of Plato’s Academy, and defended Plato against Aristotle. He was known for his skepticism about accepting the truth.
35 deprime cristas I. e., do not be over-proud. The idiom (suggested, no doubt, by a rooster) comes from Juvenal iv.70, et tamen illi surgebant cristae.
40 nil relevare potest He means nothing achieved by human effort.

Thomas Bickleus Bickley, a former Fellow of Magdalen College who had received his D. D. in 1570, was elected Bishop of Chicester in 1585.
3 non casus, sed Casus Several of these epigrams employ puns on Case’s surname. The commonest is with casus, “chance, accident.”

Arthurus Yeldardus The President of Trinity College, Oxon.

Gulielmi Coli William Cole (or Coll) was President of Corpus Christi College.

Martinus Colepeperus Martin Colepeper was Warden of New College.
Cur latuere casa Colepeper prefers to make a pun on Case’s surname and casa (“cottage”).

Edmundus Lylius Edmund Lillie was Master of Balliol College. In this epigram Lillie picks up on what Case has said about the insidious influence of Ramus in his preceding epistle Ad Studiosos Iuvenes.
24 huic rivis ora rigare licet The streams in question are the muddy waters of line 13.
25 iam messis in herba This idiom describing youth is taken from Ovid, Heroides xvi.263.

Oliverus Withingtonus Withington received his M. D. in 1569. In his Alumni Oxonienses (IV.1665) Joseph Foster describes him as a “schoolman” of Brasenose College.
Quique tibi nocuere prius As stated in the Introduction, it would be dangerous to jump to the conclusion that these lines allude to the events that led to Case’s separation from St. John’s College, having to do with his real or alleged Catholicism. Evidently after Case set up teaching in his own house this hostility persisted. One would hope that further biographical research might explain Withington’s remarks.

Ioannes Delaberus John Delabere was the Principal of Gloucester Hall.

Antonius Ailworth Aylworth, a Fellow of New College, was Regius Professor of Medicine.

Franciscus Willis Zoilus, a Cynic philosopher of the fourth century B. C., who was famed for his bitter attacks on Homer and Plato, became the type of the captious critic.

Ioannes Readus Read was a Fellow of St. John’s College and a Canon of Westminster.
10 As printed, this line is unintelligible: Naturam princeps: Mores accepit ab illo. The easiest way to make sense out of it is to delete the colon (which seems included only to mark the caesura), take naturam as an accusative of respect, and understand Aristotle as the subject of the sentence. I am not quite certain, though, whether it might not be preferable to read naturae.
15 segetes proculcat in herba See the note on Edmund Lillie’s epigram, line 25.

Ethici et Herculei Nicholas Balgay, a sometime Fellow of Magdalen College, was a Canon of Salisbury Cathedral.

Thomas Dochen Thomas Dochen or Dotchen of Magdalen College had been a Proctor of the University in 1575.
23 te poscere credito matrem The mother in question is of course the University (Alma Mater).

Robertus Crane Crane, a Proctor in 1580 and 1581, was Principal of New Hall.

De moralium quaestionum Drope was Fellow of Magdalen College.
5 Haec Themis The Greek goddess of Justice.
7 Haec Helice The constellation Ursa Major.
53 Calensis…Minervae Calena or Calaena is an old Roman name for Oxford.

Richardus Eedes Eedes, a Student of Christ Church, had been a Proctor of the University in 1583. He was a distinguished playwright and poet. Unfortunately only the Epilogue of his tragedy Caesar Interfectus survives, but his satiric Iter Boreale is published in the Philological Museum.

Bartholomaeus Warner Warner was a Fellow of St. John’s College. Mr. Kelsey J. Williams of Stillwater, Oklahoma, supplies me with more information about him:

7 Bis sex authores See the listing of Case’s acknowledged sources in the relevant note on his Peroratio ad Lectorem (but he cites fifteen, not twelve).

Greene Greene had taken his M. A. from Lincoln College in 1579; he is described as a “dialecticus” (Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses II.598).

Martinus Readus Martin Reade was a Fellow of St. John’s College.

Mira Guarda This is obviously a pseudonym, perhaps adopted by a man named Ward.

Rodolphus Ravens Ralph Ravens was a Fellow of St. John’s College.
1 Rumpas licet ilia Cf. Vergil, Eclogue vii.26, invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro (for the idiom cf. also Catullus xi.20).

Sabinus Chamberus Sabine Chambers was a sometime member of Broadgates Hall.

Richardus Harley Harley was a sometime scholar of New College who had removed to the Middle Temple and Clement’s Inn.

Griffinus Powell Griffith Powell had recently taken his B. A. from Jesus College, Oxon.

Johannes Prime John Pryme was a Fellow of Winchester College.

I Praefatio From the tenor of the following discussion, it is clear that by educatio Case means something much more comprehensive than the simple inculcation of knowledge, dealing with the entire process molding the mind and character.
I Praefatio 1 authore Seneca I cannot identify the passage Case had in mind. Throughout this work Case has a habit of attributing sentiments to Seneca in very broadly paraphrased form, and sometimes of attributing to him quotations that demonstrably belong to other writers.
1 Sapienter quidem Horatius Epistulae I.ii.69ff.
1 helleborum Regarded in Case’s time as a cure for insanity.
2 teste Aristotele A sidenote cites Ethics I.i.
3 quae aliter se habere non possunt I. e., evidently (and without entering into the epistemological problems of this assertion), only knowledge of real and immutable things is possible. Something that deals with real and immutable things is superior to something that does not, and therefore knowledge is better.
3Demonstrationis A sidenote makes it clear the Analytics is meant.
Ad Lectorem This short paragraph stands in the 1585 edition; in the 1596 edition it is replaced by the material given within square brackets here.
I.ii.3 Non minus natus est homo A sidenote refers to Ethics II.
I.iii.1 Fortior est qui se I cannot identify the source of this postclassical hexameter.
I.iv/v.1 quam spuma et sperma Veneris A fine-sounding phrase, but what exactly does it mean? The allusion to foam brings to mind Venus being born from the foam, but also (especially combined with sperma, evidently Case’s own Latinization of the Greek word for “seed”) it also seems designed to remind one of seminal fluid: cf. Case’s Sphaera Civitatis II.ii.6, qui nulla sorte contenti omne faedus ac fidem violant, qui omnem virginem, omnem matronam, omnem (quod dictu horrendum est) sexum spuma libidinis suae defaedere conantur.
I.iv/v.1 ut loquitur orator If Case means Cicero, I cannot identify the allusion.
I.iv/v.2 regnabo, regno If this is a quotation, I do not recognizethe source.
I.iv/v.2 Icarus Icariis The modern text of Ovid, Tristia I.i.90, anyway, is Icarus aequoreis nomina fecit aquis. Either Case read it in an edition which did have Icariis, or he made a faulty quotation from memory.
I.iv.3 Itum est Metamorphoses I.138. This line is meant to conjure up the entire passage in which it stands:

nec tantum segetes alimentaque debita dives
poscebatur humus, sed itum est in viscera terrae,
quasque recondiderat Stygiisque admoverat umbris,
effodiuntur opes, inritamenta malorum.
iamque nocens ferrum ferroque nocentius aurum
prodierat, prodit bellum, quod pugnat utroque,
sanguineaque manu crepitantia concutit arma.
vivitur ex rapto: non hospes ab hospite tutus,
non socer a genero, fratrum quoque gratia rara est;
inminet exitio vir coniugis, illa mariti,
lurida terribiles miscent aconita novercae,
filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos:
victa iacet pietas, et virgo caede madentis
ultima caelestum terras Astraea reliquit.

I.iv/v.5 in mediocritate In Case’s vocabulary, of course, this word means “adherence to the Mean.”
I.iv/v.5 Probata quod bona externa A sidenote states this argument is taken from St. Thomas Aquinas.
I.iv/v.5 crescit amor nummi Juvenal xiv.139.
I.vi.1 in refutando I am scarcely sure who “Camelus” is supposed to be (and since Schmitt, who was usually indefatigable in tracing down writers read by Case, does not mention him, I assume he could not identify him either). The only individual I can think of whose name might be Latinized is Giulio Camillo Delmino [1480 - 1544)] chiefly remembered for having invented one of those mnemonic “memory theaters” imbued with mystic significance. He also wrote other philosophical works (Lettera del riuolgimento dell’huomo a Dio; La idea; Due trattati: l’uno delle materie, l’altro della imitatione) Since he, like Giordano Bruno after him, imbued his mnemonic system with mystic significance, this may warrant Case’s remark sic de naturae viribus arcanis disserit. But I am scarcely certain that this identification is right.
I.vi.1 de lana caprina (taken from Horace, Epistulae I.xviii.15, alter rixatur de lana saepe caprina) is Case’s favorite phrase for “something of no significance.” The way he deals with Aristotle’s misreading, or deliberate misrepresentation, of Plato here is remarkable. This is especially because, although he singles out Politics Book II as one place where Aristotle does so, in his discussion of the passage in Sphaera Civitatis (II.ii) he accepts Aristotle’s critique of Plato’s ideal Republic at face value.
I.vi.1 carbone dignum For the meaning of this phrase (not a Classical idiom) cf. II.ix.4, hi nigro (ut aiunt) carbone notandi propter contumaciam (the image perhaps is of a Roman Censor striking the name of an errant individual from the roster of the Senate).
I.vi.2 On other occasions Case misattributes sententiae of Publilius Syrus to Seneca, and so he may have been thinking of I 15, In miseria vita etiam contumelia est.
I.vi.4 Authoritas mutavit tempus observandi sabatti Case is thinking of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.
I.vii.1 Tantalus a labris sitiens Horace, Satires I.i.68.
I.vii.1 ruga senilis erit Not exactly a quote, but perhaps suggested by Ovid, Tristia III.vii.34, rugaque in antiqua fronte senilis erit.
I.vii.1 Recte Mantuanus Baptista Mantuanus (Giovanni Battista Spagnoli). Since only his hexameter satires have been edited, I cannot identify the quotation.
I.vii.3 ut docuit Isocrates Fragment 19 ap. Libanius, Progymnasmata I p. 22, 1 Walz.
I.viii.1 Et iterum in decimo A sidenote refers to Ethics VIII.x.
I.viii.1 Lacertus Milonem This famous Greek wrestler tried to pry apart a tree with this bare hands, but the tree closed upon his hands and trapped him, so he starved to death.
I.viii.2 illos interpretes A sidenote refers to Jean Buridan’s Questiones Joannis Buridani super decem libros Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nicomachum (1513).
I.xi.1 Dulcia non meruit This hexameter line is quoted by a number of Renaissance writers, such as Antonius de Arena Provencalis Ad suos compagnones (1574).
I.ix.4 ut sapienter docet Aristoteles A sidenote refers to Metaphysics XII and Physics III.
I.x.1 Solon interrogatus a Croeso Case is summarizing the story told at Herodotus I.xxixff.
I.x.1 Ultima semper Solon’s advice to always “look to the end” is quoted by Aristotle in the text.
I.xi.1 sic in libris de animo Aristotle of course never wrote such a work, although he wrote one about the soul, De Anima. One might sympathize with Velcurio, mentioned below, for thinking that this leap from Aristotle’s belief in the immortality the soul to one in the immortality of the mind is excessive and unwarranted (this reference to libri de animo is repeated below in I.xiii.2). Indeed, at a number of points Case seems disturbingly casual in confusing anima and animus (psyche and nous).
Mirum igitur mihi est quid Velcurioni Johannes Velcurio, In Universam Aristotelis Physicen (first printed at Tübingen in 1540).
I.xi.2 fragmentum illud de somnio Scipionis A surviving portion of Cicero’s De Republica.
I.xii.1 Quicquid habet Phlegethon I cannot identify the source of this postclassical quotation.
I.xiii.4 Pamphilus de sua Glycerio somniant Cf. Servius on Vergil, Eclogue i.84, sicut etiam in comoediis invenimus; nam Pamphilus est totum amans, Glycerium quasi dulcis mulier, Philumena amabilis. personae, sicut supra dixi, rusticae sunt et simplicitate gaudentes.
II.i.2 naturam expellas furca licet Horace, Epistulae I.x.24.
II.i.4 teste Aristotele A sidenote refers to Book I of the Metaphysics and Book II of the Analytics.
II.ii.1 in medio tutissimus ibis This (without in ) is from Ovid, Metamorphoses II.137.
II.ii.1 Cf. Plautus, Aulularia 57, aut unguem latum excesseris.
II.ii.5 Is enim est qui A sidenote refers to Books I and VII of the Physics and Ethics V.6.
II.iii.2 Vis recte vivere? Horace, Epistulae I.vi.29ff.
II.vi.1 To understand the thread of the discourse from here to the end of Book V, one must understand that in discussing every virtue Aristotle posits the existence of two opposing vices, one involving an excess and the other a deficiency. For each such triad, the reader is required to imagine a line with the virtue occupying the center and the vices the end-points. Consider, for example, fortitude situated at the mid-point of a line. One of the line’s extremities is occupied by rashness and the other by cowardice. When he comes to his discussion of each virtue, Case follows Aristotle in describing such a line. First he defines the virtue in question and describes its subject, object, material, properties and so forth, and then he contrasts it with its pair of associated vices, specifying the excess and the deficiency that characterize them.
II.vi.2 Est virtus medium I cannot identify the source of this postclassical hexameter.
II.vi.2 For Milo see the relevant note on I.viii.1. Tyro was Cicero’s freedman-secretary, who often suffered poor health.
II.vii.2 temporis filia Truth is called “the daughter of Time” by an anonymous writer quoted by Aulus Gellius XII.xi.7; presumably this is the source of the title of Josephine Tey’s novel.
II.viii.4 Illa sunt minus contraria A sidenote refers to Book V of the Physics.
II.ix.1 dulcia non meruit See the note on I.xi.1.
II.ix.2 Aristotelem a studio philosophiae Hercules, dressed as a woman, served as slave to the Lydian queen Omphale. Aristotle’s mistress is usually identified as Phryne (as by Case himself at Sphaera Civitatis VII.xvi.7).
II.ix.4 hi nigro (ut aiunt) carbone See the note on I.vi.1.
II.ix.5 ut ait Isocrates See the note on I.vii.3.
III.i.3 existimavit Plato A sidenote cites the Timaeus.
III.i.3 est crassa et supina By crassa ignorantia it would seem that Case means something like wilful ignorance: not, for example, the ignorance of somebody who has never heard the Gospel preached, but the ignorance of somebody who has, but who has rejected it.
III.i.5 Omnia in quibus non est voluntas Sidenote: Philosophus in 3. De Anima dicit quod voluntas sit movens et motum [“In Book III of the Metaphysics Aristotle says that the will is both moving and moved.”]
III.i.5 Stulte Alcmaeon Informed by Apollo’s oracle that his mother Eriphyle deserved death, Alcmaeon mistakenly took this as the god’s permission to kill her. He was punished by being pursued by the Furies. In an example referred to by Aristotle in the text, Aeschylus pleaded ignorance when accused of having divulged the Mysteries of Eleusis.
III.i.6 Nullum malum spe aut metu fieri potest A sidenote cites Metaphysics II.
III.i.6 De saltatione dico It is not clear to me precisely what Case is talking about: surely not dancing (which is what saltatio means in Classical Latin), but the motion modern physicists and chemists would describe by the same word. But does he mean this motion in the stone, or as it occurs in nature in general?
III.iii.1 furore percitus Clitum occidit In a drunken rage, Alexander killed his friend Cleitus.
III.v.1 Nam si sit liberum A sidenote refers to Book I of De Caelo.
III.v.2 Haec ex philosopho scripsimus A sidenote takes this from St. Jerome’s commentary on II Corinthians 3.
III.vi.2 Talis fuit Aemylius I am not sure what Aemilius is meant. Leonidas led the Spartan contingent at Marathon. Justin is the epitomator of Pompeius Trogus’ lost world history.
III.vii.1 ut ait orator The reference appears to be to Tusculan Disputations II.lvi (but I am scarcely sure this is correct).
III.vii.1 Thrasonice gloriare Thraso is the miles gloriosus in Terence’s Eunuchus.
III.vii.1 Parva necat morsu Ovid, Remedia Amoris 421f.
III.vii.1 Sed audaces iuvat fortuna Case cites two Latin proverbs, fortis Fortuna adiuvat (first found at Terence, Phormio 203) and a parody thereof, Fortuna favet fatuis.
III.vii.4 Phalaridis taurum Phalaris was a proverbially cruel Sicilian tyrant who is supposed to have roasted his victims in a bronze bull.
III.viii.2 Quem procul a pugna A Latin translation of Iliad II.391ff.
III.viii.2 Furor arma ministrat Aeneid I.150.
III.viii.2 In quarta veluti specie The disdain displayed towards professional soldiers throughout this chapter is inherited from Aristotle, whose obvious ideal was the Athenian citizen-soldier, in contrast with mercenaries of his own day. Nevertheless, just as his time the amateur citizen-soldier was being rendered obsolete by the far more professional Macedonian, so in the 1580’s the Spanish war was producing a new and more scientific breed of soldier of the John Norris type. Other objections can be made to this view. First, the situation of the well-trained professional going into battle against equally experienced troops is not considered. Second, this attitude seems strangely at odds with the usual philosophical approval of ratio and scientia.
III.viii.4 in pistrinum trahit This seemingly strange statement is made because in antiquity prisoners of war were enslaved, and slaves were frequently consigned to working in a mill.
III.viii.5 ut ait orator The reference is to Cicero’s discussion of mental perturbations in Tusculan Disputations IV and V (see most particularly, perhaps, V.lxxvi).
III.viii.5 Idem orator alibi definit Cicero, De Inventione II.clxiii.1.
III.viii.5 praevisa iacula Case appears to have been mistaken in ascribing a traditional Latin proverb to Seneca.
III.ix.7 Hoc confirmatur exemplis A sidenote cites the examples of Saints Peter and Paul.
III.ix.7 Optima mors salve I cannot identify the sources of this and the following quotations from postclassical poetry.
III.ix.7 cum Regulo Regulus was captured by the Carthaginians, then sent back to Rome to bear an offer a peace treaty, with the understanding that, if the Romans did not accept the treaty, he would return to Carthage. Arriving at Rome, he urged the Senate to reject the offer. Then he went back to Carthage, where he was put to death.
III.x.3 Quot passim de Thaide A celebrated courtesan of the fourth century B. C. (with whom Demosthenes is supposed to have been enamored). Normally, Case is outspokenly in favor of the theater, but even he draws the line at such trashy stuff (a comparison may be drawn with University officials who encouraged academic drama but tried to ban performances by professional troupes).
III.x.3 cum Philoxeno Without mentioning this glutton’s name, Aristotle cites this example in the text.
III.xi.1 Cf. Iliad XXIV.130.
III.xii.2 O curas hominum! Persius i.1.
III.xii.2 Vino forma perit Propertius II.xxxiii(b).33.
III.xii.2 Nox et amor Ovid, Amores I.vi.59.
III.xii.2 Ocia si tollas Ovid, Remedia Amoris 139f.
III.xii.3 Bis vincit As so often in this work, quotations are wrongly ascribed to Seneca (this and the next one are Publilius Syrus B 21 and B 23). startme
IV.i.3 Crede mihi Ovid, Amores I.viii.62.
IV.i.4 Istam definit orator Cicero never defined avarice with precisely this formula (which actually comes from Horace, Epistulae I.vii.85).
IV.i.5 Supra demonstratum est In II.vii.
IV.i.5 ultra sortem It is hard to get a handle on precisely what Case is driving at because of the difficult in understanding what he means by ultra sortem. See the note on his use of this same phrase at Sphaera Civitatis I.vii.2.
IV.ii.1 ubi iam sunt Wyckami New College, Oxford, was founded by William Wykeham, Magdalene College by Bishop William Waynflete, and St. John’s College by Sir Thomas White. For Oxford as Athens the relevant note on the Dedicatory Epistle.
IV.ii.1 De quibus olim Coriatus poeta Not the fanstastic travel-writer Thomas Coryate (who was approximately eight years old when Case wrote these words); but rather his father George, a prebendary of York Cathedral. This passage is not found in his extant poetry, but is also quoted by his son in a dedicatory epistle written by his son and addressed to Prince Henry in a colleciton of father George’s poetry added as an appendix of his own 1611 travelogue Coryat’s Crudities: Hastily gobled up in Five Moneth’s Travels (which son Thomas found here in Case’s quotation). In the following lines “Father Cantaber” is the river Cam personified.
IV.ii.2 Haec sunt vere Corinthia opera Corinth was famous for its opulence.
IV.ii.3 auri sacra fames Aeneid III.57.
IV.ii.3 Creverunt et opes Ovid, Fasti I.211f. (with libido where modern texts have cupido).
IV.ii.3 Cum nihil attuleris Ovid, Ars Amatoria II.280 (with Cum for Si ).
IV.ii.4 Amicus Plato Case employs variants of this statement at I.iv.5, I.vi.1, and Sphaera Civitatis III.vii.9. I do not know whether it is a quotation or a personal slogan.
IV.iii.3 muscas cum Domitiano insectantur This anecdote comes from Suetonius, Domitian iii.1.
IV.iii.3 optavit Aristippus Case is obviously confusing Aristippus with Damocles (for whom cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations V.lxii.4).
IV.iii.4 Recte Patricius The author of De Regibus et De Republica.
IV.iii.7 et sic Seneca Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium lxxiv.13.1.
IV.v.2 Athenodorus philosophus Case got this anecdote from Erasmus’ Festina Lente in the Adagia.
IV.v.2 matrem, praeceptorem Agrippina and Seneca.
IV.v.2 Candida pax homine Ovid, Ars Amatoria III.502.
IV.v.3 cum Xenocrate It was said of Xenocrates, the third head of the Academy, that when a sparrow took refuge with him from a hawk, he stroked it and let it go, declaring that a suppliant must not be betrayed.
IV.v.6 ut ait Seneca Cf. Dialogi III.ii.2, Ira est cupiditas ulciscendae iniuriae aut, ut ait Posidonius, cupiditas puniendi eius a quo te inique putes laesum.
IV.vi.2 Gnatonici Gnatho (the parasite in Terence’s Eunuchus) lends his name to the type of the flatterer.
IV.vi.2 Tales sunt plurimi He means Puritans.
IV.vi.2 Aegyptio sophista Proteus in Book IV of the Odyssey.
IV.vii.2 ab Apelle The celebrated Greek painter.
IV.vii.2 Obsequium amicos Quoted by Cicero, De Amicitia lxxxix (and Cicero’s following refutation of the proverb is doubtless the discussion Case wrongly ascribes to Seneca).
IV.viii.1 Quod caret alterna Ovid, Heroides iv.89f.
IV.viii.2 Momi Momus was the Greek god of captious criticism.
IV.viii.2 Roscianos Roscius was a famous comic actor of Cicero’s day.
IV.viii.2 hastam vibrare Jousting was popular sport of the Elizabethan upper classes.
IV.viii.5 DUBIUM CAPITIS The following paragraphs, together with the similar ones at Sphaera Civitatis V.viii.10 and VI.viii.9, are to be read iase Case’s defense of stage-plays against the attack of the Puritans. In the tablar distinctio immediately below the distinction drawn between “common and popular” and academic drama represents the typical University attitude, whereby amateur theatrics put on by gentlemen of the individual Colleges was encouraged, but every attempt was made to discourage visits by professional companies.
V.i.1 unde Euripides In a fragment of his lost tragedy Melanippe, quoted by Aristotle.
V.I.3 Hinc a iurisconsulto definitur Case was thinking of the definition of justice at the beginning of the Code of Justinian.
V.i.8 Arithmeticum This distinction between arithmetical and geometrical justice is explained in the next chapter (cf. also Sphaera Civitatis II.i.5).
V.ii.1 ac instar Apelles Cf. the note on II.vii.2.
V.ii.3 Fidei iussio Evidently Case is thinking of a situation such as this: an English merchant’s agent in Genoa enters into a contract obliging his London employer (this use of iussio is obviously postclassical).
V.iii.2 Did Case understand Aristotle correctly? He has a proportion of A : B :: A+B : C, but Aristotle would appear to have set forth a proportion of A : B :: B : C.
V.iii.6 quae malis regibus For the logic, cf. Matthew Gwinne’s 1603 tragedy Nero 1241ff:

Princeps, seu bonus est, seu malus, a Iove:
In paenam malus est, in pretium bonus:
Patris dextra bonus, laeva manus malus.
Ornes, si bonus est; sin malus est, feras.
Curae sunt superis, et bonus, et malus.

[“A ruler, whether good or bad, is sent us by Jove. The bad is sent for chastisement, the good as a reward. Our Father’s right hand is good, his left bad. Praise him if good, tolerate him if bad. For both the good and the bad are under the gods’ special protection.”]

V.iii.7 sed in eum qui simulavit II Samuel 1.
V.iv.3 Mutius Scaevola Mucius Scaevola was the great jurisprudent of Cicero’s time.
V.iv.3 Audiat sapientem Hesiodum The first passage translated Works and Days 263ff, and the second is ib. 321ff.
V.v.1 Si quae quis faciat This translates an anonymous line quoted by Aristotle.
V.v.3 a lege Graece I. e. the Latin word nummus (“coin, currency,” cf. our “numismatics”) is based on the Greek nomisa (“legal currency”), itself based on the word nomos (“law”).
V.v.3 certa esse precia A definite and established price, but not an artificially or governmentally fixed one (below Case acknowledges that prices rise and fall in accordance with current need, an early statement of the Law of Supply and Demand).
V.vi.1 Aegisthum Aegisthus seduced Clytaemnestra while Agamemnon was away fighting the Trojan War.
V.vi.5 Ast ubi Codri, ubi Curtii Codrus was a mythological early king of Athens who is supposed to have died in battle. Marcus Curtius sacrificed himself to save Rome (Livy VII.v).
V.vii.2 divus Apostolus loquitur The reference is to Romans 2:14.
V.vii.2 ut docet orator Cicero, De Inventione II.lxv.10.
V.vii.2 Ius civile It will be observed both here and in the following tabular distinctio that Case enumerates the three forms of right constitution described by Aristotle in the Politics (democracy, aristocracy, monarchy), and that he adds a fourth of his own, government by judges. He was presumably thinking of the government of Israel prior to the anointing of Saul.
V.viii.2 Iniuria This sentence read in isolation could be translated as “For iniuria is defined as the voluntary and malicious laesio of somebody,” or as “For laesio is defined as the voluntary and malicious iniuria of somebody.” In context, the former is clearly right. Heretofore, Case has employed iniuria as a general term for any kind of harm inflicted on someone else. Here he redefines it, so that laesio is any kind of harm inflicted on someone else, and iniuria is a subset thereof, harm inflicted wilfully and maliciously. In this chapter, it is tempting to translate iniuria as “tort.” But I decided to translate laesio as “harming” and iniuria as “injury,” with the understanding that the latter word is now redefined as indicated here.
V.viii.4 Aliquis metu extremi supplicii Case has in mind a variant of Aristotle’s example at III.i, discussed here at III.i.2, where a tyrant threatens to kill A’s family if A does not kill B; here he is threatening to kill A himself.
V.ix.1 Quaeris parentem A fragment of Euripides’ lost tragedy Bellerophon quoted by Aristotle in this chapter. In the third line, Case has volentem where one would expect to read vel nolentem, but the fault is not Case’s or the printer’s, but of the mss. of Aristotle, which omit the word for not (restored by modern editors). I have taken the liberty of altering the quotation accordingly, here and below.
V.ix.1 effosso matris corpore When confronted by the murderers sent by her son Nero, Agrippina bade them stab her in the womb which had borne such a monster.
V.ix.2 In this discussion, consideration of the problem of suicide is conspicuously absent. This is because it is reserved for the following chapter.
V.ix.3 ut Homerus cecinit Cf. Iliad VI.232 - 6:

V.ix.5 quia lex interfectorem The example of Saul shows that the killer is not an enemy in battle, but someone who assists in a suicide. The following reference is wrong: the story of Saul’s death is found at I Samuel (I Kings, in versions that have Kings I - IV) 31:4.
V.ix.7 ut iniuste et malitiose vulnerari This is uncharacteristically bad Latin, and I have placed ut in square brackets to indicate my strong suspicion that it should be eliminated from the text.
V.x.1 summum ius A Latin proverb quoted by Cicero, De Officiis I.xiii.6.
V.x.4 Depositum reddere A old moral conundrum: Smith lends Jones a gun. Subsequently Smith goes insane and demands the return of the gun. Faced with the possibility that Smith might use the gun on himself or someone else, is Jones obliged to give it back?
V.xi.3 Sibyllae quasi folia This Roman prophetess was supposed to have written her responses on laurel leaves.
VI.iii.1 quam Lydio lapide The “Lydian stone” is the touchstone.
VI.iv.2 illud Agathonis A line from a lost tragedy by Agathon quoted by Aristotle in the text.
VI.v.1 quin Thales Thales was the first Greek philosopher. Case’s point is that once Thales’ wisdom and Homer’s art were sufficient, but in these corrupt and dangerous times prudence is also necessary for survival ( nimis charitate is meant sarcastically).
VI.v.2 operam et oleum…perdere For the evident proverb operam et oleum perdere = “waste one’s time,” cf. Plautus, Poenulus I.ii.119, and Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares III.vii.3.
VI.vii.2 iuxta illud Homeri Lines from the pseudo-Homeric Margites quoted by Aristotle in the text.
VI.vii.2 ut ait Seneca Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium ix.1.2.
VI.vii.2 Sus Minervam doceo For this proverb, cf. Erasmus, Adagia I.i.40.
VI.vii.2 Rarae profecto aves For rara avis cf. Horace, Sermones II.ii.26, Juvenal vi.165, and Persius i.46.
VI.vii.2 cum simus Grilli Probably an allusion to Gryllus father of Xenophon, with reference to Seneca, De Beneficii III.xxxii.3, An quisquam Aristonem et Gryllum nisi propter Xenophontem ac Platonem filios nosset? (“But who would have herd of Ariston or Gryllus except because of their sons Xenophon and Plato”): i. e., we think we are like Socrates when we are in fact nobodies.
VI.x.3 Providentia It is perhaps surprising that another objection is not advanced based on the fact that prudentia and providentia are in essence the same word, so that Case is actually claiming that providentia is a species of itself.
VI.xii.3 in malevolam animam Wisdom 1:4.
VI conclusio 2 Quod verum hoc sit A sidenote refers to De Anima III.v.
VII.i.2 Non hic mortali Iliad XXIV.258.
VII.i.2 qualis ille fuit Xenocrates Case got this anecdote from Valerius Maximus IV.iii.3.
VII.i.3 aut Garamantas A savage tribe of the Sahara.
VII.iii.1 Empedoclis carmina Empedocles was a philosopher of the late fifth century B. C. who wrote his works in verse. The example is well-chosen: his works are often oracular and difficult to understand.
VII.iii.1 hanc Laidem Lais was a celebrated Greek courtesan.
VII.iv.1 dilexit Niobe Niobe boasted her children were handsomer than Leto’s. When the angry goddess killed her children, she went insane. According to Aristotle in the text, Satyrus committed suicide out of grief when his father died.
VII.iv.2 Minor est Ciceronis This statement appears at III.iii.31 in the pseud-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium.
VII.v.1 Narrat de Phalaridi Aristotle in fact mentions this notoriously cruel Sicilian tyrant, but does not tell the story of the brass bull (which may well be a later invention).
VII.vii.1 Nec te, Philoctetes In the text Aristotle refers to the Philoctetes of Theoctetes, which must have had the same protagonist as the like-titled play by Sophocles (both editions have Philocletes, an illustration of the principle that the 1596 edition occasionally reproduces errors of the 1585 one). Aristotle also tells the story of the musician Xenophantus, who tried to restrain his laughter but burst forth with one loud guffaw.
VII.viii.1 ut ait Demodocus The allusion is to a line by this poet quoted in Aristotle’s text.
VII.ix.2 Neoptolemus laudatur in textu Aristotle discusses Neoptolemus’ change of heart about lying to the protagonist in Sophocles’ Philoctetes.
VII.ix.2 ut fuit illa Noe Genesis 9:20 - 27.
VII.x.1 Anaxandrides The line is quoted by Aristotle in the text.
VII.x.1 Evenus The lines are quoted by Aristotle in the text.
VII.xi.1 ut in aedificando Case is not making Aristotle’s point entirely clear. The objection is that you cannot claim that a process is the same thing as the end of that process.
VII.xi.2 Voluptas sub nullo genere motus In English, the point of the objection is difficult to reproduce since motus can mean both “impulse” and “motion.”
VII.xiv.2 unde Homerus Iliad XIV.217.
VIII.i.1 non egit orator Case is thinking of Cicero’s De Optime Genere Oratoris.
VIII.i.2 Somnias, Heraclite Heraclitus taught that “War is the father of all things.” Empedocles believed in a universe that is periodically destroyed when Strife tears it apart and recreated Love brings it back together.
VIII.i.2 testimonio Euripidis A fragment of a lost tragedy quoted by Aristotle in the text.
VIII.iii.1 Donec eris foelix Ovid, Tristia I.ix.5f. (the following quote is Epistulae ex Ponto II.iii.19f.).
VIII.iii.2 alter idem Cicero’s definition of a friend at De Amicitia lxxx.8.
VIII.iv.1 Gnato non diligit See the note on IV.vi.3.
VIII.iv.3 Fieri potest ut Laelius The names Laelius and Scipio are selected because they are interlocutors in Cicero’s De Amicitia.
VIII.v.1 Recte Horatius Epistulae I.xi.27.
VIII.vi.2 multos Aristippos Aristippus was a kind of agent, whereas Callisthenes and Cleitus were Alexander’s intimate companions.
VIII.vii.2 Si damnosa senem Juvenal xiv.4.
VIII.vii.2 iuxta illud Mantuani See the note on I.vii.1.3.
VIII.vii.2 Regis ad exemplar A line from Claudian’s De Quarto Consulatu Honorii Augusti.
VIII.viii.1 Cupit hic regi Ps.-Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 618f.
VIII.x.1 in Politicis hanc causam pluribus discussimus These words (which are found in both the 1585 and 1596 editions) are remarkable, since Case did not publish his commentary on the Politics, the Sphaera Civitatis, until 1588.
VIII.x.2 seu timocratia Timocracy according to Aristotle’s definition (a system of government employing a means test for participation), not Plato’s (a system of government based on honor).
VIII.xiii.1 ut ait orator Possibly Case is thinking of De Amicitia lxxxv.1.
VIII.xiv.1 si Irus sit Irus is the beggar in the Odyssey.
IX.i.2 iuxta illud Ovidianum Ars Amatoria I.444.
IX.ii.5 Seneca iubet Possibly Case was thinking of De Beneficiis III.xxxviii.2.
IX.iv.1 sapientis elogium Case was thinking of a line from Dionysius Cato, Distychia ii, Cum fueris foelix semper tibi proximus esto.
IX.iv.1 Alter ego nisi sis I do not know the source of this postclassical distich.
IX.vi.1 quippe illi Euripum The Euripus is narrow Greek body of water known for its strong shifting currents.
IX.vii.1 Cultum animi dedit praeceptor His tutor Seneca.
IX.vii.2 ut ait Seneca Case was thinking of Publilius Syrus B 12, Beneficium dando accepit, qui digno dedit.
IX.vii.4 suos Mecaenates Maecenas was the great patron of the arts under Augustus.
IX.ix.1 Quid est amicis Euripides, Orestes 665. quoted by Aristotle in the text.
IX.ix.1 ut ait Seneca I cannot locate the source of this sentiment.
IX.ix.1 secundum Theognidem Theognis 35, quoted by Aristotle in the text.
IX.xi.1 omnes (inquit) A slight paraphrase of Terence, Phormio 241f.
IX.xi.2 amicus certus A line from a lost tragedy by Ennius quoted by Cicero, De Amicitia lxiv.8.
IX.xi.2 nullus ad amissas Ovid, Tristia I.ix.10.
IX.xii.1 Ferunt ex oculis This appears to be a proverb rather than a literary quotation.
IX.xii.3 misere et fortunate Case appears to be thinking of a situation where one of two friends is happy but the other is not.
X.i.1 sententiarum magistro Peter Lombard, author of the Quatuor libri Sententiarum.
X.iii.1 Naturae sequitur Propertius III.ix.20.
X.v.1 ex praesente actione Aristotle seems to have been thinking of a situation in the theater, in which the actor’s words are accompanied by flute music: the musically-inclined spectator is so involved with the flute that he cannot follow the dialogue.
X.viii.1 Crasse Crassus was an enormously wealthy plutocrat of the late Roman Republic, and the third member of the First Triumvirate.
X.viii.2 sed vigil et consul If the text is sound, consul is evidently a neologism = consultus.
X.viii.3 <in> quaestionibus metaphysicis If Case’s evident ambition to write a commentary on the Metaphysics never came to fruition.
X.ix.1 A testimonio Theognidis Theognis 432ff.
X.ix.1 nos admonet Mantuanus See the note on I.vii.1.3.
X.ix.2 Oderunt peccare The first of these lines is Horace, Epistulae I.xvi.52. The second line must have been added by some later writer.
X.ix.4 Sed de his postea In Sphaera Civitatis.

PERORATIO AD LECTOREM

amicorum consilio Seemingly, this account differs from that provided in the dedicatory epistle prefacing Sphaera Civitatis, in which he appears to state that that work had its origin in a suggestion by Lord Burleigh. Particularly in the absence of a decent biography of Case, I am not sure how the evident contradiction is to be resolved. The easiest way would be to assume that Burleigh was one of the “friends” mentioned here.
quosnam authores Here is a list of the sources cited by Case, arranged in the classes or ranks of the text:

I.

Thomas Aquinas In X. libros Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nicomachum expositio (also printed under the title Commentaria in libros Ethicorum Aristotelis).
Case was no doubt familiar with some or all of Boethius' commentaries on Aristotle's logical works (although Boethius did not write one on the Ethics).
Eustratius (12^th c.): Joannes Bernardus Felicianus’ Latin translation of the Greek commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics by Eustratius was printed at Venice in 1541

II.

Martinus Borrhaus (Cellarius) (1499- 1564, a disciple of Melanchthon). Borrhaus never wrote a commentary on the Ethics, and Case presumably read his one on the Politics, In Aristotelis Politicorum sive De Republica libros VIII annotationes (Basel, 1545).
Buridanus Jean Buridan (1300 - 1358), Questiones Joannis Buridani super decem libros Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nicomachum (Paris, 1513).
Presumably “Fabrus” is Jacques Lefèvre d’ Étaples (Faber Stapulensis, d. 1536), who published Artificialis introductio in X libros Ethicorum (Paris, 1595)

III.

Walter Burley (1275-1345?); his Expositio Gualteri Burlei super decem libros Ethicorum Aristotelis was first printed at Venice in 1500.
Donato Acciaiuoli (1429-1478), Expositio libri ethicorum Aristotelis (Florence, 1478.)
Geraldus Odonis (d. 1349), Expositio in Aristotelis ethicam ( Brescia 1482, Venice 1500).

IV.

Juan de Celaya (d. 1558), Aurea expositio clarissimi artium et theologie professoris magistri Joannis de CelayaValentini, doctoris Parisiesis In decem libris Ethicorum Aristotelis Argyropilo Bysantio traductore, cum questionibus atq : dubiis varias difficultates morales & theologicas enodatibus (Paris, 1523).
Gilbert Crab (d. 1553), Quaestiones ad singulos tractatus ultimorum IV librorum Ethicorum (Paris, 1509) and Annotationes in X libros Ethicorum (Paris, 1514).
Duns Scotus (d. 1308). Evidently Case had read Commentari Petri Tatareti in libros phylosophie naturalis et metaphysice Aristotelis, Eiusdem in Aristotelis sex Ethicos libros queastiones. / Annotationes in marginibus si quando author, vt plerumque solet, in hisce commentariis ex Scoto quippiam desumpserit (Paris 1520).

More recent and modern

Lambert Daneau (1530 - 1595), Aristotelis Ethicorum, sive De moribus, ad Nicomachum libri decem (Geneva, 1574).
Pietro Martire Vermigli (1499 - 1562), In primum secundvm et initium tertii libri ethicorvm Aristotelis ad Nicomachum…commentarius doctissimus (Zürich, 1563).
Theodor Zwinger (1533 - 1588, a disciple of Ramus), Aristotelis Stagiritae De moribus ad Nicomachum libri decem: tabulis perpetuis, quæ commentariorum loco esse queant, explicati & illustrati (Basle, 1566).

Crassus de Ennio Although I have not previously seen this line associated with Lucius Crassus, Case was thinking of the line Aurum Vergilius de stercore colligit Enni. Ennius was an early Roman epic poet, excellent in his day but primitive and crude in comparison with Vergil. The line quoted here is found at Jerome, Epistle 107.12; cf. Donatus, Life of Vergil p. 31 (Brummer) and Cassiodorus, Institutiones I.i.8 (ed. Mynors) [my thanks to Professor James O’Donnell for this information].