Chapter 14

Text

Join with Pallas, the goddess,
And set her right with your worthiness
If you have her, good fortune you will feel
Pallas with Minerva is sitting very well.

Gloss

Also when it is said that Pallas should be joined with Minerva, which is true, men should understand that Pallas and Minerva is all one thing, but their names are different and they have different associations. For the lady that is called Minerva was also called Pallas after an island named Pallaunce,¹ where she was born; and because she was generally wise in all things and discovered many new fair and subtle crafts, they called her the goddess of wisdom. Minerva is therefore associated with all things belonging to knigthood, and Pallas with all things that belognt o wisdom; and therefore it is said that wisdom and knighthood should be joined, which is very good, and that by arms we can also understand faith. To this purpose says Hermes: Join the love of faith with wisdom.

Allegory

And just as Pallas, who is known for wisdom, should be joined with knighthood, the virtue of hope should be joined with good virtues of the knightly spirit, without which he may not prevail. For Origene says in the Homilies upon Exodus that hope of the goods that are yet to come is the souls of those that travel in this deadly life, just as laborers do in hope of their payment after the labor of their business, and the same is true of champions that are in battle and hope that the crown of victory will be earned by their wounds. And to this purpose says Saint Paul the apostle:

liche as to laboreris the hope of their payment softith the labor of their business, and as to champions that be in battle the hope of the crown of victory is the woo of their wounds. And to this purpose says Saint Paul the apostle: “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.”²

Footnotes

1. This explanation for calling the goddess “Pallas Athena” is not widely accepted today. Greek myths posit a number of different reasons for the name. It is unclear which island Christine was referencing in this line.
2. Christine’s original Latin: “Fortissimum solacium habemus, qui confugimus ad tenedam propositam; quam sicut anchoram habemus anime tutam.” Hebrews 6:18