"The image of the kernel and husk had become a commonplace. The moralized account of Statius’ Thebaid, written in the sixth century and attributed to Fulgentius, states: ‘\Not uncommonly poetic songs are seen to be comparable with nuts. For as in a nut there are two parts, the shell and the kernel, so also there are two parts in poetic songs: the literal and the mystical senses. The kernel lies hidden beneath the shell; beneath the literal sense lies the mystic understanding. If you wish to have the kernel, you must break the shell; if the figures are to be made plain, the letter must be shattered. The shell is tasteless; the kernel is flavorful to the taster. Similarly, the palate of the understanding relishes not the letter but the fiture. A boy likes a nut whole to play with; but a wise adult breaks it to taste it. Similarly, if you are a boy, you have the plain literal sense entire without any subtle exposition in which you may delight. If you are an adult, the letter is to be broken and the kernel extracted from the literal meanings so that you may be refreshed by the taste of it.'" *
- Robert P. Miller, ed., Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 57.
* Latin original:
"Quam ob rem, 'si parua licet componere magnis', non incommune carmina poetarum nuci comparabilia uidentur; in nuce enim duo sunt, testa et nucleus, sic in carminihus poeticis duo, sensus litteralis et misticus; latet nucleus sub testa: latet sub sensu litterali mistica intelligentia; ut habeas nucleum, frangenda est testa: ut figurae pateant, quatienda est littera; testa insipida est, nucleus saporem gustandi reddit: similiter non littera, sed figura palato intelligentiae sapit. Diligit puer nucem integram ad ludum, sapiens autem et adultus frangit ad gustum; similiter si puer es, habes sensum litteralem integrum nullaque subtili expositione pressum in quo oblecteris, si adultus es, frangenda est littera et nucleus litterae eliciendus, cuius gustu reficiaris." (Fulgentius, Super Thebaiden, in Fabii Planciadis Fulgentii V.C. Opera, ed. R. Helm, 1897, pp. 180-181.