Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookue tucetosi saporis pulmentaria atque prelectum hircum ferentes. Quibus obuiam dederunt ieiuni, illosque omnes morti imparatos incautosque insecauere atque crudeli strage perdiderunt. Pone sumptis cibariis diro ueneno tabefactis, insigni iocunditate gnauiter cuncta ministrare incipiunt; alter uerrit, alter sternit, pars coquit, atque tuceta concinnat. Pone omnibus scitule appositis, ac mensa largiter instructa edere ceperunt, omniaque ingurgitauerunt. Commodum ex eis mensa erectis erant (_sic_) quod, morte preuenti, cum sociis uitam fato reddentes, sub elemento mortui et sepulti remansere. 'Nouella indicat: nec esse de malo cogitandum: nam quod quis seminat, metit.' It has lately been discovered that this striking story is unquestionably of Asiatic origin. Numerous analogous stories have been collected and printed for the Chaucer Society by Mr. W. A. Clouston. At pp. 417-436 of these 'Originals and Analogues' is printed a Buddhist original of great antiquity, together with varying versions in several languages, viz. Persian, Arabic, Kashmiri, and Tibetan. Versions also occur in French, Italian, German, and Portuguese. The Buddhist story is one entitled 'Vedabbha Játaka,' being the 48th story in Fausböll's edition of the Páli text of the Játaka-book. Mr. Clouston says (p. 418): 'The first to point out the identity of the Pardoner's Tale with one of those Buddhist "Birth"-stories was the Rev. Dr. Richard Morris, in the Contemporary Review, May, 1881, vol. xxxix. p. 738, and afterwards two other scholars each made the same discovery independently: Mr. H. T. Francis, in The Academy, Dec. 22, 1883, and Prof. C. H. Tawney, in the Journal of Philology, 1883, vol. xii. pp. 203-8. The Bishop of Colombo, in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1884, published translations of the first 50 Játakas, the 48th of which, as already stated, is the Vedabbha Játaka.' Mr. Clouston then gives a complete translation of this Játaka, from which I extract, for comparison, a few sentences:-- 'But those two men [two robbers] deftly carried off that wealth, and hid it in a thicket near a village, and one remained guarding it, sword in hand, while the other took some rice and went off to the village to get it cooked. Truly this passion of avarice is the root of destruction[129], for the one who was guarding the wealth said to himself: "When my fellow returns, this wealth will have to be divided into two portions, so I had better kill him with a sword-cut as soon as he arrives." So he made ready his sword, and remained watching for his return. The other said to himself: "This wealth will have to be divided into two portions so I had better put poison in the rice, and give it to my fellow to eat and so kill him, and take all the wealth for myself." Accordingly as soon as the rice was cooked, he ate all he wanted, and put poison in the rest, and set out with it in his hand. No sooner had he put the rice down than the other cut him in two with his sword and threw his body into a tangled thicket. Then he ate the rice, and fell dead on the spot.' The Persian Version follows, from a poem in the 'Book of Calamities,' made in the twelfth century by Ferídu-'d-Dín 'Attár, a celebrated philosopher and poet. In this version, as in Chaucer, there are _three_ men; one of them goes to the town to buy bread, some of which he eats, and poisons the rest. The other two slay him on his return, eat the poisoned bread, and perish. Of the Arabic versions, one occurs in the Breslau edition of the Book of the Thousand and One Nights (Burton's Supplementary Nights, vol. i p.250). The Kashmírí version is given in Mr. Knowles' Dictionary of Kashmírí Proverbs and Sayings, Bombay, 1885, p. 45. Here there are four men, two of whom conspire against the other two, and slay them with axes; but afterwards eat the poisoned bread which the latter couple had prepared for them. I must refer the reader to Mr. Clouston's essay for further particulars. I must not omit to notice here the instances in which Chaucer has borrowed some of his moral reflexions from the treatise De Contemptu Mundi, by Pope Innocent, which has already been discussed above; see § 36. Dr. E. Köppel has noticed the following, in the Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig, vol. 84, p. 411. C 483, 4. 'Propterea dicit apostolus: Nolite inebriari vino, in quo est luxuria:' lib. ii. cap. 19. C 505-7; 491. 'Gula paradisum clausit; decollauit Baptistam:' lib. ii. cap. 18. C 513-6; 521-3. 'Inde non salus et sanitas, sed morbus et mors. Audi super hoc sententiam Sapientis: "Noli auidus esse in omni epulatione, et non te effundas super omnem escam. In multis enim escis erit infirmitas; et propter crapulam multi perierunt." "Esca uentri, et uenter escis; Deus autem et hunc et hanc destruet":' lib. ii. cap. 17. C 517-520[130]. 'Nunc autem gulosis non sufficiunt fructus arborum, non genera leguminum, non radices herbarum, non pisces maris, non bestiae terrae, non aues coeli.' ... 'Tam breuis est gulae uoluptas, ut spatio loci uix sit quatuor digitorum,' &c.: lib. ii. cap. 17. C 534-6. 'Quanto sunt delicatoria cibaria, tanto foetidiora sunt stercora. Turpius egerit, qui turpiter ingerit, superius et inferius horribilem flatum exprimens, et abominabilem sonum emittens:' lib. ii. cap. 18. C 537-546. 'Quaeruntur pigmenta, comparantur aromata ... quae studiose coquuntur arte coquorum.... Alius contundit et colat, alius confundit et conficit, substantiam conuertit in accidens ... ut fastidium reuocet appetitum, ad irritandum gulam:' lib. ii. cap. 17. C 551-2; 560-1. 'Quid turpius ebrioso? cui fetor in ore ... cui facies transformatur? "Nullum enim secretum, ubi regnat ebrietas":' lib. ii. cap. 19. Cf. Man of Lawes Tale, B 771-2, 776-7. See above, p. 408. All these passages are probably versified from Chaucer's lost prose translation of Innocent's treatise. Observe that all the passages quoted lie close together, viz. in lib. ii. capp. 17-19. A modernized version of the Pardoner's Tale was brought out by the Rev. Wm. Lipscomb, in 1792; and another version, made with some spirit, but far inferior to the original, will be found among Leigh Hunt's Poems, with the title 'Death and the Ruffians.' GROUP D. § 57. THE WIFE OF BATH'S PROLOGUE. In some MSS., as in E. and Cm., this Prologue follows the Man of Lawes Tale, but without any connecting link. In others, as in Pt. and in the black-letter editions, it follows the Marchants Tale; and rarely, as in Cp. and Ln., it follows the Squieres Tale; but in no case are there any _genuine_ lines to link it with what precedes. Two spurious prologues are, however, found. The former occurs in MS. Royal 18 C. II., and in MSS. Laud 739 and Barlow 20 (in the Bodleian Library). Tyrwhitt prints it from the first of these, 'to justify himself for not inserting them in the text'; as follows:-- Oure oost gan tho to loke[n] up anon: 'Gode men,' quod he, 'herkeneth everichone; |