Amongst the authors not identified are "Crete" (p. 133), and Diomedes (p. 10). The account of the origin of chess attributed to the last is amplified a little further on. The legend that Palamedes invented a game of this kind at the siege of Troy is emphatically rejected by our author, who pins his fame on Xerxes, a Greek philosopher! This became the received opinion, as may be gathered from the unhesitating language of Polydore Vergil in a passage which is thus rendered by John Langley:--"The chesse were invented the year of the world 3635, by a certain Wise man called Xerxes, to declare to a Tyrant, that Majesty or Authority without strength, assistance & help of his subjects, was casual feeble & subject to many calamities of fortune; his intent was to break the fierce cruelty of his heart, by fear of such dangers as might come to passe in the life of man." [24]
The curious treatise which contains the supposed conversations of King Bocchus and the philosopher Sidrac (p. 171) was a favourite science book of the middle ages. It is probably of oriental origin, but there are editions in Latin, French, German, Flemish, Dutch, Italian, and English. By way of question and answer very decided statements are made on a wide variety of topics of which the author was profoundly ignorant. The particular part referred to by Cessoles is chap, cclxxxi: "Pourquoy sacostent les hommes charnellement aux femmes grosses et les bestes ne le font pas?"[25] John the Monk (p. 70) is the noted canonist Giovanni Andrea, who died at the plague of Bologna in 1347. His learning gained him such titles as rabbi doctorum and normaque morum. His commentaries on the decretals were frequently reprinted. He gave the name of "Novellæ" to this work after the name of his mother and daughter. His code of morality contained no prohibition of literary theft, for his additions to the "Speculum Juris" of Durand are said to have been taken bodily from Oddrale. In the same magnificent manner he appropriated the treatise "De Sponsalibus et Matrimonio" of Anguissola. His daughter Novella was a learned woman, and became the wife of Giovanni Calderino, a jurist of Bologna. Their son, Gaspard Calderino, wrote a commentary on the decretals. Father, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson appear to have all been experts in the canon law.[26]
The reference to the "first book of the Truphes of the Philosophers by figure" does not convey a very definite idea as to the particular work intended. It must have been somewhat miscellaneous in character, for one extract describes the fountain of the syrens (p. 122), and the other is an anecdote, which though told here of Julius Cæsar (p. 71), is really the story of the soldier who had fought at Actium with Augustus Cæsar. It occurs also in the "Gesta Romanorum," where the emperor is named Agyos.
"Helmond" (p. 33, &c.) is intended for Helinand, who died some time after 1229. After a brilliant period at the court of Philip Augustus, where he is represented as reciting his heroic verses before the king and his surrounding, he became a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of Froidmont. One of his surviving poems deals with the melancholy subject of death. The "Flores Helinandi" are said to have been popular as well as his "Chronique." He is also the reputed author of some sermons, and of the life of St. Gereon, published by the Bollandists, and of other works still inedited. He is sometimes confounded with another French monk of the same name, who lived in the eleventh century, and was an inmate of the monastery at Persigne in Maine. This second Helinand was the author of commentaries or glosses on the Apocalypse and Exodus.[27] The first-named has been credited with the authorship of "Gesta Romanorum." The grounds for this are very slight. "On a longtemps ignoré le nom de l'auteur de cette compilation, mais un passage du 68^e dialogue du livre intitulé 'Dialogus creaturarum' nous le révele par ces mots: Elimandus in gestis romanorum."[28] But, as Sir F. Madden and Mr. Herrtage have pointed out, the name of "Gesta Romanorum" was given to any book treating of Roman affairs. A French translation of Livy, by Robert Gaguin, has been catalogued as a version of the "Gesta." The reference cited by Brunet is to the Chroniques of Helinand.[29]
Many of the stories and anecdotes are the commonplaces of ancient history, such as the friendship of Damon and Pythias, the sword of Damocles, the chastity of Scipio, the magnanimity of Alexander, the fable of the Dog and the Shadow, &c. Others current in the middle ages had great popularity, and even in our own days occasionally renew their youth. The story of John of Ganazath (p. 48) is to be found in Occleve's translation of Colonna. Mr. Thomas Wright remarks: "This story, under different forms, was a very common one in the middle ages. One version will be found in my 'Latin Stories,' p. 28. It will hardly be necessary to remark that the story of King Lear and his daughters is another version."[30]
The story appears also in some modern compilations. In one instance it is given as the will of Jehan Connaxa, of Antwerp, about 1530.[31] The incident is given in the following form in the popular collection known as the "Percy Anecdotes":[32]--
"An eminent trader at Lyons, who had acquired an easy fortune, had two handsome daughters, between whom, on their marriage, he divided all his property, on condition that he should pass the summer with one and the winter with the other. Before the end of the first year, he found sufficient grounds to conclude that he was not a very acceptable guest to either; of this, however, he took no notice, but hired a handsome lodging, in which he resided a few weeks; he then applied to a friend, and told him the truth of the matter, desiring the gift of two hundred livres, and the loan of fifty thousand, in ready money, for a few hours. His friend very readily complied with his request; and the next day the old gentleman made a very splendid entertainment, to which his daughters and their husbands were invited. Just as dinner was over, his friend came in a great hurry; told him of an unexpected demand upon him, and desired to know whether he could lend him fifty thousand livres. The old man told him, without any emotion, that twice as much was at his service, if he wanted it; and going into the next room, brought him the money. After this, he was not suffered to stay any longer in lodgings; his daughters were jealous if he stayed a day more in one house than the other; and after three or four years spent with them, he died; when, upon examining his cabinet, inftead of livres, there was found a note containing these words: 'He who has suffered by his virtues, has a right to avail himself of the vices of those by whom he has been injured; and a father ought never to be so fond of his children as to forget what is due to himself.'"
Amongst other versions of the story is a novelle by Giovanni Brevio, published as part of his "Rime" in 1545. Piron's comedy of "Les Fils Ingrats," also known as "L'Ecole des Pères," appeared in 1728. "The story," adds Dunlop, "is also told in the 'Pieuses Recreations d'Angelin Gazée,' and is told in the 'Colloquia Mensalia' of Luther, among other examples to deter fathers from dividing their property during life among their children--a practice to which they are in general little addicted."[33]
There is yet another verfion of the story in John of Bromyard's "Summa Predicantium." After describing the discovery of the club it says, "in quo Anglice scriptum erat"--
"Wyht fuyle a betel be he smetyn,
That al the werld hyt mote wyten,
That gyfht his sone al his thing,
And goht hym self a beggyn."