dyverse of tonge and of maneres and eek of resoun of hir livinge,
ben enhabited in the clos of thilke litel habitacle; to the whiche
naciouns, what for difficultee of weyes and what for dyversitee of
langages, and what for [defaute] of unusage and entrecomuninge of
marchaundise, nat only the names of singuler men ne may nat
40
strecchen, but eek the fame of citees ne may nat strecchen. At
the laste, certes, in the tyme of [Marcus Tullius], as him-self writ in
his book, that the renoun of the comune of Rome ne hadde nat
yit passed ne cloumben over the mountaigne that highte [Caucasus];