The French Roman d’Othevien, found in the Bodleian MS. Hatton 100, and reproduced in two English versions, has nothing to do with the treasures of Octovien, for which see William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, ii. § 169 f. The treasures were supposed to be buried at Rome or elsewhere, and several persons, especially the Pope Silvester (Gerbert), were said to have seen them, but not to have been permitted to carry them away. They appear also in the Roman des Sept Sages.
4748. eschu of. The adjective is used by Chaucer with ‘to’ (or ‘for to’) and infin., Cant. Tales, E 1812, I 971. We may note the spelling here with reference to Chaucer’s rhyme in the former passage.
4763. ‘It may not by any means be avoided that,’ &c.
4774. as to tho pars, ‘as regards those matters’: ‘pars’ is the French plural form, cp. Mirour, 7386, where apparently ‘pars’ means ‘duties.’
4787. Cp. l. 7716, where the saying has a different application. The proverb is here used of those who are, as we say, penny wise and pound foolish. In the other passage it is applied to the opposite case of gaining the coat for the hood.
4808 ff. This story is founded on the so-called Comedia Babionis, one of those Latin elegiac poems in a quasi-dramatic form which were popular in the fourteenth century. Others of the same class are Geta and Pamphilus. In the original, Viöla is Babio’s step-daughter, with whom he is in love, and who is taken in marriage against his will by Croceus. The serving-man is Fodius, not Spodius, and most of the piece is concerned with an intrigue between him and the wife of Babio. See Wright’s Early Mysteries, p. 65.
4899. comth to londe, ‘appears’: cp. l. 18.
4921. who that it kan, that is, as any one who knows it will witness: cp. l. 4927, ‘For, as any one who observes may know, a beast is,’ &c.
4937 ff. This story, which is of Eastern origin, is told near the end of the Speculum Stultorum (i. e. Burnellus), with which Gower was acquainted, as we know from the Vox Clamantis. The names there are Bernardus and Dryānus, and the animals are three, a serpent, an ape, and a lion. A similar tale is told by Matthew Paris, under the year 1195, as related by King Richard I in order to recommend liberality in the cause of Christendom. In this the rich man is Vitalis, a Venetian, and the poor man’s name is not given. The animals in the pit are a lion and a serpent. Vitalis thanks his deliverer, and appoints a time for him to come to his palace in Venice and receive the promised reward of half his goods; but when he comes, he is refused with contumely. The magic qualities of the gem which the serpent brings are not mentioned in the story of Vitalis.
5010 f. So in the Speculum Stultorum, ‘Tunc ita Bernardus, Sathanae phantasmate lusum Se reputans, dixit,’ &c.