CliaiisoJi dc Roland. 123 



strophe, not only changes in each, but is each time more striking. 

 In the hrst strophe Roland answers : 



En dulce France en perdreie mmi los. 



In the second his reason is less selfish, more noble : 



. . . Ne placet damne Deu 

 Que mi parent pur mei seient blasmet, 

 Ne France dulce ja chieet en viltet ! 



In the third he utters one of the most effective lines of the whole 

 poem : 



Ne placet Deu, co li respunt Rollanz, 

 Que CO seit dit de nul hume vivant 

 Eiiipi4r^ paien que ja seic cornant\ 

 Ja n'en avrunt reproece mi parent ! 



When we thus analyse the other instances of ' laisses similaires ' 

 in O, — there are in all sixteen- — we find only one which is tech- 

 nically bad. 3 This instance occurs during the recovintal of Ganelon's 

 embassy. In the first of three strophes Marsila asks Ganelon when 

 Charles will grow weary of war : Ganelon avoids a direct answer, 

 and extols his Emperor. In the second Marsila repeats his quer}-; 

 this time Ganelon responds that Charles will not tire of war while 

 Roland lives. But in the third strophe there is no increment of an)- 

 kind. One of the last two strophes is therefore technically de trop. 

 Comparison of the two, however, shows plainly that one of them 

 — probably the first — was a sort of metrical experiment on the part 

 of some copyist. The matter has been discussed so man}' times 

 that I need not enter into detail.^ 



^ Cf. Miiller's edition, note on v. 1075. 



2 24-ei ; 62-88 ; 620-562 ; 563-595 ; 617-633 ; 1017-1038 ; 1049-1081 ; 

 1702-1736 ; 1753-1795 ; 1796-1850 ; 1952-1977 ; 2297-2354 ; 2355-2396 ; 

 2881-2908 ; 2909-2944 ; 3750-3779. One of these instances (1753-1795) 

 is well analysed by Dietrich, 1. c, pp. 6-8. It is probable that in the 

 original poem vv. 1396—1405 and vv. 1412—1437 constituted a pair of ' laisses 

 siniilaires ' (cf. supra^ pp. 115—116) ; if so, they were technical^ excellent. 

 — As many scholars have noticed, the laisses similaires of O are used 

 only at important points of the action — another fact significant of the 

 poet's artistry. 



3 520-562. 



* Cf. Kambeau, IJber die ah echt iiachweisharcn Assonanzen des Ox/order 

 Textes der Chaiisofz de Roland (Halle, 1878), p. 128 ; Ottmann, Die Stelhtng von 

 V 4 in der tjberliefei-ung des altfranzosischen Rolaiidsliedes (Heilbronn, 1879), 



