326 PROVERBS. 



who wrote good Latin, had no better equivalent in French than respit or 

 reprovier. In the oldest version of the Bible, in the twelfth century, the 

 passage in the First Book of Kings (chap, xix.), "Unde et exivit pro- 

 verbium," the wordprorerbitini is translated respit. 



The Bible was then The Book, which was read and learnt by heart before 

 any other, and which served as a type for various literary compositions. It 

 is only natural, therefore, that King Solomon, who may be said to have given 

 the model for this kind of literature in his Book of Proverbs, should have 

 been regarded as an oracle to be oonsulted with respect in the Middle Ages. 

 Besides, the Jewish legend which represented Solomon as the King of Magic, 

 and which made him supreme over the whole of nature, had become an article 

 of faith with the Christians as well as with the Jews. According to this legend, 

 the Queen of the Ants settled one day upon the hand of the King of Israel, 

 and revealed to him the secrets of eternal truth. One of the first collec- 

 tions of French proverbs, published in the Middle Ages, was dedicated to 

 Solomon, who is represented in it as the type of Divine wisdom, opposite 

 to a man named Marcol, or Marcoul, who is the representative of human reason 

 (Fig. 277). There is a dialogue in rhyme between the two. The Israelitish 

 King utters some weighty saying, and Marcol answers him with an analogous 

 axiom embodying the rough common sense of the people, and generally 

 expressed in homely language. The " Dictz (sayings) de Salomon et Marcol," 

 originally composed in Latin, were translated into all languages during the 

 Middle Ages, and the French version probably dates from the twelfth century. 

 One verse of it runs 



" ' Qui sages horn sera 

 Ici trop ne parlera.' 

 Ce dist Salomon. 

 ' Qui ja mot ne dira 

 Grand noise (dispute) ne fera.' 

 Marcol lui respont." 



The popularity of these rhymed proverbs, which were continually being 

 revised, added to, and modified, is proved by the multitude of editions which 

 appeared at the close of the fifteenth century. It is probable that the original 

 Latin was written, in the tenth or eleventh century, by a student in the 

 ecclesiastical schools of Paris, which undertook to vulgarise in this way the 



