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1 rude, coarse.

1.2 th’este, the east; vysage, appearance.

2.2 frouncys, creases; erys , ears; myddys , middle.

2.3 yes , eyes; nether, lower.

2.6 ovyrmoche chorlysh and rude , extremely countrified and rough.

2.7 hasyn, hose (long stockings).

3.1 thystelys, thistles.

3.2 wynde, twisted; brostelys, bristles; erys, ears; renning yen, running eyes.

3.3 of span brode, of the breadth of a hand with fingers spread; broche of leed, brooch or pin of lead.

3.4 yren, iron.

3.5 nosethrylles, nostrils.

3.8 behovyth to shewe, should avoid (eschew); yes, eyes; that, that which.

4.1a lynage, lineage (ancestry).

4.1b kynrede and genleagie, kindred and genealogy.

4.2a that is to wete, namely; gate, begat; genderyd, engendered (begat).

4.2b chorlys, churls (common men or peasants).

4.2c that is to knowe, namely.

4.3a clatre, chatter; altercacion, argument, formal disputation.

4.4a reaume, realm.

4.5a light, immoral; forlaye, suffocated by lying on.

4.5b Were erys are, Where there are ears; causes, points at issue.

4.6a yave, gave.

4.7a fleyth, flees.

4.7b kydde, kid (young goat or deer); rennyth, runs; ars, arse (hindquarters).

4.9b that clene is browyn, that which is brewed in cleanliness; fayre drinken, drink well.

4.10a ferdefull, reverent.

4.10b flayne, flayed (skinned).

4.11a shamefast, modest; mekyll, greatly.

4.13b larger in yevyng, more generous in giving.

4.15b chaf, infertile husks of grain.

4.16b behovyth to be allweye, should always be; fedyth, feeds; ther it growyth, there [his fodder] grows; etyth oon gres, eats one blade of grass; ayen, again; it fattyth, [the soil] grows richer.

4.17a preyse, praise.

4.18a ony, honey.

4.18b That beys dryve, Those who drive (tend) bees.

4.19b youre ye, your eye.

4.20a spurne, kick; prykyl, goad.

4.21a lerne, teach.

4.22b his, its.

4.23b yate, gate.

4.24a yeven, given; feryd, feared.

4.24b wonte, accustomed; asse, ass (the pack animal).

4.25b vultier, vulture.

4.26a unwythyngly, unwittingly (unknowingly).

4.26b As, When; ars, arse; ellys, else.

4.27b By wyt he etyth that gretyth the ether, By his wits he eats who greets another person.

4.28b reson, fitting; bren, bran.

4.30b yevyth bred, gives bread; manys, man’s.

4.31a dureyth not, does not endure (persist).

4.34a radissh rotys, radish roots; mete, food; counsell, council.

4.35b lesyth, loses; shetyth, shoots [an arrow].

4.36a erys, ears.

4.36b lesyth, loses (wastes).

4.37b than ben, then are.

4.38b is brostyn, is ruptured (has hernias).

4.39b metys, food; ordeyned, intended.

4.42a That the wycked feyrth, What the wicked man fears; fallyth, befalls.

4.43a brede, bread; wolde hym yeve, would give [it] to him.

4.44a maystre, (school)master; wele wylled, well disposed.

4.44b Th’andys, The hands.

4.45a janglers, gossips (chatterers).

4.46a othre, one another.

4.46b lesyth, lose (waste).

4.47a I shal yeve thee, I will give [it] to you [then]; that thou maiste forthwyth yeve hym, what you can give him right away.

4.47b wherwyth, resources; withalle, immediately.

4.48a holdyth, remembers (holds to).

4.50b pore, poor man; ne breed, no bread.

4.51b heryth, hears; oke, oak.

4.52a beyth, is; shrewdly, wicked.

4.52b forthynke, regret.

4.53a ne nor.

4.55b owsell, ouzel (a bird); synge not oon songe, do not sing the same song.

4.56a deye, die.

4.57a indicte, compose or write.

4.57b shytyth, shits; berkyth, barks.

4.58a wombe, belly.

4.59a yifte that is yeven thee of, gift that is given to you by.

4.59b geldyd, castrated; yevyth, gives.

4.62a demaundyd, questioned.

4.63a chesyth, chooses.

4.63b sekyth, seeks; gnappyth othre, snaps at the other [with its teeth].

4.65a skapyth, escapes.

4.66a Ware, Beware; do it not ayen, do not return it [the evil].

4.68b in a bande, on a leash.

4.70b eythre, either; tere, tear (v.).

4.71a th’erte, the heart.

4.71b wombe, belly; th’ars trompyth, the arsehole trumpets.

4.75a Nede, Need (Necessity).

4.75b eythre he byteth or shytyth, either he bites or shits.

4.76b yeve, give.

4.77a mete, food.

4.78b wakyth, stays awake; no wolle shyte, shit no wool.

4.79b bere a sadylle, bear a saddle.

4.80a reighte, right (correct).

4.82b torde, turd; wyth theyre fete trede, tread with their feet; bestyalle wyves, bestial wives.

4.84b hegge, hedge.

4.86b al oon songe, the same song.

4.87b fryseth, freezes; byndeth, binds.

4.88a counsell, consultation; forthinke, regret.

4.88b seke, sick.

4.89b ‘Now daye; tomorwe daye,’ probably, ‘If not today, then tomorrow’ (see explanatory note); that the hare chacyd, that chased the hare.

4.90b leve my clapping, stop my chattering.

4.91b yeve me that, give me what.

5.2 herefore, on this account.

5.3 worst yen, miserable eyes.

5.4 berys, bears.

5.5 Wherfor, Why.

5.6 provostes, administrators; that is to wyte, namely.

5.8 Why dryve ye hym not out wyth stavys of his syghte?, Why don’t you drive him from the king’s presence with sticks?

5.9 Tho, Then; yeve, give.

5.10 Tho, Then.

6.2 thidrewardes, in that direction; dorre bowe, door frame.

6.5 “What menyst thou therwithall?” “What do you mean by all that?”

6.6 declyned, bent down.

6.9 benys, beans.

6.11 makyth of oon harme two, makes two harms out of one.

6.12 that, that which.

6.13 wythoute, outside; sleyth, slays.

6.14 bewepyth, beweeps; aforetyme, earlier.

6.15 “What betokenth they?” “What do those things mean?”

6.17 yes, eyes; deying, dying.

6.18 lowsyth, delouses [himself]; sleyth, slays.

6.19 tastyng, caressing; japyng, joking or flirting.

6.20 travayllyth, suffers the discomfort of pregnancy.

7.3 onys, once; expedyent, useful for his purpose.

7.4 feyre, fire; yave, gave.

7.5 kechin, kitchen; through moysted, soaked; th’erte, the heart.

7.7 Gabaa, the biblical city of Gibeon.

7.8 reputyth, acknowledges.

7.9 yevyn, given.

7.10 woll, wills; reynyth it, it rains.

8.1 withoute, outside.

8.3 of the same cowe be coveryd, be covered [by a product] of the same cow.

8.5 puyssant, powerful.

8.6 dede to hir, gave to her.

8.7 flawne, flan.

8.9 drye bakyn cowe torde, dry baked cow turd.

8.10 unnethe cowde, scarcely could.

8.16 flawne, flan.

8.17 hungyr chaungyd wyt, hunger changed [my] strategem (enhanced [my] cleverness).

8.19 wyste wele, knew well; mete, food; the flawne wyth mylke anoynted, the flan glazed with milk.

8.20 wyth wyt chungyd, substituted by wit (cleverness).

9.1 wake, stay awake; no truste tomorne of thy hede, no expectation in the morning of [retaining] your head.

9.2 rowte, snore.

9.4 joyntys, joints; chyne, chine (backbone).

9.7 pye,in magpie.

9.8 But, Unless.

9.9 rowte, snore; blowe, breathe heavily.

9.10 th’erthe, the earth; clerer, clearer (i.e., brighter).

9.15 Anon aftyr as, As soon as; blowe, breathe heavily.

9.16 goth afore lernyng; overrides upbringing or training.

10.1 fayned hymself; pretended to be; hevy, sad.

10.2 threytys, threats.

10.3 pryvely, secretly; th’erte, the heart.

10.4 shewe, reveal.

10.5 leevest, most beloved.

10.6 had levyr dye, would prefer to die; discovre, reveal.

10.7 pryvely, secretly.

11.2 chyne, chine (backbone); nombredyd, counted.

11.3 pye, magpie.

11.6 Tho, Then.

11.7 herefore, on this account; Juge egaly, Judge impartially.

11.8 sprongyn, sprayed.

11.9 tofore, in front of.

12.1 shewyd, stated; hath to name, is named; yeven hyrself to horedam, given herself to whoredom; dishonestyd, dishonored; lynage, lineage (ancestry); parte, share; my fathres good and herytage, my father’s goods and inheritable property.

12.3 ferre, afar.

12.5 vysage, face; yen, eyes.

12.8 That wythstandyng, Nevertheless; dele and parte, divide up and share.

12.10 replete wyth angre and woednesse, full of anger and fury; harlot, rascal.

12.12 dele, portion; jugeth thee clerely therfro, clearly disqualifies you [from inheriting].

12.14 suffre me, allow me; shewe, reveal; or, before; do, cause.

12.15 dyffye, defy.

12.16 fowle facyd knave and rybaulde, foul-faced rascal and scoundrel.

12.21 discoverd, revealed.

12.22 Wherefore, Why; goth before lernyng, overrides training.

12.23 afore or, before.

13.1 pryvely, secretly; quyk myse, live mice.

13.2 wont, accustomed; brennyng kandell, burning candle.

13.3 yave, gave; countenaunce, facial expression; bode stylle syttyng, remained still.

13.4 dede she of, did she in response to; abyde, stay still.

13.5 goth afore lernyng, overrides upbringing or training.

13.7 seke, sick; evyll at ease, ill at ease.

13.8 of Marcolf be quyte, be rid of Marcolf.

14.1 kenel, kennel; ayen, again.

14.2 quyk, live; yede ayen, went again.

14.3 forthwyth, immediately; ayen be, again by.

15.2 tapettys, carpets.

15.3 clateryng, chattering; spytyll, spittle; reche up, retch.

15.4 ballyd, bald; spatyld, spat.

15.7 made it fat, fertilized it; bareyne, barren; it behovyth dunge to be layde, it is necessary to spread dung; corne, grain.

15.10 the manys proffyte, the man’s benefit.

15.13 Forwhy they trowen, Because they believe; turnyng, returning.

15.14 Wherto, Why; rybaulde, scoundrel.

15.15 be it pease in thy vertu, Let peace be in thy strength.

16.1 stryve, quarrel or struggle. 16.2 forlayne hyre chylde slepyng, suffocated her child by lying on it while asleep; levyng, living.

16.3 departe . . . in two pecys, divide in two pieces; yeve eyther of thaym, give each of them.

16.4 all hool lyvyng, whole and alive; his the verraye modyr therof, is the [child’s] true mother.

17.2 effusyon of terys, flow of tears.

17.4 Whyllys, While; th’erte, the heart; oon yie, one eye.

17.5 make countenaunce wyth the vysage, express emotions with the face.

17.6 as theyre myndes renne, i.e., as they choose.

17.8 condicyons, qualities.

17.9 shrewdnessys, wickednesses.

17.10 Wherefore, Why.

17.12 brotyll, morally weak (untrustworthy).

17.13 manys condicyon, the human condition; by delectacioun, as a delightful thing.

17.14 yeven, given.

17.15 woman, i.e., the word woman, L mulier (see explanatory note).

17.17 kaytyf, wretch.

17.20 may kalle wele, may well call; deed, dead; that from women, that from which women.

17.22 forwyth, aids.

17.23 dilectacioun, source of pleasure.

17.24 ynd, end; hevynesses, sorrows.

17.25 grutchyng, complaining.

17.28 albeit that, even though; or, before.

18.1 yeven ayen, returned.

18.2 yevyn me ayen alyve, returned to me alive; ellys, else.

18.3 Tho, Then.

18.5 chargeable, serious.

18.7 th’ouse, the house.

18.9 were, wear.

18.10 ‘Mastres,’ ‘Mistress’ (as a term of respect).

18.11 tweyne, two of them.

18.12 halse, embrace.

18.13 forthynke, regret.

18.15 wythstande, resist; saye ayenst, speak against.

19.1 ayen, again; pryvely, secretly.

19.2 trowyd, believed; shewyd, revealed.

19.4 ovyrwent, overcame.

20.1 axyd, asked.

20.2 ayensayth, speaks against.

20.3 paramours, lovers; wol, desire.

20.6 Moyses, Moses’.

20.7 Wherfor; Wherefore, Why.

20.10 puyssaunt, powerful.

20.12 trowed, believed.

20.13 Tho, Then; sentences, judgments or words of wisdom; ben, are.

20.14 vysages, faces.

21.1 hede, head.

21.2 shrewd, wicked.

21.5 sory vysage, sorrowful face; plage, plague.

21.7 luxuriouse, lustful; yes, eyes.

22.3 subgiettys, subjects.

22.5 Tho, Then; out of alle mesure, without moderation.

22.8 yeve credence to, believe.

22.9 hens, hence; se, see; betwixt the yes, between the eyes.

22.10 Forthwith, Directly.

23.1 here, hear; to th’entent that, so that.

23.2 that ye laye to my charge, of which you accuse me; surmysed, alleged; fayned, invented.

23.4 but, except; froward, evil.

23.6 a parte the lyvyng, an allotted portion in life; forthryth, aids.

23.7 stylle, quiet, peaceable. 23.8 shamefast, modest (virtuous); clymmyng, climbing; condicyons, qualities.

23.10 ovyrfaste fundament, strong foundation; grwnded, grounded.

23.11 sede and kynderede, seed and kindred.

24.1 se hym betwixt the yes, see him between the eyes.

24.2 fyll, fell.

24.3 cyve, sieve; temse, strainer; bere, bear.

24.5 trace, trail; stappys, [foot]steps.

24.6 incontynent, immediately.

24.8 hys vysage from hymwardes, facing away from him; breche, britches; hammes, hams (thighs or backs of the knees); se, see; gere, gear (equipment).

24.11 Wherefore, Why.

24.12 yes, eyes; and, if.

25.1 sore meovyd, annoyed (distressed).

25.2 yeve me leve, give me permission.

25.3 it forcyth not, it does not matter.

25.4 wythoute, outside; Valé of Josaphath, Valley of Jehoshaphat; hylle of Olyvete, Mount of Olives.

25.5 Flome Jordane, River Jordan.

25.7 askapyd, escaped.

Abbreviations: B: Salomon et Marcolfus, ed. Benary; CT: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; L: Latin; ME: Middle English; MED: Middle English Dictionary; Whiting: Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Pro­verbial Phrases.

Here begynneth. The ME translation includes an incipit or opening summary based on the description of Marcolf in the opening passages of the work proper. Its language may also derive from the lengthy Collationes title (see introduction 6.c). Leeu’s Latin edition bears the title Salomonis et Marcolphi Dyalogus.

1.1 Salomon . . . sate. [B Prol.] 3 Kings 2:12, “And Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David” ["Salomon autem sedit super thronum David patris sui"]. Compare 3 Kings 2:24 and 1 Paralipomenon (1 Chronicles) 29:23.

2.1–3.6 short stature and thykke. [B Prol.] Coarse, animal-like features are conventional in medieval descriptions of peasants (Freedman, Images of the Medieval Peasant, chap. 7). The language applied to Marcolf and his wife can be com­pared, for example, to Chaucer’s description of his stoutly built (“thikke”) and hairy Miller (CT I[A]545–66, at 549). Marcolf has a beard like a goat’s, the Miller like that of a sow or fox. Marcolf’s hair also resembles a goat’s, his face that of an ass. Polycana has eyebrows like the “brostelys of a swyne” (3.2); the Miller’s wart has sprouting hairs like “the brustles of a sowes erys [ears].” The Miller and Polycana have large, flaring noses, the Miller’s with “nosethirles blake . . . and wyde” and Polycana’s with “right great nosethrylles” (3.5).
2.3 L subcominus. [B Prol.] The word is unattested; many manuscripts have subterius [lower].

2.3 fowle. [B Prol.] The ME translator reads fetosam [foul]; the Leeu Latin print has setosam [hairy, bristly.] The confusion of f and s is common in fifteenth-century manucripts and prints.

2.6 his clothys fowle and dyrty. [B Prol.] L pellis [hide; peasant’s cloak]; pannitiosus [tattered, ragged.]

2.7 his hasyn hynge full of wrynkelys. [B Prol.] In classical Latin, caligae are soldiers’ boots, but the plural here seems to mean “stockings, hose.” Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 113) suggests “patched and repatched” for L repagulatus.

3.3 vysage and skyn. [B Prol.] In Leeu’s Latin print (3.2), Polycana has an "aspectum colubrinum" [face like a snake]. The ME translation omits this comparison.

3.7 thies verses folowyng. [B Prol.] The two elegiac couplets are clear in their misogyny but obscure in meaning. Literally, they mean, “The ill-shapen woman, subjected to the forms of darkness, / With her ugly face passes by without the light of day. / It is a bad thing to grant excessive adornment to an ugly woman, / But let the ugly woman endure her very ugly defect.” Leeu’s Latin print has transit [passes by (or through)]; some manuscripts have transeat [let her pass by], which offers better sense. The ME translator does not translate the two couplets, preferring to supply the gist of their meaning. His language is identical to a Dutch translation of 1501, indicating that the two translations are related (see introduction, 6.c).

3.8 wyf. [B Prol.] ME wyf translates L femina and often means simply “woman.”

4.1a–3b of what lynage . . . xii kyndredes of patryarkes . . . xii kindred of chorlys . . . xii kyndredes of untydy wyves. [B 1a–3b] We follow Benary in numbering this section as part of the proverb contest, although we regard the exchange of genealogies as a separate verbal contest. Solomon’s words at 4.3a suggest that it has served as a kind of preliminary match, qualifying Marcolf for the next round, a long exchange of what are usually called “proverbs” for conven­ience, though they include various types of remarks.

4.2a Ysay. [B 2a] Solomon’s genealogy makes Isai David’s father, as at Ruth 4:17–22; the more familiar genealogies at Matthew 1:1–6 and Luke 3:32 make Jesse his father.

4.2b Rusticus gat Rustam. [B 2b] Marcolf improvises a parodic genealogy that includes derivatives from rusticus [peasant, country person] and forms of his own name. Tarcus may derive from tartarum [wine dregs] and Pharsi could derive from far, a type of grain. See Marini, Il dialogo di Salomone e Marcolfo, p. 140n8; Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, pp. 116–17.
Marquat gat Marcolphum and that is I. In the Latin text, Solomon’s genealogy ends with the declaration et ego sum Salomon rex [and I am Solomon the king]. Marcolf ends with the parallel declaration et ego sum Marcolphus follus [and I am Marcolf the fool]. Interestingly, the ME translator, both here and at 6.1, omits follus [fool], an epithet that resonates with Marcolf’s many twists on the biblical and proverbial idea that the self-styled “wise man” is in reality the fool, and the self-aware “fool” is the wiser man. See for example 4.6ab, 4.16ab, 4.51ab, 4.64ab, 4.79ab, and esp. 7.1–10, as well as these exchanges in the appendix: B 89ab, B 90ab, B 115ab.

4.2c untydy wyves. [B 2c] The ME translator’s softening of lupicanae [whores] from lupa [she-wolf].

4.3a altercacion. [B 3a] (The ME text reads altercacon.) A formal academic debate. Woodcuts accompanying printed versions of the Dialogue often show the two speakers using their hands to count off debating points, a conventional way of representing academic disputation (Jones, “Marcolf the Trickster,” p. 152). Over the course of the work, the two interlocutors alternate in the roles of master (who initiates and questions) and pupil (who must respond appropri­ately). Solomon first requires that Marcolf recite his genealogy and then declares that Marcolf must “answere” him (4.3a) in the proverb contest. At 6.3–4 Marcolf usurps the role of master or wisdom figure and initiates a third verbal contest, posing riddles that Solomon cannot solve. Solomon then retakes the initiative by posing the “covered by the same cow” riddle at 8.2–3. Solomon also initiates the waking contest at 9.1 by threatening to decapitate Marcolf if he falls asleep, but Marcolf introduces the five propositions for which Solomon then demands proof. Finally, Marcolf initiates the last major verbal contest by implying at 17.28 that he can lead Solomon into self-contradiction by causing him to dispraise women as strongly as he praised them at 17.18–25.
questyons to thee. Echoing God to Job at Job 38:3, “I will ask thee, and answer thou me” ["interrogabo te, et responde mihi"]; see also Job 40:2 and 42:4.

4.3b He that singyth worste. [B 3b] Samuel Singer (Sprichwörter, 1:53) gives ana­logues for the equivalent Latin expression, "Qui male cantat, primo incipiat."

4.4a–4.91b The proverb contest. In this long exchange, Marcolf’s responses in Latin include a number of close verbal parodies of Solomon’s scripture-based pronouncements as they occur in the wisdom books of the Latin Vulgate Bible. Unlike the expressions we usually call proverbs, these made-for-the-occasion Marcolfian verbal parodies would not have circulated in common speech. They might better be called mock-proverbs, though many draw upon traditional ideas that do occur in proverbial form. In Leeu’s Latin text, Marcolf’s responses imitate closely the language of Solomon’s proverbs in these exchanges: 4.13ab, 4.15ab, 4.71ab, 4.72ab, 4.79ab, 4.81–84ab. At least seventeen more exchanges of this type are present in the fullest manuscripts but do not appear in the printed texts: they are included in our appendix as numbered by Benary: B 15ab, B 26ab, B 30–34ab, B 38ab, B 40ab, B 46ab, B 48ab, B 69ab, B 89ab, B 112ab, B 125ab, B 128ab, and B 138ab. The exchanges omitted from the printed texts represent some of the most trans­gressive pairings, many involving scathing scatological parody of scriptural language, substituting “shit” for “wisdom,” for example, or “the arse” for “the Lord.”
While many of Marcolf’s contributions involve close verbal parody of Solomon’s biblical proverbs in Latin, others of Marcolf’s replies are indeed recognizable proverbs that enjoyed wide circulation in the Middle Ages in Latin and often in the European vernacular languages as well. Translating Latin proverbs to and from the vernacular was a standard medieval school exercise, and a great many proverbs have migrated from one language to the other. (See Steiner, “Vernacular Proverb in Mediaeval Latin Prose,” and, on medieval England, Orme, Education and Society, pp. 76–85.) Ziolkowski cites many parallels to the Latin proverbs; for the most part we concentrate here on identifying expressions attested in ME outside the Dialogue. Whiting includes most of Marcolf’s responses in his index of English proverbs before 1500, but in many cases he is not able to cite any other example of the expression in question. We give Whiting numbers when his entry lists examples in English from outside the ME Dialogue of Solomon and Marcolf or provides cross-references, even if the attestation expresses the same idea in different words. We do not give the many Whiting numbers that simply lead the reader to Marcolf’s expression with no other information.

4.5a juged betwixt two light women. [B 5a] For Solomon’s judgment, see 3 Kings 3:16–27.

4.5b where women be there are wordys. [B 5b] Whiting W497 gives versions of an antifeminist proverb in English that is obviously related to Marcolf’s: “There women are are many words, there geese are are many turds.” Another related expression in English is W253, “A young wife and a harvest goose, much gaggle (chatter) with both.”

4.6a God yave wysdam. [B 6a] 3 Kings 3:11–13, “And the Lord said to Solomon: Behold I. . . have given thee a wise and understanding heart, insomuch that there hath been no one like thee before thee, nor shall arise after thee. . . . I have given thee. . . riches and glory, so that no one hath been like thee among the kings in all days heretofore” ["et dixit Dominus Salomoni. . . dedi tibi cor sapiens et intelligens in tantum ut nullus ante te similis tui fuerit nec post te surrecturus sit. . . dedi tibi divitias scilicet et gloriam ut nemo fuerit similis tui in regibus cunctis retro diebus"].

4.6b He that hath evyll neighborys praysyth hymself. [B 6b] Singer, Sprichwörter, 1:50, Whiting N79; compare Whiting P349, “He must praise himself since no man else will.”

4.7a wykkyd man fleyth. [B 7a] Proverbs 28:1, “The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth” ["Fugit impius, nemine persequente"].

4.7b Whan the kydde rennyth, men may se his ars. [B 7b] Whiting K22, with reference to a related expression about seeing the backside of a climbing ape. Marcolf’s statement about the white markings of a fleeing deer or roebuck (L capriolus) has its basis in observation of nature. Solomon moralizes about the ill effects of a bad conscience; Marcolf’s characteristic reply stresses the kinship between humans and animals and reminds Solomon of what Bakhtin calls “the material bodily lower stratum,” the parts of the body associated with defecation and filth but also with fertility and birth.

4.8a good wyf. [B 8a] Ecclesiasticus 26:21, “As the sun when it riseth to the world in the high places of God, so is the beauty of a good wife for the ornament of her house” ["Sicut sol oriens mundo in altissimis Dei, sic mulieris bonae species in ornamentum domus ejus"]; Proverbs 12:4, “A diligent woman is a crown to her husband” ["Mulier diligens corona est viro suo"].

4.8b potfull of mylke. [B 8b] Whiting C109 cites a sixteenth-century expression about the irresistibility of milk to a cat. In 4.12b Marcolf poses a similar thought as a rhetorical question.

4.9a wyse woman byldeth. [B 10a] Proverbs 14:1, “A wise woman buildeth her house but the foolish will pull down with her hands that also which is built” ["Sapiens mulier aedificat domum suam; insipiens exstructam quoque manibus destruet"].

4.9b that clene is browyn. [B 10b] Benary’s edition has "olla bene cocta melius durat, et qui merdam distemperat merdam bibit" [A well-fired (earthenware) pot stands up very well to use, but whoever stirs in shit, drinks shit]. Leeu’s Latin print substitutes the sense-destroying mundam [clean, fine] for merdam in the second clause. The ME text does not translate the apparently garbled second clause of the Latin text; rather, it offers a meaningful and logically consistent second clause, “what is brewed cleanly is good to drink.” “To drink as one brews” is a ME proverbial expression that takes many forms (see Whiting B529; Singer, Sprichwörter, 1:35–36).

4.10a A ferdefull woman shal be praysed. [B 11a] Proverbs 31:30, “the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised” ["mulier timens Dominum ipsa laudabitur"].

4.10b A catte that hath a good skyn shal be flayne. [B 11b] Another of many instances in which Marcolf responds to Solomon’s sententious pronouncements about humanity with cynical statements about animals. Whiting C99 gives two examples of the related saying that a cat with a fair skin shows itself abroad while a singed cat stays home. The expression occurs in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Prologue (CT III[D]348–54), where the fictional Wife implies that her misogynist husbands applied it to her. An application to women is also implied here by the juxtaposition of Marcolf’s reply to Solomon’s statement.

4.11b whyte mete. [B 12b] L lacticinia [dairy products (?)], obviously from lac [milk], but the meaning is unclear. Benary’s edition reads "vacca lactiva" [a cow pro­ducing milk], but lactivus occurs in no major dictionaries.

4.12a woman stronge in doyng good. [B 13a] Proverbs 31:10, “Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her” ["Mulierem fortem quis inveniet? procul et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus"].

4.13b A fat woman and a great is larger in yevyng than othre. [B 14b] Leeu’s Latin print says that the fat woman is larger or more generous [largior] in giving visa [things seen], which the translator apparently omits as nonsensical. Some manuscripts read in dando jussa [in giving farts], a reading which fits well with Marcolf’s persistent scatology.

4.14b furre is not all lyke the slevys. [B 16b] L pellicia [fur coat]. The idea that a fair exterior can hide ugliness or corruption is widespread proverbial wisdom; see Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, p. 129, for Latin examples. That a woman’s attractive exterior hides ugliness or destructive qualities underneath is a com­monplace of antifeminist discourse.

4.15ab He that sowyth wyckydnesse shal repe evyll. [B 17ab] Proverbs 22:8, “He that soweth iniquity shall reap evils” ["Qui seminat iniquitatem metet mala"]. Compare Job 4:8; Galatians 6:8. The idea appears frequently in medieval sermons and proverb collections; see Whiting S542 for instances in English. Solomon uses the image of sowing and reaping metaphorically to warn against wickedness; Marcolf’s reply is more concrete and agricultural, especially in ME: “he who sows chaff [the lifeless outer husks that surround the fertile grain] mows a poor harvest.”

4.16b The asse behovyth to be allweye where he fedyth. [B 19b] The longest of Marcolf’s retorts and one of the most revealing. The medieval association between peasants and asses (and other beasts of burden) was very strong. See Bakhtin, Rabelais, p. 78: “The ass is one of the most ancient and lasting symbols of the material bodily lower stratum, which at the same time degrades and regen­erates”; see also Freedman, Images of the Medieval Peasant, pp. 48, 134, 140–47. Marcolf’s statement that the ass’s dung fertilizes the ground and his urine waters it implies a symbolic justification for the scatology and crudeness of his replies to Solomon: his fertilizing scatology helps to regenerate Solomon’s static and aging discourse. Of the connection between defecation and fertility, Bakhtin writes, “To degrade . . . means to concern oneself with the lower stratum of the body, the life of the belly and the reproductive organs; it therefore relates to acts of defecation and copulation, conception, pregnancy, and birth. Degradation . . . has not only a destructive, negative aspect, but also a regenerating one” (Rabelais, p. 21). Marcolf returns to the connection between bodily emissions and fertility in 15.1–10.
strawe. Leeu’s Latin print, like most of the manuscripts, has glebas [clods of earth]. Breaking up the clods is a final example of the animal’s positive effect on the soil of the field where it grazes. The point is somewhat obscured by the ME translation, strawe.

4.17a Lete an othre preyse thee. [B 20a] Proverbs 27:2, “Let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth: a stranger, and not thy own lips” ["Laudet te alienus, et non os tuum; extraneus, et non labia tua"].

4.18a Thou shalt ete moche ony. [B 23a] In Leeu’s Latin print, the command is negative ["ne comedas"], a curtailed version of the biblical dictum at Proverbs 25:16, “Thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee, lest being glutted therewith thou vomit it up” ["Mel invenisti, comede quod sufficit tibi, ne forte satitus evomas illud"], and 25:27, “As it is not good for a man to eat much honey. . .” ["sicut qui mel multum comedit non est ei bonum"]. The ME text makes Solomon’s prohibition into a positive commandment, and the mention of honey opens the way for another allusion to animal husbandry from Marcolf.

4.19a In an evylle wylled herte the spyryt of wysedome shalle not entre. [B 24a] Wisdom 1:4, “For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul” ["quoniam in malivolam animam non intrabit sapientia"].

4.19b As ye smyte wyth an axe in an hard tre, beware that the chippes falle not in youre ye. [B 24b] Whiting C235. The proverb appears in ME in various forms, e.g., John Gower, Confessio Amantis 2.1917–18, “Fulofte he heweth up so hihe [high], / That chippes fallen in his yhe [eye].”

4.20a It is hard to spurne ayenst the sharp prykyl. [B 25a] Acts 26:14 (Jesus to Saul of Tarsus), “It is hard for thee to kick against the goad” ["Durum est tibi contra stimulum calcitrare"]. A prykyl or goad is a spiked object, used as a spur to drive an animal. The expression warns against the futility and pain of running up against an intractable obstacle.

4.21a Fede up youre children and from thayre youthe lerne thaym to do welle. [B 35a] Proverbs 19:18 and 29:17, "Erudi filium tuum" [chastise (or “instruct”) your son].

4.22b A worne tabyllcloth turnyth ayen to his furste kynde. [B 37b] Leeu’s Latin literally says “A worn out tablecloth turns back into flax fiber / hemp.” See Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, pp. 141–42, for commentary on a variant Latin text.

4.23a What the juge knowyth of right and trouthe that spekyth he out. [B 39a] Compare Proverbs 12:17, “He that speaketh that which he knoweth, sheweth forth justice: but he that lieth, is a deceitful witness” ["Qui quod novit loquitur index justitiae est; qui autem mentitur testis est fraudulentus"].

4.23b bisshop that spekyth not. [B 39b] Marcolf’s response appears to comment wryly on the rarity of silence among bishops: a silent bishop would be out of a job as bishop.

4.24a Honoure is to be yeven to the maistre, and the rodde to be feryd. [B 41a] Compare Proverbs 29:15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but the child that is left to his own will bringeth his mother to shame” ["Virga atque correptio tribuit sapientiam; puer autem qui dimittitur voluntati suae confundit matrem suam"].

4.24b juges handes. . . asse lene. [B 41b] The man who bribes a judge (“greases his palm”) has no money left to feed his pack animal. The Latin text refers to the judge’s mouth [buccam], but the ME translator prefers “hands.” L azella, asella is a “she-ass.”

4.25a Ayenst a stronge and myghty man thou shalt not fyghte, ne stryve ayenst the streme. [B 43a] Compare Ecclesiasticus 8:1, “Strive not with a powerful man, lest thou fall into his hands” ["Non litiges cum homine potente, ne forte incidas in manus illius"], and 4:32, “Resist not against the face of the mighty, and do not strive against the stream of the river” ["Noli resistere contra faciem potentis, nec coneris contra ictum fluvii"].

4.25b vultier takyth the skyn. [B 43b] To Solomon’s image of coercion as an imper­sonal force of nature such as a rushing stream, Marcolf responds with a harsh image of predation. Singer (Sprichwörter, 1:37) notes that the vernacular poet Marcabru uses a version of this expression.

4.27b wyt. [B 45b] L ingenium or ME wyt is Marcolf’s most salient quality in this dialogue; his improvisational cleverness is repeatedly matched against Solomon’s sapiencia or moral wisdom. Here Marcolf’s response implies that the clever man makes a point of greeting someone who is eating so that the eater is pressured to share. (The Latin text makes it clearer that “the other” is eating.) Incessant hunger is another of Marcolf’s characteristic traits.

4.28a Wyth brawlyng people holde no companye. [B 47a] Compare Proverbs 22:24, “Be not a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious man” ["Noli esse amicus homini iracundo, neque ambules cum viro furioso"].

4.28b It is reson that he of the swyne ete that medlyth amonge the bren. [B 47b] Leeu’s Latin literally says “Rightly do the swine eat him who wanders into the bran.” Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 147) cites various Latin proverbs to this effect, with the implication that one must watch where one is going and whom one is with. In the Latin text, Marcolf’s thought parallels Solomon’s at 4.28a but transposes it into barnyard imagery. The ME translation reverses the thought and makes the man the eater of the swine; the reversal disrupts the parallel with Solomon’s admonition.

4.30a There are many that to theyr good doers do evyl for good. [B 50a] Compare Proverbs 17:13, “He that rendereth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house” ["Qui reddit mala pro bonis, non recedet malum de domo ejus"].

4.31a It is no frende that dureyth not in frendeshyp. [B 51a] Proverbs 17:17, “He that is a friend loveth at all times: and a brother is proved in distress” ["Omni tempore diligit qui amicus est; et frater in angustiis comprobatur"].

4.32a from his maister. [B 52a] The Latin has ab amico [from a friend]. Proverbs 18:1, “He that hath a mind to depart from a friend seeketh occasions” ["Occasiones quaerit qui vult recedere ab amico"].

4.32b she hath a skabbyd arse. [B 52b] The implication of this antifeminist proverb seems to be either that a woman will claim to have a scabby arse as an excuse for not having sex or, perhaps more in keeping with Marcolf’s sense of humor as it emerges later in the work, he may be claiming (as a disincentive to refusal) that a woman who refuses to have sex is thereby admitting that her backside is scabby.

4.33b plowyth wyth a wolf. [B 53b] Leeu’s Latin text reads lupo [wolf], and the translator follows suit, but the best manuscripts read vulpes [fox], and the folly or impossibility of plowing with a fox was already proverbial in antiquity, as Ziolkowski demonstrates (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 150).

4.34ab radissh rotys. [B 54a] The exchange plays on the theme of eating radishes as a source of bad breath, burping, and farting.

4.35b in the sande. [B 56b] The translator has tried to make sense of the obscure reading trimpum / tripum; Benary prints scirpum [rush, bulrush].

4.36a He that stoppyth his erys. [B 57a] Compare Proverbs 21:13, “He that stoppeth his ear against the cry of the poor, shall also cry himself and shall not be heard” ["Qui obturat aurem suam ad clamorem pauperis, et ipse clamabit, et non exaudietur"].

4.37ab Ryse up, thou northren wynde. . . [B 58ab] Solomon quotes from Canticles (Song of Songs) 4:16; Marcolf contradicts Solomon’s positive image of the north wind by referring to its destructive potential. The contrast suggests that a north wind aroused more positive associations in the biblical Holy Land than it did in medieval Europe. Here the ME text translates only the first line of the two-line poem in the Latin text; the second line reads, “He who has a hernia is not in good health.”

4.38b A man that is brostyn and hyde it, they growe the more. [B 59b] References to digestion, defecation, and diseases, such as the scabby arse in 4.32b or the hernias here, are part of Marcolf’s ongoing insistence on the needs, frailties, and indignities of the body.

4.39a As thou syttyst at a riche mans table, beholde diligently what comyth afore thee. [B 63a] Proverbs 23:1, “When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face” ["Quando sederis ut comedas cum principe, diligenter attende quae apposita sunt ante faciem tuam"].

4.40a Whan thou syttyst at the tabyll, beware that thou taste not furst. [B 64a] Ecclesi­asticus 31:12, “Art thou set at a great table? be not the first to open thy mouth upon it” ["Supra mensam magnam sedisti, non aperias super illam faucem tuam prior"].

4.41b The catte seeth wele whoos berde she lycke shall. [B 65b] Whiting C108. This widespread proverb appears in ME in various forms, including this example from a bilingual collection of c. 1300: “Well wot hure [our] cat, whas berd he lickat” / "Murelegus bene scit, cuius barbam lambere suescit." It appears in Latin as well as in the Old French Li Proverbe au vilain and in the ME Proverbs of Hending (c. 1325); its meaning varies by context (Singer, Sprichwörter, 1:38–40). Here in the mouth of Marcolf it could reassert the power of the seemingly weaker but craftier member of a pairing: Solomon says that the strong man takes all from the weak; Marcolf’s reply may mean that a cat knows very well how to get what it wants from a human.

4.42a That the wycked feryth, that fallyth hym often. [B 67a] Proverbs 10:24, “That which the wicked feareth, shall come upon him” ["Quod timet impius veniet super eum"].

4.43a For the colde the slouthfull wolde not go to plough. [B 68a] Proverbs 20:4, “Because of the cold the sluggard would not plough: he shall beg therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him” ["Propter frigus piger arare noluit; mendicabit ergo aestate, et non dabitur illi"].

4.43b A nakyd ars no man kan robbe or dispoyle. [B 68b] Solomon warns that the lazy man who does not plant his crops may not be able to beg bread when he is hungry; Marcolf’s rejoinder suggests that a man with nothing has nothing to lose. Marcolf’s expression is Whiting A196, with no other examples, but a related saying, B528, occurs in a sixteenth-century dialogue in proverbs by John Heywood, “There is nothyng more vayne . . . Than to beg a breeche of a bare arst man” (A dialogue conteynyng the number of the effectuall prouerbes in the Englishe tounge, in Heywood, Works, pp. 18–101).

4.45b An angry howsewyf. [B 75b] A widespread proverb that goes back to scripture and thus might be thought to belong to Solomon’s discursive world rather than Marcolf’s: “a wrangling wife is like a roof continually dropping through” (Proverbs 19:13), “Roofs dripping through in a cold day, and a contentious woman are alike” (Proverbs 27:15). Proverbs 10:26 testifies to the irritation to the eyes caused by smoke. Medieval writers commonly refer to “three things” that cause a man to flee his own house (see Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, p. 162, for Latin examples; Whiting T187 for English versions). Often the “three things” are the elements from scripture: a scolding wife, a leaking roof, and smoke. Compare Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Prologue, CT III(D)278–80, and Tale of Melibee, CT VII(B2)1086; also William Langland, Piers Plowman, B.17.319–24, for a husband plagued by the same three, including, with Langland’s characteristic concreteness, “reyne on his bedde.” In Benary’s manuscript-based edition, Marcolf gives just two irritants in the form of a short proverb poem: "Domina irata / et patella perforata / dampnum sunt in casa" [An angry woman and a pan with holes are ruinous in a house]. The Latin printed editions, including Leeu’s, add another line to produce four irritants: "Domina irata / fumus, et ratta / patella perforata / damnum sunt in casa" [An angry woman, smoke, and a rat, a pan with holes, are ruinous in a house]. The ME translator softens damnum to “unprofytable.”

4.47a Saye not to thy frende. [B 80a] Proverbs 3:28, “Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again: and to morrow I will give to thee: when thou canst give at present” ["Ne dicas amico tuo: Vade, et revertere, cras dabo tibi, cum statim possis dare"].

4.48a He that is wyne dronken holdyth nothing that he sayth. [B 82a] Compare Ecclesi­asticus 20:7, “A wise man will hold his peace till he see opportunity: but a babbler, and a fool, will regard no time” ["Homo sapiens tacebit usque ad tempus; lascivus autem et inprudens non servabunt tempus"].

4.48b An opyn arse hath no lord. [B 82b] Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, pp. 164–65) cites Latin parallels to suggest that the thought here might once have been that it is not possible to control the farting of a culus confractus or “opyn arse.” Certainly, the arsehole and the fart are frequent topics in Marcolf’s discourse, especially as represented by the fullest manuscripts. Equally Marcolfian is the antiauthoritarian ideal of having “no master” or “no lord.” The connection to Solomon’s pronouncement may be that neither the drunken man nor the “opyn arse” submits to censorship or restraint — an undesirable state from Solomon’s perspective, but a positive image of freedom from Marcolf’s.

4.50b The pore had ne breed and yet he bought an hownde. [B 84b] Implied criticism of the poor man who buys a dog or feeds his dog before himself is Marcolf’s cynical response to Solomon’s apparent praise of the poor man who feeds his wife before himself. Whiting indexes Marcolf’s remark as P300 with no other instances, but a closely related saying is H564, “the hound eats what the poor man saves,” found in a bilingual proverb collection of c. 1300: “hund eet, that hen man spelat / 'Sepe vorat gnarus canis id quod servat avarus.'” Kemble (Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus, p. 63) lists other related sayings.

4.51a The fole answeryth aftyr hys folisshnes. [B 85a] Proverbs 26:5, “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he imagine himself to be wise” ["Responde stulto juxta stultitiam suam, ne sibi sapiens esse videatur"]. Leeu’s Latin text and the ME translation, however, state that the fool himself responds according to his foolishness, lest he seem to be wise [to others].

4.51b What the stone heryth, that shalle the oke answere. [B 85b] Benary’s edition reads "Petra quod audit, illi respondet echo" [What the stone hears, to that the echo responds]. The Latin prints substitute an oak [quercus] for the echo. Whiting’s entry S788 cites no other instances but refers the reader to the related expression “to preach to the post” (P317), which suggests a possible inter­pretation for Marcolf’s cryptic remark as we have it here: like the post, the stone hears nothing, not even Solomon’s moralizing, and the oak answers nothing back, a negative situation from Solomon’s point of view, but one that suits Marcolf admirably.

4.52a Wrathe hath no mercy. [B 86a] Proverbs 27:4, “Anger hath no mercy, nor fury when it breaketh forth: and who can bear the violence of one provoked?” ["Ira non habet misericordiam nec erumpens furor; et impetum concitati ferre quis poterit?"].

4.53a mouthe of an ennemye. [B 87a] Compare Proverbs 26:24, “An enemy is known by his lips, when in his heart he entertaineth deceit” ["Labiis suis intelligitur inimicus, cum in corde tractaverit dolos"].

4.54a Slepe as ye have nede. [B 92a] Compare Proverbs 6:4, “Give not sleep to thy eyes, neither let thy eyelids slumber” ["Ne dederis somnum oculis tuis, nec dormitent palpebrae tuae"].

4.55ab–56ab We have well fyllyd oure bellys, lete us thanke God . . . as wele as the full fedd. [B 93ab–94ab] These two exchanges on hunger articulate important themes of the whole dialogue. Solomon speaks from the point of view of the feaster, whose present pleasure helps to console him for the sorrowful knowledge that one day he must die, as at 1 Corinthians 15:32, “Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die” ["Manducemus, et bibamus, cras enim moriemur"]. Marcolf points out that the hungry and the well-fed do not sing the same song (or see the world from the same perspective) and that, like the feasters, the hungry also die, but without the consolation of banquets and merrymaking. The “ouzel/owsell” (L merulus [blackbird]) who sings joyfully (jubilat) suggests Solomon, whose songs [carmina] numbered “a thousand and five” (3 Kings 4:32). Benary’s edition reads "respondit ei cuculus" [the cuckoo answered him] — this harsh-voiced respondent suggests Marcolf, whose brash “song” does indeed contrast sharply with Solomon’s language. The Latin prints give graculus [jackdaw] for cuculus, which sustains the idea of a harsh-voiced bird, such as a crow, jay, or grackle. The ME translator’s choice ofthrusshe blunts the contrast somewhat, as it usually indicates a songbird.

4.57a Indicte. [B 95a] ME indicte [to write, compose], here, perhaps, a song. L palogisare in the Leeu print is unattested, though paralogizari [reason falsely] occurs, but this sense seems inappropriate. Benary prints parabolisare, which he takes to mean “speak artfully”; it could also mean “speak in proverbs.”

4.59a Dyspyse thou not a lytyll yifte that is yeven thee of a trewe frende. [B 97a] While most of Solomon’s sententious remarks come from scripture, Benary’s edition has at this point a distich derived from the Distichs of Cato, a medieval schooltext: "Exiguum munus cum dat tibi pauper amicus / Accipito placite et plene laudare memento" [When a poor friend gives you a meager gift, accept it graciously and remember to praise it heartily]. Leeu’s Latin print contains the first line, but the second is abbreviated to "noli despicere" [do not scorn it]. Many proverbs, medieval and modern, testify to the wisdom of appreciating even a small gift and valuing the generosity behind it above the value of the gift.

4.59b That a geldyd man hath, that yevyth he to his neigborwes. [B 97b] As so often, Marcolf’s reply is cryptic, and varying interpretations have been offered. The ME translator makes vicine sue plural (“his neigborwes”), though the Latin is grammatically singular: “What the castrated man has, he gives to his female neighbor.” This could possibly be a wry way of saying that (as a sex partner) the castrated man has nothing to give to his female neighbor. Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 171) suggests that the castrated man “satisfies his [female] neighbor as best he can.” Beecher (Dialogue of Solomon and Marcolphus, p. 208n62) proposes to emend castratus [castrated] to crassatus [foolish], suggesting that “what a dim wit owns he gives away.”

4.60a Go thou not wyth the evyll man or the brawelyng. [B 99a] Compare Ecclesiasticus 8:18, “Go not on the way with a bold man, lest he burden thee with his evils: for he goeth according to his own will, and thou shalt perish together with his folly” ["Cum audace non eas in via, ne forte gravet mala sua in te; ipse enim secundum voluntatem suam vadit, et simul cum stultitia illius peries"].

4.60b A dede bee makyth no hony. [B 99b] The Latin print uses a coarser expression, “A dead bee does not shit [caccat] honey.” Whiting B171 offers no other medieval examples but provides cross-references to postmedieval proverb collections.

4.61a frendeshipe with a false and evylwylled man. [B 100a] Proverbs 16:29, “An unjust man allureth his friend: and leadeth him into a way that is not good” ["Vir iniquus lactat amicum suum; et ducit eum per viam non bonam"].

4.62a He that answeryth afore he is demaundyd shewyth hymself a fole. [B 101a] Proverbs 18:13, “He that answereth before he heareth sheweth himself to be a fool, and worthy of confusion” ["Qui prius respondet quam audiat, stultum se esse demonstrat, et confusione dignum"].

4.62b tredyth. [B 101b] L pungit [poke, prod]. Beecher (Dialogue of Solomon and Marcolphus, p. 208n64) takes Marcolf’s advice to mean “when someone is pestering you, leave,” which is an acceptable meaning of retrahere pedem [depart, withdraw]. Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 172) suggests that the retracting of the foot is in order to kick. That is, if you are poked, you draw back your foot to retaliate. The ME translator apparently takes the prodding to refer to treading on one’s foot: if it looks as though someone will step on your foot, you prudently pull it back, a thought consistent with Marcolf’s wary self-preservation.

4.63ab Evrything chesyth his lyke. [B 102ab] Ecclesiasticus 13:19, “Every beast loveth its like; so also every man that is nearest to himself” ["omne animal diligit similem sibi sic et omnis homo proximum sibi"]. Variations on the idea that “Everything is attracted to its like” are widespread in medieval proverb tradition. For many English examples, see Whiting L272 (Marcolf’s particular expression about scabby horses is indexed as H523 with no other examples). Marcolf’s cynical response contests the ideal offered by Solomon, that man and beast each love the others of its kind, and he uses yet another animal image to remind the reader of man’s animal body and its susceptibility to disease (the horses are “skabbyd”). The MED notes that the rare verb gnappen is used by Robert Mannyng to describe tormented people who “gnapped” their own feet and hands as dogs do when they gnaw at their leads; the context here suggests that the horses snap at one another, further contradicting Solomon’s idealistic claim that like is affectionate toward like.

4.64a A mercyfull man doth wele to his sowle. [B 103a] Proverbs 11:17, “A merciful man doth good to his own soul” ["Benefacit animae suae vir misericors"].

4.64b He dyspyseth a great yifte that knowyth not hymself. [B 103b] Whiting G73 gives no other examples of Marcolf’s particular wording, but the implicit injunction, “Know thyself,” K100, is one of the oldest and most common of European proverbs. It seems noteworthy that Marcolf, not Solomon, utters this significant piece of proverbial wisdom. Its message resonates with Marcolf’s gibes at Solomon’s self-aggrandizement: see for example 4.3ab, 4.6ab, 4.76ab, 7.7–10.

4.65ab He that skapyth the wolf metyth the lyon. / From evyll into worse, as the cooke to a bakere. [B 104ab] See Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 173) for the Aesopian associations of Marcolf’s reply. A modern equivalent is “out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

4.66b The stylle standyng watyr and the man that spekyth but lytylle, beleve thaym not. [B 105b] A widespread medieval proverb. Singer (Sprichwörter, 1:54) notes its presence in the Distichs of Cato 4.31. Whiting gives many variants on the well-known expression “still waters run deep” (W70); he indexes Marcolf’s partic­ular version separately as W63 with references to postmedieval proverb collections. The proverb warns against still waters because they can conceal unsuspected depths or hazards; metaphorically it urges caution in dealing with people who keep their thoughts to themselves.

4.67b in a boke. [B 106b] L in casibus from casus [fall; incident; case; misfortune]. The ME translator, understandably perplexed about the author’s intent, has chosen a meaning to fit the context. Benary’s edition has "in breve" [in brief]. The ME translation thus creates a rare instance of Marcolf citing from books.

4.68ab A chylde of an hundred yere . . . It is to late an olde hounde in a bande to lede. [B 110ab] Solomon’s prophetic injunction is a variation on Isaias 65:20, “There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed” ["non erit ibi amplius infans dierum, et senex qui non impleat dies suos, quoniam puer centum annorum morietur, et peccator centum annorum maledictus erit"]. Marcolf replies with a homely observation about the difficulty of training an old dog to the leash for which Singer (Sprichwörter, 1:51–52) gives numerous Latin analogues. The modern equiva­lent is of course the familiar saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

4.69a He that hath, shal be yeven, and shall flowe. [B 111a] Matthew 25:29, “For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound” ["Omni enim habenti dabitur, et abundabit"]; also Matthew 13:12.

4.70ab hath a dowble herte. . . that wolle two weyes go. [B 113ab] Ecclesiasticus 2:14, “Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways” ["Vae duplici corde, et labiis scelestis, et manibus malefacientibus, et peccatori terram ingredienti duabus viis"]; also 3:28. In this amusing pairing, Solomon’s monologic belief in a single path toward a single truth is undercut by Marcolf’s literal warning against the anatomical and sartorial hazards of walking in two directions at once. In exchange 4.72ab, Marcolf again uses the human backside to make a point about singularity and doubleness.

4.71a Of habundaunce of th’erte the mouth spekyst. [B 116a] Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” ["ex abundantia enim cordis os loquitur"].

4.73a A fayre woman is to be lovyd of hire husbande. [B 118a] Compare Ecclesiasticus 26:21, “As the sun when it riseth to the world in the high places of God, so is the beauty of a good wife for the ornament of her house” ["sicut sol oriens mundo in altissimis Dei sic mulieris bonae species in ornamentum domus ejus"]; Proverbs 12:4, “A diligent woman is a crown to her husband” ["Mulier diligens corona est viro suo"].

4.73b derke. [B 118b] L irsuta is “hairy, shaggy” rather than “dark.”

4.75a Nede makyth a right wyse man to do evyll. [B 120a] Compare Ecclesiastes 7:21, “For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not” ["Non est enim homo justus in terra qui faciat bonum et non peccet"].

4.76b katte. [B 122b] The ME translator’s rendering of L catulus [puppy].

4.77b The glouton kan not se or renne al aboute. [B 123b] The meaning of the L "Gluto non currit per totum" [The glutton does not run through everything] is unclear. Benary’s edition has "non comedit" [does not eat] in place of "non currit" [does not run], but the thought would make better sense without the negative non (i.e., “the glutton eats through everything”), as Ziolkowski points out (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 182). The ME translator seems to imagine vision and mobility problems resulting from gluttony.

4.78b The shepherde that wakyth welle, ther shall the wolf no wolle shyte. [B 124b] An attentive shepherd does not fall asleep and leave his sheep to be eaten by wolves, who therefore do not excrete the sheep’s wool. The ME translator produces the right sense despite an erroneous Latin text: "Molli bergario lupus non cacat lanam" [When the shepherd is lax, the wolf does not shit wool]. This proverb was widely used in medieval works as a criticism of bad supervision or leadership. Singer (Sprichwörter, 1:48–49) gives analogues for the Latin expression, and Whiting S241 and S242 offer parallels from Langland and Chaucer. The C-text of Langland’s Piers Plowman gives versions in both ME and Latin that resemble Marcolf’s saying quite closely: “Thyne sheep are ner al shabbyd [covered with sores], the wolf shiteth woolle. "Sub molli pastore lupus lanam cacat'" (Passus 10, line 264). Chaucer’s Physician’s Tale uses a sanitized version of the expression to chide lax parents: “Under a shepherde softe and necligent / The wolf hath many a sheep and lamb torent [torn apart]” (CT VI[C]101–02).

4.79a It becomth no foles to speke or to brynge forth any wyse reason. [B 126a] Proverbs 17:7, “Eloquent words do not become a fool” ["Non decent stultum verba com­posita"].

4.79b It becomyth not a dogge to bere a sadylle. [B 126b] A widespread proverbial comparison ridicules an inappropriate form of human behavior (such as the dispensing of wisdom by a fool mentioned by Solomon in 4.79a) by evoking the image of a saddle worn by an inappropriate animal: Whiting S533 cites a version with a sow and C501 features a cow. For Latin examples, see Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, pp. 183–84.

4.80a Whyles the children are lytyll, reighte theyre lymmes and maners. [B 127a] Compare Ecclesiasticus 30:12, “beat his sides while he is a child” ["tunde latera ejus dum infans est"].

4.82a Of a good man comth a good wyf. [B 130b] The sentiment is close to Ecclesiasticus 26:3, “A good wife is a good portion, she shall be given in the portion of them that fear God, to a man for his good deeds” ["Pars bona mulier bona, in parte timentium Deum dabitur viro pro factis bonis"].

4.82b alle the bestyalle wyves trede undre fote. [B 130b] One of the ugliest antifeminist images in the print versions of the dialogue. An ample meal produces an ample turd that men trample under foot, just as they should trample "bestiales mulieres" [bestial women]. The ME print has an overturned u in wyues that makes the word look like wynes. Overturned u’s and n’s are a common typesetting error in the ME text, as our textual notes witness.

4.84b hepe of stonys. [B 132b] Leeu’s Latin print has strues [stack, heap], where most manuscripts have strontus [turd]. Perhaps this was a sanitizing gesture, though ample scatology remains. The phrase “of stonys” is the ME translator’s addition. This pairing (4.84ab) is a good reminder that the term proverb applies only very loosely to a number of the remarks in this verbal contest. Marcolf’s rejoinder is a close verbal parody of Solomon’s reference to his sword, a symbol of his aristocratic position in the social hierarchy, which Marcolf reduces to a mundane barnyard image. A house and shed surrounded by a hedge was a characteristic peasant dwelling in medieval Europe, and the pile of dung mentioned by the manuscript versions would be no uncommon sight. A similar but more transgressive pairing (B 40ab in Appendix) is omitted from the prints: there Solomon evokes another symbol of aristocratic status by declaring that a black boss fits perfectly on a white shield; Marcolf replies that a black arsehole sits perfectly between white cheeks.

4.85a The gretter that ye be, the more meke shulde ye be in alle thyngys. [B 133a] Ecclesi­asticus 3:20, “The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things” ["Quanto magnus es, humilia te in omnibus"].

4.85b He rydyth well that ridyth wyth his felawes. [B 133b] For “wyth his felawes,” Leeu’s Latin print gives cum paribus [with his equals]; this is probably the import of the ME expression as well.

4.86a The wyse chylde gladyth the fadyr. [B 136a] Proverbs 10:1, “A wise son maketh the father glad: but a foolish son is the sorrow of his mother” ["Filius sapiens laetificat patrem; filius vero stultus moestitia est matris suae"].

4.87a He that sowyth wyth skaerstye repyth skaersly [B 137a]. 2 Corinthians 9:6, “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly” ["Qui parce seminat, parce et metet"].

4.88a, 89a Do alle thynges by counsell. . . Alle thinges have theyre seasons and tyme. [B 139a, 140a] Solomon appears to play his strongest cards just as the match ends: these two biblical sayings are among the most widely cited pieces of Solomonic wisdom in medieval literature. In English alone, Whiting records about twenty citations of the advice from Ecclesiasticus 32:24, “Do thou nothing without counsel” (C470) and a similar number for Ecclesiastes 3:1, “All things have their season [time]” (T88).

4.89b Now daye; tomorwe daye. [B 140b] The Latin "Diem hodie, diem cras" might be translated “Today is a day, tomorrow is [another] day,” with the implication “there is always tomorrow, if I don’t succeed today,” an expression of resigna­tion appropriate to a lumbering ox who tries to catch a hare. Singer (Sprichwörter, 1:49–50) gives parallels.

5.2 thyrdde in the kingedome. [B Epil.] At Daniel 5:16 and 29, King Belshazaar promises Daniel that he will make him the “third prince” in the kingdom, if he can read and interpret the writing on the wall.

5.5 Quare rex promisit? [B Epil.] Immediately preceding in the Latin text is another question, "Quis adheret culo nisi pastelli?" [Who sticks to the arsehole except little clots?]. Pastellus is “pastry; pastille,” but the meaning is unclear. This obscure question is omitted from the ME text.

5.6 kinges xii provostes. [B Epil.] The list of Solomon’s governors is based on 3 Kings 4:7–19. There is considerable variation in spellings and one governor, Achimaas (Leeu’s “Achimaab”), is missing from the English.

5.8 Why dryve ye hym not out . . . of his syghte? [B Epil.] At beginning of 5.8, the phrase "Cur non magnis colaphis maceratur" [Why isn’t he tormented with great blows?] is omitted from the ME.

5.11 There is no king were no lawe is. [B Epil.] For other reproofs of Solomon’s kingship, see note to 11.7 and see also 13.7, where Marcolf again responds to what he considers an act of injustice: “where as the hede is seke and evyll at ease, there is no lawe.”

6–8 [B 2.1–3] The riddling contest. In sections 6 through 8, the scene moves from Solomon’s court to Marcolf’s peasant house, imagined as sufficiently close by for the king and his men to come upon it while hunting. On his home ground, Marcolf takes the lead by posing riddles, just as Solomon led off in the exchanges of genealogies and proverbs that took place at his court. Figure 5 depicts the answers to each of Marcolf’s riddles, as they are given in 6.6–9 and 6.16–20. For analogues to these riddles, see Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, pp. 196–99. Solomon’s lack of success in solving Marcolf’s riddles presumably arises from his lack of experiential knowledge. The solutions involve basic realities of peasant life: preparing food, raising crops, fighting off vermin, preparing a body for burial, and conceiving a child. Bakhtin observes that riddles can transform life’s most terrifying mysteries into a “gay and carefree” game (Rabelais, p. 233).

6.16 footpath. [B 2.1] The path apparently runs through the father’s crops. When he sets out thorns to deflect pedestrians from one harmful or destructive path, they trample another.

7.1–10 [B 2.2] The origins of Solomon’s wisdom and Marcolf’s cleverness. This intriguing etiological tale, nestled between the two parts of the riddling match, begins with Solomon’s demand for an explanation of the unexpected wit he discovers in this coarse rustic. Scholars have noted a mild anomaly in the narrative frame, in that Marcolf seems to arrive as a stranger to Solomon when the work opens, and now we have a flashback to a past in which Marcolf was present when Solomon’s mother prepared her son the vulture’s heart that gave him his extraordinary wisdom. That Barsebea roasted the heart on a piece of bread and “gave” it to Solomon to eat (L tibi comedere dedit, ME “yave you the herte to ete”), but only afterward threw the uneaten crust to Marcolf (L projecit, ME “kast at my hede”), suggests that Marcolf may simply have been a hungry boy lurking about the royal kitchen who received little attention from either Solomon or his mother and need not have been recog­nizable as an adult to his sovereign. Solomon denies the truth of Marcolf’s tale in 7.7, unsurprisingly preferring the biblical account in which his wisdom was God-given rather than a result of his mother’s sorcery (see 3 Kings 3:4–15). Marcolf makes up a number of self-serving fictions over the course of the work, and this one too may be a tall tale, not to be taken literally as part of the framing narrative. Marcolf’s hunger has symbolic resonance throughout the work, and in 8.17 he again implies that his hunger and his cleverness are related.

7.2 there was a yonge man his phisician. [B 2.2] The physicians of the Latin text (medici) become a single physician in ME.

8.2–3 pot of the same cowe be coveryd. [B 2.3] Here Solomon rashly offers a riddle of his own: he requests a pot of milk “covered” by the cow that produced the milk. Marcolf’s mother, Floscemya, readily offers a solution: she covers the milk with a flat cake (L placenta) or, in English, a flan, also prepared with the milk of the family cow. Marcolf discomfits Solomon with an alternate solution: a “drye bakyn cowe torde” also allows one to cover the jug of milk with the product of the same cow.

8.14–15 I commaunded not so to be done. . . Thus I undyrstode. [B 2.3] Solomon’s insistence and Marcolf’s rejoinder once again emphasize the difference in perspective between the two, the difficulties they face in communicating across contrastive discourses, and Marcolf’s deliberate exploitation of this gap in communication.

8.17 hungyr chaungyd wyt. [B 2.3] The ME translator may have chosen this literal rendition of "fames mutavit ingenium" as a way of acknowledging the Latin text’s play on the meanings of ingenium here and in 8.20 ("pro ipso ingenio"), where the word also applies to Marcolf and can mean either by his “wit” or by his “clever contrivance or stratagem” (see Cosquin, “Le Conte du chat,” pp. 390–91). For discussions of ingenium or cleverness as a controversial intellectual faculty, see Hanning, Individual in Twelfth-Century Romance, especially pp. 105–38, and Blamires, “Women and Creative Intelli­gence.” For Marcolf’s ingenium, contrasted with Solomon’s received wisdom, as a source of the dialogue’s unity and dynamism, see Bradbury, “Rival Wisdom.”

8.20 the pot I have thus coveryd wyth a cowe torde. [B 2.3] Marcolf has the last laugh in the riddling match, just as he prevails in 4.91ab at the end of the proverb contest. Solomon’s lack of success at posing his own riddle seems to arise from the same problem that impeded him in answering Marcolf’s riddles: he lacks sufficient awareness of the openness of language to multiple interpreta­tions as well as a knowledge of the gritty barnyard realities of peasant life. In envisioning an appetizing solution to the “covered by the same cow” riddle, Solomon thinks of the kind of milk-glazed delicacy someone prepares for him but not of the dung produced by the cow.

9.1–13.8 Propositions and proofs. Sections 9 through 13 [B 2.4–8] present a contest within a contest. Growing annoyed with Marcolf, Solomon condemns him to beheading if he cannot stay awake all night (9.1). Each time Solomon accuses him of sleeping, Marcolf responds with a proposition, and Solomon demands that he prove it, again on pain of death.

9.17 wery of waking. [B 2.4] After challenging Marcolf to stay awake all night in 9.1, at the end of the night Solomon grows “wery of waking,” just as he grew “wery of spekyng” at the end of the proverb contest (4.90a). In the hyperpolarized world of the Dialogue, the emphasis on Solomon’s weariness may imply that he represents an ancient, fixed, canonical tradition that is running out of precepts and out of energy, whereas Marcolf possesses the energy of newer discourses gaining ground over the course of the Middle Ages with their capacity to improvise, challenge authority, and foster change. See Corti, “Models and Antimodels in Medieval Culture,” and Bradbury, “Rival Wisdom.”

10.1 hys sustyr Fudasa. [B 2.5] The sister of Marcolf is first mentioned without name in the riddle contest as weeping over her unwed pregnancy (6.19–20); here she is given the name Fudasa (Fusada in Benary’s edition). As a result of the pregnancy, she is “thycker than she was of lenghthe” (12.4), and she also bears an unfortunate resemblance to Marcolf in the face (vysage, 12.5), much to Solomon’s amusement when he first sees her in 12.3. Marcolf’s face is caricatured in 2.2–5.

10.2 The king Salomon is ayenst me. [B 2.5] The ME translation of Marcolf’s state­ment, "Rex Salomon contrarius est mihi," conveys the primary meaning of the statement in context. Given the academic language of this section (the repe­tition of the verb probare [prove]), a possible secondary meaning is “King Solomon is contrary to me,” in the sense of an opposite or logical contrary, another reminder of the polarized nature of this entire dialogue between king and peasant and of the many oppositions the two represent. The importance of contraries, contradictions, and opposites in medieval literature has been the subject of extensive scholarship: see Solterer, Master and Minerva; Brown, Contrary Things; Kay, Courtly Contradictions; and Bouchard, “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted.”

11.5 he stumblyd at the panne and was nygh fallyn therin. [B 2.6] Solomon’s stumble causes him, in his own words, nearly to break his neck (11.8). The inversion of his words of wisdom in the proverb contest now becomes a literal near-inversion of his royal person. The comic upending (or the thrashing or uncrowning) of a king was for Bakhtin a carnivalesque image that offers a symbolic “element of victory” for the popular spirit over official forces of authority and intimidation, “the defeat of power, of earthly kings, of the earthly upper classes, of all that oppresses and restricts” (Rabelais, p. 92; see also pp. 197–208).

11.7 Juge egaly (i.e., “judge impartially”). [B 2.6] Solomon is of course famed for his just judgments, most notably that between the two women who claim to be the mother of the same child, mentioned at 4.5a and 16.1–4. As part of the comic inversion enacted by this work, Marcolf “schools” the king in what should be Solomon’s own virtues by asking him to rule justly (here and in 11.9) and with patience (12.23). In Benary’s edition (II.9), Marcolf implicitly chides Solomon for the lack of mercy [misericordia] shown to him at court. See 5.11 and 13.7 for more criticism of Solomon’s kingship.

12.20 thou doost alle thy thynges by crafte and subtyltye [B 2.7]. Solomon’s remark calls attention once again to Marcolf’s central characteristic, his amoral cleverness.

13 in the kinges house a catte . . . wont to holde . . . a brennyng kandell. [B 2.8–9] For Marcolf’s proof of the fifth and final proposition of this contest, that nature wins out over nurture, the author draws upon a widespread folktale that can also take the form of an exemplum or a proverb. For the dispersion of “the cat and the candle” motif, see Cosquin, “Le Conte du chat”; Beecher, ed., Dialogue of Solomon and Marcolphus, pp. 215–16n106; Ben-Amos, Folktales of the Jews, 1:397–404; and Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, pp. 217–18. In “The Story of the Cat and the Candle in Middle English Literature,” Braekman and Macaulay edit and comment on a related ME dialogue between “Kynd” [Nature] and “Nurtur,” in which Nurtur owns the carefully trained cat and tries to use it to “preve that nurtur passis kynd,” only to be refuted by Kynd, who employs a mouse in the same way that Marcolf does. (See also V. J. Scattergood, 'Debate between Nurture and Kynd' for the ME dialogue and some literary relations.) In the ME poem, found in London, British Library, MS Harley 541, fols. 212v–213r, the roles of Nurtur and Kynd correspond intriguingly to those represented by the two interlocutors in our prose dialogue. Solomon’s innumerable moral precepts and the schoolmasterish persona given him in the various versions of our dialogue make him ideally suited to defend the side of Nurtur, education or “lernyng,” as the ME translator calls it in 9.16 and 13.5. In contrast, Marcolf’s investment in nature (inborn qualities) over nurture (learned behavior) follows from his necessary reliance on his native wit in the absence of formal education. In our dialogue, Solomon carefully trains the cat and Marcolf takes advantage of its instincts and appetites.

13.8 Neythre so nor so shall the wyse Salomon of Marcolf be quyte. [B 2.8] Marcolf’s assertion that Solomon will never be rid of him reminds the reader of the persistence of the values for which Marcolf stands, including the needs, appetites, and instincts of the body and man’s necessary connection to the natural world. The ME translator does not render the epithet britone / bricone [rogue, scoundrel] applied to Marcolf in Leeu’s Latin text.

15.1–10 spytte not but upon the bare grownde. [B 2.10] Marcolf’s claim that his spit will benefit the bald man’s head by fertilizing it (making it “fat”) so that hair can grow echoes the language of 4.16b, his longest contribution to the proverb contest, where he stresses the fertilizing benefit that the waste products of an ass offer to a field.

15.12 Balydnesse is a flyes nest. [B 2.10] L muscarum ludibrium is literally ‘butt of jokes for flies.’ Ziolkowski notes that the attraction bald heads hold for flies is a familiar motif in fables (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 224).

15.15 And be it pease in thy vertu. [B 2.10] Psalm 121:7, “Let peace be in thy strength” ["Fiat pax in virtute tua"].

16.1–4 two women bryngyng wyth thaym a lyving chylde. [B 2.11] The famous judgment of Solomon between two women who lay claim to the same child, very much as narrated in 3 Kings 3:16–27. In 18.1–4 below, Marcolf deliberately misrepresents Solomon’s intentions toward the child as part of his campaign to make Solomon contradict his speech in praise of women.

17.3–7 Ye myghthe so be disceyved. [B 2.12] Here, as in the proverb contest, the two speakers trade conventional remarks in praise and blame of women. An excellent introduction to the primary sources of this ongoing medieval debate is Blamires, ed., Woman Defamed and Woman Defended. Versions of the saying that “Women can weep with one eye and laugh with the other” were pro­verbial in English (Whiting W538) and appear in Chaucer, Book of the Duchess, lines 633–34, and Robert Henryson, “The Testament of Cresseid” (Poems, ed. Elliott), lines 230–31. The other antifeminist sentiments Marcolf expresses here regarding women’s propensity for deceit and manipulation were also familiar in Latin and in the vernaculars. For ME examples, see Whiting W495, W498, W505, W508 and W532.

17.15–16 ‘weyke erthe’ or a ‘weyke thynge.’ [B 2.12] In Leeu’s Latin text, Solomon states that the word for woman, mulier, derives from mollis res [soft thing] (mollis aer [soft air] occurs in some manuscripts). The ME text renders mollis res with a doublet, “a ‘weyke erthe’ or a ‘weyke thynge.’” Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 228) notes that Isidore of Seville, following Varro, derived mulier from mollities [softness] in his vastly influential Etymologies. Marcolf retorts that mollis error [soft mistake] would be a more apt derivation.

17.26 thinkyth wyth his herte as he spekyth wyth his mowth. [B 2.12] The thought is related to Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” ["ex abundantia enim cordis os loquitur"].

17.28 or ye slepe ye shal dysprayse thaym. [B 2.12] Marcolf initiates the final verbal contest by boasting that Solomon will soon dispraise women as strongly as he praised them in 17.18–25. This last contest draws upon the ancient and medieval rhetorical practices of crafting arguments on both sides of an issue [in utramque partem] and composing elaborate speeches of praise and blame. Solomon will in fact deliver two more speeches on women, one of blame (21.1–7) and one of praise (23.4–10). The final speeches of blame and praise are a tissue of scriptural citations from Ecclesiasticus 25–26, quoted verbatim (or nearly so). Ecclesiasticus was attributed to Solomon in the Middle Ages, and thus the self-contradiction in which Marcolf traps Solomon in this dialogue also reveals self-contradiction in the supposed biblical writings of Solomon, another example of the work’s irreverent stance toward holy writ.

18.1–15 thou shalt have the one half of thy chylde and thy felawe the othre half . . . evyr man shall have vii wyves. [B 2.13] Marcolf’s account of Solomon’s planned injustices to women is of course a web of lies spun to goad his female subjects into rebellion against the king so that he will veer from extreme praise of women to equally extreme blame, as Marcolf has promised. The fictions Marcolf weaves in order to win this verbal contest resemble the earlier deceptions he practiced in order to exasperate his sister Fudasa into breaking her promise, thereby supporting Marcolf’s contention that a woman’s word cannot be trusted. That Solomon can only quote the culture’s central canonical text while Marcolf improvises amoral but imaginative new fictions situates the two speakers at the extremes of yet another polarity.

18.14 many great inconvenyencys shall growe thereof. [B 2.13] A softened version of the Latin "una preparabit alteri venenum" [one will prepare poison against the other].

19.4 vi thousand women. [B 2.14] Leeu’s Latin text reads septem milia mulierum [seven thousand women]. The ME print reads vi. Mi., presumably a typesetting error.

20.7 Wherefore do ye unryght? [B 2.15] The criticism of Solomon’s kingship by his infuriated female subjects echoes Marcolf’s own earlier reproofs in 5.11, 11.7, and 13.7 above. Even one of Solomon’s loyal councilors joins this chorus of criticism in 22.1–3.

20.10 For there is not that prynce . . . but that oon woman alone shall now fullfylle alle his desyres and wylle. [B 2.15] Leeu’s Latin text seems to mean that no man is so wealthy or powerful that he could fulfill in [even] one single wife [all] her desires ["qui uni soli uxori suas impleat voluntates"]. How then will he handle multiple wives? The ME text assigns the desires to the man but keeps to the point that one wife is enough for any man: no man is so wealthy or powerful that his desires cannot be met by a single woman.

20.13 youre sentences ben false and unrightfull. [B 2.15] ME “sentences” = L sentencie; in context the primary meaning is Solomon’s judicial sentences or royal proclamations, but in both languages “sentences” also applies to the prov­erbial wisdom spoken by Solomon in the proverb contest and throughout the dialogue. Since Solomon’s reputation rests on his excellence in both areas, Marcolf tricks the women into verbalizing a direct attack on Solomon’s standing as just king and wisdom figure.

20.15 now this Salomon werst of alle. [B 2.15] Another direct hit at Solomon’s prestige is this attack on his patriarchal lineage. Just as Marcolf parodies the solemn series of “begats” recited by Solomon in 4.2a by rehearsing a disreputable list of his own mock-ancestors in 4.2b, so these angry women invert the positive force of Solomon’s royal genealogy by claiming that King Saul was evil, King David worse, and King Solomon worst of all.

21.1–7 There is no hede more worse. . . wyckyd woman. [B 2.16] As our biblical citations indicate, Solomon’s attack on women is drawn mainly from Ecclesiasticus 25–26, beginning with 25:22–23, “There is no head worse than the head of a serpent: And there is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman” ["Non est caput nequius super caput colubri, et non est ira super iram mulieris. Commorari leoni et draconi placebit, quam habitare cum muliere nequam"].

21.2–3 cursydnesse of a shrewd woman . . . sande fallyth in the shoes. [B 2.16] Ecclesiasticus 25:26–27, “All malice is short to the malice of a woman, let the lot of sinners fall upon her. As the climbing of a sandy way is to the feet of the aged, so is a wife full of tongue to a quiet man” ["Brevis omnis malitia super malitiam mulieris; sors peccatorum cadat super illam. Sicut ascensus arenosus in pedibus veterani, sic mulier linguata homini quieto"].

21.4 That wyf that is hir husbondes maister is evyr contrarye to hym. [B 2.16] Ecclesi­asticus 25:30, “A woman, if she have superiority, is contrary to her husband” ["Mulier si primatum habeat, contraria est viro suo"].

21.5 An evyl wyf makyth a pacient herte. [B 2.16] Ecclesiasticus 25:31, “A wicked woman abateth the courage, and maketh a heavy countenance, and a wounded heart” ["Cor humile, et facies tristis, et plaga cordis, mulier nequam"].

21.6 begynnyng of synne, and through hire we dye alle. [B 2.16] Ecclesiasticus 25:33, “From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” ["A muliere initium factum est peccati, et per illam omnes morimur"]. At this point, Leeu’s Latin print inserts two lines from Ecclesiasticus 26:8–9; these verses are missing in the ME text: "Dolor cordis et luctus mulier zelotypa. In muliere zelotypa flagellum linguae, omnibus communicans" [A jealous woman is the grief and mourning of the heart. With a jealous woman is a scourge of the tongue which commun­icateth with all].

21.7 The woman that is luxuriouse. [B 2.16] The adjective luxuriouse [lustful] renders the implications of L fornicatio. Ecclesiasticus 26:12–14, “The fornication of a woman shall be known by the haughtiness of her eyes, and by her eyelids. . . . Take heed of the impudence of her eyes, and wonder not if she slight thee” ["Fornicatio mulieris in extollentia oculorum, et in palpebris illius agnoscetur. . . . Ab omni irreverentia oculorum ejus cave, et ne mireris si te neglexerit"].

22.5–6 Now have ye spokyn aftyr myn intent. . . alwayes ye make my saying trewe. [B 2.17] Marcolf declares victory over Solomon in their last major verbal contest.

22.9 Betwixt the yes. [B 2.17] Betwixt the yes [Between the eyes] = L in mediis oculis. Repeated in 24.1, the idiom “to see someone ‘amidst’ or ‘between’ the eyes” receives an interesting twist in the punchline to this jest in 24.12.

23.5–10 [B 2.18] Solomon’s praise of women. Like his attack in 21, his praise is a tissue of verses from Ecclesiasticus 26:3, 16–19, 21–24, some cited verbatim, some only approximate. The ME translator gives the general sense of the passage rather than a close translation. Our punctuation of the Latin text follows the Bible, insofar as it is possible.

23.5–6 For a good wyf makyth hyr husbande glad and blythe . . . a parte the lyvyng of hyre husbond. [B 2.18] Compare Ecclesiasticus 26:3, “A good wife is a good portion, she shall be given in the portion of them that fear God, to a man for his good deeds” ["Pars bona mulier bona, in parte timentium Deum dabitur viro pro factis bonis"].

23.6–7 hyr lernyng advauntagyth or forthryth hys body. She is a yifte of God. [B 2.18] The ME text follows the Latin in making disciplina the subject of impinguabit [will fatten]. L disciplina here is “discipline” rather than “lernyng,” as is clear from Ecclesiasticus 26:16–17, “The grace of a diligent woman shall delight her husband, and shall fat his bones. Her discipline is the gift of God” ["gratia mulieris sedulae delectabit virum suum, et ossa illius impinguabit. Disciplina illius datum Dei est"].

23.7 A wyse wyf and a stylle is a grace aboven graces. [B II.18] The line telescopes Ecclesiasticus 26:18–19, “Such is a wise and silent woman, and there is nothing so much worth as a well instructed soul. A holy and shamefaced woman is grace upon grace” ["Mulier sensata et tacita; non est inmutatio eruditae animae. Gratia super gratiam mulier sancta et pudorata"].

23.8–10 the sonne clymmyng up to God. . . ornament or apparayle of the house. . . lyght shynyng bryghther. . . lyke the goolden pyller. . . the commandemantys of God evyr in hyr mynde [B 2.18]. Ecclesiasticus 26:21–24, “As the sun when it riseth to the world in the high places of God, so is the beauty of a good wife for the ornament of her house. As the lamp shining upon the holy candlestick, so is the beauty of the face in a ripe age. As golden pillars upon bases of silver, so are the firm feet upon the soles of a steady woman. As everlasting foundations upon a solid rock, so the commandments of God in the heart of a holy woman” ["Sicut sol oriens mundo in altissimis Dei, sic mulieris bonae species in ornamentum domus ejus. Lucerna splendens super candelabrum sanctum, et species faciei super aetatem stabilem. Columnae aureae super bases argenteas, et pedes firmi super plantas stabilis mulieris. Fundamenta aeterna super petram solidam, et mandata Dei in corde mulieris sanctae"].

24.2–3 a great snowe. [B 2.19] This heavy snowfall, accepted as a matter of course by Solomon and his councilors, is incongruous with the supposed setting in biblical Jerusalem but consistent with Marcolf’s identity as a European peasant. Clearly the sieve and bear paw, like the reversed shoes, are meant to confuse Solomon and his men as they hunt Marcolf, tracking him like an animal. Why he chooses a sieve and bear paw in particular is not explained, but the use of one very human implement and one animal paw suggests the ambiguity of Marcolf’s humanity evident from the opening description of him, with its many animal comparisons. The repeated application of the word beste to Marcolf emphasizes this ambiguity: “lyke a beste” (24.3), “a merveylous beste” (24.5), “the sayd wondrefull beeste” (24.6).

24.8 Hys vysage from hymwardes. [B 2.19] That is, the bent-over Marcolf faces away from Solomon, who is thus confronted with “hys arshole and alle hys othre fowle gere.” Without spoiling the joke, the ME text bowdlerizes mildly the corresponding Latin text: "nates, et culus, et curgulio, et testiculi" [cheeks, and arsehole, and penis, and testicles]. Citing J. N. Adams, The Latin Sexual Vocabulary (London: Duckworth, 1982), pp. 33–34, Ziolkowski (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 240) notes that curculio [corn weevil] is used of the penis in Persius, Satires 4.38. The Venetian vernacular print edited by Quinto Marini bowd­lerizes this passage in a manner similar to the ME text: “le nateghe, el culo e li membra deshoneste” (Il dialogo di Salomone e Marcolfo, p. 135).

25.2–6 yeve me leve to chose the tre wherupon that I shalle hange. [B 2.20] Marcolf’s last jest, yet another verbal quibble, saves his life.

25.7-8 And thus he askapyd out of the dawnger and handes of King Salomon. [B 2.20] Benary’s text ends with the Latin equivalent of this statement: "Et sic Marcolfus evasit manus regis Salomonis." Ziolkowski aptly calls this abrupt ending “the opposite of closure” (Solomon and Marcolf, p. 6); Marcolf simply escapes from his most recent predicament. Interestingly, texts in the print tradition add another clause to give not just closure but a happy ending to Marcolf’s adventures: "Post hoc domum remeans quievit in pace" (“And turnyd ayen unto hys howse, and levyd in pease and joye”), the “joye” an addition on the part of the ME translator. The prayer for the salvation of the author and reader appended to the ME text is a common addition to the endings of nonreligious texts such as metrical romances.

Abbreviations: see Explanatory Notes

The typographical errors silently corrected in the text are listed below with our correction first and then the reading in Leeu’s print. Misset letters in the Middle English text (either overturned or reversed) are indicated by italics.

Webmaster's note: The 5 Latin notes have been integrated into the list of Middle English emendations.

Title betwixt: betwxt

Incipit but (overturned u)

2.1 This: Thls

2.5 of a goet: ef a goet

3.4 yren (overturned n)

3.5 She: Se

4.1b thereto: thereo
declare you (overturned u)

4.2b Rustum (overturned u)

4.2c that gat: tha gat

4.3a altercacion: altercacon

4.4a answere: vnswere
Latin 4.4a nominatissimus: nominatissimua

4.6a yave: yawe

4.8b potfull (overturned u)

4.10a shal be: shabbe
Latin 4.10a ipsa: ipsam

4.19b an axe (overturned n)

4.21b his: is

4.25a stronge: strõgr
thou: thau

4.27a thou (overturned u)

4.28b the bren: te bren

4.32a maister: maist

4.32b that she: thath she
hath: hat

4.34a counsell (overturned u)

4.38b more: moee

4.42a the wycked: he wycked

4.42b bothe (overturned h)

4.43a he beggyd: be heggyd

4.50a and (overturned n)

4.51b the oke: te oke

4.52a therefore: trefore

4.55a bellys: beliys

4.62a shewyth (overturned h)

4.64a mercyfull: meycyfull

4.65a the wolf: te wolf

4.74a Juda: Iuda (overturned u)
me: ñ

4.78b shepherde: shephde

4.82b wyves: wyues (overturned u)

4.83a S: Salo (overturned S)

4.90a spekyng (overturned n)

5.1 Marcolf (overturned r)
governaunce: gouernañee
kynges: kyges

5.6 Nenthur (overturned n)
Latin 5.6 Hommia: bommia

5.9 than (overturned n)

5.10 Tho: To

5.11 king: kipg

6.1 and fortunyd (overturned n)

6.6 declyned: declynedy

6.8 demaunded (overturned n)

7.4 feyre: fayre

8.2 lengyr (overturned n)

8.17 chaungyd: chamigyd

8.19 anoynted: anyonted

9.2 Marcolph: maccolph (first occurrence)

9.4 thou (overturned u)

9.9 to rowte: te rowte

9.10 th’erthe: therhe

9.11 Ye: Ie

9.14 shal be: shalne (overturned and reversed n for b)

9.16 Marcolph: Marcoph

10.2 injuries (overturned u)

10.4 in any wyse (overturned n)

10.6 than: tha

10.7 retournyd (overturned u, overturned n)

11.1 illumined (overturned u)

11.2 in his tayle (overturned n)
nombredyd: nombredys

11.4 and closyd (overturned n)

11.9 Nevyrthelesse: Nevyrhtelesse

12.5 fote: bote

12.6 of: af

12.11 bothe: bote

12.12 Marcolph: Marcoph

Latin 12.13 Fudasa: Fudasia

12.14 parte: parthe

12.16 Fudasa: omitted
Latin 12.16 Fudasa: Fudasia

13.4 she (second occurrence): he

13.8 thus (overturned u)

15.3 Marcolf: Marcof

15.8 Salomon: Saolmon

15.11 aught (overturned u)
but (overturned u)

15.14 ballyd: bailyd

15.15 vertu (overturned u)
shal: shai

16.4 naturall modyr: naturall bodyr
yeve: jeve

17.6 but (overturned u)

17.10 suche (overturned u)

17.19 withoute: whitoute

17.23 dilectacioun: dilectacõn

or joye: of joye

17.25 withhoute: whithoute

18.1 Marcolphus: Marcolphue

18.3 Marcolph: Marcoph

18.5 Marcolph: Marcoph

18.11 What shall than (overturned n)

18.13 The othyr shall nowe: The othyr shall mowe
They shal nowe: They shal mowe
maydenhede: mayndehede

19.4 so: se

20.2 to you: tho you

20.3 as many as: as asmany as

20.6 She answeryd: omitted

20.7 thane (overturned n)

20.9 nowe: mowe

20.10 now: mow

20.13 reason (overturned n)
and unrightfull (overturned n)

20.14 skorne (overturned n)

21.1 dwelle: dvelle

21.2 lytyl to: lytyl tho

21.4 hir: hlr

21.5 is as: it as

22.9 no more: nomere

23.8 condicyons (overturned c)

23.10 fundament (overturned u)
wythoute (overturned u)

23.11 you and (overturned n)
kynderede: kyndrebede

24.1 Marcolph: Marcoph

24.3 in the (overturned n)
that stode: tyat stode

24.5 a merveylous beste: & merveylous beste

24.6 beeste and (overturned n)

24.8 Marcolphus: Marcolpus
he myght: be myght

24.12 commaunded (overturned u)

25.2 will: well

25.4 thens (overturned n)
Jericho: ierirho