Le roman de la rose

do not hide themselves, he would perhaps have been tolerated. But he attacks them too sharply and in terms too harsh at Verse 9575, volume 1. They therefore felt shocked by this outrage committed against their sex, and resolved one day to punish him for it. As soon as they perceived him in the King's Apartments, they armed themselves with rods and urged the Lords who were present to have him stripped. He told them that there was no need for violence, that he would willingly obey; but that he asked for a favor that could not be refused: I have spoken, he told them, only of wicked women; you can judge this well by the terms I used: And I do not perceive here any of those I attacked. I see only Ladies who are beautiful, wise, and virtuous: however, I am quite willing that the one among you who finds herself offended should begin to strike me. This honor is due to her as the worst of those I have blamed. Not one wished to have the glory of giving the first blow: And by this poor Jean de Meun got himself neatly out of the affair. This gave pleasure to the Lords of

the Court, who did not fail to enjoy it, because each one knew someone who could have started.

Jean de Meun also wrote many other works, among others a Translation of the book of the Consolation by Boethius, another of the Letters of Abelard; a small work on the Responses of the Sibyls: it is a very ingenious kind of game, where one finds witty answers to many proposed questions. It has been renewed in recent times. There are still others over which I do not wish to extend my jurisdiction.

And if it is true that he still lived in 1364, it was doubtless the reward he received in this world by a long life for having so naively made known the hypocrisy of his time. One cannot however approve of what he did at his death. He should have respected himself in such a decisive moment. He chose by his Will the Church of the Jacobins, or Dominicans of the rue Saint-Jacques in Paris, for the place of his burial; and out of gratitude bequeathed them a chest filled with precious things, as could