Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/604

 600 Curry curam habebat crines (alendo) abundantes et corpori infricando medicamenta, denique quamvis rem (colendo) quae libidinis et coitus desiderium excitat. Vox eius mulierum voci similis fuit. . . Forma tali praeditus ioco utebatur ludibrioso et quidquid animo volvebat facere solebat. Linguam Graecam et eius loquelam edoctus hac maxime uti solebat. . . Urbes et fora circumibat homines congregans ut malum ostenderet et iniquitatem quaereret. Insuper incantator astutissimus erat et praestigias profitebatur, hominibus praedicans se vivos et mortuos; qua re homines adeo inducebat ut multae mulierum et virorum turbae eum adirent. Viris autem persuadebat se posse feminas cogere ut ad eos venirent nee minus ut viri ad feminas; quae dum ex occulto proloque- batur confirmabat. Summus in male faciendo doctor erat, letiferorum veneno- rum species colligebat. Ac totius eius ingenii summa in aliqua harum rerum posita erat. . . Ubi igitur oculos initio huius disputationis a me descriptos videris, eorum possessorem eunuchorum similem reperies. Analysis of this particular passage reveals a marked simi- larity in the characters, modes of thought, and bodily charac- teristics of Favorinus and Chaucer's Pardoner. Indeed the parallelism is so close that it may well seem as if Chaucer must have had this particular account, or perhaps one of the wide- spread anonymous versions of it, before him as he wrote. The eyes of Favorinus are wide-open and shining or glittering like marble, his neck is long and thin, his voice like that of a woman, and he takes great pride in his abundantly long hair to which, as to his whole body, he makes frequent applications of oint- ments; the eyes of the Pardoner are glaring like those of a hare, he stretches forth his thin neck like a dove on a barn, and he is so inordinately proud of his long, perfectly straight hair- probably greased to make it hand smooth that he prefers simply a cap to the regular hood of his profession. 35 Favorinus is, moreover, sensual, lustful, and dissolute above all measure; the Pardoner is lecherous at least in thought and imagination and a typical tavern reveler. 36 The former speaks Greek in his public harangues; the latter "saffrons" his "predicaciouns" with Latin in order to stir men to devotion. 37 Both rascals possess a remarkable knowledge of mob-psychology: crowds of men and women throng the forums and public places where Favorinus pursues his nefarious practices; thousands of inno- cent people flock to hear the Pardoner's sermons and to behold his marvelous relics of saints. The Sophist is a most astute 35 Cf. C. T., A. 675. 36 C. T., C. 452. 37 C. T., C. 345 ff.