The Emperor's answer is: "I should say that the King Meliadus was the
better man, and I will tell you why I say so. As far as I can see,
everything that Tristan did was done for Love, and his great feats would
never have been done but under the constraint of Love, which was his spur
and goad. Now that never can be said of King Meliadus! For what deeds he
did, he did them not by dint of Love, but by dint of his strong right arm.
Purely out of his own goodness he did good, and not by constraint of
Love." "It will be seen," remarks on this Paulin Paris, "that we are here
a long way removed from the ordinary principles of Round Table Romances.
And one thing besides will be manifest, viz., that Rusticien de Pise was
no Frenchman!"[10]
The same discretion is shown even more prominently in a passage of one of
his compilations, which contains the romances of Arthur, Gyron, and
Meliadus (No. 6975 - see last note but one): -
"No doubt," Rustician says, "other books tell the story of the Queen
Ginevra and Lancelot differently from this; and there were certain
passages between them of which the Master, in his concern for the honour
of both those personages, will say not a word." Alas, says the French
Bibliographer, that the copy of Lancelot, which fell into the hands of
poor Francesca of Rimini, was not one of those expurgated by our worthy
friend Rustician![11]
[Sidenote: Identity of the Romance Compiler with Polo's fellow-prisoner.]
41. A question may still occur to an attentive reader as to the identity
of this Romance-compiler Rusticien de Pise with the Messire Rustacians de
Pise, of a solitary MS. of Polo's work (though the oldest and most
authentic), a name which appears in other copies as Rusta Pisan, Rasta
Pysan, Rustichelus Civis Pisanus, Rustico, Restazio da Pisa, Stazio da
Pisa, and who is stated in the preamble to have acted as the Traveller's
scribe at Genoa.
M. Pauthier indeed[12] asserts that the French of the MS. Romances of
Rusticien de Pise is of the same barbarous character as that of the early
French MS. of Polo's Book to which we have just alluded, and which we
shall show to be the nearest presentation of the work as originally
dictated by the Traveller. The language of the latter MS. is so peculiar
that this would be almost perfect evidence of the identity of the writers,
if it were really the fact. A cursory inspection which I have made of two
of those MSS. in Paris, and the extracts which I have given and am about
to give, do not, however, by any means support M. Pauthier's view. Nor
would that view be consistent with the judgment of so competent an
authority as Paulin Paris, implied in his calling Rustician a nom
recommandable in old French literature, and his speaking of him as
"versed in the secrets of the French Romance Tongue."[13] In fact the
difference of language in the two cases would really be a difficulty in
the way of identification, if there were room for doubt.
![The Travels Of Marco Polo - Volume 1 Of 2 By Marco Polo And Rustichello Of Pisa
- Amen.[9]
In a passage of these compilations the Emperor Charlemagne is asked
whether in his judgment King Meliadus or - Page 125](../images/travel.jpg)
