First, that
Sol is "the Sun" in both Venetian and Provencal; and, secondly, that in
the French of that age the prepositional sign is not necessary to the
genitive. Thus, in Pauthier's own text we find in one of the passages
quoted above, "Le Livre Alexandre, i.e. Liber Alexandri;" elsewhere,
"Cazan le fils Argon," "a la mere sa femme," "Le corps Monseigneur
Saint Thomas si est en ceste Province;" in Joinville, "le commandemant
Mahommet" "ceux de la Haulequa estoient logiez entour les heberges le
soudanc, et establiz pour le cors le soudanc garder;" in Baudouin de
Sebourc, "De l'amour Bauduin esprise et enflambee."
Moreover it is the TREE OF THE SUN that is prominent in the legendary
History of Alexander, a fact sufficient in itself to rule the reading. A
character in an old English play says: -
"Peregrine. Drake was a didapper to Mandevill:
Candish and Hawkins, Frobisher, all our Voyagers
Went short of Mandevil. But had he reached
To this place - here - yes, here - this wilderness,
And seen the Trees of the Sun and Moon, that speak
And told King Alexander of his death;
He then
Had left a passage ope to Travellers
That now is kept and guarded by Wild Beasts."
(Broome's Antipodes, in Lamb's Specimens.)
The same trees are alluded to in an ancient Low German poem in honour of
St. Anno of Cologne. Speaking of the Four Beasts of Daniel's Vision:
