-
"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. This, however,
Paulin Paris seems to have excluded finally, by calling attention to the
peculiar formula of preamble which is common to the Book of Marco Polo and
to one of the Romance compilations of Rusticien de Pise.
The former will be found in English at pp. 1, 2, of our Translation; but
we give a part of the original below[14] for comparison with the preamble
to the Romances of Meliadus, Tristan, and Lancelot, as taken from MS. 6961
(Fr. 340) of the Paris Library: -
"Seigneurs Empereurs et Princes, Ducs et Contes et Barons et Chevaliers
et Vavasseurs et Bourgeois, et tous les preudommes de cestui monde qui
avez talent de vous deliter en rommans, si prenez cestui (livre) et le
faites lire de chief en chief, si orrez toutes les grans aventure qui
advindrent entre les Chevaliers errans du temps au Roy Uter Pendragon,
jusques a le temps au Roy Artus son fils, et des compaignons de la Table
Ronde. Et sachiez tout vraiment que cist livres fust translatez du livre
Monseigneur Edouart le Roy d'Engleterre en cellui temps qu'il passa
oultre la mer au service nostre Seigneur Damedieu pour conquester le
Sant Sepulcre, et Maistre Rusticiens de Pise, lequel est ymaginez yci
dessus,[15] compila ce rommant, car il en translata toutes les
merveilleuses nouvelles et aventures qu'il trouva en celle livre et
traita tout certainement de toutes les aventures du monde, et si sachiez
qu'il traitera plus de Monseigneur Lancelot du Lac, et Mons'r Tristan le
fils au Roy Meliadus de Leonnoie que d'autres, porcequ'ilz furent sans
faille les meilleurs chevaliers qui a ce temps furent en terre; et li
Maistres en dira de ces deux pluseurs choses et pluseurs nouvelles que
l'en treuvera escript en tous les autres livres; et porce que le
Maistres les trouva escript au Livre d'Engleterre."
[Illustration: Palazzo di S Giorgio Genoa]
"Certainly," Paulin Paris observes, "there is a singular analogy between
these two prefaces. And it must be remarked that the formula is not an
ordinary one with translators, compilers, or authors of the 13th and 14th
centuries. Perhaps you would not find a single other example of it."[16]
This seems to place beyond question the identity of the Romance-compiler
of Prince Edward's suite in 1270, and the Prisoner of Genoa in 1298.
[Sidenote: Further particulars concerning Rustician.]
42. In Dunlop's History of Fiction a passage is quoted from the preamble
of Meliadus, as set forth in the Paris printed edition of 1528, which
gives us to understand that Rusticien de Pise had received as a reward for
some of his compositions from King Henry III. the prodigal gift of two
chateaux. I gather, however, from passages in the work of Paulin Paris
that this must certainly be one of those confusions of persons to which I
have referred before, and that the recipient of the chateaux was in
reality Helye de Borron, the author of some of the originals which
Rustician manipulated.[17] This supposed incident in Rustician's scanty
history must therefore be given up.
We call this worthy Rustician or Rusticiano, as the nearest probable
representation in Italian form of the Rusticien of the Round-Table MSS.
and the Rustacians of the old text of Polo. But it is highly probable
that his real name was Rustichello, as is suggested by the form
Rustichelus in the early Latin version published by the Societe de
Geographie. The change of one liquid for another never goes for much in
Italy,[18] and Rustichello might easily Gallicize himself as Rusticien. In
a very long list of Pisan officials during the Middle Ages I find several
bearing the name of Rustichello or Rustichelli, but no Rusticiano or
Rustigiano.[19]
