Solomon and Marcolf

Ziolkowski, Jan M. Solomon and Marcolf. Harvard University Press: Cambridege, MA and London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-674-02842-5. (Softback)
By Hannah Hahn
The text Salomon et Marcolfus is written in Medieval Latin and has two parts. The first contains a dialogue between King Solomon, of Biblical fame, and a peasant called Marcolfus, who answers Solomon proverb for proverb until the king gives up. The second part is a narrative that is not completely synched with the previous dialogue in terms of personal details, giving rise to the theory that the two parts came down separately and eventually were put together. The narrative covers the first meeting of Solomon and Marcolf in Marcolf’s family cottage, at which time Solomon ‘invites’ Marcolf to court, where the subsequent episodes take place. Their following interactions mostly consist of Marcolf outsmarting Solomon, the so-called wise and just ruler.
Solomon and Marcolf by Jan M. Ziolkowski is an intriguing and comprehensive look at the Medieval Latin text. The Latin text replicated within is taken from another translation by one Benary, who doesn’t appear in the Bibliography. The Latin is presented side by side with the English translation, which appears to be fairly accurate, followed by the author’s commentary. The commentary follows the text line by line and explains translation choices and sources as well as choice entertaining bits of trivia. The commentary is extremely well researched, using sources from at least four different languages. It also provides context, both linguistically and culturally, which helps the reader to understand more of what the text is saying.
As I am a student of Classical Latin, there are some differences in the text that I noticed. For the most part, I could follow the Medieval Latin of the text; however, there were parts that threw me. For example, mihi had changed to michi and nihil to nichil. Sepe replaced saepe and in yma apparently meant ‘to the bottom’.
There were certain passages, especially in Part One, which I found to be particularly entertaining. For example, 1.26 reads “Solomon: ‘Between good and wicked people the house is filled.’ Marcolf: ‘Between ass-wipes and shit the privy is filled’” The philosophical takes on this response are staggering. If taken in order, good people are ass-wipes and wicked people are shit. The privy refers to the house, which refers to the world. This seems to indicate a pessimistic view of the world that agrees with other places in the text where Marcolf lends his point of view.
Line 1.101a, “He who answers before he hears will be proven a fool” reminds me of all those game show contestants who hit the buzzer before the host finishes the question and end up completely screwing up their answers.
Included in the commentary are references to several texts which sound intriguing. One of them, the anonymous text De Coniuge Non Ducenda, edited by A.G. Rigg (1986), provides a couplet:
A drip, the smoke, a wife – these three
Compel a man his house to flee.
Another, ‘Curious Word Origins: Sayings and Expressions from White Elephants to a Song and Dance’ by Charles Earle Funk (1993), is one that I’ll have to find because I am a word geek. Finally, the author references his own book, ‘Fairy Tales from Before Fairy Tales: The Medieval Latin Past of Wonderful Lies’ (2007) which also sounds right up my alley.
Over all, this book was long and repetitive, but provided some interesting reading. It offers in addition bonus features in the appendices, including a translation from Welsh, an alternate beginning and several alternate endings.

Hannah Hahn is working on a double major in Classics and Linguistics at Western Washington University.