John of Alta Silva (french: Jean de Haute-Seille, la, Iohannes de Alta Silva) was a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monk who lived at the in the late 12th century. He wrote a version of the story of the

Seven Wise Masters The ''Seven Wise Masters'' (also called the ''Seven Sages'' or ''Seven Wise Men'') is a cycle of stories of Sanskrit, Persian or Hebrew origins. Story and plot The Sultan sends his son, the young Prince, to be educated away from the court in th ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

prose entitled ''De rege et septem sapientibus'' (On the King and the Seven Sages), but better known by the title it was later given, ''Dolopathos''.Veronica Koven-Matasy, "John of Alta Silva", in Richard F. Thomas and Jan M. Ziolkowski (eds.), ''The Virgil Encyclopedia'' (Wiley Online, 2014). All that is known of John is what he relates in the preface of his work.Brady B. Gilleland
"Introduction"
''Dolopathos, or The King and the Seven Wise Men'' (Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1981), pp. vii–xix. John was educated in

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

and

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

. He was familiar with the

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and his story is packed with quotations from both, including the actual Virgil and

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Jessie Crosland Jessie Crosland (; 17 November 187916 June 1973) was a scholar of medieval French literature, Lecturer in French at Westfield College. Life Jessie Raven was the youngest daughter of the Plymouth Brethren preacher Frederick Edward Raven (18371903). ...

(1956), "''Dolopathos'' and the Seven Sages of Rome", ''Medium Ævum'' 25(1): 1–12. He dedicated his work to his bishop,

Bertram of Metz Bertram, born Berthold (died 6 April 1212), was a Saxon nobleman, jurist and prelate of the Holy Roman Empire. Praised by contemporaries for his education, his expertise was in Roman law. He was the elected archbishop of Bremen from 1178 until 1179 ...

, who governed that diocese from 1180 until 1212. John's version, which he calls an '' opusculum'' (little work), is quite different from later Western versions of the Seven Masters. In his version,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

is ruled by a king named Dolopathos at the time when

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

was Roman emperor. Dolopathos sends his son, Lucinius, to be educated by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, both poet and sorcerer in this story. When the fourteen-year-old prince is summoned whom following his mother's death, Virgil orders him not to speak a word until they meet again. His stepmother attempts to seduce him and, when he rejects her advances, falsely accuses him of rape, whereupon Dolopathos condemns his son to death. (This episode is similar to the story of

Phaedra Phaedra may refer to: Mythology * Phaedra (mythology), Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus Arts and entertainment * ''Phaedra'' (Alexandre Cabanel), an 1880 painting Film * ''Phaedra'' (film), a 1962 film by ...

Potiphar's wife Potiphar's wife is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. She was the wife of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard in the time of Jacob and his twelve sons. According to the Book of Genesis, she falsely accused Joseph of attempted r ...

.) This is all a

frame story A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

for the series of seven stories that follow. The king postpones the execution one day for each day that a sage appears to tell a story. Virgil appears last and attacks the queen. Dolopathos then releases his son and executes the queen. In the end, Lucinius converts to Christianity. The

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French (''langue d'oïl'') form of the ''langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet- ...

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...

produced an

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

verse rendition of John's ''Dolopathos'', albeit with some changes introduced from other traditions.

Editions

''Dolopathos, or The King and the Seven Wise Men''
Translated by Brady B. Gilleland. Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1981.

References

{{reflist 12th-century Latin writers 12th-century Christian monks Cistercians