kyng Philip of Macedone._
lxxxvi.

+ There came a begger to kyng Philip of Macedone on a tyme, and prayde
the kyng to gyue hym some what; and farther he sayde he was his kynse
man. And whan the kyng asked hym which way, he answered and sayde howe
they came bothe of Adam. Than the kynge commanded to gyue hym an almes.
Whan the begger sawe it was but a small pece of moneye, he sayde, that
was nat a semely gyfte for a kynge. The kynge answered: if I shuld gyue
euery manne so moche, that is my kynse manne lyke as thou arte, I shulde
leaue nothynge for my selfe.[271]

+ _Of Dantes answere to the iester._ lxxxvii.

+ Dantes the poete dwelled a whyle with Can, the Prince de la
Scale,[272] with whome also dwelled an other Florentyne, that hadde
neyther lernynge nor prudence, and was a man mete for nothynge but to
scoffe and ieste; but yet with his mery toyes, he so moued the sayd Can,
that he dydde greatly enryche hym. And, bycause Dantes dispised his
foolysshenes, this scoffer sayd to hym: how cometh it, Dantes, that thou
art helde[273] so wyse and so well lerned, and yet arte poore and nedy?
I am an vnlerned man and am an ignorant fole, and yet I am farre richer
than thou art. To whom Dantes answered: if I may fynde a lord lyke and
conformable to my maners, as thou hast founde to thyn, he wyll lyke wyse
make me ryche.

FOOTNOTES:

[271] In _Chevraeana_, premiere partie, Paris, 1697, 8vo. p. 119, this
story is altered to suit the Emperor Maximilian I.

[272] See Balbo, _Vita di Dante_, edit. 1853. Can de la Scala, mentioned
in the text, was one of the sons of Alberto de la Scala, Lord of Verona,
and was born in 1292. Some account of Alberto de la Scala may be found
in my _Venetian History_.

The anecdote related here probably refers to the earlier period of
Dante's acquaintance with the prince, about A. D. 1318-20. Balbo does
not seem to have thought this story worthy of notice, though he
furnishes one or two other examples of the poet's powers of retort. See
also Cinthio's _Hecatommithi, Deca Settima, Novella settima_, edit.
1608.

+ _Of hym that had sore eyes._[274] lxxxviii.

+ One, that had sore eies, was warned of the phisitian, that he shulde
in any wyse forbeare drinking or els lose his eies: to whom he sayd: it
is more pleasure for me to lose myne eies with drinkynge, than to kepe
them for wormes to eate them oute.

By this tale ye may perceyue, that it auayleth nat to warne some for
th