Gualteri Mapes De nugis curialium distinctiones quinque / Edited, from the unique manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, by Thomas Wright, Esq.

Walter Map

Date:: 1850

Credit: Gualteri Mapes De nugis curialium distinctiones quinque / Edited, from the unique manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, by Thomas Wright, Esq. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$sint. Unde tristes hypocritae, leeti semper deicolae. Judex qui dicit bonum malum et malum bonum aequaliter satis secundum se mo- destus est molestis; et etiam fit tam continue laetitiae bonis inhabi- tatio Spiritus Sancti causa, moestitioe malis inflatio squalidi ser- pentis, qui dum aberrat pectus prava pensantis allia sibi nociva compilat, quae comedendo delectant, comesta foetent; haec allia nobis in terra potissimum ille propinat qui nobis invidit ab initio. Cujus delectat decupla displicet Dominum disciplina. Q-uid autem est quod a pristina forma viribus et virtute facti sumus degeneres, caetera quaeque viventia nullatenus a prima deviant donorum gratia. Creatus est Adam statura gigas * et robore, factus est et angelicus mente, donec subversus est; vita cujus licet ab mterna facta sit temporalis, et ab integra mutilata, multo longevitatis est levata solatio, perduravit in posteros illa diu morum, virium, virtutum, et vitm felicitas. Sed circa tempora prophetae Domini David eam ipse descripsit annorum octoginta, qum fuerat octin- * It was an article of popular belief in the middle ages that Adam was created of gigantic stature. This legend was of Oriental origin. The rabbinical writers teli us that after his expulsion from Para- dise, when his stature was diminished, he was, according to different authorities, one, two, three, or nine hundred cubits high. See Bartoloccii Bibliotheca Rabbinica, i, p. 65. The mark of his feet and measure of his body were said to be preserved in Ceylon (Serendib). Fabric. Codex Pseudipigr. Vet. T. vol. i. p. 30, vol. ii. p. 30. See also DTIerbelot, Biblioth^que Orientale, vol. i. p. 95, and vol. iii. p. 309. The beds of stone pretended to be shown in Palestine as those of Adam and Eve were thirty feet long. Fabric. Codex Pseud. vol. i. pp. 58, 87. Montfaucon, Biblioth. Coisliniana, p. 413, describes atract in Greek, in a MS. of the twelfth century, giving a legendary account of theshape and stature of Adam, the Pro- phets, Christ, Paul, and the Fathers, entitled Ex Tcov IEXttlov tov 'Pcofialov dp^aioXo- yovfievcou €KK\pcrLa(TTiKr]s Icrroplas Tvepl XapaKTppav a(opariKa>i^. A note of si- milar personal descriptions will be found in the Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. 200, where Moses is said to have been 13 feet 8^ inches high, Christ 6 feet 3 inches, and the Virgin Mary 6 feet 8 inches. The following extract gives also a curious account of the giants of legendary history. “Tres gi- gantes robustissimi in mundo fuerunt fa- mosi. Nembro divus, qui post diluvium turrim ad coelum erexit. Calosius longis- simus, qui ante diluvium maria et flumina sine nave perrexit pede. Herculesis, qui inter Affricam et Europam pontem super mare facere voluit, sed non fecit.” Pseud-(?) Isidorus de Numero, MS. Reg. 5 E. vi. fol. 57, 1-0.$