G. Paris has ably defended another
interpretation of the references in "Cliges" to the Tristan
legend in "Journal des Savants", 1902, p. 442 f.
(38) This curious moral teaching appears to be a perversion of
three passages form St. Paul's Epistles: I Cor. vii. 9, I
Cor. x. 32, Eph. v. 15. Cf. H. Emecke, "Chretien von Troyes
als Personlichkeit und als Dichter" (Wurzburg, 1892).
(39) "This feature of a woman who, thanks to some charm,
preserves her virginity with a husband whom she does not
love, is found not only in widespread stories, but in
several French epic poems. In only one, "Les Enfances
Guillaume", does the husband, like Alis, remain ignorant of
the fraud of which he is the victim, and think that he
really possesses the woman.... If Chretien alone gave to the
charm of the form of a potion, it is in imitation of the
love potion in "Tristan". (G. Paris in "Journal des
Savants", 1902, p. 446). For many other references to the
effect of herb potions, cf. A. Hertel, "Verzauberte
Oerlichkeiten und Gegenstande in der altfranzosische
erzahlende Dichtung", p. 41 ff. (Hanover, 1908).
(40) I have pointed out the curious parallel between the
following passage and Dante's "Vita Nova", 41 ("Romantic
Review", ii.
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