_Story referred to by Jeremy Taylor_ (Vol. iv., pp. 208. 262.).--My copy
of _Don Quixote_ has the following note on the passage referred to by
Mr. C. H. COOPER:--
"_Two old men appeared before Sancho_, etc.--I believe this story
is told, for the first time, in some of the Talmudic writings; but
Cervantes, in all probability, took it from the _Legenda Aurea
Jacobi de Voragine_, in which monkish collection it occurs in
these words:
"'Vir quidam ab uno Judæo quamdam summam pecuniæ mutuo accepit,
jurans super altare Sancti Nicolai quod quam citius posset sibi
redderet. Tenente autem illo diu pecuniam Judæus expostulavit: sed
eam sibi reddidisse affirmat. Trahit ergo eum ad judicem et
juramentum indicitur debitori: Ille baculum cavatum quem auro
minuto impleverat secum detulerat, ac si ejus adminiculo
indigeret: Volens igitur facere juramentum Judæo baculum tradidit
servandum. Juravit quod plus sibi reddiderat etiam quam debet; et
facto juramento baculum repetiit. Et Judæus ignorans astutiæ eum
sibi reddidit. Rediens autem qui fraudem fecerat in quodam bivio
oppressus corruit somno: Currusque eum, cum impetu veniens,
necuit, et baculum plenum auro fregit, et aurum effudit.'
"The conclusion of the story is, that the Jew having received his
money, was earnestly entreated to acknowledge his sense of the
Divine interposition in his favour, by receiving baptism. He said
he would do so if Saint Nicholas would, at his prayer, restore the
dead man to life. The saint was, without much difficulty, induced
to do this, and the Jew became an edifying specimen of conversion.
See the chapter de Sancto Nicolao."--_The History of the Ingenious
Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha; translated from the Spanish by
Motteux. A new Edition, with copious Notes, &c._ Edinburgh, 1822,
vol. v. p. 334.
May not Jeremy Taylor, in the passage cited from the _Ductor
Dubitantium_ ("NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. iv., p. 208.), have been quoting
_from memory_, and confused the Talmudic(?) legend with a well-known
passage in Juvenal, _Sat._ xiii. 199-207.? Compare--
"The _Greek_ that denied the _depositum_ of his friend, and
offered to swear at the altar,"
with
"_Spartano_ cuidam respondit Pythia vates;
Haud impunitum quondam fore, quod dubitaret
_Depositum_ retinere et fraudem _jure_ tueri
_Jurando_."
The Spartan's name was Glaucus. The story is told at large in Herodot.
vi. 86. See Stocker's note on Juv. _Sat._ xiii. 199. The use of "sibi,"
in the extract from the _Legenda Aurea_, is new to me. Is it common in
monkish Latin?