1. The authenticity of the prologue is questionable. It is found in
one manuscript only; other manuscripts give other prologues,
more plainly not Chaucer’s than this; and some manuscripts
have merely a colophon to the effect that “Here endeth the
Franklin’s Tale and beginneth the Physician’s Tale without a
prologue.” The Tale itself is the well-known story of Virginia,
with several departures from the text of Livy. Chaucer probably
followed the “Romance of the Rose” and Gower’s “Confessio
Amantis,” in both of which the story is found.