''Linquo coax ranis'' are the first words of a two-line poem in internally rhymed hexameters by Serlo of Wilton. The complete text is: :''Linquo coax ranis, cras corvis, vanaque vanis;'' :''Ad logicam pergo que mortis non timet ergo.'' :I leave croaking to frogs, crowing to crows, and vanity to the vain; :I now go to the logic that does not fear the ''conclusion'' of death. Attached to the poem is a story (which may be compared with the razós attached to certain Occitan poems of the 12th and 13th centuries). The earliest known version of the story, in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, forms part of a manuscript collection, ''Liber narrationum de diversis visionibus et miraculis'', which itself is part of MS.

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

946 from the

Abbey of Clairvaux An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The co ...

collection. This version was written at some date after 1173, when Serlo became abbot of L'Aumône Abbey, and before 1181, the year of his death. According to the story, one of Serlo's disciples, who had died young, appeared to him in a vision. He was wearing a parchment cape covered with writing: on it were written all the sophistries of scholastic philosophy. The disciple told Serlo that the cape was painfully heavy and burning hot. Serlo reached out to touch his disciple, and withdrew his hand hastily, scalded by a drop of burning sweat. After seeing this vision, Serlo "converted", spoke these memorable lines, entered the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

, and eventually became abbot of L'Aumône. The legend was investigated by the French novelist and philologist

Marcel Schwob Mayer André Marcel Schwob, known as Marcel Schwob (23 August 1867 – 26 February 1905), was a French symbolist writer best known for his short stories and his literary influence on authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Alfonso Reyes, Roberto Bo ...

in his pamphlet ''La légende de Serlon de Wilton'' (Paris, 1899).

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Linquo Coax Ranis 12th-century Latin literature Medieval legends