"J'ay dez de plus, j'ay dez de moins,
De Paris, de Chartres, de Rains."
("I have heavy dice, I have light dice,
From Paris, from Chartres, and from Rains.")
It has been said that the game of dice was at first called the _game of
God_, because the regulation of lottery was one of God's prerogatives; but
this derivation is purely imaginary. What appears more likely is, that
dice were first forbidden by the Church, and then by the civil
authorities, on account of the fearful oaths which were so apt to be
uttered by those players who had a run of ill luck. Nothing was commoner
than for people to ruin themselves at this game. The poems of troubadours
are full of imprecations against the fatal chance of dice; many
troubadours, such as Guillaume Magret and Gaucelm Faydit, lost their
fortunes at it, and their lives in consequence. Rutebeuf exclaims, in one
of his satires, "Dice rob me of all my clothes, dice kill me, dice watch
me, dice track me, dice attack me, and dice defy me." The blasphemies of
the gamblers did not always remain unpunished. "Philip Augustus," says
Bigord, in his Latin history of this king, "carried his aversion for oaths
to such an extent, that if any one, whether knight or of any other rank,
let one slip from his lips in the presence of the sovereign, even by
mistake, he was ordered to be immediately thrown into the river." Louis
XII., who was somewhat less severe, contented himself with having a hole
bored with a hot iron through the blasphemer's tongue.
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