Note 155 — Chapter V
Reading edition
La mesura del pan · de oro era labrada, E de piedras preciosas · era estrellada, I era de ver toda · con guisa enclabada, Que fazia saber al Rey · la berdad apurada. · · · · · · · · · · · · E firio el Rey en la mesura · e fizola sonar, Pone la á su orella · por oir e guardar; Dijoles, e no quiso · mas dudar, Segun dize la mesura, · berdad puede estar. MS.
It is Joseph who is here called king, as he is often in the poem,—once he is called emperor, though the Pharaoh of the period is fully recognized; and this costly measure, made of gold and precious stones, corresponds to the cup of the Hebrew account, and is found, like that, in the sack of Benjamin, where it had been put by Joseph, (after he had secretly revealed himself to Benjamin,) as the means of seizing Benjamin and detaining him in Egypt, with his own consent, but without giving his false brethren the reason for it.