“Tuit voir ne sont pas bon a dire” Ovid and proverbial speech in the vernacular

This article considers the treatment of proverbial speech in a rewriting of Ovide moralisé. The art of the proverb allows its author to weave an axiological system and to defend his own truth about the Ovidian text, through a proverbial joust with other translators or readers of Ovid, such as the author of the original Ovide moralisé, Jean de Meun, and the author of the Clef d’amors. Conversely, he offers the same opinion as Christine de Pizan.